How's Your Walk? - August 30th

Ephesians: United in Christ

Message notes for a sermon based on Ephesians 5:15-20 by Pastor Ewings

In the first century, the Apostle Paul wrote that the days were evil.  That was before the days of a website for adultery like Ashley Madison, before the time of internet pornography, before ISIS ever existed, before abortion was widely accepted.  Yet, Paul called those days evil and told his congregation that they needed to be careful how they lived.  He saw the foolishness of the drunks and the debaucherous in his day and warned the church in Ephesus against such a simple life. 

If Paul warned the dear Christian flock back them, what would he say now?  Sure, first century Christians were still exposed to brutality and murder, lies and deceit, adultery and perversion.  There’s really nothing new under the sun.  But it seems like sin is so much more accessible in our day, waiting for us at the push of a button or the click of a mouse, just a FaceTime or a Skype chat away; just a heated email or pharisaical post from proving our foolishness to the world.  With so much technology at our fingertips, now more than ever, we need to walk wisely.  Not only that, there is such a great variety—a smorgasbord of sin to choose from—which is available faster than we can think, dream or imagine.

The question that we all need to ask ourselves is how do I walk as a child of the Light in this dark world?  Paul gives us a number of guidelines, instructing us on how we may walk wisely.  Instead of simply encouraging us to abstain from the intoxication of alcohol or the ecstasy of sexual escapades, the Lord invites us to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  Since we are Christians and have been enlightened with faith through the Word, we should live as Christians and beware of everything that would hinder our faith or draw us away from Christ.  It is not befitting of Christians, once we have come to know the Word of God and have been baptized as children of the Lord, that we should live however we want, looking for our own pleasure, making our own rules—really, being our own gods.  It is one thing for us to say that we’re Christians, to confess that we believe and to declare that we’ve been baptized; it’s wholly another to live as a child of God as we confess our faith with our actions. As Christians, we walk wisely.

Lesson 1: Proverbs 9:1-6

Lesson 2: Ephesians 5:15-20

Gospel:    John 6:41-51