A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands

I heard a sermon in chapel today that I thought was totally awesome. The verse that pastor Scott used was this one:

Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, (Ephesians 4:1)

The very first thing that a good expositor asks when he reads a verse like this is "What is the 'therefore' there for?" The context for this passage goes all the way back to the beginning of Ephesians:

He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, (Ephesians 1:5)

This word, adoption, creates an interesting picture. The illustration that the pastor gave was that if his parents got to go through a catalog and pick the child that they were going to have, it would have been nothing like the person that he turned out to be. God, on the other hand, adopted us (if you are saved that is) to be His sons (and daughters) even though he knew exactly who we were. He knew all the stuff that I would do even after I was saved, He knows just how black of a heart I have, and He adopted me as His son. On to verse seven:

In Him we have redemption through His blood,

The word "redemption" literally means 'to be bought back.' Pastor Scot gave another illustration for this word. A small boy took a trip to a harbour one day and was fascinated by all of the huge ships. He loved these ships so much that he took pictures of all of them and hung them on the wall of his room. For the rest of that summer, the boy spent every minute that he had making a model ship that looked just like the ones in the harbour. He had every minor detail down to the pins on the railings just exactly like the bigger ones. When he finally finished the ship, he took it to the harbour so he could sail it. He tied a piece of string to his small ship and let the wind blow in the sails while he held the string. Eventually, as he was having fun doing this, the wind picked up dramatically and the string broke. The ship was gone. He spent days and days looking on the shoreline and in other harbours, desperately trying to find the ship that he loved so much. One day the boy was walking in front of a shop, when he looked in the window, there it was! His ship was sitting right there for sale in this store. He ran into the store and told the owner "That's my ship, I've been looking for it all over the place!" The store owner simply shrugged and said "It's mine, I found it." The price for the ship was eighty dollars. The boy worked and worked all year long and by the end of the next summer, he had saved eighty dollars, and went back to the store and bought his ship. As he was leaving, he said to the ship "Now you are twice mine, once because I made you and twice because I bought you."

The rest of verse 7 and verse 8 read:

the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us.

God has lavished His grace upon us. The meaning of the word lavished can be seen by the comparison between a mother who measures how much syrup a child can put on his pancakes, and a grandmother who gives the child way more syrup than he needs. God has given us way more grace than we need or deserve.

Let's go back to the original verse:

Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, (Ephesians 4:1)

The reason that Paul implores us to walk in a manner worthy or our calling is because God has adopted us, redeemed us, forgiven us, and lavished us with His grace. God's grace should plant in us the desire to serve him better. There was a lot more to this sermon, talking about the different types of vessels we can be (2 Timothy 2:20), and how people who have longed for other things have ended up in lives where they are wasting their gifts, but the point that grabbed me was this passage from Proverbs:

I passed by the field of the sluggard and by the vineyard of the man lacking sense, and behold, it was completely overgrown with thistles; its surface was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down. When I saw, I reflected upon it; I looked and received instruction. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, then your proverty will come as a robber and your want like an armed man. (Proverbs 24:30-34)

The sluggard referenced here was obviously someone who had a vineyard. He was supposed to be taking care of his vineyard, and reaping the fruits of his work, but since he was lazy, it was overgrown and worthless. Solomon (the author of Proverbs) uses this vineyard illustration for many things. In the Song of Solomon, the vineyard is an illustration of the woman's body, but here it can be interpreted (even if it is only to draw out the underlying principle) as one's life and relationship with the Lord.

Any believer will tell you that we are not at all perfect, and better never claim to be. Our sanctification (conforming to God's word and character) is a process that will take us our entire lives, and we will still never perfect it until God does it for us. Sanctification for a believer is essential if one is to be useful for God's purpose. This sanctification comes by the prayerful study of God's word, and application of that word to our lives. This is as vital to our Christian life as water is to the life of a flower. The principle of this Proverb teaches that if we grow slack in our walk with the Lord, even just a little bit, spiritual poverty will overcome us like an armed man. The enemy is always waiting for his opportunity, let's not give it to him!