Look Carefully

Good morning, welcome to NHCC. Please open your Bibles to Ephesians 5.

Baptism after service.

Pastor Appreciation Thank You.

Where have we been and where are we going?

Read Ephesians 5:15–17- “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”

Pray.

What is the general gist of what Paul is saying to these Christians at Ephesus?

How you live is important, so take time to evaluate that you’re using your time wisely by seeking out and living according to God’s will for your life.

Paul communicates this idea with a number of challenges given to his readers to consider the way in which they are living.

1. Christians must carefully observe and consider the direction in which they are living.

Look carefully.

To see, to behold, to beware.

Behold- Pause to observe, consider what you are seeing.

Fascinating to me that this sort of language is used.

Paul doesn’t merely tell his readers to live a good life.

Instead, he tells them to look carefully at their life. Why?

We often aren’t living the way we assume we are living.

Paul is aware of this and so he calls his readers to take always reflect on how they are walking, or living.

Screentime tracker on my phone.

Why is it necessary?

We hide certain information from ourselves, and we are good at doing it.

Why do I avoid it?

I often don’t care to see just how much time I have been wasting.

Do we do this when it comes to our spiritual life and health as well?

Not as unwise but as wise.

Paul here gives the standard. The scale upon which we are to weigh our lives.

Are we living wisely? Or are we living foolishly?

Think back to series on Proverbs.

To live wisely meant to live the way God designed life to be lived. To live rightly.

To take whatever knowledge we have of the will of God that comes from being in the presence of God and to live within the bounds of that knowledge.

The honest difficulty here, what we struggle to come to grips with, is that foolishness in our lives often goes unseen and unpondered.

The reason for this being that we likely don’t take time to figure out why we continue to live the way that we live.

For many of us, we don’t love self-evaluation; but this is where Paul calls us, along with his readers.

Look carefully, and as a result, live carefully in wisdom.

This leads us to a question- How do we look carefully at our lives? What exactly are we looking for?

Paul answers our question in v. 16.

2. Christians must carefully observe and consider the use of their time.

Making the best use of time.

Redeem your time.

What do we mean when we speak of redemption?

Perhaps our minds go to the way that God redeemed, or set free, His people from slavery in Egypt in order that they might worship God and be His people freely.

Or maybe our minds go to the cross, where we see Jesus dying on behalf of His people in order that they would be set free from the bondage of sin in oder that they might worship God rightly and be His people freely.

Both are the best possible examples of redemption. And Paul here is writing that our time ought to be redeemed.

Take your time that has been captive to other things and set it free to serve God and live according to His will.

We begin with a difficult question- Are our days much of a consideration for us?

I love Psalm 90, which is a Psalm of Moses. Notice how he speaks of our considering the days that we have, the time afforded us.

Psalm 90:9–12- “For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh. The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you? So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.”

Knowing the limits of our lives, our time, our days, drives us to live more wisely within those days.

How much time do I have left with my family? Shouldn’t I make the most of it?

How much time do I have left to accomplish whatever God has set before me for the advancing of His Kingdom?

This is what we see from Paul.

Philippians 1:12–14- “I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.”

Paul takes every bit of his time to focus on what he is able to do on behalf of God’s plan for the furthering of the Gospel.

How do we view certain seasons of our lives?

When life is good and God has filled us up with every possible blessing?

When life is a struggle and God seems far and distant and has seemingly removed His hand of blessing from us?

When sin is prevalent and temptation is constant?

When love for God is steadfast and worship is steady?

Why is there a need for us to observe and consider our time?

The days are evil.

Think about Paul and what he had experienced in his life.

He was well aware of the darkness that surrounded his life and the toll that it took on him.

Writing while under house arrest.

What is happening in the world around us is always beckoning us to join.

Why do we do the things we do?

What drives my thoughts? What drives my behavior?

3. Christians must carefully observe and consider the meanings of wisdom and folly.

Paul here describes wisdom by contrasting it against foolishness.

Wisdom here would be defined as the understanding of God’s will, as opposed to folly, which would be a life of avoiding God’s will.

The walk of the Gentiles, walking in darkness, now walking in foolishness.

Come away from foolishness. Understand God’s will.

Understand- more than mere knowledge.

Remember, wisdom is knowing what is right and living it.

To understand God’s will then is not only to know what it us, but to live accordingly.

Ultimately, Paul’s challenge and encouragement here is to be people who seek out God’s will in God’s Word.

Again- What drives our thoughts? What drives our lives?

To be familiar with God’s will and what it means for our lives, we must be familiar with what God says to us.

We are not going through life making it up as we go. We are seeking the life that God lays out before us, and we are asking for His help constantly.