Walking Wisely

2023 Vision Sunday

As we step in to a new year, what is your vision for the year? What does God want from you? We need clarity.

Proverbs 29:18 “If people can’t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves; but when they attend to what he reveals, they are most blessed.”

I want to talk to you today about what He has revealed to us.

We need purpose, vision, clarity for 2023 because every day we are faced with a choice.

Clear vision and purpose will help guide our choices.

We have a choice to grow or decay but never to stay the same. The moment we stop growing we start dying.

Growth involves balanced introspection...

Have I grown in my love for God

Not a sentimental feeling but revealed in your obedience.

Have I become more mature as a Christian

Have I grown in my knowledge of doctrine that I practice, do I know the ways of God even more?

Have I become more like Jesus?

Have I conquered specific sins?

Have I waned myself from the temporal to the eternal?

These things are important to ask ourselves… Am I growing or am I dying?

Today’s Scripture

Spiritual formation (Eph 4:1) - Christ formed within us. More like Christ. Walk worthy of the Lord. Our aim to please him. Walk worthy of the Kingdom.

Walk in unity, holiness, love, light, and (and for our purposes today) wisdom.

Ephesians 5:15-21 “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

In regard to the Scripture above: “Be very careful how you live” or “Watch closely how you walk” suggests a purpose and direction in life. Life is not aimless. Paul said (1 Cor. 9:26-27) “I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”

Life is not a series of frenetic activities followed by down time. It is the steady progress toward (not A goal but) THE goal.

What is THE goal? Walking worthy of the calling.

The way has been marked out by the “will of the Lord”

We need awareness to watch where we are going and make steady progress along the way.

“Days are evil” - the journey dangerous, missteps are easy and can carry disastrous consequences.

It matters what we do.

We only have this life.

So this gives us a Scriptural overview of aim and purpose in life, how we live.

Message Translation Ephesians 5:8-20: “Don’t waste your time on useless work, mere busywork, the barren pursuits of darkness. Expose these things for the sham they are. It’s a scandal when people waste their lives on things they must do in the darkness where no one will see.

Rip the cover off those frauds and see how attractive they look in the light of Christ. Wake up from your sleep, Climb out of your coffins; Christ will show you the light!

So watch your step. Use your head. Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times! Don’t live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you understand what the Master wants.

Don’t drink too much wine. That cheapens your life. Drink the Spirit of God, huge draughts of him. Sing hymns instead of drinking songs! Sing songs from your heart to Christ.

Sing praises over everything, any excuse for a song to God the Father in the name of our Master, Jesus Christ. Out of respect for Christ, be courteously reverent to one another.

What does walking wisely look like?

Same page on wisdom: Wisdom is more than just knowledge, even Bible knowledge. It is knowing God, maturing in our relationship with him and walking so closely with Him, having His perception that we are enabled to develop godly character, live thoughtfully and make proper choices in life.

Wise people make the most of their time | “Making the most of every opportunity”

The Greek language literally says “Buy Time” which implies giving up what is necessary in order to own and use well every season or opportunity.

So I could spend 4 hours binging on Netflix but I will redeem time by sacrificing that so that I can read the Word because the goal of life is spiritual formation - growth.

This reflects an urgency and importance about our daily life. There is no room for one wasted day or moment.

Vacation, solitude, time away is not wasted time when with the Lord.

In our society, we are so hurried. We are determined to pack as many activities as possible into as little time as possible. We are too busy for life… or rather spiritual things. Things that make progress moving towards our goal.

Time is passing, once it passes it cannot be recovered. You can get more money, but you can’t get more time.

According to public statistics, the average American spends 3 - 4 hours a day watching television. And total screen time per day is over 7 hours.

If we take into consideration all screen time: Over 50 hours per week, over 200 hours per month, and over 2,400 hours per year. 7542.5 = 20 years of our life (75 year life) spent on a screen.

Time is the most precious commodity we have and must be used wisely towards spiritual growth.

Wise people discern the will of God | “Understand what the will of the Lord is”

Usually when we hear about this we primarily think of the spouse, career, or big life decision. This is not that. The context is more concerned about God’s intent for the way we live every day, moment by moment, what is pleasing to Him now.

Humans were created to live in relation with God, and any practice that diminishes a person’s awareness of God and ability to respond to him is what this text is confronting.

Faith creates such a consciousness of the presence of God and Christ in us that we have heightened attention about God’s desires.

In fact, I am convinced that as we grow more present in the present, aware of the Lord, and His desire for my now (how I conduct the affairs of my day) that big decisions will be much more easily discerned.

Angela would easily discern what I would think about a big decision because she knows me and my day to day affairs.

But heres the thing, so often, we come ignore God in the day to day and come to him when its big.

This is our lives (daily, moment to moment) being conformed to Christ.

Be filled with the Spirit | “Be Filled with the Spirit”

Why the drunk with wine warning?

Primarily providing a contrast with the control of the Spirit, his real interest.

Drunkenness is “wasteful living”

Drunkenness is symbolic of the height of foolishness, the loss of direction, and the waste of a life without God.

It is an issue of influence, control, and power. You do things you would never do sober.

Under the influence of the Holy Spirit we do not lose control, we gain it and He gains us.

Chrys-os-tom said “The Spirit is meant to have the same power over us as a pilot has over his ship or a charioteer over his horses.”

Be full of the Spirit

Fullness is the call to live in the unity of the triune God and enjoy the wholeness of life with God, Christians must allow themselves to be the place where the presence and power of God are evident.

The force of the greek verb is “continually filled”. We are not to be controlled by anything else but by the Spirit.

This is also a command, not a suggestion or a mild recommendation or a polite piece of advice.

Not a privilege reserved for some, but a requirement for all.

The obvious then: the fact that we are commanded to be filled implies we can be “not filled”

How to be filled?

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

When you know you are loved, you are aware of them, thinking of them, desiring them, etc.

The Consequences of being filled?

2 of the 4 have to do with singing, because singing is the natural expression of joy that God brings into our life.

“Speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit”

Context - public worship - fellowship. This type of singing has a purpose in instruction of believers. Singing doctrine.

“Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord”

Worship (in your heart) - can also be silent worship.

Without doubt Spirit-filled Christians have a song of joy in their hearts, and Spirit filled public worship is a joyful celebration of God’s mighty acts

“Always giving thanks to God the Father for everything”

Attitude of Gratitude

The grumbling spirit is not compatible with the Holy Spirit.

We need to affirm that all we are and have comes from God. Only then can we live lives of response to grace.

The practice of thanksgiving is itself transforming. It is difficult for a person to be thankful and spiteful at the same time.

Giving thanks to God for everything must be understood not literally as in thanking God for evil that has happened to us or others. But rather remaining in a thankful state regardless of circumstance for the good He has promised to make out of every situation.

“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

Submission is the opposite being self-assertive and demanding in relationships.

Submission was so important for New Testament writers because it described the self-giving love, humility, and willingness to die that are demanded of all Christians.

It rejects selfishness and asks that in humility people consider others as “surpassing” themselves. And the example being Christ.

Jesus repeatedly makes the same point: Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted (Matt. 23:12).

Christians are called to live in mutual submission, and without mutual submission they cannot fulfill their destiny. Such submission is a strong and free act of the will based on real love of the other person (cf. 4:2).

In the end, submission is nothing more than a decision about the relative worth of another person, a manner of dying and rising with Christ, and a way to respect and love other people. In fact, for Christians, authority and submission are the same thing.

Mutual submission will not allow us to promote ourselves and our own interests, but neither does it make us “doormats” to be used by others.

Legitmate submission cannot be coerced. The text assumes that everyone in the community is supported and enhanced. Where that does not take place, a person will have to be wise enough to discern whether to forego his or her own rights or seek justice.

Christ’s pattern of self-giving love does not mean that we can never seek justice for ourselves. Jesus did not acquiesce to Herod or the Pharisees, and Paul did not hesitate to defend himself or speak strongly to the Galatians or Corinthians. Submission will mean that even in seeking justice, we are motivated by love for others in the community, rather than by love of self

Paul envisions a community of people (the church) whose lives are so totally given over to the Spirit “that the life and deeds of the Spirit are as obvious in their case as the effects of too much wine are obvious in the other”.