Ephesians 5:17–21 (NKJV)

Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God.

Ephesians 5:12–21 is all one long sentence in Greek. In yesterday’s portion Paul said, “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise.” Here Paul finishes the point by telling us what being wise means. It’s understanding what the will of the Lord is.

That’s a key concept. Don’t confuse secular wisdom with spiritual wisdom. There’s nothing wrong with secular wisdom – things like, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” That’s excellent, but limited, advice.

Secular wisdom will keep you from losing money or doing other dumb things, but it won’t keep you from devoting your life to a meaningless cause. It’s like the line – “I don’t know where we’re going, but we’re making great time.” Spiritual wisdom gets you going in the right direction.

Okay, but how do I figure out what the will of the Lord is? The rest of this passage answers that question.

At first, this might look like a somewhat disconnected list of specifics. It’s not. Paul begins with one warning – avoid getting drunk – and then paints a gorgeous picture of life in Christ.

Drunkenness is amazingly efficient at separating someone from God’s will. As we noted yesterday, you don’t want to lose focus. Nothing makes you lose focus like being drunk.

But note that not getting drunk is easier nowadays than it was in the first century. We have clean water to drink, and if we want to partake of the grape, we know the alcohol concentration. Not so back then. “Wine” was preferred because it was sanitary, but you had to watch yourself because it might be strong. Paul’s warning here is good advice, for us as well as the Ephesians, but it was harder for them to follow.

The rest of the passage describes life filled with the Spirit. Notice that it’s principally about attitude – how we speak to one another, how we sing, giving thanks to God. It even mentions the melodies in our hearts.

Lastly, it mentions submitting to one another. This is an essential part of life in Christ – so essential that Paul will stay on this theme through the next four lessons.

This portrait of life in Christ is filled with happiness. Life in Christ is supposed to be fun. That’s curious because of all the warnings about suffering and persecution.

But Paul models this well. He suffered plenty, yet his joy never waned. When he tells the Ephesians to speak lovingly and to sing thankfully, no one can reply, “Then how come you don’t do that?”

The weekly study guides, which include all five devotionals plus related questions for discussion or meditation, are available for download here:

https://www.ailbe.org/resources/itemlist/category/91-deep-studies