REDEEMED LIVING

Discernment

Ephesians 5:15-17 “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”

Ephesians 5:15 “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise,”

“Be careful” : see, have the power of sight; perceive, be aware of; see too clearly; the seer; sighted, see; be able to see; watch out for; think about; understand; cause to happen; facing; start to do and then hesitate

- Suggests "to see something physical, with spiritual results (perception)." That is, it carries what is seen into the non-physical (immaterial) realm so a person can take the needed action (respond, beware, be alert).

“walk” : walk, behave, walk up and down; walk about; is for walking on; traverse

How do we carefully walk?

“unwise men” : rejecting God’s leading(God’s will)

What does an unwise man look like?

Someone who is defiant against the will and word of God.

The know what God would want, and they do the opposite.

“wise” : skillful, one who in action is governed by piety and integrity

What does a wise man look like?

Someone who follows the word of God as the Holy Spirit leads.

You know what God’s expectation is in His Word and you follow it.

Living our life as wise or unwise impacts our spiritual health.

Ephesians 5:1-2 “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”

Be observant and watchful keeping what Jesus did on the cross on the forefront of our minds moment by moment. Focusing on Him causes the world to fade.

“And the things of earth, will grow slowly dim, in the light of His glory and grace.”

Geoff gave us a warning this morning, about not lifting up people into the position of Christ.

The disciples didn’t die for our sins

The apostle Paul didn’t die for our sins

Billy Graham didn’t die for our sins

William McDonald didn’t die for our sins

Ravi Zacharias who’s name and person is now tainted didn’t die for our sins

Only Jesus died for our sins, and He is the only one worthy of our worship and adoration

Ephesians 5:1-14 gives us an idea of an unwise man, and if you don’t do whats listed in these verses, you are a wise man following the heart of God.

If you’ve ever watched Indiana Jones Raiders of the lost Ark, there is the famous opening scene in the movie where Indiana Jones and his helper go into a cave and have to navigate their way to a gold statue and evade booby traps to the statue and back. As they move further into the cave ridden with traps, they see the golden statute and the helper says, “there’s nothing to fear here” and Indy pushes the helper against the wall and says, “that’s what I’m afraid of.”

If we want to be wise men we are to walk carefully as Indiana Jones needed to in the cave to avoid traps, we need to live weary of all the temptations that come our way and flee. Flee toward the Lord which is the only way to evade temptation causing us to sin.

1 Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”

Ephesians 5:16 “making the most of your time, because the days are evil.”

“making the most of” : redeem, deliver, buy from; buy up; buy off, to deliver, liberate, free, set free, make good use of opportunity; work urgently, take advantage of the present time

“your time” : due measure, proportion, fitness; distinction; point; importance; measure, unduly, occasion; period of time; era; opportunity; make good use of opportunity; work urgently, time, season, appointed time

“evil” : emphasizing the inevitable agonies (misery) that always go with evil, bringing toils, annoyances, perils

Everyone is allotted a certain amount of time to live, and as believers we are to as it says “make the most” of our time on earth by living as much of it as we can for the Lord. That is being wise.

Matthew 24:11-12 ““Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. “Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold.”

The United States was built by those that wanted religious freedom. Many of the people in the first couple centuries of this country taught their kids to read, write, and memorize the Bible. And that’s how children were educated.

Now we see much of what is taught in schools is outright against the Bible. And evil is practiced and taught everywhere. Evil is even praised and glorified.

Ephesians 5:17 “So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”

“foolish” : senseless; crazed, frantic; silly, ignorant

You don’t want to be a fool, or you don’t think about becoming a fool.

Nobody likes looking foolish.

The person’s opinion that matters THE MOST in this world is the Lord’s.

Do we live like God’s opinion is THE MOST important?

“understand” : be intelligent

“will” : desire, purpose

How do you know the will of the Lord?

No matter how immature or mature your faith in the Lord is, the question everyone ends up asking is: “what is God’s will”?

Mt 12:50“For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.”

When you do the will of God, there is a closeness in fellowship and proximity to the person of God relationally.

Mt 21:31“Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you

God know’s everyones heart and the posture in which we come to him. In the story that Jesus tells of the Pharisee and the tax collector, we see the Pharisee in his pride come before God whereas the tax collector comes in humility.

Evidence of the Holy Spirit

Ephesians 5:18-21 “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.” “So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;”

Ephesians 5:18 “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,”

“dissipation” : prodigality, wastefulness, recklessness

If you get drunk you are wasting your life away unable to follow the will of God.

Friend who was peer pressured into getting drunk in high school

“filled” : complete

When you have a sailboat and no wind, you can’t sail anywhere. If you have a sailboat and wind, now you can go places.

It’s the same in the Christian life when you are praying, reading the Word of God, and fellowshipping with other believers; you are able to live a more fruitful Christian life.

Do you have wind in your sails?

Are you yielded to the Spirit of God in your life so that he’s the one moving and controlling where He wants you to go?

Ephesians 5:19 “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;”

What is the difference between psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs?

Psalms are the inspired writings of mostly David as well as others

Hymns are noninspired songs of worship directed towards God

Spiritual songs are other lyrical compisitions dealing with spiritual themes, even though not addressed directly to God.

“hymns” : is used only of praising the triune God, manifested in the flesh in Jesus Christ, the God-man. It occurs twice in the NT (Col 3:16), pointing to well-known songs of praise to God that became established hymns for the early Christians.

“heart” : inner self

We are to use our heart to sing and make melody to the Lord

It is important to note that and be weary of what we allow in our mind and heart.

One thing I’ve noticed when we come for the breaking of bread on Sunday morning and maybe you’ve realized this as well, the more I’ve spent time with the Lord, the more he brings to mind in worship of the Savior. Fellowship is sweeter with God when we are continuously thinking and meditating on the Lord and His Word.

For those of you, who may be self conscious because you don’t think you sound very good when you sing so you do it softly or not at all, you don’t like the sound of your own voice, take heart because as some have pointed out before me, you don’t see anywhere in the text that you have to be pitch perfect and hit every note to sing and make melody in your heart to the Lord. If you are self conscious, it does also say that you can sing and make melody in your heart. so there is that.

Have you ever said something, and it reminds you or someone else of a song?

One of the things I love about Rachel is her love for music like myself.

Rachel can tell you I sing random songs at random times, and the thing that I really love, is she often joins me once I start a song.

This morning I started singing a hymn and she just chimes in.

Sometimes Bethie not knowing the words will try to sing along.

Ephesians 5:20 “always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father;”

Eph 1:16 do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers;

Mt 15:36 and He took the seven loaves and the fish; and giving thanks, He broke them and started giving them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.

Lk 17:16 and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan.

If you don’t give thanks you generally are falling away from God

Ro 1:21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

We are to give thanks for all things.

Have you ever given thanks to God for allowing you to go through a cold/flu/covid19?

Have you ever given thanks to God for something happening at home so you were late?

Have you ever given thanks to God for any type of pain or suffering you go through?

Ephesians 5:21 “and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.”

“subject” : to arrange under, to subordinate; to subject, put in subjection

We are to humble ourselves as lower than one another.

This morning Geoff said in his message, something along the lines of, ‘Jesus showed the greatest amount of humility that will ever be displayed in all of eternal time because our salvation was hanging in the balance.’

If the Son of God is willing to demonstrate perfect humility to God the Father on our behalf, remember Jesus is equal with the Father, I think we can show a little humility to one another.

In the following verses we will read about the wife being subject to the husband demonstrating Christ’s humility in that way.

A wife is not inferior to the husband in any way, but rather is an equal that willingly subjects herself under the husband. Just like the Lord Jesus Christ did with the God the Father.