Our Sermons

Bible Passage: Ephesians 5:15-20
Pastor: Pastor Berg
Sermon Date:  August 19, 2018

Have you ever had just one of those weeks where everything seems to go wrong? The car breaks down. The fridge goes out. An unexpected medical expense shows up. Maybe that’s what it feels like a little bit here at Eastside? Just in the last month we’ve heard that we finished $90,000 short of our budgeted goals. The lift still isn’t working after another mechanical issue. We had to drop three trees on our property and three more will have to come down in the near future. I’ll stop there, but those are some pretty depressing things that have happened recently. Did you thank God for those things?

No, you didn’t hear me wrong. Did you thank God for those things? No, I’m not crazy. Did you thank God for those things? Listen again to what Paul says in the last verse of our lesson: “by always giving thanks for everything to God the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Always giving thanks for everything. Everything. Always. Much like we heard last week about forgiveness, these are some extreme words that Paul has to say to us. Much like with forgiveness, we find it impossible to do on our own. And much like with forgiveness, we are not alone. We have the gift of God in Jesus. We have the Spirit. But we also have each other. We have each other to help. And that’s what we want to see today as we continue to thank God for the unity we have in the Gospel. That Gospel Unity provides Mutual Encouragement.

Paul starts out our section by saying: “Consider carefully, then, how you walk, not as unwise people, but as wise people.” That word, “then,” forces us to look back at what Paul said earlier? Why should we consider carefully how we walk? And once again we see that Paul is motivating his readers with the gospel. He said in verse 8 of chapter 5: “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.” The light of the Savior shines on his people as his perfect life lived for them radiates through. This is who we are: children of light. Therefore, we need to consider carefully, we need to get an accurate picture of how we walk. Now, this has nothing to do with our gait, whether we take short strides or long strides, whether we walk on our heels or on our toes. The Bible often uses this picture to describe our way of life. Consider carefully, have an accurate picture of what our way of life looks like. And this is an ongoing thing. This isn’t a one-time stroll in the park. This is our every day. And how does Paul encourage us to walk: “not as unwise people, but as wise people.”

Some have defined wisdom as “the ability to discern between what is valuable and vital and what is not.”  Our first lesson from Proverbs sheds some additional light. With wisdom personified it calls out and says, “Abandon your naïve ways and live. Travel the road to understanding.” Paul essentially says the same thing. Look at verse 17. “For this reason, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” These are parallel thoughts. Foolish is compared with unwise, understanding the will of the Lord is considered wise. And why is this so vital? “Because the days are evil.”

Are the days any less evil now as they were when Paul lived? Certainly not! Bloodshed and violence are mere blips on the radar when we read the paper or watch the news. Attacks on biblical values are commonplace, even celebrated. No matter how the media paints it with happiness and love, the days are evil because God’s Word is forgotten.

So how does one become wise? How does someone understand the will of the Lord? There’s only one way; it’s by being in God’s Word. That’s the only place the will of the Lord is found. That’s the only place where you can eat at Wisdom’s table. And look at the language Paul uses here. Three different times in these verses, we’ve heard Paul use an imperative, an urgent urging direction. Carefully consider, do not be foolish, understand. This is so very important, Paul tells us, because the days are evil. It’s so very important to be immersed in God’s Word. And yet there are so many times that we choose to walk in darkness. So many times that we choose to fill up on the foolish trivial food of media instead of the wise food of God’s Word. Bibles collect dust on our shelves, classes offered at church continue to have open chairs, and all the while a steady diet of secular theology fills our heads. Biblical literacy has dropped significantly. For something that is so important, that we are to carefully consider, we don’t seem to be taking it very seriously.

Perhaps that’s why it’s so hard for us to even think about thanking God for everything. Perhaps we’ve allowed the foolishness of this world to slip in the cracks, and like a fog, obscure the will of the Lord. Perhaps we’ve become so complacent with the blessings that the Lord provides that we’re taking them for granted and we don’t truly understand how evil the days are.

But thankfully, Jesus never once ignored the will of the Lord. In fact, it was God’s will that moved him to be our Savior. It was the will of the Lord that allowed Jesus never once to waver from him plan to save us. It was the will of the Lord that we saw as a young boy when there was no place he’d rather be than in his Father’s house. It was the will of the Lord that set his face toward Jerusalem even when he knew what awaited him there. It was the will of the Lord that held him on the cross, when he had the power to come down. It was the will of the Lord that moved Jesus to die for you and every single one of your sins, for every time we’ve ignored God’s will, for every time we’ve dismissed his warnings, every time we’ve been fools.

And now, through the power of that Word, he’s made us children of light. With his help we can consider carefully how we walk. We can understand what his will is. And we can encourage each other to do this. Look at Paul’s encouragement: “And do not get drunk on wine, which causes you to lose control. Instead, be filled with the Spirit by speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (singing and making music with your hearts to the Lord).” Drunkenness was just as much of a problem in Ephesus as it is in Wisconsin. But Paul’s point isn’t to harp on that one particular sin. Rather, he’s making a comparison. Instead of filling yourselves with alcohol to achieve a temporary high that leaves you empty in the morning, fill yourselves with the Spirit, which never disappoints! And how do we fill ourselves with the Spirit? Only through the Word! And notice how Paul says we do that, “by speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (singing and making music with your hearts to the Lord).”

Sounds an awful lot like public worship, doesn’t it? Psalms is the same word used to reference the book of Psalms, the Old Testament’s hymnal. Hymns are songs with biblical content. Spiritual songs implied songs  used with musical instruments. Paul very plainly says that we encourage one another, we provide mutual encouragement when we speak God’s Word to each other and when we sing God’s Word to each other with our hearts. It’s not a secret that music moves the emotions as well as the intellect. I already showed you that this morning. Those kids picked up that memory verse quickly because it was set to music. Just think about the role psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs play in the life of the believer. Think about, perhaps, how the hymns and spiritual songs your parents and grandparents sang with you have stuck with you. I’ve seen the tremendous comfort those songs bring in the hospital room and on the deathbed. There’s a reason the Lutheran Church has been known as the “singing church.” There’s a reason that one of the four principles of Lutheran Worship is to let the people participate in singing and speaking. Our Gospel Unity allows us to mutually encourage one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.

But there’s one phrase that I left out. One phrase that we haven’t touched on yet. Back in verse 16, Paul said: “Make the most of your time…” Literally, it means to “redeem the time.” “To buy up the time for one’s use.” Paul is urging us to buy up as much time as we can, to use every opportunity to be strengthened and built up by the means of grace. And you know what that means? It means more than Sunday. Making the most of your time means we’re going to be spending more than one hour on a Sunday morning filling up our tanks with the Spirit. It means more than Sunday encouraging one another with the Word and in the Word. It means more than Sunday. And Eastside is giving you opportunities to do just that. There are upcoming Bible Studies almost every day of the week, including Sunday. There are opportunities to help with Sunday school. Eastside Lutheran School has chapel every Wednesday morning, which is open to you. Redeem the time. Make the most of your time. Encourage each other and then we’ll be able to “give thanks for everything to God the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” For the blessing of a place to be served with Word and Sacrament, a place to encourage one another, a place to train our children in the instruction of the Lord. We will give thanks for capable pastors and teachers to lead us. Give thanks for faithful volunteers. Give thanks for the generous offerings that support our ministry. Give thanks for the opportunity to tell of Jesus’ love, that he would entrust us with that important work. Give thanks that we can reach out to those who are straying and invite them back. Give thanks for the challenges placed before us as they force us ever more to rely on God. Yes, in everything, always, even for a lift that still isn’t working, through the unity we share in the gospel, we give thanks to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!

So let us encourage one another today and even more than Sunday using the gift of God’s Word! May God help us and may we be mutually encouraged in the name of Jesus. Amen