Ephesians 5 - The Call to Walk Carefully

We are all given the same amount of time each day. So how do we make the most of each moment we have been given?                                             
        
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Transcript

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Ministry in Celeste, Oregon, there was a man there who is a very interesting character. Let's put it that way. He only came to church once in a while. His name was Marshall O'Jolla. I was glad that the very first time I ever met Marshall O'Jolla, I met him at church. Got to know him through that because several years later, I had to rely on that knowledge of him from church to get me out of a very dangerous situation. Marshall was a sweet man who had a few dangerous quirks, let's call it that way. One day I was out in the woods, I'd been hunting, I was in my camels, and I climbed out of the woods, up onto the road, and there was Marshall O'Jala standing there with a gun pointed right at my face. Finger on the trigger. And he's going like, What are you doing? I said, Marshall, Marshall, Marshall, it's me, Malcolm. And I had to explain to him that I wasn't doing anything wrong. I'd been hunting in the woods. I have permission to be in this side. You live on the other side of the road, but I was hunting on this side. And I still remember that. And I was going like, man, this is scary, looking right down a barrel for a guy who is not quite all there upstairs. Let me explain to how I know that he wasn't quite all there upstairs. He lived all of his life at the end of a road called Ojala Road, named after his family. He'd been there all of his life. The road's about a three-mile stretch. It's a windy, curvy road, but he'd lived there all his life. One day, when he was had been driving for well over 40 years, he decided, I have driven this road so many years, I bet I could drive this road with my eyes closed. He turned off the main highway onto Ojala Road and immediately ran smack dab into another vehicle that had been stopped at the stop sign, waiting to get on the highway. When the police came, they found out what the cause of the accident was. Marsha was going, I just don't get it. I've driven this road for over 40 years. I was sure I could drive it with my eyes closed. Weird thing, they took his license away. Can you believe that? You know, it's kind of scary to think about. There are some people who have driven a stretch of highway enough times they believe they can drive it with their eyes closed. I think we all need to be much more careful and keep our eyes open. In fact, in our Bible passage today, one version starts out, verse 15, saying, Look carefully then how you walk. That's good advice, whether you're walking or driving. Look carefully. Today we want to look carefully into what Paul wrote about our first, about our need to walk carefully. But first let's begin with prayer. Lord, I thank you for your love. I thank you for the blessings you give to us. Help us, Lord, to really pay attention to what we're doing, that we would walk according to the way you want us to walk, not just the way we want to do it, but Lord, let us follow your example. Let us walk like Jesus in Jesus' name. Amen. The first point Paul makes when he tells us to walk carefully is that we need to be wise with our time. Make be wise with your time. Or more specifically, he writes, make the most of your time. According to my commentaries on this verse, this phrase, make the most of your time, literally means to buy up the precious commodity known as time. Every one of us has the same number of hours in it any day. The same number of minutes, the same number of seconds. But have you ever noticed that there's some people who can accomplish an awful lot in those 24 hours, and other people can't even barely get out of bed? I mean, have you ever met someone who just always seemed to have their act together, is always involved in everything, has a clean house, and they're just, they get stuff done. How do they do it? When I went to college, the valedictorian of my college class, Kevin Klein, was involved in everything. He worked at a local church as a youth minister. He dated, he ended up marrying a girl from the college there. He played softball, he played basketball, and yet he got top grades. I was always trying to figure out how you can do this. Well, one way that Kevin was able to accomplish that is that Kevin hardly ever slept for more than three and a half to four hours at night. That's it. And so when he woke up, he just sat there quietly studying, getting great grades all through college. Not many people can get by with three and a half to four hours a night of sleep. But we can get by with less than ten or twelve hours like some teenagers like to do. The big thing, though, is to budget our time wisely. Make the most out of your time, the time that we have. Instead of considering your time as that you're going to wait and just waste it there waiting in line at a grocery store or at a bank or wherever you're wasting time is. Start up a conversation with someone. Try to invite them to church with you and work your conversation about Jesus around to them. Don't waste your time just standing silently. When you're stuck at a red light out on the road, pray or read your Bible. Don't waste your time. I looked up on the internet that the average number of minutes of commercials for one hour of television is 12 to 15 minutes of commercials in an hour of television. That means a person could read their Bible during those 12 to 15 minutes per hour and have read the entire Bible through in a year if they only read during commercials of one hour of TV per day. Reading the Bible is a much better time use of your time than sitting there watching TV commercials. But how many people just sit there and watch while the TV commercials come on? Make the most of your time. Be wise with your time means that, first of all, we'll make the most of our time. Second, that we will understand what the will of the Lord is. How many of you ever worked a job where he had multiple overseers or multiple bosses? When I worked at Yquinaboat Equipment in Toledo, it had three owner bosses. Three of them over me. And that could be very frustrating at times. I remember one day that really just stuck out in my mind and has always stayed in my mind. I was out there working, sweeping the floors, doing something very simple. One of the bosses, Dale, he comes running out with a rush job he wanted me to do. And he told me, I want, I want you to stop everything you're doing and get on this rush job. And I'm going, well, that's fine. I'm just sweeping the floors. Now I want you to get this done. And so he gave me this job, and I don't remember exactly what it was. I think it was cutting a bunch of steel. And so I started working on cutting the steel, getting everything ready. And that's when my next boss came out, Doug. Doug came out and said, I've got a rush job, and I need you to take care of it. And I said, Well, I've got a rush job for Dale. And he said, My job takes priority. Now you stop doing what you're doing for Dale, which was cutting metal, I think it was, and I need you to go over here and I want you to drill these holes and tap these holes and get this thing done right away. I'm going, but Dale told me this. He goes, I am telling you, my job's much more important. You get mine done. So I had to take everything away from where I was cutting steel, put that stuff away, get going on trying to cut this metal and drill the holes and start tapping them. When the third boss, Jerry, comes running out to me and says, I've got a rush job for you. And they go, Well, I've already got two rush jobs. I'm working on Doug's right now. Well, this one's much higher priority. It's for logger, and he needs these hydraulic hoses made. And here's the dimensions. Here, you've got to go upstairs and do it. And I said, Well, no, I'm supposed to be drilling these holes. Doug says it's important. This is a higher priority. So I had to take everything away from the drill press and go upstairs and start making the hoses for Jerry. When Dale comes running out and goes, Where's my cut steel? I haven't gotten it done. I got this rush job for Jerry. Mine's more important. Get down here and get going on it. So I had to put everything away from the hydraulics area, run down there and start working on cutting steel. And then Doug comes out and he's going, Where's my stuff that's drilled with the tapped holes? And I'm going, Well, I and I was trying to explain it, and that's when all three bosses came out. And they started arguing with each other, and they went back in the office to argue. And while they were back in the office arguing, I finished the job I was doing, went to the next one, got that one done, and then went up and did the other one. Took me about 30 minutes, but finally they came out. And they had their order exactly what to do. And I was going, like, oh, this is ridiculous. Here's your jobs. They're all done now. You guys let me finally just do it. You know, making the most of your time can be frustrating. We have to fully understand what the will is. And if the will is get this done or get this done or get this done, you have to know which one you have to do first. You can't jump from one thing to another, to another, to another. You just have to do what God calls us to do. My time was not being well used at that business when three bosses were trying to command me what to do. But the Lord, even though the Lord is triune, and I think that's kind of cool, we've got God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Our Lord has one will. And that will is that all men would be saved. And in order to accomplish all men being saved, our major task is to go out and share the gospel with everyone we meet. Make the most of your time. When you're waiting in line, talk to people about Jesus. When you're doing things, talk to people about Jesus. Make sure you share the gospel. Doing it just one person at a time is fine. Do it with a group of friends. Make sure you do something for the Lord. Start praying that the Holy Spirit will prepare you to talk to someone about Jesus this very week. Make the most of your time. Do the Lord's will of sharing Jesus with other people. And this chapter then goes on to tell us that we need another way to be able to walk carefully. And that is not just to be wise with our time, but second of all, he says, be filled with the Spirit. Be filled with the Spirit. I once read a story about a preacher who was offered an extremely large amount of money for his church. If the preacher would come over and drink the man's homemade peach brandy and then get up before the church and tell the church how good that homemade peach brandy was. So the preacher thought it over and agreed to come over on a certain date. And the following Sunday he got up behind the pulpit and he announced, I want to thank Mr. Smith for the excellent peaches he gave me and the spirit in which they were given. Well, that's not exactly the spirit we're talking about here in this point, being filled with the Spirit. We're talking about being filled with the Holy Spirit. In fact, Paul specifically states here, do not be drunk with alcohol. Do not be drunk with alcohol. There have been many debates over this subject, especially at churches. Should Christians ever drink alcohol? In all the studies I've ever made, I've discovered three major teachings in the Bible that have ruled my life regarding the aspect of alcohol. The first one is the Christians did drink alcoholic beverages that were intoxicating. 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verses 20 and 21. Paul writes, and he condemned the Christians in Corinth because some of them were coming to the communion service and they were drinking all of the wine and becoming drunk. In other words, the wine they had wasn't like grape juice that we have. It was actually wine that had an alcohol content to it, and they were becoming drunk. And they prevented other people from partaking in the communion service. If they could get drunk, I believe there had to be an alcohol content. And the very same word used for wine there in 1 Corinthians is the same word Jesus used when they talk about he changed water into wine. When he made it there at the wedding feast or the wine that was used in the Last Supper. I think there's a very strong possibility that Christians, even Jesus Christ, drank wine with alcohol in it. Thus, I can't condemn any Christian who drinks some alcoholic drink. But second, there's a major teaching in the Bible concerning drinking alcohol that rules my life. Over and over and over in the Bible, God condemns getting drunk. He even says that drunkards will not inherit the kingdom of heaven, 1 Corinthians chapter 6. This makes me very concerned. Because how do you define drunk? Did you know that the state of Utah defines drunk as a blood alcohol content of 0.05? But most of the states in the United States is 0.08? What does God define as drunk? You know, some states actually have a zero tolerance for those under age 21. You're considered drunk if you have a.01 and you're under 21. At what alcohol content does God consider us as drunk? How close can I come and avoid being drunk? I've been asked that many times. This is one of those things. But do we know our limits until we've actually become drunk? Probably not. And since I want to do my very best to never sin, I'm going to avoid getting as close as possible to the edge of being drunk. I'm just going to stay sober. And I think that's a good position when because when I've asked people who do drink and think it's perfectly fine to drink, as the Bible says, it is okay. Almost everybody I've ever talked to admits there's been one time or another when they've gotten drunk. Bad drunk, even. They've drunk to excess and become drunk. I've never had alcohol, so guess what? I have not become drunk. Third, and probably the most influential of all teachings in the Bible that rules my life regarding alcohol, is from Romans chapter 14 and chapter 15. Because in these two chapters, Paul points out that if any action of his would cause a brother to stumble, he would not do that action. Even if it was something he could legally do, that he was permitted to do. In other words, if Paul had a friend who was an alcoholic and trying to break alcoholism, Paul would say, I won't drink any alcohol, lest it might cause my brother to fall for alcohol. And he knew that even as a preacher, uh somebody might look at our actions and do something wrong. That's why we have grape juice instead of alcohol wine. I don't want to cause anybody to stumble. And we would all do well when we could remember the words of Jesus, Matthew chapter 18, verse 6. Whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in me to stumble, it would be better if a heavy millstone was tied around his neck and he was thrown and drowned in the sea. I don't want to cause anyone to stumble, and so I have chosen to stay away from alcohol. And somehow I have made it to the age of 64, almost 65, and I have survived without ever drinking alcohol. Apparently, alcohol is not necessary for life on this world. So I avoid alcohol, knowing the Bible instructs me to be filled with the Spirit of Jesus, who for the sake of others denied himself the pleasures of heaven to come down and live and die for us. So let's be filled with the Spirit, never be drunk with wine, never be drunk with alcohol. And Paul further defines this idea of being filled with the Spirit as speak to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. What amazes me about this passage is that even though there's a lot of debate about the alcohol issue, there's even more debate about this little phrase of speaking to one another in Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. For some, the debate comes down to should we ever use an instrument in the church building? Because it doesn't mention using a guitar or a piano or drums or whatever else here. I often actually have to try to, I actually struggle to contain my laughter when I hear people debate on this passage because it also doesn't mention using a church building. It doesn't mention a lot of different things. It doesn't even actually mention singing the Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs aloud with our lips. What it says to speak to one another in Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, making melody in your heart. Not even with your lips. But the biggest debates I hear anymore is what not whether or not a person who can just sing hymns or or should they be psalms, scripture put to music, or spiritual songs like choruses. Most of you who've been coming here for a long time, you probably realize we rarely sing any of the old hymns. We sing a lot of modern songs, songs that are playing on the local Christian radio stations. I have tried hard to find songs that go along with the scripture passages that we're preaching. So I try to find songs that will praise God, praise the Lord Jesus. And I would encourage us to walk with Jesus and walk like Jesus. And I'm always looking for things that lead us right to this next point, so that in everything that we sing, that always we would give thanks for all things in the name of Jesus Christ to Lord to our God. In order to truly be filled with the Spirit, we need to be able to always give thanks for all things in the name of Jesus to God. Now that seems like a no-brainer to me. When it comes to the gracious blessings of the Lord, the miraculous healings, the positive answers to our prayers, even in all those good things, I believe sometimes we forget to thank God. Thank the one from whom all these blessings flow. I believe it's even harder, though, to always give thanks for when we're undergoing things that we consider bad things sicknesses, illnesses, troubles, persecution, problems, annoyances, things that require us to change our schedules. Although they seem bad at the moment, these things can't actually be good. Sometimes I have to look at the bad things that happen in my life like a game of chess. Anybody ever play chess? You realize that in the game of chess there's a lot of different players there, but there's these ones that are called pawns. And sometimes in the game of chess, if you want to win and you want to put your opponent into checkmates, sometimes you have to let a pawn be taken. Or another playing piece be taken. I never like losing any parts. That's why I'm not very good at chess. I'm trying to protect every one of my players, but sometimes sacrifices are necessary. In life, God is in control, and God sees a much bigger picture than you and I ever see, and he sees that by letting us experience some awful things in our lives, great outcomes like winning the game can be accomplished. When our middle child, several years back, when our middle child decided to kill himself, that was an absolutely horrible day in our life. It was a painful thing to do, to deal with. But you know what God has done with that? He used that horrible situation to open up doors of ministry for my wife and I to minister to other people who have had loved ones who had committed suicide. At the time when our son killed himself, I couldn't see anything good about it. How could good come out of the situation? But God saw a much bigger picture than I did. And he has used it for good. Eleven years later, is it painful? Yes. But God can do great things through horrible times, and I can give him thanks for being able to carry me through that horrible time and letting me use that painful experience then to help others when they're walking in pain. We can give God thanks for all things in the name of Jesus to God. In this passage, he calls us to walk carefully. And he told us to make, be wise with our time, making the most of it. Understand what God's will is and work on that one. He tells us to be filled with the Spirit, not alcoholic spirits, but by singing and giving thanks to God for all things. And third, in this call to walk carefully, Paul tells us be subject to one another. Be subject to one another. I think verse 21 is very key, very pivotal verse in this chapter. The rest of this chapter and the start of the next chapter all builds upon verse 21. Be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. We need to be subject to one another in fear of Christ. So as I think about it, it's time for us to submit to God's plan of authority. Submit to God's plan of authority. Be subject to one another is not a pleasant thought for many Americans because we are the land of the free. We have rights. We have freedoms. Don't try and take my freedom from me. I am not going to submit to you. I'm going to do my own thing. That's Americans. But God has a different plan. God wants us as Christians to submit to one another, to subject ourselves to one another. Are we willing to be humble enough to submit ourselves to the authority of God even on this issue? From Adam and Eve all the way down to us, mankind has struggled with submission to the authority of God in all things. We sometimes say God is God and thus the final answer on all things, but do our actions actually align with that? We read the Bible as if we are an editor rather than looking at it and going, Oh, it's telling me I need to change. Sometimes we read the Bible and we go, well, yeah, I agree with that. No, I don't think that's completely true. I better cut that part out. We live like we we say that the Bible's true, but our lives act like we don't really believe the Bible is true in all areas. We know we're to try to be at peace with all people, but how many of us love to hold a grudge? How many of us love to needle someone trying to get a spike going? How many of us love to criticize somebody else or treat our brothers and sisters in Christ like they're the enemy rather than our brothers and sisters? The Bible tells us that in order to be saved, we need to confess Jesus as Lord. And that word Lord is more than just a title of honor and respect. That means he's boss. He is king. He is the one in control. He is the one with all authority. But have we truly made Jesus Lord? Are we willing to submit to him and every one of the commands he gives us? Are we willing to love as he has loved us? Are we willing to give up ourselves for other people? When we make Jesus Lord, we will in turn have agreed to submit to God's plan of authority, which means that we're going to be subject to one another, which this in turn means we will seek the well-being of others. We will seek the well-being of others. Paul immediately goes from here and he looks at the husband and wife relationship. Wives, submit yourself to your husbands. And immediately some women are going like, oh man, I knew he was going to bring that verse up. I don't like that verse. That's not one I like to listen to. But then he goes right straight into husbands. I want you to love your wife as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. In other words, husbands, you need to submit to your wives, to her needs. Then in the first few verses of chapter 6, Paul moves on to point out, children, you need to submit. You need to obey your parents. And parents, specifically dads. You are not to provoke your children into wrath. In other words, submit to your children's feelings and their desires, knowing who they are, and act accordingly, so you're not unfair and unjust with them, provoking them to anger, but treat them with love and respect because they're a child of God like you are a child of God. Then Paul moves on to slaves, submitting and being obedient to their masters. And masters, you do the same for your slaves. You know that you have a master up in heaven, and you need to submit to that master, so treat those servants in the best way. We are called to submit to one another. Some people treat this as optional, or even a command that other people need to listen to. And I will sacrifice myself so you can submit to me. No, that's not what it's about. Brother Claire was teaching a Tuesday night Bible study on community. There were many times that Claire brought up that the Greek word there for love, agape, that have pointed out that this is a love that seeks what is best for other people. The scriptures make it so plain in so many passages, even in passages that are getting ready to come up or getting ready to go into Philippians. And Philippians chapter 2 talks about submitting to one another. In Colossians and other books, we're going to read about how Christians need to consider the interests of others and do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but rather be humble and submit to and see the well-being of other people around you. And as I see the book of Ephesians here, this one verse here, verse 21, really summarizes the rest of what Paul has to say here in the book of Ephesians. For this one verse tells us we need to truly submit to God's plans in all areas of our life, especially how we treat one another. It's time that we stop thinking just of ourselves, but rather we think about the whole body of Jesus Christ and what is good for the kingdom of God. And I believe that's very hard for us to do. I believe that's very hard, especially for Americans. Because Americans, we think about me. I remember hearing someone complain about another person's choice of the Bible. They were mad that the person had a different version of the Bible than they had. Then they made the comment. Let me get this right. Bible study would be so much easier if they just changed to the version I read. I in turn played the devil's advocate, and I said, you know, change is hard to do, and suggested, why don't you change your your Bible version to what the other person's having so they can follow along better if it really bothers you? Their reply was, no, I couldn't do that. You see what's going on? Change is hard. Especially when all we see is ourself and our own desires. God wants us to seek the well-being of other people. And God's word makes it pretty clear that we need to walk carefully, being wise with our time, being filled with the Spirit, so that we can subject ourselves to one another. Because God's will is for all people to be saved. Even that person he may have a different Bible version, or likes to sing different songs than you, or has other things, and this is God's will for us. Can we pray that the Lord's will would be done on earth, even as it is in heaven? Will we let God be Lord? Let's pray. Lord, I ask that you would help us to surrender to your will, to your desires, to your things. Help us, Lord, to put other people first. Forgive us for the times where we were selfish and arrogant and thinking that we were the only ones that mattered. Thank you, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen.