It was only this morning, I was helping some of my boys with some papers that are due this week, and I came across a quote that has just been going around in my mind, which just shows you that a sermon is never really finished being written. The quote goes something like this, if I remember correctly, a society, that becomes secular, a society that drifts towards secularism. It is not necessarily due to the lack of religion as much as it is that it is no longer agitated by it. And it's my prayer, my hope to agitate you this morning. Our passage today is out of Ephesians chapter five, starting in verse 15. through chapter six, verse four. And we'll read that in full right now. Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of 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 psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all 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. Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its savior. Now, as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, even husbands love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spots or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish, In the same way, husbands should love their 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 Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound and I'm saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself and let the wife see that she respects her husband. Children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. Honor your father and mother. This is the first commandment with a promise that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Let's pray. Holy Father, we come before you with all the other saints today who are gathered before you, and I pray that you would give us ears to hear what your spirit is saying to the church. I pray that you'd give us discernment and understanding and wisdom for the days are evil. I pray that you'd give us strength to contend for your truth. I pray your blessing, your blessing on this sermon and on our hearing. Today, with God's help, we'll take a close look at Ephesians 5, 15 through 6, 4. Many of you will understand how Paul has arranged his letter. The first three chapters being indicatives, these define what and who the Christian is. The following three chapters being imperatives, which define those characteristics which should be found in the lives of the redeemed, the culture of those who are heirs to eternal life. A definition, defining the word definition is the setting of bounds. It is bringing into focus that which you're trying to understand. And the scriptures define what Christianity is. In our section, beginning at chapter five, verse 15, Paul begins to close his letter and we arrive at a culmination, which begins, look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil. Look carefully then, in the original, it's a very strong and precise command. Paul, Understanding our tendency to drift towards a slack hand brings strong words to bear at this juncture. A literal translation might read, pay more accurate attention with exactness to your way of living. It is similar to what Moses wrote, what we just read, only take care and keep your soul diligently lest you forget. Paul continues, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of time because the days are evil. In chapter one, going back to chapter one, Paul prays for the Ephesians that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him. It is this knowledge of God It is this knowledge of God which informs our wisdom and our understanding of the world and of the time, the season in which we live. It is this wisdom which in the end informs our manner of living and enables us to live set apart. Our life and our walk should be distinguished and marked by wisdom, and it should be distinct and set apart from those of the Gentiles, those who do not fear God, as Paul refers to them. Making the best use of time is also translated, redeem the time, or making the most of every opportunity. It is the opposite of wasting time. As opportunity arises in the course of our living, as opportunities and those things which come into our life, I think it would do well for us to look at those things that come across in the course of our life as things that are placed there. As opportunity arises, we must do what is right and true. We must do what must be done. What else should we do? For we, and I think this is an understanding, we must bring to bear more often, for we are his workmanship. We are created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." As any of you, if you get to know me, you'll know that I will almost be a nuisance in regards to just recommending books to read. I like to read. I especially like biographies. And a couple of years ago, I finished reading Eric Metaxas' biography of William Wilberforce. And I just recently came across a contemporary of his, a man named Anthony Ashley Cooper. And it's a biography I'm adding to my list. He entered Parliament the year following Wilberforce's retirement. And so they didn't quite overlap in Parliament. But in a sense, he carried, he kind of took up the baton that William Wilberforce carried. And if any of you are familiar with Wilberforce's life, it's something you really need to get acquainted with. Like Wilberforce, he did not withdraw from public life due to his Christianity. He was very, very devout, and he was very serious about the responsibility of the Christian life, and especially in a position of influence. He, let me find myself here. He, when his father passed away, he became, well, he entered parliament as Lord Ashley, and when his father passed away, inherited his father's estate. He became Lord Shaftesbury. He was responsible for founding the English Ragged Schools, if any of you are familiar with those. At their height, at a time when the population of London was less than two million, there were about 350 schools, which involved 1,600 educators or teachers. tutors, and about 26,000 pupils. The significance of the schools, what set them apart, was that they were voluntarily staffed, and they relied on community resources. And their educational emphasis, as far as training, were in trades. It varied from school to school. Some cobblers, some tailors, blacksmiths. The primary emphasis, Shaftesbury's vision was their moral, their emphasis on nourishing the life and the soul of most of these children came out of stark poverty that we are in no way acquainted with. We cannot, we don't have a frame of reference really, unless you go overseas and live next door to it. He ministered to the soul in teaching children to pray, to read scripture, and their moral education. Shaftesbury's school in his day were so visibly successful in bringing children up and establishing them in trade and becoming part of the culture and the civilization there. They were so successfully visible that to his dismay, parliaments began debating an education act which would ultimately provide free government funded schools. And what could go, nevermind. Shaftesbury would observe in his journal regarding that, the godless non-Bible system is at hand. and the ragged schools with all their divine polity or godly governance, with all their burning and fruitful love for the poor, with all their prayers, with all the harvest for the temporal, the eternal welfare of the forsaken, the heathenish destitute, the sorrowful, yet these innocent children, our schools must perish under this, sorry, under this all-conquering march of intellectual power. Our human nature is nothing, the heart is nothing in the estimation of these zealots of secular knowledge. Everything for the flesh, nothing for the soul. Everything for time and nothing for eternity. Regarding his work at hand, he wrote again in his journal, we're not here to play. We're not here to dream, to drift, men. We have hard work to do and loads to lift. Shun not the struggle, face it. It is God's gift to you. In his lifetime, he was associated with hundreds of Christian voluntary societies. More people, and from a variety of background, turned out for his funeral than did Prince Albert, passed away a few years prior to him. That said, we're not made to crunch numbers or to shuffle paper from one side of the desk to the other. That might be what puts bread on the table, but that is not who we are. You're worth. You're created for more. You're more than the sum of your parts. That's in spite of what the spirit of this age would reduce us to. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings, yet you have crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. All those who practice it have good understanding. We live in an evil day. The siren song of Babylon calls to us from every quarter. It is omnipresent and foolishness The woman folly is loud. She is seductive and knows nothing. She sits at the door of her house. She takes a seat in the highest places of the town, calling to those who pass by, who are going straight on their way. Whoever is simple, let him turn in here. To him who lacks sense, she says, stolen water is sweet. and bread eaten in secret is pleasant, but he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol." Paul gives us encouragement considering all of the obstacles that are thrown into the way of godly living and and walking uprightly before him, living a life that is pleasing to him. He says, take heart. This is not the way you learn Christ. Paul writes to the Galatians that Jesus gave himself for our sins to deliver us from this present evil age according to the will of our God and Father. We must understand that we are redeemed, that we are purchased and bought with a price and delivered from the evil day, this evil age that we live in. Paul expands on this understanding, on this truth with strong encouragement at Ephesians in chapter six of Ephesians, verses 10 through 12. He writes, finally, Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. We know that that's not a magic formula or a chance. Paul's instruction here is to walk in this understanding, to walk in that understanding with wisdom. In his letter to the Ephesians, there is a clear assumption of spiritual growth, of growing in maturity in Christ. For this to happen, we must be discipled and we must be taught. We must be under authority and under the authority of shepherds, those gifts that Christ gave to the church, teachers and shepherds. And we cannot, we're not intended to live alone. We're not intended to be islands unto ourselves. were intended to come together like this, and I would even say more often, more often coming together, coming to each other's homes, discussing the word of God, breaking bread together. Paul's command to walk in wisdom followed by, make the most of your time, makes it clear that he does not have retreat or stand down or go to your safe space in mind. The Christian does not shrink back. He is to live his life publicly, publicly, your theology, what you understand. You see people living what they understand publicly every day. on the news demonstrating. He has to live his life publicly and engage the surrounding cultures, problems and questions with wisdom and with perfect courtesy and with persuasion, godly persuasion. With this in mind, it seems we should know and understand who we are what we are about, and what we are talking about. Paul writes this encouragement to Timothy regarding the church. I'm writing these things to you, says 1 Timothy 3, I'm writing these things to you so that if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of truth. Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness. He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and taken up in glory. As our Lord delays his return, we have his words. We have the canon. How comforting. Is it to know how we ought to live in this world and how much confidence does it give us to know it is our God manifest in the flesh who has left us with clarity, has left us with clarity, has left us with our lives defined on how we should live and how we should love one another. And do not get drunk with wine for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit." Here, Paul is quoting from Proverbs 23, 31. And just to be candid, I didn't really see it because I was looking in the ESV until I realized that Paul was quoting from the Septuagint. the Septuagint rendering of Proverbs 23, 31, and I'll read the verse in full. It's wonderful. Do not be drunk with wine, that is what Paul quotes, but converse with righteous people and converse on walks. I love it. And like unto it, Proverbs 20, verse one, wine is undisciplined. and strong drink is insolent, and every fool is entangled with such as these. Drunkenness cannot bring wisdom. Rather, it leads to foolishness. Drunkenness is dissipation. It is waste. It is wanton extravagance. It is recklessness. And considering the letter as a whole, Paul's letter to the Ephesians as a whole, drunkenness is characteristic of those who will not inherit eternal life. Such behavior is not to be found in the lives of the redeemed. It is the world, the Gentiles in their foolishness, that look for escape and forgetting, for they suppress the truth. The redeemed are filled with the spirit of life. the redeemed walk in wisdom and in truth and in understanding. Be filled with the spirit. Do not be drunk with wine, but be filled with the spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart. giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Being filled with the Spirit is a singular mark of new covenant redemption. Paul in chapter one writes, you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise. In the evil day, it is those who are filled with the Spirit who walk in wisdom, who give thanks always and for everything My wife reminded me that it was Betsy who encouraged Cory to give thanks for the fleas and they understood why shortly after. And we saw God in his great wisdom. It is giving thanks always and for everything is trusting our God in his infinite and eternal wisdom, in his understanding of everything about you. This is why Peter encourages the saints in his first letter, chapter four. Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice in so far as you share Christ's sufferings that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon us. It is Paul with his thorn in his flesh. He appealed to God three times and God left it there, caused it to remain there. telling him that my strength is made perfect in weakness, giving thanks always and for everything, but rejoice. Revelation 12, 11 reads, and they have conquered him, the dragon, by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death, They followed the lamb wherever he went. G.K. Beale in commenting on this brings something out that I want to read in full. I believe it really applies to what we're talking about. Christ's victory, we must understand this, Christ's victory was decisive. Any satanic evil, on this earth is a defeated power. However, contrary it might seem to human experience, and we can relate to that to a degree, you can be assured that the serpent begins to battle against your bodies only after he has lost the battle over your souls. This expresses a major theme in scripture. The suffering of Christians The suffering of Christians is not a sign, not of Satan's victory, but of the Christian's victory over Satan because of their belief in the triumph of the cross with which their suffering identifies them. It's what Peter writes. But rejoice in so far as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. Rather than live in fear or defeat or retreat, be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another in psalms and sing, making music to the Lord with all your heart and giving thanks always and in everything to God the Father in the name of Jesus Christ. Psalm 40, verse three. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord. It is this, the visible works of the church, the offering up of our lives as a living sacrifice. It is this, our way of living, After him, our lives found in Jesus Christ that set us apart. It is this that brings glory to God. Be filled with the spirit. Be filled with the spirit, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Paul here begins a transition He is truly defining a way of living, a way of life, calling the Ephesian Christians to begin creating a culture of Christianity that is truly set apart from the culture in which they live. It was pagan Ephesus. It was a idol center of the Roman world. He's calling the Christian, Ephesian Christians to begin creating a culture of Christianity that is truly set apart from the culture of this age, this age, culture defined. Webster defines culture as the training and the development of the mind, the affections, the refinement of tastes and of manners, the artistic expression of any society that is how do we demonstrate our love for God or what is it that we love that we are demonstrating, that we are communicating with their lives. This culture that Paul is defining has at its core, the culture that Paul is defining has at its core the great summary commandments. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. You see the connection between what culture is and what the greatest commandment is. If understood rightly, the commands of God, God's words upon the lives of the redeemed are a culture in and of themselves. The way of righteousness, that said, we must pay more close attention to what our surrounding culture loves and how that might drift into our own lives. The foundation of any culture begins in the household. It begins with the family and it extends ultimately into the congregation. Be filled with the spirit. Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, his body and is himself its savior. Now, As the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Here, Paul is revealing an analogy that exists between the wife's submission to her husband and the church's submission to Jesus Christ. The submission of the wife to her husband is a voluntary, it is expected to be a voluntary willingness in love as to the Lord, as to the Lord being the modifier. The psalmist David writes in the great Psalm 110 regarding Christ and his people, your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power in holy garments. It's very significant for this passage. This has, at its basis, Jesus' words, if you love me, you will obey my commands. John, in his second letter, defines it in a different way. He defines love as, and this is love, that we walk according to his commands. This does no damage to the fundamental truth that all are equal in Christ, that there is neither Jew, nor Greek, nor male, nor female. Paul appeals to the woman who is equal by creation and redemption to submit willingly to the authority that God has ordained, to the degree that we distance ourselves from God's ordained order. We distance ourselves from the love of Jesus Christ. Are we wiser than God? Is our love greater than his? Paul continues, husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her that he might sanctify her. having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word so that he might present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way, husbands should love their 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 Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. First, we'll note that the phrase, the husband is the head of the wife, appears only with Paul's instructions to the wife herself. The husband is nowhere instructed to be head over his wife as in coercion, but rather the wife is to walk in wisdom and in understanding that God has placed the husband as her head. The husband is to walk in wisdom and in love. He is instructed to love, to nourish, and to cherish his wife. This analogy that Paul is revealing continues here between how Christ loves the church and how the husband loves his wife. In this section of scripture, verses 25 to 33, Paul begins to enlarge on a great mystery, a megas mysterion, the commands to love sorry, the commands to wives and husbands are not tethered to tradition. They are not man-made, but they are anchored in the relationship between Christ and the church. Paul writes this Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her that he might sanctify her having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word so that he might present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that she might be holy and without blemish. Here Paul echoes and develops a theme that is found in Ezekiel 16, where Israel is described as the bride of Yahweh. Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you and anointed you with oil. Paul continues this theme. Pay close attention to his logic. In the same way, husbands should love their 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 Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound. It's a megas mysterion. And I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. Paul is not citing Genesis 2.24 to again show how a husband and wife are one flesh. That's from the beginning of Genesis 2. He is demonstrating how Christ and the church are one flesh, as a husband and wife are one flesh. This is the ruling analogy through his whole discourse. Paul's conclusion is this, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. The church is the bride of Christ, and the husband and wife. I'm reading it wrong, sorry. The church is the bride of Christ, and the husband and wife are one flesh, so Christ and the church are one body. Paul understands the profound nature of what he is writing. He alludes to this at chapter 3. When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made to the sons of men in other generations, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. At chapter four, he expands a little bit more on it. I, therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirits in the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, and one Father of all. This revelation that Paul brings to bear shines light on the nature of who the church is, of the significance of marriage, and the nature of the family. It is a profound truth. And we should, we should bend ourselves to understand it. We should bring all of our mind to bear, to understand exactly what Jesus did when he was manifest in the flesh. That is the mystery of godliness. that he was manifest in the flesh, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, and delivered up to glory. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and your mother. This is the first commandment with a promise, that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land." Here, Paul changes from submit to obey. It is important for both parents and children to understand that obedience to parents is not an option. Paul's language here, that you may live long in the land, it does indicate that A willing obedience brings with it blessing. It's not magic. From everything that I've read, it doesn't seem to direct us to eternal life. What it is, it is a principle. We can look to Jesus' early life for a clue. Luke chapter two, verses 51 and 52. And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and with man. It is a commanded obedience. It is commanded, it is without option. You either submit with love, walking in wisdom as children, being filled with the Spirit, walking in wisdom and submitting to your parents in love, or you do it in a stiff-necked manner. It is a commanded obedience with those children who walk in wisdom, and this carries with it, and it's almost assumed, those children are trained, they are disciplined. Those who do it willingly and with love will benefit the most, will benefit the most in their lives, receiving blessing from God. A well-ordered home is of most use to the Holy Spirit. An undisciplined home with improperly ordered family relationships will hinder the work of the Holy Spirit in any community and in any congregation. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. As mentioned above, a well-ordered home, that is a home that is not coerced, not under a thumb, is blessed with God's favor. Paul places the burden, we could actually say that scripture places the burden of training on the father. The key to not provoking in the words, the key to not provoking are in the words that follow, bring them up in discipline and training. The Greek word for bring them up in the form that is used is found in only one other place. A couple of verses prior, it is translated nourishes. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it. In the context of Paul's letter, to bring them up is to nourish up to maturity. It is creating an environment The burden of this is on the father, creating an environment in your home with a nourished and cherished wife, an environment where your children will grow up well-nourished and grow in maturity and in wisdom. The word for instruct, nuthesia, also translated admonition, is an exhortation or a warning through teaching or instruction. This word I think is best defined in its use at 1 Corinthians 10 verses nine through 11. It's also translated here, instruct, we must not put Christ to the test as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble as some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now, these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, our instruction on whom the end of the ages has come. It is a warning to nourish and to warn your children The word discipline is the Greek word pideia. This word defines for us, because it's actually quite broadly used in scripture, both in the New Testament and in the Septuagint Greek translation of the Old Testament, this word defines for us how God disciplines his church. how church elders discipline the flock, and how Christians make disciples discipline disciple, and how fathers discipline and disciple their children. Pideia, at various points in its usage, both in the Septuagint and Greek scriptures, can be limited to just correction, that is the rod, or training, as in our verse. Both have an objective, both have a direction in mind. As fathers, with this responsibility placed upon you, you need to know what you're about. You need to know and understand what it means to be a Christian. The objective in mind is the training and education of your children as a whole. It encompasses the cultivation of the mind, the intellect, for a moral understanding, our heart, and our body, or you could say the purposing of our strength. Here, Paul is laying on the father the high task of enculturation of his family in the way of righteousness. It's not a new idea. Moses writes regarding Abraham, who believed God, for I have chosen him that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice. We must know and we must understand what we are about. Be like Abraham. Imitate Paul as he walked after Christ. Be disciplined in the way of righteousness. Command and teach these things to your children and your children's children. Teach them the way of life. Teach them to live and to think as Christians and to demonstrate the wisdom of God to the surrounding nations. Look closely then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise. Let's pray. Father, we are grateful to you for your word and for your wisdom that you willingly and abundantly give if we lack it and we ask of you and we believe. I pray that your word would increase and not be diminished, that we would take up your word and understand it and walk in it and stand firm against the enemy and contend for truth. Pray your blessing. Blessing on this day. Amen.