EPHESIANS 5:1-21 I WILL WALK AS A REPRESENTATIVE FOR GOD2019 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Ephesians 5:1-21 I Will Walk As A Representative For God

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2019. All right, well this evening we're going to be here in Ephesians chapter 5. Let's begin by reading verses 1 through 6 together, and then we'll dive into what the Lord has in store for us. Ephesians chapter 5 verses 1 through 6 says this, Therefore,

Be imitators of God as dear children and walk in love as Christ also has loved us and given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you as is fitting for saints."

Verse 6. Verse 7.

Here as we continue on in Ephesians, now in Ephesians chapter 5, we've been talking about our identity in Christ, who we are in Christ. And Paul spent the first three chapters really teaching us from every aspect and every angle what we have in Christ and who we are in Christ and the infinite resources really that we have as a result of believing in Jesus.

And we are reminded and encouraged to then not let the world tell us who we are, not let how we feel dictate who we are, but to be informed by the word of God. This is who I am. I am transformed, redeemed, delivered, a member of the body of Christ, and all of those things that are packed into this reality, this new creation that I am in Christ, right?

And part of that then is all of the resources that we have and all that we are, but then that feeds into what Paul has been sharing as we began in chapter four, the application, the walk that now we are to have. Since we know who we are, since this is who we are and who God has created us to be, well, this is what a believer in Jesus Christ looks like in real life.

And we've been talking about walking in a variety of different ways. As Paul has been teaching us in Ephesians chapter four, we talked about unity a lot. Walking in unity and humility. It's part of our new identity is to be united together as members of the body of Christ. And so we're going to have issues between us. We're going to break fellowship, but we're

as believers, our responsibility is to keep walking back towards unity and restoring those relationships and continuing to behave as members of the body of Christ and fulfilling our function and our role and allowing others to fulfill theirs so that we would work together as the body of Christ.

Well, now as we head into chapter five, we're going to see Paul encourage us to walk in a few different ways. And I'm going to summarize it here with the title tonight. And that is, I will walk as a representative for God.

So not only do we walk as members of one another, members of the body of Christ, but we also now, because of who we are in Christ and who God has created us to be by the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we are appointed and anointed to be representatives for God in this world.

And as that, as his representatives, we have some responsibilities and things that God has called us to do as a result. And again, we have everything that we need. That's the first three chapters of Ephesians. We have all of the resources to represent God well, but now the call is for us to then go forward and actually do that, to live that out.

I like what Pastor Charles Spurgeon says about this. He says, if we are imitators of God as dear children, that's a reference to verse one here. If we are imitators of God as dear children, they, the world around us, will be compelled to recollect that there is a God.

for they will see his character reflected in ours. Here's the design and the plan of God. And that is for us in the walk that we have, in the way that we live, for that to be a declaration of the character and the nature of God so that the people around us who have even shut God out of their lives and yet we have in our lives and in our testimony, in our walk,

a declaration, a proclamation of the reality of God. And so as Spurgeon says, they'll be compelled or forced to remember that there is a God just because of the way that we live, the way that we walk in the world around us. And so be imitators of God as dear children. We are

to represent God in that way. By imitating his nature, his character, we proclaim him to the world around us. Well, there's three different types of walking that Paul is going to call us to as we work our way from Ephesians chapter 5, verse 1 through verse 21. And so three points this evening. The first point is found in these verses we just read. I will walk in love like Christ.

I will walk in love like Christ. All of the things that we're seeing here this evening, we have Jesus as our model and as our example. And the way that Jesus loves is the way that I will choose to walk, that I will walk as a result in love, just like Jesus has loved me. And again, verse one, Paul says, therefore be imitators of God as dear children.

Now, the word therefore, of course, connects it. Again, this isn't Paul shifting gears and changing subjects altogether. But if you go back one verse to verse 32 of chapter 4, there Paul says, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. So Paul has been already for a little bit drawing this parallel between the way that God is and

And the way that we are now to be, the way that we are to walk is to be modeled after God himself. For God so loved the world, right? He gave his only begotten son. And sometimes we think about, you know, love in relationship to Jesus primarily, but the father loves you.

and gave his son. Jesus loves you and gave himself. We have the model, the example, and as imitators of God, as dear children, we are to be imitators of God in the way that we walk. And so in this regard to love, well, we're to follow his example and to love the way that he loves. Going on into verse two, he says, walk in love.

as Christ also has loved us and given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. What does it mean to walk in love? Well, he sets for us the example. He sets for us the model so that you don't have to go through pages and pages of doctrine. Well, in this scenario, here's what you do. Or this is exactly and precisely what I mean. But instead, he gives us the example of Christ, right?

So that we can, on our own, take a look at the Lord. We can spend some time meditating on his life. We can learn from his example. And we can also consider what he would do in our place, right? That's like the old, what would Jesus do bracelets and stuff that was going around a while back. But this idea of what would the Lord do? What did he do? What is his perspective? What is his heart and his attitude?

is appropriate for us to consider because we're to walk in love as Christ also has loved us. And so if you ever need to know and you ever want to consider, well, how am I supposed to love my neighbor? How am I supposed to love my spouse? What does that look like and how does that work and to what extent is that to take place? Here he sets before us the model, the way that Christ has loved us

is the way that we are to walk in love towards one another. And how did Christ love us? Well, he gave us the specific example of how he gave himself for us. He sacrificed himself on our behalf. He surrendered himself as an offering, a sacrifice, a sweet smelling aroma to the father. In worship of the father, in obedience to the father, he gave himself on our behalf.

I always like to define the word love as this. It's doing what is best for people. Love is doing what is best for people. That's what Jesus did for us. He laid his own rights aside. He laid his own will aside. He sacrificed himself to do what was best for us. That is his demonstration and his expression of love towards us.

And that is a radical love that Jesus has expressed towards us. But it's not limited to Jesus. Of course, nobody's going to love you as much as Jesus loves you. And you're never going to love the people around you as much as Jesus loves them. However, we are to use the Lord as the model for how we are to love one another. Jesus gave us this command also in John chapter 13, verse 34.

He said, a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another. And this was in John chapter 13, where Jesus has washed the disciples' feet. And he says, hey, I've set myself as an example. Humble yourself, serve one another, meet one another's needs, lay down yourself, your pride, your rights, your will, your ways, and do what's best for people. This is

The love that Christ has had for us. And so for us now as believers in Jesus, having been born again, new creatures in Christ, this is the kind of love that we have received

from him for others if we will walk in it. It's a radical love. It's different than the world around us. And Paul illustrates that in the verses that follow. God's love is different than worldly or fleshly love. Verse three goes on to say, but fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you as is fitting for the saints.

Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. So when we talk about loving others, loving one another, we have Christ as the example of how to do that, but we also have the contrast of how to not love others.

Now, there's a lot of things that we might call love. There's a lot of things that the word love is used for in our society. But some of those things that the word love is used for fits more in verses 3 and 4 than in verse 2, right?

A lot of things that, well, the world and society and entertainment and music and the word love in all of those different contexts oftentimes fits into verses 3 and 4. Fornication, uncleanness, covetousness, filthiness, foolish talking, coarse jesting,

Things that are sinful and not good for anybody, much less, you know, the object of the attention. These things are called love and oftentimes related to the word love, but are not actually love. There's a great difference. So this idea of fornication, it's sexual immorality.

And it's the word in the Greek is where we get the word pornography. So it's not just, you know, the actual final thing, but everything that leads up to it, everything that's inappropriate in that realm, in that arena, outside of the context of marriage, any kind of sexual activity is fornication.

And this is something, again, it's given the label love in many contexts. It's described and referred to and talked about in that way, but is not at all something that is actually love in the way that Christ has loved us. Again, defining love as doing what is best for people. There is a proper place for that kind of relationship and that kind of intimacy. It's within the context of marriage,

Anything outside of that, well, then it's not good for anybody, even though, you know, there may be some benefits that you could describe or highlight, right? But ultimately, sin is destructive and it brings pain and hurt. And so Paul describes love for us in saying, look, it's like Jesus loved us. It's giving yourself for the benefit, for the good of others, right?

And these things are the opposite of that. Fornication is not for the good of others. Uncleanness can be any kind of immorality or any other sin. Covetousness is me coveting and craving and desiring what doesn't belong to me. It's selfish. All of these things are selfish.

Filthiness and foolish talking and coarse jesting, that's the idea, the context of like dirty jokes and those kinds of things. None of these things are actually love.

But the world around us will describe them and use these things, you know, attached to the idea of love. Now, in our society, in our culture, we can easily think that, you know, we are the most immoral culture that's ever existed. But the reality is that the Ephesians face great immorality. And so as Paul is writing these things to them, it would hit home.

Because they, in worshiping false gods in their previous, you know, life before Christ and in the society around them, there was ongoing immorality and great temptation to continue to be involved in these things. And Paul is calling us out of those things and saying, that's not how you're to walk. Treating someone that way, relating to someone that way, fulfilling your own cravings and desires in that way, that is not good. It's not love. It might be called love, but

People might use the word. You might use the word, but it doesn't fit. It doesn't work. It's not according to the example that Christ has set for us.

And again, these things that Paul is describing here in chapters 4, 5, and 6, as he calls us to live out who we are in Christ, it's not so much, okay, now try to measure up to these things or try to put these things into practice so that you can be holy and set apart for God. All of these concepts are rooted in the reality of who you are. Notice what he says in verse 3.

Again, but fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you as is fitting for saints. You are a saint. And all of these other things, that's not who you really are. That doesn't fit. That doesn't belong in your life. It's not that you have to, you know, get rid of everything in order to be a saint. No, no, you are a saint by believing in Jesus. You've been born again. You are set apart for God.

And so recognize that these things don't fit in your life any longer. These have no place in your life, even if they once did. Going on into verse four, he says, Again, which are not fitting anymore.

but rather giving of things. See, these don't fit in your life anymore. In the same way as, you know, things and behavior that you used to have as a child, as a baby, it was, you know, maybe cute and kind of endearing at one time, but you grow up and then, you know, you need to put the, that doesn't fit anymore, right? That behavior, that attitude, that type of mentality, that

That's not, you need to act your age, right? And there's some of that that comes from maturity, but there's also a lot of it that comes from you making a real choice. And that's what Paul is calling us to. That's why I make the point, I will walk in love like Christ. Because there is a reality that we need to make the decision to decide and determine, I'm gonna turn away from sin. I'm gonna not continue down that path. And instead, I'm going to

Well, tap into the resources that God has provided and look at Jesus as my example to receive from him the love that he has for me that I can then turn around and love others and do what's best for them. Well, going on into verse five, Paul goes on to say, for this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man who is an idolater has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. So he kind of,

solidifies what he said in verse 3 and 4. The fornication, the uncleanness, and the covetousness. He says, don't let that be named among you because the fornicator, the unclean person, and the covetous person, so those who are practicing those things, those who, that is their character and their lifestyle, he says, they don't have any inheritance in the kingdom of God. Now, Paul is not addressing here the issue of committing a sin, right?

What he's doing is he's illustrating or revealing a life that is not committed to Jesus. So if your life is caught up in, consumed with fornication, uncleanness, and covetousness, it's an indication that your life is not committed to the Lord.

So he's not talking about if you fail once or twice or three times or occasionally. He's not talking about that. We all have shortcomings. We all fall short in many ways. We sin, but there's a difference between having committed a sin and being committed to sin. There's a difference in our life. And a fornicator, that's someone whose life is characterized by fornication.

An unclean person, that's someone whose life is characterized by uncleanness. And you get the picture. It's a life that is lived in this manner and this method. And Paul says that person is revealing that they're not committed to the Lord. They're choosing not to walk in love like Christ. And it's an issue of their heart and their surrender to God. And their position in the kingdom of God is revealed by their refusal.

to live in what God has provided for us. He goes on to verse six to kind of reinforce this. He says, let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. There's going to be people who try to deceive you and say, no, no, it's okay. You can engage in fornication. God understands there's grace and there's, you know, some just kind of like, um,

ignorance in regards to these things that can lead to this type of declaration. But then there's also some really gross, severe, bad, false doctrine that can lead to this kind of declaration. But either way, even if it's your sweet old grandma saying, no, no, it's okay. You know, you gotta, you know, experience some things in life and, you know, a little fornication. You know, I did that when I was young, you know, what grandma might say. And so it's okay, you know, let no one deceive you with empty words.

A little bit of uncleanness in your life, a little bit of covetousness, you know, you got to look out for yourself for sometimes. And so, you know, chase after those things and don't let anybody deceive you, Paul says. It's because of those things that the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience. That's not fitting for you. You're a believer in Jesus. Don't allow that into your life. Don't be deceived or confused or perplexed or allow people to convince you that

that you can engage, you can walk in that way. No, no, walk in love like Christ. Jesus would not behave that way. He would not treat people that way. He would not allow selfishness to govern and dictate how he lived and the way that he walked. And neither should you. And so here, it gives us a little bit of a filter.

And I would encourage you to kind of think about it that way, that we can evaluate things in our lives and just ask the question, is this loving? Is this what's best for the people who are involved? This for the benefit of others, this behavior, this activity, this attitude, is it loving? I will walk in love like Christ. Moving on to verses seven through 14, we get point number two now, and that is,

I will walk in light instead of darkness. I will walk in light. So first we're to walk in love. Now he's going to talk to us about walking in the light. Let's read verses 7 through 10. It says this, "'Therefore, do not be partakers with them. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth.'"

finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. Now, as he goes on to talk about light, light is an illustration describing for us how we are to walk. And light has some good illustrations for us to consider. He uses the idea of light to talk about a transformed life here in these verses.

He also uses the word light to illustrate the idea of revealing truth, revealing what is good and right. And then he also uses light to talk about exposing sin. So as we talk about walking in the light, we're talking about that. We're talking about walking in that transformed life. We're talking about the revelation of the truth. And we're talking about the exposing of sin. But he starts here in verse 7 saying, therefore, do not be partakers with them.

That's going back to verse six, the sons of disobedience, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience. So therefore don't be partakers with them. Don't, don't be connected with the sons of disobedience. Don't be part of that group. Therefore do not be partakers with them. In other words, there needs to be a change. And this idea of light, well, there's a

Real natural illustration between light and darkness, right? And there's a difference there. And when there's light, darkness flees. There's a separation between light and darkness. In the same way as he calls us to walk in the light, he's calling for us to make a separation, to make a divide for the pattern of life that we used to have and the pattern of life that we have now. Do not be partakers any longer, right?

Because you used to partake in that life. That's what he says in verse 8. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. There was that time that you were darkness. There was that time where your life was filled with that behavior. There was that time. Yes, that is the reality for every one of us. And all of us outside of Christ, we were in darkness. We are darkness. And our lives are filled with darkness. But that's not who you are.

Any longer as a believer in Jesus. You're transformed. You're changed. You're a new creation in Christ. You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. And again, notice what Paul is saying here. He's not saying you have light. You used to, you know, be in darkness, but now you have light. He says you are light. He's still speaking about our identity and who we are in Christ. And because we are light,

He's saying, now walk accordingly. Walk as children of light because that's who you are. You're a child of God. You have the light. Remember in the letters of John, John talks about God being love, right? So then we are to walk in love and God is light and him is no darkness at all, right? Now we're called to walk. He's our father. We're a new creation in him. Now walk as children of light, right?

And so there's to be this separation, this called out of darkness and into the glorious light. Pastor Dave Guzik puts it this way. He says, we must notice the theme of the moral appeal. It isn't avoid these things so that you can be a saint. Rather it is you are a saint. Now live in a manner fitting for a saint. The constant moral appeal of the New Testament is simply this, be who you are in Jesus.

You are light. Darkness has no place in you. You are light because you're a child of God. He goes on in verse 9 to say, for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. The expression of the light that you are is goodness and righteousness and truth. Light brings goodness and righteousness and truth. And it puts you in a place that enables you to find out what is acceptable to the Lord.

To discover, he says in verse 10, what is acceptable to the Lord. Walk in the light so that you can find out what is acceptable to the Lord. How to be pleasing to the Lord. How to walk in a way that glorifies the Lord. You remember what Jesus taught us in Matthew 5, verse 16? He says, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Let your light shine, Jesus says. You are light,

As a believer in Jesus, again, not just that you have light or you have some light or there's a little bit of light, you know, you're a little candle. No, you are light as a child of God. Let your light shine. Let your character, let your nature that you are receiving from the Lord, let that shine forth and in a way that men will be able to see that.

That people around you, it will be evident that in the same way that there's evidence of light in the midst of darkness, right? We don't have to really explain, you know, there's not a lot of discussion that you and I have to have about whether or not the lights are on in this room or not, right? Like, it's clear. You can see it. It's evident. It's not a debate.

Now, back in the day, it used to be a debate because remember the lights that we had, they were so dim. I was like, it always was dark in here, even when the lights were on, right? But we have proper lighting now, right? And so it's light. We can see it. It's clear. In a similar way, Jesus says, let your light shine, right?

Don't try to hide it. Don't try to blend in. Don't try to dim it down. Your light is not on a dimmer switch so that you become more like the world, so that it's not so offensive and not so contrasty. But let your light shine that they may see your good works. Your good works. Now, these aren't good works that you do in order to be saved. These are good works that you do because you are light.

As Paul says here in verse 9, for the fruit of the Spirit is all goodness, righteousness, and truth. The things that you do, the way that you live is going to be good things that you do, right things that you do. The things that you say, it's going to be related to the truth that this is the light. And so Jesus says, let it shine so that they will see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

Again, it brings us back to the title of the message, I Will Walk as a Representative for God. God is light, and you are children of light. So let it shine, and make that decision, make that declaration, let there be a distinction and a separation from the way that you used to behave to the way that you are now in Christ. He goes on to call us out of that more in verse 11, he says, "...and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness."

Don't have fellowship with those works of darkness. That is, don't, you know, entertain them a little bit. Don't play with them a little bit. Have no fellowship. Don't have a meal together with the unfruitful works of darkness. You know, maybe just give those works 20 minutes of your day and hang out together. No, no, no. Have no fellowship. Don't allow darkness to be part of your life. What is darkness? How do we decide? How do we determine?

F.B. Meyer has some thoughts on that for us to consider. He says, whatever is unfruitful, whatever we should blush to have transcribed and read to the world, whatever would be inconsistent with the strong, clear light of the throne of God and the lamb must be avoided. What would make you blush if we wrote down what you did and put it up on the screen for everybody to see? You guys know what Harvey did today? Let me just, let's see if we can make him blush. What would make you, what would you be ashamed of?

It's not hard to figure out, oh, what's darkness? You know, we have the Holy Spirit indwelling within us. We know light from darkness. It's not a great big mystery. Those things that we are ashamed of, those things that we would have to hide, those things that we would have to cover over, those things, we know. And here Paul is saying, have no fellowship with those things.

Anything you'd have to blush about or be embarrassed about or, you know, would have to keep covered and be embarrassed if it came out. He said all of those things must be avoided. Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, Paul says in verse 11, but rather expose them. So you see the contrast? Not like, you know, hiding, okay, yeah, let's like partake in the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather shine the light and bring, well, in exposing darkness,

Of the things that are taking place in the darkness. Verse 12, This idea of exposing them, you can kind of take this a couple different ways. I would suggest that exposing them doesn't mean that you become a tattletale.

and, you know, teacher, you know, boss, or, you know, whatever that, it doesn't necessarily mean that you call out every issue that you disagree with or that you see. This idea of exposing them, well, you expose the works of darkness by not participating. You expose the works of darkness. Again, in verse 13, he says, but all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light.

The very fact that you say, no, that's not right. I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to participate in that. I'm not going to fellowship in that. I'm not going to engage in that. The very fact that you're making that decision, you don't have to have a bold, you know, declaration necessarily. Now, the Lord may call you to that, and so that's a different case, but

But there is this reality that when you make a decision and say, I'm not going to participate in that, I'm not going to partake in that, that's light already. There's already light being shown and it exposes and it reveals the darkness. I would encourage you to think about Jesus as the example, right? He's the example in all of these things. He's our example in love. He's our example in light, right?

I would encourage you to check it out later on. Luke chapter 19, when Jesus has this encounter with Zacchaeus. Remember that wee little man when he climbed up into the tree to see Jesus? And Jesus, when he got to the tree, said, Zacchaeus, you come down for I'm going to your house today. And he goes to Zacchaeus' house and Zacchaeus throws a feast. But the religious leaders, they get pretty upset. It tells us that they all complained and said, he's gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.

And their statement was true. Zacchaeus was a sinner. But Jesus didn't stand there and point the finger and, you know, shine the light and say, Zacchaeus, you know, here's a list of all the things you do wrong. Jesus said, I'm going to your house. And Jesus, the light, you know, in the presence of Zacchaeus, he shone the light, the truth, righteousness, goodness. And

Zacchaeus responded to that. There was a conviction in the light. Zacchaeus recognized his sinful and he stands up in the middle of the feast and says, Lord, I'm giving half my goods to the poor. If I've taken anything by false accusation, I'm restoring that. And Jesus says, today salvation has come to this house. You know, it wasn't by a long lecture that Jesus gave about all the list of things that Zacchaeus was doing. It was the very presence of Jesus, the light that

They're in the midst of darkness. Now, some people in the midst of darkness, when they encounter the light, they don't respond that way, but it's still a response to the light. There's a clarity that, hey, the light is present, right? That there is light and they can respond in rebellion, but they also have the opportunity to respond in confession, in repentance. Light exposes. And here, what Paul is saying is, live out your light. Let your light shine. Be a light. Be a light.

Again, it's not so much expose them in the sense of, you know, lecturing or tattletaling or that, but just be a light, be an agent of the righteousness of God and your light will shine and it will, well, it will make distinctions. It will bring exposure and then people will respond according to where they're at with the Lord. Verse 14, he says, therefore, he says, awake you who sleep arise from the dead in Christ and

will give you light. Awake, you who sleep. If you're fellowshipping in the works of darkness, you're asleep. You need to wake up. You need to arise from the dead. Believe in Jesus Christ. He will give you light, and it will transform you. It will change you and the world around you. I will walk in light instead of darkness. And so again, we have this filter. This is something by which we can evaluate our behavior, our activities, our attitudes. Number one, is it loving? Is

Is it best for the people involved, this behavior that I'm engaged in? Secondly, is it light? Is it different than how I used to be? Is it a revelation of the truth? Is it an exposing of sin because I will not participate in that or fellowship in that any longer? Well, finally, we're going to move on to verses 15 through 21 for point number three, and that is, I will walk wisely in the Lord's will.

I will walk wisely in the Lord's will. Verse 15 says, see then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil. Verse 17, therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. You understand what the will of the Lord is? Something important to consider. It starts, Paul says, as we walk circumspectly.

That idea of walking circumspectly, it's like walking with an awareness of everything that's going on around you, right? Walk circumspectly, not as fools. Fools walk and they're not paying attention to what's going on around them. They're just walking. They're filled with their own mind, their own heart, what they want. But wise people are looking around at the world around them. They're paying attention to what's happening around them. And so Paul says, walk circumspectly that way. Walk wisely, right?

Being aware of what's happening around you, redeeming the time. When you're aware of what's going on around you, you're in a place to be able to redeem the time. And this needs to happen because the days are evil. And so if you're not paying attention to what's happening in the life around you, what's happening in the lives of the people around you, what's happening in the circumstances and the situations that are unfolding, if you're not paying attention, well, the days are evil. And you could be

being you could be set up for some some traps or some issues some situations you could be missing out on some important opportunities paul says you need you need to be alert you need to be paying attention the wise thing to do is to to be considering what's happening as you're walking so that you can redeem the time the idea of redeeming that's exchanging right i

I know it's kind of old school and I don't know when the last time you went there was, but I was thinking about Castle Park tickets, right? And you're in the arcade and you're doing skeeball or one of the other games, right? And you get the tickets and then you can exchange them, right? You go to the counter and you're like, you know, give me that 25 cent trinket that I bought with my $7 worth of coins, right? But those tickets, you can take them to the counter and you can exchange those tickets for...

some treasure, right? Now, if you take those tickets outside of Castle Park and you go to McDonald's and you say, here's 25 tickets, you know, give me a hamburger, they won't go for that. They don't have value outside of their context, outside of Castle Park, right? What Paul is saying here is he's talking about redeeming the time. He's saying, look, right now you have the opportunity to make an exchange and outside of this context, outside of this time, well, the

you lose that opportunity. So in this life and right now, we have, well, the opportunity to redeem the time, to take the time that we have and exchange it for meaningful things that last for eternity. And we can waste time. We can blow by the opportunities that, you know, God has for us and miss opportunities to exchange.

Or we can be aware, we can be paying attention and seeking the Lord and saying, okay, Lord, so go on to talk about walking in the spirit, you know, like what is the Holy Spirit saying in this situation? And then exchanging that and taking that opportunity and redeeming the time that we have, using it for something that is valuable and eternal. Think about what Jesus said to his disciples in John chapter nine. He said, I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. The night is coming when no one can work.

As long as I'm in the world, I am the light of the world. Jesus here was very conscious of redeeming the time. I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. I have a certain amount of time. I have a limited amount of time. And I need to be focused on doing what the Father has called me to do. The night is coming when no one can work. This life has been given to us. And it is...

Filled with opportunities for us to redeem the time. But this life is temporary. And eternity is forever. And so we need to decide how we're going to spend our time. If it's going to be redeemed. Exchanged for something that will last and endure for all eternity. Now talking about redeeming the time. I think there's a element of caution that I would just throw in here. That it can be taken seriously.

Too far in the sense that some people interpret redeeming the time as like, you know, high pressure sales. Like, this may be the last time I ever talk to you. And so I need to like force a decision right now, you know, and redeeming the time is, you know, kind of a way to give urgency when that might be too...

far and beyond. Now, there are some times where God wants you to use some pressure and to be intense and to have an urgency. And so there is room for us to be led by the Holy Spirit. But again, looking at Jesus as our example, I would encourage you to consider the example of his exchange with the rich young ruler. In that encounter with the rich young ruler, here's a guy who, you know, was saying, I want to go to heaven, but I'm not quite sure how to get there. And Jesus challenged him a

When it came down to it, the rich young ruler walked away sad because he wasn't willing to give up his possessions. He wasn't ready to make that kind of decision. He loved his things more than he loved the Lord. And Jesus didn't chase after him or like get him in an arm lock and say, give up your possessions. You know, you got, you got redeemed the time, you know, like you have to do this right now. That Jesus was clear. He was bold. He gave him a clear opportunity to,

But then he also gave him the freedom to walk away sad. And that can be challenging for us and difficult for us, especially in a lot of different contexts where we're interacting with people that we love or we care about or we see the situation that they're in. And again, there's room, there's a lot of room for us to be led by the Lord. So I'm not like saying, this is forbidden. But also don't feel like

When Paul encourages us to redeem the time, that means we have to like, every encounter has to include a gospel presentation and an invitation. And it's like, you have to, you know, that's not necessarily the way that God's calling us to live. There's also wisdom in the gospel.

in giving some space and giving some opportunity. And sometimes the wise thing to do is to let the rich young ruler walk away sad. Well, verse 17, he says, therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Again, do you understand the will of the Lord? Do you understand the will of the Lord? That seems like and sounds like perhaps an impossible thing. But here Paul is not saying that you're supposed to know the whole plan of God.

But to understand the will of the Lord is to know that where you are currently is where God wants you to be. Do you know that where you are currently is where God wants you to be? Paul says, you should understand that. Again, not that you have to have the whole plan of God, but that you should be able to, knowing the character and the nature of the Lord, evaluate and understand, yes, this is where God wants me. This is where I'm supposed to be.

Pastor Warren Wiersbe puts it this way. He says, understanding suggests using our minds to discover and do the will of God. Too many Christians have the idea that discovering God's will is a mystical experience that rules out clear thinking. But this idea is wrong and dangerous. Learning his will involves gathering facts, examining them, weighing them, and praying for his wisdom. You can understand the will of God. You're a child of light. You're a child of God.

And he's given you the opportunity to walk with wisdom and to understand, to evaluate and to consider.

He's given you his perspective on life and the things around us. And so we have the opportunity to walk wisely and understand this is what God wants. Even if it's not some revelation and the heavens open up and light shines down and God says, you know, go to Taco Bell for lunch. God, you may just be able to discern that. This is what the Lord wants for me. I'm not trying to use that or say that you should use that as an excuse to indulge your flesh, right? To walk in darkness. No, no, have no. Okay, so don't go to

Where'd I say Taco Bell? Go to Jack in the Box, you know, whatever. You get the point, right? Walk wisely. Understand what the will of the Lord is. You have that opportunity, but that opportunity will be obscured if you're filling your life with other things. He goes on in verse 18, do not be drunk with wine in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit. If you're involving yourself in drunkenness, if you're messing with your mind in that way,

There's going to be an obscuring of the will of God. You're going to have a harder time understanding the will of God. But if you're filled with the Spirit, he goes on to say, you'll be speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God. Be filled with the Spirit instead of, in contrast to Jesus,

being drunk with wine. Don't fill your life, don't fill your mind, don't fill your heart with false substances or substitutes. Fill your heart, fill your mind with the things of God, the Spirit of God. This idea of being filled with the Spirit, it's a command. It's also passive, meaning, I like the way that Guzik describes it. He says, it means you can't manufacture it. It's not that you force, you know, a work of the Holy Spirit, but we do invite the Holy Spirit to fill us.

And it's a command for us to keep ourselves in a place, in a position where we are inviting, we're looking for God to fill us with his Holy Spirit so that we can understand his will and make the most of the time that God has given to us. And so here we have some great filters for us to evaluate our time, our life, our behavior, our activities, our attitudes. Is it loving? Is it light? Is it wise?

Is this a working of the Holy Spirit? Does it fit into God's plan? Is it a good use of time? God has given us so much. We're new creatures in Christ. And so now as his representatives, we need to make the choice and the decision. I will walk in love like Christ. I will walk in light instead of darkness. And I will walk wisely in the Lord's will. I'm gonna finish up with one last quotation from Warren Wiersbe. He says, if God saved me,

He has a purpose for my life and I should discover that purpose and then guide my life accordingly. God saved you. It's for a purpose. He has a purpose for your life. It's for you to be his representative. Walk in love like he loves you. Walk in light and stay away from the darkness. Use great wisdom and redeem the time as you understand the Lord's will and follow his plan and his purpose for your life. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you.

for your incredible love. We thank you for your light. We thank you for your truth, your will, your plans, and your purposes that you have for us. It's all good. It's all for our benefit, and it's all because of your love for us. And so God, help us to keep ourselves in a place of responding to you and your goodness towards us. And I pray that you would show us more and more, Lord, how we can live these things out.

toward the world around us, Lord, that they would experience your love, that they would see your light, Lord, that they would hear your truth as a result of us in their midst. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.