Ephesians 5: 14-17 (warning to be careful making use of time and being wise)

            Summary:  Paul gives evidence by quoting an unknown source (probably combined references from Isaiah).  He is using this evidence to furthermore explain how the light shined into darkness and changes it.  He has just called the church to walk in light and now continues to call the church once more to walk wisely and not as unwise.  He urges the church to make best use of the time because the days are evil.  He then calls the church to lean heavily on the Lord’s will, being careful to discern what His will is through careful study of the scriptures.

Note:  The Greek word for “making the most” is exagorazo which literally means “to buy up, redeem, rescue from loss.”

            Timeless Principle:  The first major point brought out in this passage is the power of the light.  The phrase “Awake, O Sleeper and arise from the dead” is given imperatively.  It is a call to action.  So what does it mean? Why does Paul feel the need to slip this into the passage? The answer is somewhat obscure.  It is not completely spelled out, in fact, the quotation is exact but is probably the product of combined references from Isaiah.  Perhaps Paul is trying to command the church to come out of its comfort loving, approval wanting, lazy slumber and move into being a state of “awake” that is conscious of sin and its affects.  This state of alertness comes with a promise.  What is that promise?  Christ will shine on you.  He will shine a deadly light, one that darkness cannot stand up under and yet is destroyed by, leaving absolutely no path for escape (Sanctification).  In his letter to the church in Rome Paul makes a similar demand to awake from the dead saying

“Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy.

[Rom 13:11-13]

The hour is now.  Let the redeemed rise up out of their slumber and profoundly making movements to give Christ glory before all things in fulfilling the great commission, following not ours but His will, and furthermore living holy lives.

Let us no longer walk in darkness, in the futility of our former selves but rather putting on at all costs the new life in Christ.

            The second point made in this text is yet another profound reality that is oft forgotten among us.  This point being that time is passing away, it is ever fleeting.  Your days “pass away like smoke” and time is moving fast.  Your life is not your own, my life is not my own.  Never has it been ours nor shall it ever be ours.  Let us think this was such that we might not waste this valuable asset as it is essential to our glorification of God, that which is His will.  He has set forth for us three doctrines that describe our lives in Christ.  These three things follow in this order, justification in Christ (made whole in the blood of Christ in a supernatural conversion to faith), sanctification (the process by which the Holy spirit molds the believer into the likeness of Christ, lasts til death or return of Christ), and eventually glorification (the being made “complete,” sinless, this occurs at death or the return of Christ).  So in glorification we are made whole so that leaves the here and now to ponder on, this must be considered.  We have a window of time about eighty years, God willing of course.  Eighty years? Let’s magnify what that means for us.  Imagine a road of infinite length extended to the farthest reaches of space.  Now stand on that road for a second and now u begin chewing a piece of gum for second and spit it out again on the road.  The gum is visible there but obviously small in comparison to the infinite size of the road.  Let’s now pretend that little piece of gum represents our finite lives on earth and the road represents an infinite eternity.  As we move farther and farther away from the road the gum becomes smaller and smaller until the road appears to be a faint line and the gum is as nothing in comparison and is not even visible anymore.  Your life is short and it is minute and perishing, and forever fleeting.  This is all we have to glorify Christ in living for Him until we are made whole and glorified in Him in His returning.  It is my greatest fear to lay on my death bed and stop to consider all the things that I have been given and admit that I have wasted all of it.  The greatest fear for anyone should be a cowering fear of a wasted life.  Our time is important and yet we take it for granted, we use it unwisely and for our own leisure.  We even use our time to curse God in our sin in blatant unwillingness to seek His will.  I will strive will all my power to be able to say at the end of the day “I have finished my race, I have ran the course with endurance.”  As Christians we are on a constant path towards becoming Christ like for His glory not our own.  To ever look back or dream of slowing down or stopping is the same of never starting on the path in the first place.  May we never waste our lives.

            The next note is the simple command of Paul to understand what the will of the Lord is.  This raises a question of how?  We should be fervent in seeking godly council, reading God’s word, and being vigilant in prayer.  This is the only way to do what Paul is essentially demanding in this passage, may be serious about it.