Ephesians 5:15-20; John 6:51-58
I will say that without any doubt every mom and dad here today have repeated many times to your sons and daughters the words of the apostle Paul to the church in Ephesus, “be very careful.” And we say these words not because we want to be annoying, (even when they think so) but because we love them and want the best for them. Paul loved the church in Ephesus, and he wanted the very best for them, that is why he advised them to “be careful.”
Paul was concerned about the kind of life they were living … “be very careful, then, how you live not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” Be careful and wise. Paul -as a good Jew- knew what the beginning of wisdom is. He knew Proverb 1:7. The Contemporary English Version translates it like this, “Respect and obey the LORD! This is the beginning of knowledge. Only a fool rejects wisdom and good advice.” Therefore, if we want to live wisely as Paul is asking the church in Ephesus, we must respect and obey the word of God, because that is the only way to obtain the wisdom and understand what the Lord’s will is.
A wise person -according to Paul’s advice- is the one who makes “the most of every opportunity because the days are evil.” What are these opportunities Paul is talking about? To answer that, we must go back in the same letter in chapter 2 verse10, Paul says “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Those opportunities Paul talks about in chapter 5 are the good works God prepared in advance for us as he explains in chapter 2. The Book of Acts is full of examples of these kind of opportunities. I will share only two this morning: Chapter 8 narrates the story of a man who had gone to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home, He came from Ethiopia, he was the treasurer of the queen. He was on his way home seated in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. But he could not understand what he was reading. God saw him and sent an angel to Philip who told him, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. Led by the Spirit, Phillip went near the chariot and then he was able to explain to the Ethiopian who the prophet was talking about. The prophet was talking about Jesus. And because Phillip took the opportunity the Ethiopian was baptized and took with him the gospel to his country.
The other example is from chapter 9, a persecutor of the church named Saul had an encounter with Jesus and he was blind by His glory, and while Saul was being taken to Damascus, God spoke in a vision to a disciple named Ananias and asked him to go and place his hands over Saul. Ananias took the opportunity and became the first Christian who called Saul, brother. Saul later became the great apostle Paul the one who brought the gospel to gentiles, Jews, and governors in the Roman Empire. Phillip and Ananias took the opportunity because they knew what the Lord’s will was. They knew Jesus’ commandment to “go to Jerusalem, Samaria, Judea and the world” with the message of the kingdom.
Another thing we can learn from the book of Act is that to do God’s will we have to take risks. Ananias complained to the Lord because He was asking him to go to Saul, the man who had done so much harm to Christians. God told Ananias, -and I will paraphrase- I know, but I have chosen him…Just do what I am asking you.
Another manifestation of the wisdom Paul is talking about is his letter to the church in Ephesus, is, to be filled with the Spirit. He says “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord.” To be filled with the Holy Spirit is to be filled with Christ. The Holy Spirit was sent by Jesus, came to glorify Jesus to remind us of what Jesus said and taught. Therefore, if I am filled with the Spirit, I am abiding in Christ. I am walking and shining with His light because He is my light. To be filled with the Holy Spirit is to know that the blood of Jesus Christ will cleanse and keep on cleansing me from all unrighteousness.
When we are filled with the Spirit, we are controlled by Christ because what fills us, will control us. When we are filled with anger, anger controls us; when we are filled with love, love controls us. We are controlled by the Spirit — not as a robot, but as one who is led and empowered by the presence of God. Only when we are filled and control by the Spirit we will say with Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
To be fill with the Spirit means “to set our minds on things above, not on earthly things.” After Pentecost, Jesus’ disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit and after that all they wanted to do was to bring the Kingdom of God to everyone they met; after Paul was filled with the Spirit on the way to Damascus all he wanted to do was, to fill the world with the message of love, grace, and mercy he learned from Jesus.
The last advice Paul gives in today’s scripture is. “Always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” “The Book of Mysteries” is a book written by Jonathan Cahn, is a book with a lesson for every day of the year. In one lesson Jonathan speaks about the secret of Jesus multiplication of the bread and fish. The secret according to Jonathan Cahn is, to give thanks. In chapter 6 of his Gospel John says that Jesus told the disciples “Have the people sit down.” then He took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated.” When we give thanks, -Jonathan Cahn explains-, we move our sight from the little that we have and place it in the greatness of our God. When we give thanks, we move our sight from our own limitations, and we place it in the power of our God.
My sisters and brothers, this week God is planning to do miracles; this week God is planning to show this world His love and power, but as He did with Ananias and Phillip, He will need men and women willing to make “the most of every opportunity.” Therefore, keep your spiritual eyes open; keep your spiritual ears open, be wise to understand God’s will to know when He is inviting you to “go near the chariot” to present the message of Jesus, or to go and place your hands over people who are “blind” and waiting for any of Jesus’ disciples to go and pray, so, they can receive their sight -as Paul did.
May God help us to do the most of every opportunity he provides for us this week.