EPHESIANS 5 I WILL BE CAREFUL TO WALK IN THE LORDS WILL2019 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Ephesians 5 I Will Be Careful To Walk In The Lords Will

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. Ephesians chapter 5, looking at verses 15 through 21, here's what it says. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil.

Therefore, do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, 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.

Here as we dive into Ephesians chapter 5, continuing to look at the foundations for Christian living. In the book of Ephesians here, Paul has been giving us some great insights about our identity and who we are in Christ. He spent the first three chapters of Ephesians diving deep to make sure that we understood the huge variety of things that God has done on our behalf in

in us, through us, for us, and all around us as a result of our faith in Jesus Christ. And what we have in Christ is incredibly valuable. And who we are in Christ, well, it's different than what we feel like we are many times. And our feelings don't line up with exactly who God says that we are oftentimes. And

Maybe even what people say about us and maybe, you know, who we were taught to be or who our parents think we are or who society thinks we are or wants us to be. There's all of these identities that are being pressed upon us and there's the endeavor, the seeking for us to adopt those identities and believe those things that are pressed upon us. And yet we find Paul encouraging us to grasp hold of who we are in Christ, right?

And then as we moved on into chapter four, we began to make application of that. What does that mean for us? Who I am in Christ and all that he has done for me and the riches that I have that are found in Christ Jesus. What does that then look like in my life? Is this just, you know, in theory? Is this just philosophical ideas that just kind of bounce around in my head and I'm smart because of these things? Or what kind of impact are these things to have on my life?

And so we saw as we began in chapter four, the application part of the book, we began to see how to take those things and then make that real and live those things out in our lives. And we're continuing that here in chapter five and continuing this idea of walking. Because of who you are, Paul is saying it should impact your life this way. You should walk differently this

You have the choice to walk differently and you have all the resources you need to walk differently because of who you are in Christ. Now last week as we covered the first part of Ephesians chapter 5, we looked at walking as a representative for God. How we are children of God, children of the, we're dearly beloved of the Lord and so we are then to walk in love.

We are God's beloved children. And so then we are to walk in that love. It's to impact our lives in the way that we behave in the way that we conduct ourselves. He also told us you are light. And so therefore walk in the light.

You are light, not you have light or you've heard of the light, you've seen the light, but you are light. And all of these applications that Paul is giving to us in these things is it's based on who we are. It's based on what we have. It's based on what God has created us to be in Christ Jesus.

And so now as we continue on to finish up and to, well, finish up chapter five, but to continue this looking at how we are to walk as a result of who we are, I've titled the message for this evening, I will be careful to walk in the Lord's will. I will be careful to walk in the Lord's will. And it comes from verse 15, where Paul says, "'See then that you walk circumspectly, "'not as fools, but as wise.'"

Now, even though we went through verse 21 last week, I'm backing up again, starting again in verse 15, because, well, as we head on into the following verses, Paul is not really changing subjects. And sometimes we kind of, you know, have these breaks and we separate topics, you know, in these letters and

There are times where there is a break and there's a separate, you know, concept being covered and that will be clear in the text. But as we head on into verse 22, wives submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. And we begin to talk about husbands and wives together.

Well, it's not, okay, now forget, you know, everything I just said, close that book, open a new book. Here's the book on marriage. And then, you know, that it's a separate thing, but no, all of these things are flowing together. What Paul is saying is this is how we are to walk in light of the Lord's will. And it's a matter of walking circumspectly. And the next few weeks are going to have their roots back in this idea of walking circumspectly.

Tonight here at the closing verses, we'll see marriage and the relationship of husband and wife, the roles that they are to play. As we head into chapter six, we'll see parents and children and their roles. And that goes back to the way that we relate to one another as a result of walking circumspectly. Bond servants and masters or employees and employers we'll see in chapter six. And that

goes back to this idea of walking circumspectly, putting on the whole armor of God, spiritual war. It has its roots in walking circumspectly. These things flow out of what Paul is saying here, that we are to walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. And so we need to take a moment and consider what does it mean to walk circumspectly?

Well, just on the surface of it, if you think about the word circumspectly, like that comes from the idea of like a circumference, right? Like there's this circle, right? And you can kind of picture yourself like, you know, standing or sitting where you're at and knowing what is around you.

I don't know what kind of driver you are, right? But there is the idea of being a defensive driver, right? And always being aware, having an idea, like, do you know what's around you? Do you know if there was an emergency, if you could switch lanes, right?

to the right or to the left? Do you know if someone's coming up behind you or coming up alongside or someone's coming up to make a right turn and merge into the lane? Are you aware of what's happening around you? And it is important for us to be good drivers in that way and to be aware, to make an effort, a conscious effort to be paying attention to what's happening around us, not just in front of us,

But what's coming up alongside and what's behind us? And this idea of circumspectly covers that whole sphere, that whole circle around us. And so as Paul is talking about walking circumspectly, he's talking about an awareness, having a look at and an understanding of the things that are going on around us.

The word circumspectly, literally, it means diligently, accurately, or exactly. It's used a few times in the New Testament. One of the examples that I could share with you is from Luke chapter one. Remember the apostle, not the apostle, but Luke, the author, wrote the gospel of Luke, but he wasn't one of the apostles who was with Jesus. In

Instead, what Luke did was he interviewed a whole bunch of people and gathered together all the data about the life and ministry of Jesus and then wrote that down, right? And so Luke describes that in Luke chapter one, verse three, and he said, having a perfect understanding of all things from the very first, it seemed good to me to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus. And so he's explaining, here's why I'm writing this, because I have a perfect understanding of

The idea there of perfect is that word perfect is the word circumspectly that Paul is using here in Ephesians chapter 5. That perfect, it's not so much like without sin. He's not saying he's without sin or anything like that. But he's saying it's complete. It's whole. I did a full 360 of the life and ministry of Jesus.

And so with that, I have a full understanding, a complete understanding of the life and ministry of Jesus. And so I wanted to write that down for you. And so this idea of circumspectly, the way that we are called to walk is with that kind of perfect understanding. Again, not that we're without fail, but that full and complete understanding.

that we know what's happening around us. We know what is going on around us. It's a complete or thorough understanding of the things that are happening in our lives. The Greek scholar Kenneth Wiest has his own translation of the New Testament. Here's how he translates this portion. He says, "'Be constantly taking heed "'how accurately you are conducting yourselves.'"

talking about walking circumspectly. It's in the present tense. It's something where to be continuing constantly, taking heat, looking around, being aware, being alert. How accurate am I in my behavior, in my conducting of myself according to, well, according to the will of God. In verse 17, Paul says, therefore, do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Here, Paul is, I mean, he's kind of laying down a pretty big challenge if you think about it. To walk circumspectly, to be constantly aware of what's going around us and not being unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is in light of all that's going on around you. Paul says, you need to understand what God's will is for your life and to not live out God's will for your life, or put another way, to not live out who you are in Christ and

It would be foolish. That would be unwise. But to understand what the will of the Lord is, that's wisdom. And that's what we need to walk circumspectly. Now, to understand the will of the Lord, that is not, you know, saying that we need to know the whole plan of God with all the details and know what's coming up in advance, you know, without, you know, having to see it for ourselves because we know, I know the whole plan of God. That's not what Paul is saying. But

But you can think about it more like this, that we know that where we are currently is where God wants us to be.

And how we're responding to situations, how we're behaving in light of what's going on around us, well, we know that that's what God wants. We're behaving and responding the way that God wants us to because we understand the will of the Lord. Again, not that we have the whole picture, but that we're confident that we're walking right now in the midst of the plan of God and the will of God and the way that he wants us to.

And so thinking about this idea of walking in the Lord's will and walking circumspectly, having that awareness of what's going on around us, I want to work our way through the next couple of verses and just to consider that from a couple of different angles and a couple of different aspects of it. The first one is found in verse 18. It gives us point number one for this evening, and that is, I will not walk in drunkenness.

I will not walk in drunkenness. In verse 8, as Paul again, he's continuing the flow of thought, he says, and do not be drunk with wine. Do not be drunk in wine in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit. To be drunk in wine, Paul says, is dissipation. It's wastefulness. It's a squandering.

Going back to verse 16, he had called us there in this idea of walking circumspectly. He called us to redeem the time, to make the most of the time that we have, to make the most of the opportunities that God gives us. Understanding what the will of the Lord is, now make the most of that and redeem the time. But as he moves forward from that, he says, but if we

instead are drunk with wine, if we're intoxicated, it's wasteful. It's dissipation because instead of redeeming the time, we are wasting the time. We're squandering the time. We're making poor use of the resource of time that God has given to us. Now, alcohol is a big subject and an important subject, but it's one that has a lot of facets and we're

Suffice it to say that alcohol in and of itself is not necessarily sinful. It might be for you a sin to consume any amount of alcohol. That might be something that God speaks to you personally and gives to you, but generally, you know, across all believers universally, that is not the way that the Bible presents the situation with alcohol. In contrast to that though, drunkenness is

is always addressed as sinfulness throughout the scriptures. And so drunkenness here is what Paul is specifically talking about. Do not be drunk with wine.

Now, part of the thing that makes this a little bit complicated is this idea of drunkenness and drunkenness with wine was, you know, that's what they had at the time for intoxicating themselves or altering their state of consciousness, right? We could expand this and it fits within the biblical understanding to expand this to not just be with wine, right?

but to also include drugs or other types of substances that would alter the state of consciousness in that way. But at the same time, we also have medication. Like you go to the doctor and you have a need and there's a situation and so there's a prescription that is written and that falls into this category of altered state of consciousness, right? It impacts you in a similar way, but none of us, I don't think anyways, would...

try to declare that it's sinful to, you know, receive anesthesia for surgery, right? No, like that's appropriate for that. There is context where that kind of impact makes sense and is appropriate for

But at the same time, it would be sinful to use that same medication in a different context. And so we can try to like wrestle through and like come up with the laws. But instead of like trying to figure out all of the details and, okay, let me write this contract in a way that there's no loopholes, right? And sometimes we're trying to find loopholes. Sometimes we're trying to close loopholes because we don't want other people to take them, right? So we could like wrestle with all those things. But

But I would back up for a moment and just ask the question, why? Do not be drunk with wine. Regardless of how you define all of these different things and exactly what point is drunk, what substances are okay and to what degree and to what point, all of that, instead of trying to parse all of those legal definitions that we might come up with, the question really is, why? How does this impact people?

That's one thing for sure that we can understand, right? Drunkenness, talking about having an awareness, using the illustration of, you know, while you're driving, you have an awareness of what's going on around you. I think we're all familiar with and acquainted with the idea that when there is drunkenness, there is not that awareness.

When there's drunkenness, you don't know what's going on around you. You're not able to pay attention. And it's not just the, you know, only in the context of driving a vehicle is that dangerous. Paul is saying it's dangerous in your life because it's wasting the time that God has given you. It's reducing your awareness of what's happening so that you're not able to understand what the Lord's will is for you.

Legally for us, you know, here as American citizens, drunkenness itself is not illegal, but well, driving under the influence, that is illegal, right? Because we all recognize as a society that impacts your ability to process, it impacts your awareness and awareness.

Again, considering different kinds of drugs or medications even. There's warnings on medications. The pharmacist will tell you, do not operate heavy machinery. Don't drive if you're taking this. There's things that we take that...

Perhaps there's a need for, and that's something that you can, you know, wrestle with and seek the Lord on. But the point is, those things, if it's dangerous for us to drive, if it impacts our consciousness in that way, then we also need to be challenged on, well, what else is this impacting my life? And how else is this impacting my life? One of the marked characteristics of drunkenness is the loss of self-control.

And the loss of self-control is what Paul is concerned with here. As he goes on to say, don't be drunk with wine, but instead be filled with the Spirit. He's contrasting these two. One of the fruits of the Spirit, you might remember in Galatians, is self-control. And one thing moves you away from self-control and the other draws you towards self-control. Pastor Warren Wearsby puts it this way.

Just as a drunk is influenced by alcohol, so a believer should be controlled by the Spirit. However, there are important differences. The drunk loses self-control, but the Spirit gives the believer self-control. Now, there are a lot of times where we wish the Holy Spirit would come over and then we would lose self-control and just like, you know, do the things that we're supposed to do on our behalf without us having to make the decision, right? But that's not the way the Holy Spirit works in our life.

The Holy Spirit works in our life in a way that helps us and gives us everything that we need so that when we make the right decision, we have the resources we need to go forward in the will of God and in the plan of God. But drunkenness takes those decisions away, reduces our ability to make those decisions. Even before that, it's not just that it reduces our ability to make the decision, it reduces our awareness of the situation

So that then we're not able to even recognize that there is a decision to be made because we're not really paying attention to what's happening around us. Talking about redeeming the time, we talked about the ministry opportunities, we talked about the witnessing opportunities, we talked about all that God has for us and

Drunkenness reduces those opportunities. It doesn't increase them. It doesn't grow those opportunities or make a more abundant. No, no, it reduces our ability to redeem the time. It reduces our awareness. So that if there was an opportunity for me to share the gospel, but I

I'm intoxicated. I'm not able to. I'm not aware of, or if I am, I shouldn't because I'm under the influence of something else now. And so there's this reduction. There's this removing of opportunities that the Lord has established for me.

Remember what Paul said in Ephesians chapter two, you are God's workmanship. You're created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has established or set before you beforehand. And we can picture this idea of a path, right? And there's all these stations of good works and opportunities that God has set before you. But when we are intoxicated or drunken, we are not aware we're missing those opportunities. It reduces us.

What God has provided for us. Can you discern the will of the Lord if you're intoxicated? No. Can you engage in the spiritual war that is going on if you're intoxicated? Ephesians chapter six, we'll see that. No, in the same way, like, you know, we don't give soldiers alcohol and then send them immediately into the battlefield, right? Like that's not a good way to go. That's not the wise thing to do. Think about the opportunities to give counsel to people around you.

If you're under the influence of something else, that counsel is tainted, suspect. If you're on medication and drugs that alter your consciousness, you should not be giving counsel. You should not be in a similar way. Remember the priests of the Old Testament, right? God forbade them to be

partaking of alcohol while they were on duty as priests because it impacted, it reduced their ability to control, have self-control. It reduced their opportunities and it tainted the ministry that they were doing. And so you can think about the spiritual battles as a reminder, as a reason for why to stay away. You can think about the counsel that is needed and that is given. You can think about the witness or the example that is being set aside

for the people around you. Again, Kenneth Weiss says, be constantly taking heed to how accurately you are conducting yourselves. Intoxication, whatever form, fashion you want to think about in that way, it reduces your ability to be accurate in evaluating how you are conducting yourself. You're not able to understand and discern what's going on around you

And you're not able to make sure that you are accurately representing the Lord, speaking on behalf of the Lord, walking with the Lord, relating to one another as God calls us to. And that's all I'm going to say on the subject. I know I spent a lot of time on that. It's only like half a verse. But it's something that we need to wrestle with in our culture. You know, one of the things, of course, marijuana recently became legal. I said that's all I was going to say about the subject, but I guess I wasn't. Sorry about lying for that.

I'm not under the influence, but I just lied even without that. So you see how dangerous it is, right? But, you know, marijuana became legal and a bunch of Christians were like freaking out. Like, you know, that was our safeguard. Like, you know, you should not smoke marijuana, teenager, because, you know, it's illegal. Obey the governing laws and, you know, those. And so it was like an easy thing, right? But now it's legal. Like now what do we do? What way do we govern this? And we go back to this. This is the principle.

And we need to bring ourselves to this point. I will not walk in drunkenness. It reduces my ability to understand the will of the Lord. It takes away from what God has given to me. It does not contribute towards it. Well, in contrast to that, he goes on in verse 18 to say, be filled with the spirit. That gives us point number two. So I will not walk in drunkenness, but instead point number two, I will walk in the spirit. Be filled with the spirit, Paul says.

This word filled, in the Greek tense, it's important to understand it's two things. First of all, it's passive. It's a passive voice, which means that it's not something that you do, but it's something that you receive. Pastor Dave Guzik points out this means that being filled with the Holy Spirit is not something that you can manufacture.

You know, you don't get like the Amazon button and you just push it and then you're, you know, you get a refill of the Spirit, right? Just push it, boom, push it, boom. Like I just fill myself with the Holy Spirit. That's not the way that it works. It's something that the Lord gives to you. You receive the Holy Spirit. But at the same time, this word is in the imperative tense, which means it's a command. You're commanded to be filled. Even though you can't fill yourself, you're commanded to be filled, right?

So here you are an empty vessel and you have no capacity to fill yourself. And yet at the same time, you're commanded, don't be empty, but be filled with the spirit. F.B. Meyer says, it is as much our duty to be filled with the spirit as it is to not get drunk. In the same way that you are responsible for not being drunk, you are also responsible for being filled with the Holy Spirit. And so this is

something that God requires of every believer. Don't be drunk. Don't be engaging in that, but do be engaging in the Holy Spirit and be receiving the Holy Spirit. This is something for every believer. This is something that we all need. Again, the fruit of the Spirit talked about in Galatians chapter five. Those fruits are things that we all need to be growing and developing in our lives. And it comes by the work of the Holy Spirit within us.

Pastor David Guzik says, much of the weakness, defeat, and lethargy in our spiritual lives can be attributed to the fact that we are not constantly being filled with the Holy Spirit. Does any of those things describe your spiritual life? Weakness, defeat, lethargy? Are you lethargic? Are you weak? Are you defeated? Probably can be traced back to the reality that you are

You're not filled with the Holy Spirit. And maybe you're really awesome in not getting drunk. That's great. But that's only one half of the equation. The other half is, I need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. So how am I filled with the Holy Spirit? Since I can't do it to myself, I can't generate the work of the Holy Spirit myself. How is this gonna happen? How do I be filled with the Holy Spirit? Well, Jesus talked about this in Luke 11.

He talked about the need for us to ask and keep on asking, to seek and to keep on seeking, to knock and to keep on knocking. He began to give the illustration of a parent who, when their child asks for something, the parent gives them what they need. And the parent doesn't, you know, hey, the son says, I need a piece of bread. And instead you give him a rock and you say, you know, chew on that kid. Ha ha ha. You know, that's just torturing the kid, right? Like that's not the way that a parent behaves.

But a parent, no, gives the child what is needed, and especially when the child is asking, right? Well, Jesus then goes on in Luke chapter 11, verse 13 to say, if you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? You're evil, and yet you give your children what they need.

And you don't, you know, give them a prank when they're hungry. And, you know, maybe you prank them, you know, for fun and ingest and lightly, right? Like in a light way. But that's not what Jesus is describing in Luke chapter 11. You're not evil. You don't intentionally seek out to hurt and to harm your children, right? No, but instead when they ask for something, when they have a need, you seek to meet that need, right?

And so here you are, you as a believer, you have a need. You're a child of God. You're dearly beloved. You have a need. You need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And God doesn't say, well, let's just let you see how it feels to be empty for a while, huh? How about that? I don't know about you, but my dad used to say, I'll give you something to cry about, right? You want to cry? Okay, sure. Give you something to cry about. That's not the way that the Lord relates to us. And when we come to the Lord seeking to be filled with the Holy Spirit,

What we need is not the capacity to generate, you know, the work of the Holy Spirit ourselves. What we need is a genuine heart to come before the Lord and say, Lord, I need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. A real desire for God to do this. And Jesus says, if you ask, keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking, you will be filled. You will receive. How much more, he says, will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?

More and more of our lives needs to be given over to the work of the Holy Spirit that we would be filled so that we would walk in the Spirit. And I always like the idea of walking in the Spirit, picturing it in my mind as every step.

Every step, just giving the Lord, giving the Holy Spirit an opportunity to fill, to redirect, to reschedule, you know, that I need to learn to walk in the Spirit in that way. And that fits into this idea of being circumspect in our walk.

that, hey, I'm aware that, yes, I have this agenda, I have this schedule, but here at the desk, you know, two desks over, there's this co-worker, and because I'm walking circumspectly, I'm aware the Holy Spirit's prompting my heart that there's a situation, there's a conversation that the Holy Spirit wants me to have. And so although my schedule, you know, is sending me that way, walking circumspectly as I'm filled with the Holy Spirit, now I have opportunity, I have spiritual discernment to

to pause my schedule and to say, okay, Holy Spirit wants me to engage in this. Here's one of those stations that the Lord has set up. I am his workmanship and he's set up this day, this moment for this conversation that I might be used by the Holy Spirit to minister to this person around me. Having an awareness of what's happening around us. It's not an excuse to be a nosy gossip, right? But

But it is an opportunity for us to be seeking the Lord on his agenda and his plans. Again, understanding what the will of the Lord is. Here's the situation that's happening at work. Here's this, you know, unfolding of events that's happening in the home. And how does God want me to respond? How does God want me to behave? How does God want me to answer? How does God want me to engage in this conversation? The Holy Spirit, well, he bears fruit in your life. One of those things is self-control.

so that you're able to have perspective, to have discernment, and to make decisions to do what God wants you to do. And so drunkenness is, well, it hinders your ability to accurately conduct yourself and to understand what the Lord's will is. But being filled with the Holy Spirit enhances your ability to take heed at how accurately you are conducting yourself.

Moving on to verses 19 and 20, we get point number three this evening, and that is, I will walk with praise and gratitude. This is part of the outflow and the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. In verse 19, he says, 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.

So as we walk circumspectly, that doesn't mean that we're always, you know, guarded and like, you know, we have walls up and we're on the alert. And so, you know, don't get close and we have our defenses up. But no, he's also describing here the one another relationship that we are to have. And as we walk circumspectly, that includes we're kind of roping in, we're kind of linking arms with one another, right?

And one another is a phrase used throughout the New Testament to describe the relationships that we are to have as believers together. And there's a oneness that we have. There's a unity that we have. There's a linking together. And as we walk circumspectly, the idea is like, you know, it's not just us by ourselves and we're just like, you know, everybody stay away. But that we're linking arms to join together in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.

And so it's one of the reasons why we have times of worship as we gather together. Jesus set that example for us with his disciples. They would have times and opportunities to sing to the Lord and to worship the Lord. And there is the great and noble idea of, you know, worshiping the Lord on our own, but there's also expressed throughout the scriptures, the need that we have of joining with one another and walking circumspectly,

involves not just you on your own having great spiritual discernment and being filled with the Holy Spirit and you're all by yourself doing exactly what the Lord wants, but exactly what the Lord wants includes then you linking arms with other believers to worship the Lord, to minister to one another. There's so much there that we're not gonna get into, but this speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, ministering to one another. But then notice he goes on to say, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.

And so there's the external expression of these kinds of praise and worship, but there's also the internal. It's both. Now, some of us would just prefer to not have anybody around and, hey, I can sing and make melody in my heart to the Lord. No problem. I enjoy doing that. I love doing that. No problem. I don't need anybody around to be able to do that. And we would feel like perhaps I don't need to have those times with everybody else. Others would be the other way. Like,

Yeah, I don't know, all by myself, it's just not the same, and it's just kind of flat and dead, and there's just not that awesome presence, right? But, oh man, I get around others, and we can worship the Lord together. Oh, it's so amazing, right? And we could lean into one preference or the other, but Paul is saying we need both. The outflow of the Holy Spirit in our lives is both, that we would join arms and worship the Lord together, but that also we would have those times and those opportunities individually, internally, together.

to make melody in our hearts to the Lord and to be worshiping him and praising him in that way. Well, along with that comes this idea of gratitude. In verse 20, he says, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. So we're to be singing and praising internally and externally. And we're also to be giving thanks always. And notice the way that he says this, that it's, you know,

Very clear, he's not limiting it to certain situations or contexts. Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father. Giving thanks always for all things. If I'm not able to be grateful, it's a good indication that I'm not seeing circumspectly. Just think through this a minute with me.

He says, walk circumspectly, right? Have an awareness of what's around you and where you are and what's going on and what the Lord is doing. And the Lord has done so much in our lives and for us and is at work. And sometimes when we go through great difficulties or we go through hardship, we go through illness, we go through a variety of things, it can be easy to get caught up in that and so consumed by that, that we no longer see circumspectly, right?

We don't see all around us. All we see is the issue, the pain, the problem, whatever the situation is. But if I see circumspectly, I see beyond just that immediate situation. And I'm reminded that there is, well, always opportunity and reason to give thanks. There are many things to give thanks to God for.

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And just starting there, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we have something to be thankful for no matter what situations we face. Again, all of these exhortations for application that Paul is giving to us is based on who we are and what God has provided. And so let me say it this way, talking about our identity in Christ. Listen, you are one who is blessed. Going back to Ephesians chapter one, he talks about the fullness of blessing that we have.

We are filled with blessings. The spiritual riches of the Lord are ours in Christ. I mean, there's so much that we have. You are blessed. So if you're not able to be thankful and praising the Lord, you're not seeing circumspectly. In our living room at home, we have a sign on our wall to remind us of this. It says there's always something to be grateful for. There's always something.

But sometimes we're not walking circumspectly. We're not looking at the whole picture. We're only looking at one little piece. And it is easy to be looking at one little piece and being grumpy and grouchy and having a bad attitude. When I was young and either myself or my sister, we would be grumpy and grouchy. And there was a song, and I don't know if it was a common kid song or if it was just something that our family was familiar with, but

The idea was you get to choose whether or not you're going to be grumpy. And when you're grumpy, it doesn't feel like you have a choice, right? But my dad would always make us sing the song. It's a grumpy day and I don't like the weather. And, you know, there was all these verses that was just like, I'm just, I'm choosing to be grumpy. Or it's a happy day, you know, and you can make the choice.

Your feelings, those are what you feel. You don't always control exactly how you feel at every moment in your initial response, but how you respond to those, oh, you get to choose. And you're walking around as, you know, I don't know why I was going to say Kermit the Frog, but that's not Elmer Fudd. No, who am I thinking of? The donkey. Oscar the Grouch, there you go. That's a good one. Or the donkey. Who's it? Eeyore, there we go. I get all my characters mixed up, but

We're walking around all day, you know, grumpy and grouchy and, you know, and it's because we're not seeing circumspectly. We're not taking in the whole picture. We're focused on this and we're allowing that to be an excuse for us to make the decision to be grumpy, to be grouchy, to have a bad attitude. And it's not the will of the Lord. It's not the empowering of the Holy Spirit that gives us that. It is not the work of God. It's not walking circumspectly. Even in the midst of anxiety and great trouble.

Remember what Paul says in Philippians chapter four, be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. In the midst of those things that would cause us to be grumpy and grouchy and not grateful and not being able to praise the Lord, Paul says, okay, stop it. Don't be anxious like that. Don't be caught up in those things, but instead remember,

by prayer and supplication combine that with thanksgiving and bring that before god and and what's going to happen is well god's going to expand your view and bringing those things to god will remind you of who it is that you're worshiping and walking with and well the peace of god which surpasses all understanding will then guard your hearts and minds through christ jesus as you bring those things to him and trust in him to resolve those things he

He will help you to walk circumspectly and to see more than just that immediate situation that you're caught up with and consumed with. And so I will praise, I will walk with praise and gratitude is point number three. Well, continuing on to verse 21, we get point number four, and that is I will walk with humility. Verse 21 says, submitting to one another in the fear of God. And so here we have that phrase one another again. We're talking about our relationships with one another as believers in Jesus Christ.

And part of the way that we walk circumspectly is by submitting to one another. And I would summarize this with the idea of being teachable. Again, all of these things are rooted in who you are in Christ. And you know what we learned back in Ephesians chapters two, three, and four, right? You are a member of the body of Christ, right?

It's not just you and Jesus. It's not just you all by yourself independently with no connections to anybody else, but it's just you. You have a direct line to God, which you do, but that's it. No, no, no. You have a direct line to God, but also God has connected you with the body of Christ. And as a member of the body of Christ, well, God doesn't give you everything that you need directly. A lot of what God has for you, he gives to you through people around you.

Specifically, you know, the roles of authority that he outlines for us in chapter four. But then also that ministry, remember, the body grows as each member, as each part does its share, that there is those connections that we have with each other that enable us to live the life that God has called us to live. And so submitting to one another in the fear of God is the understanding that, hey, sometimes you're going to tell me something and I need to submit to that. Right?

Doesn't mean everything that you say I have to submit to because it's submitting to one another in the fear of God. And so we're looking at, there's limitation here. When instruction is given and it honors the Lord and it's obedience to the Lord, I need to be submitted to that. And there is room for each one of us to instruct any of the others. That is part of the way that God has designed the body of Christ.

And we like to have, hey, you know, I've known the Lord for many years and you've only been in the Lord for two years. And so what business do you have telling me about, you know, how I should conduct myself in this relationship or this marriage or whatever, right? I was like, no, actually, you know what? A two-day old Christian can teach a 30-year-old Christian and instruct them in the Lord. And there needs to be that submission to one another in the fear of the Lord because God uses others to instruct me and realign me.

Just like he used the donkey to minister to Balaam, right? Not that I'm calling any of you a donkey, but you get the point, right? That God can use anybody and we need to be receptive to the working of God towards us in that way. Submit to one another. And so you can think about that as in the sense of being teachable, but you can also think about submitting to one another for the sake of unity. Going back to chapter four, the first part where we're called to walk in unity, that we

Sometimes submitting to one another isn't so much that I need to be teachable. Maybe I'm right, but in my force of being right, there's division that's being caused. Sometimes submitting to one another is, you know what? My rights and this issue is not worth dividing over. And so I'm going to submit to one another. I'm not gonna make this a dividing issue. This isn't a hill to die on. We're not gonna fight over this.

When it honors God to submit more than it does to divide over an issue, well, I need to submit then and lay down that issue. It's not that important. It honors God more for us to be united and to have fellowship than for us to be divided over this. Commentator Adam Clark puts it this way, let no man be so tenacious of his own will or his opinion in matters indifferent as to disturb the peace of the church and

There needs to be that willingness to yield. I don't have to have my way. You don't have to see this the way that I see it. You don't have to have my perspective. This doesn't have to go according to my plan, right? There's a lot of things that we can just yield to. We don't have to insist on our way. We can still hold our own opinions and have our own perspectives. No problem.

But at the same time, we don't have to make everybody else have the same perspective as we do either. No, we need to walk with humility, submitting to one another, protecting and preserving the unity and the fellowship that we have. Again, because, well, God uses us. And so if I divide, well, not only is it an issue in the body of Christ and hurtful and painful to Christ, but it also reduces my ability to receive from God.

Well, someone, some person that God has placed in my life for my benefit. And I'm not able to give to that person that God has placed in my life for my benefit. And so there's this breaking of the work of God, the plan of God. It's not walking circumspectly to have those kinds of divisions, to have those kinds of insistences and wills and opinions that break division. Now, there are plenty of

where there does need to be a break and a division. But it's when there is not an honoring of the Lord in the conversation, in the decision, in the activity, whatever that might be. But there's also a lot of times where it's more honorable to just, you know what, I can, that's not that important. I can lay down my opinion. I can lay down, you know, my will, the way that I wish things would go, the way, you know, my ideas. No, I can lay all that down.

and submit to one another. I can receive instruction from you. I can be taught. And also I can decide not to divide submitting to one another in the fear of God. It's because I fear God. It's because I fear God that I allow others to speak into my life.

Well, we're going to finish it up in verses 22 through 23. And you're saying, well, Jerry, how on earth are you going to do this? I mean, we've only been to verse 21. It's only a few verses. And then there's like these 11 verses. And it's like the most important 11 verses of the Bible talking about marriage, right? Well, this is not going to be a marriage Bible study in the sense that we're going to try to like cover, you know, the marriage perspective and all the different aspects of this. But as we continue in these things, again, the context here, Paul is saying,

writing these things from the perspective of walking circumspectly, applying who we are in Christ to how we live. And so we're gonna walk through these verses. I don't know, we might come back next week and go a little bit more in depth through these verses, but that's not for tonight if the Lord has that at all. But for tonight, let's continue to think about being careful to walk in the Lord's will and what that looks like in a marriage relationship. So jumping into verses 22 through 22,

Through 24, it says, wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church. And he is the savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Here as we get now into point number five, the point is I will walk in God's design for marriage. Walking circumspectly, being careful to walk in the Lord's will means that

Well, I'm going to be looking at my behavior as a husband or as a wife and comparing that to what is God designed marriage to be.

And here throughout these verses, verses 22 through 23, there is the intertwining of our identity and our application. So, you know, we look at the first three chapters of Ephesians and there's that big block of doctrine, right? With a couple of sprinklings of application. And then four, five, and six is mostly application with, you know, some sprinklings of doctrine. Well, here we have kind of, they're just all wrapped together, right?

And there's this parallel that's drawn here by Paul for marriage in a comparison of husband and wife and the church and Jesus. Now, anybody who teaches this passage on marriage feels inadequate to teach it. And I would also say anyone who feels qualified should not teach it. I was a little bit saddened, I gotta say, when I saw my wife here tonight, because I can't lie to you and tell you that I've mastered all these things. She'll call me out on it. She...

If she wasn't here, I would teach a whole different message about how amazing of a husband I am, right? But that's not a message I could teach with her right there. No, no, for any of us, no matter who teaches us, we've not mastered this yet, just like all the other scriptures, right? And so that's not a requisite for these things. But as we look at these things, we can learn a lot from the illustrations, the parallel that Paul draws and shows us here.

G. Campbell Morgan tells us this about this passage. He says,

The parallel, the illustration is Jesus and the church and that sets for us the pattern. So we don't have to go through every scenario, every example, every possibility in a marriage relationship, but we can just look to the pattern of Jesus and the church and from both sides, husband or wife, have a better understanding about how we are to conduct ourselves and relating to one another.

And so first of all, thinking about the role of the wives within the marriage relationship, Paul says, wives, submit to your own husbands as, comparison, as to the Lord. Wives, you submit to the Lord. And so in a similar way, you need to learn to submit to your husband. And if that's not clear enough, he goes on to say, the husband is head of the wife as Christ is head of the church. So how much is Jesus the head of the church?

Well, in a similar way, Paul says, the husband is the head of the wife. And so wives, submit to your own husbands. Now, there's a lot of crazy ideas about submission that are unbiblical. There's also beautiful perspectives on submission that are biblical. And so, you know, if you're immediately opposed to this idea of submission, you need to wrestle with that and learn a little bit about submission.

It's not about value or capability. It's not a declaration from the Lord about, you know, anybody's role or value or capability or talent. Submission is not silence or you have no voice or no opinion. Submission, you can kind of boil it down to order. It's not about who's more capable or who's more qualified. It's just here is the order that God has set. And the order that God has set is the order that God has set. And so submission,

It's the order that God has set. I mean, what else can I say except for it's the order that God has set, right? I didn't set the order. The husband didn't set the order. In fact, if the husband has hid way, he would reverse the order most of the time, right? I don't want to have that role, but that is the order that God has set. Now, again, this all has its roots in the reality of who we are in Christ, right?

Notice what Paul says there in verse 23. For the husband is head of the wife. You see that? The husband is head of the wife. Now, a lot of times talking about this passage, it would be easy for us to say, listen, the husband should be the head or the husband is called to be the head. Or it might be expressed this way. The husband is called to be the leader in the home, right? You've probably heard that. I've probably taught that. And it's true. But at the same time,

What Paul is saying here, it's more than just a calling. It's more than just a should. It's that the husband is the head of the wife. And so the reason why you are instructed to submit to your husband is because, well, he is the head in that marriage relationship. And a lot of wives would say, well, I'll start submitting when he starts loving or leading or all these other things, right? But

But that's not what Paul is saying. He's saying the husband is the head. Even when the husband is not leading like he should lead, the husband is the head. And even when he is not loving like he should love, the husband is the head. And so wives submit to your husband, not based on his behavior, but based on who he is. And who is he? Well, he is the head. That's what God declares. And just like all other identities that we've been talking about, wrestling with through Ephesians, that is the identity. You don't feel that way for sure. No problem.

You, your society, your people, your friends, perhaps don't tell you, don't, don't, don't, you know, they're wanting to impress different identities on your husband, but no, no, your husband is the head. That's the identity that God has declared. So believe that and then operate accordingly. Wife, submit to the husband. He is the head in that marriage relationship. And yeah, sometimes your head is crooked, but it doesn't mean that you stop having a head.

You have to work with what you got, right? Sometimes your shoulder's messed up and you just got to wait and you got to deal with, okay, yes, I am crippled because my head's crooked, my shoulder's messed up or whatever, right? You have those things and you can't change that. The husband is the head. Even when he doesn't lead, even when he doesn't love, even when he doesn't blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, whatever you might fill in the blank, right? The husband is the head. Well, it's not just about the wives submitting.

Verse 25, he now addresses the husbands. And actually he uses twice as much verses to talk to the husbands. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her. That he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word. That he might present her to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So,

In contrast to wives submit, now as he addresses the husbands, here's the husband's role in the marriage relationship. Husband, love your wife. Notice the comparison, the parallel, just as Christ also loved the church. So for both husband and wife, we look at the picture of Jesus and the church. That illustrates to us how to relate to one another and how we're to behave. Husband, you're to behave like Jesus does toward the church. And what does Jesus do toward the church? Well, he

It says in verse 25, Jesus gave himself for the church. He gave himself, verse 26, so that he might sanctify and cleanse the church. So that, verse 27, he might present her to himself a glorious church. So the latter part of verse 25, 26, and 27 is illustrating this.

kind of detailing the role of Jesus towards the church and saying, okay, here's your example. Look how Jesus loves the church. Look how he sacrificed himself for the church. Look all that he does for the church. And then you love your wives like that. But the focus he goes on to address in verses 28 through 31 is that we do this because of who we are as husband and wife. Check out verse 28.

So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of his body and his flesh and of his bones. For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. Here's what God declares. You get married, you become one flesh, right?

So this is who you are. This is your identity. As a married couple, here's who God says you are. You are one flesh. So now operate accordingly. He who loves his wife, he says in verse 28, loves himself. Now, sometimes this can be taught and is kind of taught from the perspective like, look,

Happy wife, happy life. If you just make your wife happy, things will go so much better for you. It'd be so much easier for you. You're not doing yourself any favors by fighting over that, right? And so there's some truths to that and we could wrestle with those things. But that's not the core of what Paul is saying. He's not just saying be nice to your wife because then you'll just have a smoother life. It won't be so difficult. No, he's saying, look, she's you. You're one flesh. To not relate to your wife in that way

It's like, you know, if you were beating yourself and hurting yourself because, well, you're one flesh. That's who you are. Husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies because, well, that's what you're doing. You're one flesh. He says, no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it. And yet so many husbands hate their own flesh and, you know, fight against and beat and hurt and harm. And it's so contrary to who we are in Christ, right?

But we're still looking at the relationship between Jesus and the church. He says, for we are members of his body. So husband and wife, you are one flesh. In a similar way to Jesus is united to his body. And that's why Jesus is referred to as the head of the body of Christ or the head of the church. And so everything that Jesus does toward the church is for the benefit of the church because it's his own body. In a similar way, husband, love your wives like Christ loves the church because that's part of who you are.

Just as you are a member of Jesus's body, your wife is a member of you. You're one flesh. And so it's not just, hey, you know, you'll have less arguments and, you know, things will kind of go better for you if you'd be nice to your wife. But he's saying, no, no, like, understand, that's who you are. That's yourself that you're talking to that way. You're cursing out yourself. You're throwing things at yourself. You know, you're fighting against yourself. Pastor Chuck says,

talking about, teaching through this passage said, God designed marriage to be a duet, not a duel, right? And so many times it's that duel. But no, no, it's a duet where one flesh, we join together, one voice. Love your wife like Christ loved the church. Verse 32, he says, this is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless, let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself and let the wife see that she respects her husband. It's a great mystery. This illustration, this

comparison of Jesus and the church, husband and wife, there's great depth there. There's great depth into the understanding of Jesus as the head of the church. It's a mystery. Nevertheless, Paul says, look, you don't have to understand this fully. You don't have to understand all this doctrine. Paul says, you know, take my word for it. Here's the end result.

Let each of you in particular love his own wife as himself because that's you, your wife. That's you, your one flesh. And let the wife see that she respects her husband because he's the head. Whether he's leading, whether he's loving, that's beside the point. That's not part of the equation. The equation is this is who you are, therefore behave this way. Now going back to walking circumspectly, if I'm not walking in God's design for marriage,

If I'm not walking in my role as a husband, wife, if you're not walking in your role as a wife, you're not seeing circumspectly. You're missing the picture. You're saying, no, I need to, you know, rebel against this. I need to fight against this. I need to have my way in this. And I need to, you know, do this. And all you're seeing is this little thing, but you're not seeing the whole picture. Who am I in Christ? Who are we in Christ? We're one flesh. Walk circumspectly. It's to your benefit toward one another, right?

When you join together, you sing a duet, oh, it's beautiful. But going back to redeeming the time, there's more than just you and your comfort and your marriage pleasantries at stake. What's at stake is the world around you. And the way that you relate to one another as husband and wife pictures the love of Jesus for the church to the world around you. And you're not redeeming the time if you're running from your role within the marriage, if you're fighting against what God has declared in

for you and your wife, your spouse to be. I will be careful to walk in the Lord's will. Here the Lord reveals his will. Sometimes we want to, like, what is the will of God? Here's a few things that you can know for sure. I will not walk in drunkenness. It's God's will that you not be drunk, that you not allow that to dominate and permeate your life. It's God's will that you would walk in the spirit, be filled with the spirit. It's his command. You receive it by asking. So ask repeatedly, frequently, continually, constantly.

for the leading, the guiding, and the working of the Holy Spirit in your life. I will walk with praise and gratitude. It's God's will for you to always be praising, linking arms with other believers, linking arms with one another internally, having your own times of worship, and being thankful to God for his work in your life. I will walk with humility. It's God's will for you that you humble yourself and that you submit to one another and that you allow God to minister to you, to direct you, to instruct you, to correct you through other people in the body of Christ around you.

And then finally, I will walk in God's design for marriage. I'll fulfill my role. I'll fulfill it because it's who God has created me to be. And I may not feel like that's who I am. I may not feel like that's who we are. I may not feel that way. Other people may not give me that impression either. May try to convince me to believe something different. But no, wife, he is the head. Husband, she is your body.

So relate to one another in the way that God has designed you to be. Love your wife. Submit to your husband. One last time, the translation from Kenneth Weiss, be constantly taking heed to how accurately you're conducting yourselves. Take a look around. Take a look at your life, the way that you're behaving. How accurate are you in putting into place the plan of God, the will of God, the purposes of God?

and living out who he has created you to be. Are you walking circumspectly? Let's pray. Lord, I pray for each one of us. And Lord, we all come from different contexts and different backgrounds. And yet as we go forward, we're headed towards the same place. We're headed towards unity with you, eternity with you. And so God, I pray that you would help us to join together as your people, as your body. And Lord, would you give us great perspective that we would be able to walk circumspectly

to see and to understand what's happening around us, to have insight from you, Lord, that we might be wise and not foolish and not understanding what you want, but Lord, may we understand your will in our marriages, in our homes, in our workplaces, in our cars, or wherever we might be. Help us, Lord, to understand your will and to live in a way that honors you, that redeems the time, and that testifies of your glory. We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.