Walk in Wisdom
Ephesians: Speaking the Truth in Love • Sermon • Submitted
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Love->Light-> Wisdom
Love->Light-> Wisdom
story - desire and reality
Movies
It is important that we understand how profoundly we all felt the needs that religion, down the ages, has satisfied. I would suggest that these needs are of three types; firstly, the need to be given an articulation of our half-glimpsed knowledge of exaltation, of awe, of wonder; life is an awesome experience, and religion helps us understand why life so often makes us feel small, by telling us what we are smaller than; and, contrariwise, because we also have a sense of being special, of being chosen, religion helps us by telling us what we have been chosen by, and what for. Secondly, we need answer to the unanswerable: how did we get here? How did “here” get here in the first place? Is this —this brief life—all there is? How can it be? What would be the point of that? And thirdly, we need codes to live by, “rules for every [single] thing.” The idea of god is at once a repository for our awestruck wonderment at life and an answer to the great questions of existence, and a rule book, too. The soul needs all these explanations—not simply rational explanations, but explanations of the heart.
It is also important to understand how often the language of secular, rationalist materialism has failed to answer these needs. - Salmon Rushdie
Carefully pursue your purpose and your opportunities
Carefully pursue your purpose and your opportunities
All of your life - learning to live with skill
what about sin? unskillful living vs disloyal living
Making the most of the opportunity…
What is success?
fighting injustices (everywhere)
gaining stuff, living a good life
running harder after what we need to do
hitting the “wall”
know God and know yourself - grow up in grace
loving others
going to the Boundary Waters
seasons of life recognizing grace
Roles of Life- Teens on up - Friends, Learning Skills;
Seasons of Sports
By avoiding foolishness and understanding God’s will
By avoiding foolishness and understanding God’s will
Foolishness - Living without self-awareness or focused purpose vs. Skillful living that recognizes God’s rule in your life
Time Management as First Things First then as Indistractable
Grass is greener
Bigger is better
Trust your heart
Do what feels good
Understanding God’s will -
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Relationships - God and People matter
Limits - Death and Energy and Impact
Diligence in Growth - Perseverance and Hope
Trust but Verify - Wisdom - A skillful life dances in these tensions.
What am I seeking to be loyal to right now and how?
What skills in doing good am I trying to hone in my limits, my diligence, or my trust?
What season am I in? How can I tell my story about God’s grace right now?
What joys am I pursuing?
By avoiding shortcuts to joy and being filled with the Spirit
By avoiding shortcuts to joy and being filled with the Spirit
Not chaotic living
external controls to pain
alcohol is dangerous
if you use it as a shortcut to joy, you end up controlled by it rather than the other way around
Joy - a sense of good complete
Spirit is seeking to glorify Christ
Doing what you were created for
Doing what you were saved for - being a dwelling place for God
building relationship / investing in people different than yourself
Are you living life with skill? Walking in wisdom?
What’s one thing you can do this week to grow in that? Where do you need to avoid foolishness?
How can you know God’s will? What joys are you pursuing? How self aware are you of your desires?
If you were to tell a story of God’s grace right now, what would it be?
How are you setting yourself up to tell that story well?
I pray that you might know the length and breadth and depth and height of Christ’s love, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Imagine if we were all living this way, getting together and telling stories of God’s grace.