Walking as the Wise - part 1

Well, if you would take your Bible and turn back to chapter 5 the verses that we were in earlier and we did read verses 15 to 21, but I did say that we'll cover verses 15 to 17 this morning and the rest of the verses in this new section will be next week will be a part two and I'm going to reference a few other scriptures as a matter of fact I'm going to reference an entire book and that entire book is going to be part of your homework assignment Yes, we all have some homework Now this morning we're going to start a new section of teaching here and that starts here in verse 15 And I've said a couple of times it goes on to verse 21 and just like all that we've studied in chapter 4 and chapter 5 What Paul teaches here it all centers around practical Christian living I think most of you know the division of the book of Ephesians the first portion of the book is Theological doctrinal very rich there and then the second half of the book is very very practical Now earlier in chapter 5 we learned that we are to be imitators of God Walking in love as beloved children of God we are to imitate the great example of Christ that God has set before us And we also learned that we are to walk as children of the light We were once darkness, but after coming to faith in Christ We are light in the Lord and as Paul was calling us to be imitators of God and as Paul was in his Calling us to walk as children of the light.

He made some very stark and very relevant contrasts The contrast Paul makes or start meaning the contrast or pronounced They're easy to see and these contrasts are very relevant meaning that we see some of these very same things in our day and time Now think with me about these contrasts and you tell me if these things really don't speak to write where we are Paul contrasted being imitators of God up against Living in all sorts of sexual immorality and various verbal sins He said this is how the sinful world lives But those things should not be even named among you as God's people and he went on to say do not be deceived here Those who habitually practice such sins will not inherit the kingdom of God now think about how relevant this is for our day There's a whole segment of the evangelical world that are trying to bring these types of Immorality and these immoral sins into the life of the church and call them Christian He then contrasted walking as children of the light up against living in darkness and doing the shameful deeds of the lost That are done in darkness He said this is how the sinful world lives But you as God's people should take no part in those dark deeds And he went on to say don't partake in such deeds, but expose them He said don't speak of such deeds, but expose them and this is very relevant for us today We should be about exposing the dark deeds that are done in darkness Well starting here in verse 15 Paul introduces another contrast Here he contrasts wise living up against unwise living He contrasts certain things that have to do with wise living up against certain things that have to do with unwise living Many of you have the Bible commentator William McDonald his one-volume commentary.

It's a good resource I would recommend it for you and recommend it to you, but I like what he says here. He says Paul contrasts Foolish footsteps and careful conduct. I like that Might stick in your mind. He's contrasting foolish footsteps and careful conduct and look Paul isn't doing anything new here much of the book of Proverbs is is about contrasting the wise up against the fool So much of the book of Proverbs is about contrasting the wise man wise living and gaining and keeping wisdom up against the fool and foolish living and ignoring even scoffing at Wisdom and we're going to revisit Proverbs a little later on in the message But we need to see something before we get into the verses all these things are closely connected These positive commands sometimes are called admonitions are like links in a chain We are to be imitators of God and Christ Jesus.

That's one link We are to walk and live as children of the light That's another link and we are to live or walk wisely. We're going to learn this morning. That is another link Maybe you can think of them as a chain honestly Paul's positive commands here They start back in chapter four so there are more links to the chain We cover them and it might do you some good to go back in your own study Starting chapter four and notice those positive admonitions and link them together Now here this morning We're looking at a contrast between wise living and unwise living we will be examining Walking in wisdom up against following the footsteps of foolishness Now let me show you how we're going to approach these verses We're gonna have one major truth or one point of instruction We're gonna look at a call to carefully examine daily living and then we're gonna have some sub points that will follow Throughout the message you can follow them Easily as we progress through the message and the verses now I want us to go back and read the verses get them in our minds first 15 16 and 17 Paul says look carefully then how you walk not as unwise but as wise Making the best use of the time because the days are evil Therefore do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is Now you see before us our first major truth or number one.

This is what I call a call to carefully examine daily living Paul is giving us a call here to carefully examine daily living Now you will notice that the English standard and the new American standard read about the same English standard says look carefully Then how you walk the new American says therefore be careful how you walk But no matter the translation we see that Paul uses this word walk note that in your copy of God's word Now we have seen that Paul used this word walk eight times in the book of Ephesians We've seen it in chapter 4 and in chapter 5 So if Paul uses it over and over over and over it must be important and we need to ask what Paul is getting out here Now some of us remember this because we've covered it and some of us need to come to this understanding What this word walk refers to?

Paul was not speaking of a physical walk. No like walking to the mailbox or walking for exercise That's not what he was referring to This word walk speaks of daily living in the entire manner of living Paul is not speaking of how one may live on certain days of the week He was not speaking of how one may live in certain parts of their life Paul was and is speaking of the entire way of living in everyday life And we need to see that for Paul This was a very purposeful way of addressing daily living both right daily living and wrong daily living He used it two times to speak of wrong daily living.

We see that in chapter 2 verse 2 Chapter 4 verse 17 and he used it five times to speak of right daily living We see this in chapter 2 verse 10 chapter 4 verse 1 and chapter 4 verse 2 Chapter 5 verse 8 and verse 15 Now why do I take the time to mention all of the times that Paul used this word walk? Why do I go back to that it seems like review?

It's because God is very serious about daily Christian living God is very serious about the entire manner of living in the everyday life And it was God who inspired Paul to write about the entire manner of daily living And it was God who inspired to address two things here First he gives a call to carefully examine I Said earlier that the English Standard and the New American use this word careful or carefully But if we look at the English Standard version, we see this term look carefully and in the original this literally means See to it and carefully It is two words and two ideas that are put together Polisane look Polisane see to it Polisane observe Polisane take note of not casually not randomly but carefully anxiously Diligently the idea here is to diligently investigate while being very very attentive to what is observed He also gives this call which is a personal call Although we do not see a personal pronoun here We do know that Paul was writing to those Ephesians and those reading this book in hearing this book Just like with the past two points of instruction Paul was calling them to Personally be imitators of God and to walk his children of the light and here Paul is Personally calling them to a personal and very careful examination And notice all of this comes together God through Paul was calling them to a very careful and diligent Examination of their personal daily lives and every part of their personal daily lives Paul was inspired by God to call them to diligently and Carefully examine every part of their daily lives and to take note of what they see Here there are several very big lessons for us that we all need to see We as God's people must be a people who carefully Diligently examine and investigate our daily lives every part of our daily lives every manner of our living We must be a people who carefully examine how we live We need to examine our inward walk.

We need to examine our outward walk. We need to examine our secret walk We need to examine our public walk. We need to examine our walk at home We need to examine our work at the office or while we're on the job We need to examine our walk when we are on the golf course, you see But I want you to see that usually there are one of three approaches that people will take here First some will be that one who never gives it a thought They don't examine their lives or take note of how they live. They just live life no fault no examination They just go we might say it like this.

They live out of their hip pocket or they just let the rough end drag They just go Second some will have a tendency to be a legal Immediately when we talk of examining our lives this kind of person thinks about rules They think about lists they think about all of the do's and don'ts they start tightening down tightening down But then third there's some that have a tendency to be the liberal now. I'm not talking about a political liberal no This is the person that does not want to think about rules. They want to break free of rules They want freedom they won't grace and all of their Christian living no rules.

They don't want to tighten down They want to loosen up, but look listen to your pastor here We can't live our daily lives loosely and without certain guidelines and guiding principles We can't live loose as a goose without commandments without principles and even Some do nots within our lives and within our homes But we must make sure that our rules and our standards and our fixed principles for daily living are truly Scriptural they're truly healthy and they promote true godliness And there are many many professing Christians who live very loose in their daily lives And it's not healthy daily Christian living but conversely There are many professing Christians who live with strict rules strict standards that are not necessarily Scriptural and they do not promote healthy and true Godly living and we can't be the one who never gives a thought to any of this you see So if Paul called these Christians these Ephesian Christians to carefully examine to Diligently examine how they lived in all of the areas of their lives.

Shouldn't we do the very same thing? We will see that we should do just what we see here in these verses So right here at the beginning of verse 15 This is what I call the first major truth of the message We see a call to examine our personal lives now as we continue in the verses We will see that Paul makes some contrasts Paul gives some positive and negative commands and teaching and that all it all Relates to the kind of walk that Paul was calling them to walk and remember this is all about daily Christian living And it was for them and it's for us in our day So notice Paul calls them to carefully very carefully examine how they live in their daily lives first So as to walk wisely and not foolishly we see this in verse 15 or the second part of the verse Look back at verse 15 Look carefully Diligently Then how you walk not as unwise but as wise Now here we see a clear contrast Paul is contrasting the wise up against the unwise or the foolish now listen The opposite of wisdom is always the fool and foolishness and foolish living always remember that the opposite of wisdom is foolishness the fool and foolish living now question What is the walk of the unwise?

If Paul was calling them not to walk as the unwise he clearly is well, then what is the walk of the unwise? First we would have to say that the unwise walk in all of the ways that Paul had commanded them not to live The unwise embrace and they personify all of the things that Paul had called these Ephesians to flee from and to keep out of their lives The unwise do the deeds of darkness that we saw in verses 10 to 13 The unwise make it their habit to use filthy talk and foolish talk and crude joking that we saw in verse 4 The unwise make it their habit to engage in all types of sexual immorality and impurities now Look just trace back through all the things that Paul called these Ephesian Christians Not to do and not to allow to come into their lives.

Well, you'll see the ways of the unwise there Simply the unwise they live in the way in the ways of the world They embrace the ever-changing but ever sinful morals and values and standards of the world And look folks there is no better place to study the fool and unwise living than the book of Proverbs We see the fool we see fools We see foolishness and we see foolish living mentioned over 70 times in the English Standard translation of the book of Proverbs But what about the wise If Paul was calling them the walk as the wise then what is the walk of the wise?

First we would have to say that the wise walk in all of the ways that Paul had commanded Just in chapter 5 Paul called them to be imitators of God with Christ set before them as their great example He called them to live as children of the light and he called them to do all of these things as beloved children of God Simply the wise ones live in God's ways and God's ways are found in the scriptures God's morals God's values God's standards for life They are never changing and they are found all in his word and look folks There is no better place to study the wise man to study wisdom and to study wise living than the book of Proverbs We see the wise we see wisdom We see wise living mentioned over 60 times in the English Standard translation of the book of Proverbs Now here's your assignment Study the book of Proverbs Take the whole book read it Study it and note every time you see the word fool or foolish or foolish living Oh just note that and then note every time you see the the word wise or wisdom or a verse about wise living And if you start there in Proverbs and you make it your habit to study habitually through the Proverbs Looking for wise living and wisdom and rejecting fools and foolishness and foolish living Oh look, you've got a good start on doing what?

Walking in wisdom and not walking in foolish living But also I call your attention to the book of Ephesians If you pick up in chapter 4 and study all of the commands the positive and negative And you begin to work to obey them you will begin to walk in wisdom You will begin to walk not in foolishness you will begin to walk in wisdom and become more and more wise First we're to walk wisely not foolishly but notice Paul calls them to diligently examine and To see how they live in every area of life second so as to make the best use of time Look at verse 16 I'm gonna read verse 15 and then verse 16.

He says look carefully Diligently and examine how you live how you walk in your daily life not as the unwise but the wise Making the best use of the time because the days are evil Now here we have a very very odd phrase in the original and it can cause some confusing for some The King James translates this Redeeming the time because the days are evil now the English standard says making the best use of the time Because of the days are evil and we need to ask what this phrase means In the original the first part of the verse literally means to buy back or to take off the market or to purchase And this same term was used in Galatians 3 and Galatians 3 13 and and Galatians 4 5 in relate in relation to redemption from the law and Also, this language was used in their day to speak of buying or purchasing a slave off of the market But we need to see that this has nothing to do with buying time We know that one can't literally buy time although we may use that in our day as a figure of speech Here Paul was not speaking of time as we think of time He was not speaking of time that is measured out measured out in years measured out in months days Hours and so forth He was speaking of a certain fixed period of time in the original There is a definite article before the word time in the original it reads the time You see this in your English translation.

It says the time Well, we need to ask what Paul is saying here Well right here the more modern translations get at what Paul was saying Paul was speaking of making the best use of the time The time that was allotted by God to them. I Give us a good example. I think many of you can relate to this You know what's football season?

We might go to a ballgame might even watch a game or two on television I know all of the LSU fans this morning are just overjoyed I know some of you are sitting there and you just can't wait to talk about the game No matter the team that you root for No matter if you root for Ole Miss or Mississippi State or LSU or even Jackson State I hope Jackson State does good. I try to keep up with them a little bit. It's good for the state But each team in every game is allotted a certain amount of time in regulation four quarters 15 minutes a quarter. That's 60 minutes, right?

Well, if a team is down by a field goal and they have the ball with 30 seconds left in the game to score in the win We would say that the offense must buy some time to win Now what are we meaning by that statement? We know that they only have a certain amount of time that is allotted to them But we are saying that the quarterback in the offense and the coaching staff They must make the very best use of that time that is left for them.

Well, it's the exact same thing right here Paul was calling these Ephesians to make the best use of their time or the time that had been given to them He was calling them not to waste the time like the unwise who spend their days in sin and Friendless living even just wasting the time that God had given them But why Why does God call these Ephesians to make the very best use of the time that was given to them?

Not just because this was an affixed amount of time No But also because the days are evil look back at verse 16 make the best use of the time because the days are evil But Paul was reminding them and he was warning them that the times in which they live were sinful The days in which they live were evil There were many temptations and and many sinful Distractions that could lead them away from making the very best use of the time that was allotted to them Paul knew that the sinful temptations in their day were great And they really had to guard against any sinful use and waste of the time that God had given them And for us there are several things that we need to see that we need to apply in our lives Maybe we need to spend less time entertaining ourselves and more time studying God's Word Maybe we need to spend less time Entertaining ourselves and more time studying all that we are studying together in the life of the church Folks if you take what we're studying in Ephesians if you take what we study on Wednesday nights if you take what we study in small groups and you study through that and you pray through that you've got a wagon load of spiritual meat to digest throughout the week Could be that we need to spend less time doing for self and more time serving others Especially those in the life of the church if you know what need in the life of the church Maybe you should be the one meeting that they Definitely we need to spend less time feasting and more time fasting You might say pastor fasting for what? personal holiness Some of you need to pray and fast for personal holiness Some of you are believers and you have sinned that's haunted you for a great deal of time And unless you pray and fast, you're not gonna have victory over that sin Some of you you have lost sinners in your life You have sons and daughters that are lost you have neighbors that are lost and those Those souls are on your minds and and on your hearts and maybe you need to spend less time feasting and more time fasting for the souls of your sons and your daughters the lost around you and Maybe we need to all spend less time feasting and more time fasting for the growth of the church And maybe we need to spend less time trying to advance our careers more and more and more Maybe we need to spend more time seeking to serve in the life of the church We pose a question for you to ponder over How many things are not done and accomplished in the life of the church because you were giving too much of yourself to your job And your career and even your hobbies I Need to say that again How many things are not done and accomplished in the life of the church?

Because you are giving too much of yourself to your job and your career and even your hobbies There's a warning here We can't become overly introspective here We can't be so concerned about the evil day in which we live that we become too inward focused We must keep our eyes and our hearts outward. I Think it would be good for us to all memorize a famous line by a famous missionary Some of you know who I'm gonna talk about the famous English missionary CT stud Gave up fame gave up fortune to serve the Lord And he's famous for pinning Writing some words not just with ink but with his own life He said it with his life and with his pen he said It's only one life to assume be passed and only what's done for Christ will last Maybe we need to memorize that verse and the rest of the poem because there's more Let's move on Paul calls them to diligently and carefully examine all in every part of their daily lives third So as to understand the will of God, let's look at verse 17 Therefore do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is Here Paul uses similar language to what he used in verse 15 He called them to walk not as the unwise but here he was calling them not to be foolish This is actually much stronger language in the original Literally, this is a call not to be stupid and not to be senseless which can be translated stupid But he calls them not to be foolish but to understand what the will of the Lord is and in this language of Understanding what the will of the Lord is there is this implication of seeking after something in the language here There is this implication of working and working hard to grasp To grasp something so as to understand it and so as to hold on to it and that is the will of God But a question What is this will of God?

What is Paul talking about here? Well, it could be explained numerous ways. I see it several ways. I see it in three ways First there is the secret will of God. I'll explain a little bit you could take this and go a little further We understand that God rules people peoples and nations But we do not understand how all of these things work out in the future.

I Can't tell you what North Korea will do tomorrow and I can't tell you what Iran will do tomorrow, but God does I Can't tell you who's gonna win the midterms, but God does and see this is all a part of God's secret will in that We may not know or understand all of his will and all of his purposes here for people and peoples and nations But God does I Think about it as it relates to Christ and his second coming We do not know when that time will be buddy. We do know that he's coming that is a part of God's secret will you see?

Simply there are certain things about the will of God that we will never ever know But then second there is the revealed will of God There are certain things that we know that they are God's will and look these things are revealed to us From God's Word now. I will name just a few We know that it is God's will that lost sinners come to faith in Christ So we should be very very busy praying for the lost. We should be very very busy loving the lost We should be very very busy witnessing to the lost and oh we should be very very busy anticipating that God will say We know that is God's will for the church to grow.

Yes, it's God's will for the church to grow Matthew chapter 16 Jesus said I might build my church He didn't say that Jesus says I will build my church. So look church. We should expect Jesus through us to reach the lost and to grow the saints and to take the gospel to the nations a Growing church is a part of God's will and you know, I've known people that were so spiritual. They did not think that was the truth I've known people that would say things like this. Well if the church ever gets to be 200 or more. It's just ungodly Where do they get that from? That's being so spiritual.

You're not even biblical that person couldn't have been a member of the church at Jerusalem. There were thousands there We can over spiritual eyes that North it gets too big we can't pastor everybody No, God raises up other leaders to continue to pastor all that God's reaching We know that it is God's will for us to read our Bibles We know it's God's will for us to pray.

Oh, let me show you something else We know that it is God's will for all of us to be imitators of God and to walk his children of the light We know that it is God's will for us to be faithful to attend the local church That God has called us to be a part of and to do all that we can do all that we can do to serve The Lord in the life of the church Can I ask you a question here? Just with some of the things I've mentioned. Are you violating God's revealed will in your life in any way?

Are you Things you know that you're expected to do from God's Word here If you're not obedient here, you're violating God's will for your life But let me continue third. There is this personal will of God You see God has a will for your life Now there are certain things that we know are God's will for us reading the scriptures praying walking with God daily Yes being faithful to our church Yes using our spiritual gifts in the life of the church Yes, if you're a believer God's gifted you with gifts there to be used in the life of the local church But also God has a will for other things in your life And you must seek to understand God's will for your life You must work to know and understand God's will for your life.

You must work hard to understand it and hold on to it Your job did you know God has a will for your job in your career I've known me in the two jobs Raises Promotions that just sucked them out of the life of the church Well, how does that line up for God's will for your life? Well pastor I can get a promotion. Well pastor I can move up the ladder, but I'm sorry I can't be as faithful in the life of the local church.

Well, I have to question if that's God's will for you Because God's will is that we pour our lives into the life of the church But you know how you live in your lifestyle You have to find God's will in your lifestyle how you organize your home You need to find God's will for for your home and how you organize your home how you save money How you spend money what you do with your possessions how you raise your children now look this is a very incomplete list And these things may be done one way in your life and they may be much different in my life But what am I trying to show you God has a personal will for your life?

But notice again what verse 17 says look at verse 17 Paul says Therefore do not be foolish. It literally means don't be stupid but understand what the will of the Lord is and Paul was calling them not to be foolish and stupid and just live life aimlessly Paul was calling them to live out all of these things so as to find so as to understand and so as to achieve and to hold on to The will of God for their lives and then the live it out and look church listen listen church You as a Christian Will walk with God?

Victoriously when you can say that you have worked to understand God's will for your life And you know it and you are living it out I Can't tell you how many Christians I know they are too lazy to do the work to find out God's will for every aspect of their life And you know what they do they just live aimlessly if you have no plan you're not gonna accomplish anything And look our church will reach the loss our church will grow our church will function as it should in an Unbelievable way when we can all say pastor I have found God's will for my life, and I'm living at 24 hours a day not perfectly no One commentator I read this week.

Oh it just jumped off the page for me, and I'm quoting him loosely He said that working to understand and live God's will for our lives should be our regulative principle That means that God's will should be what regulates our lives Listen God's will should be what regulates our lives. I have lived that folks I Have lived that And someday soon I'm gonna share some of that with you as I share it linked my conversion testimony and my call testimony Because there are many of you you've never heard that and you need to hear those things Look at what we've been studying this morning Verses 15 to 17, and I want you to notice something.

This is a whole lot more than you thought But it's so needed for you and for me God is calling us to look to carefully examine how we live our lives He is calling us to diligently take note of every aspect of our lives. He is calling us to make sure we are living As the wise and not the foolish God is calling us to live as the wise and to make the very best use of the time that he has given us why?

Because we are only given a certain amount of time and because the days are evil And if we give this world if we give our sinful flesh and if we give Satan one inch our time will be wasted stolen and lost And God is calling us to not be foolish not even be stupid God is calling us to seek after and to work hard to understand the will of God Especially God's will for us personally and after we have come to understand God's will he is calling us to hold on to that He is calling us to make that the regulative principle in our lives and in our families.

Oh, let me show you how this works Man if you do that, you know, you're in the career and the job and the place God's called you to be Oh and that temptation comes to move and to put career before your family and your church You'll say no, that's not God's will for me. Oh But when that opportunity comes where you can advance and you may get a raise and it might help you in the life of the church You'll say well Lord. It's not gonna pull me from the church.

This just could be your will I Had a man one time look at me and said I hope my business succeeds not so I can have more but so I can give More to the church you see under the will of God Now what's the title of the message? Walking as the wise Walking as the wise part one because we're gonna continue with part two next week, but I kind of put a question here Is it walking as the wise are walking as the fool You see if you're honest as we've been going through these things You've begun to see and you are seen there's a little more foolishness in you than you know There is And so what we all need to do is examine and roll up our sleeves and work Because this is a job and this is work So walking as the wise or Walking as the fool.

Let's pray and let's commit these things to the Lord