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Sunday August 16, 2009 "Wise Living" Ephesians 5:15-20 |
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Location: Blogs Brad's BlogBrad's Sermons |
 | | Posted by: Brad Miller | 8/17/2009 9:03 AM | Nobody wants to be a fool.
At various times, Jesus himself told the disciples to be careful about who they call a fool, because being called a fool is the mother of all insults.
When we label someone a fool, we diminish them. When we label someone a fool, we consent to ignore them. When we label someone a fool, we are operating at the height of arrogance.
Why? Because at times, we are all fools.
How’s that for an uplifting message? But you know what? It is a fact. And sometimes, our foolish behavior is the behavior that we think will shield us from the hurt and worry of the world around us.
No, none of us want to be a fool, but sometimes we are. None of us want to behave foolishly, but sometimes we do. As we own up to our foolishness, the important thing to ask is, how can I avoid acting foolishly in the future?
In today’s scripture lesson, taken from the letter to the Ephesians and written in the name of the Apostle Paul, the writer helps us with this issue immensely. First, by identifying why we act foolishly, and secondly, by giving us good, solid advise on how to avoid acting foolishly in the future. The Pauline letters are not always known for their clarity of purpose. Paul’s prose sometimes shifts back and forth between prescription and pastoral concerns; between admonition and loving forgivness; between clear directives and obtuse meanderings.
Today’s scripture lesson is one of those times when the point is fairly clear, direct, and prescriptive. It is as if, in the middle of a discussion, the writer finally says, “Okay, you want to know about wise living? I will tell you about wise living.”
And the writer does.
“Be careful how you live…live wisely…make the most of the time you have…because the days are evil.”
There it is. The importance of making sure the reader seeks to live a wise life. Because the days are evil, it means that the original readers of this text, and us today, must be ever vigilant, sure of each step we take. There is pressure all around for us to be distracted and that will cause us to act foolishly and that will knock us off our course.
What was the nature of the evil that the writer of this letter to the Ephesians alludes to? For the church in Ephesus it was probably the fact that they were new Christians living in a world that did not extend a warm welcome to those who followed Christ. There were some Jews who were threatened by this movement and sought to crush it. There were some Romans who feared a charismatic movement that would challenge their authority and likewise sought to make sure that movement never got off the ground. Then there were those who sought to take advantage of the new Christians for their own gain. Those who saw an opportunity for gathering power and wealth at the hands of these neophyte people of faith. Those who would set themselves up as authorities, as leaders of the faith, while not truly embracing the faith at all.
I am hard pressed to say which one of these was more troublesome, more evil than the others, but all of them point in the same direction: if the church in Ephesus is not very careful, if they are not vigilant to be on guard at all times, if they do not live wisely, they will open the door for the evil they faced to gain power.
What then, is wise living, according to the writer of this letter? First, it is seeking to follow the will of the Lord. For the people of Ephesus, that would have meant paying attention to scripture, honoring the witness of the apostles of Jesus, giving credence to their own experience as individuals and as the church and gathering all that together to discern where God would lead them.
The writer decides at this point to give an example of what not to do: don’t get drunk with wine! Instead, the writer asserts, open yourself up to the movement of the Holy Spirit and fill yourself up with that instead.
Now, in general, living a life of drunkenness is not a good idea, but the connection between the evil that exists in the world of the Ephesians and the inclination to get drunk is very, very important to the writer. The idea is that because the world was evil, because the world was hard, because the world could betray them, the people of Ephesus are all that much more predisposed to just say, “Oh forget it” and find a way to insulate themselves from the swirl of malevolent forces in their world.
The writers fear is that the Ephesians will do they can do to ease the confusion, the hurt and the pain that the world inflicts upon them. It is not just drunkenness that bothers the writer. Rather, drunkenness serves as an example of any behavior that seeks to remove us from the harsh truth of reality and helps take us to a place where the world cannot intrude any longer. The writer knows that such actions are artificial solutions. If the church at Ephesus allowed itself to fall into this foolish behavior, they would find that they had opened the door wide for the evil in their world to prosper. Because they would not be present, they would not be vigilant, they would let their defenses down. Because they had acted unwisely.
When I read this passage, I am once again reminded that our Holy Scriptures are indeed, living documents. The words that the writer of this letter could just have easily been written in 2009 to us!
We struggle with the same question: how do we live wisely?
The answer would be the same: we must live wisely. We must use our time well, because we live in evil times. The nature of the evil times we face are not precisely the same and it leads me to wonder if every generation will face their own particular evils. Christians in America do not worry about persecution at the hands of people of other faiths like the Ephesians did. But we very much need to worry about the messages that come from those who would lead us astray. They are not necessarily people who want to reinterpret our faith, but if we are not careful we will put our trust in things or theories or ways of life that will cause us to act foolishly. And when we act foolishly, we will be distracted from any pursuit of the will of God. There is also pain and suffering in the world that is hard to witness, and when we try and escape from dealing with that pain and trouble, we, like the Ephesians, will seek other ways to insulate ourselves and thus act foolishly and be distracted from
God’s purposes on our lives.
The writer of the letter to the church at Ephesus warned the Ephesians against drunkenness. We have a term for trying to hide from our troubles, from the strife of the world. We call it self-medication. And just like for the Ephesians, it is foolish behavior when we try and make ourselves feel better by refusing to deal with what troubles us in the world. It may be that we find refuge in drugs or alcohol that provide temporary respite from our troubles. It may be that we turn all our attention to business and making money, hoping that the time we spent in gathering financial gain will keep us from facing the troubles that swirl around. We may immerse ourselves in acquiring things that are designed to make us feel better, prettier, stronger, more successful.
We may even retreat into solitude, trying to block out the noise of the world, striving to be at peace alone, separated from others, safe and secure in our own world, without intrusion.
None of these things will help us discover God’s will. Why? Because as the writer of Ephesians makes clear, we will move toward understanding God’s will and open ourselves to the movement of the Holy Spirit, only when we do it together. Anything that leads us to focus on ourselves at the exclusion of our community, anything that leads us to be concerned only with our own well being, our own comfort will ultimately lead us away from God’s will.
We are, the writer tells us, to sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs…together! We are to sing and make melody in our hearts….together! We are to give thanks to God for everything…all in the name of Jesus Christ…all of it together. Within the community.
The fact is, that one of our primary obligations is to praise God. When we allow the forces of the world to hold sway on us, we are pulled away from praising God and begin to believe that we can make it on our own. We need a community to nurture and sustain us. I cannot be me without you. Together we can be strong. Separately, we are diminished.
Okay, this sounds all fine and good, but without a touchstone to guide me, without an example to which I can aspire, how do I know what this all looks like?
Through the grace of God, we here at BCC do have an example to which we can aspire. We do have a touchstone to guide us. They are the people of the International Christian Church.
They have lived this scripture out and stand as a living testimony to its truth. They have faced evil up close in the killing fields of Cambodia. They have persevered and acted wisely so as to not be distracted by the buffeting winds around them. They have discovered the power of community where all can share, all can be protected, all can be loved. They have praised God and sung songs and given thanks to the God that sustains them. They are the definition of people who have acted wisely, opened themselves up to the power of the Holy Spirit, and through good times and bad, kept their focus on God’s purpose in their lives.
They came to us a little more than 3 years ago to find a place of refuge, to discover what God had in store for them next. And all the while, through illness and loss, through joy and celebration, they have continued to keep focused on hearing God’s will. They have continually worked to live authentically in God’s world, always open to the Spirit’s movement.
And now they are responding to that movement. Now they are about to embark on where God’s will is leading them: to a new church, a new community. As a faith community they have discovered that the words of the letter to Ephesus are real, and because they have stayed focused, they find themselves able to move forward. Having acted wisely, they are strengthened for the next part of the journey. Having worked to provide nurture and sustenance to each other, they are prepared to take on the challenge of proclaiming God’s Word in North Atlanta. Having felt the presence of Christ in their lives, they have become the presence of Christ for others, including us.
We seek to understand what it means to live wisely.
Some things are hard to define.
We have a definition of wise living.
Some things are hard to follow without good examples.
We have the best example imaginable.
Wise living is embodied in our brothers and sisters of the International Christian Church.
And for their example, for their witness, for their friendship we say, “Ar Kuhn. Ar Kuhn. Ar Kuhn”
Thank You. Thank You. Thank You.
Let us pray: Lord, help us to follow the example of our Cambodian brothers and sisters and stay focused on you. Help us to open ourselves up to your will, putting aside our own. Help us to praise you and thank you, no matter what the world throws at us. Help us to be what you would have us be, now and always. Amen. | | | Permalink | Trackback |
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