“The Truth About Walking Wisely!” – Ephesians 5:15-33

When I was in grade school – about one hundred years ago (it seems), there was a movie called “Walking Tall”. It was about Buford Pusser, a wrestler, whose wife wanted him to settle down. He moved back to his home town in Tennessee and planned to get into business with his father. He was shocked when he discovered all sorts of graft, corruption and racketeering that was going on in the small town. He decided to run against the corrupt sheriff and won, which started his own little war against the crooked infrastructure of the town. He cleaned up the corruption with some violent scenes including a “two by four” over his shoulder. He was a lawman… He walked tall.

In Ephesians 5:15 we are faced with the Biblical injunction to “Walk Wisely”. Though we don’t get to thrash around with big pieces of wood and break things, we do discover there is a corruption under the surface of what we see. In fact, we are told to battle it as Buford Pusser did – but this time in the emotional and spiritual world of our own hearts and impulses.

Key Principle: Walking wisely is setting my focus on pleasing God and serving His eternal purposes for me by learning what pleases Him in every area of life!

I have to tell you that by my estimation, men are neither walking tall nor walking wisely in our day, so this is a time we need to make a clarion call to men in our homes! Today in American society, and in the church much the same thing is happening – both because of a prolonged exposure to a misguided culture and because of a “felt needs” pulpit pablum… wisdom, real Biblical wisdom about practical life in our homes is slowly getting smaller and smaller until there are few real homes left.

Wives complain that far too many men have become detached and passive in their relationships with their spouse, their children and their Lord (not in that order!) Men increasingly abdicate leadership; they cease showing initiative, and they avoid taking responsibility. Our culture is elevating men that run away from the commitment of a wife or a child, a mortgage or and routinely renege on promises made to their boss, their family and their Lord.

Here are the statistics as they relate to one issue – the lack of dads:

·25 million children (36.3%) do not live with their fathers.
·40% of children in fatherless homes have not seen their father in at least 1 year.
·50% of children who live without their fathers have never stepped foot in their father’s home.
·63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes
·85% of children that exhibit behavior disorders are from fatherless homes
·80% of rapists are from fatherless homes
·71% of high school drop outs are from fatherless homes
·75% of all adolescent patients in chemical abuse centers are from fatherless homes
·70% of juveniles in state operated institutions come from fatherless homes
·85% of youths in prison are from fatherless homes
·70% of teen pregnancies are from fatherless homes
·72% of Americans polled recently said the physical absence of fathers is the most serious problem facing America’s families.

Men are not just missing, THEY are also hurting. Modern life is taking a toll on modern man:

·88% of drunk drivers are men.
·83% of people arrested for serious crimes are men.
·85% of all murders are committed by men.
·A man is 25 times more likely to end up in state prison.
·Men are more likely to have ulcers, and to die from cancer, pneumonia,liver disease, strokes, hardening of the arteries and heart failure.
·75% of all suicides are men.

The home, the church and the nation are in trouble, but the story isn’t over yet… God gets to weigh in! We can get WISE to the problems and walk well in spite of them.  What is Walking Wisely?

Ephesians 5:15-16 says “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise – making the most of your time, because the days are evil.” (NAS) Look at the Greek terms closely:  “Regard (blepete) therefore (soun) how (pos) circumspectly (akribos) you walk around (peripateite), not (me) in the manner (hos) of unwise (asophoi) but conversely (all’) how (hos) wise (sophoi) walk. Buy back the time (exagoradzomenoi ton kairon) because (hoti) the times (hai hemerai) morally deficient (ponerai) are (eisin).”

If we take apart the words of the original Greek sentence, five important statements rise to the surface!

1.Walking wise is intense! (Blepete is “be careful” in NAS): Living life wisely before the Lord will require intensity and focus. “Random” is not a feature of a godly life!

When I was a boy, my father, a baker, introduced me to the wonders of song,” tenor Luciano Pavarotti relates. “He urged me to work very hard to develop my voice. Arrigo Pola, a professional tenor in my hometown of Modena, Italy, took me as a pupil. I also enrolled in a teachers college. On graduating, I asked my father, ‘Shall I be a teacher or a singer?’ “‘Luciano,’ my father replied, ‘if you try to sit on two chairs, you will fall between them. For life, you must choose one chair.’ “I chose one. It took seven years of study and frustration before I made my first professional appearance. It took another seven to reach the Metropolitan Opera. And now I think whether it’s laying bricks, writing a book—whatever we choose—we should give ourselves to it. Commitment, that’s the key. Choose one chair.” Guideposts

Golf immortal Arnold Palmer recalls a lesson about overconfidence: It was the final hole of the 1961 Masters tournament, and I had a one-stroke lead and had just hit a very satisfying tee shot. I felt I was in pretty good shape. As I approached my ball, I saw an old friend standing at the edge of the gallery. He motioned me over, stuck out his hand and said, “Congratulations.” I took his hand and shook it, but as soon as I did, I knew I had lost my focus. On my next two shots, I hit the ball into a sand trop, then put it over the edge of the green. I missed a putt and lost the Masters. You don’t forget a mistake like that; you just learn from it and become determined that you will never do that again. I haven’t in the 30 years since. Carol Mann, The 19th Hole (Longmeadow), quoted in Reader’s Digest

2. Walking as wise is tricky: Walking must be accomplished in a circumspect way (akribos). It is like a circus acrobat who must concentrate on where the trapeze is so that he catches it at the right time. There are things you will need to observe and learn, and there are strategies to be employed to walk successfully.

When it comes to being on the alert and ready at any moment to do the job, it’s hard to beat the Pony Express. This historically famous mail service between St. Joseph, Missouri, and California depended on constant movement and readiness. Relay stations were established every ten to fifteen miles. A rider would shout aloud as he approached a station, giving the station master very short notice that he needed to be outside waiting with a fresh mount. Even when a rider came to the station where he was to spend the night, another rider was already mounted and waiting, ready to grab the first rider’s bundle of packages and continue the trip...When you hear that, do you get the feeling there was an intensity and focus in that organization?

3. Walking wise is unusual: The unwise (aspohos) are mentioned before the wise because there are so many of them. The call of the disciple of Jesus is to swim upstream in life, acting on the impulses of the Word – not
of the crowd. The compass must always be set on the Finisher of the faith, not the crowd in the stands!

The opposite of wisdom is folly, meaning the short-term self-indulgence which marks out the person who doesn’t think about long-term priorities and goals but lives on a day-to-day basis, asking, “What is the most fun thing to do now?” –Your Father Loves You by James Packer, (Harold Shaw Publishers, 1986), page for July 5.

Running red lights is the No. 1 cause of car crashes in American cities. Annual cost to society: $7 billion in damages, medical bills, and lost work time. The average amount of time saved by running a red light is 50 seconds. – U. S. Department of Transportation, quoted in MSC Health Action News, January, 1996

4. Walking wise is possible: We are commanded to walk “conversely” (all’) because we are enabled to do so. Marriages among believers DON’T HAVE TO FAIL – even when faced with the same set of circumstances as the world. Children don’t HAVE to walk away. Parents do HAVE to lose it in the home.

5. Walking wise is urgent: We are called to face the fact that time is slipping away fast and the moral deficiency of the day can easily overtake us! There is no time to lose. In fact, we have to buy up the days we have left, because we have wasted some of our lives on the same pursuits as those around us!

How Do I walk wisely? Six statements offer the HOW to the command. I walk wisely when..

1. I learn what God’s will is (5:17).
2. I do not allow other things to dominate my clear thinking (5:18).
3. I allow the Spirit access to all of me (5:8b).
4. I make my life about other people and encouraging them (5:19).
5. I work on my heart and its contentment and happiness (5:19b-20).
6. I revere Jesus and place myself under others (5:21).

How does this apply to the family?

1. Wives place themselves under the husbands – to do it for Jesus, obedience to His instruction, and for the sake of His Divine illustration (5:22-24).

2. Husbands love wives – for the sake of Jesus’ illustration (5:25-27) and because she was taken from him (5:28-29, in submission to the creative place of the woman.

3. The family relationships are to show eternal truths (5:30-33).

Walking wisely is setting my focus on pleasing God and serving His eternal purposes for me by learning what pleases Him in every area of life!