Sunday Lord S Day Service, September 29, 2002

"Wise Up"

Ephesians 5:15-21

Dr. Kenneth Cuffey

(Sunday Lord’s Day Service, September 29, 2002)

"Be very careful, then, how you live–not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ." Ephesians 5:15-21, NIV

Introduction

Just a personal word of thanks to you as a church for your involvement in, interest in, and support of the Christian Studies Center. It’s a faith mission. I know that you pray for us and support us financially. That is very appreciated because it makes this local training and equipping ministry possible and ensures that what we do isn’t just human-centered or generated but that the Holy Spirit is involved in making and molding lives for Christ. One word on that, the CSC has undergone many transitions in the past year and we have started the process of becoming not only a Trinity extension program but a local seminary that will offer our own programs. I want to leave you with something for future thought. We are in the process of designing a one year program, our own Certificate of Christian Studies (CCS). It is aimed at people who graduate, say from U of I, and before they enter the workforce, want to take a year off and study full time to get a handle on the Bible — Old Testament and New Testament, how to read Scripture, theology, ministry, history of Christianity, put together as a foundation for service wherever God calls in their church. It’s designed not for people in ministry but for laypeople, so the possibility is as you finish your degree at U of I, even if the Lord is leading you to take a job in New York or Chicago or wherever, you can be better prepared and deepen your walk with Christ significantly. And the advantage is that you can stay local and be involved at CFC.
Though today’s passage is appropriate to any stage of the Christian walk, it might strike particularly pertinent at this point in the semester. We’re just a few days from October. We’re reaching the point in the semester where if it hasn’t felt intense yet (though I know it has already for many of you), it’s starting to. Deadlines are mounting up and midterms are around the corner. Pressures know what’s really inside us. Where I grew up in the hills of Indiana, there’s a topographical feature called a sinkhole. You’ll find an area in the ground that has collapsed, because there’s nothing underground it. Sometimes I feel that my life has a sinkhole. The ground has caved in because there’s nothing inside. The more pressure there is, the more it tests what’s actually inside. Gordan MacDonald asks a basic question of every believer: "As you face life and it heats up, winds up, and gets more intense, are you driven or are you called?" A person who is driven is somebody who feels hurried and harried. But a called person is able to keep his or her balance. You know the deadlines, you can keep all the appointments in your I-Book, you know what to turn in and where to be when. It’s like you’re walking on the snow or ice, or skating, yet you know where you’re going and how to get there and how to balance everything, to stay intact and not fall on your face. Which does your life sounds like this semester? Are you driven by all this external pressure that tells you what to do? Or are you called as you navigate through deadlines and obligations? Do you sense God calling you to do what He wants? How do you arrive at one or the other? Which would you like your life to sound like? I know I would like my life to sound called. In the midst of the flurry of what God calls me: here’s where to go, where His purposes are, so I’ll go that direction. How do you get there?
The passage I’ve read is toward the end of Ephesians. In the first three chapters of the Epistle to the Ephesians, Paul has told the church members that they have received a grand, new spiritual life in Jesus Christ. When you come to Christ in faith, He gives you new life. You are a new creation that He’s made and you have a new spiritual life. Chapters 1-3 tell us about the spiritual fact of this new life, based on God’s grace, saved by the wonderful work of God, from eternity past to an initial foretaste of eternity in heaven, making us like Christ. Then chapters 4-6 tell us what this new life in Christ will look like, the practical implications. What does it mean? How will it be played out down here on earth, as a heavenly citizen? This is where we’re going. 5:15-21 is a passage about a life of wisdom; it teaches us that knowing Jesus Christ will enable us to live wisely. It gives us several basic commands that let us pursue that life of wisdom. The first command is in verses 15-16.

Live With God’s Urgency (15-16)
Most of our lives are loaded with urgency. To-do lists, dates, appointments, term paper deadlines. It doesn’t change. On through life, there continue to be deadlines down the road. But we need to have the right kind of urgency. Just urgency in itself doesn’t make us anything but a hurried Harry or Harriet. We need to have God’s urgency to do what He’s called us to do. "Be very careful" in the NIV translates the Greek words, look carefully. Watch out with precision. Take pains with what’s most important. Precisely and accurately, watch your life and how you proceed. If something is important to you, you will take pains with it. Your GPA matters so you put in time studying. Your computer’s important so you spend time getting it up and running, downloading software, putting it the way you want. Your friends, house, car, appearance, relationships. If it’s important to you, you’ll show it by assigning priority to it and giving time to it. Invest wisely in your life.
"Be very careful then how you live." To live means to walk. There are several series of passages in Ephesians where Paul talks about life as a walk. But it’s not just a casual stroll. It says He’s with you, watching and guiding you where you’re going. Think back to the Olympics and an event in gymnastics called the balance beam. My daughter at a certain stage was interested in the balance beam. I hated it the most because as a parent I felt she would fall off. You’re supposed to walk on this narrow piece of elevated wood, and you’re supposed to jump on it, summersault on it, flip off and not fall flat on your face on the floor. If spiritual life was a balance beam, most of us would be so inattentive we’d be face down on the floor in a few seconds.
What is wisdom? Facts and knowledge combined with skill and living. Knowing what to do combined with applying it. It has to do with loving God with your whole being. Not just to get the facts but to follow through.
Jesus Christ was the wisest person who ever lived and that wisdom was founded on meditation on God’s word and time set apart to be with the Father. In his gospel, Luke showcases Jesus’ prayer life nine times, seeking the Father by Himself. Jesus had a rich life of pursuing God in heaven. Jesus did it; how much more should you and I! He prayed, observing the world around Him, reflecting on what He saw in nature and God’s work. Walk wisely through life. Sometimes, I’m afraid my life is characterized as a sleepwalk, drowsy and not alert to where I’m going. Wake up and live wisely.
Use your life fully, too. "Making the most" is a market term that means buying up everything in sight. It means to snatch every opportunity that’s there. Clear the shelves. It’s like before a storm, you go to County Market or Schnuck’s and all the milk’s gone and all the deli products are gone. "We’re going to get snowed in!" It pictures opportunities in life as things you pick off a shelf. "Get ’em all. Clear it out."
What are you to buy? Every opportunity. The word he uses, opportunity, is one of two words for time used in the New Testament. One word has to do with the length of time. This word means the kind of time. The right time, an opportune moment, the fit moment to do something and take full advantage, an open door that God’s put before you. "That’s the one God has opened and I need to take full advantage of it." Why? It says "the days are evil." We don’t live in a world that applauds us for following Christ. We live in a world that is set against the Lord, that is evil and under judgment. It is counter-cultural to live for Christ.
It may be an opportunity to talk to someone about Christ. Yesterday I was at my youngest son’s soccer game and another parent standing next to me started talking to me. Through a surprising turn in the conversation that I wasn’t engineering at all, he started talking about his desire to be in a discussion group where people talk about religious things. "I don’t count myself a believer but I don’t know the Bible very well at this point." I said, "Oh?" "I never understood the meaning of Jesus. I just wish I could be in a group where we could talk a little about Jesus." This must be what this passage is talking about. An opportunity for Christ. I need to follow that and pray for wisdom on how to do that. There are opportunities you are given, opportune moments, gifts from God. If something is important, you don’t do it randomly. If you’re going to build a house or write a thesis, you don’t do it carelessly. You plan it and take time doing it, because it’s important. Become a spiritual opportunist, an opportunist for Christ, a time manager using spiritual goals.
I cannot stretch time out. I was talking with someone earlier today and they said, "I wish there were more days in an hour." I think they were trying to say, "I wish there were more hours in the day," but I thought that was true, too. Think of all that could be accomplished if you could put several days in one hour! You can’t stretch or compact your time, but you can use the time God’s given you. Once time is lost, it’s gone.
That lays the guilt on you and me. Yes, we must use our opportunities to live wisely. We must live with God’s urgency. You might be saying, "I feel badly. Life is filled with opportunities far more than I can ever get to. I can’t possibly do that without being overwhelmed. How can I possibly reach all my officemates with the gospel? I’ll go crazy. Quite simply I cannot do them all." So what will be my guide as to how I buy up my time?
Live With God’s Purpose (17)
"Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is." We’re to move according to God’s purpose. Notice this is the second "Not, but." The word "foolish"means without a mind. It’s used to describe statues, inert objects with nothing but stone between the ears. The foolish are crazy, frantic, silly people running around without a thought. Instead, get a hold of God’s will. It takes effort, thought, and reflection to do that. God’s Word tells us several aspects about God’s will. There is a general will that is true for every believer. This is the will revealed in Scripture. There are some choices you face and you can find the answers just by opening up your Bible. You’re thinking about marrying a non-believer. Don’t. You have a great investment opportunity but if you do it, you can’t tithe. Don’t. Scripture is clear. But there is an individual will that God has for you. He may not tell you exactly what to do in Scripture. But He has a vision for you, a purpose and a calling for your life, for how He’ll use you in a job, in a marriage or family, in a church, in all sorts of different aspects and arenas. God has a will for you. That’s the one you have to take time to pray about, to listen to the Lord, to expose yourself to Scripture, to get a better handle of what God is like, how He’s made you, who you are, what you’re bent toward, what you’re excited about, to plan, to dream, to set goals, then to follow through with what God wants you to be.
Again, what’s the perfect example of this? It’s found in Jesus Christ. You see it so clearly in the gospel of Mark. As Jesus moves toward the cross, everything is bent toward that direction. After the disciples realized He was the Messiah in Mark 8, time and time again Jesus tells them, "Now is the time that I’ll go to Jerusalem where I’ll be killed." The disciples were thrown. "Why do that? You’re the Messiah. You’re supposed to be a winner, not a loser. What’s wrong with you?" But Jesus’ direction was set and clear. He knew God’s will for Him. He was heading to the cross because He knew it was necessary to bring us into a relationship with God and for the forgiveness of our sins.
You say, "OK, that’s great. Again, that’s easy for you to say. But how in the world am I supposed to stay in tune with God to discover His will?" Again Paul answers this in verses 18-21.
Live Under God’s Control (18-21)
For some of you, if I were to interview your friends, they might say you are a controlling person. You want to take charge. Maybe you’re frustrated because life feels out of control. I remember once when I was pastoring in New Jersey, I was sitting in a restaurant across the table from a man who was a slave to his own desire for control. He had his own purpose for his life. He was extremely competitive. He wanted to control everyone around him, his friends, his ex-wife (there was an "ex" for a reason). He had a volcanic temper. His life was a mess.
What is the answer? "Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit." Oh good. You answered it with a Christian cliché. What does that mean? Here’s your next "Not, but." Alcohol is used as an escape, to get relief from the pressures of life, to fight despair. The particular use of the tense (you could translate it, "Don’t keep getting drunk") indicates that it was an ongoing struggle for some church members at Ephesus. Many of these church members were pagans, believers with a Gentile background, and we know from extrabiblical literature (literature outside of Scripture) that there were cults at this time where people drank to increase their sense of unity with the divine. In fact, there was a Greek play that depicted followers of Dionysus running around in wooded hills outside the city, drinking in ecstasy and climaxing their experience of worship by taking an animal and tearing it to pieces. It wasn’t something you’d want to walk in the middle of. Church was never like this, fortunately. So some of these church members have a background where drink is something that takes control of you. But I don’t think it’s just alcohol that does that in our lives. There are plenty of things we excess over, that take control of our lives. GPA could do that. Money could do that. Status could do that.
Why is it a problem? Because it leads to debauchery. Debauchery means being destructive, wasteful, not concerned about the consequences because something outside of me is driving me. Who’s in control of you?
Here’s the "but." But be filled with the Holy Spirit. That’s the other option. Be filled with God’s Spirit. The command is very straightforward. It’s first of all a command, not a nice suggestion. It’s not, "I think it’d nice if here at CFC, a few of you were filled with Holy Spirit." I need to obey this as a believer and so do you. In the original language, the command is plural. It’s not just for a select few, for the pastoral staff, for people who stay a few years after college to work and be at CFC. It’s for the whole body, every believer, no exceptions. It is what’s called a passive command, which means I don’t do it. It doesn’t say, "Fill yourself with the Spirit," but "Be filled with the Spirit." I can’t generate it, manipulate it, or whip it up. I receive it. It’s something that God does and I open myself to it. Also, it is in a form that means it’s continued or repeated. It’s progressive. "Keep being filled with the Holy Spirit." "Oh yeah, I was filled with the Spirit back in April 1999, so I’m off the hook." No, it’s not done and taken care of. It’s something that is renewed every morning.
When we hear "Be filled," we think of a glass. We think of percentages, as if there is some kind of a "Spirit-meter" on people’s foreheads. "Watch out for her today because she’s only reading a 32." "We can’t put him on the elder board.