Pastor Allan Kircher
Shell Point Baptist Church
June 9th 2013
Ephesians 5:15-17
It’s about time: Walking in WISDOM
Intro: Beginning/Eph. 4:1 continuing through 5:14, the Apostle Paul has challenged the church concerning her walk before the Lord.
We have been commanded:
• Eph. 4:1-2 - To walk in Humility
• Eph. 4:4-13 - To walk in Unity
• Eph. 4:17-32 - To walk in Separation
• Eph. 4:14-16; 5:1-2 - To walk in Love
• Eph. 5:3-14 - To walk in Light
Now, we are challenged to add to those virtues the quality of wisdom.
“wisdom”
• Our language means, “Knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgment as to action.”
• Scripture, carries/idea/understanding/will of God as it is revealed in His Word
• Coupled with the desire to live it out.
• The call here/for believers/yield/Word of God/our daily walk.
• We are to hear His voice, as it is revealed in His Word
• To live out that revealed Word moment by moment.
Here, Paul gives us some insights into what The Walk Of Wisdom is supposed to look like.
• Let’s look at these insights
• learn what The Walk Of Wisdom is
• How we can activate it in our lives.
I. V. 15 IT IS A DILIGENT WALK
The wise walk is clearly defined in this verse. Paul calls upon to the church to “be very careful, then how you live.”
• Means to “observe.”
• Idea of being “diligent/accurate/precise.”
• command for us to “be very careful”
• So careful we “walk accurately and precisely.”
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If you’ve ever seen anyone walk a tightrope, then you know what Paul is referring to here.
• Person/tightrope watches where they place each step.
• Least deviation or inaccuracy/their footing would result/fall.
As believers, we must give due diligence to every step we take in this world.
• Any less/guarantee/fall into trap of the enemy.
• enemy that is set on our destruction
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1 Pet. 5:8, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
• He sets traps for us
• lies in wait to attack us
• To destroy our walk with the Lord.
“But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed,” James 1:14.
Phrase “drawn away,” means “to lure prey from it hiding place.”
• Like a hunter sets a trap to catch an animal,
• Satan does all he can to lure us away from the place of safety and closeness to the Lord.
• He seeks to lure us into sin.
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“enticed,” means, “to catch by bait.”
If you are going to bait deer, you don’t use dead fish. You use corn or apples, or something else that is attractive to the animal.
• Satan knows makes us tick.
• He knows what is attractive to us.
• Like a hunter who studies his prey
• Satan studies us to see what we like
• He baits his traps accordingly.
Satan/treacherous/very dangerous enemy.
The only reason he has any power at all to deceive and destroy us is due to the sin that dwells within each of our hearts.
• As James says, we are “drawn away of” our “own lusts.”
• Satan is only able to tempt us to sin eternally
• The will/ability to sin already exist within our hearts.
Every time we fall into sin it is only because we take the bait and
fall into the devil’s snare.
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Have you ever done something you know is wrong and
immediately felt stupid because of it?
• We all have, and we should!
• The only reason we did it was because we fell/deception.
• We got snookered.
• We didn’t watch our step and we fell into the trap.
• So, knowing the deceitfulness of the enemy
• the wickedness of our own hearts
• Paul warns us to watch every step we take
• Each step is filled with danger, especially in this world.
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We are counseled to walk, “not as unwise but as wise.”
• We are not to walk like the world around us.
• They stumble around/darkness of their depraved condition,
• They take no heed to where the next foot will fall.
• We are not so blind.
We have been:
• Redeemed/Made alive.
• Given the Spirit of God.
• Given the light of the Word of God.
• We don’t stumble about like a blind man
• we have been equipped to walk accurately
• placing each step precisely where it pleases the Lord
• Where it leads us closer to Him.
What a blessing it is to know that we do not have to fall for the deceptions of Satan.
We do not have:
• To be ensnared in his traps.
• To yield to his devices.
• To walk his way.
• To find ourselves overcome by his schemes.
Through/help/Holy Spirit, every subtle maneuver of the enemy is painted with the light of Heaven.
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John 2:20-21, “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth.”
1 John 2:27, “As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.”
• That is not to say that we do not grow.
• We do, because sanctification/progressive reality.
It does mean, however
• if we would listen/Holy Spirit
• stop sniffing around the traps Satan has laid for us
• We would come out on top far more often than we do.
Beloved, you are not fools! Christ has made you wise.
II. V. 16 IT IS A DISCERNING WALK
We are to walk accurately, literally, perfectly in this world, but we are also to walk with discernment.
• “making the most of every opportunity”
• Words he uses speak “measured allotment of time.”
• Paul is talking/small window of time we have in this world.
• It challenges us “to make good use of every opportunity for serving the Lord.”
Peter says it this way: 1 Peter 1:17 “Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear.”
• The Lord has determined the boundaries of our lives.
• We will not live one minute more, one minute less, than the time we have been allotted by the Lord.
Job 14:5, “A person’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.
Psalm 39:4, “Show me, LORD, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is.
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You/I have been given a short window of time to live/world.
• At best, our lives are a “vapor,” James 4:14.
• We need to make the most of every opportunity we are given to serve the Lord.
Take the time:
• Pray/worship/share the Gospel.
• Be holy/read the Bible.
• To honor the Lord every minute of every day.
Paul tells us that we should salvage the time we have been given, because “the days are evil.”
• The days are wicked, evil/filled/every kind of sin and vice.
God has placed us here to be light to a world trapped in darkness.
• We are His “ambassadors,”
• given us a window of time in this evil world to serve Him
• Walk for Him and bring glory to His name.
• We are to recognize the evil around
• As well as the opportunities the Lord has given us to serve Him.
We are to redeem those opportunities in order to make our lives count for the glory of God.
• One day we will all leave this world.
• When it comes time for you to die
• What kind of legacy will you leave behind?
I pray that my life comes produces more than a dash between two dates.
• I want to leave a legacy.
• I want to “buy up the opportunities” the Lord gives me.
Word “redeeming” refers to “buying a slave in order to set that slave free.” It also has the idea of “saving it from loss.” We are all slaves to time. We can either lose that time, and have it be gone forever, or we can redeem that time and make it count for the glory of God.
The moments of our lives either serve to glorify God, or they are lost forever, and thus they glorify the devil. Let’s buy up the time and deliver our moments from the tyranny of death and sin, making every opportunity count to the glory of God.
I. It Is A Diligent Walk
II. It Is A Discerning Walk
III. V. 17 IT IS A DEFINITE WALK
Finally, Paul says, “Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.” The word “unwise” means “to be stupid, or ignorant.” It refers to a person who “thinks himself wise when actually he knows nothing.” If you take this verse in connection with the two that precede it, you have Paul saying, “Don’t run through this world like an idiot.”
If we are not careful, we will fall into the trap of business. We will allow the enemy to so dil our calendar with good things, that we wind of frantically running from one activity to the next, all the while missing out on what really matters in this life. God did not create us or save us to live like we do.
We run here and thee with our calendars, our smartphones, our schedules, thinking we have to do all those things for ourselves, and for others, no realizing that Satan has baited the trap, and we have taken the bait. We allow ourselves to get so busy doing all the things we do that we don’t have the time to enjoy the Lord Who saved us.
I am preaching to myself here, but we need to learn to say, “no.” It’s hard to do, but it must be done. I would also say, that is we truly love others, we will not make unrealistic demands on their time.
Instead of running through life like a maniac, we are counseled to be “understanding” of “what the will of the Lord is.” How do we understand the will of the Lord? The basic answer is that we find the will of God in the principals taught in the Scriptures. The Word of God reveals the will of God. We have to slow down long enough to read the Word of God, to meditate on it, to understand it. We must take time for the Bible, our we will let the moments of our lives slip though our fingers and amount to little in the work of the Lord.
Think of how foolish we are in this matter. We send our kinds to school in an effort to help them learn, but we don’t take the time to teach them the book written by the wisest Being in the universe. It would be a shame for you to send your child from your home to a college to be educated in the wisdom of men, if they left your home ignorant of the Word of God.
We strive to learn all sorts of things, glorying in our knowledge, while we do not take the time to learn from the fountain of all wisdom, the Lord Himself. The lack of biblical knowledge in the average church is astonishing. Our ignorance is proven by the things church members believe and the things they say. That kind of ignorance does not have to be. What a tragedy!
God has given us His Word. It is without error. It is infallible. It is inspired. It is eternal. It is food for the soul. When we read the Bible we are exposed to the very mind of God Himself. We need to read it much and read it often. We need to be a people of the book, knowing its Author intimately, and understanding it message clearly. There is no excuse for any believer, who owns a Bible, and who can read it, being ignorant of the Word of God.
It is our ignorance of the Word that explains the problems we have with sin. It is our ignorance of the Word of God that explains the problems we have in our relationships. It is our ignorance of the Word of God that explains why our churches are devoid of power, empty of life, and dying on the vine. We need to repent of our neglect of the Word of God and pick up our Bibles and read.
Knowing the Bible settles us. It gives us peace, hope, help and strength. It helps us know the God of Heaven, and knowing Him teaches us how to walk in this world. Knowing Him teaches us how to make our lives count for God’s glory. Do you have a Bible? Read it! Learn it! Love it! Live it!
Your Bible will keep you from being spiritually stupid. It will make you wise in the ways of the Lord, and it will open your eyes to the schemes of the enemy.
Conc: You do not have to live like the world around you. Your life can count and leave a legacy behind when you leave this world. You do not have to be spiritually deceived and ignorant or Satan. We can walk in wisdom, if we will follow the clear guidelines given to us in the Word of God. If we will simply take His Word and make it the rudder of our lives, we will sail a straight course through this world. We will live a life that honors God and gives light to the world around us.
I will close with a couple of questions:
• How is your walk with the Lord? Are you walking in wisdom, or are your walking in ignorance?
• How is your relationship with the Word of God? Do you read it? Do you live it?
