Worship Programs

Theme:

"Kingdom Power"

First Sunday in the New Year -

Sermon Outline

WALK WITH THE LORD!

Ephesians 5:8-21 (KJV)

Paul says, in Ephesians 5:14,  “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.”  This echoes Isaiah 60:1, “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.”  Paul is saying that we need to be sure that we’re alive and that we’re awake and that we’re walking with the Lord of kingdom power.  Now, we want to consider that verse in its context, and return to verse 8 where Paul says, “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light.” 

Notice that there are two points in that verse.  There’s a straightforward statement, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord” (NIV).  He’s dividing humanity into two classes of people.  He’s saying that everyone who is outside of Christ is in the condition of darkness.  Then there comes that moment when you trust in Christ as your Savior, and you move over from darkness into light.  Once you were darkness.  Now you are light in the Lord. 

Another way the Bible puts it is that before we come to Christ we are dead in trespasses and sins.  When we trust in Christ, we’re given new life.  Either we are in darkness or we are given light.  The moment you trusted in Christ, you passed from death into life.  You passed from darkness to light.  You passed from the kingdom of Satan to the kingdom of God’s dear Son!  You became a new person!  What an amazing transaction took place! 

Now, Paul says, since that has occurred, here’s what you want to do.  “Walk as children of light.”  He’s presenting us with a choice.  He’s saying that, as a believer, you have come from darkness into light.  Now you can either walk in darkness or you can walk in light.  What I want you to do is move over and walk in light! 

You’ve probably noticed that walking is Paul’s favorite metaphor for the Christian life, New Testament style.  It’s a vivid picture, and when you think about it, there are four things in the picture.       The first one is that walking involves action.  You’ve got to get up and start  moving.  There has to be some activity.  No one is walking who is sitting, passively, waiting for something to happen.  When you walk, there is some activity involve.

Secondly,  if you’re really walking, steady activity is involved.  You’re not just taking one or two steps:  you’re  really moving along as you progress in your walk.  A dedicated jogger or walker dislikes interruption.  He or she is on a mission and wants to make some progress.

Thirdly, when you are walking, you are proceeding with a specific purpose.  You may be walking to stay in shape or for cardiovascular benefit.  When you walk to stay healthy, you have a purpose in your walking.

Then, as you walk, you’ll discover that it’s really unspectacular.  You’ve probably noticed that joggers tend to have individual styles.  You’ve notice that, because running is sort of spectacular.  But walking can be just sort of plodding along.  Now Paul is saying that he wants us to walk as children of light.  He wants us to have activity.  He wants us to be steady.  He wants us to have a purpose.  And he wants us to realize that sometime sour walk may be just plain not particularly spectacular,  but it’s something that God is calling us to do.

It’s interesting to discover that in the last chapters of Ephesians, Chapters 4 – 6 Paul uses the word “walk” at least four times to describe what it means to walk in light.

1.  WALK WITH THE LORD WORITHILY

The first instance occurs in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 1, where Paul says that our walk is to be worthy.  That is, we are to walk worthy of the Lord.  “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.”  The “word “worthy” is a picture word.  Visualize a set of scales.  Here’s the picture Paul says in Ephesians 1:3 THAT God has blessed us with “all spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ.”  That’s God’s side of the scales.  Now Paul says, here’s what I want you to do.  “Live a live (walk worthy) of the calling you have received” (NIV).  He’s saying, “I want you to balance out the scales.  I want you to recognize that God has so abundantly blessed you that the only proper response is for you to try to walk in a way that is pleasing unto the Lord.  I want you to balance out the scales.”

During the life of Napoleon, there was an artist named Donegar.  Napoleon went to Donegar and asked him to paint a picture of the Greek goddess Venus.  But Donegar told him he couldn’t do that.  Napoleon offered to pay him as much as he desired, but Donegar said he couldn’t paint it no matter how much he would be paid.  Napoleon persisted and said that he would hang the painting the Louvre in Paris.  It would assure his fame.  Donegar told him it mattered not how famous he might become, he would not paint the picture.  Napoleon then told him he had the power to command him to paint the picture and he could make it difficult for him to see his other paintings.    Said Napoleon,  “ You mean you won’t paint it for money.  You won’t paint it for fame.  You won’t paint it at my command.  Why won’t you paint the picture?”  This was Donegar’s answer:  “This hand has painted the person of Jesus Christ, and I will never lower this hand to paint a picture of the goddess Venus/”

Do you get the principle?  God has blessed him with every spiritual blessing, and he was going to make sure that his walk was worthy of that blessing that God had given to him.  He would not allow anything to compromise what he knew God was calling him to do.

A walk in light will be a walk that is worthy of the call you have received from God.  That’s the first thing we learn from this test.

2.  WALK WITH THE LORD RESPONSIBLY

The second  mention of a walk in light is found in Ephesians 4:17, where Paul says, “This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind.”  He’s saying, “You’re not in that group anymore.  I don’t want you to walk like them ‘in the futility of their thinking” (NIV).  I want you to walk differently than they walk.  

You can tell what a Christian is able to do by what God tells him or her not to do.  If you wonder whether or not Christians can do bad things.  He wouldn’t tell them not to do bad things if they weren’t highly capable of doing bad things.  Paul says on God’s behalf, “You can walk like the other Gentiles walk, but I don’t want you to do that.   What I want you to do is to walk in a new distinctive lifestyle. “  He gives at least four incentives for walking like that.

The word “therefore” in verse 17 relates to the preceding  verses of the chapter.  If you walk in a way that is worthy of the Lord, you’ll realize that you’re responsible not just as an individual but also as one who is part of a community.  Chapter 4, verses 1-16 is about the body.  Those who understand that they walk with the Lord in unity are those who are concerned about the body, and not dividing or tearing it apart.  There is a sense in which they are committed to the body and not to themselves.  That’s walking in KINGDOM POWER!

Another incentive is that this is not Paul’s idea.  He says, “This I say…in the Lord.”  He’s saying, “It’s the Lord who told me to say this to you.”  Again, it’s choosing the Lord versus selfishness.  The third incentive he gives is that the walk of the Gentiles is basically futile or ineffective.  He says, “Walk not as Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind.”

He’s saying that there are two ways to think about life.  There is the godly way and the ungodly way.  The godly way of thinking about life was taught by Jesus.  “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness”  (Matthew 6:33).  The ungodly way is to seek you own will and whatever you desire.  The godly way of thinking says that whoever loses his life will save it.  The ungodly way of thinking says, I’ll do it my way.   I’ll live the way I choose.”  The Bible says when you do that, you lose it.

The godly way of thinking says it’s better to give than to receive.  The ungodly way says you only go around once in life, so grab all that you can for as long as you can.  It’s the difference between looking at life through the divine viewpoint and the human viewpoint, either as God looks at it or as we may be inclined to look at it.

Paul says you can take that category called “human viewpoint,” and you can write one word across it, and that one word is “futility.”  It may appear to be productive.  It may seem for the moment to be satisfying.  There is pleasure in sin for a season, but it’s short-lived.  It has nothing of eternity in it.  It’s useless, it’s worthless in its viewpoint.

Paul suggests yet another incentive to walk in a non-worldly manner.  He talks about our response to Christ.  “But ye have not so learned Christ,”  he says in verse 20, and continue in verse 24, “yet put on the new man , which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”  He’s saying, “Look at what has happened to you, you’ve put off the old man and put on the new.  Be renewed in your mind to walk like a new person.”

A pastor greeted a man one Sunday after church service.  He knew this man to be a computer analyst and also a regular church attendee.  Said the man to his pastor, “I’ll not be in the church next Sunday because I’m going to be involved in a conversion.”  The pastor replied, “Conversion, that’s my word, a preacher’s  word: that’s not your word.  What do you mean conversion?”  “Our company is changing all of our computers,” the analyst replied.  “We’re getting new equipment with new hardware and software, and we’re going to do a conversion.  That’s what I mean by conversion.”

The pastor said, “That’s interesting, because that’s what happens in Christianity.  Whenever you trust in Christ, the old man who is corrupt has to go. And you become renewed in your mind.  Now you can put off the old computer, but that doesn’t make any difference if you don’t learn how to use it.  If you don’t function in the new equipment, it doesn’t matter how sophisticated or how new it is.”

And that’s what God is saying.  When you come to Christ, you put off that old computer, as it were.  You put on a new computer,  but you now use it by being renewed in the spirit of your mind, not thinking as the Gentiles think but thinking in a godly manner.  That’s a walk worthy of the Lord, to say I’m going to make sure that my thinking begins to change.  I’m going to have a new program being worked out in my experience. 

3.  WALK WITH THE LORD IN LOVE

There’s a third matter involved in our walk in light.  It’s a walk in love.  “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savior” (Ephesians 5:1,2).   Walk in love, and when you do, remember that the standard is that Christ loved us and gave himself for us.  That’s a heavy thought, that Christ would love us enough to give His life for us. 

A house caught fire a few years ago while the family was asleep.  The daughter was not home, but had returned just in time to see the house engulfed in flames.  She knew something had to be done quickly, so she ran into the house, awakened her brother and younger sister and helped them to get out of the house to safety.  She ran back into the house where her parents were sleeping.  She awakened them.  Her father managed to get out the front door; her mother climbed out a back window to safety.  Before the young woman could get out, she was asphyxiated by the smoke and burned to death.  Just 18 years old, she loved people, and she loved her family enough that, when it came time to choose her life or the lives of her family, she chose the lives of loved ones.  She chose to die so that they could live.  She chose to sacrifice herself on their behalf.

There are all kinds of sacrifice.  It might be the ultimate sacrifice of giving a life.  Or it might be a lesser sacrifice, of time or money or encouragement.  Sacrificing is walking in love so that we might be an encouragement to someone else.  Isn’t that what it’s all about?  Someone who is really walking in the light is going to be willing to make those sacrifices to be sure that other people are going to be supported and encouraged.  Wrote the hymn-writer, Charles Wesley, “Help us to help each, Lord, each other’s cross to bear; let each his friendly aid afford, and feel his brother’s care.  Help us to build each other up, our little stock improve; increase our faith, confirm our hope, and perfect us in love.”

4.  WALK WITH THE LORD CIRCUMSPECTLY

Paul has one more thing to say about walking in light.  “See then that you walk circumspectly (carefully), not as fools, but as wise” (5:15).  The Greek word for “circumspect” is equivalent to “acrobat.”  He’s saying we should walk through life acrobatically.  Have you ever been to a circus to see high-wire performers?  Have you watched as they walked from one perch to another on that slender length of wire?  You wondered how they were going to make it.  You became aware that, although you were intently watching them, they were not watching  you.  They had their eyes fixed on the other end of that wire, and they were focused on the way in which they were going.  They were walking carefully so that they would not fall off the high wire. 

That’s the picture.  See that you walk carefully, not as a foolish person but as a wise person.  That means grasping every opportunity to witness for Christ, “redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (5:16).  A wise person is one who lives with an authentic focus for reaching lost people and touching people for Christ because they know that the days are evil and time is short. 

In the 14th chapter of Matthew we have an illustration of the Christian life.  Peter is in a boat with the other disciples and they see an apparition coming to them, walking on the water.  It’s Jesus, and He says to Peter, “Come.”  Peter gets out of the boat and starts to walk on the water to go to Jesus.  He suddenly feels the spray hitting him in the face.  He hears the wind howling around him.  He becomes afraid, and down he goes. 

Now, here’s the key principle.  The moment of danger is the moment of distraction.  The moment we get distracted from the Lord, and He no longer is the object of our focus, that’s the moment when we are in serious danger in the Christian life. 

Peter began to sink.  Fortunately he had presence of mind to say, “Lord, save me.”  And when he said those three words, the Lord reached over and picked him up out of the water and brought him to safety.  That’s a picture of the Christian life.  Keep your eyes on Jesus.  Walk carefully, circumspectly, not letting yourself get dragged down by circumstances.  Keep your eyes on Jesus. 

Let’s go back to Ephesians 5:8 where Paul says, “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light.”  It may make a little more sense to us now.  That’s our position.  You were in darkness.  When you came to Christ you became light in the Lord.  Now he says, “Walk as children of light.”  So now we have a choice.  We can walk in the light or we can walk in the darkness.

The beloved hymn-writer, Fanny Crosby, issued this challenge:

So near to the Kingdom! yet what does thou lack?

So near to the Kingdom! what keepeth thee back?

Renounce every idol, though dear it may be,

And come to the Savior now pleading with thee!

In Ephesians 5:14, Paul says, “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.”  He seems to be saying that a lot of Christians look as though they are dead even though they are alive.  Walk in the light, and Christ will shine upon you.  Walk worthily of the Lord.  Walk in a non-worldly way.  Don’t follow the pattern of unbelievers.  Walk in love and walk circumspectly. 

Do you know where you will be 100 years from now?  We’ll all be somewhere.  I trust we’ll be with Jesus, walking in the kingdom of God.  Jesus loves us, and He wants us to be with Him in eternity. 

Be there!