How different this is from the experience I had in the early 90s when I traveled to the former East Germany and to the Czech Republic after the fall of the Soviet Union. I met with the head of the Czech Brethren Church, the Cirkev Bratrska, a man named Pavel Cerny. He told me that he and his church people had often been imprisoned for their faith in the midst of communism. He said, "We have had no Christian schools in our country. But we had schools that taught us faith in God. The prisons were our schools. We learned how to trust God there. And what really guided and sustained us in the midst of oppression was our church family. We would meet as we could, hear God's Word, sing together and pray for one another. We were able to remain faithful to God largely because of the support of our church family. So we learned in our church and in our "school" how to live for God in difficult times. You will have to teach us how to be faithful in good times."

I am going to try to convince you that your church family is essential to your life in good times too – because there are challenges to live for God even in "good times, aren't there." This issue of how the church is God's gift to his followers – absolutely essential to our godly living -- is the one addressed by this week's study passage, Ephesians 5:15-21 .

I. The Challenge Re-stated: Live Wisely – not Foolishly
Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. (5:15-16)

You often have heard me say in the midst of a sermon, "Now you need to tune in here. Don't miss this point!" That's what Paul does here. He has been talking at length about the fact that when we place our faith in Jesus and come into his unexpected family, then we should change the way we live. Do you remember last week? We are to be imitators of God rather than follow the imitation life the world tells us to live. God is our Maker and He knows how He made us to live. God loves us so He wants us to live well. The Bible's point is that when we live for God, we experience goodness and righteousness and truth. Live the world's way – for temporary things – and you will be deceived. It will not satisfy.

Now, this week, Paul comes back and says, "Were you listening?" If not, let me say it again: You have to be careful in this world to live as wise and not as unwise. The world doesn't know God so it's still in darkness about his reality and his goodness. But, light has come into your life. You know God. You have his Spirit, His Word and His family. Live as children of the light. You can bring light to others if you will live for God in this world!"

The Two Paths of Life:
Notice that v. 15 calls us to live as wise and not as unwise. This way of describing the world is called wisdom teaching. God's Word says, both in the OT and NT, that there are two paths of life for human beings. One is following God – it is the way of wisdom. This leads to true living – abundant, eternal life. But, there is a way that seems right to people in this world. But it's the path of folly. It promises a lot – and delivers little. In fact, it leads to separation from God.

There is a way that appears to be right,
but in the end it leads to death. (Proverbs 14:12 ).

The Bible calls us to envision ourselves in the world as coming to places in life when we must choose which path we'll travel on. I'll put an illustration up to help you see this. Christians, when we become followers of Jesus, we entrust our lives to God! True believers are committed to living wisely.

Now... the interesting thing is that until Jesus returns and brings his work to completion, we have people on separate paths living in the same world. There are people alive to God and people in the darkness about God living in the same world! All people want to live well – but apart from Christ, people don't know how to do it. But, as we saw in last week's message, we who have been made alive to God through faith in Jesus have an opportunity to shed light on the lives of others. Through our words and through our lives, we can shed light on the beauty of Christ. But we won't do it if we live as the world lives.

"Make the most of every opportunity," the Bible commands us. God sends us into the world to show the world his truth, goodness and beauty. The Bible is saying, "Wake up each morning saying, 'Today, God is directing my life. I know He'll give me chances to live for him. I know He'll give me chances to speak of him – and to show his justice and compassion to the world. God, help me make the most of every opportunity.'" This should be our daily prayer.

But beware!! "Be careful!" v. 15 says. Why? "Because the days are evil."

We are sent to bring light to the world – but we are very susceptible to the same things everyone else in the world is susceptible to – and will be until Christ finishes his work in us. We are to shape the world for the cause of Christ. But, we are always in danger of being shaped by the world. The challenge of living faithfully for God is not only experienced as it was by the Czech Brethren under Communism. We're in danger of being unfaithful too!

So then, how do we find the understanding to know how God would have us to live – and the strength to live that way? And, the Bible insists, it's in this unexpected family God has established in this world that we call the church.

II. God's Resource for Wise Living: His Unexpected Family (5:17-21)
We must see that all the verbs in vv. 18-21 are plural. These verses are written to "us" – to the family of God. And we see two broad instructions to us, each of which is stated in a "Not this but that" fashion.

Essential #1: In God's unexpected family, we must learn how God would have us live.
Do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is (5:17).
Bottom line: This is telling us that careful teaching of Scripture and consistent, fervent, intercessory prayer cannot be neglected in the life of the church. I will say my "mantra" again: We cannot live what we have never learned. We cannot be guided by what we have never grasped. We cannot understand what we have never been taught (Greg Waybright).

I make you this pledge. When I am the one teaching Scripture, I will seek to be faithful both to the gifts God has given me as well as to the meaning of God's Word as well as I can understand it under the guidance of God's Spirit. And I ask you to make this pledge to me: "We will come to church ready to listen carefully to the Word of our Father." We need understanding.

I long for us to be like the church family in the city of Berea in Acts 17:11 : The Bereans were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.

If we will do this together – and pray for one another – we will gain an understanding of God's will for how we are to live. We'll know what to do in tough times. We'll gain wisdom for how to speak. We will live in God's light.

Essential #2: In God's unexpected family we should receive strength from God's Spirit, renewal in our spirits, and support to live for God.
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit (5:18)...

You may read verses 18-21 and wonder where I get this point. So, let me show it to you. We have one longer sentence in verses 18-21. There is a command followed by four statements telling us what should happen so that we might obey this command. The command is: Church family, be filled with the Spirit!

And this command has two complementary meanings. First, it means to allow God to fill you with his strength – with his fullness.
The whole book of Ephesians has been talking about this. In 3:19, when we experience the love of God together in God's family, we become "filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." God's goal for us is that we will serve one another in church so we all will be strong and mature. How strong? "Attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." God is saying, I do not leave you alone. Go into the world with my fullness – with my strength. So, if we will live for God (wisely) in this evil world, we will need experience God's presence and draw upon His strength.

And second, be filled with the Spirit means to let God directs your life.
Do you see that the Bible puts "be filled with the Spirit" in contrast to "don't get drunk on wine." When a person is drunk, he is under the control of something else. First, the hearing goes and he starts yelling. Then, speech, stability – and ultimately it becomes impossible to make good judgments. Being controlled by wine or anything in this world leads to "debauchery, Paul says. That means that it leads to a life that has no concern for the consequences of our actions. We don't care how our actions affect others. But, that's not what the church of Jesus Christ should be like!!

Paul is saying to us, "As you live this week, don't let anything in this world control or direct your life. Let the Spirit of God enable you to live as light in the world.

So, "be filled with the Spirit" means to know the fullness of God so that we can operate in his strength and know the guidance of God so that we are under his control. And this ongoing filling happens in the life of God's unexpected family. How? Paul gives us four statements about that:

1. When we gather, we will speak – or communicate -- to one another in "psalms, hymns and spiritual songs (5:19a)."
We "speak" – we communicate to and with one another -- through our singing together. As we sing together we speak the truth of God in the songs (and often, what we learn in our singing is remembered long after the sermon is forgotten) – and our hearts are strengthened in the music-fellowship we share – or, that's what SHOULD happen. Sadly, all around world, music style has divided Christians rather than strengthening and guiding Christians. Why? Because we've made our music all about me – and church singing should be all about Him!

Notice that Paul specifies "psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs." Most commentators have said that these three are really just three terms for the same thing. But, I'm quite sure these are very intentional. Remember that one of the hard things about the church in Ephesus actually being unified is that the Jew and the non-Jew didn't want to be in one family together. Look at what he says, "Sing psalms – that's the songbook of the Jewish people. That's the music through which God had revealed himself to his people. That tied the Jewish people to followers of Jehovah from centuries before Jesus. I can hear the Jewish believers saying, "That's the true spiritual music. That's what speaks to my heart!" Paul says, "Sing Psalms... but..."

Also sing hymns. I imagine that refers to the kinds of newer songs being written and sung in the NT church – like we find in 5:14. The metropolitan Gentile businessman who now is a follower of Jesus would find the psalms strange. "Who likes that kind of music?" he might say. But, these new hymns – like the one sung when I was baptized – that's the kind of music that speaks to my heart." Paul says, "Come together and sing them and we Jews will try to sing along."

And then there were probably also the younger, more charismatic believers in the family too. As the Spirit of God worked in their hearts, they would sing a new song to the Lord – maybe unlike anything that had been sing in the church before. "Sing those too!" says Paul.

You see, if we're still thinking like the world thinks, we say, "I want a church family where I can get the kind of music I like." But, that's not the family of God. Remember? God is the one who calls this family together. And when we sing to him and are thankful to Him, we are strengthened and guided by the Spirit. If we just want to sing "my kind of music," we only are seeking self-gratification. And that leads to the second statement:

2. When we gather, we will sing in our hearts to the Lord (5:19b).
You see, it's not about us! No, we've been living in this world where the days are evil, and now, in the unexpected family, we are with brothers and sisters singing to our Father. What will happen is that we often will enter with heavy hearts. Life has been hard. Finances are tight. We look at our lives and know we've failed. But, then we teach the Word and we speak Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs to one another and... our hearts are lifted. We get out of ourselves. We cast our eyes of the love and power of our risen Lord Jesus Christ. And then we sing. We sing because we're so grateful that God loves us – and will forgive us – and has given us this family. We are grateful because God is bigger than our problems – which brings me to the third statement.

3. When we gather and fix our eyes together on the Lord, we will be grateful (5:20).
We may walk into the family gathering feeling all is lost, but as we are instructed by God's Word and gain understanding – and then fix our eyes and our hearts upon the Lord through our singing to the Lord together – our inner beings will be renewed. I'm quite sure Paul is not saying that we will be grateful for all that happens in our world but... we will know that all things are under God's control. He is greater than our troubles. He grace is greater than our sin. And we will know that there is nothing inside or outside this world that can separate us from what really matters, i.e., the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And we will look around us and see others like us. Others who are struggling. Others who have failed. Others who have discovered that the God of the universe loves them and will keep them and is ready to bless them.

And, seeing those others in the family and singing with them around the family table will lead us to Paul's fourth statement:

4. When we gather, we will submit to one another out of reverence for Christ (5:21).
We will remember what Jesus went through to bring us and everyone else into this family. He gave his life. We will remember that Christ gave us his Spirit – who dwells within each of us. Out of our heartfelt desire to please our crucified Lord, we will submit to one another. Now, this mutual submission does not mean that the church is a place where there is no leadership or authority. There were and are spiritual leaders appointed in church families. I'll talk about this in coming weeks. But what he talks about is a deep mutual respect that causes us to give up our rights for the benefit of others. To "look to the interests of other family members as greater than our own (Phil. 2:4 )." As Paul wrote in Romans 12:10 , we will "be devoted to one another in brotherly love." We will "honor other family members above ourselves." It's not some technique of saying, "Let's do a survey. Who likes what kind of music? OK – we'd better have 43% bluegrass, 20% old hymns, 17 % rap... No, that's self-centered thinking. We'll be driven back and forth as people come and go. The issue is submission to one another out of reverence for Christ. When we know the days are evil and we find life is hard, we'll just love being with other family members. In our family gatherings we'll find understanding, strength and guidance to live as children of light in this dark world.

It's like a very respected man (in our church and in my life) told me one day, "I used to hate drums in the church. But then my grandson began playing drums. Now I think, 'Well, I suppose there may be a place for them in our worship.'"

It's like Zack Johnson, who did not grow up singing the hymns of the church, said to me, "When I heard the orchestra a few weeks ago playing and the church people singing And can it be, I didn't even think, 'That style music is old and strange. ' I only know my heart was lifted in praise to God.'"

I'm just telling you: Those are two testimonies of people who are being filled by the spirit in the life of the family of God rather than controlled by anything in this world.

Let's look at Pavel Cherny's quote again. How were God's people faithful in the face of persecution, and imprisonment, and sometimes death for their faith?

And what really guided and sustained us in the midst of oppression was our church family. We would meet as we could, hear God's Word, sing together and pray for one another. We were able to remain faithful to God largely because of the support of our church family. So we learned in our church and in our "school" how to live for God in difficult times. You will have to teach us how to be faithful in good times."

When they got out of prison and went to their church families, do you think they said, "That preacher wasn't as good as the one I herd on TV yesterday? That music was too slow?" ("NO!" They didn't say that. They were grateful to be there. They were strengthened as they came together.)

Do we need persecution to force us to see our need of the church family? Do we have the eyes to see that even here with our freedoms, the days are evil and it's hard to live for God? On behalf of us all, I humbly say to the Lord, "Thank you Lord for this gift of your family. We will seek to be filled by your Spirit in this place."

To His Glory,
Dr. Greg Waybright
Senior Pastor