Ephesians: Walk in Wisdom | Associate Pastor: Matt Armstrong

Morning, everybody.

Excellent.

So this fall we've been preaching through the book of Ephesus, Paul's letter to the churches in Ephesus.

And as Russ has already told us, we've been breaking down this letter, kind of starting off each of the sermons, that Ephesians is in the shape of the gospel.

It begins with the imperatives, what God has done to us, for us, by grace, in love, through the Son and the power of the Spirit.

And then in chapters four through six, the second half, it's how shall we now live in light of that?

The shape of the gospel is the shape of the book of Ephesians.

And what it tells us in this second half is that the gospel takes our lives and it shapes us into the form of the cross.

It instructs us to live cruciform lives.

Just like the cross here, we begin with our vertical relationship with the Lord, and then it works itself out in the horizontal relationships with one another, our neighbors, our families, and even our enemies.

But the question we come to this morning, as we're in that second half, is how do we know what it looks like to live the gospel, the implications of the gospel and the small decisions that we face every day?

That's what our passage is about.

So let's jump in, let's begin again with verse 15.

Paul writes, Look carefully then how you walk, not as wise, but as not as unwise, but as wise, making best use of the time because the days are evil.

Therefore, don't be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Point one.

Living the Christian life is a call to wise living.

This week, my wife and I, we were out on the Kennesaw Trails.

Um, we're relatively new to Marietta, about three years, and one of the best things about living here is Kennesaw Mountain Park.

Amen.

I know some of you are out there almost daily, but we've a couple minute drive from our home.

We have beautiful trails.

We can go up a mountain, we can walk through the woods, uh, and we love it.

We were out uh in a part that I am less familiar with, and we came to a fork in the path, and Stacy said, Which way should we go, left or right?

And I said, I have no idea.

Um but thank God there's an app for that.

And so there's, if you don't know, there's a national parks app.

It has the maps of every national park in the in the US.

Uh I was gonna say in the world, but there are not national US national parks outside the US.

I don't know if you knew that.

Anyway, uh pulled it up, map Kennesaw Trails, awesome.

Oh, if we go left, it's a five-mile loop.

We don't have that kind of time.

Let's go right.

And we kept going.

This is how the Christian life is.

We face daily forks in the road.

Uh these are not choices between sin and death, or sin and righteousness, uh, but they're just decisions that that fall before us, discernment.

And um we don't always know what to choose.

Figuring out how to live uh that discernment to learn how we ought to live our lives, the scriptures call wisdom.

And that's what Paul is calling us to.

He says here, pay attention to the way you live.

Live a wise life.

Why?

Because the days are evil.

In the passage just before ours, Paul has gone through a litany of all the things we used to do prior to knowing Christ, or the Ephesians prior to knowing Christ.

Sexual immorality, covetousness, um, uh, all sorts of things.

And he kind of lumps them all together in the unfruitful works of darkness.

What he's saying is, if we're not careful, if we just drift through life, even as Christians, we will, like the pull of gravity, be drawn back into our old ways.

The ways of the world that we live in are strong, they're all around us.

And so Paul says, look carefully then.

How do you live your life?

Calls us to the well-examined life.

Again, and the scriptures call this wisdom.

And throughout the scriptures, this is something that we Protestants actually don't uh do a very good job on, which is that the whole of Scripture calls us to wisdom.

There's a whole swath of biblical literature we call the wisdom books, the wisdom literature.

We've got the whole book of Proverbs, the book of Ecclesiastes, Jesus Himself, he amazed the crowds, yes, with the authority he spoke with, but also with the wisdom that he had to give.

So let's ask the question.

What is wisdom?

Wisdom is living according to God's design.

God created all things with an order.

We see that in Genesis chapter 1.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

From chaos, God brought order.

In that order, there's relationships.

He creates the sun, the moon, and the stars to govern the skies.

He creates the fish to rule over the seas, the birds to rule over the air.

And then over all of creation, he creates man, male and female, and he charges us to rule over this creation in a way that reflects his character, his heart, his love, his authority.

And that's why throughout the scriptures, there's kind of this comparison.

When we give ourselves over to our passions and our pure instincts, we act like the animals.

And when we act like the animals, we we disorder God's good ordered creation.

And so there's an order for relationship.

There's order for romantic relationships, for covenant relationships, for parents and children, for those who are in authority over us.

And Paul's going to get into that actually in the very next section.

One theologian says that God creates it, it's like God created this pattern that's on the ground.

But because of sin, sand has covered that ground a little bit like a desert.

And when the wind blows, the sand gathers in various places and it creates these little dunes.

Like this is uh this is my first AI-generated piece of art.

I just want to point that out to you.

This is made with AI, and it was it was kind of fun.

Um as the wind blows, you know, certain parts of that pattern are exposed, and and we actually get a glimpse into the wisdom of God.

So, Christian or non-Christian, God's wisdom is all around us.

Sometimes we see it and recognize it, but then the winds blow and it gets covered up.

We never have a complete picture.

And so we live as dependent beings.

And this is one thing that's clear throughout Scripture is that wisdom does not reside in us.

God did not create wisdom like a little box and give it to each and every one of us.

He, we, whether Christian or not, we are dependent creatures.

Wisdom comes from outside of us.

And in fact, Scripture tells us explicitly that wisdom comes from God.

Just a few verses from the book of Proverbs that I love and that I find very helpful in this conversation.

Chapter one says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.

Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

In chapter three, trust in the Lord with all of your heart.

Do not lean on your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your path straight.

Finally, in chapter 14, there is a way that seems right unto man and woman, and it's but its end ends in death.

And I would imagine, starting with myself, we could all get in a line and we could each share some incredibly brilliant plan that we came up with on ourselves that we thought was foolproof, and yet it ended in death.

Left to our own devices, the way we choose tends toward death and destruction.

And even as Christians, again, we are dependent on individuals who must rely on the Lord.

And it so, in a way, we could sum up the whole of the second half of the book of Ephesians with a call to wise living.

As one of my seminary professors put it, what does redemption look like in our everyday lives if not wise living?

If we've been redeemed in Christ, our desire, our heart's desire, is now to please the Lord, to walk in his ways, which is by definition walking in wisdom.

Now, Paul goes on to explain how we are to live wisely in verse 18.

He says, Do not get drunk on wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.

Point 2.

A life of wisdom is the spirit-filled life.

So Paul is teaching us here how to walk in wisdom by way of contrast.

Don't do this, but do this.

Don't get drunk on wine.

Now, this is not a general prohibition against alcohol.

I'm a Presbyterian, and we were never teetotalers.

That's a separate conversation.

I'm happy to talk about that.

Over a beer.

What Paul is talking about here's what we said before.

We know the phrase, right, being under the influence of alcohol or a DUI, driving under the influence, right?

It's right there.

We understand that when we are intoxicated, we operate under the influence of this other power.

So Paul says, don't give yourselves over to carnal pleasures or instincts.

Rather, be filled with the spirit.

Rather than living under the influence of alcohol or any other appetite, live in submission to the Lord, who is the Spirit.

So again, the contrast is between will we live like the animals or will we live like sons and daughters of the king who is endowed in us his image to live in a way that reflects his glory.

John Stott says it well.

He says, excessive alcohol dehumanizes, turning humans into a beast.

But the fullness of the Spirit makes us more human, for he makes us like Christ.

And that's the point.

Starting in chapter 4 and now in chapter 5, Paul exhorts us to be imitators of God, to live like Christ has shown us.

And he points us to Jesus as our model.

But this raises the question: okay, we're to live wisely.

To live wisely means to live filled by the Spirit.

How are we to live?

How can we be filled with the Spirit?

Well, again, we've got to get the order correct.

First, Ephesians teaches us that we are saved in Christ by grace through faith, not of ourselves, but it's a gift of God.

It's given to us.

And because of that gift in Christ, we have been sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.

And that Holy Spirit seal is that guarantee, Paul says, to the inheritance that awaits us in the coming of the new heavens and the new earth.

The Holy Spirit that indwells us as Christians is like a down payment.

It's a surety that in the future, when we experience the resurrection, when all of creation experiences the resurrection and we go to live in the new heavens and the new earth, that we will be full inheritors with Christ as sons and daughters of God.

Of course, what does that mean?

It means we didn't do anything to receive the Spirit.

It was a gift of God.

And notice too what Paul says in verse 18.

He says, Don't get drunk on one, but be filled with the Spirit.

He doesn't say fill yourselves with the Spirit.

And so this is an interesting exhortation because it's in the passive.

We don't actively fill ourselves, we allow ourselves to be filled, and that's point three.

We're filled with the Holy Spirit when we open ourselves to Him.

Now this might sound strange, right?

When we're we're in a Reformed church, we believe that we are born dead in our trespasses and sins, and God makes us alive by His grace through passages and the power of the Spirit.

But what Paul says in this passage and in other passages is this that when we're dead in our trespasses and sins, we don't have the choice to obey God.

But now, in this state with the Holy Spirit, and yet still connected to our body of death, we have a choice.

We are tempted and we can choose to walk in the ways of the world.

We can go back as a dog returns to its vomit, believing that it will give us what we long for.

But we also now, in the freedom that Jesus has given us, we have the freedom to choose life, to listen to the voice of the Spirit, to follow in the example of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So again, the question is how are we filled with the Spirit?

Well, there's lots of different ways.

There's lots of different practices.

In fact, this is what it what spiritual practices are.

Whether you call it a quiet time or meditation or prayer, it is sitting, it is slowing down.

It is saying no to the voices and the temptations of the world that tell me ceaselessly, you don't measure up, you don't have what it takes, you better have what it takes, or you're gonna let people down, you're gonna be a failure.

It's all on you.

I can say no to those voices now because the Holy Spirit lives inside of me, and I can listen to the voice that says, You are beloved.

You are mine.

All the weight is off your shoulders.

Now walk in the fullness of life.

And the love that you have received as a beloved child of God that has been poured into you without measure, now it can overflow from you to love those around you.

Love your family, your spouse, your children, your co-workers, your neighbors, even your enemies.

And so, beloved, really, what it means to be filled with the Spirit is to actively understand what Paul is saying: that the world, the earth, the day is evil.

There are constant voices telling us to look away from the Lord, to look to our own resources, to look to other resources.

That is the way that leads to death.

So, a question to ponder today, and as you go throughout this week, what practices do you have in your life?

In the morning, perhaps throughout the day, at the end of the day, that bring your heart and mind back to this gospel of truth.

This is the practice that brings peace.

This is the practice that frees us and fills us with the spirit.

Finally, let's look at how he closes the passage.

He says, Don't get drunk on wine, which is debauchery, but be filled with the spirit, addressing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Point four, being spirit-filled manifests or shows itself, reveals itself in the fruit of light.

This is what Paul says back in verse 9 and the previous passage.

He exhorts us, walk as children of light, for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true.

I love that phrase.

Here are the things you must do to walk as children of light.

Even our flesh, it wants to know what to do right.

It just wants a checklist.

But Paul says, whatever is good, whatever is right.

Well, how do I know what to do in this situation in this moment?

Aha! Discernment.

Listen to the Spirit, seek the Spirit, he says.

So Paul tells us, what does it look like when we are living as children of light, when we have submitted ourselves and opened our hearts?

The Holy Spirit, what this is saying is that the Holy Spirit is basically waiting.

He's so excited.

When you slow down and you open your heart to him, he's just, oh, let me, I just want to pour out my love.

I want you to remember the truth.

I want you to walk filled with me.

What does it look like when we're filled with the Spirit?

Paul, after saying, be filled with the Spirit, he has four participles, four continuous actions, saying, This is what it means.

We address one another in songs, hymns, and spiritual songs.

We sing songs and make melody in our hearts to the Lord.

We give thanks to the Lord always and for everything, and finally, we submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

What do we learn from this?

These four, and this, these aren't the only four things, but Paul wants to emphasize these four things to the Ephesians and to us.

First, we got to see that this is in the context of worship.

These are God's people gathered together in worship.

They're singing songs in one another's presence to the Lord.

But notice the first thing Paul says about the singing is it's not addressed to the Lord, it's addressed to one another.

God is not our only audience when we gather together and worship.

We are the audience of one another.

This is why corporate worship is so vital.

It's vital for you and me to be here in corporate worship so that we can hear our brothers and sisters singing the truth over us.

It reminds us of the truth when we doubt, it strengthens us when we need it.

But you are needed.

I need you to be here so that I hear your voice singing and reminding me of the truth.

Second, when we're filled with the Spirit, we make melody in our hearts to the Lord.

Um I'm uh I don't know if you can tell this when I'm standing up front, but I'm I'm actually kind of a um melancholy person.

When I'm left to my own devices, I'm I'm typically frustrated and and um down on either myself or you, maybe.

Um people are constantly letting me down.

God is constantly letting me down.

Um in fact, yesterday uh just had an incredible day.

Uh through the gift of a friend, I was able to take my son fishing.

We went out on Lake Alato on a boat.

I don't know how to fish.

This was all thanks to this guide who took us out there.

And um, we caught like 20 fish.

Like I've shown people pictures this morning.

I didn't, this is not a planned illustration.

I would have a picture.

Uh people like, that's not normal.

Like, that's a big fish.

I was like, oh yeah, it was awesome.

Um, I have nothing to compare it to, but we brought some fish home.

I gutted a fish for the first time in my life.

Uh totally gross.

It's a testament to how much I love my son.

That um we I don't eat fish, I don't like it.

He likes it, he likes to fish, I don't like it.

Anyways, this is all about him loving him.

Um awesome day, incredible day.

But as the as we were getting as I was getting close to bedtime, like you know, certain things like didn't happen.

I was going to bed later than I would.

And I just I found myself going to bed angry and frustrated.

And as I kind of got into bed and I slowed down and I took a deep breath, I heard the Holy Spirit say, Why are you frustrated?

Remember the day.

You see what I gave you?

This incredible time with your son, this incredible fishing experience.

You know, you did something you've never done, you gutted this disgusting fish and you cooked it, and your son thought it was good.

And after repentance, I was filled with joy.

Gratitude.

That's what it means to slow down and to be filled with the Spirit, to stop that incessant racing mind, that that frustration, that weight that's always on your shoulders.

And to be reminded of who God has been in the past and who he is today, and what he has promised to your future.

That is the life I want to live.

I want to live a life of gratitude.

Have you ever told yourself, be thankful?

Get a gratitude journal and just write down, that that I hate that.

It doesn't work.

But when I stop and rest in the Lord's presence and he reminds me of who he is and what he has done, my heart overflows.

And finally, the last thing Paul tells us is that when we're filled with the Spirit, we submit to one another.

Paul's gonna go on in the next verses to kind of unpack this and various relationships we have, but but again, Paul's simply returning to the beginning of chapter five, where he tells us to be imitators of Christ, who loved us and gave himself up for us.

A fragrant offering.

We'll never be Jesus.

Jesus is our model, brothers and sisters, always.

Now we will never be Jesus.

We will never succeed in the way that he succeeded.

We'll never obey perfectly, we will never love him or others or ourselves perfectly.

And yet, just as he said to his disciples in the upper room, after he washed their feet, he says, I have given you an example that you might go and do likewise.

And so to live wisely is to live in humility.

If the king of the universe was willing to come down and become our slave, our servant, to give himself up for us, who are we not to submit ourselves, to pour ourselves out, to sacrifice ourselves for those around us?

Yes, those we love, but also our enemies.

To live for Christ is not to live for ourselves, but to live out of his love for us that he has lavished on us.

We bask in that love, we revel in it, and through the power of the Spirit and the freedom he gives us, then we go out.

We allow that love to pour out from us to those around us, to the glory of his name.

Beloved, this is our calling to walk in love, to walk in wisdom, not in our own strength, but only as we are filled with the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of love.

If you have any questions or need prayer, I'll be down front after the service.

Come see me.

Let's pray.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Thank you for this word.

Thank you for your grace.

Thank you that you fill us, Spirit, and that you are eager to do so.

May you give us wisdom to slow down and hear your voice.

We pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.