Most of us acknowledge that God has a plan for the life of every believer, but often we have trouble in finding just which way this plan goes at a particular juncture, where the answers sometimes seem to elude even the most persistent searcher. Some apparently think that God’s will is lost. At least they say they are searching for it! To them, God must appear to be a sort of divine Easter bunny who has stashed His will, like eggs, somewhere out of sight and sent us running through life, trying to find it. And He is up there saying, “You’re getting warmer!” Others offer the suggestion that God’s will is to be found via a dramatic experience. Running down the street, you fall on a banana peel and land on a map of India. Immediately you say to the Lord, “Thank You for that clear leading. I understand! India it is!” Or there is always the voice from heaven or the vision in your dreams calling you to Chile. Then there are those who are actually afraid of the will of God. They believe that God is a kind of “cosmic killjoy,” stomping on everyone’s fun and raining on parades. People with this view actually fear the will of God as a severe way of life that will demand the sacrifice of their most treasured abilities or possessions. Then there is the brass-ring mentality. (They believe that if you don't make the right choice, you will be left with second best). (MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2012). Found: God’s will. Colorado Springs, CO: David C Cook.)
Why is it important to discover God's Will? Only in the Lord’s will and power can anything good and lasting be accomplished. When the Lord’s will is carefully sought and the principles of His Word applied more faithfully, His priorities become our priorities. God is then is free to work in us and through us to accomplish great things; but when our priorities are not His priorities He can do little with us because He has little of us.
God’s general will is, of course, found in Scripture. Here we find His perfect and sufficient guidelines for knowing and doing what is pleasing to him. But the will of which Paul seems to be speaking here in Ephesians 5 is the Lord’s specific leading of individual believers. Although His specific plans and directions for each believer at any given moment are not found in Scripture, the general principles for understanding them are there. God does not promise to show us His will through visions, strange coincidences, or miracles. Nor does He play a divine guessing game with us, seeing if we can somehow stumble onto His will like a small child finds an egg at an Easter egg hunt. God’s deepest desire for all of His children is that they know and obey His will, and He gives us every possible help both to know and to obey it.
In the present passage, Paul shows us how to use biblical wisdom to discover the will of God. He shows us how to discover this through: 1) Understanding (Ephesians 5:15), 2) Occasion (Ephesians 5:16), 3) Action (Ephesians 5:17)
We can:
1) Discover God's Will through Understanding (Ephesians 5:15)
Ephesians 5:15 [15]Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, (ESV)
Those who love the Lord are rightly concerned to do his will but often in seeking it fail to give sufficient place to the wisdom God has already made available. He has provided this primarily through the Scriptures, not only through individual verses but in the accumulation of teaching about himself, the world, the church. This includes what Scripture says about us both as limited, sinful human brings and as Christians. But wisdom is more than knowledge, even Bible knowledge. It is knowing God, maturing in our relationship with him and walking with him so closely and perceptively that we are enabled to develop a godly character, live thoughtfully and make proper choices in life. Through the revelation that God has given us of his own nature and of the ways he has acted in human history, we can usually gain insight as to how God would view the various ethical and moral choices that confront us. In spite of our (sinful tendencies), we are blessed with the ability to make choices wisely. Such a mature knowledge of God and his Word should help us to go beyond the tendency to extract verses out of context and apply them mechanically to life’s decisions or to become overly concerned with seeking special supernatural leading (Liefeld, W. L. (1997). Ephesians (Vol. 10, Eph 5:15). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.).
Paul’s instruction for believers to look carefully and see that they walk carefully is based on what he has just been teaching. The reference to "then" refers immediately back to the apostle’s call for believers to walk as those who have been raised from the dead and are living in Christ’s light (v. 14). It also reaches even further back to build upon his call for believers to be imitators of their heavenly Father (5:1). Christians are to walk wisely rather than unwisely because they are God’s beloved children, saved through the sacrifice of His beloved Son (5:1–2). Only the wise walk befits the children of God. This is a PRESENT ACTIVE INDICATIVE, not another PRESENT ACTIVE IMPERATIVE. It is a statement of fact, not a command. “Walk” is a biblical metaphor for lifestyle (cf. 4:1, 17; 5:2) (Utley, R. J. (1997). Paul Bound, the Gospel Unbound: Letters from Prison (Colossians, Ephesians and Philemon, then later, Philippians) (Vol. Volume 8, p. 127). Marshall, TX: Bible Lessons International.).
Please turn to Colossians 1 (p.983)
Just as believers are to walk in humility, unity, separation, love, and light (4:1–5:14), they are also to walk in wisdom. In other words, they are to live like the people they are. In Christ we are one, we are separated, we are love, we are light, and we are wise—and what we do should correspond to what we are. This can only be obeyed if believers take care that their conduct is characterized by wisdom To live as a wise person is not just to have knowledge but to have skill in living, to have the sort of perception that authenticates itself in practice. This requires ethical insight into God’s will (Lincoln, A. T. (1990). Ephesians (Vol. 42, p. 341). Dallas: Word, Incorporated.).
Colossians 1:3-13 [3]We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, [4]since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, [5]because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, [6]which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing--as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, [7]just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf [8]and has made known to us your love in the Spirit. [9]And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, [10]so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. [11]May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, [12]giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. [13]He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, (ESV)
• This section outlines how we "may be (v.9) filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding". It starts with faith (v.4). God leads His own. His will flows from His truth (v.5). If we don't know His truth from His word we will not know His will. We must seek to understand His truth (v.6) and seek to put it into motion ("bearing fruit"). God will not continue to reveal His will if we have no intention of following what He has already revealed. We should elicit the Godly counsel of other believers (v.7). They often can see opportunity and resources that we may have overlooked. We must also seek to further understand the path, plan, purpose, and pace that we must take through prayer (v.8). Finally, we must seek to do the task in His strength ("power" v.11) and continue even when obstacles present themselves. Following God's will, is often a path beyond our own resources and we must persevere and allow His power to work though us. Therefore joyful "patience" is required. If we are acting out of sheer duty or resentment, then we are not a good testimony for Him and He will not use us in His kingdom.
Paul declares that we must follow God's direction carefully. To be careful (Akribōs) has the basic meaning of accurate and exact, and carries the associated idea of looking, examining, and investigating something with great care. It also carries the idea of alertness. As believers walk through the spiritual mine field of the world, they are to be constantly alert to every danger that Satan puts in their way. That is why Jesus warned that “the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life” (Matt. 7:14). Together with the imperative ‘look’, indicates that this admonition regarding godly behaviour is both important and urgent (O’Brien, P. T. (1999). The letter to the Ephesians (p. 380). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.)
When Christians sin and fall into Satan’s traps, they do so because they live as unwise, rather than as wise. They revert to following the wisdom of their old lives, which was really foolishness. “For we also once were foolish ourselves,” Paul said, “disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another” (Titus 3:3). Paul is making a case for a special wisdom; not a philosophical wisdom that boasts of itself and has as its focus “to be wise”; not a worldly sophistication that is calloused to the “foolishness of the cross” or is numb to God’s choosing the weak to shame the strong; not a mind-trip that finds security in isolation from the nitty-gritty environment of common folk—but a practical wisdom that makes conduct consistent with faith (Dunnam, M. D., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1982). Galatians / Ephesians / Philippians / Colossians / Philemon (Vol. 31, p. 220). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.)
Illustration: Sometimes it can be difficult to understand our circumstances and act upon them properly. There was once a little bird that was flying south for the winter, but the air was so cold that it couldn’t get to the warm climate before it began to freeze. It collapsed under the weight of the cold into a large field. A cow came by and dropped some manure on the freezing bird. At first, of course, the bird was upset, until the bird felt how warm the manure was. So the bird began to thaw out under the manure that the cow had left behind. In fact, the bird just got downright excited and started to sing at the joy of being thawed out by the manure. A cat was passing by and heard this sound of singing. He followed the sound to the manure. He started digging through the manure to get to the song, and discovered it was a bird. Then the cat ate the bird that was thawing out in the pile of manure. Now there are a number of lessons in this story. The first lesson is, not everybody who drops manure on you is your enemy. Second lesson is, not everybody who digs you out of your manure is your friend. And finally, when you’re in manure, keep your mouth shut (Evans, T. (2009). Tony Evans’ book of illustrations: stories, quotes, and anecdotes from more than 30 years of preaching and public speaking (pp. 64–65). Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers.).
We can:
2) Discover God's Will through Occasion (Ephesians 5:16)
Ephesians 5:16 [16]making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. (ESV)
Paul did not here use chronos, the term for clock time, the continuous time that is measured in hours, minutes, and seconds. He rather used kairos, which denotes a measured, allocated, fixed season or epoch. The idea of a fixed period is also seen in the use of the definite article in the Greek text, which refers to the time, a concept often found in Scripture (cf. Ex. 9:5; 1 Pet. 1:17). God has set boundaries to our lives, and our opportunity for service exists only within those boundaries. It is significant that the Bible speaks of such times being shortened, but never of their being lengthened.
• Our English word opportunity comes from the Latin and means “toward the port.” It suggests a ship taking advantage of the wind and tide to arrive safely in the harbor. The brevity of life is a strong argument for making the best use of the opportunities God gives us (Wiersbe, Warren W.: The Bible Exposition Commentary. Wheaton, Ill. : Victor Books, 1996, c1989, S. Eph 5:15).
• Having sovereignly bounded our lives with eternity, God knows both the beginning and end of our time on earth. As believers we can achieve our potential in His service only as we maximize the time He has given us.
Exagorazō (making the best use/most of) has the basic meaning of buying, especially of buying back or buying out. It was used of buying a slave in order to set him free; thus the idea of redemption is implied in this verse. We are to redeem, buy up, all the time that we have and devote it to the Lord.
• We should not wait for opportunity to fall into our laps but should but it up (William Hendrikson. Baker New Testament Commentary. 2002. p.237).
The Greek in this phrase is in the middle voice, indicating that we are to buy the time up for ourselves—for our own use but in the Lord’s service. It is also in the Greek present tense which denotes keep on buying.
There is a price to be paid or we will forgo the bargain. The price is self-denial and strenuous work (KJV Bible Commentary. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1994, S. 2423).
Paul pleads for us to make the best use/most of the time immediately after he pleads for us to walk wisely rather than foolishly. “Time” is not chronos (χρονος), chronological time,” but kairos (καιρος), “time as regarded in its strategic, epoch-making, seasonable, opportune seasons.” The idea is not to make best use of time as such, which is what we should do in the sense of not wasting it, but of taking advantage of the opportunities that present themselves (Wuest, K. S. (1997). Wuest’s word studies from the Greek New Testament: for the English reader (Eph 5:15). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.).
• Outside of purposeful disobedience of God’s Word, the most spiritually foolish thing a Christian can do is to waste time and opportunity, to fritter away his life in trivia and in half–hearted service of the Lord.
When we properly give our time, we walk carefully, making the best use/most of the time. We take full advantage of every opportunity to serve God, redeeming our time to use for His glory. We take every opportunity to shun sin and to follow righteousness.
Paul said:
Galatians 6:10 [10]So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. (ESV)
• For His own reasons, God allows some of His children to live and serve far into old age. Others He grants only a few years or even a few weeks. But none of us knows how long or short his own allocation of time will be.
• In light of various difficulties around here, we have seen people giving of their time, and this personal ministry will be honored by God.
• It’s a painful thing to learn recently of medical prognoses of terminal illness here recently, but situations like this give us an opportunity for ministry of giving time and support.
Illustration: The great sixteenth–century reformer Philipp Melanchthon kept a record of every wasted moment and took his list to God in confession at the end of each day. It is small wonder that God used him in such great ways.
• If we are truly honest we all need to regularly confess how we neglect in giving our time in godly ways.
Please turn to James 4 (p.1013)
One of the most dangerous things we can do in grappling with our use of time is to make assumptions. We put off giving our time to others in our minds to a future date. In doing so we make a very dangerous assumption
James warned:
James 4:13-14 [13]Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit"-- [14]yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. (ESV)
We are to make the most of our opportunities not only because our days are numbered but because the world continually opposes us and seeks to hinder our work for the Lord. We have little time and much opposition. Because the days are evil, our opportunities giving of our time, for freely doing righteousness are often limited. When we have opportunity to do something for His name’s sake and for His glory, we should do so with all that we have. How God’s heart must be broken to see His children ignore or halfheartedly take up opportunity after opportunity that He sends to them. Every moment of every day should be filled with things good, things righteous, things glorifying to God.
By the days are evil Paul may have specifically had in mind the corrupt and debauched living that characterized the city of Ephesus. The Christians there were surrounded by paganism and infiltrated by heresy (see 4:14). Greediness, dishonesty, and immorality were a way of life in Ephesus, a way in which most of the believers had themselves once been involved and to which they were tempted to revert (4:19–32; 5:3–8).
• There should be a marked difference in how a Christian and a non-Christian spends their time. As the world is centered on entertainment, our lives should be marked with the giving of our time in Godly pursuits.
Illustration: When pastor Kefa Sempangi, mentioned above, began ministering at his church in Uganda, growth was small but steady. Idi Amin had come into military and political power and the people expected conditions in their country to improve. But soon friends and neighbors, especially those who were Christians, began to disappear. One day pastor Sempangi visited the home of a family and found their young son standing just inside in the doorway with a glazed looked on his face and his arms transfixed in the air. They discovered he had been in that state of rigid shock for days, after being forced to witness the inexpressibly brutal murder and dismembering of everyone else in his family.
Faced with a totally unexpected and horrible danger, pastor Sempangi’s church immediately realized that life as they had known it was at an end, and that the very existence of the Lord’s people and the Lord’s work in their land was threatened with extinction. They began continuous vigils of prayer, taking turns praying for long hours at a time. When they were not praying they were witnessing to their neighbors and friends, urging them to receive Christ and be saved. The church stands today and it has not died. In many ways it is stronger than ever. Its lampstand is still very much in place and shining brightly for the Lord, because His people made the most of the time, did not succumb to the evil days in which they lived. They gave their time to kingdom work, and God continues to bless.
We can:
3) Discover God's Will through Action (Ephesians 5:17)
Ephesians 5:17 [17]Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. (ESV)
Paul now connects the two previous thoughts beginning with "therefore". Seeing that believers need to walk watchfully, it necessitates choosing and using the right opportunity of good (Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 2, p. 354). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.).
Do not be foolish repeats and reinforces Paul’s previous plea for believers not to be unwise, and understand what the will of the Lord is expands and makes more explicit his plea to walk wisely (v. 15). To say that they must not be foolish, this time using aphrones, a word that suggests not so much a lack of essential wisdom (as does asophoi in v. 15) as a moral stupidity in action (Foulkes, F. (1989). Ephesians: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 10, p. 154). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.)
The foolish/unwise are those who, having no insight into things that pertain to God and salvation, are not aiming to reach the highest goal and therefore do not know and do not even care to know what are the best means to reach it. They regard as very important what is in reality of minor value or may even be harmful, and they do not appreciate what is indispensable. They conduct themselves accordingly (Hendriksen, W., & Kistemaker, S. J. (1953–2001). Exposition of Ephesians (Vol. 7, p. 237). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.)
In light of the urgency to make the most of our time, not being foolish includes, among other things, not becoming anxious or panicked.
• When we look around at the pervasiveness of evil and at the unending needs for evangelism and service to others in Christ’s name, it is easy to be overwhelmed. We are tempted either to give up and withdraw or to become hyperactive, losing precision, purpose, and effectiveness in a frenzy of superficial activity.
The proper sense of urgency, however, drives the wise believer to want more than ever to understand what the will of the Lord is, because such a person knows that only in the Lord’s will and power can anything good and lasting be accomplished. There is no ARTICLE with “will.” Therefore, this is a will of God. The will of God is that we trust in Christ, then there are several “wills” for believers (Utley, R. J. (1997). Paul Bound, the Gospel Unbound: Letters from Prison (Colossians, Ephesians and Philemon, then later, Philippians) (Vol. Volume 8, p. 128). Marshall, TX: Bible Lessons International.)
This does not mean that a person tries to discern God’s secret counsel (his “hidden will”) but that he applies God’s general guidelines for life as found in the Bible (his “revealed will”; cf. Deut. 29:29 (Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (p. 2271). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.).
Too many Christians have the idea that discovering God’s will is a mystical experience that rules out clear thinking. But this idea is wrong—and dangerous. We discover the will of God as He transforms the mind (Rom. 12:1–2); and this transformation is the result of the Word of God, prayer, meditation, and worship. If God gave you a mind, then He expects you to use it. This means that learning His will involves gathering facts, examining them, weighing them, and praying for His wisdom (James 1:5). God does not want us simply to know His will; He wants us to understand His will (Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 47). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.).
In a universal sense, what can we definitively say is God's will? God’s will for our lives is first of all to belong to Him through Jesus Christ. His first and primary will for every person is that he be saved and brought into the family and kingdom of God (1 Tim. 2:3–4). God’s will is also that we be Spirit–filled. As Paul went on to teach in the following verse, we are not to “get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18).
We experience God’s will by being sanctified. “This is the will of God, your sanctification” (1 Thess. 4:3), Paul said. And we enjoy His will through proper submission. “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evil–doers and the praise of those who do right. For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men” (1 Pet. 2:13–15). Likewise we are to be submissive to leaders in the church: “Obey your leaders, and submit to them; for they keep watch over your souls, as those who will give an account” (Heb. 13:17).
God’s will may include suffering. “If when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God” (1 Pet. 2:20; cf. 3:17; 5:10). God’s will culminates in believers’ giving thanks no matter what. “In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thess. 5:18).
• When a person is saved, sanctified, submissive, suffering, and thankful, he are already in God’s will. “Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Ps. 37:4), David tells us. In other words, when we are what God wants us to be, He is in control and our will is merged with His will, and He therefore gives us the desires He has planted in our hearts.In all these points, from what is plain in scripture, we can see that God directs a moving target.
Please turn to Acts 16 (p.925)
On his second missionary journey Paul fulfilled the ministry God had planned for Galatia, a large province in the Roman Empire. He successfully strengthened, encouraged, and confirmed the saints. The job, for the present, was done. But Paul was not done; he was moving. He was a pattern of persistence. Paul headed west, not knowing God’s will specifically, but rolling so God could steer him. The next province was Asia Minor with its cities of Ephesus, Smyrna, Philadelphia, Laodicea, Colossae, Sardis, Pergamos, and Thyatira. Paul moved with Silas and Timothy toward Asia Minor, thrilled with the prospect of bringing the gospel to the people there. Suddenly, like a concrete wall on a highway, we find this action from the Holy Spirit:
Acts 16:6-10 [6]And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. [7]And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. [8]So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. [9]And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." [10]And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. (ESV)
• We don’t know how God stopped them, but He did. The closed door changed their direction, and they went north to Mysia, hoping to enter the province of Bithynia. But “the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them” (v. 7). Another roadblock. They had been stopped from going north and south and toward Galatia to the east. What now? At this point, we might have said, “All doors are closed; we may as well go home.” But Paul didn’t say that. There was still the west! So they followed the borderline between Asia Minor and Bithynia leading west until they came to the Aegean Sea. They were at the beach town of Troas, and “a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us’” (v. 9). No longer would Christianity be thought of as another Asian cult. It was going to Europe, a whole different culture, a new world! God wanted them in Macedonia all the time. But He never told them till they had proved their faith and persistence and couldn’t take another step.
• So many people sit around waiting for that celestial crane to move them, saying, “I don’t know what God wants me to do.” They need to start moving so God can steer them to that area of service He has planned. Knowing God’s will may mean pushing down a narrow line until you hit a dead end. At that point, God will open a door so wide you won’t be able to see around it—only through it! (MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2012). Found: God’s will. Colorado Springs, CO: David C Cook.)
• We dare not neglect the regular disciplines of prayer, Scripture reading, corporate worship, and sharing in koinonia, for through these we listen to the Word, we talk with the Lord and with others who are talking and walking with the Lord, and so we clarify His will (Dunnam, M. D., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1982). Galatians / Ephesians / Philippians / Colossians / Philemon (Vol. 31, pp. 221–222). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.)
(Format Note: some base commentary from MacArthur, John: Ephesians. Chicago : Moody Press, 1996, c1986, S. 215)
