A WALK ON THE WISE SIDE: UPROOTING FOOLISHNESS

(Ephesians 5:15-17)

We are looking at Ephesians 5:15-17 under the title, “A Walk on the Wise
Side.” We found a wonderful verse in Romans 16:19: “I want you to be
wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil.” That is the lesson
of the verses before us in Ephesians 5. A fellow named Mike is on his first
day as a lawyer at his new firm. He does a little decorating and about mid-
morning he sees someone coming toward his office and decides to impress
his visitor by looking busy. He picks up the phone and starts talking:
“Look, Cramer, about that syndication deal. I think I better run over to CBS
and handle it personally. Yes. No. No, I don’t think three million will swing
it. We better have Silverman from Dean Witter meet us there. OK. Call you
back later.” He looks up at the visitor and says, “Good morning, how may I
help you?” And the visitor says, “Oh, I don’t need anything. I’m just here
to hook up your new phone.” The joke was on him.

The question is, are we playing the fool in our spiritual life? Faking out
everyone including ourselves. Going through elaborate motions to no avail.
That is what Paul is trying to help us avoid when he says in Eph 5:15,
“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16) making
the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17) Therefore do not be
foolish.” Don’t be foolish. That is the second command to help us walk
wisely. We looked at the first last week – make the best use of time. Spend
every moment as though God were looking over your shoulder, for – He is.
I. Use Time Wisely
II. Uproot Foolishness

Now, secondly, avoid foolishness. Don’t play the fool! Imagine arriving at
the end of this earthly life only to find that the joke was on you. It can
happen. It can happen so easily. Just an average life is likely to end in this
result. Set your mind on things above.

There are a couple of things we should notice about Paul’s instruction, “Do
not be foolish.” First, we would note that this is a command. That means –
we control this. Sometimes, we take it that foolishness is something that
people are born with (some people – not us), and that there is nothing to be
done for it. If you are a fool, you are a fool, and so much the worse for you.
But the fact that God makes it a command not to be foolish indicates that it
is a condition that can be overcome and we are expected to do so.
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Second, it is a present tense command. A literal translation: “Keep on not
being foolish.” Or “Do not make a habit of being foolish.” The implication
is one could make progress one day and slip back into foolishness the next.
Sounding familiar? It’s a constant battle.

Third, this is addressed to believers. The implication: a genuine believer

could be living a life of foolishness. In this regard, please note the
introductory word, “therefore.” As we so often see in Scripture,
introductory words are important. Whenever we see the word “therefore”
we need to ask what it is there for, because it is certainly there for a
purpose. As we have seen before, “therefore” is a hinge word. It points us
back to something that came before. Here the context best starts at verse
15, ““Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16)
making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17) Therefore
(therefore, because the days are evil – therefore) do not be foolish.”

What’s the point? Even as Christians, it is possible for us to play the fool –
as a habit. In evil days, that is going to be the natural tendency. If we were
a Christian now living in heaven, the natural tendency would be different.
In sinless perfection, the natural tendency would be toward good. But we
are not there. We are here. And here, the days are evil. The natural
tendency is downward. If I set my pen up here in thin air, what happens? It
tends to go to the ground, right? If I do it again, what happens? There it
goes again. I would rather it just sat there or went up, but it always goes
down. Gravity, it turns out, is a relentless force. And the evil of the evil
days is also a relentless force, constantly pulling us down – THEREFORE,
Paul says, therefore, you must work at not being foolish. It will not come
natural. You must work at it.

Now – how does one not be foolish? Well, read on in verse 17, “Therefore
do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” The way to
not be foolish is to know what the will of God is. If you are following
someone else’s will, you stand a good chance of being foolish. If you are
following your own will, you stand a good chance of being foolish. But if
you follow the will of God, you will be walking wisely. So, how do we
know what the will of God is? Good question, and we will look at that in
two parts. This week, what it is not. Ways that we can be foolish. Next
week, what is the will of God and how we can understand it? But today,
what are characteristics of a fool? Opposite of the will of God.
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 A. Lives like there is no God

Let us start with a basic principle. Psalm 14:1: “The fool says in his heart,
“There is no God.”. This is a principle that is repeated in Psalm 53:1 just in
case we didn’t get it. You say, “Well, that is well and good, but I am a
believer. I believe in God, so I am happy to report that I am not a fool.”
And I would say, “Very good. I am glad that you believe in God. That is
certainly better than not believing in God. But now let me ask you this.
What difference does it make? What difference does it make in your daily
life that God exists?” “So you believe in God. So what? Where, when
and how in your life does it matter that you believe in God.” Here is the
question – “What is the difference between the atheist and the person who
believes in God, but lives as though He did not exist?” It is possible to
believe in God and still be a practical atheist – that is someone whose life is
rarely, if ever, touched by God’s existence. That would be foolish – but
that defines many a Christian life – at least supposedly Christian life.

Tiger Woods got a very successful career in golf; then he courted a

beautiful young woman and got married; then, although we did not know it,
nor did she, he basically went on living as though she did not exist, except
as a mother to his children and an occasional diversion from a life that went
on just as it had before he was married. He said in one of his confessionals,
“I ran straight through the boundaries that a married couple should live
by. I thought I could get away with whatever I wanted to. I felt that I had
worked hard my entire life and deserved to enjoy all the temptations
around me. I felt I was entitled. Thanks to money and fame, I didn’t have
to go far to find them. I was wrong. I was foolish.”

A self-confessed fool. Just like a Christian who has a relationship with a

holy and loving God and yet lives as though that God did not exist except
when they want Him for their own convenience. God to such people is
basically a Fire Insurance Policy and a Crisis Manager. They reference
Him for salvation and then when things really get tough, but the rest of the
time He did is ignored. Practical atheists.

What good does it do to believe in God but never pray? What good does it
do to believe in God but panic at every hardship that comes along? What
good is it to believe in God, but not believe that He is available to me?
What good is it to believe in God, but never give Him worship, time,
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adoration, thanksgiving, obedience, honor or praise? What good is it to
believe in God but never confess sin? What good is it to believe in God but
live as though His commandments were mere suggestions that I can take or
leave as I want? What good is it to believe in God and only approach Him
during crisis – exactly as avowed atheists do – for they inevitably do. If my
life is no different from theirs, am I not just as much a fool as they are?

The Bible says in II Cor 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new

creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” If the new
isn’t evident in our life on a daily basis in things big and little, we are
living the life of fool. A preacher with hammer in hand, doing some work
on a church workday, noticed that one of the men seemed to be following
him around. Finally the preacher asked why. The man answered, “I just
want to hear what you say when you hit our thumb.” So – what do you
say when you hit your thumb? Do we live like God is real? Do the little
things of life throw us into a tailspin, or do we know that God is in control,
confess our sin and get joy back into our heart? Is God real to us? Foolish
people live as though God doesn’t exist except as a convenience. But to
live like that will be to find that the joke is on you.

B. Lives With Limited Faith

Here is another sign that we may be living foolishly. It is when we live

with limited faith. A good example is those disciples heading home to
Emmaus on the Sunday following the death of Christ. Heads down, hearts
heavy, unexpected happenings, so they had lost faith. Do we lose faith
when things don’t go as we expect? That is a sign that our faith is too
small. When Jesus caught up with Clopas and his companion, they didn’t
recognize Him. They told him their plight and the hopeful reports of the
morning about an empty tomb, but it was too incredible for them. They
were on their way home.

It was then that Jesus said these devastating words to them in Luke 24:25-
27, “And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all
that the prophets have spoken! 26) Was it not necessary that the Christ should
suffer these things and enter into his glory?” 27) And beginning with Moses
and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things
concerning himself.” Do you see Jesus’ point? It is not enough to believe
that part of the Bible that is easy. It is not enough to have faith in the good
times only. If our faith does not sustain us in the difficult times – those
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times when it looks for all the world like Christ is dead and gone – if our
faith is not good for the tough times, then we are living foolishly.

God didn’t quit being God because it got hard. But admit it, we live like He
did. We pray for a new job, and then things get worse on the one we have.
What’s our first inclination? Where is God? He’s AWOL? Why doesn’t
He care? Beloved, that is the fool speaking. God didn’t go anywhere. He
is as alive and as loving and as caring and, here’s the key, He is as active,
as active on your behalf, as He was in the best moment in your life. You
don’t see it yet, and it sure doesn’t look that way, but whatever He is doing
is absolutely the best thing possible for you. Where is our faith? I’ll tell
you where it is. It is stuck in the good times! But anyone can believe in
the good times. It takes a maturity to believe when everything is going
south. That’s when we find out what we are made of.

Don’t foolishly forget to believe all that the prophets have spoken. And one
of the things they have spoken is this: “And we know that for those who
love God all things work together for good, for those who are called
according to his purpose.” Listen, victory is coming. We don’t know
when and we don’t know how, but it is coming. It may be in this life and it
may be in the next – but it coming. We must believe. Faith hangs on.

Most of you are aware of Joni Eareckson Tada. She’s a beautiful woman
who has been a paraplegic since an accident at age 16 left her totally
dependent on others for the necessities of everyday life. She says, “When I
stumbled into my first big trial as a new Christian, I wonder just where
the love of God had gone. People spoke of God's love helping me through
hard times, yet I could not shake the mental image of him leaning against
some ivory wall in heaven, casually thumbing in the direction of the
cross. "That says it all," I imagined him say.” Is that how God seems to
you sometimes? Then you need to know this from Psalm 103:17 “But the
steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who
fear him.” I mean, is that good or what? No matter what it looks like; no
matter what it feels like; not matter how dismal the prospects, our heavenly
Father loves us with a steadfast, everlasting, determined love that never
stops. Joni goes on to say, “In the day when it's fashionable to appear
cool, bored, uncaring, and detached, we cannot afford to doubt the
enthusiastic, all-encompassing love of God. His compelling love
surrounds us every minute. He's in front of us, behind us, relentlessly
pouring his love into our lives. What madness! What a passion for our
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souls! How can we be half-hearted toward our circumstances -- toward
others -- when He loves us so?” Doubt is simply a sign of foolishness.
God says, “Do not be foolish.” Don’t let your faith be stuck in the good
times! When you doubt, the joke is on you!

C. Lives for Material Things

Fools live for material things. They live like here and now is all there is.
They may not believe that, but that is what they live like. We find Jesus’
comment in Luke 12:16-21: “And he told them a parable, saying, “The land
of a rich man produced plentifully, 17) and he thought to himself, ‘What shall
I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18) And he said, ‘I will do this: I
will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my
grain and my goods. 19) And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample
goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ 20) But God said to
him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have
prepared, whose will they be?’ 21) So is the one who lays up treasure for
himself and is not rich toward God.”

You know what this is – that is living for retirement. Storing up. Making
sure there is enough, but, of course, there is never enough. Now – let me
make clear, I am not suggesting we should not plan for retirement, but for
this person, that is the entire goal. Their trust in reality, whatever they may
profess it to be, is in things. They are not rich toward God, but only toward
self. They carefully measure out their giving, if they give at all, to make
sure it does not threaten the security of their remaining 15, 20 or 30 years,
and they forget all about the 30 million years that are coming after that.
When you say it like that, it isn’t hard to see the foolishness, is it?

See, I think most of us don’t think we have to worry about that next 30
million years. We don’t think we can do anything about that. But that
explicitly is not what God says. It is not only possible to invest in your
heavenly future; it is advisable. Jesus Himself said in Matt 6:19, “Do not
lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and
where thieves break in and steal, 20) but lay up for yourselves treasures in
heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not
break in and steal. 21) For where your treasure is, there your heart will be
also.” How much more clear could He be? What we do here and now
affects eternity. Only a fool would ignore that fact, right? To walk wisely

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is to be rich toward God, not toward self. In my view, it’s the area where
we are most likely of all to be living like fools!

Adrian Rogers tells about a man who loved gold. To his delight, he
inherited a fortune. With joy he redecorated his bedroom. Gold parchment
wallpaper. Yellow curtains. A golden colored rug and a yellow bedspread.
He even bought some yellow pajamas. But then he got sick and came down
with, of all things, yellow jaundice. His wife called the doctor who came
out and went up to that bedroom for an examination. The doctor was there a
long while. When he came down, the wife asked, "How is he?" "Don’t
know," said the doctor. "I couldn’t find him!"

Is it possible that people can’t distinguish between you and your “stuff.”
Listen, when your identity is so tied up in the “stuff” that people can’t tell
you from them, you may be living foolishly. Be wise, Beloved. Invest in
eternity. You can’t take it with you, but you can send it on ahead, and that
is a wise thing. Otherwise, the day will come when the joke is on you.

D. Lives For Externals

Then there are the legalists who think you can be whatever you want inside
as long as you put on a good façade. It’s all outward. There is a fascinating
passage in Luke 11:37-41: “ While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked
him to dine with him, so he went in and reclined at table. 38) The Pharisee
was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner. 39) And the
Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of
the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40) You fools! Did
not he who made the outside make the inside also? 41) But give as alms those
things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you.” Jesus at
dinner with a Pharisee? That is news in itself, right? Pharisees were not
exactly members of the Jesus fan club. Nevertheless, He got invited. So he
went and he reclined at table – but, he missed the memo about hand-
washing. One the 600 additions Pharisees made to the law and kept
religiously to obtain favor with God. To fail of one of these prescriptions
was anathema to them – and Jesus had done exactly that.

This was a purposeful act on the part of Jesus. He had a very important
point to make. When the Pharisee challenged him on the fact that He had
not washed, he laid himself open and Jesus sprung, ““Now you Pharisees
cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of
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greed and wickedness. 40) You fools! Did not he who made the outside make
the inside also?” I didn’t forget. You guys forget. It’s what’s inside that
counts. You’re all about the outside. You never make a mistake outwardly,
but inwardly you are shrunken vestiges of manhood – filled with greed,
hatred, dishonor, vengeance and wickedness. The joke is on you – because
the same one who made the outside that you are totally consumed with is
the same one who made the inside that you ignore. They had forgotten
one of the most striking verses in the Bible found in I Samuel 16:7.

Remember the story? God sent Samuel to the house of Jesse anoint a
replacement for Saul as king of Israel. Saul had failed and been rejected.
When Samuel arrived, he took one look at Jesse’s firstborn – Eliab – and
thought, “Well, there he is. How wise of God. This man looks every inch a
king. This has to be the Lord’s anointed.” Then comes verse 7, “But the
Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his
stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees:
man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
Beloved, listen closely. You must understand this. It is never about the
outward. Never. We may never gain God’s favor by outward acts alone.
They are only meaningful as they reflect a heart of worship and adoration
and love. It is what is inside that counts. Miss that point and we are just as
foolish as were the Pharisees.

The City of New York has had occasional strikes by garbage workers.
When that happens, things get ripe fast. I love how one guy beat the
system. Each morning he carefully gift-wrapped his garbage. Then he left
the “presents” in his unlocked car. Every single day when he returned, they
were gone – stolen by a fool attracted to outward appearance.

But we can’t fool God, can we? He can smell legalistic duty a mile away.
He knows who is here to worship Him and who is here to see and be seen.
He knows who gives from a heart of worship and who merely wants a tax
write-off. He knows who helps out of a heart of love and who merely wants
to make points to barter later. God knows it all, Beloved. It’s what is inside
that counts and that is where He is looking at all times.

So, let us uproot the foolishness from our lives and rid ourselves of Godless
living, faith that only works in good times, undue concentration on material
things and the sordid idea that we can distract God from a rebellious heart
by some external action. Shakespeare wisely said, “The fool doth think he
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is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.” Identify the
foolishness in your life. Confess it. Walk wisely! Don’t let the joke be on
you. Let’s pray.

III.Understand God’s Will

II Peter 2:15 – links God’s will with doing good. Rom 16:19 links
wisdom with doing good.

“understand” -- “Understanding” suggests using our minds to

discover and do the will of God. Too many Christians have the idea
that discovering God’s will is a mystical experience that rules out
clear thinking. But this idea is wrong—and dangerous. We discover
the will of God as He transforms the mind (Rom. 12:1–2); and this
transformation is the result of the Word of God, prayer, meditation,
and worship. If God gave you a mind, then He expects you to use it.
This means that learning His will involves gathering facts,
examining them, weighing them, and praying for His wisdom
(James 1:5). God does not want us simply to know His will; He
wants us to understand His will. (Wiersbe)
• Believers are exhorted to understand the divine will, even
though God has already made it known (1:9). The apostle is
not suggesting that the readers have no insight into this will.
Rather, in a paraenetic context he is admonishing them to
appropriate it more fully for themselves. God has revealed to
them the mystery of his will in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let
them lay hold of it and understand its implications for their
day-to-day living (O’Brien, p. 384)
• The cognitive dimension is clearly included, but in true
Hebraic fashion the believers’ understanding of God’s
gracious saving plan is to lead to right conduct. In fact, living
in a godly and blameless fashion is an essential element of
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 the will of God since this was the goal of the readers’
election in Christ (1:4, 5). Because the divine plan has to do
with the summing up of all things in him (1:9, 10) and the
formation of a people in the Creator’s image who bear the
family likeness (cf. 4:24), wise and careful behaviour is part
and parcel of the divine will. (O’Brien, p. 384)
• I have a friend who sits on many Christian boards, and he
has become somewhat skeptical of movements that promise
to do something or other for God. When he speaks of
wisdom he says that in his judgment, “Wisdom consists in
perceiving where God is going and then jumping on his
bandwagon.”
I think this is what Paul is saying. The fool, with whom he
contrasts the man of understanding, is being led astray into
one “promising” program after another and so dissipates
both time and energy. The wise man weighs these programs
and strives to set a course through them in the direction he
[Page 188] perceives God to be leading. This wisdom is
particularly necessary for the leadership of churches in our
day. The programs available to church leaders for growth,
renewal, evangelism, media exposure, fund-raising, and such
things are multiple, and not every program can be used.
Which should be chosen? Which should be rejected? It takes
wisdom to perceive God’s direction for a particular church
and follow it without deviation. (Boice, p. 187)

• God’s will for our lives is first of all to belong to Him

through Jesus Christ. His first and primary will for every
person is that he be saved and brought into the family and
kingdom of God (1 Tim. 2:3–4). God’s will is also that we
be Spirit–filled. As Paul went on to teach in the following
verse, we are not to “get drunk with wine, for that is
dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18).
We experience God’s will by being sanctified. “This is the
will of God, your sanctification” (1 Thess. 4:3), Paul said.
And we enjoy His will through proper submission to other
men. “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human
institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to
governors as sent by him for the punishment of evil–doers
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 and the praise of those who do right. For such is the will of
God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of
foolish men” (1 Pet. 2:13–15). Likewise we are to be
submissive to leaders in the church: “Obey your leaders, and
submit to them; for they keep watch over your souls, as those
who will give an account” (Heb. 13:17).
God’s will may include suffering. “If when you do what is
right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor
with God” (1 Pet. 2:20; cf. 3:17; 5:10). God’s will
culminates in believers’ giving thanks no matter what. “In
everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in
Christ Jesus” (1 Thess. 5:18).
When a person is saved, sanctified, submissive, suffering,
and thankful, he is already in God’s will. “Delight yourself
in the Lord; and He will give you the [Page 227] desires of
your heart” (Ps. 37:4), David tells us. In other words, when
we are what God wants us to be, He is in control and our will
is merged with His will, and He therefore gives us the
desires He has planted in our hearts.
• Jesus is our supreme example for fulfilling the commands of
Ephesians (MacArthur, p. 226)

IV. Unleash the Holy Spirit

A. Resign Riotous Sinfulness

Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones, writing both as a physician and a pastor,

compares and contrasts the two states of drunkenness and the Spirit’s
fullness. He says, ‘Wine – alcohol - …pharmacologically speaking is not
a stimulant - it is a depressant. Take up any book on pharmacology and
look up ‘alcohol’, and you will find, always, that it is classified among
the depressants. Further, ‘it depresses first and formost the highest
centres of the brain…They control everything that gives a man self-
control, wisdom, understanding, discrimination, judgement, balance,
the power to assess everything; in other words everything that makes a
man behave at his best ad highest’. What the Holy Spirit does, however,
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is the exact opposite. ‘If it were possible to put the Holy Spirit into a
textbook of Pharmacology, I would put him under the stimulants, for
that is where he belongs. He really is a stimulant…He stimulates our
every faculty…the mind and the intellect…the heart…and the will…

“O stranger who passest this the tomb of Anacreon, pour libation over
me in going by; for I am a drinker of wine.” Epitaph on an ancient
Greek tombstone

B. Revel in Resplendent Submission

Paul tells us to live victoriously and to avoid excesses of the flesh. Moody
once illustrated this truth as follows: “Tell me,” he said to his audience,
“How can I get the air out of this glass?” One man said, “Suck it out with a
pump.” Moody replied, “That would create a vacuum and shatter the glass.”
After many impossible suggestions, Moody smiled, picked up a pitcher of
water, and filled the glass. “There,” he said, “all the air is now removed.”
He then went on to show that victory in the Christian life is not by “sucking
out a sin here and there,” but rather by being filled with the Spirit.
—Mrs. Ruby Miller

C. Relish Resulting Sparkle

1. Uplifting song

2. Unimpeded Worship

3. Unending thanksgiving
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Reasons to be Thankful
Eph 5:20, Col 3:17, 1 Thess 5:18, 2 Thess 1:3

I am Thankful :

FOR THE WIFE WHO SAYS IT'S HOT DOGS TONIGHT,

BECAUSE SHE IS HOME WITH ME, AND NOT OUT
WITH SOMEONE ELSE.

FOR THE HUSBAND WHO IS ON THE SOFA BEING A

COUCH POTATO,

BECAUSE HE IS HOME WITH ME AND NOT OUT AT

THE BARS.

FOR THE TEENAGER WHO IS COMPLAINING ABOUT

DOING DISHES BECAUSE IT MEANS SHE IS AT
HOME, NOT ON THE STREETS.

FOR THE TAXES I PAY BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM

EMPLOYED.

FOR THE MESS TO CLEAN AFTER A PARTY

BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE BEEN SURROUNDED
BY FRIENDS.

FOR A LAWN THAT NEEDS MOWING, WINDOWS

THAT NEED CLEANING, AND GUTTERS THAT NEED
FIXING BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE A HOME.

FOR ALL THE COMPLAINING I HEAR ABOUT THE

GOVERNMENT BECAUSE IT MEANS WE HAVE
FREEDOM OF SPEECH..

FOR THE PARKING SPOT I FIND AT THE FAR END OF

THE PARKING LOT BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM
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 CAPABLE OF WALKING AND I HAVE BEEN BLESSED
WITH TRANSPORTATION.

FOR MY HUGE HEATING BILL BECAUSE IT MEANS I

AM WARM.

FOR WEARINESS AND ACHING MUSCLES AT THE

END OF THE DAY BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE
BEEN CAPABLE OF WORKING HARD.

4. Unfettered submission (or unbound, unburdened,

uncoupled)

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