Sunday, March 25, 2007

WISDOM AND THE WILL OF GOD

Ephesians 5:17

"So then, do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is."

Finally, the wise person knows what the will of the Lord is (5:17). The fool does not know God’s will for him. He does not believe in the truth of the Bible. He may not believe in God at all. He does not think that God is going to communicate with him. He does nothing to try to discover the will of God because he probably does not believe there is any such thing.

But Paul has been telling us what God’s will is for us all along! He has said, “Live a life worthy of the calling you have received” (4:1). He said, “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (4:3). Paul has told us that we are to “no longer live as the Gentiles do” (4:17). We are told to “put off the old man and put on the new man” (4:22-24). We are supposed to “be imitators of God…and live lives of love just as Christ loved us” (5:1, 2). And we are to “live as children of light, exposing the deeds of darkness” (5:8, 11). The wise person takes these things to heart and not only agrees with them and gives mental assent to them but he does them! How do we come to know what God’s will is? We read and study God’s word and he makes it clear to us. We spend time with God in prayer and meditation, listening to what he has to say to us. If we do these things we will be wise children of God.

Christians are called for the very purpose of walking wisely and righteously in the world. If we are Christians we cannot continue to live as the world lives. This is what Paul has been saying all along in these chapters. We have been bought with a great price and we belong to God for the purpose of serving him. It is part of our calling to understand what God’s will is and do it!

If you have not begun to follow Christ you must decide how you are going to live your life from this day forward. Will you continue to live without Christ or will you begin to live the life of wisdom? The only cure for foolishness and confusion is the salvation which can only be found in Jesus. Will you recognize God and recognize what he has done for you? Will you confess your sin and repent of your sin? Will you submit yourself to his authority in your life and give him control of your life? Then you will begin living a life of obedience and wisdom.

4 Comments:

At 8:05 PM, Blogger mark pierson said...

Dave - You are a very loving and diligent exhorter. The Body of Christ needs more like you. Walking in Jesus' footsteps is real Christianity. You pull the exhortations from scripture and challenge His saints to follow Him. Good stuff!

Also, see...

http://www.spurgeon.org/s_and_t/pb.htm

 
At 12:40 PM, Blogger Anne of The House said...

I can attest to David's ability to exhort in an approachable manner!
Although he needs to work on teh timing of his jokes! (kidding)
He actually gets people to laugh consistantly...which is fascinating to me!

Nice to meet you bluecollar! I'm Shilohman's wife.
PS David is REALLY into Spurgeon! (You should see his library!)

 
At 7:43 PM, Blogger jazzycat said...

Dave,
Great series in Ephesians. I visited your church website and see where you have your sermons there for audio and text. That is a good resource for people to have.

Nice to hear from MS Anne.

Wayne

 
At 11:29 AM, Blogger Shiloh Guy said...

Blue: You really got my lovely wife, Anne of the House, chuckling. It really cracked her up to see Spurgeon referenced AFTER one of my posts! Kind of an upside down kingdom.

Wayne: Thanks for visiting the website. I'd like to do a little more with it but it suffices. So now you don't have to read my blog anymore! You can go straight to the unedited source! To be frank, I've neither looked at a manuscript nor listened to an audio on the website, so I don't know how they come off! But thanks again!

 

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