Over the this last month, we have been examining what Paul described as: that you put off, … the old man ... and that you put on the new man … (Ephesians 4:22a and 24a)
As Christians, we have become a new creation in Christ. As a new creation, we discussed how taking off the old man is like taking off old smelly clothes and putting on the new man is like putting on new clean cloths. We are a new person, or at least we should be. The old man, however, keep rearing its ugly head and we have problems shedding the old man. The new man doesn’t show through and we grieve the Holy Spirit in which we were sealed for the day of redemption.
But as we shed the old man, we are to imitate God and walk in love as Jesus did. Last week we looked at how we should be walking in the Light, the light of Jesus. Today, the final sermon of this series, we will examine how we are to walk in wisdom, the wisdom that comes from walking in the Spirit. Notice how the word “walk” is used. It is a keyword in Paul’s writings. Paul uses the word “walk” seven times in the book of Ephesians In fact, Paul uses “walk" 38 time in all his letters, all used in the sense of how people lives their lives. It involves the whole scope of activities involved in life.
How we walk, or live as Christians define who we are. We have a whole world of people who talk one way and walk another. Talk is important, but if the walk does not reflect the talk, then the talk is meaningless.
Ephesians 5:15–21
An average football telecast lasts 174 minutes, including 60 minutes of commercials. Time between plays, when players are huddling, adds up to 75 minutes, and 17 minutes of the telecast is replays. There are only 11 minutes of executing plays, or about 6 percent of the telecast. [1]
What if our lives were like a football game, with only 6 percent of our time on earth being meaningful? Paul tells us:
Ephesians 5:15–16 (NKJV) See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
How do we walk? A few short moments of action, and the rest of the time viewing the replays, looking at commercials, or being in a huddle ever planning, or just standing around watching the clock count down? Paul tells us we should walk: “circumspectly” or as other translation say, “carefully” not as fools or as the unwise. but wisely.
Why is it so important that we be wise in all of our walk? Verse 16 says: “redeeming the time” I like the HCSB which says “making the most of the time.” The NIV says “making the most of every opportunity.” We spend way too much time on selfish pursuits, on things that do not matter. Does what you do make a difference in this world? Why?
Why should we be making a difference in this world? “because the days are evil.” The days are growing shorter. The word tells us that the “god of this age” which is Satan, rules. And the days are growing closer to Jesus’ return. And in the big scheme of things, our live are short. James 4:14 tells us that we are just vapor, we’re here and we are gone. We must walk as wise, because there is no time to walk otherwise.
The philosophy of the world is so much different. Just view beer commercials: “Go for the gusto.” The implication is to grab all can, because "you only go around once in life." It is all about me.
For the Christian, it ought to be all about Jesus. We were placed here to glorify Him. What do we do in life to bring glory to God?
The days are evil and Jesus is coming soon. It matters little if we meet in in the air, or Jesus calls us home before that time. A.W. Tozer wrote: “Time is a resource that is non-renewable and non-transferable. You cannot store it, slow it up, hold it up, divide it up or give it up. You can’t hoard it up or save it for a rainy day–when it’s lost its unrecoverable. When you kill time, remember that it has no resurrection.” [2]
Our time is short, we must have had fully taken off the old man, put on the new man and be walking-living our lives, carefully, not as fools, but as wise. So how does that work?
Ephesians 5:17 (NKJV) Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
God call us to be wise. We are use our God given smarts, and we are called not just to know the will of God, but to understand it as well. This is a recurring theme of Paul, knowing and understanding the will of God. Over that last few weeks we looked at:
Ephesians 4:23 (NKJV) and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
Ephesians 5:1 (NKJV) Therefore be imitators of God as dear children.
Ephesians 5:10 (NKJV) finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.
Last week we looked briefly at Romans 12:2, that we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds so we may discern the perfect will of God. We walk in wisdom so that we can know and understand the will of God. We start by doing the will that we know, and as we do what we know we will grow in our understanding. This much we do know:
Ephesians 1:4–5 (NKJV) just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
There is an excellent Bible study for small groups that came out over 20 years ago called “Experiencing God” by Henry Blackably. The subtitle was “Knowing and Doing the Will of God.” One of the point Henry Blackaby makes is for us to open our eyes. See where God is working around us and join Him there. Often we make the mistake of making plans and then invite God to join us and then we ask God to bless our work. It rarely works that way. More times than not, we are asked to join in the work that God is already doing. Paul adds a vital ingredient to make this happen.
Ephesians 5:18 (NKJV) And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,
Its interesting that Paul would add the command, not to get drunk. In the Greek, the command is in the present passive tense meaning to stop an ongoing action. In other words he is saying “Stop getting drunk with wine.” Being drunk leads to dissipation, The NIV has debauchery, the CSB has reckless living. Ephesus was a center for pagan worship and one of the pagan gods worshipped with enthusiasm was the Greek god of wine, Dionysius, or the Roman equivalent called Baccus. Worship of this pagan god involve drunken orgies. Being filled with wine was how they thought they could know and do the will of their god. Many of the new Christians in Ephesus came out of that culture.
Paul counters that. That was part of the old man that was to be taking off. Instead of being filled with wine or the things of this world, we are to be filled the with the Holy Spirit. On one had we are not to be under the control of wine and the things of this world, but rather we submit to the control and influence of the Holy Spirit.
Put into context, this is not a new filling of the Spirit. At the moment of our conversion, at that point when we were regenerated into a new creation before God, we were filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the agent of filling and Jesus Christ is content of that filling. We were indwelled by the Holy Spirit:
1 John 4:13 (NKJV) By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.
God sealed us with His Holy Spirit:
Ephesians 1:13–14 (NKJV) In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
And we are taught by the Holy Spirit:
1 John 2:27 (NKJV) But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.
We have all of the Spirit. The question is, does the Spirit have all of you and all of me? The wise walk is a walk that is controlled by the Spirit.
Galatians 5:25 (NKJV) If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
The command to be filled in the Spirit in context means we are to walk in the Spirit. So how do we know we are walking in the Spirit? Aside from showing the fruit of Spirit vice the fruit of the flesh (Gal 5:19-23), Paul gives us 4 indicators.
Ephesians 5:19–21 (NKJV) speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, 20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another in the fear of God.
First, we communicate with one another. Remember Paul is talking to those within the church, with body of Christ and we have an ongoing fellowship. We need to be lifting one another up. How? With “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.” There is great president for singing hymns together. But often there is resistance to singing new hymns. One Music minister received a letter from one in his congregation:
“What is wrong with the inspiring hymns we grew up with? When I go to church, it is to worship God, not to be distracted with learning a new song. Last Sunday’s was particularly unnerving. The song was un-singable and the harmonies were quite distorting.” The letter in was written 1890 about the hymn “What A Friend We Have In Jesus.” [3]
There are many hymns yet to be written and in fact, the book of Revelation tells us that in heaven we will be singing a new song. Singing together and to one another is something you cannot do sitting in front of your TV.
Second, we will communicating with the Lord by “singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” Have you ever thought about that? Communicating with Jesus by singing to Him by the melody in our hearts?
Thirdly, by the Spirit in with the filling of the Spirit, we are to be: “giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We are to be giving thanks to God for all things, for the good, as well as for the not so good. For the way God turns aversity into blessings. Even when do not see it. God has all things in His hands and the very hairs of our heads are numbered and sparrow does not fall to the ground without His knowledge.
And forth, we are to be “submitting to one another in the fear of God.” We are to submit to one another vice dominate one another. The rest of Chapter 5 and through Ephesians 6:9 Paul discusses in detail how that submission works in life. We will not be going there, but allow me to summarize. In the husband-wife relationship, the wife submits to the authority of the husband and the husband submits to the needs of the wife. In Ephesians 6, children submit to the authority of the parents but the parents submit to the needs of the children. Slaves or employees are to submit to the authority of their master/employers and the master/employers submit to the needs of their slaves/employees. The principle is an attitude of mutual subjection, which is a mark of being filled with the Holy Spirit. It is simply a matter of fulfilling the golden rule: doing to others as we would have others do to us.[4]
The question this morning is: “Are we walking wisely, walking in the Spirit, being filled -rather yielding all to the Spirit, allowing the Spirit to have full control over our lives, so that we are making the most of the time God is giving us, because the days are evil.
Perhaps you don’t know what we are talking about because you are still walking the strength of your flesh and not the Spirit. Paul tells us Romans:
Romans 8:9 (NKJV) But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.
The evidence of our salvation is the indwelling of the Spirit. And the external evidence of that indwelling Spirit is a changed life.
We cannot change our lives on our own. We can only fake it for a short period of time then our true sinful nature of our old man takes over. To have Spirit is the putting on of the new man and allowing the Spirit direct our path, so that we bring glory to Jesus in all we say and in all we do. It is an act of God to bring the fullness of His Presence through his Spirit into our lives. Our we allowing God to work through us? Are you walking wisely in the Spirit today?
[1] Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell, “Eleven Minutes of Action,” in 300 Illustrations for Preachers, ed. Elliot Ritzema (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015). (taken from David Biderman, “11 Minutes of Action,” http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704281204575002852055561406.html
[2] From a sermon by David Cook, Adding Strength To Your Family, 5/6/2010. www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/76308/eternity-by-sermoncentral?ref=TextIllustrationSerps
[3] www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/100374/worship-by-james-chandler?ref=TextIllustrationSerps
[4] Max Anders, Galatians-Colossians, vol. 8, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 173.
