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Who We Are - Sermon, Sunday, September 7th, 2003
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Ephesians 5:15-20 as follows —
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.
Another week has come and gone. Another month, another summer. Were you able to make it through the week, the month, the summer, without stepping on any land mines? If we lived in Afghanistan or Angola, I'd be talking about real land mines, explosive devices hidden in the ground, just waiting for some unsuspecting person to step on them. It's estimated that there are 110 million land mines buried in 68 countries, and they continue to take a terrible toll — maiming, crippling, killing. How awful it would be to live in one of those countries, where one misplaced step can result in disaster.
Thank God we don't have to worry about that kind of danger! Yet you are I are walking through a mine field every day, figuratively speaking. Our life in this world is a daily stroll through a field in which there are countless "land mines" — spiritual dangers and temptations. This world is a dangerous place for the believer in Christ. What Paul wrote to the believers in Ephesus remains true right now: "the days are evil." We are living in evil days, in bad times. But let's not be discouraged by that, and let's not do as some do — bury our heads in the sand and pretend those evils can't hurt us! Let's understand that
THESE BAD TIMES ARE A GOOD TIME.
For God's saints in Christ, these evil days are, first of all, a good time to watch our step. Bad times surely present all sorts of pressures and dangers and temptations for Christians. So the Lord's apostle warns us: "Be very careful, then, how you live" — literally, "how you walk around." Daily life for you, a child of God, is a stroll through a mine field. Picture it this way: tonight, while you're sleeping, Satan and his agents will be burying the "mines" (temptations, opportunities to sin) wherever they figure you'll be walking tomorrow.
So you have to be really, really careful where you step; you have to pick your way through each day lest you put your foot in a bad place. That requires wisdom. St. Paul urges us to live "not as unwise but as wise" people. People who lack spiritual wisdom don't care where they step. They don't look first, they just leap. They go wherever their sinful self wants to go at any moment. They just do whatever the world sets in front of them at any time if they feel like doing it. Wise people, on the other hand, are aware of the dangers; they do care where they step and they look before they leap. If I have spiritual wisdom, first of all I make sure that what I'm about to do is right and good in God's eyes, and only then do I do it.
But wise living doesn't only mean watching your step so that you avoid the land mines. It also means being on your toes so that you can make the most of opportunities. Wherever there's a land mine, an opportunity to sin, there is also an opportunity to not sin, to do what is God-pleasing in that situation. Our Lord wants us to be on our toes, ready to make the most of all these opportunities! Ready to point out the difference between right and wrong or to tell of God's love in Christ. Ready to do what is godly in that particular situation — to act in love, to tell the truth, to help the neighbor, to work faithfully... Ready to behave in all the ways that honor our God.
So watch your step and be on your toes! "Be wise," we are told. This is spiritual wisdom, and there's only one way to get it. It doesn't just fall out of the sky! And unfortunately, not all Christians gain as much of this wisdom as they need. Some, when faced with the evils of this world, stick their heads in the sand and pretend those evils won't affect them and can't hurt them. What we really need to do is stick our noses in this Book. Our text says, "Do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is." Only this (Bible) reveals God's will; only here do we find the wisdom we need. God's Word is a lamp that guides our feet and lights up our path. It's a map for the minefield of daily life! It identifies the spiritual dangers and shows us the way around them. It puts up a big red flag on every word, every attitude, every desire, every thought, every action that is a sin against God and therefore harmful for us. It lights up the safe paths, the paths of righteousness.
So... what keeps us from reading, hearing, studying this Word that gives wisdom? Why do people so often turn to it only AFTER they've stepped on one or more of Satan's mines? What is it that keeps us from spending the time and effort it takes to gain spiritual wisdom? Is it my house and the stuff in it that are more important to me? Is it my leisure time, my hobby or recreation? Is it my job? my friends? my bad habits? my lack of concern for spiritual things, or just sheer laziness? Is it a fear that God's Word will identify something in meor my life that I need to change? Is it just thinking that I know "all that stuff"?
Dear friends, when it comes to your use of God's Word, some of you have good habits that only need to be encouraged and continued. And no doubt some of you have bad habits that need to be faced, confessed and changed. If we are to survive our stroll through the minefield of daily life, we need to watch our step and be on our toes, being very careful so that we avoid the evils and seize the opportunities. We need to, as Paul says, "understand what the Lord's will is." That requires the wisdom we can gain only from being in the Word of God, from being people of the Book!
And you know, being in the Word of God also affects our attitude toward life, how we respond to the evils of these evil days. We can't change the fact that the days are evil. It's true that bad times can bring stress, sorrow, pain, unhappiness. People naturally want to escape such unpleasant things; they look for ways to ease the stress or drown their sorrows or relieve the pain or find some joy in life. Many still try the one Paul pointed out here. Here's one of those red flags in the Word; it marks the land mine of drunkenness ("substance abuse" I suppose we'd say today). He not only warns against that sin, but points out that it always leads to more sins. Getting "high" on alcohol or drugs is a deceptive high, and what a foolish way it is to try to make it through a mine field! How can I watch my step and be on my toes if I can't even walk a straight line?
No, there's a much better "high" to be enjoyed, a much better way to ease the stress and drown your sorrows and relieve the pain and experience joy. Paul describes what we might call a spiritual "high." These bad times, you see, are also a good time for us to walk in the grateful joy produced by the Holy Spirit.
Let's go back to the statement, "Understand what the Lord's will is." That does not just mean what he wants you to do. It also means, and really starts with, what he wants to do for you. God's will is that you be saved forever. The Lord's will is that you be redeemed from your sins and born into his family and given the gifts of forgiveness and righteousness and eternal life. That will of God has already been done, through Jesus Christ!
Stick your nose in this Book and you'll learn more and more about that Savior and how he won God's approval for you. About how God's own Son lived and died for you, and then lived again to bring life to the dead. Put your nose in the Book and the Spirit will speak to your spirit — he'll bring you the sweet good news that cures your guilt, drowns your sorrows, eases your pain and fills your heart with joy. He will assure you of God's grace for you in Jesus, and he will lift you up to a joyful response. Instead of getting drunk on wine, Paul says, "be filled with the Spirit." Again, our being in the Word is the way that the Spirit comes to us and works in us. Through the Gospel he produces the joy and gratitude that lifts our spirits and cannot be contained. It has to be expressed, and one way we express it is in song. Paul encouraged, "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."
Music has power. Music can lift you up to heaven or take you down to the pit of hell. The best music is the kind that is attached to the truth of God's Word, songs that focus mind and spirit on God and his love for us in Christ. In the church's singing, we praise God with our voices, but we also vocalize his Word! We speak his truth, as Paul says, "to one another," and we encourage each other and teach each other. As people who are in God's Word and with God's Word in our songs, we not only express our joy, we also cultivate this joy in ourselves and each other — and it grows!
Sure, the days are evil. The world is as actively evil and as viciously wicked and as dangerous to believers as it's ever been. These bad times, then, are a good time to live as wise people. A good time to watch your step, because your daily life is a mine field of spiritual dangers. A good time to be on your toes, so you can make the most of every opportunity to do God's will. A good time for us to live in the steady, grateful joy produced by the Holy Spirit, a good time to sing together and give thanks to God, in the name of Jesus. In other words, it's a good time for us all to be in the Word! This Word lights our path through life, dear friends, and this Word lifts our spirits. This Word keeps us safe and gives us the joy that doesn't end. Amen.