Opportunity
Ephesians Series
CCCAG 5-29-22
Scripture- Ephesians 5:15-18
When I went to ANOC, which is the school in the Army to qualify you for senior NCO ranks within your military specialty, they gave you a recommended reading list to enhance what they were teaching you. One of the books was called The Art of War by Sun Tzu, in which this ancient Chinese general who lived about 600 years before Jesus was born. Sun Tzu shared his philosophy about life and war. From that came a saying that I’ve always remembered-
In the Chinese language, the word crisis has two meanings. The first meaning agrees with our English way of understanding a time of potential danger or risk.
The other meaning is – a time of opportunity. Keep that in mind for a moment. I’m going to take a step back from the central message but then bring it all together in a moment.
The time I am writing this is Tuesday, 5:54 pm. It just came across the news wires that there was a horrific school shooting in Texas where (edited)19 children and two teachers were killed.
Let’s take a moment and pray for those families.
Again, the news just is reporting this now, but I’m going to make a few predictions- and I’m not using any information other than what I briefly read in a news article on the internet-
1. The shooter was well known to law enforcement.
2. He was mentally ill
3. Question of the legal status of the firearm he possessed. In this case- the pistol.
Given these facts, and the fact he already broke federal law by being within 1000 feet of a school with a firearm, the anti-freedom people will still call for additional laws and restrictions on those who would never use their right to keep and bear arms to harm anyone who wasn’t trying to harm them first.
But more laws won’t stop the next mass shooter. You can’t legislate away evil.
If you could- then Jesus didn’t need to come- we could have been perfected by simple obedience to the law, but the bible is very clear that we can’t be made perfect that way- humanity will always fail in this.
This tragedy showed us the following-
The kingdom of darkness understands how to wage war better than those who are in God’s kingdom. They never ever let a crisis go to waste to promote their agendas.
I was thinking about warfare and God and thought, “God really doesn’t need to even know warfare. After all, He is all powerful.
God’s smallest thought could send the entire universe into nothingness.
Snap- there goes creation. Done.
However the bible shows us that God’s favorite name for HIMself in the Old Testament is Yahweh Sabaoth- the LORD of Hosts.
That’s a military title. In our way of thinking today- that’s a grizzled old Army General sitting on top of an Abram’s tank growling, “Let’s go get them boys!”
So God knows and understands warfare, and he does expect us to understand a bit about warfare, but not so much warfare on this plane of existence- but in the arena of our true existence- which is the spiritual place of existence.
Here is an example of God telling us how to wage war on this plane-
2 Cor 10:3-6
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
What the bible is teaching us is that we need to become wiser in the way we conduct ourselves here. On this Memorial Day weekend- We need to start believing and living as if we are in a war.
It’s a war that has weapons
It’s a war that has an enemy that hates you
It’s a war that will have casualties.
And it’s a war that will determine your very survival- both in this life, and in the life to come.
Premise-
As Christians we have to treat this like a platoon of soldiers navigating a minefield with snipers in every tree- that’s our spiritual reality. We need to be very careful how we walk in today’s world.
At the beginning of the message, I talked about the Chinese word for crisis.
We are in crisis, but instead of trying to avoid the danger in the crisis, let’s use the crisis as an opportunity to show the World Jesus in our lives.
That brings us to our central verse for today-
Eph 5:15-18
15 Be very careful, then, how you live — not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish but understand what the Lord's will is.
Prayer
In the book of Ephesians, Paul takes changes direction from teaching very important truths about Christianity to adopting a decidedly militaristic tone.
This is purposeful in the structure of the Book of Ephesians. Paul begins the book describing who we are in Christ, what is expected of us, and how we are to behave in front of a lost and dying world before he gets into the warfighting part of the book.
Isn’t that how the modern military works- they teach you the basics of how to be a soldier for weeks before you get to fire a rifle.
They teach you how to wear a uniform.
They teach you how to stand, to walk, to salute, to march. Even exactly how to tie your boots is taught to you long before you ever touch a weapon and learn it’s use.
The Holy Spirit does the same thing here in Paul’s writings.
In a few weeks we will cover the Armor of God which is the warfighting part of our existence, but for today, let’s go over some basic Christian soldier topics.
Here are a few things we need to learn as Christian soldiers on how to survive and thrive in this battlefield
I. Be very careful how you live
One of the reasons the church has lost its effectiveness in our time is because we have allowed ourselves to get sloppy in the way that we live.
Let me give you an example from my life-
I’m a fan of the Star Wars movies. I grew up with them, and every one of my friends who were also fans kept telling me how good the various Star Wars series were on Disney+.
However at the time all of these things came out, I didn’t want to stretch our budget anymore on streaming services at that time as the money was still tight.
Then I started getting significantly more money from getting my nursing degree. About the same time, I got an email with a promotional deal for Disney + for under $10 a month for the first 6 months and thought- “sure, why not” and signed up for it.
I enjoyed watching the series and finding out little cultural things like who baby Yoda was, and seeing the redemption of Boba Fett, and even watched a few movies from my childhood I loved like the Black Hole.
Then I started to read new stories of the Disney corporation actively promoting social and political ideals that are directly opposed to the LORD I serve and what HIS word plainly teaches.
I was in prayer one day after I read some of the new stories surrounding what they supported, and The Holy Spirit reminded me of a verse from Romans 1.
If you remember, Romans 1:18-32 shows how a society or culture disintegrates into chaos, sin, and debauchery and the last verse says-
Rom 1:32
Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them
I looked at that verse in the Greek and found that the English word “approve” here in the Greek language is pretty underpowered for what Paul is expressing here. A direct translation would be that “they not only continue to do such things, but take great pleasure in doing these things themselves and enthusiastically support those who do them.
What the Holy Spirit convicted me of is that my Disney+ subscription was helping them lead others away from the truth of the Gospel, therefore I canceled it immediately.
Now I’m not telling you to cancel or drop support of anything- that’s between you and God.
If you cancel or stop doing something because a pastor told you to, you get no reward.
However, if you do something to please God, you reap His blessing, His presence, and His reward both here and in heaven.
I would just encourage you as your friend and pastor to really consider where your money goes for entertainment.
Or as our scripture this morning implores us to “Be very careful how you live”
One of the reasons the church has lost it’s way in our day is because we have supported organizations that are trying to destroy us.
In essence, we have bought the ammo for the gun that is pointed at our heads, and then helped them pull the trigger.
This is where the Kingdom of Darkness can be wiser than the church- they don’t give ANY help or resources toward anything that opposes them.
Let’s live our lives the same way.
II. Make the most of every opportunity
This is a hard one for me.
Most of us, especially the men here, view ourselves through the lens of what we do to make money.
For example-
Someone in the military will often wear something or have something on their vehicle that indicates the branch of the Armed services that they are in.
A firefighter will always wear their job shirts or t-shirts that shows they are a firefighter. Let’s not even talk about a volunteer’s pager always being on (My pager is the bane of Tammie’s existence).
Same thing for EMT’s, nurses, law enforcement, even some physicians are always identifying themselves through their vocation.
Why? Because they are proud of what they do.
I used to be like that about being a paramedic- everything I wore- t-shirts, coats, ect pointed to my job.
Then one day, our family is out walking in the woods, and our dog Candy gets stuck in a river under a fallen tree. I climb up on the tree and am trying to pull her out when the leash lets go, my foot gets caught in a branch as I twist and fall off the tree and hear and feel a large pop in my left knee. Instant severe pain and swelling started. I managed to hobble back out of the woods and get home. Long story short- the doctor sent me for an MRI which showed damage to the meniscus and a blown out ACL, and partial tear to the MCL- the two ligaments that hold your knee together. We make an appointment with the surgeon who gives me this news-
Your days of being a paramedic and volunteer firefighter are over. The damage is significant enough that you will not be able to do that job after surgery.
I’m 42 years old at the time. Critical care paramedic was the thing that largely made up who I was- and it was the only thing I knew that was marketable outside of entry level positions. I felt like my whole world was crashing down on me, and I’d be stuck back in a factory making much less money, and not having that title to prop up who I was.
The next time I went to his office, I saw his PA Brian. I told Brain- you fix the knee, and I’ll be back on the ambulance in 3 months. He told me that’s impossible.
Well, surgery was December 17th. I started back on the ambulance without restriction March 1st.
I took every chance I could to do rehab. Every time I could get on a stationary bike, I was on it. I wore ankle weights and just sat on the couch raising and lowering my leg. I did stretching even though it hurt like heck. I made the most of every opportunity to rehab and strengthen that leg until the doctor had no choice but to shake his head at me and clear me for full duty on the ambulance.
I did that because my family needed me to have a good paying job so I could support them, and a lot of my personal sense of identity was wrapped up in what I did for a living.
How does that match up with what Paul is trying to tell us here? It’s this principle here-
We identify with what is important to us. We use every opportunity to tell people all about it, and make it a central part of our identity.
When I first became a Christian- I was all in.
In 1993 when I gave my heart to Christ, I threw away all my secular music. I threw away secular t-shirts and bought only Christian t-shirts.
I carried my 5-pound Life Application Bible in the leather cover everywhere.
(have someone hold one up)
We represented back in the day- that was our sword and we were proud of it.
We need to get some of that back into our lives again. Not necessarily carrying huge bibles with us everywhere, but being the representative of Christ that he called us to be.
Billy Graham said you are the only bible most people will ever read. If they were to open your pages, would they be blank, or filled with the goodness of God in your life?
Are you taking the opportunity to be a witness for Christ?
It might be with the checker at the store that is wearing their misery on their sleeve. Ask them how they are doing.
Ask them if you can pray for them. Tammie is a lot better at this than I am.
You would be surprised how many people, even if they are initially shocked will respond favorably to you.
And if they don’t, move on. Pray for them anyway.
Listen- you need to get rid of the idea that it’s only the pastor who does these things, or maybe a board member or elder.
God strategically put you where you are, and you might be the eldest Christian there. You may be the pastor to that person. You are as much in the ministry as I am.
When you believe that, your light will become brighter as people see Jesus shine through you.
Remember, as the darkness continues to encroach on our daily lives, it simply means your light can shine that much brighter.
I want to give you an illustration of this-
Imagine you are standing on the 50 yard line in the US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on a rainy night with the dome closed and they shut of the power to the entire downtown area. It is pitch black- no light at all. If you light a candle in the middle of that darkness- guess what- Every seat in that stadium will see that light.
The same is true of how you live your life here on earth. It doesn’t matter how dark it gets.
It doesn’t matter if the enemy is coming in like a flood.
John 1:4-5
4 In Jesus was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not overcome it.
The enemy doesn’t change who we are in Christ. Our job is to stand firm and shine our light back at the overwhelming darkness coming at us and say- “This little light of mine has a name- Jesus Christ! I’m going to let Him in me shine into the darkness. This is who I am in HIM, and my life will bring glory to him in every aspect.”
Finally, the bible tells us
III. Do not be foolish- but have God’s wisdom
That word for foolish here in the text does not mean, “Lack of knowledge”
It is tied to your actions and has a strong moral sense to it.
In other words we could paraphrase-
“Let your actions reflect who and what you believe through the wisdom God gives to you”
There is an awesome promise in the bible about wisdom-
James 1:5
If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
This is a non-negotiable bible promise. This is a prayer that God will always answer in the affirmative because as His wisdom comes, so does He!
In other words, James is saying- if you ask for wisdom, you are asking for more of God, and God will come rushing into you bringing not only his wisdom, but his courage, his strength, his might, his power and His presence.
He will give you the courage and strength to stand firm in these last days and shine that light of Jesus Christ to everyone around you.
And that will show that you are making the most of every opportunity to show Jesus to those who desperately need HIM.
All rise.
Conclusion- pray for memorial day and thank God for those who died for our freedoms.
Altar Call
