David said in Psalm 23, Yea, though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, thou art with
me. I have not walked through the valley of the
shadow of death, but I have walked in it, and
he is there. And many of you have experienced
the same thing. He is there. I want to thank
you for the scores and scores of cards that you
have sent and for so many hundreds of you praying
for us during these last difficult weeks. Your
support has been keenly felt, and I cannot tell
you how much that means to me, to my family.
My mother's home going was quite sudden and unexpected.
Only two days before she had received word from
the cardiologist that she was not a candidate
for a heart attack. And as sometimes happened,
as much as we know now, it was a heart attack
that took her quite suddenly. She had been talking
with a friend of hers on the telephone and made
some kind of a sound. that her friend could not
quite discern, and then said quickly, I have
to go, and hung up. And as best as we can piece
it together, she took about two steps from the
telephone and stepped right out of her body.
And before her body hit the floor, she was gone
into the Lord's presence. What a beautiful way
for her to go. It's a tough thing for those of
us who are left behind. From the standpoint that
we do not get our last goodbyes, and again, some
of you can identify with that, that's not a unique
experience to me. The Lord has been so good through
this. Of course, many tears have been shed. But
I have to share one thing the Lord did that in
some ways is rather minute, but is very precious.
Apparently several weeks ago, perhaps months
ago, there was an egg that hatched somewhere
down in southern Minnesota. And out of that egg
that hatched, a little caterpillar came forth
and crawled around and ate whatever caterpillars
eat. And eventually, I guess when he got full,
he climbed up onto a plant or maybe it was a
post along a fence somewhere on a tree. He found
a place to attach himself and began to weave
his cocoon, and in there went through the process
of metamorphosis, of change. And in a few days
came forth from that chrysalis as a beautiful
monarch butterfly. And the Lord had that butterfly
fly around southern Minnesota until that Friday
afternoon as we were driving through. And the
Lord sent him out into the middle of the interstate
and had that butterfly position himself in such
a way that he caught perfectly balanced on our
antenna, on our car. Now, you imagine that. I've
hit a lot of bugs in my time, but I've never
had that happen before. And we noticed the butterfly
that was on the antenna. That was like a message
from the Lord that in the midst of our sorrow,
as we grieve for our loved one who had died,
that it was not the end, but that there was going
to be a new body come forth, a changed body,
a glorious body, and that we would see Mom again.
You know, that butterfly stayed there through
a rainstorm in Iowa, through the 65 -mile -an
-hour winds, no faster. as we drove down the
interstate all the way to Kansas so that we were
able to share that with my stepfather through
the whole funeral process of several days and
then until we arrived in Kentucky and could share
it there with Jeanette's parents. I have the
butterfly or what remains of it. But that was
a very special sign to us from the Lord of the
Resurrection. I struggled a great deal, as many
of you have struggled in similar circumstances.
Obviously, it was the will of God that my mother
should be taken home at that particular time.
It was too soon as far as I was concerned. For
the first two days, I struggled a great deal.
I have stood beside many caskets, and I have
said to families, you know if we had the power
to call your loved one back, we wouldn't be selfish
enough to do it, would we? But I want you to
know for those first two days, I was selfish
enough to do it if I'd have had the power. But
finally on Sunday evening, three weeks ago today,
I went for a walk by myself. on the farm where
I was raised and had a time of prayer. And at
that time I gave my mother to the Lord. Now,
not that she was mine to keep, you see, for as
surely as we were gifts to her, so she was a
gift to her children and to her family. But I
was able at that time to release her into the
Lord's hands. And I want to testify to you from
that time on, there was a grace and a peace that
bathed our hearts that is beyond anything I've
ever experienced. And so when I say that I have
walked in the valley of the shadow of the death
and he is there, I mean it. The Lord is there.
And even those events in our lives that we fear
and dread, and I have dreaded her death since
the death of my father 34 years ago. Even those
events, God is in control of. And he does not
leave us in those times. I have preached the
promises of God and His Word, and I have, to
some extent in my life, experienced them. And
now in a new dimension, I have experienced them
again. I have known heartache in my life. I have
never known heartache like I have experienced
in the last three weeks. And many of you have
experienced the same thing. And I know that if
you could stand here today as a child of God,
you would testify the same thing that I am saying.
That the Lord is not only sufficient, He is abundant
in His grace. We cannot always understand why
God does what He does. We don't understand God's
timing. God's goodness and God's wisdom in those
events. I'd like for you to turn with me in your
Bible to Ephesians chapter 5 as we talk today
about the will of the Lord. I have just spoken
about my own experience and the will of the Lord
in a certain respect. But our text today brings
us into another aspect of the will of the Lord.
And I will begin reading in verse 15 of Ephesians
chapter 5. Therefore be careful how you walk,
not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most
of your time, because the days are evil. So then
do not be foolish, but understand what the will
of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine,
for that is dissipation. but be filled with the
Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and
hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making
melody with your heart to the Lord, always giving
thanks for all things in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, to God, even the Father, and be
subject to one another in the fear of Christ.
Every Christian from time to time ponders this
matter of God's will for him or for her. It may
be God's will regarding marriage or God's will
regarding a job. Perhaps it is seeking God's
will concerning having a family or what college
to attend or whether to continue a certain relationship.
In my experience with the will of God, I have
found that it is not something which we must
so much find as that which we must obey. For
as we obey what we know God wants us to do, those
other less certain questions will become more
clear to us. Our study focuses today on some
aspects of the will of the Lord for His children.
I want you to notice that it says in verse 17,
God wants us to understand His will. God does
not play hide -and -seek with us regarding His
will for our lives. But He says here, do not
be foolish, but understand what the will of the
Lord is. This is an imperative. It is a command
to us. We are ordered here to keep on understanding
the will of God. Therefore, God is not going
to make it difficult for us to know what His
will is in this respect. He desires for us to
intellectually comprehend God's will. The word
here means, according to Barclay, to wisely discriminate
and evaluate, to understand. It means to gain
insight as a result of our putting together the
facts. God does not want us to be foolish or
senseless, that is, imprudent. Rather, he wants
us to use our heads as well as our hearts. But
the emphasis here is upon our heads, that gray
matter that God has put inside of our skulls.
He says, understand, comprehend what God's will
is. Perhaps what our need today is, is that we
take the will of God out of the vague, shadowy
realm of our feelings and take a hard look at
the will of God in the light of definitive, clear
revelation. God has explicitly stated in His
Holy Word exactly what His will is for each of
us. In our text there are three commands that
tell us what the will of God is that we are to
understand. These are not merely opportunities.
These are not privileges. These are not just
possibilities. These are not merely suggestions,
but we are given commands, imperatives in the
word of God, which if we obey, we will be doing
the will of the Lord. The first command is, be
careful how you walk, verse 15. The second command
is, do not get drunk with wine, verse 18. And
the third command, be filled with the Spirit,
again in verse 18. We're not going to have time
to look at all of that, but we will get started
today and then pick it up later. Let's look first
at the command, be careful how you walk, in verse
15. The Phillips translation puts it this way,
live life with a due sense of responsibility.
In other words, as one who has been called by
God out of darkness to become a child of light,
as one who has been intended by God to be different,
to live separately from the pagan society around
us, as one who has been called by God to conduct
himself Distinctively, be careful. Be careful
how you walk. Our choice of activities, commitments,
entertainments, involvements, assignments, responsibilities,
pleasures, whatever else entails the use of our
life's energy and resources, those choices are
to be under the lordship of Jesus Christ. Our
lives are not to be divided into the sacred and
the secular so that we give to the Lord that
which is sacred and we retain rights to what
is secular. That is a false division. All of
life is sacred for the child of God. And what
he says to us is that we are to be sure that
all of it is under the lordship of Jesus Christ.
Be careful how you conduct yourself, he says.
In other words, our behavior is to be evaluated
with care, precision, with discernment that is
given to us from this book. That allows the Holy
Spirit to approve or to disapprove. to direct
or to convict. But he says, examine your walk.
Be careful how you behave yourself. Give thought
to it. Even the pagan philosopher Socrates said,
the unexamined life is not worth living. Now
if a heathen, unsaved philosopher would have
that kind of insight. How much more should the
child of God understand the importance of the
examined life? That's why the apostle says to
the Corinthians several times, examine yourselves.
Indeed, he tells them as they come together for
the Lord's Supper that they are to examine themselves
and then eat of that bread and drink of that
cup. Lest they should do so, in an unworthy manner.
Examine yourself, says the Apostle. The point
that he's making is this, that God's will for
us, each of us, is that we live with a proper
and balanced self -examination, scrutinizing
the choices of our lives in the light of His
Holy Word. Now, why are we to do that? He explains
it to us. There are two reasons. The first one
in this phrase, making the most of your time.
The second reason, because the days are evil.
First he tells us that we are to examine our
conduct because of life's privileges and opportunities.
They quickly pass. I believe it was last Sunday
that you looked at a verse in Colossians chapter
4. May I remind you of that text which says,
Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders,
making the most of the opportunity. And that's
what he says here to us. Making the most of your
time. Literally, he says, buy this up at the
marketplace. In other words, he means to seize
the opportunities that come to us. The Expositor's
Bible Commentary says, Make the best possible
use of all circumstances like prudent merchants.
Be like a wise merchant in the use of your time.
Buy up the opportunities. Do you realize that
for every choice you make, you are paying a price?
You are laying down on the line time, the most
precious commodity that you have. I learned that
keenly in the last three weeks. What I would
have given for five more minutes to say some
things to my mother, but there was no time for
that. Time is precious, my friend. And the interesting
part of it is that we don't know how much we
have. All of us assume that it's unlimited in
its supply for us, maybe not for the other guy.
That's why the apostle says, examine your life.
Be careful in your conduct because of life's
opportunities. Life is too precious to waste,
he says. And then he says a second reason is
because of the present evil. The days or the
time in which we live is dominated by moral evil
and will be so increasingly as the age plays
out. The word evil here is the word panaros in
the original language, which refers to a deliberate
defiance. of the moral law for personal gain,
without regard to the pain or suffering brought
to others. Is there a better word to describe
our time these days than this word evil? It is
the defiance of moral law for selfish gain, without
regard to the pain or the suffering brought to
others. It is the active outworking of an evil
nature. The apostle says that you and I live
in a time like that. Our society is dominated
by evil. He says to us, children of God, those
who are called children of light, take care how
you conduct yourself, lest you be sucked into
the same system that controls the world. Lest
the same motives, the same goals, dominate you,
that dominate those you live around. Be careful
how you conduct yourself, he says. This self
-watch, this discipline that he speaks of, will
make one wise. Otherwise, one is foolish, he
says. We are to be sensible, not senseless. Therefore,
we are to examine ourselves. Be careful how you
walk, how you spend your money, how you use your
time, how you treat others. Each of us today,
if we want to do the will of God, must stop and
take account and ask ourselves, will my behavior
pass God's test? Do I treat others in a way that
God is pleased with? My wife, my husband, my
roommate, my co -workers, my neighbors, my children,
my parents. Do I treat others in a way that God
can give his blessing to me because of that?
How do I spend my money? Do I go through it quickly,
thoughtlessly, or do I carefully plan it? So
often we give to God what is left over at the
end of our pay period. How tragic. Is God only
worth the leftovers? That's why he says in Proverbs
that we're to bring to the Lord the first fruits
of our increase. We're to plan our money so that
we give to God his, right out of the front end,
not the back end? Do we use our money for our
own wasteful purposes? Can God give us blessing
to us in the way that we use our money? Or do
we live like the world does? Are we intent on
spending it on things and accumulating riches?
My mother never accumulated a great deal in this
life. I am left a rich inheritance, but it's
not in material things. But I'll tell you this
much. What she accumulated, all of it she left
behind. She didn't take anything with her. Why
then do we spend money for things that will never
last beyond this life? Should they last 50 years?
So what? They don't last beyond that. Now, there
are some things we need, of course. But I fear
that we live in an age that is so used to lavishing
money upon its greed that somehow we easily lose
perspective in that ourselves. Take heed how
you conduct yourself with regard to your money.
The one thing that lasts is people. The souls
of people. That's it. You're never going to see
that stereo system in heaven. You're never going
to see that boat there. Now, there's a wonderful
river of life, but there's not going to be your
motorboat on it. Those things that we accumulate,
they're going to stay behind. But the one thing
that we can see in heaven that we invest in in
earth is people, ministry. Seeing people, one,
to Jesus Christ, whether it be here in this mission
field of the Twin Cities or in the mission field
of India or Africa or Europe or Japan, people,
that's what counts. How wise we are when we invest
large sums of our money in that direction. God's
work. Because that money is never wasted. That's
truly wise investment. He says, take heed how
you live. Because life's opportunities quickly
pass. And once they're past, they're past. Take
heed how you live because the day in which you
live is evil and it puts tremendous pressure
upon you. So don't be conformed to this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
He says, think right about your time, your money,
your relationships, and use them for the glory
of God. There's a second command that we need
to look at so that we can know the will of God
and do it. It's found in verse 18 where he says,
Do not get drunk. Literally, be not drunk with
wine. Now there are some people that look at
that and they seem to have a hard time understanding
what the Apostle is saying. And they ask, what
does he really mean? Well, what he really means
is, do not get drunk with wine. There's nothing
mystical here. The Ephesians, by the way, would
have quickly understood what he was saying because
they were familiar with the Bacchus festivals
in the worship of their god Dionysius. The linguistic
key to the Greek New Testament says, the excesses
and the flagrant and senseless activities connected
with the religious celebrations to Dionysus.
were well known to the ancient world. The worshipers
felt that they were united, indwelled, and controlled
by Dionysius, who gave them special powers and
abilities. You say, what's that got to do with
being drunk? John MacArthur has an interesting
insight to this in his study guide. Let me read
you a couple of paragraphs. Paul's main thrust
here is religious. He is contrasting paganism
with Christianity. The pagans believed that to
commune with the gods you had to put yourself
in a drunken stupor in order to come to the highest
level of communion. This was called the mystery
religion and was the root of the Greek and Roman
mythological religious systems. Even today, people
are saying that if you get high on drugs or alcohol,
you will reach a greater level of consciousness
and can commune in a religious way at a higher
level. Eastern mysticism, occultism, and all
kinds of mystical religions advocate this. None
of it's new. It's right out of the history of
paganism. Now, to better understand the culture
of the Ephesian church to which Paul was writing,
we will take a brief look, he says, at the Greek
mythological system. Here's what he says. The
great god of Greek mythology was a god named
Zeus. He gave birth to a son, Dionysius, who
became the god in control of the earth. As Dionysius
was in control of the earth, he began to develop
a religion called the religion of ascendancy.
This religion taught that a human being could
arise to a level of divine consciousness brought
about by ecstasy and emotion. It was a religion
characterized by wild music, dancing madness,
ecstasies, and sexual perversions, all induced
by drunkenness. And so Dionysius became known
as the god of wine. His Roman name was Bacchus.
The core of the whole concept of drunkenness
is a vile, pagan counterfeit of a true religion.
So when Paul speaks, look... don't be drunk with
wine, he's not merely dealing with a social problem,
he's dealing with a theological one. He is saying
to these Ephesians, your background was a place
where you communed with the gods through drunkenness.
But I am saying to you, if you want to really
communicate with God, be filled with his spirit.
Now those words from Dr. MacArthur help put into
context what the apostle is saying. when he says,
do not get drunk with wine. It is sociological,
but it's theological in its main emphasis. Now
today we are not used to the theological side
of it, because very few people still worship
Dionysius, knowingly. So what is the application
to us in the 20th century? Well, there are probably
several. But before we go, I want to bring one
in particular home. And that is that God's will
for His children. Understand this. God's will
for His children is that we be sober or sensible
and not controlled or falsely stimulated. by
substances like strong drink and drugs. Now there
are some Christians who look at this command
and they say, well, what the apostle says here
is that we shouldn't get drunk. All I do is socially
drink. I don't get drunk. I don't lose my senses.
And so we ask the question, should a Christian
drink? The argument often is there's no command
against it in the Bible. And after all, didn't
Jesus turn water into wine at the wedding feast
of Cana? Didn't he drink wine? So why can't I
have a social drink now and then? At least in
the privacy of my own home, shouldn't I have
that Christian liberty? Let's think about that
for a moment, because that is a relevant question.
It's important to understand that the common
wine which people drank in the New Testament
was not a wine that was high in alcoholic content
because it was diluted. In fact, there is some
indication that it was diluted by as much as
20 parts of water to one part of a wine concentrate.
So when one thinks of wine drinking in the New
Testament, he must understand that those people
did not go down to the liquor store and pick
up a bottle of wine for their supper. It was
a common drink of the New Testament which helped
to purify the water and give it some flavor,
but the alcoholic content of it was zero. In
essence. In fact, there is a paragraph in the
Word of God that strongly speaks to those who
wish to drink alcoholic beverages. Would you
turn in your Bible, please, to Proverbs chapter
23. Some of the description here is actually
humorous if it weren't so serious. But the writer
says in chapter 23, beginning in verse 29, Who
has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions?
That is, fights and arguments. Who has complaining?
Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness
of eyes? Does any of that describe anything to
you? He answers the questions. Those who linger
long over wine, those who go to taste mixed wine.
He says, do not look on the wine when it is red,
when it sparkles in the cup. A picture of the
fermentation of wine, the alcohol being a part
of it. When it goes down smoothly at last, it
bites like a serpent and stings like a viper.
What happens when one drinks this kind of stuff?
Your eyes will see strange things. Your mind
will utter perverse things. How many people?
having sobered up, have said, Honey, I'm sorry,
I didn't mean to say those things. And you will
be like one who lies down in the middle of the
sea, or like one who lies down on the top of
a mast. Now, can you imagine being on a sailboat
at the top of the mast in the sea? That's where
all the action is, you see. If you want to get
sick to your stomach real quick, go up to a mast.
You'll be nauseous, stupefied. They struck me
down, says the drinker. They struck me down,
but I did not become ill. They beat me, but I
did not know it. When shall I awake? I will seek
another drink. It's a pathetic picture. I mean,
it's really a sad picture of a human being who
drinks. I know what I speak of because of some
of my extended family who, because they were
in the military, began to socially drink. They
are not Christians. Even to this day, although
what's happened in the last three weeks has brought
them closer to facing that issue than anything
that ever has, I'm praying for them. But after
years of socially drinking at functions in the
military, they were confirmed alcoholics. And
I remember when, as a young boy, I heard that
they had laid unconscious in their home for a
full week. no one even having missed them before
they were found, almost dead. I can tell you
from personal experience the heartache of drinking.
Should a Christian drink? How foolish to be involved
in something that is described by God in the
terms of Proverbs chapter 23. But somebody says,
I've got freedom to do that. Turn with me to
the New Testament, to 1 Corinthians 6. Of course,
what I'm saying about alcohol can be applied
to many different things, including non -medicinal
drugs or the abuse of medicine. 1 Corinthians
6 .12. All things are lawful for me. The Apostle
Paul is here quoting some libertines in Corinth
who were saying, don't tell me what to do. I've
got a right to choose my own lifestyle. All things
are lawful for me as a Christian. So the Apostle
quotes them a little sarcastically. And he says,
all things are lawful for me, but not all things
are profitable. All things are lawful for me,
says Paul, but I will not be mastered by anything.
We cannot use Christian liberty as an excuse
for this sin, for the Apostle gives us here two
very clear limiting expressions on our Christian
liberty. It seems to me that the wise decision
is to totally abstain from anything to do with
alcohol, drug abuse, anything in that direction.
Of course, alcohol is a drug, the most abused
drug in our society. And I think we need to understand
that alcoholism is not a disease, folks. Some
of you will disagree with me on that. The Bible
never calls it a disease. It calls it a sin.
It is an expression of sin. It is true that there
are some disease -like symptoms of alcoholism.
But at its core, drunkenness or alcoholism is
an expression of sin, of the emptiness of the
heart. Why then should a Christian imbibe in
such a thing? Why should a Christian partake
of that which destroys the temple of God? For
it says right in this chapter in verse 19, Do
you not know that your body is a temple of the
Holy Spirit who is in you? He says in verse 20,
You have been bought with a price. Therefore
glorify God in your body. Should I partake of
a substance that is going to destroy my mind?
and every ounce of alcohol destroys a certain
number of brain cells. Should I partake of that
which is going to wrack my body with disease
and dissipation? Should I partake in something
that is going to cause others to stumble? He
warns about that in 1 Corinthians 10, verses
23 to 33. Here is my point. It is tragic to pour
out one's life with such a thing. For it counts
for nothing. It is dissipation. It is waste.
I heard this fellow from Texas, what's his name
who was at the fair, talking about getting in
the whiskey river in one of his songs. We were
playing it on the news last night. What a sad
commentary on the way he lives. The whiskey river
leads to hell. It's waste. And he warns us about
that in our text in Ephesians chapter 5. He says,
Do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation.
In other words, it leads to excess and to the
squandering of one's means, of one's resources,
one's life. Don't waste your life on that which
may enslave you and which amounts to nothing
but waste and profligacy and dissipation. What
he's really saying is that the child of God does
not find his joy in the bottom of a bottle. He
finds it in the Holy Spirit. Be filled with the
Spirit. We'll talk about that next week. While
we were in Kentucky, we drove one afternoon to
Bardstown. I don't know if you've ever been to
that beautiful part of Kentucky, south of Louisville
and around Lexington. The bluegrass, it is called.
Lovely bluegrass there. I remember how disappointed
I was when I first went there and saw green grass.
We went to a place just outside of Bardstown
called Federal Hill. Rowan family established
a plantation back in the late 1700s, early 1800s.
We toured the house there and then that evening
attended what is called the Stephen Foster story,
which we attended several times when we lived
in Kentucky. It is the story of Stephen Foster,
who was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 50
years to the day after the Declaration of Independence.
Stephen Foster demonstrated music talent early
in his life. He was only 18 years of age when
he had his first song published. It was entitled
Love Song, entitled Open Thy Lattice, Love. It
hasn't been in the top 40s lately, but it was
in that day. From the time that he was 24 years
of age until he was 34, Many of his best songs
were written and published, including The Camptown
Races, Old Folks at Home, My Old Kentucky Home,
which is written regarding that place there,
the Rowan Plantation, Genie with the Light Brown
Hair, Old Black Joe, and the list goes on and
on with his famous and well -known songs. Despite
his considerable income, Because of his songs,
he died on January 13, 1864, at 37 years of age,
in a charity ward in Bellevue Hospital in New
York City of pneumonia. It was brought on by
drunkenness. The last years of his life were
spent alone and in poverty. Despite his fame
and the money, that he earned by his songs. All
of it because he poured out his life for that
which counts for nothing. My friend, whoever
you are here today, may I tell you that life
only really begins when Jesus Christ is received
as your Savior. That's the beginning point. And
it's only truly lived Life is only truly lived,
it's only truly meaningful when he is obeyed
as Lord of one's life. If you have never trusted
Jesus Christ as your Savior, I want to appeal
to you today to receive him who died for your
sins and rose again and who loves you desperately.
And if you are a child of light, then I urge
you, to understand the will of God for you, and
to obey it and make Jesus Christ the Lord of
every day and every opportunity. Let's pray.
With our heads bowed and our eyes shut, I wonder
how many children of God... We'll be here today,
how many Christians, those who have trusted the
Lord.