EPHESIANS 5:15-21 - A Wise Walk in a Foolish World

Introduction

In a few weeks our family will head out for our annual camp weekend at the Sykesville Stone Camp in Moshannon State Forest. We’ve been going out there since before our kids were born, and the weekend has evolved several traditions over the decades. One of those is a walk on Friday evening across what we all call “The Slippery Bridge”. (If you ask anyone who goes to camp weekend about the Slippery Bridge, they all will know immediately what you mean!)

The bridge in question is actually a few planks and a handrail over a stream a hundred yards or so inside the tree line across the road from camp. It got its name from the first time Caleb walked over it when he was about two years old. At that time it was only a couple of old waterlogged boards thrown across the stream banks—Caleb went charging over the bridge, hit the slick spot in the middle, did a sliding half-turn, pitched over the edge of the boards and was caught by one of us just before he landed face-first in the stream. And so the bridge received the name that it has borne (in our family, anyway) ever since—a reminder that when you cross that bridge, you have to walk carefully!

Paul has been writing a lot in these past few chapters about walking carefully as Christians—how to conduct our lives, make decisions, react to situations, deal with our sin and treat others. Over the past several weeks we have considered the way we are called to walk in light of the renewed mind we have been given in the New Birth in Christ:

Ephesians 4:17 LSB

Therefore this I say, and testify in the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,

Ephesians 5:2 LSB

and walk in love, just as Christ also loved us and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.

Ephesians 5:8 LSB

for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light

Here in our text this morning we come to the last way we are called to walk as Christians:

Ephesians 5:15 LSB

Therefore look carefully how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,

If you look carefully at each of these commands to walk, you will notice that they each contain a positive and negative command—don’t walk in the futility of your old mind, but walk in the renewed mind of the New Birth. Walk in sacrificial love, not in the selfish lusts of the world. Walk in light, not in darkness. And here in Verse 15 we are to walk as wise, not as unwise.

So what does it mean to walk in wisdom? How do the Scriptures define wisdom?

Proverbs 9:10 LSB

The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Proverbs 1:7 LSB

The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; Ignorant fools despise wisdom and discipline.

Walking in wisdom means walking in the fear of the LORD—it means walking day by day, moment by moment realizing that you will answer to God. It means, as we saw some weeks back in our study of Psalm 97, walking coram Deo, before the face of God at every moment, under His authority and for His glory.

Paul’s command to walk as wise comes right after the Gospel-call of Ephesians 5:14:

Ephesians 5:14 LSB

For this reason it says, “Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you.”

When you come to faith in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, when you repent and turn to Christ alone to redeem you from death and work the New Birth in you, you are able to walk according to His will—you are given the ability in Him to walk in wisdom in this foolish world. Though the days are evil (v. 16b), though they are dark and there are stumbling blocks and snares everywhere; though you are constantly tempted to walk foolishly and allow the old futile mind of your past life to rule you—even there are so many ways for your foot to slip as you walk in this evil world, God’s Word promises you that

Your steps are SECURE when you walk in the LIGHT of Christ’s WISDOM

I believe that there are at least two descriptions of what your life will look like Christian, when you walk in light of the wisdom of God that shines on you because you are in Christ. First of all, in verses 15-17, we see that a walk in the light of Christ’s wisdom is

I. A CAREFUL walk in an EVIL world (Ephesians 5:15-17)

Ephesians 5:15–17 LSB

Therefore look carefully how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. On account of this, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

If you would walk securely in this life, Christian, then

Be DELIBERATE in your steps (v. 15)

Ephesians 5:15 LSB

Therefore look carefully how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,

Every morning it feels a little more like fall out there, and every week we get closer to winter—the time of year when everyone learns to be deliberate in their steps! Especially after some freezing rain, right? You take your time, watch carefully where you’re stepping, you closely consider where your foot is going—you pay attention!

This is what God is exhorting us to here in this verse—that we learn to live deliberately. The contrast in this verse is walking unwise versus as wise. So if walking carefully in this world means walking with wisdom in the fear of the LORD, then walking as unwise means disregarding Him in all the ways Paul has been describing through Chapters 4 and 5—being tossed about by every wind of doctrine (4:14), walking in the futility of the old mind (4:17), allowing yourself to be ruled by your temper or your lusts (4:22), letting falsehood and anger and dishonesty and rotten speech grow up like weeds in your life (4:25-29).

Learning to be deliberate in your steps doesn’t mean that you become paralyzed with indecision and anxiety over whether what you’re doing is “good enough” in the eyes of God. It means learning to think with the mind of Christ that you have been given. In its own way, the old “What would Jesus do?” fad was on the right track—but I would suggest that we be deliberate in our walk by asking not just what Jesus would do, but “What is Christ’s delight for us here? What would please Him? Would the sacrifice He made to redeem me be honored by what I am about to say, or where I am about to go?”

You walk securely in this life when you walk in the light of Christ’s wisdom—be deliberate in your steps, and

Be MINDFUL of your days (v. 16)

Ephesians 5:15–16 LSB

Therefore look carefully how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Verse 16 reminds us to redeem the time—the word “time” here in the original language here refers to “a fixed period or season”, and is also rendered opportunity in Galatians 6:10

Galatians 6:10 LSB

So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.

So here is another characteristic of a wise walk in a foolish world—it is a walk that looks for opportunity to make a difference for the Gospel! Redeem the time—buy back every opportunity—because if you don’t use those opportunities, they will be used for evil! A wise walk in the light of Christ is one that ends every day, laying down on your bed saying, “I know my life has counted today for God’s global cause of the Gospel! I know that I have made a difference for Christ.”

That is a careful walk—that doesn’t just drift through these evil days hoping nothing bad happens to you, or simply reacting to events as they happen to you. A wise walk looks for ways to improve the opportunities you are given. Jonathan Edwards, the powerful 18th Century pastor from New England, wrote in his Resolutions, “Resolved: Never to lose one moment of time, but to improve it in the most profitable way I possibly can.” He wrote that just before his twentieth birthday.

You do not know how many days you have, Christian—you may think you have decades left to make a difference for Christ, but you do not know when your hour will arrive. (I was writing this sermon when I got news of Charlie Kirk’s death—a man who faithfully used every opportunity he was given to make a difference in others’ lives for Christ.)

Walking in light of the wisdom of Christ means a careful walk in an evil world—be deliberate in your steps, be mindful of your days, and

Be UNDERSTANDING of God’s will (v. 17)

Ephesians 5:17 LSB

On account of this, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Once again—see the contrast between wisdom and foolishness. The opposite of understanding the will of the Lord is foolishly not understanding what He wants from you. And it is foolish to think that you can be purchased by the blood of Christ, freed from the penalty and power of your sin, and remain unconcerned by what He now expects of you.

There is a popular but misguided teaching out there in Christianity that there is some “secret will of God” that you can only have Him reveal to you if you are praying really hard and reading your Bible with a microscope—a will that is revealed to you by some kind of special “peace” or visceral feeling, and if you don’t have that “feeling” or that “leading” or that “peace”, then you shouldn’t do anything because you might “miss God’s will for your life.”

But do you know what the key to understanding what the will of the Lord is? It is found in the Word He has given us. And not buried under fifteen layers of Greek and Hebrew and Aramaic study and postgraduate theology degrees—there is definitely room for deep-mining precious truths out of this Book with those tools, but God makes His will for you known, Christian, in very clear terms:

His will for you is that you be saved:

1 Timothy 2:3–4 LSB

This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth.

His will for you is that you be made holy:

1 Thessalonians 4:3 LSB

For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality;

His will for you is that you be steadfast in suffering:

1 Peter 2:20 LSB

For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it, you endure, this finds favor with God.

His will for you is that you be thankful:

1 Thessalonians 5:18 LSB

in everything give thanks, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

His will for you is that you are just, merciful and humble:

Micah 6:8 LSB

He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does Yahweh require of you But to do justice, to love lovingkindness, And to walk humbly with your God?

Don’t foolishly hide behind the excuse that God’s will for your life is just so hard to find! Walking in the light of Christ’s wisdom is a careful walk in an evil world—be deliberate in your steps, be mindful of your days, and be understanding of God’s will for you.

A wise walk is a careful walk in a foolish world, and as we move into verses 18-21 of our text Paul shifts his focus from a careful walk in an evil world to

II. Wise WORSHIP in a foolish CULTURE (Ephesians 5:18-21)

Ephesians 5:18–21 LSB

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 being subject to one another in the fear of Christ.

At first glance, it feels like Paul has suddenly changed the subject, doesn’t it? On the one hand it’s true that drunkenness is shown in the Scriptures to be a very particular form of foolishness:

Proverbs 23:29–30 LSB

Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who linger long over wine, Those who go to search out mixed wine.

But I want to suggest that there is something else going on here in these verses—if you notice, the contrast to being “drunk with wine” is to “be filled with the Spirit”—and then Paul immediately moves the point into the realm of gathered worship:

Ephesians 5:19 LSB

speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;

Paul is taking what he has written about what it means to walking in the light of Christ’s wisdom and apply it specifically to the way we worship. And so in that context, the warning not to be drunk with wine is specifically a warning against bringing pagan worship rituals into the church. One of the gods worshipped in Ephesus (along with Diana) was the god of wine, Dionysius. Dionysius’ worshippers would get ritually drunk in order to have some mystical communion with their god. (Paul makes a reference to this practice in 1 Corinthians 10:21 when he says that Christians cannot “drink the cup of the LORD and the cup of demons).

The use of alcohol or other mind-altering drugs was a widespread practice in the pagan worship of Paul’s day, and so here in this verse he is warning the Ephesians that they must not try to worship Christ in this way. The pagans had to use alcohol and other drugs to get their minds into the right emotional state to “worship”—they wanted to lower their inhibitions, get themselves into the right “mood” to “feel” their gods’ presence among them.

And so I would submit to you that Paul is exhorting us here in this verse to

Be governed the SPIRIT, not by EMOTIONS (vv. 18-19; cp. Col. 3:16)

With the weather turning cooler, it won’t be long until we are into salt season here, right? When all the salt from the sidewalks gets tracked into the church. Well, the Apostle Paul warns us that in the same way, the foolish behaviors of the world around us can get tracked into our church worship. We may not use drugs or alcohol to put us into the right mental condition to meet with God, there are a lot of Christians who have adopted other ways of creating some kind of altered emotional or mental state and calling it “worship”.

Singing the same repetitious lyric for an extended period of time, the use of music or lights or other atmospheric effects, relying on theatrical or dramatic activities that create a particular response of excitement or enthusiasm or humor to lower your defenses or move you in a particular way—anything that is done to try to excite a visceral, emotional response of “feeling God’s presence” or “sensing the presence of the Holy Spirit” in worship.

But we are not to use psychological tricks to manipulate ourselves or others into “feeling” God’s presence—we already have the Holy Spirit indwelling us. Paul writes about this same subject in Colossians 3, where he calls us to

Colossians 3:16 LSB

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with gratefulness in your hearts to God.

There is something intensely individualistic about worship that is driven by your feelings. You tend to turn inward to yourself, “just me and Jesus”. We walk away from worship counting it as meaningful if I feel as though I have had some emotional encounter with Christ.

But what does the Scripture say? When you are truly filled with the Spirit, it drives you toward one another!

Ephesians 5:19 LSB

speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;

This is why we work so hard to cultivate congregational singing in our worship—because when a people are singing with one another and to one another as well as to God, that is the sign that we are filled with the Holy Spirit and not the shallow, self-absorbed, emotional “high” of manipulation in worship.

Our worship is not meant to be filled with emotional manipulation—but by the Word of Christ. Being filled with the Spirit means being filled with the word of Christ—the Scriptures. The foolish culture around us is governed by its emotions, but we are to be governed by what the Spirit has said to the churches (Rev. 3:13).

See as we move into Verse 20 of our text what happens when we are governed by the Spirit and not our emotions—

Ephesians 5:20 LSB

always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father;

Wise worship in a foolish culture means that we are to

Be governed by GRATITUDE, not by CIRCUMSTANCES (v. 20)

Being filled with the Spirit of Christ in His Word will not only give us the grace to speak to each other in the worship we offer through songs, hymns, and spiritual songs—it will also enable us to be truly thankful for everything that happens to us in these evil days.

The world around us in its foolishness is defenseless against fear and anxiety and anger and bitterness. When tragedy or violence strikes—as it has so hideously these past few weeks—the first reaction of the fool is to curse God and die. To hate Him for what He allowed to happen, or to blame Him for being uncaring or cruel.

The world around us is governed by circumstances—but the Christian is governed by gratitude to God in all circumstances! Don’t track the mess of this world’s unbelief into the fellowship and worship of the church. Always giving thanks for all things. Because when you are filled with the Word of Christ, His Spirit’s inspired Word, you know that the God Who has brought all these hard circumstances into your life does so as a loving Heavenly Father. He is not just governing your life by His providence, He is writing a story. And because you know Him through His Word you know, Christian, that He never writes a story that does not end with redemption!

The dark and bitter passages of your story—bereavement, loss, disease, loneliness, battles with sin, betrayal, violence—all of those things are merely chapters in the story He is writing that will end with your eternal happiness in Him! And so when you are in the midst of one of those dark chapters, you can thank Him for it because it is perfectly placed to bring your story exactly where it will end in the most joy for you and the most glory for Him! And knowing that will allow you to thank Him for that darkness even while you are in it!

We are to be governed by the Spirit, not by emotions. We are to be governed by gratitude, not circumstances. And in Verse 21 we are told that walking in wisdom with one another in the fellowship of the church means that we are to

Be governed by REVERENCE, not by PRIDE (v. 21)

Ephesians 5:21 LSB

and being subject to one another in the fear of Christ.

Once again, the foolish world around us is utterly governed by pride—by being recognized, by “getting what you deserve”, by making sure that you are taken seriously, that no one disrespects you or refuses to give you the honor you feel you should have. Paul says here, don’t track that mess into the church.

Because this sort of thing never happens in a church fellowship, does it? Egos never clash, do they? You never see people taking sides over some issue, it’s unheard of for a pastor to get cut off at the knees by powerful or influential individuals in the congregation, there is no way members would ever get into fights that would wind up with one or the other (or both) blowing up and leaving. Never happens, right?

Paul says don’t track that mess into church. The world out there walks in that kind of striving and fighting, but your walk is to be different. He says “be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.” Paul takes a phrase that is repeated all through the Old Testament— “The fear of YHWH”—and applies it straight across to Jesus Christ. Paul was a Pharisee and an expert in the Law; he knew exactly what he was doing when he commanded the Ephesians to submit to one another in the fear of Christ.

Because it’s true, isn’t it Christian—you cannot exalt yourself in pride over another believer once you really understand who you are apart from Christ. When you consider that His agony on that Cross was inflicted by your wickedness; when you really grasp the utter moral wreck that you are apart from His righteousness that He bled to death to purchase for you, you cannot see yourself as morally superior to anyone else—inside or outside the church! You cannot exalt yourself over your brother or sister and at the same time exalt Christ. And so when you are governed by reverence for what Christ did for you on the Cross—and why He did it—the outcome in your life is one of glad submission to one another, delighting to serve your brother or sister in Christ in sacrificial love.

That old Slippery Bridge out at camp has long-since been replaced by a solid-wood plank construction with a sturdy handrail running along one side. We’re not sure, but we suspect it was constructed by some other members of the Sykesville Hunting Camp who wanted to make the path more secure for other campers and hikers.

Beloved, how can we make a wise walk in this foolish world more secure for those who are walking with us? For those who will walk after us in our footsteps?

We make a wise walk secure in this foolish world first of all by making sure our own walk is secure—just as a toddler needed someone to hold his hand and wak with him across that slippery bridge, so you can be a help to those who are walking with you. To come alongside each other, to offer a hand as we consider if the steps we take are honoring to the LORD in godly fear. To look at each day that God has given us as a day to redeem—to find the opportunities that each day holds to serve His Kingdom: Sharing the Gospel with a co-worker; spending time in prayer for your family, your church, your world; growing in your understanding of God’s Word as you read it and commit it to memory.

We make a wise walk more secure in this foolish world by considering how our walk is being watched by those who will come after us. Now, it is most natural to think in terms of the way your walk is being watched by your children—and of course, moms and dads, this is one of the most important considerations you will ever have in your life: How do your children see you walking in this foolish world? Do they see you responding with that deliberate walk that is mindful of the days you have been given and your intention to redeem them for the sake of God’s glory? Or do they see you make careless, emotionally-driven reactions? Do they see you succumbing to peevishness, frustration and anger in response to the evils of the world around you? They are learning how to walk by watching you—and your steps will only be worth imitating when you are walking in the light of Christ’s wisdom.

But if you don’t have kids, or your kids are grown, that doesn’t mean that you are simply off the hook, does it? Because whether or not you have children you are responsible for, you are still being watched carefully by the next generation when you gather here to worship.

What kind of worship are we presenting when we gather/ Are we tracking in the world’s emotionalism, trying to manipulate ourselves into some kind of “experience” with God, or are we seeking to be filled by God’s Word, so that we are taken out of ourselves to minister to one another in our worship?

Are we tracking in all of the unbelief that says God has forgotten us in our difficulties, that He is uncaring or has somehow lost control of the evil days we live in? Or are we able by the renewed mind of the New Birth to

Romans 5:3–5 LSB

...boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not put to shame, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Are we tracking into our worship all of the competition and pride and self-advancement that the world runs on? Is your participation in the gathered worship of the church on Sunday mornings governed by your own self-image? Or are you glad to speak to your brothers and sisters in Christ with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs?

Do you bristle at the thought of one of your brothers or sisters in Christ approaching you to pray for you or ask you about a struggle they see in you? Or do you see one of your fellow members weighed down by care or hardship and pass them by because your own time is too valuable? Or are you glad for the opportunity to sacrifice your time and energy for their sake? Is the work of the Holy Spirit in your life making you increasingly glad to submit to the love and care and concern of your church family?

Your steps are secure when you walk in the light of Christ’s wisdom, walking carefully in an evil world. But there are a lot of people who think they can walk in such a way as to have it both ways—a good moral upstanding side of you that you let everyone see at church and with your family, always knowing the right answers in Sunday School, having all of the details of your life arranged in such a way that everything looks good and right and faithful.

But there’s the other side of your life that no one knows about—maybe it’s literally a double life, like the man who has a wife and children and also a mistress that no one else knows about. Maybe it is a hidden lust like porn or a secret gluttony for alcohol or a carefully buried presence on social media that completely contradicts your Christian testimony.

You may think you can walk that line, you can keep putting up the Christian facade while protecting the “other” walk, and keep the two of them from ever crossing paths. But please consider what the Word of God has to say about those who try to walk that kind of treacherous path:

Deuteronomy 32:35 LSB

‘Vengeance is Mine, and retribution, In due time their foot will stumble; For the day of their disaster is near, And the impending things are hastening upon them.’

It may not happen now, it may not happen tomorrow, but the time will come when you will slip off of that bridge that you are walking. It will all fall apart; the sin you are trying to hide will betray you; the double life you are trying to live will be revealed. The day of that disaster is coming—it is rushing down on you even as we speak, and there is only one remedy you have:

Fly to Jesus Christ! He sees what you are doing; He sees the deception and betrayal, He sees the foolishness of your hypocrisy, and He stands ready to forgive you! He has done everything already—He was nailed to the Cross by hypocritical religious elites that He called “whitewashed tombs”: Beautiful and clean on the outside, and full of dead men’s bones. When they put Him to death, He bore all of your sins of foolish hypocrisy and double-minded pride so that you could walk free of them in the New Birth.

He has called you here this morning because He is offering you the chance to repent of your foolish walk; He promises forgiveness and healing; His redeemed people are ready to love you and encourage you and cheer you on as you learn to walk in wisdom before Him. So “Do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the LORD is”—come, and welcome!—to Jesus Christ!

BENEDICTION

Hebrews 13:20–21 LSB

Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, our Lord Jesus, equip you in every good thing to do His will, by doing in us what is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

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