Please turn within your Bibles to Ephesians chapter five. We're looking at verses 15 through 21, page 978, and a few Bibles if you're following along there. Context of this passage, remember if you were here last week, it was about the difference between light and dark. We are children of the light, so we're walking in the light, and now he is continuing that argument. Now, since we are children of the light that is children of the day, children that have been brought into God's light of forgiveness and hope, now we should walk in wisdom. So, verse 15, Look carefully then how you walk not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is and do not get drunk with wine for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit addressing one another in songs and hymns and spiritual songs singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Lord Jesus, we come again and we want to be under your word. We want you to teach us. We don't want to tamper with your word, we want you to tamper with us. So Lord, would you correct us, review us, approve us, comfort us, encourage us? Do all the things that your word alone can do. Give us faith to trust in you, your finished work on the cross which we have talked about so many times already this morning that in you we are forgiven and accepted that there is hope, not only that we experience forgiveness now and acceptance and peace now, but the hope of the restoration of all things. So Lord, would you minister to your people? Please feed us by the bread of life and Jesus' name on the end. The letter to the Ephesians in the first century would have been read at one sitting, the whole thing from start to the finish. And so when we preach a sermon and we kind of take little chunks like this, we can sometimes forget the big picture and kind of become isolated and a lot of weird things can happen to a passage, you know, understand it. And so everything that Paul's saying in this passage is connected everything he's already said about the gospel. And so if you were to ask the Apostle Paul, what is wisdom? What does it mean to be a wise person? Well, how would he answer, he would say, well, in light of what I've said in the book of Ephesians, he would say it's someone who believes that Jesus has come here, has died, has risen, and is going to return. It's someone who believes that the gospel is true and that Christians are united to Christ and his death and his resurrection. It's someone who behaves like the gospel is true. Someone who behaves like the gospel is true. Do you know the difference? So he tells us what the wisdom of God is. He says in verse 9 of chapter 3, you can look there with me. He says beginning of verse 9, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things? So that through the church the manifold wisdom of God, there it is, the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord. The wisdom of God is manifested in the gospel. The wisdom of God is the work of Jesus Christ, and so to be a wise person is to live like that is true. That's what Paul said. To live like the gospel is the story of the world. It's the big story. And so if this is the big story, if all of history is going in one direction, which is to bring all things under Jesus Christ, the head is where all of history is going, then your little story, our little stories must reflect that. And to live otherwise is foolish, right? PTO Brian, who's a commentator in New Testament scholars, put it this way, he said, what Paul's trying to do in this passage is he's trying to broaden the horizons of the Ephesians to live in light of God's declared intention of the universe. That's a really fancy way of saying, you begin to live your daily life in practical ways like Jesus is going to come back. That we don't just think that the gospel, something that happened, Jesus did this thing, and then we just sort of have our life over here. It's not isolated. This is the story, and so our stories reflect that. That's what it means to live a wise life, like the kingdom is true. Here's the point, your ethics must be shaped by the gospel if you're a Christian. And so in the South, especially a pick on the South, I'm a Southern, or I can do that, if you're a Northern, you can pick on the South, sorry. I can. And so in the South, we have this thing called Christianity, still. This Christian thing, and many of us have prayed the prayer, the sinner's prayer, we've talked about Jesus, he asked most people if they like Jesus in the South, they're still going to tell you that they like Jesus and they believe Jesus in their Christians. But their whole life, their ethical behavior is like pagan. The way they treat the poor, the way they spend money, the way they spend their time, the way they live their lives are totally pagan. And so the Christian life, the biblical vision for the Christian life, is one that is shaped by the last days, the return of Jesus, and the resurrection of Jesus. And so we look at two things. It sounds really big, but it's really practical. First, what does a wise life look like? What does it mean to walk in wisdom? What are some practical examples? He gives us three. What are the examples of what it means to walk wisely in this world? It gives us three examples. That's the first point. And then here's the second one. Where do you get the power to do it? That's a very important question. I can describe it to you. Paul, describe it. Where do you actually get the power? We have the power right now in Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit to actually walk in wisdom little by little day by day. So what are the examples, and then how do you get the power, and then we'll go home? Let's look at the first point. What are the examples? What does it look like for our behavior to be shaped by the gospel? He gives us three examples beginning in verse 15 through 18, and they're this. He shows us how to live wisely with our time in light of the gospel. Time, here's the second one, he talks about understanding the will of God in your life. So time, the will of the Lord, and then the third one is kind of interesting. Why? He tells us about drinking. He tells us how to drink like Jesus is coming back. That's fascinating. He tells us not to be given to drunkenness. So time, will, and why? Let's look at verse 15 again with me. Where do you see that in the passage? Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise. That means live as someone who is in the light. Live as someone who believes the gospel. Someone who understands where history is going, making the best use of the time because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is, and do not get drunk with wine for that is debauchery, but be filled with the spirit. So he says look carefully, look carefully, and the word here means to take something seriously, what he means. What you value, you take it seriously. What you care about, you take trouble over. You know, think about it. It could be something like duck hunting, which by the way I hear this last day, I apologize. Attendance will go up again. But you take trouble over it. Like I remember watching, my grandfather gets guns ready and everything get ready, and this is sort of the way I am about running. He says this is the only time you are organized in your whole life is when you are about to go running early one morning. I put my shoes out, water out, banana, and all the things. I trouble, I have a look carefully about it. But here is what he is saying. Be serious about being a Christian. Be serious about the way you order your life in light of the gospel. And I think that there is a tendency, I know in my own life, it is just to think of Christianity as this thing that it is sort of out there, believe in the gospel, but the things I am really serious about are the things that matter in my life. He says be serious about the way you order your life as a Christian. Be wise, don't be unwise, and he says be that way about time. He says be serious as a Christian as you are thinking about the gospel and then how you use time, make the best use of time, and this is business language of the first century, language of the marketplace, he is saying here use your time the way a prudent merchant would. That time is money, that time is opportunity. Think of the kingdom of God and the way it impacts your time is being precious for the kingdom. I am like American, I am going, what does Jesus have to say about my time? If we believe that Jesus is the king of the universe, then it is actually his time, not yours or mine. So he is saying make the most of each opportunity because the days are evil. What does it mean when he talks about the days are evil? It is not just because the days are bad, that was a way for Paul to talk to the New Testament writers to talk about the present evil age. The age that is the world is passing away. In chapter 2 verse 2 he talks about the prince of the power of the air that we live in a world right now that is the age is passing away, it is temporary. So the evil in this world is real but it is passing away, it is temporary. What you see right now is not forever because the days are evil and it is a battle. So to be wise about the time means to understand when we are. Not just where we are, but where are we in God's calendar? Christ has resurrected and ascended, we are waiting for his return. St. Clafergus said that is the next event on God's redemptive calendar as a return of Jesus. He said wake up and live like Jesus has come and he is going to come back and that right now there is an intense battle between the powers of darkness and the powers of light. The good news is we know the rest of the story, Jesus wins. Live like you are in a battle and he goes into talking more about this in chapter 6. Do you realize how different that is than the way we approach life? Like how frustrated expectations are because the disease that we have is that you are going to get to a place where life is supposed to work. You are going to get enough education, enough money, enough friends, and life is supposed to work and then you get sick and die. And the bad things happen to people and marriages and wheels fall off of people's life and everything is messed up because the world is broken. The present evil age means wake up, the world is broken, things are broken, we are going to die. Time is finite and there is extreme evil in this world. Wake up. So take it seriously. If we are expecting that life is going to be easy or that life is supposed to be easy, you are going to be profoundly disillusioned, profoundly cynical. But if you wake up and you look and say to understand where we are right now is to understand there is a lot of evil in the world and that life is hard, you are much more prepared to make the best use of time. So the question is, to be wise about time is to ask the question, how are you spending your time? What would it look like for us to begin to think about our time belonging to God? Now that doesn't mean that you sell all you have and move to the Congo. That may for like 0.05%, maybe that's what God is calling you. But most of you are going to live like awful all that growth. But it means the exact same thing. It's the difference between the American gospel and the Christian gospel is that the American gospel says that time is for you and for your pleasure and for your comfort and it's for what you want to do with it. And the Christian gets to say, I can't do that. And so where is our model? What does it mean to use time wisely? I think the best model is the Lord Jesus. If you look at Christ's life in a short ministry that we have for three years, how did Christ spend his time? Christ saw his time as being spent with his father being loved by him and fed by him and that he spent the rest of his time loving people right where they were. What is a life where time is not wasted? I don't know how to say this. Where is a life where time is not wasted that is actually in line with the kingdom. It's a life that is built in bringing peace and hope and joy to people in a broken evil world. Time, making the most of time. Do you see? God, how do I make the most of time? You make the most of time by living as someone who is loved by God, communing with him and loving others. Now that can look like a million different things. But do you realize that's a different trajectory than many of us are on to make the most of time like Jesus is coming back? It means to love with abandon. Second, will. He talks about the will of the Lord. Therefore do not be foolish which means don't be an idiot. That really is what it means. It's different than being unwise. It's like don't be someone who is clueless. Therefore do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is. So here's what that means. First of all Paul has given us what the will of the Lord is. What was God's will? God's will was to send his son to rescue and to ultimately restore the creation and bring us back to paradise. That's God's will. That is not a secret. That is something that has been revealed. It's the mystery that was hidden and it brings you and Gentile together. That is God's will. The big will of God was to send Jesus to the cross to raise Jesus from the dead and to send Jesus back to restore the world. That's God's will. So what is God's big will? It's that. That's why Jesus said in the Garden of Gethsemane your will not mine because that's God's will. That was the Father's will. Now what does that have to do with your little will or my little will? That's God's big picture. What does that to do with the little picture? It means first of all first and foremost we talk about God's will for your life. God's will for your life is holiness not happiness. It is what? It's like the air got sucked out of the ring. God's will for your life, for his kingdom, for his glory is to make you look like Jesus. That is God's will for your life. Now does that mean that God's not interested in happiness? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Have you ever had a doughnut? Like we're surrounded by happiness. I mean seriously we're surrounded by things that make us happy but that's not the goal. See when you make the doughnut the goal bad things happen because it's always going up and down. Happiness is not the goal of life. Holiness is the goal of life. That's clearly God's will for you and for me. And so it pushes us into places that we think God's destroying our life. We think God's hurting our life or taking away our happiness. And that's why Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, seek first the kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you. In other words, he says don't worry about what you're going to eat. Don't worry about what you're going to drink. Don't worry about what you're going to put on. He said the pagans, the Gentiles, they worry about those things. Seek first the kingdom, all these things will be added unto you. It's such a word about the wrong thing. Be concerned with seeking Christ. That's the will of God for your life. High school students, junior high students. That is God's will for your life. Call it students. That is God's will for your life. I have to quote the CS Lewis, the way to glory saying where he says it was seen that our Lord finds our desires not too strong but not strong enough. They're too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition. When infinite joy is offered us like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at sea. We are far too easily pleased. God's will, here's our worst. You have to understand God's will. That means to seek it, to understand is to see what God's big will is. And then you order your life. And happiness and all the other things that are added unto us, those are all byproducts of the kingdom of God. So what does that mean for my life practically? Because if I just stop there that would just be another sermon that was just out there and it sounded good. What does that practically mean? Kevin DeYoung, who's a pastor in Michigan, has the most practical teaching on this. He wrote a book called Just Do Something and it's about finding God's will for your life. Maybe you read it. And he puts it this way. He demystifies this searching for God's will. He says, go marry someone. Provided that you're equally yoked as you're marrying a Christian and you actually like being with each other. Go get a job. Provided it's not wicked. Go live somewhere in something with somebody or nobody. Put aside the passivity and the quest for complete fulfillment and the perfectionism and the preoccupation with the future. And for God's sake, start making some decisions in your life. Don't wait for the liver shiver. If you are seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, you're in God's will. Now just go do something. You know, liberating that is. We're so self-consumed. We're trying to sort of find this look up in the stars or wait for some feeling. That's fake. That's pagan. God has declared His will to us. Now there are all these different options for us. God has given you gifts in different kind of areas and do different kinds of things. Go seek those things. Go seek first His kingdom and then go live your life. That's God's will. But to understand it, does it mean to naval gaze? It means to apply common sense to life in light of the big story. So the third thing we look at is wine. Why does he talk about wine here? And then he actually just throws wine in here. And Presbyterians, what is he going to say about wine? Presbyterians like wine. A lot of them do. Appreciate that. And we should. It's a good thing. I believe God gives us those good things to enjoy but not to abuse. And so I'm going here. I was like, what can I just skip over this one, God? No, you can't skip over anything. And so he says, don't get drunk or inebriated with wine for that is debauchery. So we have to ask the question, why do people get drunk? Why do you and I, why would we drink too much? We would drink too much for the same reason. We would abuse alcohol for the same reason that people abused alcohol in the first century is because life hurts. And it's scary. And it makes us feel good. Period. It's a way of coping with the broken world. But now you see in light of everything Paul's been saying, to abuse it, which leads to debauchery, is like you're living in the dark. It's like you're in the dark again. But you live in the light. So you order to think of the good things in this world, things like wine and food and all these good things in the world, under God's care and authority. Not to abuse it because it leads to darkness. It actually is here at the point. It leads to foolishness because what happens when people get drunk? I don't care how smart you think you sound. You sound like an idiot. And like you don't look good in the pictures and your teeth are red. You don't say it like you don't, it's your an idiot. We're idiots. No matter how good you think your dancing looks, it's not. It's a horrible. Right? Missed the point. It leads to debauchery, at least foolishness. And it leads to beyond just silly things. It leads to affairs. It leads to you saying something. You regret. At least to fighting. At least to endless gossiping and worthless talk that destroys the church. Now he's saying, you're people of light. You're people of the day. Now, if we believe the gospel, wine can be appreciated. Food and wine and all the good things in this earth taste better when you know Jesus and the will of God. But drunkenness is escaping and we are not to escape. We are to go in to this world and to love it. And so the question to ask yourself, if you're someone who struggles with this, with abusing it, why are you giving to drunkenness, is can you enjoy wine beer? Can you enjoy alcohol and not have to ask God to leave the room? Can you do it with a clear conscience before God? Because if we can't, it's just another example of us not wanting to be submitted to God and to make life work in our own terms. We're trying to deal with the pain and the shame of being broken people in a mean world where people die and they don't rot off into sunsets. We're trying to make ourselves feel good, but folks Jesus is returning. How practical is that? He's just saying, he's preaching this gospel and he says, don't get drunk. Stay alert. Start escape with that. It leads to foolishness, it leads to darkness. Okay, so those are three examples and we could apply what it means to live with the gospel in our life. You could apply that to so many other things, to our relationships, to our bodies, to parenting and he'll go on and on throughout the book that's applying this. The second point we have to ask, where do we get the power to do this? Where do we get the power to be to walk in wisdom? Here's what Paul says. He says, don't get drunk but be filled with the spirit. He's contrasting with you. Don't get drunk with wine but be filled with something else. Also with the spirit addressing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart giving thanks always and for everything to God, the Father and the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. So how do we do it with? We fill with the spirit. How do you walk in wisdom? You don't just need help from God. Help would imply that we have some ability in ourselves. In other words, it's not that God is saying you've got the raw material and just need little help. We are totally unable to do this. God has to fill us with his spirit. This is an interesting, interesting word, interesting phrase and he says, be filled with the spirit because first, little English lesson here, what's going on here? This is a present tense verb in the Greek. This is a present tense verb which means it's an ongoing action. Not a one time thing. So to be filled with the spirit doesn't mean you're waiting around crossing your fingers. I'm filled with the spirit. I don't want to be an idiot anymore. I'm going to walk with Jesus. I never want to get drunk and I want to do anything stupid. Be filled with the spirit. Somebody's been waiting for that your whole life and how's that going? It's not working, is it? Because the word that Paul uses here is an ongoing action that we are people who have been brought to life by the spirit but we are people who are to be filled with the spirit over and over and over again to walk with him. It's a constant ongoing reliance upon the Holy Spirit. But it's an interesting thing because it's a command to be filled. He's telling us to do something. Be filled with the spirit but to be filled with something is passive. It's fascinating, isn't it? It's a command to be filled with the spirit but it's something that you receive. So what does this mean? I think St. Clair Ferguson sums it up the best. He says, the way in which you obey the command to be filled with the spirit, this ongoing filling is by responding to the word of Christ, making room for its influence, giving our mind to its truth, giving our hearts to its teaching, giving our wills to its obedience. Under the influence of the word, to be under the influence of the word is to place ourselves under the Lordship of the Spirit. Here's the greatest way. What in the world does that mean? Under the Lordship of the Spirit, I think the best way that you see in Scriptures of what this means. It means to sit at the feet of Jesus as a disciple. We have this picture in Luke 10 where Jesus says the best thing, Mary calls Mary, Martha's all busy doing a lot of things and she gets mad at Jesus and says, tell Mary to help me. She's just sitting there but Mary's doing something that was pretty outrageous for the time. She was a woman who was sitting at the feet of a rabbi, Jesus. Women didn't sit, girls didn't sit at the feet of rabbi. It's outrageous, scandalous. And Jesus said she's doing the best thing. To sit at the feet of a rabbi was to be in submission to the teaching and the authority of the rabbi. Paul calls himself a disciple of Gamelio. He said, I sat at the feet of Gamelio in Acts 22. I'm someone who said, it means to listen to them. And so Luke, chapter 10, describes Mary this way. He says, she was sitting there listening to the teaching of Jesus. She was sitting under the authority of Jesus. To be filled with the Spirit is to be filled with the Spirit of Jesus and the power of Jesus. We are filled with Christ when we are filled with the Spirit and all the power to live and die in Christ comes from the Spirit. We are people that are sitting at the feet of Jesus. Here's what it looks like. Here's a practical example. You are not your own. You are under the authority of the King, the rabbi Jesus. So tomorrow morning, you may wake up worried. Some of you do. You wake up with this dread every single morning. That's okay. You do not sit at the feet of your emotions. You sit at the feet of the rabbi. You do not sit at the feet of your balls. You do not sit at the feet of your friends. You do not sit under the authority and at the feet of your spouse. You do not sit at the feet and under the authority of anyone or anything in this world. You are allowing Jesus to rule your life. That's what it means to be ongoing filled with the Spirit. So you listen to what He says about sexuality. You listen to what He tells you about time. Now where in the world do you practically find that in His Word? See folks, we are allowing our emotions, our circumstances, to other people in our life to rule our lives. And a Christian is someone that has one ruler and it's manifesting itself in very practical ways. It means to be in His Word, hearing His Word, eating and drinking His Word, seeing His Word in the sacrament, singing His Word, meditating on His Word, communicating with the Word. Because that's what He's saying here. You're communicating in the gospel to people. So you're telling each other in songs and in hymns and spiritual songs. You're communicating. That's you're actually filling each other with the Word of God. That's what it means to sit at the feet of Jesus, to be filled by it. And so here's one very practical application and it's Sunday morning worship. It's the fourth commandment to observe the Sabbath. And in my generation, I'll just speak for my generation. When I say that you're supposed to be here on Sunday morning, you're legalist. Anytime we don't like someone, it's legalism. You know I'm right. The legalist. The reason it's command and not an option is because if you're in town on Sunday and you need to be, you're supposed to be with the people of God because you're sitting at the feet of Jesus because you adore Him. God is telling you, you don't know what you need. I'm telling you that you cannot walk in Memphis as a wise person. You cannot live in this world without the means of grace being given to you. You cannot neglect the table. You cannot neglect the preaching of the Word. You cannot neglect the memorizing of His Word and the hiding of His Word in your heart. If so, you're trying to live like your own boss, your own ruler, to be the under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. And so this is a huge challenge. Some of us, if you kind of think, you know, once a Sunday, once a month or kind of thing like that, we're saying, because of what Jesus says about His Word about being filled with the Spirit, you need to get over yourself. I don't care if you don't feel like coming to church, you need to come church. Well, that's just duty. Well, that's good. Maybe we need some duty. Generation X. Get over yourself. It's to sit at the feet of Jesus the rabbi, it's the way we're filled with the Spirit. It's the way God does it. He fills us with these things. And so here's what it looks like. We become people that are singing the gospel to one another. You hear that? A Christian is someone who loves the gospel, someone who loves the good news. And so whether you're out on a run or you're at a coffee shop or you're in corporate worship and you're singing these words to God and God is filling His sanctuary with the good news of His gospel as we're singing to one another. Christians are people who love the gospel. And so I need you and you need me to tell you the gospel. I need you to encourage me with the gospel. What I don't need from you and what you don't need from me is like, hey, you know what life's going to be okay? It's going to work out. Probably not. It's not going to. It's not going to be good. Like the sun doesn't come out tomorrow. This is a present. Even wage. What I need you to tell me is that Jesus is coming back. And what you need me to tell you is that your sins are forgiven. And what you need to be to say is that one day there will be a paradise on this earth. Instead of making melodies, you make melody in your heart. See, that's what the Holy Spirit does in His people. And folks, I can tell you that that is what East Memphis is aching for. It doesn't even know it. It's looked and tried to find all these other things to make itself happy and it's thirsty and it's hungry. And we're to be a people who are so adoring Jesus under the submission of Jesus, singing and encouraging one another, giving thanks for what God has done through Jesus Christ, that we become a place that is irresistible to the Word. May God do it. May we submit to Christ. He filled with His Spirit to walk His wise, not His unwise. Let's pray. Lord, just bind your Word upon our hearts. Don't bind my words or things that I say. I'm a flawed person. But your truth, as it was conveyed, apply it to our hearts and produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Fill us with love and joy and peace and patience and all those things for your glory in Jesus' name. Amen.