Set apart for Wisdom (Video)

Pay careful attention, then, to how you live – not as unwise people but as wise…

The Apostle Paul – the letter to the Ephesians

Socrates, just before his death, was given two choices: leave Athens or stay and live the rest of his life in silence. Unwilling to live a life which didn’t reflect on the rules of the culture, the government, and other outside influences (think, lemmings), he uttered the statement, “An unexamined life is not worth living.”

We live in a culture similar (in some ways) to both the time of Socrates and the time of Paul the Apostle when he wrote his letter to the Ephesians. The culture emphasised individuality, idolatry and personal pleasure, drunkenness (or overindulgence in many things) over a life filled with the Spirit. Even contemporary Christians sometimes live in the same way (think, lemmings) – ‘I must live as the culture tells me is good and right.’

A wise life examines this. How do we live knowing that there is more to life than simple feedings of the stomach?

This week we’ll examine Paul’s encouragement to live as children of the light – ‘for the fruit of light consists of goodness, righteousness and truth’ (5:9).

Let’s look at the basic lies that the culture tells us about ‘religion,’ the antidotes for the lies and what it means for us to live as children of the Light.

Read Ephesians 5:6-21 in preparation.

Pr Reid Matthias