Walking in Wisdom
(Sermon collected by Pastor.M.Sudhir)
Ephesians 5:15-21
I love the story of the young man of 32 who had been appointed President of the bank. He'd never dreamed he'd be president, much less at such a young age. So he approached the venerable Chairman of the Board and said, "You know, I've just been appointed President. I was wondering if you could give me some advice." The old man came back with just two words: "Right decisions!" The young man had hoped for a bit more than this, so he said, "That's really helpful, and I appreciate it, but can you be more specific? How do I make right decisions?" The old man simply responded, "Experience." The young man said, "Well, that's just the point of my being here. I don't have the kind of experience I need. How do I get it?" The older man replied, "Wrong decisions!"
We all need wisdom and we need a better way to gain it than the experience of making wrong decisions! The theme of this passage of Scripture is just that, walking in wisdom… God's wisdom.
The Bible often uses the word "walk" to symbolize how we live, our lifestyles. In this chapter we've learned a lot about walking the "walk" or living like a Christian. The main message is: Jesus should make a difference in our lives. In v.2 we are told to "walk in love." In v.8, we are commanded to "walk as children of the light." Now the Apostle Paul admonishes us to "walk… not as fools but as wise." One thing we all need is to learn how to walk in greater wisdom.
The Bible has a lot to say about wisdom. In this passage we will learn two aspects of walking in wisdom. First, to walk in wisdom is to live purposefully. Second, to walk in wisdom is to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
I. To Walk in Wisdom is to Live Purposefully (vv.15-17).
So many people wander aimlessly through life, rolling with the punches, accepting the high and lows, drifting with the tide and they never get anywhere. The wise person always has a direction, a purpose in life. Notice three ways we can live purposefully:
A. To Live with a Purpose is to Walk Circumspectly (v.15).
V.15 says we must "walk circumspectly." "Circumspectly" literally translates "carefully." We are to live or "walk" in a careful fashion.
Being careful means being wise. Pro.14:16 says, "A wise man fears and departs from evil, but a fool rages and is self-confident." 12:15 says, "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who heeds counsel is wise." 28:26 says, "He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but whoever walks wisely will be delivered."
To "walk circumspectly" or live carefully means paying attention to details. It means keeping your eyes open, looking where you are going.
Notice also in v.15 that we are to walk "not as fools but as wise." The opposite of walking carefully is to walk foolishly, not paying attention.
This past week, we took our children to the Six Flags Over Texas theme park. We had a wonderful time riding the rides and seeing all the show. However, one annoyance was that people kept bumping into us. Do you know what was happening? They were so involved in seeing all the sights that they were not looking where they were going. It's the same way in real life. We are so caught up in the day to day things that we foolishly fail to carefully look at the big picture.
Living carefully, "circumspectly" or wisely is to pay attention to where your life is going. Here are some examples:
No one sets out on a trip without having an idea of where they are going. We always have a destination in mind. We take out a map and plot our course. We have a time frame in mind.
No one builds a house without some blueprints or plans. Can you imagine a house built without a plan? I once knew of a pastor who had 7 children. Each time he had a child or two the church would build another room on the parsonage. It looked like a maze!
No one writes a book without a theme or a plot in mind. Who would want to read a book that had no direction?
No one hits a target unless they take aim. Whether you shoot a rife, handgun or bow, you must take careful aim.
Are you living your life carefully, "circumspectly" or wisely? Or, are you just taking things one day at a time, distracted by any and everything?
In an animated film of John Bunyan's classic Pilgrims Progress, Pilgrim, the main character is being attacked by roaring lions. The lions almost reach him but Pilgrim discovers that if he carefully watches his step and stays on his path, the lions cannot reach him. They are bound by chains that keep them just out of reach. However Pilgrim has to keep his eyes on the path. If he watches the lions, he'll veer off the path and be devoured. 1 Pet.5:8 says, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour."
B. To Live with a Purpose is to Redeem the Time (v.16).
V.16 tells us we are to be "redeeming the time." We are to be making the most of the time God gives to us. One of the reasons we need to walk carefully or "circumspectly" is because time is limited. We only have so much. A wise person uses time. A foolish person wastes it.
We all live at a frantic pace. We rush here and there. We take this call and make that one. We live in constant cycle of bedroom, bathroom, table and job. The problem is, much of that time is wasted.
We are so prone to waste time. I recently saw these statistics for a person who makes $25,000 per year working 40 hours per week. Each second is worth .2135, each hour worth 12.81. If he wasted one hour per day in a year those wasted hours would be worth $3,125. If he wasted one hour per day for 30 years those hours would be worth $93,750!
Tim Hansel in When I Relax, I Feel Guilty, quotes an article entitled, "If You Are 35, You Have 500 Days to Live." Its thesis was that when you subtract the time spent sleeping, working, tending to personal matters, hygiene, odd chores, medical matters, eating, traveling, and miscellaneous time-stealers, in the next thirty-six years you will have roughly the equivalent of only five hundred days left to spend as you wish. It is no wonder that Psa.90:12 says, "So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom."
I like this little poem from an unknown author:
"Just a tiny little minute only sixty seconds in it
Forced upon me. Can't refuse it. Didn't seek it, didn't choose it,
I must suffer if I loose it, Give account if I abuse it.
Just a tiny little minute, but eternity is in it."
Back in v.16, we learn that we are to be "redeeming the time because the days are evil."Our enemy, Satan wants to steal our time. He wants us to be so caught up in temporary things of little significance that we will fail to maximize eternal things of supreme importance.
The phrase "redeeming the time" can also be translated "buying back or buying up the time." In other words we are to seize every opportunity to refute what is evil or to "expose" or reprove "works of darkness" (v.11).
When I read this verse I think of Noah. He worked on the ark for 100 years because his days were "evil" too. He made the most of his time. He seized the opportunity. He preached as he hammered. However, people didn't listen. When the ark was shut and the rain began to fall, how people used their time determined who was "wise" who were "fools."
C. To Live with a Purpose is to Understand the Will of the Lord (v.17).
Again we see in this verse "do not be unwise" or foolish. Rather we are to "understand what the will of the Lord is." How can we walk carefully or "circumspectly?" How can we redeem the "time" in these "evil" days? How can we be wise? We must "understand" the "will of the Lord."
If we don't know God will, we will squander our time and resources doing things that really don't matter.
So much of what we do doesn't really matter. Have you ever heard of the 80/20 rule? 20% of the people do 80% of the work. The same is true in your life too. For the average person 80% of what we do has little long-term significance. John Maxwell says, "You cannot overestimate the unimportance of practically everything." In reality only about 20% of what you do really matters. Doing the will of the God is prioritizing that 20%!
General Eisenhower is quoted as saying, "The urgent is seldom important, and the important is seldom urgent." Too often life is controlled by the "tyranny of the urgent". We put aside higher and worthier goals to put out fires.
How can we "understand what the will of the Lord is?" We have to get in the Word. V.10 says we are to be "finding out what is acceptable to the Lord." We must study the Word of God to know the will of God!
If we are not daily learning from God's Word, we are not walking in wisdom, we are not seizing the time because we don't understand His will.
This week I was speaking with someone from our church family and she shared a story of encouragement from a friend of hers. This person felt his spiritual life was on empty. He talked to his pastor and the pastor told him to read the Bible every day. He thought that sounded like an "easy answer" to a difficult problem, but he decided to try anyway. As he did, he was amazed at how God spoke to him through the Scripture!
II. To Walk in Wisdom is to be Filled with the Spirit (vv.18-21).
These verses continue the contrast between wisdom and foolishness. Being "drunk with wine" is foolish. Being "filled with the Spirit" is wise.
The Meaning of being Filled with the Spirit (v.18).
First, Paul says "Do not be drunk with wine in which is dissipation" or excess. It is never "the will of the Lord" (v.17) for a believer to be "drunk" with alcohol. In the same sense he should never be high on drugs. Why? Because to be "drunk" or high is to be controlled by an outside substance.
Why do people drink alcohol, smoke pot or use other narcotics? Some want to escape the problems of today. Some want to forget the pain of the past. Some want to find a sense of joy. Some want to feel better. Some want to be accepted.
Though they may find temporary relief in alcohol or drugs, they also lose physical and mental control. It is "dissipation," which is a word that referred to someone who was incurably sick. It means self-destruction. Let's examine Proverbs 23:19-21, 29-33.
The question has long been asked "Can a Christian drink?" A better question is "Why should a Christian want to drink?" He can take his problems to Jesus. Jesus removes the guilt and pain of the past. Jesus gives lasting joy. Jesus makes us feel better. In Jesus we have total acceptance and unconditional love. In short, Jesus removes any reason for drinking!
Rather than being "drunk," we are to be "filled with the Spirit." Instead of being "under the influence" of alcohol, we should be "under the influence" of the Spirit of God.
Being "filled with the Spirit" does not mean being drunk with the Spirit. Alcohol is a depressant. The Spirit is a stimulant. To be "drunk" is to be out-of control. "Self-control" is a fruit of the Spirit (Gal.5:22-23).
When we were saved, we were indwelt with and sealed by the Holy Spirit. Let's reexamine 1:13-14 and 4:30. When we were saved we were baptized into Christ by the Spirit. 1 Cor.12:13 says, "For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body; whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free; and have all been made to drink into one Spirit." He convicts us, teaches us, leads us, intercedes for us and reveals God to us. If you are born again, you have all of the Holy Spirit you will ever need!
To be "filled with the Spirit" is something completely different. It is a command in the English language, but a much stronger injunction in the Greek NT. It literally reads, "You must be continuously filled by the Spirit." The questions then come, "Pastor, how can I be filled with the Holy Spirit? How can I obey this command?"
You can be "filled with the Holy Spirit" when you surrender yourself to the Spirit. Being "filled" is not asking for more of the Spirit, but relinquishing more of yourself to Him!
When I sense I am empty and need again to be filled with the power and presence of the Spirit, I just pray a prayer of surrender like this, "Lord, I'm empty. I feel spiritually powerless. I confess I've been operating in my strength, not Yours, doing my will, not Yours. I surrender myself to You and ask the Holy Spirit to fill me up that I may think the thoughts You want me to think, say the words You want me to speak and do the things You want me to do. I surrender afresh to You."
B. The Marks of being Filled with the Spirit (vv.19-21). How can you tell when a believer is Spirit-filled? How can you judge your own surrender? Paul gives us three marks of some who is "filled with the Spirit."
1. The Spirit-Filled Believer Loves Worship (v.19).
V.19 says we are to be "speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs." First, this does not mean that we are to stop talking and start communicating by singing. Rather, we are to be "singing and making melody in your [our] heart to the Lord."
When the Spirit fills you, you can't help but sing! 1 Pet.1:8 says, "Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible ["unspeakable" KJV] and full of glory."
"My life flows on in one endless song above earth's lamentation.
I hear the real, though far-off hymn that hails a new creation.
No storm can shake my inmost calm while to that rock I'm clinging.
It sounds an echo in my soul, how can I keep from singing?"
When we are Spirit-filled there won't just be a song of praise in our "heart" but we will also be "speaking" or singing "to one another." When we get together we will sing songs of praise to God and songs of encouragement for each other!
We will sings "psalms" - Scripture set to music. We will sing "hymns" - songs of praise directed to God. We will sing "spiritual songs" - songs of testimony that speak of our own walk with the Lord and encourage others.
Spirit-filled people overflow with song. Any time there is great revival there is an outpouring of great song writing. I want to encourage our congregation to write songs of praise and encouragement. Even if you are not musical, you can write lyrics. I want us to sing songs birthed in our own spiritual experiences.
Are you Spirit-filled? Even if you can't sing or read a note of music, do you find yourself "making melody in your heart to the Lord?"
2. The Spirit-Filled Believer Gives Thanks (v.20).
Singing is an inward mark of the filling of the Spirit. "Giving thanks for all things" is an upward mark of the filling of the Spirit.
The Spirit-filled believer is not a grumbler. He doesn't complain about what he doesn't have or what he wishes he did have. He simply thanks God for the gifts he has received. Let's examine Paul's words in Phil.4:10-13, 19.
We don't deserve anything. Everything we have comes from God. When we are filled by the Spirit He continually makes us aware that what we have are blessings from the Lord.
Are you Spirit-filled? Do you find yourself complaining more or thanking God more?
The Spirit-Filled Believer Submits to Others (v.21).
Singing is an inward mark of the filling of the Spirit, gratitude is an upward mark and "submitting to one another" is an outward mark.
In the next passage, we will learn about submission in marriage, but here we are dealing with the fact that all believers are to be willing to submit "to one another."
"Submitting to one another" means that we put the needs of others first. It means we seek to serve others, not ourselves. To be filled with the Spirit means that we will have the humility to put others first.
Jesus is our model. Even though He had everything, He held back nothing. He stripped Himself and washed the feet of the disciples. When we submit to Christ, we will submit to other believers.
Are you Spirit-filled? Do you find yourself humbly serving others or selfishly guarding your own selfish desires?
Remember the young bank president? He was searching for wisdom and was told it could only be found in wrong decisions and experience. I don't know about you but I've experienced too many wrong decisions. I want to redeem the time I have left to do the will of the Lord by being filled with the Holy Spirit. That's a right decision. That's a wise decision. God will honor it. How about you?
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