EPHESIANS 5:1-21 THEREFORE WALK IN YOUR NEW IDENTITY2020 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Ephesians 5:1-21 Therefore Walk In Your New Identity

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 2020. Well, as we look at this passage tonight, I've titled the message, Therefore Walk in Your New Identity. Therefore walk. Paul has been talking about walking since chapter 4, verse 1.

In verse 1 of chapter 4, Paul says, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called. And three times here in chapter 5, he's going to continue to say walk, walk, and walk. He's teaching us how to walk. And it's really important to understand that as we look at the book of Ephesians, because, well, Ephesians is in two parts, really. The first three chapters, Paul lays out the doctrine of who we are.

Now we studied the book of Ephesians last year on Wednesday nights as well, going more in-depth.

And as we went through the book of Ephesians last year, we focused on this idea of a new identity that we have in Christ, who we are in Christ, who God declares that we are, and the importance of not letting society or others around us, our family, our peers, or even ourselves, let's not let any of them declare who we are. We need to go back to who God says that we are. And that doctrine is laid out there in those first three chapters.

And now as we go into chapter 4, 5, and 6, Paul is saying, okay, now that you know who you are, you know what identity you have, now you need to start to walk in that. You need to take those things and begin to live them out. As Paul is talking about walking, he's talking about our lifestyle. He's talking about our behavior, our conduct, our

And as you consider this concept of walking this evening, I would encourage you to make sure that you think about it in the different aspects of your life. Not that you have, you know, a relationship with God in your private time only, but that you would be walking out the life and the identity that God has established for you in your workplace or in your school.

that you would be living out that identity in your interactions, in your relationships with people, whether that be, you know, on Zoom or meeting in person, on social media, that these behaviors, this conduct that Paul is describing here is to impact every aspect of our life. We're to live out this new identity.

And you can see this as you kind of circle back to Ephesians chapter 4. And as Paul is, you know, making the points there throughout the chapter, again, in verse 1, he tells us to walk worthy. In verse 17 of Ephesians chapter 4, Paul says, And he goes on to talk about and describe the unbelievers' walk a little bit further in the next couple verses.

But here you can see he's talking about walking. He's talking about lifestyle. He's talking about conduct and behavior. And he's saying you should no longer do the things that you used to do. You should no longer walk the way that you used to walk. In verse 20 of Ephesians 4, he says, but you have not so learned Christ. So he's saying look back to your life without Christ. Look back to your behavior where you were not honoring God and walking according to who God says you are. Look back to that.

And understand that's not what you learned in Christ. And he goes on in the next couple of verses to talk a little bit more about that, what we have learned in Christ. In verse 22, he says we are to put off the former conduct. And then in verse 24, that you put on the new man or your new identity, which was created according to God. Again, making the point here, there was a way that you used to walk,

And every one of us had a, you know, a way that we used to walk before we really surrendered and submitted to God in our lives. And Paul is saying, think about all of that and understand that is to be put away. You are not to walk that way. That's not what you learned in Christ. But now you are to walk in this new identity that you have that was created according to God. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

The old things have passed away. Behold, all things become new. There's a whole new life. There's a whole new nature and character, lifestyle, behavior, and walk that God has for us as believers. But the important thing to consider as you think about that is to understand that while this walk, Paul is commanding us then to do it. So we have this new identity. We are a new creation in Christ.

But we also have to make the choice to live out that identity, to take those steps and walk in the behavior that God has called us to. You must choose to live it out. And so Paul commands us to walk worthy.

He commands us to stop walking the way that we used to and instead to put on the new man. And then here in chapter five, three more times, he's gonna tell us, here's how to walk. And this is what you must do. He's calling us to take action in our lives, to change our behavior, to do different things.

And of course, we are going to not be perfect in that. We are going to fall and make bad choices. But we have the opportunity as believers to then repent and ask God for forgiveness and then choose again to live out this new life and to walk the way that God has called us to. I want to ask you to think about it this way. If you go into a witness protection program, you know what that is, right?

You see something, you're testifying, it's really dangerous for you to do so. And so there's the witness protection. And in that, they give you a whole new identity. And they, you know, put you out in the middle of nowhere or put you in a big crowd where you're not, you know, from. And there you are meant to go and live out a whole new life, all new friends, all new family, all new workplace, all everything's new, whole new life.

Now, if you go into the witness protection program and then go back to your old neighborhood and identify yourself by your old name and continue to go to the old job that you used to work at and continue to hang out with the same friends that you had before and continue to live the same way that you did before, well, you're going to be in big trouble, right? In a similar way, we have a whole new identity, right?

It's not so much a witness protection program, but it's a whole new identity. And similar to that, we have a whole new life, a whole new set of expectations for our behavior and our conduct. And if we go back and live the old life, we're going to be in trouble and it's going to cause lots of problems. And we're going to be really a target for the enemy to come and bring great destruction in our lives. And so here Paul says, walk in your new identity.

And so we're going to look at these three things that Paul tells us to walk in and learn the conduct and the behavior that God desires of us. So the first thing to consider here is in verses 1 through 6. Point number one is imitate God's love. Imitate God's love. Your new identity in Christ includes the ability to love as God has loved us. Looking at verse 1 and 2 again, it says, therefore...

Paul says, therefore, be imitators of God. Imitate God. Mimic God. That word imitate, it means to mimic or to copy. It's the idea of an apprentice who is learning something

from the master. He learns to imitate the master, learns to behave and act and do what the master does. And so we are to look at God as the one to mimic. We are to look at him as the one to copy and to model ourselves after what God does. Model our thoughts after what God thinks. Model our attitudes after God's attitudes.

model our words after God's words, model ourselves and mimic God. And he gives us this specific example. One of the key aspects of the nature of God, of course, is God is love. And so he tells us in verse two to walk in love. To imitate God means that we are going to walk in love. Again, the idea of walk here is it's speaking about our behavior, our conduct, our

It's not just have, you know, loving feelings or be able to say loving things or to have, you know, loving emotions, but to have loving conduct, to live out and take actions of love in our lives, walk in love. And he gives us a solid example to follow as we mimic God because he says Christ loved us and gave himself for us as an offering, right?

a sacrifice to God. It was a sweet smelling aroma. I like to describe love as love is doing what is best for people. Having someone's eternal good in mind, having their best interests at heart in the eternal scope, love is seeking that and taking action for their good ultimately. And that's what Jesus did for us. He sacrificed himself. It cost him greatly, but

Although he is God, he became man to die on the cross for us. He gave himself as an offering. He laid down his life. He suffered pain and affliction on our behalf for our good because it's what we needed the most. God's love is not rooted in selfishness. It's not for our own gain, but it's for the benefit of those whom we love. And so Paul says, walk in love. Use that as the model of

And look at the people around you and see how God would have you to sacrifice yourself for their good. To serve, to minister, to work on their behalf for their good. Now Paul goes on here to give a contrast to what walking in love looks like. In verse 3 and 4 he says, But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you as is fitting for saints.

Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of things. And so Paul says, here's some things that are not walking in love. Fornication speaks to all kinds of sexual immorality. All kinds of immorality are included in that. And although we may call it love, we may talk about it as love, the world for sure talks about it as love.

There is no part of immorality that is rooted in love. It's rooted in selfishness. And love does not take advantage or press or pressure. None of that is the love that God is calling us to walk in. It's lust instead. Uncleanness can speak about anything that's dirty. It can also speak of immorality or just anything that is wicked or not of God.

Covetousness is that longing for, that lusting after, not necessarily of a person, but of things. He talks about covetousness being idolatry in a couple of verses here. And so the idea here is that chasing after of things, the pursuits of this life, material gain, financial gain, power, whatever it is that we might be pursuing or coveting.

And so Paul lists these three things and he says, don't even let those things be named among you. Don't let that have any kind, don't let there be a hint of those things. And notice what he says here, as is fitting for saints. The reason why these things should not even be named among you is because these things are not fitting for saints. He says it again in verse four. He lists a few more things, filthiness, foolish talking, coarse jesting. He says, these things are not fitting for

but rather giving of things. These things aren't fitting for you because again, this is all based on your new identity. It's not fitting for saints. And you know what? Your new identity, who God says you are as a believer in Jesus, he says, you are a saint. You may not think of yourself as a saint, or maybe you do, but the person next to you doesn't think of you as a saint, right? We have some weird concepts about saints that are built on traditions and cultures, not the Bible,

In the biblical sense, a saint is one who has believed in Jesus Christ because then you stand before God righteous and perfect and holy. You are a saint as a believer in Jesus. Going back to Ephesians chapter 1 verse 1, as Paul introduces the letter, he says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God to the saints who are in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus.

Now when he addresses the saints in Ephesus, he's not talking to like two or three people that are like really holy in Ephesus. He's talking to the church that is in Ephesus. As believers in Jesus Christ, we are saints. And it's not fitting for saints to be involved in immorality, uncleanness, covetousness, filthiness, foolish talking, or coarse jesting. It just doesn't fit.

It's not part of our new identity. It's not part of our new nature. It doesn't belong. It's going back after we've been, you know, put into the witness protection. It's going back into the old life to engage in those things once again. Pastor David Guzik 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're going to find yourself miserable if you continue to try to be someone that you're not. You continue to try to live in a way that is inconsistent with the new nature that you have in Christ. You're going to be miserable because you're a new creation in Christ. You have a new identity, a new nature. Those things are not fitting. So walk in love.

You don't have to chase after all of those things. Okay, how do I stop that? How do I stop that? How do I stop that? Paul says, you just do one thing, walk in love. Now he goes on to emphasize the warning a little bit further in verse five. He says, 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 not only is it not fitting for you as a saint, Paul says, look, the person whose life is filled with these things,

they don't have an inheritance in the kingdom of God. No fornicator, unclean person, or covetous person has an inheritance in the kingdom of God, Paul says. So that's not fitting for you. That doesn't belong in your life. Don't pursue those things. He's not saying that we will never fail in any of these areas. But when it is our pattern of life, when our decisions and choices in our life are consistently different,

engaging in fornication, uncleanness, and covetousness, we need to understand that it reveals a life that is not committed to Jesus. And so it's a pretty strong warning that Paul gives here. Those who are engaged in these things do not have an inheritance in the kingdom of God. He continues on in verse 6, "'Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.'"

Paul says, let no one deceive you about this. Don't let anybody tell you it's okay to engage in these things and live this way with the expectation that you will have an inheritance in the kingdom of God. Don't let anybody trick you. Because of these things, Paul says, the wrath of God comes upon those who are disobedient. Those things bring down the wrath of God. So don't get confused about those things. And don't let those things, don't let sin reign in your life because

Because it's distasteful, it's detestable to God. And because of sin, he brings down wrath. Because of disobedience. And so don't let disobedience characterize your life. Instead, let love be the characteristic that is the highlight of your walk, of your life, of your behavior. Pastor Warren Wiersbe says, these warnings deal with the habitual practice of sin and not the occasional act of sin.

David committed adultery, yet God forgave him and one day took him to heaven. Certainly David was disciplined for his sin, but he was not rejected by God. And so it's important to understand and remember the hope and the forgiveness that we have, that we don't fail one time or even 10 times and then we're out and God's done with us. But we need to get back to our relationship with God.

Get back to our identity in Christ and walk in love and not continue to engage in those things that displease him and that are rooted in selfishness. Imitate God's love. And so again, I would encourage you to consider your behavior at home. Would your home life be classified as a walk of love? Would your workplace be

or your time in your workplace be classified? Would it be appropriate to describe that as a walk of love? Would your time at school be aptly described as a walk in love? Would your interactions with people, again, in person or online? So perhaps you watched the little bit of the debate that took place last night. Would you describe that as a walk in love?

Would you describe all the interactions that happened afterwards between people as a walk in love? I think these are things that are important to remember in this season more than many other seasons. We need to remember that love is to be the characteristic of our life. As we imitate God, God is love. And that we are looking out for people's best interests.

and caring for them and wanting what's best for them, no matter who they are or what they stand for or what they've done to us or how they've hurt us or anything. That love desires what is best for those that God has placed around us. And so we need to imitate God's love. Well, moving on to verses 7 through 14, we get the second point to consider tonight, and that is demonstrate God's light. Your new identity in Christ.

If you're going to walk it out, if you're going to live it out, it is going to be lived out as a demonstration of the light of God. Let's jump into verse 7. It says, 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 again, here Paul is calling attention to the difference between the past and the present. He says in verse 7, referring back to verse 6, the sons of disobedience. Don't be partakers with them. Don't continue in with those sons of disobedience who are going to experience the wrath of God. Don't go along with that. Don't carry on in that same kind of life. And he explains in verse 8, because you were once darknessed.

Again, the past. That's who you were before Christ. You were with that group. You were part of those who were, well, as we saw on Sunday in Ephesians chapter 2, carried about with the winds of this world, which is ruled by the prince of the power of the air, the enemy, Satan. We once walked in darkness and conducted ourselves that way. But now, he says in verse 8, you are light in the Lord. You once were darkness. That's your old life.

But now you are light. And so there's a change. So stop partaking of those things. Again, if you go into the Witness Protection Program, don't go back to your old life and go by your old name and hang out with the same old people and do the same old things. No, live out a whole new life according to who God says that you are, according to the behavior that God has called you to. You are a new creation. You are light.

So walk, he says in verse 8, as children of light. You are light, so therefore live out that reality, live out that identity. Walk and behave as children of light. Not that you have light, he says, you are light in the Lord. You are light, so walk as children of light. Walk according to who it is that God has declared you to be. Now what does that mean to walk as children of light?

Well, we don't have to make up something. Paul goes on to describe it a little bit more in verse 9 and 10. He says, To demonstrate God's light means that, well, the fruit of the Spirit will be evident in our lives. And what's the fruit of the Spirit?

Galatians chapter 5 talks about the fruit of the Spirit, but we also have here Paul saying, "...the fruit of the Spirit is all goodness, righteousness, and truth." Here's what you can understand. When we are called to walk as children of light or to walk in the light, it means that we are to do what's good, we are to do what's righteous, and we are to be engaged with truth.

Light has this relationship to goodness, righteousness, and truth. We are to be involved with things that are good. To walk as children of light, well, if it's not good, then it's not for us because we're children of light and we're to walk in all goodness. If it's not righteous, if it's not right in God's sight, we're not to engage in that. We're not to walk in that. We're not to live that way.

If it's not true, and not being true can take a few different forms. I mean, it could be, you know, outright lies. It can also just be delusions and fantasies and deceptions. And we need to be rooted and grounded in the truth, not in lies and deceptions and fantasies and delusions. And so we're to demonstrate God's light, to speak the truth, to be engaged in what is good and righteous and

to allow the Holy Spirit to produce the fruit of these things so that he says in verse 10 that we find out what's acceptable or pleasing to the Lord. That's another way to understand it. What does it mean to walk in the light? That's to do the things that are pleasing to the Lord. He goes on to give the contrast again in verse 11 and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.

So you see the contrast again. Don't fellowship. Don't partake of those things any longer. The unfruitful works of darkness. Works of darkness promise great things. The enemy is great at that. He promises, you know, glory and fame and fortune and pleasure and love and joy and all of these things. But the route that he sets before us with those promises are promises that are unfruitful.

They don't actually produce the things that are promised. They don't actually produce the things that we're thirsting for and craving for. So Paul says, have no fellowship with those unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. What does it mean to expose them? Does it mean that we need to run around pointing fingers saying, you're in sin, you're in sin, darkness, darkness, darkness.

Does that mean we become sin sniffers? You know, we're detectives trying to expose sin in people's lives? No, that's not what Paul is talking about here. You can see that in verse 12. He says, He's not saying, make sure you talk about all the sin and the darkness that's going on. It's shameful even to talk about it. When he talks about exposing the things that are of darkness, it's not chasing the darkness. It's being the light, walking in light.

I think Jesus is a great example of that. As you look at his life, he would hang out with those that were classified as the sinners, right? Those who were involved in sin, the outcasts of society. But he wouldn't chase out, you know, to point out and expose all the sin in that way. Instead, he went and was a light. As you look at the account of Zacchaeus in Luke chapter 19, Jesus went to Zacchaeus' home. And he didn't, you know...

call out Zacchaeus for all of his issues. But Zacchaeus, seeing the light of Christ, it revealed the darkness that he had, and he turned. He responded as a result. And Jesus said, today salvation has come to this house. As Zacchaeus stood up and said, look, Lord, I'm going to make things right. I'm going to give back the money that I've stolen. I'm going to walk with you from here on out. Jesus says, salvation has come. He went to that dark place and

Again, we're to imitate God. That is to be light, to demonstrate God's light. Light doesn't have to target darkness. Now, you and I, when we pull out a flashlight, we might be targeting darkness, right? Because it's like, well, I don't want to see, or I mean, I want to see what's there. I don't want to be surprised by what's in, you know, the dark, right?

But light itself, it doesn't have to chase after darkness. It doesn't attack darkness. You know what light does? It just is light. And darkness flees from it. Darkness hides from it. Darkness goes away because light is light. And darkness cannot be in the presence of light. And so in a similar way, as Jesus says, hey, or as Paul says, we are to walk as children of light. Again, we are to just be light. We are to walk in goodness and righteousness and truth.

And it doesn't mean we can't have interactions and address issues of sin, but primarily we are to be focused on the light, to walk as children of light, to stay in the realm of light. Another way you can think about it is staying in the light. So the path that is lit, the path that Christ has lit for you, this is your identity. Stay in that path. Don't wander off in the darkness, but stay on the lit path that God has set before you.

Commentator F.B. Meyer puts it this way. He says, Anything that you would blush, anything that you'd be ashamed or embarrassed to have broadcast over the internet about your life?

Those are the things he says were to be avoided. No, only the things that are consistent with the light of the throne of God, the goodness, righteousness, and truth of who God is and the life that he's called us to. Verse 14, therefore, he says, awake you who sleep, arise from the dead and Christ will give you light. Therefore, awake, wake up. If you're walking in darkness, if you're sleeping in darkness, if you're lounging in darkness, well, wake up.

arise from the dead and Christ will give you light. Christ will shine light into your life. And often the way that it works is not that we see everything and all the darkness all at once, right? But that as we walk with the Lord, he shines a little bit more light and we see another area of sin where there's not goodness and righteousness and truth. And we are to repent of that and then to continue to walk with the Lord and he'll show us a little bit more. And it's a long journey of demonstrating God's light

by being those who are repentant, by those who are engaging in what is good and righteous and true. So consider your walk, your behavior at home. Would it be fair to classify your behavior, your conduct at home as walking in light, demonstrating the light of God, shining the light of the throne room of God throughout your home, every room, every corner? Is that consistent?

Because that's who you are in Christ. Walk in the light in your workplace. Do you bring light? Again, not that you go around and you tell on everybody who does something wrong, right? That's not necessarily what we're talking about here. But instead that you do what's good. That you be a light. That you engage in what is righteous and true in school, in your interactions with people, in person and online. Are your conversations filled with light?

filled with goodness and righteousness and truth. Again, in this election year, this election season, it's really important for us as Christians, guys, to live out our new identity. Not only in this time, of course, but maybe I just bring it up a lot because it just, man, I see stuff and it just is, it's hard to see. It's hard to watch. It's hard to see that we behave in a manner that is not in agreement with who God is, goodness and righteousness and truth.

It's hard to see us behave in a manner that is not consistent with imitating the love of God. And we get so worked up and distracted by all these other things and not that there aren't other important things that need to be addressed, but at the same time, is it consistent with our new identity in Christ? With the focus and the life and the heart and the attitude and the words that he would use? Well, finally, we're going to look at verses 15 through 21 from point number three.

To walk in our new identity, we need to, first of all, imitate God's love. Secondly, we need to demonstrate God's light. And now, finally, we need to understand God's will. Understand God's will. Verse 15 through 17, first it says this, "'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.'"

Paul says, see that you walk circumspectly. So walk in love, walk as children of light, and now walk circumspectly. The idea of walking circumspectly is being aware of your surroundings. It's being aware of what's going on around you. It speaks to wisdom. It speaks to caution. It speaks to kind of having your guard up.

For those of you, you know, if you remember your driving training, right? That defensive driving, you know, being aware of the cars that are coming up alongside of you or behind you or who's in front of you and having that space around you and being ready for, you know, crazy drivers that might come at you unexpectedly. That's the idea of walking circumspectly. He says, not as fools, but as wise. We're to walk with wisdom, right?

And this walk, he says, is to redeem the time. To redeem is to cash in or to exchange, right? If you go to Castle Park or Scandia, you know, and you play the games, you get the tickets, and then you go and redeem them at the counter for the toy of your dreams.

You exchange that, right? In a similar way, he says, redeem the time. And redeeming the time speaks to the time that we have right now, our opportunity to take action, to walk and behave in a certain way in exchange for the reward in eternity. Redeem the time, make the most of the time because the days are evil. We have a limited amount of time and the days are evil because

There's a lot of attacks. There's a lot that could set you on the wrong course. There's a lot that could trip you up. So redeem the time, be wise, walk circumspectly while you have opportunity. Jesus lived with this mindset, this mentality. He knew he had a limited amount of time here on this earth. And of course, yes, he was going to the cross. That was, you know, the big event of his life. But leading up to that,

He wanted to make sure that he was filling his life with the will of God and the plan of God and the things of God. He describes this a little bit in John chapter 9, verse 4 and 5. There he tells his disciples, 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 am in the world, I am the light of the world. Jesus says, I'm the light of the world. I have a limited time here.

During the day, the night's coming. My day is coming to an end. I'm going to be crucified. I'm going to later ascend to the Father. I have limited time. And so I'm going to need to make the most. I must work the works of him who sent me, Jesus says, while I have the time. I need to redeem the time to walk circumspectly. I can't just get caught up in this town that wants me to stay there for a couple years.

I can't just, you know, stay with this group of people who wants me to just hang out with them and heal them. I need to also move on to the other things that God has called me to and God has set before me. I have a limited amount of time. I can't just go and relax and, you know, hang out and take all the vacations that I want and, you know, live the chill life, right? Like I need to go and do the work that God has set before me. Paul says, redeem the time. The days are evil.

There's a lot of opportunity to get caught up in things that are not of God. There's a lot of tactics of the enemy that are coming against you. You need to be walking wisely, circumspectly, being aware of the attacks of the enemy. I would encourage you to think about that for a minute. Not necessarily right now in this moment, but just stop and think about your life and just put yourself in Satan's shoes for a moment. All right, if I wanted to take out Rick, what would my tactics be?

What would my strategies be? You know, when someone is building a fortress, right, you're imagining, you're trying to anticipate all of the points of the attacks where they would come and you fortify the areas that are most vulnerable, the areas that are most in need of that wall or, you know, whatever it is, that defense that you're mounting. And in a similar way, we need to be aware that the enemy really does hate you and he really wants to destroy your life.

And he has a lot of different tactics. Paul says in another portion, we're not unaware of his tactics. We're going to look at Ephesians chapter 6 tomorrow, right? The armor of God and the need to be engaged with God in that way that we would be defended against the attacks of the enemy. But it's worthwhile to periodically just stop and consider your life. If God wanted to mess me up at work, I'm not God. If Satan wanted to mess me up at work, God doesn't want to mess you up ever.

But if Satan wanted to get to me, if he wanted to deceive me and lead me astray, how would he do it? If he wanted to trip me up in sin in this area of my life, like what areas are vulnerable there? What are the things that I'm exposing myself to and opening up myself to? What are the points of weakness that I need to take care of? Walking circumspectly, being aware of, you know, this is an area of my life that is, it's not very strong. I'm vulnerable there to the attacks of the enemy.

Boy, I just let my emotions just run rampant in my life and causes me to disobey God and ignore what God says and forget the promises that he's made. And so what can I do to walk circumspectly and protect and shore up that area of my life? Where this relationship, man, it just, every time it just really, you know, messes me up and causes me to run from the things of God. Well, how can I defend myself and prepare for those kinds of attacks? Verse 17, therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Don't be unwise. Think about and understand the days are evil and there's a great need for us to walk circumspectly. And that means we're going to understand what the will of the Lord is. I'm sure you already know how to understand what the will of the Lord is. So I think we'll just move on. Verse 18. No, I'm just kidding. Sometimes the will of the Lord, we make it something that it's not. We have a lot of clarity about the will of the Lord in

contained within the scriptures themselves. And he's going to go on to outline some very clear things for us that are the will of God in our lives. And so we'll look at that in just a moment. But first consider these words from Pastor Warren Wiersbe. He says,

Learning his will involves gathering facts, examining them, weighing them, and praying for his wisdom. Sometimes God reveals things supernaturally to us and he speaks to our hearts about what he wants us to do. He calls us to take steps of faith.

And of course, as God speaks to us in that way, we need to respond and follow what it is that he says. But a lot of times the will of God for us is to look at the situation, to evaluate the facts, to weigh them in light of what he says in his word, to pray and look to him for wisdom, and then to take the steps that we believe God would have us to take.

It really doesn't have to be that complicated. Now, you know, a lot of times we want, you know, very specific things and the whole plan. When he says understand the will of God, he's not saying understand the whole plan of God for your life, but he's saying understand that where you're at right now, yes, I am where I am and this is where God wants me to be.

And I'm doing what God wants me to do. I'm living where God wants me to live. I'm working where God wants me to work. I'm at church where God wants me to be at church. I'm serving him the way he wants me to serve him. I am understanding his will because I'm walking with him. Understand God's will. It comes from walking circumspectly, looking around and engaging with the Lord about different aspects and areas of your life and allowing him to speak to you and lead you.

Now again, there are some clear concrete things in the scriptures that we can understand as the will of God. And so he's going to go on in verses 18 through 21 to give us some of those things. The first thing, here's the will of God for your life. Do not be drunk. Don't get drunk. That's God's will for you. Verse 18, do not be drunk with wine. So that's not God's will for you. Drunkenness, intoxication,

When you come under the influence of some substance, that's not God's will for you. There are some cases, you know, medicinal uses of medications and such that are appropriate. And sometimes those can be the will of God. But the general will of God for your life is to not be drunk with wine. God's will for you is instead to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

He puts these in contrast. Do not be drunken with wine, in verse 18, but be filled with the Holy Spirit. So don't fill yourself up with the drink, but instead fill yourself up with the Spirit of God. Receive from God the Holy Spirit. Receive from God the empowering, the indwelling, the overflowing of His Holy Spirit. This is a command. Be filled.

Jesus told us if we want to be, if we want to receive the Holy Spirit, that we need to ask to receive the Holy Spirit. Not to dance, not to, you know, do cartwheels, not to do good works. Receiving the Spirit is just like receiving Jesus for salvation. It's by faith. It's according to the grace of God. So be filled. That's God's will for you. Continually ask God to fill you with His Holy Spirit, that you would be empowered and led and

to all that God has for you. Well, another aspect of God's will for you is fellowship. Verse 19, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Fellowship in regard to spiritual things. Now, sometimes we, you know, hang out and watch football together and we call it fellowship and certainly there is fellowship there. But we need to make sure that that's not the only kind of fellowship that we have on the surface stuff, but that we have fellowship of worshiping God together.

that we have fellowship of serving God together and speaking about the scriptures and engaging in the things of the Lord together. That's God's will for you to be engaged with other believers in the things of God. God's will for you is for you to worship him. He says in verse 19, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. It's God's will for you to sing and to make melody in your heart, to sing to him, to call out to him, to worship him.

It's God's will for you to be a thankful person. He says in verse 20, Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Giving thanks always for everything. It's God's will that you would be thankful for everything that you receive, for every gift that is given, for every meal that is provided, for everything that is happening, that you would be thankful to God, that you would be a thankful person. God's will for you is also that you would be submitted,

to others around you. Verse 21, submitting to one another in the fear of God. Submitting to one another. Now that doesn't mean we do everything everybody tells us to do, but it does mean that we are open and receptive when there are others around us that God wants to use as authorities, as influence, to speak into our lives the will of God. And you know, sometimes when someone...

perhaps doesn't have direct authority over you. Maybe they do. And they say, you know what? I think this is what God wants for you. And then you want to do the opposite because you don't want to prove them right, right? Submitting to one another in the fear of God. Hey, you know what? This is what God wants for you. This is God's will for you. And allowing ourselves to be submitted to one another in that way. That's God's will for you. You would not be drunk, that you would be filled with the Spirit,

that you would have fellowship, that you would worship the Lord, that you would be thankful and that you would be submitted to others around you as God leads them by his spirit. Understand God's will. It's not impossible for you. Paul says, like, you're a fool if you don't understand God's will. It's not some way out there thing, some mystical thing that you can never know. No, you should know. And if you don't know right now that you're in God's will, Paul says, that's foolish. Don't live like that.

No, you have access to God. Call out to God. Spend time with God. Seek him out. Search his word. Find out what he says. Allow him to reveal to you and to show you his will for you and where he wants you right now. Again, that doesn't necessarily mean that we know the whole plan of God. We can't expect that from God. We wouldn't believe it even if he told us the whole plan that he has for us. But we should have that certainty now.

that confidence that right now, currently, we are where God wants us to be. Understand God's will. Again, if you go into Witness Protection Program, they take you out of your old life. They put you in a whole new context. They give you a new name, new identity, new workplace. Everything is set there before you. In a similar way, God has created you as a new creation. You have a new identity and God's will for you

In regards to who you are, it's all there for you. He has there for you his plans and his purposes. He has set before you where he wants you to work and how he wants you to live and how he wants you to spend this way or that way. He has all that established for you. You just need to spend some time with him and allow him to reveal his plans. And so again, considering your walk, your behavior at home, you can think about it generally in your life, but if you think about your home,

Are you there in the center of God's will? Do you understand God's will, his purposes, and what he has for you at home? Do you understand why God has you in the workplace that you're in? Do you understand his will for you in that regard? Or the school that you're in and his will for you there? What is it that he desires? What is he seeking to accomplish? Where does he have you? And what does he want to do as he leads you forward?

What's God's will for you in regards to church? Is it to watch online? Is it to be outside? Is it to move to a different church or come back to church? Or what's God's will for you? Understand God's will, again, in your interactions with people, in person, online. Understand God's, what is God's will for you in this relationship? What is he seeking to do? What kind of work is he seeking to accomplish? And how does he want you to behave? And

Speak and go forward. Walk in your new identity. Step number one is to imitate God's love. Step two, demonstrate God's light. Step three, understand God's will. You're a new creation in Christ, but you must choose to live it out. That is who you are, but the life doesn't happen automatically. The walk doesn't happen automatically. You got to get up and take those steps. Let's pray.

God, I pray for each one of us as we evaluate these things. I pray, God, that you administer to our hearts, Lord, that we would hear from you and understand your will for our lives. You desire to speak to us. You desire, Lord, to bring us right into the center of your plans and purposes. Lord, that we would be under the covering of the cloud, led by you in the steps that we take. And so, God, I pray that you would keep us close to you. Help us to be seeking you continually and engaged in

in an imitation of you. Lord, may we love the people around us as you love us, looking out for their best interests, looking out and what's good for them and help us, Lord, to filter our behavior as we're making decisions, as we're thinking about things and about to take steps. Lord, may we stop and consider, is this what's best for the people involved? Is this what you would do in our place, Lord, because we are to imitate you and our love for one another.

Lord, help us to apply the filter of your light as we consider decisions and actions, Lord, that we would consider, is this good? Is it righteous? Is it truth? Lord, that we would evaluate and stay away from the things of darkness. Stay away from the things that are not of you. But Lord, we would stay on the lit path, Lord, that you've set before us. Help us, Lord, to understand your will. You desire to show us.

You invite us into your presence. Lord, we have access to you by faith in Jesus Christ. We can know, Lord, where you want us to go, where you want us to be, how you want us to proceed, the steps you want us to take. Help us, Lord, to draw near to you that we would understand your will for us. Lord, that in doing so, we would imitate you. We would be lights to this world. And Lord, we would live out this new identity. You have created us as new creations in Christ.

May we walk accordingly. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.