August 21-23, 2021 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: Ephesians 5:15-20 (NIV 1984) “LIVING THE WISE LIFE!”

 

PENTECOST 13

August 21-23, 2021

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: Ephesians 5:15-20 (NIV 1984)

 

“LIVING THE WISE LIFE!”

1.     Means realizing there is a foolish life.

2.     Means prioritizing God’s words.

 

5:15-20 (NIV 1984) “Be very careful, then how you live—not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶ making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. ⁷Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. ¹⁸Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.¹⁹Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, ²⁰always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

 

          You’ve heard the phrases. Ask someone how things are going and they may reply, “I’m living the dream!” and their Fakebook account might make you believe it because they seem to forget to post about the normal and unpleasant things in life. Here in the Milwaukee area we know about living the High Life, right? You know what you don’t seem to hear from anybody? Living the wise life. Unless of course you are reading your Bible. Then it comes out clearly, over and over again. God’s appeal to His people to live the wise life. You heard it in what God wrote in Proverbs where Wisdom was personified sending an open invitation to partake of God’s wisdom. So today let’s dig into God’s Word to see what the wise life looks like and why it is so important.

          Living the wise life first of all means recognizing there is a foolish life and we don’t want any part of it. “Be very careful.” I want you to think for a moment. What kind of people in your life have urged you to be careful? Well moms say that a lot to their children, right? “Be careful. It’s hot. Don’t burn your tongue.”  Parents say that when their kids go driving. “Be careful! There’s a lot of crazy drivers out there.” One of the TV shows I liked watching when I was a little younger than I am now was Hill Street Blues. Remember it? Another good police show. That reminds me. We need to pray for our law enforcement people and their families. Their service to us has them facing all kinds of dangers. On that show Sgt. Phil Esterhaus would always say to the officers about to leave roll call, “Let’s be careful out there.”

          Those who urge you to be careful are ones who know there is a danger and care about you deeply. “Be very careful,” Paul wrote. Only remember this is the Holy Spirit of God speaking through the Apostle Paul first to the Christians at Ephesus and then to every other Christian who reads it until Jesus returns. God loves you. He knows there are dangers for believers. The danger of the foolish life. “Be very careful, then how you live—not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶ making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. ⁷Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” We are people much like the brothers and sisters in the church at Ephesus. The Holy Spirit has worked in our lives through the Gospel message in word and Sacrament. We know and believe that the words of Scripture our true. We know Jesus is our Savior. Why the warning for them and us to be careful? The days are evil. No one has to convince us of that. Naturally we think of the evil of the Taliban, the evil of the senseless violence on our cities, the death by drag racing, the rise of carjackings and window smashing. Abortion and same sex marriage have been a part of our lives so long we may not even register that evil. But the worse kind is what the Ephesians had to face and now we are. Living among people who have many gods and want you to believe there are many ways to heaven. People who want you to exchange the wise life for the foolish one.

          Understand what the Lord’s will is. He wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. What truth? The one you already know “For God so loved the world He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.” It goes on “Whoever believes in Him is not condemned but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” The wise life holds dearly to that truth and will of God.

          The foolish does not. You heard in Psalm 1. Only two paths. Righteous through faith in Jesus. Unrighteous and wicked any other way. No in between. Living the wise life means recognizing the only other option is foolishness. Saying there is no god. Rejecting Jesus as the only Savior. Unlike the Ephesian believers many of us have not had to come to grips with the fact that loved ones were rejecting Jesus and following other gods. If God Himself does not change the course of America I believe every one of us will. And then the temptation to compromise comes. Be very careful how you live. Understand the Lord’s will, then stand under it. Accept it. And realize that to throw away God’s revealed truth is to throw away your salvation. Living the wise life means realizing there is a foolish life and we want nothing to do with it.

          Living the wise life is also marked by an obvious prioritizing of God’s Word. “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.¹⁹Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, ²⁰always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Apparently Wisconsin is not the only place that has a fascination with alcohol use and abuse. Ephesus did too. Living the wise life could be summarized with ‘Don’t be filled with spirits but rather the Spirit.” Too much of the spirits of wine or beer or other alcoholic beverages and your inhibitions are lowered. You do sinful things you wouldn’t normally do. Debauchery.

          Instead be filled with the Spirit. The Holy Spirit protects your faith. The Holy Spirit builds up your faith. The Holy Spirit gives you strength to resist sin. The Holy Spirit enables you to live the wise life, the godly life. Be filled with the Spirit. How does that happen? Psalms. Hymns. Spiritual songs. What do they all have in common? If they are any good they proclaim the word of the Lord. That’s how the Holy Spirit fills us. Faith comes from hearing the message and the message is heard through the word of Christ. Speak to one another. Here we see the importance of getting together in person if possible. You can’t speak to each other and encourage each other when you are sitting by yourself at home. But you can when you are together at church! You might like the sound of your voice better when you are singing in the shower or in the car but you can’t sing and make music that will benefit others when you are by yourself.

          So I guess we could say living the wise life is really living a worshipful life, a life that worships God individually and together with others. Which brings me back to a memorable phrase from this part of God’s Word. Make the most of every opportunity. Literally in the Greek of the New Testament it says, “redeem the time.” Not only is it true that time is money it’s also true the time is like money. You only get so much and you have to be wise in how you spend it. What does your time budget look like? What’s set aside for the Spirit filled word? Kids, I know it’s fun to play video games and if you enjoy playing a sport that’s great and you can try to be the best at it you can be but be careful. In the end the fact that you missed a free throw or a spike or serve won’t have any impact on your faith and ability to live the wise life. Missing time with God’s word will. Make the most of every opportunity. Do you have a devotional life? Can you schedule some get together times. All kinds are coming up with the restart of Kids’ Club and armory. All our different Bible classes and ways to make music. It’s part of the wise life.

And the wise life is what we want to be living. Those who say they are living the dream upon further review are being deceptive. They are not owning up to their nightmares. Living the high life. Well depending on how you understand that, not so good. The wise life is what God chose us for. The wise life is what we are born for at our Baptism. The wise life keeps us connected to Jesus. The wise life leads to heaven and right now you are living it. So let’s be careful out there! Amen.