Sermon Tone Analysis

*Walking in Wisdom*

*Ephesians 5:15-21*

 

A Niagara Falls daredevil, Bobby Leach went over the 167 foot high Horseshoe Falls in a barrel on July 25, 1911.

He was only the second person to do so at that time.

He broke his jaw and both kneecaps.

He spent six months in the hospital recuperating from his injuries.

In 1925, Leach did a final stunt parachuting from an airplane over the falls.

Perhaps the most amazing thing about the life of this daredevil is how it ended.

In 1926 on a publicity tour in New Zealand, Bobby Leach slipped on an orange peel while walking down the street.

He fractured his leg and gangrene set in, ultimately ending his illustrious life.

How ironic that a man who had taken great pains to survive life-threatening stunts would end up losing his life because of a careless step while walking down the street.

Similar tragedies occur when we become careless in the walk of life.

In Ephesians 5:15 we are urged, “Therefore, be careful how you walk…” The word /careful/ means to do something accurately, precisely, with close attention.

We are not to live haphazardly and thoughtlessly.

Rather, we are to live with care and focus.

We have spent the last several weeks focusing our attention on what it means to live carefully.

Building on the biblical mandate to walk worthy of our calling in Christ, we have seen that a worthy walk is to walk in unity, to walk toward maturity, to walk in newness of life, to walk in love, and to walk in light.

Today we discover that a worthy walk is to walk in wisdom.

*A Wise Walk*

 

We have already seen the idea of God’s wisdom in Ephesians.

* 1:8-9    In wisdom God made known to us the mystery of His will regarding our salvation in Christ.

* 1:17     Paul prays that God will give us a spirit of wisdom to know the hope of our calling, the riches of God’s glory, and the greatness of God’s power.

* 3:10     God makes known His manifold wisdom through His establishing of the church by saving Jews and Gentiles.

So, the wise walk begins with understanding and embracing God’s redemptive plan in Jesus Christ.

Since the ultimate expression of God’s wisdom is His saving work in Christ, we cannot begin to be wise without understanding and embracing this reality.

This is critical.

To reject Jesus Christ and the salvation offered in Him is the ultimate act of foolishness because it ignores the manifested wisdom of God.

As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:24, /Christ the power of God and the *wisdom* of God.

/

 

Once we have trusted in Jesus Christ and come to know Him in a saving relationship, the wisdom of God in Christ has implications for living.

We are to live a wise life built on our knowledge of Christ.

We are to reject foolishness and pursue wisdom.

These verses focus our attention on three things which characterize the wise walk: /redeeming our time, understanding the Lord’s will, and being filled with the Spirit/.

I.

Wise people seize opportunities for the glory of Christ (v.

16).

 

A.

Redeem the time.

            1.

There are two basic words for time in Greek.

One is /chronos/

                 which is chronological time, clock time.

The other is /kairos/

                 which refers to periods or seasons of time.

The term used

                 here is /kairos/.

It could be translated “opportunities, or

                 occasions.”

It is like the difference between minute and

                 moment.

            2.

We are to redeem the time.

The term redeem is a market

                 term.

It means to buy or purchase something.

The idea is

                 that we are to buy up the time while supplies last.

It has to

                 do with seizing the moment.

The latin phrase /carpe diem/ is

                 a good explanation.

It means to seize the day.

B. For the days are evil.

1.

This phrase points to the fact that we Christians are living in

                the overlap of the ages.

The coming of Jesus to this earth

                signaled the passing of the way of the old age and the

                coming of a new one.

This present age is an evil age.

It is

                governed by the evil one.

This age is called “the last days.”

2.

So, this is a reminder that the times we live in are passing.

A

                new time is one the way.

Our time here is limited.

We can’t

                take a single day for granted.

We must seize opportunities.

ILL~/APP: Dear people, we must begin viewing time from a Christian perspective.

A Christian world view teaches us that…

 

* /Time is a limited gift from God/.

It is not limitless.

The Bible says in Psalm 39:4-5 says, “Lord, make to know my end and what is the extent of my days; let me know how transient I am.

Behold you have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing in your sight.

Surely every man at his best is a mere breath.”

Or as James 4:14 says it, “You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.”

* /Our limited time must be seized and used for God’s glory/.

We must redeem the time and use it for God’s glory.

We must not live carelessly and spend our lives on trivialities.

John Boykin said it this way, /Time is life--nothing more, nothing less.

The way you spend your hours and your days is the way you spend your life./

Let’s think about something hard for just a moment.

Let’s say you are on your deathbed.

You know you have but a few hours left on this earth.

How would you finish this sentence?

“I just wish a had a little more time to ______________________.”

You probably aren’t saying I just wish I had a little more time to watch TV or sleep or play video games or to be in the office.

You might be saying I wish had just a little more time to spend with my spouse and kids…to develop my relationship with God... to patch up my relationship with my friend…to let those dearest to me know how much I love them…to witness to my lost neighbor.

Alright.

I have good news.

Right now, you do have a little more time.

Don’t wait until you are on your deathbed to fill in the blank.

Do it now.