Bible Study

The Gift of Eternal Life Berean Bible Study Course

Part II--The Process Of Reconciliation With God

F. Lesson 12--We Must Be Faithful In Serving The Lord

8. READ: EPHESIANS 5:15-20

b. What should we understand?

Answer: Christians are not to be foolish (unwise), but they are to understand what the Lord's Will is, (verse 17).

MORE INFORMATION AND/OR OTHER SCRIPTURE REFERENCES:

• Foolish or unwise Christians not only miss opportunities to use their time wisely and to live as if they were an open letter from Christ to the world, they also fail to understand what God's purposes are for mankind AND for Christians. If a Christian is still conforming to the pattern of the world, he cannot know, live or benefit from God's Will:

Romans 12:2: "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's Will is--His good, pleasing and perfect Will."

• Christians must have spiritual wisdom from God to live a life that is worthy of the Lord, to please God, to be able to bear fruit in good works, to grow in the knowledge of God and to be strengthened with God's power. All of this wisdom from God is found in Christ. Christ is the Word of God. Christ is the wisdom of God to us through that Word. Christ is the wisdom from God revealed to us through that Word.

That Word, and all of the wisdom that God would give to His children, is in the inspired (God-breathed) Scriptures. We have but to study them daily, strive in our understanding of them and live them daily to be pleasing to our Father:

Colossians 1:9-14: "For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His Will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, Who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in Whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

• If a Christian rejects God's Will, he rejects God, Who gave the Christian His Holy Spirit:

1 Thessalonians 4:3-8: "It is God's Will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, Who gives you His Holy Spirit."