Walk Circumspectly

Walk Circumspectly

Sunbury GMC 10/26/2022

Sunbury GMC 2/4/2024

Text: Ephesians 5:15

Ephesians 5

We are going to begin reading in Ephesians 5 verse one. Before we get to the text and theme for tonight’s sermon it is important to understand the context leading up to this verse. Ephesians 5 may be one of the most commonly preached on passages in scripture because it teaches so much that is vital to the Christians faith and walk. While I will focus my attention on just two words I could not help but give some comments on the preceding verses! So lets get started.

Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;

2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. Already I must interject. Walk in love. It’s so easy, maybe more so in this time, maybe not, to live lives of frustration, anger and even righteous indignation, but we must walk in love. We forget that we were once repulsive wretches that the creator of the universe died for. When you are angered by the evil pervading our society and those evil ones perpetrating it we must remind ourselves that there but for the grace of God go you and I! We forget that in God’s scale there was a time in each of our lives where we were just as deserving of eternal punishment as the worst offender, as the worst of those promoting and producing such evil in our society! The evil that you and I are capable of apart from God’s intervening grace and the sins that you and I have committed should make our hearts break with compassion for the people even while our hearts burns with truly righteous anger for their actions! I’m not going to stand here and tell you that this attitude of the heart comes easily, but as we are transformed by the all-encompassing love of God our lives and hearts must reflect that love to even the vilest offender!

3 But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;

4 Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.

5 For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. While we walk in love make no mistake about the nature of love! It is not love to condone sin. Being soft on sin is one of the most hate full things we can possibly do! We must warn of the coming judgement. Now I want to also point out some things here. We have just read through quite a list of sins, ranging from what we would call great to what we would call small. Yet at the end of it all one phrase tells the tale of all of them. None of these have any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God! I beg you do not excuse your pet sin with the excuse that we all have weaknesses! It may be your special weakness, but it is in our weakness that, through Christ, we are strong! God does not overlook our evil, but states that those who do such things as listed here have no part in his inheritance! No grey area here, no encouragement to do better but a bold and clear proclamation that all unclean people, idolaters and those who do these other things will not meet us on the other side!

6 Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. This verse is the crux of the whole matter! It expands and clarifies the previous statements. The wrath of God comes upon the children of disobedience! Let no man deceive you with empty and lying words! A little disobedience here and there, a sin every now and again, a little selective obedience, a bit of anger, unforgiveness, pride, lust, just a little taste of uncleanness is not what being a Christian is! Nope, let no man deceive you! And oh, aren’t they trying these days! Cute and empty sermons preaching people into contented damnation! A little disobedience is not the unavoidable human condition but rather the very thing that brings God’s wrath to bear on the guilty sinner!

7 Be not ye therefore partakers with them.

This balances the earlier admonition to walk in love. As for the lying or sincerely confused teachers of sinning religion, we are not to partake in their doctrines or fellowship in their circles.

8 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:

For you, for I, was sometimes darkness. How true this statement, for I was born in darkness and I lived in darkness, but notice the tense of the statement notice that it says ye were darkness, not ye are darkness. Praise that the rest of the verse rings true, but now are ye light in the Lord! God does a work when He saves us, God changed the darkness into light. Oh how wonderful this blessed transformation! Oh what a wonderful gift to now walk in the blessed light of our Lord!

9 (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)

10 Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.

This is what the life of Christian is, rather than disobedience and evil we are given the gift to walk as children of light and walk in all goodness and righteousness and truth.

11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

12 For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.

13 But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.

14 Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

This is the job of the Christian, to awake those asleep in their sins and lead them to the transforming light of Christ!

15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,[1]

Now all that has been extra, now we reach the text verse for tonight. Now we can really begin the sermon for this evening.

“See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise”

I. Walking carefully means staying away from the line

Once upon a time far far away, and long long ago there lived a king. This king needed a new chariot driver for the princess as the family’s driver was aged an feeble. He held a contest to see who would drive his daughter. This contest would be held on the most dangerous section of road in the kingdom along a cliff near to the castle that the driver would have to often traverse. As soon as the tournament was announced the road filled with young hopefuls honing their charioteer skills. They raced up and down, each trying to prove his skill by taking the most daring lines, setting the fastest times and even ramping over the gorge to cut corners when possible. Sadly, many hopefuls were dashed to pieces at the base of the gorge during their practice. When the day of the contest arrived only the most skilled charioteers remained to compete for the coveted position.

The emperor rode one by one with the charioteers as they showed their daring and skill. The first competitor raced down the mountain, the chariot sliding around the corners. Just moments after leaving the start at the top of the mountain the emperor arrived at the base of the mountain with a face that showed nothing. As the dust cloud kicked up by the mad dash down the mountain rolled over him.

Now it was time for the second competitor. A dashing young man with all the skill and daring in the world. His chariot shone in the sun and his horses pranced nervously. Suddenly he was off. While the other charioteer had drifted through the corners this lad ignored them all together! He drove almost straight down the twisting mountain road jumping from corner to corner, ramping far out over gorge to make the path as straight and fast as possible. In an unbelievably short amount of time the emperor sat at the bottom of the mountain. Still impassive.

On and the competition went but none could match the speed of that spirited man and his matching horses. The competition featured everything from a devasting crash as one other competitor tried to imitate the wild racing line shown by this young man, in which fortunately the emperor came out unscathed, to a quiet man in his farm wagon, meandering his way down the treacherous path and avoiding the edge as though even the sight of it was unbearable to him.

The sun set and a great feast was had by all. At the end of all the festivities the winner would be announced! While nothing could be discerned from the stony face of the emperor all knew that the dashing young man had obliterated the competition. He spent the day as a hero, soaking in the glory and reveling in it. He seemed born for the spotlight. The farm boy sat alone in the corner watching the party and helping out the servants when he could.

Finally, the time came and the emperor stood! A chant rang out from the crowd predicting the winner. The emperor raised his hand for silence. The crowd hushed. There was a long pause then the regal voice rang out with the name of the farm boy and his slow hay wagon!

After the tumult stilled the emperor explained that it was not speed but safety that he desired. He was unconcerned with how long it took his daughter to get from the top of the mountain to the bottom, he was very concerned that she would always make it.

Before I explain this fictional tale lets look back at our theme for tonight. Two words. Walk circumspectly. Walk here speaks not of the steps we take with our feet but of our whole lives and the steps we take with our lives. Circumspectly is a word that has fallen out of common usage but is a synonym for the word carefully.

After telling us that God’s wrath comes upon those who disobey we are warned, “see then that ye live carefully”.

We are careful living people aren’t we? Many look at us, and our standards and our lifestyle and think we are ridiculous. We are boring, old fashioned, unnecessary and in general no fun. If we even show up to the party we certainly aren’t the life of the party, we are sitting in the corner disapproving of the very idea of fun! That’s the picture drawn of us. Firstly, its largely false. Secondly its partly true!

Are we careful and old-fashioned? I hope so.

Let’s explain the story. I think the meaning is clear. Our lives are like this contest. The main difference is we don’t get practice runs. We have got to make it on the first go. The mountain road is our life, the cliffs edge the line between right and wrong. If we cross that line we fall to our spiritual deaths, if we stay on the path we make it to our eternal destination.

Is that line important? That border between right and wrong? That edge of acceptable lifestyle and practice? Well, of course it is but what if I told you I don’t care what the boundary between right and wrong is in my personal life! No I am not crazy, no I’m not advocating for wrongdoing. I certainly am not advocating a careless and haphazard lifestyle. Rather I advocate carefulness. You see I could live my life like the dashing young man. I could come to the perfect conclusion every time, It is perhaps possible that with each choice I would be able to measure the line between right and wrong with perfect ability and dance my way to the destination balanced over the edge precipice. But that’s ridiculous, isn’t it? I would fall. The chances that I get it right every time are impossibly slim so you see I don’t care what the line is, not because I am jumping off the cliff, but because I don’t want to even see it. I want to stay far away from the edge. Does that mean I live a little to conservative? Does that make me look ridiculous to some? Well, I do not care! I am going to make it down the mountain and the surest way I know to do that is to run from the line, stay away from it and live carefully!

In this race of life that dashing young man seems awfully attractive. Born to the spotlight and glowing in it! An example of skill and perfection. He knows the line so well, he has it measured to the millimeter. He teeters on the brink and yet never falls. It looks exhilarating, it looks fun. It looks like we should follow this example of brilliance, but look at those who tried to follow his path. They did not make it. They fell to their doom. They became caught up in the moment. The pushed things a little too far, got a little too bold, were a little too careless and paid the ultimate price.

The farm boy? He is never going to fall. If you follow that path, it might seem boring and ridiculous, but it never fails. He never falls. If his horse stumbles or his wagon breaks, if a storm blows in furiously and surprisingly and blows him off course he is still on the path. A surprise breath of air could knock the daring young man down, but nothing can deter the farm boy from his path.

Now that’s not to say that you can accidentally fall off the path, accidentally fall into sin. No, certainly not. But it is to say that a storm may cause a misstep, a misjudgment, may knock you away from where you want to be. It is to say that we are fallible and fallen creatures. We make missteps and misjudgments in our lives. When that happens and you are carelessly dancing on the line between right and wrong it is all too likely that your choice will lead to wrong.

Of course, the illustration is not perfect. All illustrations have a point of failure if they are pushed too far. But the point is this, it is more safe to live carefully. To stay away from the line between right and wrong and instead think about actions and decision in our lives through the lens of safety. You say that we are to be balanced in our lives and you are right. You say that many have taken carefulness too far and you are right. But I say that being balanced does not mean balancing on the border of right and wrong. I say that today our danger is not in being too careful but in carelessness. I want to remind you that this idea of being careful is not an idea by George Straub or Daniel Dubendorf, not an idea from Asbury, Whitefield, or Wesley. Not something we borrowed from Luther. Not an idea of Athanasius or Augustine. Rather the idea of living carefully comes directly from the inspired word of God.

As I close tonight its ok if you think my textual commentary was off target and pointless. Its ok if you think my illustration childish. Its perfectly fine if you found my application to be logically impaired. But what you must remember, what is not something that I came up with tonight, not something from the mind of a young and inexperienced preacher but something that God advises. My friend Live a careful life! So often people challenge the way we live. They tell us to show them the chapter and the verse or don’t preach against it! The Bible does make some things very plain and very specific, but it mostly gives us principles to guide our lives. We do our best to expound the principles of God’s word. As soon as we try to apply those principles in a modern context people get up in arms. Sometimes we cannot point to chapter and verse as beyond all shadow of doubt definitive proof that such and such action should be avoided, but is not the wreckage of broken lives scattered at bottom of the cliff of this worlds allurements reason enough to warn against getting too close! So many things may not be called out specifically in scripture, and may be debatably acceptable. But if something is debatable, if something is pushing the boundaries is it worth it? I never appreciated this sentiment from my mother but it is true. Is that thing that is bringing danger into your life, that questionable action or careless attitude, is it worth missing heaven over?

Let no man deceive you then! Live a careful life for God’s wrath comes to the disobedient!

[1] The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), Eph 5:1–15.