What really matters? There are so many things in our lives that feel important.
Earning enough money. Where I’m going to live. Caring for my husband or wife. Sorting out the kids, or the grand kids. Keeping the house tidy. Watching my diet. My career. The difference I’m going to make in the world.
What are your priorities? What really matters to you?
There are different ways of telling what matters to a person:
How do you spend your time? For example, turning up every Sunday before 11am communicates to visitors that we think this is important.
What do you talk about? I am constantly fighting the temptation to talk about my own problems all the time. And I keep failing, I get sucked into talking about certain topics again and again.
What makes you angry? Years ago, when I was first training for ministry, a very wise person said to me “Pay attention to what makes a man angry, because that reveals what he most values.”
What really matters?
Here, near the end of the letter to the Ephesians, the apostle Paul addresses that question for Christians. And he shows us that wisdom is valuing what matters in light of God’s plan to unite everything in Christ, purely because of his free grace, mercy and kindness. In this passage and Ephesians as a whole, Paul tells us 3 things: 1) These evil days make what feels urgent appear to matter more than the Gospel 2) But hearing and speaking the Gospel truly matter since the Spirit fills you with Christ to love others 3) Because in Christ, God has already given you everything that truly matters
So, first,
1) These evil days make what feels urgent Seem more important than the Gospel
Please look at vv. 15-17:
Be careful, then, how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil. So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
In chapter 1vv7-10, Paul connected wisdom to God’s will:
In [Christ] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth
This is what it means to be wise: to live by this Gospel that is hidden in this world, revealed in God’s Word. To live as though what truly matters is the forgiveness God has freely given to all of us in Christ. The problem is: the days are evil. The course of this world is profoundly shaped by powers of darkness. Paul said back in chapter 2, Before God made us alive with Christ, we weren’t merely deceived by Satan’s deceptions, —we lived according to them.
Paul says the days are evil: because the dark spiritual powers are constantly using the feeling of time to distract us from God’s purpose for all things: that everything be united in Christ through this Gospel of forgiveness.
1) These evil days make what feels urgent appear to matter more than the Gospel
On a Sunday morning, almost anything else feels far more important than coming to church to receive God’s Word. When there is a crisis in your family, it can feel irresponsible to stop and hear God’s Word; it can even feel irresponsible to pray. You think, “But, I need to sort this out first.” When money or work feels precarious, every extra hour, every decision, every opportunity seems more important than hearing Christ’s promises or receiving forgiveness.
Prioritising things other than the gospel doesn’t just feel right, it feels prudent, it feels wise—because the days are evil. 2) But hearing and speaking the Gospel truly matter since the Spirit fills you with Christ to love others
Please look at vv. 18-19:
Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to one another, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts,
What truly matters is what God gives us through the Word. But not simply reading the Bible on my own in my room: Speaking the Word intentionally to one another’s hearts.
God has given us the Word to receive externally, that means to receive it from outside ourselves. That’s why we gather together as the church. But it’s not just my job as the preacher: We all need one another. We are all priests: We are all to sing the psalms to one another.
As we do so, the Spirit moves and works —not because the tune or melody stirs our feelings— but because of the gospel promises we give each other.
This is how God works. This is the power of God: The Gospel, spoken outwardly to one another. We all need it, and so we are all needed to speak it. This is what truly matters.
Just look at why in vv. 20-21:
20 giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 being subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.
The circumstances haven’t necessarily changed. The evil days haven’t suddenly turned good. The urgent distractions don’t become any less pressing.
But the Spirit turns us away from the fears, guilts and concerns that only multiply as I look at myself, and pours into my heart thankfulness as I look away from myself to see what is certain outside of me.
And being certain of God’s love, blessing and goodness, we are free to love others and seek their good, even subjecting ourselves to one another because of the confidence we have in Christ.
3) Because in Christ, God has already given you everything that truly matters
That was how Paul began the entire letter, back in chapter 1 verse 3:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places
See how categorical that is: Not “only what you need” but every spiritual blessing. Not “if you deal with these urgent matters first then…” but has blessed us in Christ.
And while the days now are evil, Satan is not the lord of time. Just a few verses later, 1:10, Paul tells us of God’s plan:
for the fullness of time, to unite all things in [Christ], things in heaven and things on earth
The evil days keep telling you: “This has to be sorted out now.” “You have to deal with this now.” “This is what matters now.”
But God assures you: I know the end from the beginning, and everything will be gathered together in my Son.
Everything is being gathered into Christ.
The evil days are wrong about what matters. Because the Gospel is true, both now and into eternity.
But don’t take my word for it: Hear Christ. Speak Christ to one another. Sing Christ to one another.
And the Spirit will fill you with the truth that releases you from the urgency to fix everything that seems to matter.
What truly matters is yours already. Because Christ is yours already. And no amount of urgency can take him away.