Being Careful - Ephesians 5:15-21

Beginning on the day we learn to talk and listen with understanding, the most common admonition we have ever experienced is the phrase “You be careful now! Do you hear?” Parents realize that children are constantly faced with dangers with which they are not familiar and are warned of the problems that can arise. Playing or running over rough ground can cause a dangerous fall. When swimming, water runs deep and there are dangerous undercurrents. Some animals and bugs are poisonous and will sting or bite. You never know what the oncoming driver will do, so you must drive defensively: and remember that a speeding car is more likely to cause a serious wreck. Be careful now! And please do not attempt to cross the rails of a speeding train when the warning lights are flashing and the bar is down.

The book of Ephesians has two distinctive parts. The first three chapters teach biblical doctoring with many themes including God’s blessings to man, God’s power, believers’ unity in Christ, and God’s wonderful salvation plan that comes only through faith and by God’s grace to man. Then the last three chapters deal with man’s responsibility to practice what he knows to be truth in his daily life. The Christian has grown up and now is the one that must learn to be careful. In these last chapters Paul uses the term WALK six times to refer to our duties that come as a result of the teaching of Christian doctrines. Paul uses the word WALK as a metaphor for living the Christian life and includes positive ways that we should walk and dangerous ways we should not walk.

The very first verse in today’s lesson makes it seem like Paul is thinking much as our parents did when he tells us to “Be VERY CAREFUL how you live.” I learned from my educational supervisory experiences that master teachers use a certain amount of repetition in their teaching. They will review what they taught yesterday as a way to introduce today’s theme. Paul did that very thing here. Look back to verse 8 and following. They were once unenlightened and living in darkness because their deeds were evil. The men of light were wise and the dark were unwise. Now, “Do not live as unwise men, but like wise men. Use your time with all economy for these are evil days.” This sounds like 2010. I do not know where 2009 went or how it went by so soon. But I do know that it passed so swiftly that we need to rescue every good day we can from the workers of evil that are trying to steal our Christian way from us. Our lives operate as a vacuum and are constantly being filled with something [either good or bad]. The heathen has always and will always find his happiness in filling himself with wine and with worldly pleasures; the Christian found his happiness in being filled with the spirit. In this passage Paul relates some facts about how the early church spent its time in worship during its days of worship.

The early church was a singing church. People used psalms and hymns and songs that made worshipers happy and made men sing. The early church was a thankful church and its instinct was to give thanks for all things coming from God. They were still dazzled with the fact that God’s love had stooped to save them. Members of the early church honored and respected each other. We must do likewise; therefore we must be very careful how we live life each day at a time.

Paul refers to the evil days as a reminder that evil is always present, and that there is always an urgency to deal with it. We must keep our standards high, act wisely and do right at all times. Following the admonition of Paul is just as the heeding of parental directions to always be careful what we do, or say or be careful to whom we listen and heed.

Paul compares the high one gets from drinking too much wine which is temporary and connected with the fulfillment of selfish desires to being filled with the Holy Spirit—which is long lasting, producing good fruit, and proving love for others. The problem we face here is that we must be careful that we not expect to have more of God’s grace—but we must desire that God’s grace owns and controls more of us. We must daily submit to His leading and we must constantly draw on his power.

The general theme changes at verse 21. The idea of complete submission of one person to another is a hard concept to grasp. It is often misunderstood. One thing for sure this submission does not mean becoming as a doormat. Think of what Christ did. He was in complete submission to his Father, even to the cross—but he could be thought of as the ‘open door’ to the Father rather than the door mat in front of heavens door.

Instructions given for women to always be submissive to their husbands are always limited by what is right in the sight of God. If the demands of a husband are wrong or sinful, the wife is not expected to commit sin in order to remain submissive.

In closing these remarks let me remind you again that you must be very careful how you interpret a passage of scripture. Any person with great knowledge regarding the wordage used in the scripture can use many deferent verses to prove or disapprove the same fact. We must be careful and never take the scripture out of its context in order to prove a point that was never intended by the writer.