Walk in Wisdom Part 2

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. If we want to walk in wisdom, we have to keep our purpose in sharp focus. Through Christ's work, God grants us a stewardship, a beautiful opportunity to glorify God for His great redemptive work. We can't lose sight of that purpose or of the one we serve.

Keeping our eyes on our Lord Jesus and His purposes enables us to live out this life fully for His glory. Let's listen in on this message titled, Walk in Wisdom. This is the second part of the message first preached on November 19, 2017. The church has made a big mistake and it's one reason why the church is so anemic and uninfluential in our world today is because in the whole revolution of the 50s and 60s and 70s, the church by and large simply reacted to the culture instead of engaging it. And we've been fighting all the wrong wars ever since.

And that has made the church anemic and having very, very little influence in our culture today. So we are to redeem the time to live well according to design and purpose, meaning that instead of reacting, we engage, we do so by planting seeds of truth. And in whatever we're engaging, we point to Him. That's another way of saying we glorify Him. For me to glorify God means that through my words, through my actions, through my attitudes, I point to Him because He is the point. That's how I redeem the time. That's how I make the best use of the time in the context of evil days. I point to Him in responses to people, to adversities, to blessings, in conversations. I point to Him.

How do I do that? By making God's grace a normal part of my conversation with other people. Don't be ashamed. It's a beautiful thing. And some people might sneer. Some people might walk away. Some might say, well, that's nice for you and pat you on the head.

And others will say, wow, that's beautiful. I wonder what you mean by that. Whose opinion are you living for after all? So understand that life is a stewardship. Yes, we live in a context of brokenness, but it is a stewardship to live well and manage well, not as unwise, but wise. And secondly, now let's look at verse 17. Secondly, first of all, life living well, living in whiz, walking in wisdom means life is a stewardship. Secondly, it means we need to stay focused. Verse 17, therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Stay focused. Stay focused. Why is it necessary for this to be for us in the Word of God?

Because you ready for this? You and I are easily distracted by two things, by abundance and by adversity. We are easily distracted by both of these. When it's abundance, we say, oh, life is good and I don't need God. Or when adversity comes, I can become distracted by that and say, God, where are you? Do you know what you're doing?

What is that? That's distraction. God is good. There is never a time that God is not good. And when I judge the goodness of God by the comfort of my circumstances, I am living a syncretistic faith.

It is a weak faith. I need to know God according to his self-disclosure, so I need to stay focused, not distracted by abundance or adversity. This is what the adversary tried to do to Job.

You understand that? Job was a very wealthy man, a lot of kids, a lot of things. And the adversary comes before God and he says, and God says, have you considered my servant Job? And he says, yeah, yeah, yeah, but you've got this hedge of protection around him. He's got everything he wants. Of course he's going to worship you.

He's distracted by his abundance. You take it all away from him and see what he does. What if God allowed Satan to do that to you?

How would you do? I want you to ask yourself that question because I believe sometimes it still happens. Where does your pleasure, where does your satisfaction come from?

Does it come from stuff? But you know, Satan also believed that Job would be distracted by adversity because he gave him adversity, didn't he? He took all his stuff away, all of it, children, things, everything, took it all. And then he says, touch his body, make him miserable physically. And that's what he did.

And what does his wife think? Curse God and die. She was distracted by adversity. You see, that's exactly what the adversary wants to think of us and that he knows that we have a propensity to be distracted away from God by abundance and adversity. And so this is why the apostle says in verse 17, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. In other words, stay focused.

How do you do that? Well, you don't act on impulse. You don't act impulsively to the circumstances of the day. He says, don't be foolish.

To be foolish is to act without thought of consequence or impact on others. It is merely following your feelings, your passions, your appetite. That's what animals do.

They simply follow their appetites and their impulses. You are not animal. You are created in God's image and you can think about what you are thinking. And that's what we're called to do here. Don't act simply on impulse. We need to learn, once again, relearn the art of delayed gratification because we need to discipline and inform our desires. That's what it means to not act on impulse.

So he said, don't be foolish, he says. In other words, don't simply act on impulse because that's what foolishness is. Children are born with that problem, you know. That's why they need parents so desperately to teach them principle and precepts.

Teach them the character and the purpose of God. Instead of, by staying focused, instead of acting on impulse, we act according to infinite purpose. That's in God's self-disclosure, what God has made known to us. He says, understand what the will of the Lord is. May I make a very clear statement to you this morning? Understand what the will of the Lord is. Do you understand that that is an imperative? You understand what the will of the Lord is.

And here it is. It is not a mystery. God's will for you is not a mystery.

He never intended it to be a mystery. Numerous times in scriptures, we are commanded to know and understand what the will of God is. So where do we find it? It's in his Word. It's written. His will is his Word. His will is his Word. I'm borrowing that from James McDonald this week.

I heard it on the radio. It's exactly right. His will is his Word. Know it.

Know it. If you're confused about the will of God, it's because you're probably not enough in the Word of God. So you need to know the Word of God.

You need to inform your heart and mind with it. You see, because God's purpose is in life. God's purpose is your mission in life.

So engage your work, your family, your leisure in line with his Word. Because again, getting back to success. What is success? It is realized purpose. Realized purpose. How do I know? What informs me about what my purpose is? God's self-disclosure does. I need to know it.

I need to know it well. And it needs to be constantly informing my heart and mind. So that's how I need to stay focused. I need to stay focused in God's self-disclosure. That is walking in wisdom, understanding stewardship, and staying focused with my heart and mind informed by God's revelation of himself to me. That keeps me focused and understanding that success is realized purpose. So again, how do you define success? This paragraph is the definition of a successful life.

And you know what? Success isn't something that happens down the road or in the future. You are called to be successful when you are done today.

You can do this today. Are you successful today? And successive days, successful days, successful days, successful days, you will have a successful life in terms of God's economy. This is what he designed us for. Thirdly, verses 18 to 21. These are very, very well-known verses to us, aren't they? Verse 18, do not be drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

There is a lot packed in to those few verses. And I'm going to entitle it this way, because this is the third part of what it means to walk in wisdom, a successful life. Number one, understanding stewardship. Number two, staying focused, your heart and mind informed by the Word of God, not acting impulsively, but staying focused. And then thirdly, stay captivated by His Spirit.

Stay captivated by His Spirit. Peter T. Forsyth said, the first duty of every man is to find not his freedom, but his master. That is a true statement, because you, by definition, are a contingent being. You are not, repeat, you are not the master of your destiny.

You do not belong to yourself. Your life is a stewardship, and until you understand that, you will fail at life. So stay captivated by His Spirit. And he says, not debauchery, that's the term in the ESV here, dissipation, do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery. There was a lot of that going on in Ephesus, and a lot of that, you know, people were being transformed, and they were bringing their old habits, you know, and the Lord was transforming them.

So there were a lot of people that were really struggling with this issue. And so he says, do not get drunk with wine, that is being controlled by a substance. He says, don't do that.

Why? It's debauchery. What does debauchery mean?

Well, again, that's not a word we use on a common basis, right? That's debauchery. It means you're being reckless. Debauchery means recklessness.

It means you are acting with an utter lack of thought. Have you ever seen somebody drunk? It's okay, you can admit it. Have you ever been drunk? You can admit that too.

This is grace, Bible Church. What happens, what does a person like when they're drunk? Oh, they like everything.

Yeah. They're in a sense, they're indifferent, right? Nothing really matters to them. That's why they like everything, right? But they can also be pretty arrogant, can't they?

And why is that? Because something is in control of them. This is what recklessness is.

This is what debauchery is. We're so glad you've joined us for Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. You can hear this message and others anytime by visiting our website, www.delightingrace.com. You can also check out Pastor Rich's book, Seven Words That Can Change Your Life, where he unpacks from God's Word the very purpose for which you were designed. Seven Words That Can Change Your Life is available wherever books are sold. As always, tune in to Delight in Grace weekdays at 10 a.m.