It’s 2010 and we all look forward to a prosperous new year. For Christians, we read in Ephesians 1:11-12, “In Christ we were chosen and predestined according to God who works out everything in order that we might be for the praise of His glory.”
If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your only Savior and Lord, God has a glorious plan for your life.
And, God will always work things out!
But let me ask this question: How evil is our world today?
What are examples of evil in the world today??
Over 2000 years ago, God spoke to Christians through the Letter to the Ephesians about their society; we read in Ephesians 5:15, Be very careful, then, how you live, not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.
God’s Word is eternal and the message to Christians thousands of years ago still applies to our lives today!
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, let us be careful how we live, for the days on earth are evil! The days on earth are evil, how careful are we with our lives? Let us learn from God, the specifics of the Christian life. Open your bibles to Ephesians Chapter 5. Let us together pray our commitment to God’s Word…… Ephesians 5:8-20……
Before we became Believers of Jesus Christ, before we became Christians, we were of the darkness.
What does that mean? What’s the first rule of interpreting Scriptures?? - Look at the context!
Verse 8, For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. The letter is written to Christians. And so, being of the darkness means not believing in Jesus Christ.
And look again at v11…….
Being of the darkness means having fruitless deeds.
In Philippians 3:8, the Apostle Paul considers all things done before being a Christian is rubbish. And this is why God instructs Christians in Ephesians 4:17………..
Christians are no longer of darkness but light in the Lord.
What does being light in the Lord mean?
Look again at v9………
And v12-14 tells us that Christians exposes darkness!
Christians are light in the world, capable of all goodness, righteousness, and truth, who can expose evil and lies.
Christians are to live in all goodness, righteousness, and truth and expose evil and lies!
And according to v10 & 17, Christians are to find out and understand what pleases God. In other words, Christians are to listen to the Word of God. Jesus tells us that we are to learn God’s Word on a daily basis.
And so we come back to the main instruction for Christians in v15-16………. Christians are to live wisely and look for every opportunity in life for God.
And God gives us a list of opportunities in life for God:
V18a - Do not get drunk on anything which leads to problems in life. We can simply ask ourselves, “Am I totally depending on God before depending on anything else?”
How’s our prayer life before we partake of anything?
V18b - Be conscious of the Holy Spirit, who empowers.
We are to think of God in anything that we do! Most of us pray before we eat. Shouldn’t we pray before partaking on anything? You choose to drink alcohol? Do you pray before drinking? You have to take a certain medication? Pray before partaking on anything! Always be conscious of God!
V19a - Speak to one another about God.
How often do we neglect God in our conversations?
V19b - Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord,
How’s our spiritual humming? Don’t you just love it when you hear someone humming a hymn or a praise song?
v20 - always give thanks to God because of Jesus Christ.
Pause right now to pray and give thanks…….
Do we want to make the most out of life?
1. Become a Christian!
Non-Christians live fruitless lives. And remember, you can not be a Christian by doing good works. You become a Christian by believing that Jesus Christ is the only Savior for people and that He is the only Lord.
And as we have been learning, being a Christian does not mean you have a license to do whatever you want!
Doing good works is a result of being a Christian.
2. Study the Bible everyday!
3. Do what the Bible tells you to do!
4. Always look for ways to share God to people, in speech and in action.
Let me summarize the whole message with this question:
Are people seeing and hearing Jesus Christ in my life?
When we partake of certain things, will people be able to see God?
When we speak, will people hear God?
In our presence and prayer lives, will people think of God?
Christians will make the most of their lives on earth by imitating God! God has been sharing Jesus Christ to people ever since He created them.
It is now our turn! We as Christians are now given the responsibility of sharing Jesus Christ to people around us! What a privilege to be entrusted by God! Share Jesus!
But let us not forget that we will not be perfect until we go to heaven and we live in an imperfect world and so as Jesus tells us "in this world you will have troubles". What we need to think about daily is how God sees us through Christ, which is perfection, and always note that soon we will be completely perfect in perfect heaven forever!
