Ephesians - Imitate God in your Walk - Part 3 - Ephesians 5:15-21

Ephesians 5:15, 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. When you were a child how many times did your mother or your father say, "Now be careful"? Of course, mothers and fathers do that because they love their children. They know they can’t pamper them and shelter them, but they do want to protect them. "Now be careful," and that’s what Paul is writing to the saints in Ephesus. You walk circumspectly. That means walk accurately, walk carefully. It’s just the opposite of being a thoughtless, careless person. 

Now Paul encourages us to be careful in our walk by presenting four rather convincing arguments. First of all, he says we had better be careful in our walk because of the kind of people we are. Ephesians 5:1, you are dear children. Ephesians 5:3, you are saints. Ephesians 5:8, you are light in the Lord. Now because we’re God’s children we’ve got to be careful how we walk, how we act. People know that we are the children of God. We are different from the other people in the world because we now belong to the Lord and we do that which is fitting for saints, Ephesians 5:3. We are heirs; one of these days we’re going to enter into the enjoyment fully of our inheritance.

Meanwhile, we are drawing upon our spiritual riches in Christ. And if we don’t live carefully, we are going to be squandering that which we have. We are lights in this world, Ephesians 5:8, you were once darkness, but now are you light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. In other words, the kind of people we are demands that we live a careful life. If you want to live carelessly, you can live carelessly, but you’ll pay for it. There is nothing free in this life except salvation, and that brings with it a great obligation to live so as to please the Lord. It would do us good each morning as we start the day to remind ourselves we are the children of God. Let’s act like it. Let’s not be fellowshipping with the unfruitful works of darkness. The kind of people we are—that’s a good argument I think to walk carefully.

Now the second argument he gives is the kind of world we live in. Redeeming the time because the days are evil. Now the people in Ephesus who were unsaved would say the days are good. They had the temple of Diana, business was good in the temple until Paul came along and preached the gospel and almost put the idolaters out of business. A great deal of pleasure was available and some people in Ephesus would say, "Well, the days are not evil, the days are pretty good." But God says that the days are evil. Ephesians 6:13, therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand, in the evil day. God has sent His Son to die for us; He delivered us from this present evil world. It's amazing how many Christians look around and say, "My, things are getting better." Well, we have improved means to unimproved ends. Thoreau said that a hundred years ago. He was right then and he's right today.

What runs the world? Making money, being important—that’s what runs the world. And nowadays the media are moving into things that are dirty, garbage. Why? To make money. People are interested in fornication and uncleanness because of covetousness. It’s a covetous, selfish world. Peter writes about the corruption that’s in the world through lust. The word lust doesn’t just mean sensuality, it means desire, inordinate desire, appetite. One person is lusting for power, he’ll kill to get it. Somebody else is lusting for money, somebody else is lusting for fame. And because of these deep desires down inside, we have a selfish world, we have a scoffing world. Ephesians 5:4, filthiness, foolish talking, coarse jesting—what are they doing? Joking about things that are important. Fools make a mock at sin. Their minds have been darkened, Ephesians 4:18, the understanding is darkened, the ignorance that is in them.

Now put it all together: a senseless, scoffing, selfish, sensual world. The days are evil, therefore don’t partake of that evil, Ephesians 5:7. Therefore do not be partakers with them. Don't have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, Ephesians 5:11, and don't listen to the empty arguments that people give, Ephesians 5:6, let no one deceive you with empty words. Don't let them deceive you because it’ll lead you astray. Be careful in your walk because of the kind of world we live in. 

Thirdly, the kind of responsibility we carry. Redeeming the time. See then that you walk carefully, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time. In other words, buying up your opportunity. Paul is saying don’t waste your life like a fool, and don’t just spend your life; invest your life. We are living in crisis days. Now let’s buy up the opportunity. If there’s one indictment I think that God is going to bring against the church, it is the fact that we have wasted our opportunities. Here we have radio that can take the gospel around the world and people are wasting the opportunity. We have printing presses that can turn out books and literature and we are wasting our opportunities. Money is being spent on all kinds of trinkets and toys and thrills and we’re wasting our opportunity. You can’t live this life again. What shall a man profit if he gains the whole world and loses his soul, loses his life? Suppose you come to the end of your life and you can’t live it again. No amount of money will buy back your life; you can’t change the calendar. The opportunity will be gone. That’s why he says in Ephesians 5:14, awake you who sleep, arise from the dead and Christ will give you light. Wake up! Wake up to your opportunities. Be single-minded. Well, Paul is pretty convincing as far as I’m concerned. He said you better live a careful life. We’re stewards, and one of these days we’re going to have to give an accounting of what we have done with our opportunities. How tragic to live for the good instead of the better. How tragic to live for the better instead of the best. How tragic to waste your opportunity. 

Well, he gives us a fourth argument: the kind of God we serve. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Our God reveals His will to us. Now God has a plan for our lives. Paul already talked about that back in Ephesians 2:10. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. I believe in the providence of God. I believe that God has for us a plan. Now I don’t believe that if I disobey it some place, the whole plan collapses and I’m done for. The plan of God, the will of God is not a machine, and if one piece breaks the whole machine grinds to a halt. It’s like a living body. If one part of my body starts to create problems, the other parts of the body compensate for it until I can get that thing straightened out. But when you and I respond to His will, life becomes exciting and enriching.

Therefore do not be unwise. That’s a very gentle way of saying don’t be stupid. But understand what the will of the Lord is. He wants us to know His will. Ephesians 1:9, having made known to us the mystery of His will. God wants us to know His will. We learn His will, we love His will, we start to understand why He’s doing what He’s doing—not that we might do something for Him, but that He might do something in and through us. The will of God is the expression of the love of God for us.

Some people look upon the will of God as medicine. It’s not medicine; it’s food. Jesus said, "My food is to do the will of Him that sent me and to finish His work." And if you’re taking the will of God like medicine, then there’s something wrong. Because He wants us to know His will, learn it. He wants us to understand His will. He wants us to do His will from the heart, Ephesians 6:6. Not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. Not just knowing the will of God, doing the will of God. And not just doing it, but doing it from the heart. We not only learn His will and live His will, but we love His will. We can know God’s will through God’s word, through the Holy Spirit of God. Ephesians 1:17, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened. As we wait before the Lord and pray and go out and do His work, a promise I often have to quote as I seek to serve the Lord. Walk carefully. Enjoy God’s blessing.

Let’s look at Ephesians 5:18-21, and do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God.

Now in this passage, Paul answers some basic questions for us. First of all, what is the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is a person, the third person of the Trinity, and He dwells within all believers. In fact, when you were saved, the Spirit of God sealed you, Ephesians 1:13, and He became the guarantee that you are going to heaven. The spirit is God, Ephesians 2:22. He is your comforter, your encourager. He is the teacher who guides us into all truth. He is the convincer who through the church witnesses to the world and brings conviction. The Holy Spirit of God, the third person of the Godhead, is indwelling His people today. But indwelling is not the same as fullness. A pastor friend of mine often said the Holy Spirit can be resident but not necessarily be president. And that’s true.

What does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit? There are two errors that we want to deal with immediately. One is, fullness is not talking about quantity, like filling up a vessel or filling up a bottle with something. I know we as Christians are God’s chosen vessels. He’s molding us and making us and He wants us to be vessels unto honor. But the fullness of the Spirit means to be controlled by.

Now secondly, he’s not talking about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. You’ll notice that nowhere in Ephesians does he talk about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. But nowhere does Paul say be baptized with the Spirit. Nowhere in the Bible are we commanded to be baptized with the Holy Spirit of God. We are commanded to be filled with the Holy Spirit. According to 1 Corinthians 12:13, we were baptized once and for all by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ at conversion.

Let me give you a simple way to distinguish the baptism of the Spirit and the fullness of the Spirit. The baptism of the Spirit means I belong to His body. The fullness of the Spirit means my body belongs to Him. And there’s a big difference. As you read your Bible, you’ll find that people were filled with anger, or filled with fear, or filled with madness, even filled with envy or filled with joy. What does that mean? Well, it means that they were controlled by envy, controlled by anger, controlled by fear. This is why he talks about wine. He said do not be drunk with wine in which is dissipation—that means waste, extravagance, excess. You’re wasting your life, wasting your money. Don’t be filled with wine, but be filled with the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit of God fills you, you have control of yourself through the Holy Spirit. You don’t lose your identity, you don’t lose your authority. It is the Holy Spirit of God using your mind to think, your heart to love, your will to act, your body to serve. 

However, when the Spirit of God controls you, it has to be because you are cooperating. Notice what he says here. He commands us to be filled with the Spirit. Therefore, not to be filled with the Spirit is a sin. If it’s a sin to be drunk, it’s also a sin not to be filled with the Spirit. If a church member came to church drunk, they’d discipline him. He can come to church not filled with the Holy Spirit and get up and speak in a business meeting and lead the whole church astray. It’s a sin not to be filled with the Spirit. It is God’s command, God does it, He wants it to be a constant experience and it’s for all of God’s people. That we might live our lives to please Him and that we might witness to others about the Lord Jesus. 

Question number three: what are the evidences of the fullness of the Holy Spirit? Paul says nothing about speaking in tongues. He does say that when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, there are three characteristics of your life: you are joyful, you are thankful, and you are submissive. Notice that: joyful, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, joyful. Thankful, Ephesians 5:20, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submissive, submitting to one another in the fear of God.

Now he amplifies this. He says when you are joyful, thankful, and submissive, it’ll show up in the home. Wives, submit to your husbands. Husbands, you love your wives. Ephesians 6, children obey your parents. Fathers, you raise your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Servants obey your masters. Masters take good care of your servants. Where does the fullness of the Holy Spirit show up? In the home, in the job, as an employer, as an employee, we are submissive.

Now he’s writing to all of the saints, submitting to one another in the fear of God. There’s little trouble speaking to one another and singing to one another, but submitting to one another, that is something else. But when you’re filled with the Holy Spirit, you are joyful, happy in the will of God. You are thankful, not distressed by circumstances. You are submissive, not distressed by people. 

What finally must we do to be filled? Well, first of all, you have to be saved. In John 4:13-14, Jesus told that woman about the water He had to offer her. He said if you’ll drink of the water that I give you, you will have within you an artesian well of water springing up to everlasting life. That’s John 4. When you get to John 7, you find the Lord Jesus is not talking about an artesian well on the inside, He is talking about a river of water flowing through our lives. Notice now: when you’re saved, God gives you a well of water down inside and you are satisfied. When we surrender to Him and make our bodies, our lives available to Him, then that well of water becomes a river of water and we are constantly being filled with the Holy Spirit. But remember, it’s not for our enjoyment. Oh, there is blessing, there is joy. It is for the service of others. We become a channel of blessing as we surrender to the Lord. 

Now, whatever you do, don’t separate the Spirit of God from the word of God. Listen to Colossians 3:16. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. Now how can you tell whether or not the word of Jesus Christ is dwelling in us in all wisdom? Teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Isn’t that interesting? To be filled with the spirit of God is the same as being filled with the word of God because the consequences are the same: joyful, thankful, and submissive.

If I want to be filled with the spirit, one, I must be saved. Two, I must have the desire for it. If anyone is thirsting, let him come to me. Three, I must be clean and surrendered to Him. He is the Holy Spirit and He will not fill that which is dirty. The spirit of God wants to teach me from the word of God. And then I must ask. By faith receive the fullness of the spirit. It’s like breathing. You can’t breathe in unless you breathe out. You receive the Holy Spirit by faith and constantly drawing upon His power and His energy. I read about a ship that got stuck at the bottom of a bay. They tried everything to raise it. Finally, they attached it to a couple of barges. They waited for the tide to come in. The tide came in, the barges went up, they lifted the ship. Oh, what a picture of the Holy Spirit of God. Let the tide come in. Be filled with the Holy Spirit.