1. Ephesians 5.15-20

2.  God is a God of grace  Jesus came to earth particularly to reach out to those who couldn’t cope with a religion of instructions  Should we then be suggesting that the Bible is in some way an instruction book for our daily lives?  The summary of the law which Jesus commends is to love God above all else and to love one’s neighbour as oneself

3.  Paul is writing to a church he knows well, probably towards the end of his ministry, while he was under house arrest in Caesarea or in Rome. He is ‘the prisoner of the Lord’ (4.1)  The church is living in the shadow of persecution, and so Paul advises them to be careful not to give the authorities any excuse to do them harm  Wisdom, sobriety, discernment and worship are qualities that are needed

4.  Wisdom in the tradition of the Bible is all about having a right relationship with God. ‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom’ (Proverbs 1.7)  Wisdom isn’t about remembering vast tracts of scripture or about being super-intelligent. Otherwise only a few people would ever be saved  It’s about putting God at the centre of your life, so that your life is under His command

5.  Paul here wants to contrast how Christians behave with the drunken behaviour that was common among the Roman elite, with their wild parties and celebrations involving Bacchus, the Roman god of wine  To get drunk is to lose one’s self-control, so that you cannot think straight or make rational decisions. Paul wants Christians to be able to discern God’s will at all times  Alcohol abuse is a growing problem in our society today

6.  ‘Understand what the will of God is’ (v17)  Discernment is one of the trickier aspects of our relationship with God to get right. Testing whether or not something is ‘from God’ may demand prayer, knowledge of scripture, help from more experienced Christians, or from the wider church community. It is not safe simply to rely on our own judgement, as it’s so easy for us to make a mistake and get it wrong. God doesn’t always give easy, straightforward answers.

7.  Worship is at the very heart of Christian living.  It expresses our love of God in response to God’s love for us  It strengthens relationships between us and God and between one another, as we share in a deep sense of unity when we worship ‘in Spirit and in truth’.  It encourages us, helping us to discern God’s will for our lives, and giving us strength to persevere and grow in faith

8.  Paul goes on in the next few verses to give teaching about family life, about the relationships he expects between wives, husbands, children, slaves and their masters  He is writing in a particular context (1 st century persecuted church) that no longer exists in Britain today  In interpreting the scriptures for the present day we need to re-visit the guiding principles of our faith and find practical applications for those principles today.  God is a God of grace, who encourages us to work out our life choices for ourselves in today’s world