Wise Living

Scripture: Ephesians 5:15-21

Title: Wise Living

Structure:

• Introduction
• Making the most of our time
• Discerning the will of God
• Being filled with the Spirit
• Conclusion

Introduction:

The year before we started training for ministry at Carey Baptist we went to check the College out and meet some of the students

• To make conversation I asked the students assigned to us what subjects they were majoring in and one of them said ‘moral & practical theology’
• I didn’t know anything about theological education so I naively said, ‘Moral & practical theology aye. Is there any other kind?’
• I thought, surely you wouldn’t want theology (the study of God) to be immoral or impractical. They graciously overlooked my ignorance.
• The next year I learned that there is another branch of theology called ‘systematic theology’
• Systematic theology is the theory, the big ideas, the framework and history of thinking about God
• Whereas moral and practical theology is more the application of the theory to real life, things like ethics and pastoral care

Today we continue our series in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, focusing on chapter 5, verses 15-21

• In the first half of Ephesians Paul provides his readers with some big picture thinking about God and Christ
• Then, in the second half, Paul focuses more on moral and practical theology – the application of life in Christ
• This morning’s passage forms part of the application.
• From Ephesians 5, verse 15 we read…

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Singing and making music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us

In a nutshell, these verses are about wise living. Paul draws our attention to three things that wise people do

• Wise people make the most of their time
• Wise people discern the will of God
• And wise people are filled with the Holy Spirit, not booze

 

Making the most of our time:

When we were young, my friends and I got involved with white water slalom kayaking. A slalom course normally includes about 18-25 gates which you have to manoeuvre your boat through

• Green & white stripped gates you must pass through going downstream and red & white gates you go through paddling upstream
• When we did it they also had gates you were required to go through backwards but they don’t do that anymore
• If you touch a gate you get 5 seconds added to your time as a penalty
• And if you miss a gate it’s a 50 second penalty
• The competitor with the fastest time wins.

Slalom paddling requires quite a bit of practical skill and accuracy

• You have to plan your approach to each gate carefully, putting yourself in the best position to pass through the gate quickly and cleanly

 

In Ephesians 5 Paul writes

• Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise…

For Christians, living in this world is a bit like navigating a white water slalom course – it requires practical wisdom and close attention

• We can’t afford to blunder our way through life without thinking about what we are doing – we need to think strategically and act carefully
• Or as Jesus put it, ‘Be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves.’

One of the things a wise person does is make the most of every opportunity

• A wise person uses their time well
• The Greek language has two words for time: chronos and kairos
• Chronos is the word used for the time of day – as in chronological time
• Whereas Kairos is the word used for describing the opportune moment
• Returning to our slalom analogy – the chronos time is the total time it takes to get through the course
• Chronos time is punctuated with Kairos moments. Each time you pass through a slalom gate, that’s a Kairos moment, a critical moment, when you are careful not to touch the gate.

The word that is used here, in verse 16, is Kairos

• Literally this verse could be translated ‘redeem the time’
• This doesn’t mean try and pack as much into every moment of the day that you can (because it’s not talking about chronological time)
• It means, redeem every opportunity you can for good.

To be able to redeem the time (or make the most of every opportunity) we need to have our wits about us

• We need to be alert, like a slalom kayaker, because the days are evil
• We are not floating down a slow, lazy river
• We are navigating our way through a fast moving, constantly changing and sometimes bumpy environment which could tip us over at any moment

Not all the water in a river flows the same way

• Close to the river bank the water is usually relatively still or even flowing upstream
• A wise kayaker reads the river – they look for eddy lines and use the current of the river to their advantage
• They also avoid the back wash behind rocks so they don’t get sucked under or stuck in a hole
• In the same way, a wise Christian reads the current of the society in which they live
• We think strategically to make the most of the time and avoid getting sucked into holes

To put this idea of making the most of opportunities into more concrete terms let me give you some examples from the life of our church

• A few years ago now we used to be involved in delivering CRE (or Bible in schools) to various Primary schools in Tawa
• But then schools became less receptive to the work and so we considered what else we might do to connect with and serve our community
• As it happened the principal of Tawa College attends Tawa Baptist and was wanting to start 24-7 youth work in his school
• We had the personnel and the willingness to help so we entered into a partnership with Tawa College – it made sense, it was a good fit
• Who knows, without the Principal in that role we may not have had the opportunity to get 24-7 started.

Or take another example. Several years ago there were some earthquakes in Christchurch which caused us to consider the seismic rating of our buildings

• We have some very capable engineers in our congregation so it seemed wise (an opportune time) to draw on their expertise in guiding us through a process of strengthening our buildings.

Another example. About 3 or 4 years ago one of the Bible study leaders was considering what Bible study material to use with her small group

• She didn’t want to infringe any copyright laws or have to reinvent the wheel herself, so she asked me if I would create some questions to go with my sermons each week that she could use in her Bible study
• I was happy to do this – it made sense
• It was a way of making the most of the opportunity and redeeming the time I put into sermon prep – getting more mileage out of the message.

We are talking about the wisdom of making the most of our time. An example from the Bible. This morning the kids in the Flock Sunday school are learning how Jesus called his first disciples, in Luke 5

• When Jesus came to earth he didn’t bring anything with him from heaven, except the Holy Spirit
• Jesus was more inclined to use what was available to him on earth
• In Luke 5, a crowd gathered to hear Jesus speak
• Jesus saw an opportunity and made the most of it by using Simon Peter’s fishing boat to preach from
• Then he called Peter, James and John to be his disciples (his apprentices)
• Jesus knew his time on earth was limited and wisely used the time to create a community of people to carry on the work after he had gone.

I could give other examples but you get the idea – wise people redeem the time.

• They make the most of the opportunities they are given for promoting God’s purpose
• This doesn’t mean trying to do everything yourself
• It doesn’t mean being so busy you can’t think straight
• It means stepping back and taking time to discern God’s will and then getting on with it

 

Discerning the will of God:

Which brings us to our second point: wise people discern God’s will

• In verse 17 Paul writes…

 

• Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.

The word translated as ‘foolish’ in this verse relates specifically to moral folly –we make good moral choices by understanding or discerning the Lord’s will.

 

Some of you might be into cray fishing or at least eating crayfish. If you are then you will know that crays under a certain size must be thrown back

• For males the minimum tail width is 54mm and for females it is 60mm
• Taking under sized crayfish is not only illegal, it is also morally foolish because it puts future crayfish stocks at risk
• When you measure a cray you don’t guess, you use a standard measure like this one
• The Bible is the standard or the measuring stick for discerning God’s will.

Now, while the Bible is good in providing a general guide for God’s will, it won’t always provide us with the answers we might want

• When it comes to specific situational things, like what career path to take or who to marry or whether to stay single or whether the church should support this cause or another; we need a number of tools in our tool kit for discerning God’s will.

Paul doesn’t explore how to discern God’s will in these verses but whenever I am faced with a particular decision (one the Scriptures don’t obviously prohibit) I usually try to follow a common sense process…

• Common sense avoids rushing in. It is important to be able to make the decision while we are not under pressure.

Praying about it is also a wise thing to do.

• Say to God this is what I’m presented with.
• This is what I’m thinking and feeling about it.
• What do you want in this situation? Guide me in your will.
• Open the doors you want us to walk through and close the doors you don’t want us to walk through.

A common sense process also involves reflecting on the probable consequences of taking a particular course of action. For example…

• How will this affect God’s Kingdom and His reputation?
• How will this affect my family?
• How will this affect the church?
• Do I have the capacity (the time, energy and skill) to embrace this?
• Just because something is intrinsically good doesn’t mean we should do it
• If you give yourself to every good cause that comes along you end up spreading yourself a too thin.
• So you have to ask, how does this fit with my personality and values?
• Can I live with this decision long term? Can I fulfil my commitment?
• Is there someone else better suited?
• They are the sort of questions we ask ourselves.

In discerning God’s will we might look for signs or clues in our circumstances or in the things that people unwittingly say to us.

• Sometimes God reveals his will to us in dreams, but not all dreams are necessarily God speaking to us.
• Sometimes God may give us a very specific verse of Scripture which shines a light on the way to go.
• But, with all these things, we need to be careful.
• Sometimes we can read what we want into our circumstances or dreams or Scripture, but if we talk it through with someone who knows us well, they can help us see our blind spots.
• There is wisdom in seeking the advice of two or three people you trust and not trying to solve it on your own.

There are times, aren’t there, when we wish that God would just send us an email or a text telling us clearly what to do, but He doesn’t operate like that

• God is not always directive. He often gives us options with the freedom to choose. We don’t get to see the full plan in advance
• Mostly it feels like we are walking through the bush in the dark with only a torch – the light is just enough to see one or two steps ahead, but not enough to see any further down the track.

 

When I was younger I didn’t always make good decisions but God is gracious and He often finds a way to redeem our mistakes, to make the most of our time

• When I left school I made the mistake of studying business management and accounting – it seemed like the right thing at the time (and I’m sure it is right for a good many people) but it wasn’t ideal for me
• Nevertheless, God used my mistake for good – I still draw on those skills even now in pastoral ministry.

Discerning God’s will can be time consuming but if your heart is to honour God and do right by Him, He will point you in the right direction and use the choices you make to serve His purpose.

 

Okay, so wise people make the most of the time and they seek to understand God’s will – both His general will and His specific will

• Wise people are also filled with the Holy Spirit

 

Being filled with the Spirit:

From verse 18 of Ephesians 5 we read…

• Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit,

In the normal course of events there is nothing wrong with drinking alcohol in moderation – unless you are an alcoholic or unless your drinking would be unhelpful to someone else’s faith

• The problem is with drinking to excess. Apparently alcohol abuse was a plague on society in the ancient world as it still is today
• A wise person exercises self-control. Alcohol impairs our decision making function and robs us of our self-control.
• Therefore, getting drunk is a foolish moral choice because it puts us on a bad path

Being filled with God’s Spirit, on the other hand, enhances our decision making function and helps us to better control ourselves – The Spirit makes us wiser.

• Where it says, be filled with the Spirit, the tense of the verb is present continuous – which means we don’t just get filled once, we are to go being filled with the Holy Spirit
• We need the Spirit regularly, like we need oxygen or water.

So how do we get these regular fillings of the Holy Spirit?

• Well, Paul doesn’t say in these verses, but we know from elsewhere in Scripture that we can’t manipulate the Spirit
• Being filled with the Spirit isn’t like filling up your car with petrol – we don’t fill ourselves up, we are dependent on the Spirit to fill us.
• The Spirit fills us like wind fills a sail
• We can’t make the wind blow or control which direction it blows from; but we can trim our sail to catch the wind
• Of course, there’s nothing wrong with praying for God to send His wind and asking the Spirit to fill us,
• Given that Paul has just talked about being in Christ, earlier in Ephesians, we could expect the Spirit to go on filling us as we remain in Christ; much like the branches of a tree continue to be nourished as they stay connected to the main trunk

 

Having instructed his readers to be filled with the Spirit, Paul then goes on to mention four behaviours that are consistent with the Spirit’s activity among us

• …speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.

• Singing and making music in your heart to the Lord,

• always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

• And, Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

 

These are not the only signs of the Holy Spirit’s activity

• In Galatians Paul describes the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control
• And in John’s gospel we read how the Spirit of Jesus is a Spirit of grace and truth

 

Returning to Ephesians though, the first Spirit inspired behaviour Paul mentions is speaking and the language we use to communicate with each other

• A community that shares a common language has a strong sense of identity and a shared understanding
• Our language is not to be peppered with obscenities and innuendo, it is to be full of the language of the psalms and of praise for God.

 

Singing has to do with gathered worship and making music in your heart has to do with integrity in worship

• There needs to be a harmony between what we are saying about God with our mouths and the intention of our hearts – our hearts need to be in it.
• Two things happen when we sing and make music in our hearts to the Lord:
  • Our attention is shifted off ourselves and onto God, so we become less self-centred
  • And, we learn theology – we learn how to think about God

 

Giving thanks for everything is qualified by in the name of Jesus

• It’s easy enough to give thanks for the good things (the pleasant things) but what about the yucky stuff?
• Well we don’t need to give thanks for evil
• If we are speaking words from the psalms to each other then we are free to lament evil because the psalms are all about being honest with God
• This means we don’t have to pretend to be thankful for something we are not – Paul isn’t suggesting we say, ‘thank you God for this headache’.
• Giving thanks for everything, in the name of Jesus means giving thanks on the basis of who Jesus is and what he has done. [1]
• So, when someone dies and we feel sad, we don’t have to pretend to be happy. We don’t have to give thanks for their death.
• The wise thing is to feel our grief but, in our sadness, to give thanks that Jesus has conquered death – ‘where oh death is your sting’.

Jesus encouraged thankfulness with his beatitudes

• Blessed (lucky) are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven
• Blessed (lucky) are you when people insult you because of me. Rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven.

 

The fourth sign that the Spirit is active in a community of faith is the willingness of people to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

• The Greek word for submit literally means ‘arrange under’ [2]
• We are to arrange our lives under Christ
• We are to think of others as better than ourselves
• We are to treat each other with reverence as we would Christ
• (If you can recall the story I told a couple of weeks ago about the monks – the Messiah is among you)
• At times we may be required to sacrifice what we want for others
• Mutual submission requires a high level of trust
• In submitting to others we are trusting they have our best interests at heart and will in turn submit to us
• For mutual submission to work our lives need to be governed by the love of Christ – self-giving love – it requires us all to reach maturity in Christ.

 

Jesus washing his disciples’ feet (in John 13) is a picture of submission

• Even though Peter is uncomfortable with it he still submits to what Jesus is doing. Mutual submission is not easy

Abraham giving his nephew Lot the choice of the land (in Genesis 13) is another example of what submitting to others might look like

• Lot chose what appeared to be the best quality land and Abraham submitted to Lot’s choice
• I’m not sure Lot understood what his uncle was doing – the submission may have been one way in that instance

 

What I notice as I reflect on Paul’s four signs of the Spirit, in Ephesians 5, is that each one is more challenging than the one before – they are like a progression or a staircase

• Speaking to other believers with psalms and spiritual songs is relatively easy
• Singing together, with integrity in our worship, that’s a bit harder
• Always giving thanks for everything in the name of Jesus can be even harder still, especially when we are suffering in some way
• And as for submitting to one another – that’s top shelf, its advanced stuff.

 

The other thing we notice in these verses is the presence of the Trinity – God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit

• The community of the church is modelled off the community of the God head.

 

Conclusion:

This morning we’ve been talking about wise living

• Wise people make the most of their time
• Wise people make the effort to discern God’s will
• And wise people are filled with the Spirit – it is the Spirit of God that makes moral and practical wisdom possible.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

1. What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon?

• Why do you think this stood out to you?

2. What does it mean to make the most of our time?

• How are you using (or redeeming) the time?

3. How do we discern the Lord’s will?

• Think of a time in your life when you have gone through a process of discerning God’s will. What was your process? What was the outcome?

4. What is your attitude to and practice regarding alcohol?

5. What does Paul mean by being ‘filled with the Spirit’?

• How might we trim our sail to better catch the wind of God’s Spirit?

6. Discuss / reflect on the four signs of the Spirit’s activity mentioned in Ephesians 5

• To what extent is each of these part of your experience with other believers?
• Which one(s) to do you find more difficult? Why?

7. Imagine Paul was in the room with you now. What would you ask him concerning Ephesians 5:15-21? What do you think he might say?

 

 

[1] Refer Klyne Snodgrass, NIVAC Ephesians, page 291.

[2] Ibid, page 292.