Ephesians 5
May God’s Word bring comfort, conviction, and correction that you might be cleansed and presented before Him holy and perfect, without any blemishes. (Ref. Ephesians 5:25-27; 2 Timothy 3:16-17)
And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. —Matthew 24:1-13
There will come a day when the people of this world will witness and experience the very things Jesus spoke to His disciples about in this passage. But for any season, there are three important statements Jesus tells His disciples that will help us today:
1. Take heed that no man deceive you. When troubling times come, so does the fear of man and events and panic. People will rise up to deceive the hearts of the many who are fearful, unaware, or insecure. Some will come saying they are Christ or at least someone presenting themselves as one who can provide comfort or substance from the external pressures and events surrounding them. Their words will be carefully chosen and possibly be filled with a bit of truth, but their motives will be filled with deceit.
Ephesians 5:15-16 – See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
1. Make the most of every opportunity. There are 1,440 minutes in each day. Everyone receives the same amount. The difference is how each person uses those minutes.
- You can use a minute (or more) to pray.
- Help someone in need.
- Give of your time and talent.
- Spend quality time with your family.
- Mend a bad (or strained) relationship.
Some opportunities come and never return. Don’t waste the moments you have, make every minute count.
Ephesians 5:1-4 – Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.
In our society today, we are bombarded with fornication, uncleanness, covetousness, filthiness, jesting, and foolish talk. We don’t have to look any further than television, music, and our surrounding environment to find these in abundance. As Paul told the church in Ephesus, these things were not to be named even once among them. Sadly however, it is these very things that have become sources of conduct and entertainment in our own lives. .
We’ve become accustomed to sin.
Ephesians 5:16 – Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
In our lives before God, many of us would find that we’re not good at managing our time. Not only that, but we spend much of our day doing things that draw us further away from our purposes in the Lord. We consider free time as time to do nothing but watch TV and weekends and holidays as the same. After some time (or even at the end of a year), we look back and wonder where all the time went…only to repeat the same course of action the following year.
Sound familiar?!
There are many things we can do in this life, but only those that were in Christ will remain. Once you use your time, there are no refunds or exchanges. Once it’s gone…it’s gone. So, how do we redeem our time?!
What is Doctrine?
Doctrine is considered an instruction or teaching that can be learned or developed through experience. Doctrine is associated with a person’s beliefs; the way they ‘see,’ perceive, or relate to the world around them. Each person has a countless number of doctrines on the issues, people, and situations they experience on a daily basis. The number of doctrines a person has is countless and continues to be shaped and expanded throughout a person’s lifetime.
Within Christianity, sound biblical doctrine is based on the biblical teachings, experiences, pastors, ministers, and interactions with fellow brothers and sisters in the local church community. Within the context of this message, doctrine will encompass God’s Word. God’s Word is the foundation of good sound doctrine:
2 Timothy 3:16-17 – All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
James 1:27 – Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
The word religion above is translated from the Greek as religious worship; especially external, that which consists of ceremonies (religious discipline).1 When the word ‘religion’ comes up in much of our society today, it comes of thoughts of a rules-based life that does not lead one closer to God. At first glance, we would feel our initial thoughts were confirmed, but when we look at James’ writing, we discover something different.
A pure religion…AND undefiled before God and the Father.
There is a religious expression that is acceptable (undefiled) before God. The word undefiled is translated from the Greek as not defiled, unsoiled; free from that by which the nature of a thing is deformed and debased, or its force and vigour impaired.2 That sounds a lot like pure and acceptable…
What is a pure religion that is undefiled before God and the Father?
John 9:1-5 – And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
When the disciples saw the blind man, they asked Jesus who sinned, the man or his parents that he was born blind. Though neither sinned, his blindness was purposed to manifest the works of God (via Jesus healing him). Jesus said that He MUST work the works of Him that sent Him. He said these must be done while it is day, for when the night comes, no man can work.
Now, as Jesus declared, He is the light of the world. The life that is in Him is the light of men (John 1:4-9) and all that follows Him will not walk in darkness (evil, sin), but will have the light of life – righteousness, salvation, eternal life (John 8:12).
There will come a time when the night will come and no man can work. This refers to a future period in history, and for our own lives, it will come upon our death or the Lord’s return. Therefore, we must redeem our time by making the most of each moment we have:
Why do I always have to go through trials and temptation? I don’t want to continue facing the same things over and over and over AND OVER again! I just want to be free.
Have you ever felt like that? Have you ever felt like the Apostle Paul when he said that when he wants to do right, sin is right there (Romans 7:21)? OR the things you want to do you don’t do, but the things you don’t want to do, THAT you find yourself doing (Romans 7:15)? Many of us can relate to Paul’s statements of temptation and sin, but we often stop there without going any further. We continue to live in a cycle that goes from temptation-sin-repentance-temptation-sin-repentance and it never seems to stop. We want to get off the merry-go-round, but it doesn’t seem like we ever can. Why do I have to go through this? Why can’t God just take it away because He knows I want to serve Him. If I didn’t have this ‘sin’ issue, I could just run for Him.
There are many reasons why we make the decisions we do. When we look back at the outcome of some of the decisions we made, sometimes we can’t understand how we got into such predicaments, how to get out of them, or what we can do to live as God desires. Listed below is an outline of why we make the decisions we do; the consequences behind them; and how we can make good (and godly) decisions.
1. What consumes our decision making?
- Fear of Man (Proverbs 29:25; John 12:37-43)
- Motives (Proverbs 16:2; James 4:2-3)
- Friend of the World (1 John 2:15-17)
- Emotions (Proverbs 19:2)
- Sin/Temptation (John 3:19-21)
12
SITE NOTICES
Search the site
Shopping cart
Total
Shipping and discount codes are added at checkout.
Checkout