Sealed in Wisdom

Sealed 7

Sealed in Wisdom

Ephesians 5:15-20

Series Slide

This is the day that the Lord has made

Let us rejoice and be glad in it, Amen!

It is good to be in the house of the Lord, Amen. Can you believe that next week is Labor Day? I know, where has the summer gone? Next week we will wrap up our series on Ephesians, then we have a lot going on in September.

The 22nd will be Methodist Women’s Sunday…

Then, on the 15th, we will have a very special guest – the Rev. Dr. Daniel Toplaski – President Pro-Tem of Bulgaria. Dr. Toplaski will be delivering our message that day and you will not want to miss that. If you didn’t know, we as the Mid-Texas Conference have pledged to support Bulgaria financially. They were the first conference to leave and join the Global Methodist Church… we have been global from day one! But, when they left the UMC, they walked away from subsidies that covered the salaries for the pastors, and we said, collectively that we would support and cover those needs. Each year over a 5-year period, we will supplement their salaries as they take more and more ownership. By the end of the 5 years, they will be fully self-sufficient and self-sustaining. We will be working on meeting our pledge to help support their faithful act as they follow Christ and offer His love and grace to the world. I tell you what, I am looking forward to having a chance to sit under Dr. Toplaski’s preaching for a Sunday.

But, before we get to September, we have to finish August strong! So, today we are continuing our series in Ephesians, looking at how we are identified as followers of Christ. The entire book is focused on us – the readers – yes, those in Ephesus, but also us today… it is focused on us realizing our identity in Christ.

We started with the fact that we are Sealed by the Spirit. We are marked, like a wax seal on a letter imprinted with the signet of a dignitary. We are sealed, identified, marked by the Holy Spirit through the power of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Then we saw that we are Sealed as the Temple. The Temple was the dwelling place of God’s Spirit, but in Jesus, we became the place of the presence of God. When we gather together, when we unite as the Body of Christ, we are the very dwelling place of the Spirit of God.

In Week 3 we considered that we are Sealed through Love. The world will know us, will identify us by our love for one another and for the world around us. We aren’t called to shun the world, we are called to impact the world. We are called to change the world around us, and we don’t do that through hate. We don’t change the world by plastering how wrong our neighbors are on social media… we change the world by loving the world the way Jesus loved us. We are sealed, identified, through love.

Then we saw that we are Sealed Together. You and I are in this together. We can’t be the Body of Christ on our own… that’s like Paul’s example of an Ear walking down the road with no mouth and no legs… it’s absurd. We are all parts of the one Body of Christ. Individually and as churches… we work together in the community to further God’s kingdom.

And, we are Sealed in Forgiveness. We have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. None of us are worthy, but with God there is forgiveness… that is the beauty of what we offer to others, God is not a god of wrath, our God is merciful and good.

Finally, last week, we considered the fact that we are Sealed as Light. You and I are a shining city on a hill… not because we produce light, but because we reflect the very light of Christ for the world to see. Our job is to reflect the light of Christ so that it can chase away the darkness of the world around us.

So, if you’ve missed the last 6 weeks, and haven’t watched them online… now you know where we have been.

But today, we are talking about the fact that we are Sealed with Wisdom.

A couple of weeks ago we said that we need to live like Jesus. Last week we said we need to live as a child of the light. This week, we are going to look at the fact that we need to live as the wise.

<Prayer>

I am a child of the 80’s. That means most of my musical influence is from the 80’s. One of the first bands I ever went to see in concert was Huey Lewis and the News. Don’t worry, I’m not going to make you sit through another music video like I did a couple of weeks ago, but I do want to share some of the lyrics of one of his hits.

He starts our talking about how we are all looking for a perfect world where

“The perfect boy will meet the perfect girl

And the perfect love will set the world on fire”

Then he gets into the chorus,

“Ain't no livin' in a perfect world

There ain't no perfect world anyway

Ain't no livin' in a perfect world

But we'll keep on dreamin' of livin' in a perfect world”

If you watch the video, It starts out with them singing on what seems to be a perfect outdoor stage on a pristine day, but by the end, you realize it’s all an illusion. They are actually performing in a trash dump.

I think that is the sentiment of Paul’s words here. We aren’t living in a perfect world. In fact, we have to be careful how we live, making the most of every opportunity, because (what?)… the days are evil.

We don’t live in a perfect world. We live in a world where cancer happens, where bones break, where car wrecks occur, where Alzheimer’s robs our loved one’s mind and Parkinson’s robs our loved one’s body. We live in a broken world.

Most of us grew up in a time when we considered this a Christian nation. We assumed that everyone around us had the same basic moral compass. Our culture, our morals, and our ethics were all based on the same Judeo-Christian tenets of faith.

I hope you do realize that that is no longer the case. We do not live in a Christian culture, in fact, we live in a Post-Christian culture, or maybe said a little better we are living in a Post-Christendom era. We live in a time where the world “selectively claims the virtues rooted in a Christian worldview, while selectively rejecting the truths that make those values possible.” We live in a time where people may call themselves “Christian”, but lack basic knowledge of biblical faith.

The world we live in today is vastly different than the world we grew up in. No, we don’t live in a perfect world, but we are called to keep on dreaming of a perfect world. We are called to bring God’s will to earth as it is in heaven.

Here’s the thing though… this imperfect world we live in today looks remarkably like the world Paul was living in when he wrote to the Ephesians. Paul wrote this letter to those of us living in a pagan world that rejects the beliefs of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

And he tells us in verse 17:

Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.

Now, we don’t have time today to dig into understanding the Lord’s will, but I want to offer you a resource, Dr. Leslie Weatherhead’s “The Will of God.” Just as a quick synopsis he differentiates God’s will in three parts,

Will of God

1) The Intentional Will of God – God’s intentional will, God’s initial plan was good and right, but when, in our own humanity, chose to sin and separate ourselves from the goodness of God, we thwarted God’s intentional will for our lives and for the world… but that didn’t stop God’s will.

2) The Circumstantial Will of God – In the circumstances of the sin, in the midst of the evil, in the midst of our mistakes and the bad things that happen because we live in a fallen world, God works together for our good. God is present in the storm and brings good out of it. God doesn’t cause the storm, but we can trust that God is at work bringing good from the storm. We don’t always see those results, but know that God is making all things right. I guess, it’s like saying that God takes the lemons of life and makes lemonade.

3) The Ultimate Will of God – God’s ultimate will is that every knee on earth and in heaven will bow. God’s ultimate will is that we have a way to be redeemed, to be sanctified, to be made right with God, and that way is through Jesus… Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life – no one comes to the Father except through him.

Don’t be foolish, understand God’s good will for you and me… that’s what Paul is saying here. Then he starts meddlin’… telling you not to drink wine!!! at least that’s what most people think. But that’s really not what he’s saying.

Verse 18-19

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.

This is where I might get in a little trouble. Who remembers the scandal with the opening of the Olympic Games… when people thought there was a mockery of the Lord’s Supper. Well, what it was an image of a Bacchae – or the worship of Baucchus… that’s his Greek name, but most are more familiar with his Roman name, Dionysus. Bacchus, or Dionysus, was the god of wine and merriment. So, when people would worship Bacchus, it would be called a Bacchae – where we get the word debauchery from. The actions of the Baucchae where the very definition of debauchery… things so evil that we don’t mention them as Paul said in last weeks passage.

Think of the worst drunken party you can imagine… and then multiply that. It was the worst of the worst.

You see, when they would drink wine in these “worship” events, then they would consider themselves filled with the spirit of Bacchus or Dionysius. The more they consumed, the more filled they were… then the things they did in their drunken state was considered to be the result of the god of wine working through them. You see where this is going.

Galatians 5:19-21 says that “The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies.”

These are the things that happened at these “worship” events for Dionysus.

So, Paul isn’t saying – don’t drink wine… Wine was and is a huge part of the culture in Israel and much of the Middle East. Paul wasn’t saying don’t drink it, he was saying don’t partake of the festivals that drink wine to be filled with the spirit of Dionysus… instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Now, what does it look like to be filled with the Holy Spirit?

It looks alot like what we do in worship.

Verses 19-20

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.

We live in a world that openly celebrates debauchery. We live in a pagan world that resembles the world that Paul lived in and wrote to… but we don’t have to leave it that way.

We worship our God through songs from our heart and by giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of Jesus.

As we prayed a few moments ago,

we are called to bring God’s kingdom to earth as it is in heaven….

We are called to bring God’s ultimate will to the world.

We are called to offer the perfect love, hope, and grace of Jesus Christ to an imperfect world.

I guess if I was living in the 80’s I might say:

“Ain't no livin' in a perfect world

There ain't no perfect world anyway

Ain't no livin' in a perfect world

But we'll keep on dreamin' of livin' in a perfect world”

<Prayer and Invitation>