“Pull It Together”
Ephesians 5:17-18
REVIEW
I. Our Wealth and Worth In Christ 1-3
II. Our Worthy Walk in Christ 4-6
A. Live in Unity 4:1-16
B. Live in Newness of life 4:17-24
C. Live in Love 4:17-24
D. Live in Purity 5:3-14
E. Live in Wisdom 5:15-6:9
Wisdom is the practical application of data or knowledge. It applies to human relationships and general life skills. Paul expanded on this general instruction with five ways to specifically live wisely.
• Seize every opportune moment for eternal purposes (make the most of every moment).
• Understand the will of the Lord.
• Don’t zone out but tune in.
• Be continually enlightened and energized by the Holy Spirit.
• Live under submission
1. Seize every opportune moment for eternal purposes 5:15-16
Be careful how you live, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of (redeeming) the time, because the days are evil.
Use your time wisely because we live in evil times. Make good use of every opportunity to grow and serve.
2. Understand the will of the Lord 5:17
Today, we will finish exploring the subject of knowing the will of God and doing it.
“Therefore”
Every verse of Scripture connects to the surrounding verses in some way. There is a divine logic that unfolds as you understand those connections. This verse is connected to the previous thought in verse 16 that spells out the urgency associated with the command to make the best use of our time. Use time wisely because we live in evil days. Because we live in evil days, we also must stop living foolishly but work to understand what the will of the Lord is.
This command has a negative and positive aspect. We are to discontinue a particular way of life and practice another. Stop that! Practice this!
In the face the evil days in which we live, we need to stop taking our clues from the culture around us and focus on what God wants. We need to understand the will of the Lord. We need to understand how God wants us to live during our remaining time in this evil age.
We looked at the three main terms used in this verse. "Foolish", "understand" and "will".
"Foolish"
This term comes from a positive noun meaning to reign in ones thought and emotions. With a negative “un” or “a” it indicates a failure to reign in one’s thoughts and emotions or to be act foolishly. It was used to describe how a child generally functions. Children fail to properly reign in their thinking and emotions and act more impulsively. They have not learned to process those thought and emotions and act wisely. Proverbs tells us that foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child and the rod of discipline is needed to eradicate it. At the core of foolishness is a failure to think or act according to eternal principles or truth. The fool has declared in his heart there is not God. Foolish behavior fails to keep God at the center of life.
The fool denies or ignores God’s place in their lives. Paul exhorts them not to leave God out of the equation of their lives but to include Him. In contrast to living according to fleshly impulses, Paul called them to live with spiritual understanding. He told them to understand what the will of the Lord is.
"Understand"
The word for understand means to put together, figure out, comprehend. In contrast to failing to reign in our thinking and emotions Paul calls them to put it all together. So many operate by impulses rather than clear thinking. So many make decisions based on what they feel is right rather than what God says is right. Wise living carefully scrutinizes why we do what we do.
Wise living considers God's will in all our decision-making. Paul told them and us to get it together, understand, comprehend what the will of the Lord is in the matter. This kind of understanding not only knows what God wants but why.
It is one thing to know I shouldn’t steal. It is another to understand the principles of why it is wrong to steal and all of the consequences of such behavior. Understanding the command includes understanding the damage that it does to the soul and the hurt to the heart of God.
“Will”
The term "will" refers to something that is determined, or desired, or something we wish or have an inclination toward. As we pull together the many Scriptures related to the will of God, the first thing that we discover is that there are at least two aspects to His will and a possible third category.
a. God’s Determined will
The determined will of God relates to those things that will without a doubt happen.
They are things that God absolutely determines will happen.
Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, 'My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure'… Isaiah 46:9-10
His plan is always in agreement with His character. It is loving, wise, good, holy, just, perfect, well-pleasing. It always relates to the summing up of all things in His Son both things in heaven and on earth. The determined will of God can be discovered in his written revelation. Even then, it can only best be understood after it transpires in time and space.
b. God’s Desired or moral will
The desired will of God relates to those things that God wants to happen but may or may not happen dependent on the response of his creatures who He has determine to allow free choice. There are the things God determines will happen and other that God desires would happen. He is not willing that any should perish but we know from Scripture that some will.
It is God’s desired will that everyone would obey his commandments. God desires all would live in holiness and obedience. God desires faithfulness from all his creatures.
Because God has allowed for free choice and the entrance of evil into His creation, there will be those who transgress the desired will of God by that personal choice. God's determined will cannot be resisted or violated. God's desired will, for now, can be resisted and refused. God's Determined will relates to those things that will most assuredly transpire. God's Desired will are those things that may or may not take place depending upon the response and individual choices of His creatures. God's desired will is also known also through His written revelation.
What pleases him? What does he want? All of these things can be understood from Scripture.
Some of it is absolutely clear. There are many passages that talk about what pleases God and what does not. It is God's desire that we live no longer for the lust of men but the will of God.
In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ concerning you. All of the commands regarding attitudes, actions, thoughts, and deeds are the expressed desired will of God for us.
Other aspects of what pleases God are understood through continual exposure to His word.
We want to mature to the point where God’s desire is our desire; what God wants we want.
Paul prayed that the Colossians would be filled or permeated with the knowledge of God's will.
This prayer is packed with clues to what pleases God.
For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
Paul used the same word regarding the will of God as he used in the next verse regarding the Holy Spirit. To be filled is to be permeated or saturated. It is like wind “filling” the sails of a boat. It has to do with empowerment, direction, absorption, immersion, captivation. We are to captivated by God’s will. We are to be immersion in the knowledge of what God wants.
We are to be filled with the knowledge of His will. Not just with the facts but with all spiritual wisdom and understanding (same term in Ephesians).
The understanding of God’s will absorbing our thinking enables a corresponding walk or life.
We can then live a life worthy of the Lord.
so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
A true understanding of God’s will enables us to please Him in every area of life not just church life. Our life becomes dedicated to pleasing God which results in fruitfulness in whatever task we set out to do. As we engage in pleasing God, we will develop even greater capacity to know and understand God. Hebrews tells us that it is by practice that our senses are trained to discern good and evil. As we practice His will throughout our life we better understand it and want it.
The thing that enables us to live this way it the supernatural strength of the Holy Spirit.
strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. Colossians 1:9-12
This concept is inseparable linked to the work of the Holy Spirit in our life. In Colossians Paul called it “His glorious might”. In the next verse Paul describes it as being “filled” with the Holy Spirit. This super human strengthening enables “steadfastness” through “evil days” and difficult circumstances along with “longsuffering” with difficult people. Through it all we will express deep gratitude to God who reaffirms our true nature as children of light and the cost it took to bring about these character changes.
c. God’s Distinct (individual) Will
In addition to God’s determine will and desired will, it appear that a third possible category can be single out. God’s individual will relates to specific details related to individuals. Job, career, life partner, ministry, location, colds, tragedies, successes. It is clear from Scripture that God conveyed specific direction to specific individuals at particular periods in their life and ministry apart from direct Biblical direction.
* Paul was called to be an apostle by the will of God.
* Paul was given specific direction concerning where he was to take the Gospel.
* Cornelius and Peter were linked by specific revelation to each one.
* Philip was directed to a Divine encounter with the Ethiopian.
* Prophets were given specific revelations necessary to the bringing about of God's determined will.
At times it took much prayer in order to determine God's distinct direction. Decisions were often made on the basis of wisdom. "It seemed good to us and the Holy Spirit." At times, God expects us to do the right thing based on our acquired knowledge of His desired will as communicated in His written word.
Should I neglect to report some of my income to the IRS? There was not IRS mentioned in the Bible. There are sufficient references that tell us not to cheat and to pay our taxes even to pagan governments.
Other choices in life simply do not matter to God and He allows us to choose based on our own personal desires. We can grow and be who God wants us to be whether we decide to eat Wheaties in the morning for breakfast or Cheerios. Some assert that God no longer issues specific direction to individuals. They would insist that it's all up to us. The only direction God gives is that which has been directly revealed in the Scriptures. There is no specific Spirit prompting, only decisions based on biblical wisdom. God doesn't tell us what college to go to or what person to marry; it's all up to us.
Others postulate a very frustrating view that asserts God specifically determines every moment and aspect of our life and every decision we make happens by God's direction. There is only one person to marry. There is only one option. This seems to me to eliminate free will all together. If God determines it all, there is no room for human choice.
I embrace a balance between the schools of thought. There are many things God does dictate and arrange. God expects us to live a life according to the principles of wisdom revealed in the Bible but also we must be sensitive and open to any specific direction he might choose to reveal throughout our life. If he supplies no specific direction, then make a choice based on wisdom. If you ask about which car to buy and He remains silent; buy the one you like.
Any of the commands of Scripture clearly communicate God's desire for His creatures.
He desires these things because we are made in His image and thus are made to operate most efficiently according to the manufacture’s specifications. Knowing God's desired will for all believers is not so difficult. It has been pretty clearly spelled out for us in His word. The most difficult aspect of God's will for our life has to do with those things that have no specific biblical revelation. Here are some guidelines on how we might discover God's direction in those instances.
* Operate your life first by the principles of God's revealed will.
Keep a journal of things you run across in Scripture that are obviously the will of God. Those clearly spelled our declarations provide a framework for addressing those things not specifically mentioned in the Bible. Is it a sin to smoke? The Bible does not address smoking.
One might appeal to verses about properly treating the body as God’s dwelling place.
Then you would have to include a ton of other things to consider eliminating besides smoking.
* Focus on cultivating your relationship with God.
It is most likely in the context of a close relationship with God that you will hear any specific instruction. It was while Peter was in prayer with God that he gave specific direction concerning Gentiles. In fact many times God communicated clear direction in the course of a prayer meeting. The closer we are to God, the more likely we will hear that specific direction
If we are so distracted with the noise of the world, we could miss or misinterpret His direction.
* Be alert and sensitive to but not completely dependent upon:
Counsel of others -- Circumstances – Consequences -- Common sense – Compulsion – Conscience – Contentment
Remember! God sometimes works through these things but so can Satan. Our compulsion may be a stirred flesh rather than the Spirit. None of these things should ever contradict the clear direction from Scriptures. God will never prompt us to do what He has expressly forbidden in Scripture. God does not contradict Himself – ever. I have had people tell me that God told them something and then the next week told them something entirely different. One or the other was not God.
Wisdom learned through the Scriptures is the foundational source for making all decisions in life. As our minds are permeated with His revealed wisdom, we will better discern His direction.
* Ask God for confirmation of plans and direction
Every fact is confirmed by two or three witness; watch for it.
* Be willing to obey if he speaks.
If you really want to know, be prepared to do. If we aren’t going to do it anyway, He probably will not speak. As these things are in place, God will give specific direction as needed in our ministry for Him here on this earth.
May we be like Jesus who was all about knowing and doing the will of his Father.
Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work. John 4:34
May understanding and doing His will be what drives us.
May understanding and doing His will be what sustains us.
May understanding and doing His will become what pleases us; for it is God who is at work within us both to will and to do His good pleasure.
God seeks / desires those who will worship Him in spirit and truth. (John 4)
Let’s stop living as if God was not a part of our lives and become more understanding of the will of the Lord.
May we pull it all together so we can live in a manner worthy of the Lord who saved us!
