Remember
all of this is Paul’s admonition to all of us in this Age of Grace,
where we are not under Law, we do not have a set of rules and
regulations to guide and tutor us, but rather it is a common sense
approach. The Christian life is so practical, there is nothing
kooky about it, there is nothing that should make people say, "Well
I’d hate to be a Christian" because it is so practicable. We
know that from the wicked side of the world they may think that we
are a little bit odd, but on the other hand we always have to make
the point that we saw in verse 9. The Age of Grace, the New
Testament-Covenant Age-Kingdom of Heaven and God Age was inaugurated
by John the Baptist in the proclaiming to Israel repentance from a
dead Religion of self works. Confirmed by Jesus in His teaching from
the Old Testament scriptures the hidden Kingdom of Heaven of God, a spiritual reality NOW. Set apart as a
dispensation by God, sanctioned through death and consummated in the
resurrection power from death into New Life, in those who willfully
surrendering their self-life of sin in resistance to God's Eternal
Life in Love, and all the while still being on earth to bear witness
of Christ. And the power of Truth and Grace that work through Love by
faith plus nothing, nothing more than child like trust.
Ephesians
5:9
"(For
the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and
truth.)"
Well
who could argue with those three attributes? They are what makes a
society good, we do not care where that society is. So again
remember, Paul’s admonition to walking the Christian walk is not
something silly, or something in general that the world would scoff
at if they have any sense whatsoever of things that are good. We were
talking about stepping in the Light of Christ Who is the Light, Truth
and Grace, the Life giver. And for all mankind the true Life restorer. This is something that all other god's of mans imagination can not do, not even the prophet of Islam or the Muslims, or the Hindus, or the Buddhists, or Harikrishnas, if they were prophets their bones remain in the ground somewhere. The only other god's are vial spirit beings which we are to have nothing to do with, because they are very dangerous to say the least.
Ephesians
5:14
"Wherefore
he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead (those
spiritually separated from God), and Christ shall
give thee light."
Here again, this is a loaded verse. Who are the ones that are dead? Who are the dead men walking of this earth in this present age.
Those that are still in their darkness, those who have still not
stepped into the Light. And as one fellow reminded me,
that the lost person is blind spiritually and doesn’t really know
it. So it behooves us then as believers to let them know how blind
they really are, and we like that concept. They just do not know
what they are missing out on. They remain the ones the Lord spoke of
who by force, force their way into the kingdom and the kingdom
suffers violence but these people will also be the ones removed from
the kingdom. There is one and only one way into God's kingdom of
heaven, while we remain of earth, the cross where self and the self-life is put to
death. Not a physical death but a kind of spiritual death in that the nature of Satan, which is what sin and death are is released and re-leaved of it's hold in and on us as a strongman. Go and sin No more is what we are told to do.....this none of those false gods could ever do or say.
We
see it everyday that people will say, "That for the first
time they know what we are talking about, their joy is just running
over, and to have such freedom, that they are not under some
legalistic program anymore." This is all part and parcel of
Paul’s teaching, that when we step into the Light, the Light
manifests itself and we are set free then from our darkness.We have to pass through the first estate to reach the second by revelation upon which Christ builds His Church.
Just
as Genesis chapter 1 verses 1 through 3 reveal, the Light which brought order and Life into the darkness and the chaos of that darkness, known as evil.
Ephesians
5:15a
"See
then that ye walk circumspectly,..."
A
lot of people just gloss over some of these words without realizing,
what he's talking about? What does he mean to walk circumspectly?
Well the word "circum" comes from the word Circumference,
and so what you are really seeing here is a circle. We like to
picture that we, as we walk in this world of darkness, wickedness,
and iniquity, it is just as if we are walking around them constantly,
and they can see us from every side. We are aware and heedful of sins consequences, we are said to be prudent or watchful. And this watchfulness ties us to the Old Testament where the people are warned to remain watchful, on the alert at all times.
So
Paul’s admonition then is, as we walk in the view of all the world
around us they should be able to see nothing but a manifestation of
the Light that we represent. Or as we saw sometime ago we carry the
odor of God, the fragrance of Eternal Life. Of course this is
where so many professing believers fail. As we have said in the past
that the Lord is grieved, because His own people do not live a life
that the world can look at without scornfully saying, "That is
the last thing I’d want to be." But we are to walk in such a
way that they can say, "I wish I had what that person has.” So
we are to walk circumspectly. And what is the next part of the verse?
Ephesians
5:15b
"...not
as fools, but as wise."
We
all have our own idea of the definition of a fool, but we always have
to use the Scripture for the best definition. So let’s go to Psalm
14.
Psalms
14:1a
"The
fool hath said in his heart, There is no God..."
Now most Bibles will have the
"There is"
italicized, which means that it has been added to hopefully clarify it,
but in this case they did not do this verse any good at all by adding
those two words. We like the way it reads just by leaving it the way
it was intended, “The
fool says in his heart, no God!” Why use the phrase "in his heart" because it is the seat of evil, the nature of Satan sits there.
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