Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Our passage tonight is Ephesians chapter 5, verses 15 through 21.
[00:00:08] I do want to thank the new gathering band and for you guys leading us in worship and also want to thank John and Clay for your guys work and helping them to get prepared.
[00:00:22] You know, just thinking about it, Tim made mention of this last week, but we have a lot of good problems here, you know, good problem of so many talented singers, musicians, so many gifted teachers, so many servant hearted deacons and I know it's Labor Day weekend, but normally, you know, a packed house and you know, nowhere to sit. I mean these are, these are great problems to have. Praise God for them. And it's, you know, it's time, it's time for us to start the new gathering.
[00:00:54] Sorry.
[00:00:56] I appreciate Jamie Nosila's analogy that it might feel like an amputation, but it's more like having a baby or maybe better yet, you know, your child's growing up and you're sending them out. You know, sending them off to college, into the workforce or you know, for you sentimental mom sending them off to kindergarten, you know, big deal, right?
[00:01:21] It's hard, it's hard to send out, but it's time, you know, the Lord has blessed us exceedingly. We don't have, you know, by and large the pain of disunity and the problems of, you know, scandal of immorality or false teaching. We have good problems that we're wrestling with and we should give God thanks for that.
[00:01:44] Okay, so Ephesians 5 to sort of, you know, recap a little bit, one word you've been hearing a lot through Ephesians 5 is walk, you know, walk in a manner worthy of your calling. Ephesians 4:1, Ephesians 4:17. You must no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds.
[00:02:09] Ephesians 5:1 or 5:2. Walk in love as Christ loved us. And, and most recently, you know, walk as children of the light and try to discern what pleases the Lord.
[00:02:25] You know, in talking about walking. What does he mean by walking? It's a metaphor for conducting your life. Conduct your life in a manner worthy of the gospel. Conduct your life in the light as children of light. Conduct your life as in love for others. And, and I love this analogy because it gets at following Jesus. It gets at that life is a journey, right? We're all walking in one direction or another. You are, you know, we begin walking in the course of this world, you know, under the dominion of the prince of the power, of the air, of Satan. You Know, walking after the, you know, the lust of the flesh and our sin. And we're called to repent and to turn around and to follow Jesus. Jesus says, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. And you know, the early Christians weren't called Christians. They were called followers of the Way. Because Jesus said, I am the Way, the truth and the life.
[00:03:29] No one comes to the Father except through me. And so we. He says, come and follow me. And we're following him in the Way, following him down the narrow path that he walked, walking after his pattern as he joins us to walk with us down that narrow path. And so tonight he's going to say, look carefully how you walk. So let us read the passage again. Ephesians 5:15. I would encourage you to have your Bibles open tonight. The main passage is up on the screen, but unfortunately not everything is. I may refer you to some other places and you may want to go there.
[00:04:09] So Ephesians 5:15.
[00:04:12] The word of God.
[00:04:14] Look carefully then how you walk.
[00:04:18] Not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.
[00:04:25] Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery. But be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:04:51] Submitting to one another out of reverence to Christ. Reverence for Christ. Let's pray.
[00:05:00] Father God, I just pray that you would fill me with your spirit even now, that you would.
[00:05:07] You would flow into me, that you would exalt your Son as your Spirit's. As the Holy Spirit's pattern is to exalt the Lord Jesus. God. And you would fill each of my hearers, God, that you would help us to understand all things. You would help us to understand your word and to rejoice in Christ God. We just acknowledge we are humbly dependent upon you for any good thing to speak, to hear, to listen, all of it. So please help us. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen.
[00:05:39] Okay, so the main point here, I want to contend is that you discern carefully how to live a life pleasing to the Lord. He gets into walking in wisdom, walking in the spirit. But I think the main point that he's getting at first here is he says, look carefully then how you walk. In other words, with this word for careful. It means with exactness and carefulness.
[00:06:07] You should look, you should discern how to conduct your life.
[00:06:13] And so how do we conduct our lives? How do we live a life that is pleasing to the Lord? There's two main ideas here.
[00:06:22] By walking in the wisdom of God's word and by continuously being filled with God, the Holy Spirit. So walking in wisdom and being filled with God, the Holy Spirit. And let us do recognize the Holy Spirit is God. God is one being who is three persons. That should blow your mind a little bit. Okay. Or a lot bit. But the Holy Spirit is God, and God comes to indwell us. And that is amazing.
[00:06:50] But how does the Holy Spirit operate?
[00:06:54] You often see talk of wisdom and the Holy Spirit paired together. Let me just give you a few quotes not on your screen, but you may want to write these down, at least to refer to later.
[00:07:07] For one, if you just want to flip a few pages back, In Ephesians, chapter 1, verses 16 and 17, as Paul is praying for the Ephesian believers, he says, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him. So the Holy Spirit gives us wisdom, and he reveals Christ to us. He reveals and opens God's Word to us.
[00:07:38] Isaiah 11:2. As it's referring to the Messiah, it says, listen how it characterizes the Holy Spirit. It says, and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon the Messiah, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
[00:07:58] Romans 8, 5 and 6. When it's talking about walking after the Spirit, notice the focus here on our minds and how we're to set our minds on something. It says, for those who live according to the flesh, set their minds on the things of the flesh.
[00:08:16] But those who live according to the Spirit, set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. Okay, so there's some thinking involved there. I think we, we tend to culturally have this conception of the Holy Spirit as he just, just carries you away with emotion. And it's. It's more like drunkenness. It's not a lot of thinking, but it's just being carried away with a lot of emotionalism. But notice there, he's telling you to set your minds on the things of the spirit. Set your minds on the Word.
[00:08:50] All right. One more. First Corinthians, chapter 1, verses 12 through 16.
[00:08:56] Paul writes. He says, now we have not received the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. And later on, he says, the spiritual person judges all things the spiritual person discerns. Okay, so we have wisdom that comes from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, his ministry.
[00:09:29] A great place for you to camp out and follow up to the sermon would be John 14:16. Jesus last night on earth as he's going away to prepare a place for us. And the disciples are understandably fretting over that. They don't want Jesus to leave. What are you even talking about? But he is emphasizing to them again and again, comforting them by telling them, I'm going to send a helper. I'm going to send the Holy Spirit.
[00:09:56] And this is what the Holy Spirit will do. One thing he says that the Holy Spirit will do is he says, when the Spirit of truth comes. John 16, verse 13, when the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.
[00:10:12] For he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak. And he will declare to you the things that are to come.
[00:10:20] And then notice this, it says, he will glorify me. So where does the Holy Spirit put the focus on Jesus Christ? He's often referred to as the shy member of the Trinity because he doesn't draw attention to himself, but he glorifies Jesus.
[00:10:36] He says, you know, elsewhere In John, John 15, it says, when the helper comes, the Holy Spirit, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from their Father, he will bear witness about me.
[00:10:55] This is the role of the Holy Spirit, is to point us to Jesus, to glorify Jesus. The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, righteousness and judgment. He said, he convicts us of righteousness because I'm going away, but he's going to show you what I'm like, what the standard of righteousness is. And he is going to. He's going to show. He's going to teach you who I am and he's going to make you like me.
[00:11:24] His role is to exalt Jesus Christ. You know, it's interesting that no one in Scripture ever says, I am filled with the Holy Spirit. Instead, what you see as you. As you go through the Book of Acts, that when Luke records someone being filled with The Holy Spirit.
[00:11:39] What happens is that they are boldly witnessing for Jesus.
[00:11:44] That's one of the effects of being filled with the Holy Spirit.
[00:11:48] Again, some common misconceptions of what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit. It is more than emotionalism. It is not emotional. It's more than emotion. That's not to say that the Spirit coming upon you may not sweep you away with great emotion as you really understand how deeply God loves you in Christ.
[00:12:09] But it's more than emotions, not always with emotion.
[00:12:14] Being filled with the Holy Spirit does not necessitate speaking in tongues. Okay? Our Pentecostal Charismatic brothers and sisters want to emphasize that oftentimes, but that is not necessarily an effect.
[00:12:30] Very often it's not.
[00:12:32] Paul says in First Corinthians that not all speak in tongues. It's that plain, not all speak in tongues. Now, I can't. I'm not going to say that that won't happen. But let me tell you briefly that if ever it does happen, there should be an interpretation, okay?
[00:12:48] Otherwise, you're out of order.
[00:12:51] Often the Holy Spirit is being filled with the Holy Spirit is thought of in some Wesleyan traditions as the second experience of grace. But anyway, we're going to get more into what is being filled with the Holy Spirit. Well, I wanted to go and knock out some things that it's not. But before we get to the Holy Spirit, what does. Let's ask the question, what does walking in wisdom include? I wanted to just show you how the Spirit and wisdom work together. How you know. I don't know if you want to call it two sides of the safe coin, but the Holy Spirit is a spirit of wisdom, and he teaches us to walk in wisdom. But what does walking in wisdom include?
[00:13:31] Number one. It includes thinking out how to apply God's Word to our everyday lives. Thinking out how to apply God's Word to our everyday lives. When he says, look carefully, then how you walk. Not as unwise, but as wise.
[00:13:50] The meaning of wisdom here is having practical insight into God's will and workings. It's knowing how to take these grand universal principles about who God is and how the world works, and applying it to your everyday situation, applying it to the nitty gritty of everyday life. And that is a skill. I am strangely encouraged by the fact that it says in Luke chapter 2 that Jesus as a young man grew in wisdom.
[00:14:26] So if Jesus had to grow in wisdom, how much more do we? And that's not to say he was unrighteous by any means, because Jesus is perfectly Righteous, right?
[00:14:37] He's completely pure. He didn't grow in righteousness, he was completely righteous. But he grew in understanding how to. How to live righteously or how to. How to apply the truths of God's word to his everyday existence. And so I think that encourages me because it says, man, I don't have to have. I'm not expected to have it all figured out. I am to grow in wisdom likewise as a child of God. But then verse 17, when he says, therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. That word for foolish. Sorry, parents, but it literally could be translated as stupid. Do not be stupid, okay? Do not. The literal word is without your mind. Do not live without your mind. Okay? But understand. The word for understand has this image of bringing things together. Bring things together in your mind of what God desires.
[00:15:41] Now as you go back to chapter 5, verse 10, as he was talking with us. How did I get into Galatians? Okay, Ephesians, chapter 5, verse 10.
[00:15:54] He's talking to us about walking as children of light. For the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true. And then he says verse 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.
[00:16:08] He then, you know, sort of goes off in explaining more what it means to walk as a child of light. And then I think he's coming back to this idea in our passage of discerning what is pleasing to the Lord. But isn't that interesting how he says, try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.
[00:16:26] It's something that takes work. It's something that takes mental effort.
[00:16:33] We are to think about how to apply God's Word to our everyday situations.
[00:16:42] That's not to say that God doesn't sometimes guide us through extraordinary means like he did with Gideon, but it is to say that that is not his norm.
[00:16:53] Guys, when you need to make decisions, I would caution you against setting out a dry FL. Fleece on a wet night or whatever he did. You know, just.
[00:17:03] It's really quite silly and quite ridiculous what Gideon was doing with that fleece. But the point is not that God guides us through signs like that, but the point of that passage is that man, God can use a weak, weak minded man such as Gideon. How much more can can he. Can he use you? And you know, it's really a picture of, of Gideon's weakness more than it is of how God guides us. God means for you to use your noggin.
[00:17:34] He means for you to immerse yourself in this word. You know, Romans 12:2 says, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed. How?
[00:17:45] By the renewal of your mind, by imbibing the word of God, by immersing yourself in the word of God. So be transformed by the renewal of your mind so that you may be able to discern what God's will is, what is good and right and true and acceptable.
[00:18:05] And so you are meant to use the noggin that God gave to you. But what else does it mean to walk in wisdom aside from thinking?
[00:18:14] Well, part of thinking is living in light of the end.
[00:18:19] And he says, make the best use of the time, because the days are evil. These days we live in are evil, and they are consigned to destruction.
[00:18:32] Now, this word for make the best use of the time. I probably prefer the older translations which say, redeem the time, or, you know, buy back the time. Basically, you're rescuing the time from loss.
[00:18:47] This word here in verse 16, he's not telling us to be excellent in time management, okay, that's a good skill to learn, right? But he's not getting at being efficient. He's saying that this world is going to end. These days are evil. Judgment is coming. Make the best use. Take every opportunity you can for Jesus. Rescue it from loss, and make the best use of it. I think that Mark 14 gives us a beautiful picture of what this looks like. If you want to turn there with me. But, you know, in terms of redeeming the time and living in light of the end, I mean, judgment is coming, guys, and a wise person prepares for that.
[00:19:37] A wise person lives in light of that and gets right with the Lord.
[00:19:44] But also, let's look at mark 14.
[00:19:51] We have a limited amount of time, you know, not only to see souls saved, but to glorify God with what is costly.
[00:20:04] This is probably one of my favorite passages, and I especially love how Watchman Nee teaches it. But Mark 14, verse three through nine, we are going there, it says, and while Jesus was at Bethany, in the house of Simon the Leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly. And. And she broke the flask and poured it over his head.
[00:20:32] There were some who said to themselves indignantly, why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than 300 denarii, 300 days wages and given to the poor. And they scolded her. But Jesus said, leave her alone. Why do you trouble her she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you. And whenever you want, you can do good for them, but you will not always have me. She has done what she could. She has anointed my body beforehand for burial. And truly, I say to you, wherever the Gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.
[00:21:12] I love that phrase. Verse 8. She has done what she could.
[00:21:18] She has anointed my body beforehand for burial.
[00:21:21] Jesus was getting ready to die, and she worshiped him there in her presence while she could. And it said that she did a beautiful thing to me. It doesn't say for me. She did a beautiful thing to me as she wastes this precious, costly jar of ointment over his.
[00:21:47] Over his head.
[00:21:51] I read this passage to say this.
[00:21:53] You know, when we get to glory, it's going to be really easy to just pour ourselves out without any reservation upon the Lord.
[00:22:05] But in this time, this limited time that we have, we can offer that which is a true sacrifice, that which is costly.
[00:22:16] When you share the gospel with someone at the risk of being heckled or at worst being persecuted, losing your life, you are making an offering to the Lord that is costly.
[00:22:30] When you give, you are making an offering, worshiping the Lord with what is costly.
[00:22:39] When you act as a servant, you give up your time, your talent, your treasure for others so that they might be lifted up. It costs you. And that is worship unto the Lord.
[00:22:54] Wisdom redeems the time.
[00:22:57] Wisdom says this. I have this limited amount of time to glorify God and to show his worth.
[00:23:06] You know, when Jesus was, at the very last verse of John 14, I think it's verse 31, it says when he was.
[00:23:15] He says, I'm going to the cross that the world might see how much I love the Father.
[00:23:21] I want to show you guys what he's worth.
[00:23:24] He's worth being pulverized by his wrath on the cross.
[00:23:29] He is worth my life. He is worth death.
[00:23:35] And when we worship the Lord with what is costly, man, others see that as well. And the fragrance fills the room just as it did with this ointment. And we show what the Lord is worth. We worship Him. Okay, so wisdom includes thinking, and it includes living in light of the end.
[00:23:56] But then what does it mean? To be filled with the Spirit or to be being filled with the Spirit is kind of the. Is how you can translate. And I'll get into the grammar of that in a moment. But first of all, let us notice that we must before he goes into being filled with the spirit is that first we must continuously be rejecting the impairing influence of lesser gods.
[00:24:23] He says, do not get drunk with wine.
[00:24:25] Okay? And it's just very plain. Just, you know, just make this plain that drunkenness is a sin.
[00:24:31] Drunkenness is a sin. And why does he start talking about drunkenness here? Why does he not talk about other idols, you know, other things that might lead us astray? Well, for one, you know, it was common in that day for worship services of other gods, specifically the God Bacchus, who is the God of wine, to just get drunk as part of the worship ceremony. I mean, that's one way, you know, it's a man made religion. You know, like Rastafarians, they like puff on one, you know, as part of their worship experience.
[00:25:03] Okay, so no, that's so one. He's speaking into that cultural context. But also, what does alcohol do?
[00:25:10] It impairs your mind, okay? And he's just told us to think to not be stupid, but to, to understand what the will of the Lord is. And alcohol causes you to lose control and to lose judgment not to gain it. But let me just acknowledge, people turn to alcohol for various reasons.
[00:25:35] One is to find happiness and joy, which is so interesting because alcohol is a depressant.
[00:25:43] It's marketed as a stimulant. Right? You know, Budweiser used to have some good commercials. I say good in quotes because, you know, as one person said, I enjoyed it at the time, but I can't recommend it to you now.
[00:25:57] But you know, just, you have this picture of happiness and joy, but it's actually a depressant. It actually, you know, makes you sad as well. People turn to alcohol for an escape because life is hard.
[00:26:13] They want to escape reality or escape feeling what they feel.
[00:26:20] And as I've counseled people struggling with an alcohol addiction, God means for us to do the opposite. He doesn't want you to run from your problems and bury them or drown them, so to speak, with alcohol covering them up. But he wants us to open them up to him. He wants to come to him in prayer and to lament to him, to express our sorrow, our anger, whatever it is we're dealing with. And rather than burying those problems, but opening them up to him and letting him deal with them, letting him give us wisdom, to give us assurance of his presence, his promises, in helping us with whatever it is we're going through.
[00:27:03] So don't turn to alcohol for an escape. Turn to the Lord.
[00:27:06] Turn to the Lord for dealing with your issues, people turn to alcohol as well for perhaps for an ego elevation, for, you know, so called liquid courage.
[00:27:18] Isn't it interesting that he's the Holy Spirit? That one of the effects of being filled with the Holy Spirit is boldness. Okay, so don't turn to alcohol for boldness, turn to the Holy Spirit.
[00:27:32] But alcohol, again, as I said, it has this impairing influence. And then he says that it is debauchery, it leads to debauchery, which is my translate as dissipation or just simply reckless wasteful extravagance.
[00:27:52] It's the same word that's used in Luke 15 in talking about the prodigal son, how he was wasteful, he took his father's inheritance and he just wasted it on himself. He just wasted it in wild living. And he and he spent all of that inheritance on a fleeting good time.
[00:28:09] And that's what alcohol leads to is debauchery.
[00:28:13] But rather than having the inflow of alcohol into your life, we are to be filled with the Holy Spirit. To have, we must continuously be receiving the Spirit's life giving influence or inflow into every area of our lives.
[00:28:31] I love, you know, there's so many contrasts here between alcohol and the Holy Spirit. But just if I can give you one more is that, you know, both of them take control of you, right? You drink too much alcohol and you really, you're losing control, but the alcohol is in control.
[00:28:51] You could say it in that way.
[00:28:52] So why then would you submit yourself to a beverage?
[00:28:58] I mean, just think about how ridiculous it would be to submit yourself to a Diet Coke. Right, Diet Coke. You are my God, you know.
[00:29:05] But you're submitting yourself to a thing of creation.
[00:29:09] Don't submit yourself to a thing of creation that is beneath you. Submit yourself to your Creator, who is your God, who rightfully rules over you, who really can rule over you, who really can give you self control and bring you to life and give you true joy and give you boldness.
[00:29:26] Submit yourself to the Holy Spirit. And so what does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit?
[00:29:33] Alright, I need to clarify some things here. Number one is that when the Holy Spirit saves you, he takes up residence in your heart immediately, completely and permanently. Okay, so he's not talking about receiving the Holy Spirit for the first time. It's when you become a believer, you receive the Holy Spirit.
[00:29:55] That needs to be said because there's some traditions that teach that the Holy Spirit is a thing that comes later. No, when you become a believer, the Holy Spirit, God comes to take up residence in your heart. As he said in chapter one, we were sealed with the Holy Spirit when we heard the word of Christ and believed it, okay? And so the New Testament never instructs Christians to be baptized, indwelt, gifted, sealed or anointed by the Spirit. These are, as HB Charles says, these Spirit graces are the standard equipment of the Christian life.
[00:30:31] Praise God.
[00:30:33] This is a work that is done for us. To us.
[00:30:37] He comes to, he seals us, he anoints us, he comes to indwell us.
[00:30:45] Okay? But then it's the standard equipment. But in order for this standard equipment to function correctly, you must be filled with the Spirit.
[00:30:56] Living life without the Holy Spirit. Living the Christian life without the Holy Spirit is akin to getting a car and then trying to push it around all the time.
[00:31:07] That's not how cars work, right? I mean, it's how they work if you're in a jam, right? And you got to, you know, pop it in neutral and get some buddies to push you somewhere.
[00:31:16] But no, you fire that thing up and you ignition's firing and the gas and whatever and you know how cars work and you get going, right? Okay. And they can really move, right?
[00:31:27] That's a picture of the Holy Spirit that we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We need his, his rule over us, his influence over us. We need his, his power because we cannot live righteously on our own. We need the Holy Spirit to help us to live righteously. I love Romans 7:18, which Paul just acknowledges about himself. For I know that nothing good lives in me.
[00:31:56] That is in my flesh. There's nothing good in my flesh.
[00:31:59] I have the desire to do what is good, but I have no ability to do it except by the Holy Spirit.
[00:32:08] But let's understand this command a bit more if I can get into some grammar here.
[00:32:14] Number one, this is an imperative or a command. You are commanded to be filled with the Holy Spirit, okay? It's not an optional thing.
[00:32:26] Number two, in terms of the grammar, the word is in the present tense, which is why I put up there. Be being filled. This is something that we are to continue to do is to be filled with the Holy Spirit, okay? It's not a one time thing.
[00:32:42] But then also it's in the passive voice, which means it's not something that we do for ourselves, but something that has to be done to us.
[00:32:54] God is God, okay? And God has to fill us with himself.
[00:33:00] So then what's our posture? To be, to be inviting of God, to be seeking of God to fill our lives, seeking of God to take control, seeking to surrender to him and to give everything up to him. Lord, would you fill me? Would you flow through me? Would you flow into me? Would you affect every corner of my life? Would you take control? Would you do that which I cannot do?
[00:33:31] So we are to be inviting, praying and believing that the Holy Spirit comes in response to believing His Word in terms of the passive voice and receiving.
[00:33:47] I love Psalm 34, 5, which says, those who look to him are radiant, and their faces will never be ashamed.
[00:33:57] They are radiant with joy. Their faces will never be ashamed.
[00:34:00] Because the way A.W. tozer describes that verse is that as you look up to God, you notice that he's already.
[00:34:09] You find that he's already looking down at you.
[00:34:12] God is desiring to fill you with the Holy Spirit, okay? He's just waiting for you to turn and say, hey, yes, I want that too.
[00:34:20] And so how is one filled with the Spirit? That's the question. How is one filled with the Holy Spirit?
[00:34:29] Let me sum it up by saying, hearing and believing God's word.
[00:34:35] I will prove that to you by going to Colossians, Chapter three. So take notice first, as you're there in Ephesians, that as you are filled with the Holy Spirit, that you're addressing one another in psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks, submitting to one another.
[00:34:55] And then let's notice some parallels in a parallel passage in colossians chapter, chapter 3, verse 16.
[00:35:05] Notice the same effects, but notice a different emphasis. Colossians, chapter 3, verse 16. It says, Let the Word of Christ dwell in you, richly teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
[00:35:33] And so how are we filled with the Holy Spirit? Colossians 3, 16. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.
[00:35:43] The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God. And so, as we hear God's Word, as God's Word flows into us, as we imbibe that Word, immerse ourselves in the Word, as we hear the Word and believe it, we are filled with the Holy Spirit.
[00:36:03] And I must emphasize, it's not enough to just hear it, you must also believe it.
[00:36:12] You know, what good is it if I hear that the Lord is with me in whatever I'm facing, if I do not also believe it?
[00:36:21] But when I believe The Lord is with me.
[00:36:24] That's powerful.
[00:36:27] So hearing and believing the word, and then finally, what are the effects of the spirit's fullness in our lives? The first effect that he lists here, back in Ephesians, verse 19, is that we address one another in spiritual worship.
[00:36:44] And he's talking about corporate worship here. We worship corporately with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Now, what does he mean by psalms, hymns, spiritual songs? Well, psalms pretty easy to understand. We sing psalms, we sing scripture. Okay, we sing hymns. But what's a spiritual song? I think he's simply, you know, some traditions say, well, this is how this is, saying we should sing spontaneously. Just whatever comes up to our minds out of our mouth, and maybe there's a place for that. But no, I just think he's talking about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit should be in your singing spiritual songs. And so as we come into corporate worship every Sunday evening, we are filled with the Spirit when we are singing in our hearts to God and to one another.
[00:37:36] Or rather, I should say that's an effect.
[00:37:39] You know, when you sing, you're singing to God, but you're also singing to one another.
[00:37:47] As you look through the psalms, you see that the psalms. The pattern is that some songs, some psalms are addressed to one another singing about God, and other psalms are addressed to God. Okay? And worship includes both. You take a psalm like Psalm 23, and that includes both the Lord is my shepherd. So singing about God and then singing to God, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you are with me.
[00:38:14] Right, But I want to, you know, first of all, emphasize that you have a responsibility to sing to one another and so address one another, so encourage one another. But also, we sing to God with our hearts. We make melody to God with our hearts.
[00:38:34] You know, you don't have to be a good singer to sing to the Lord.
[00:38:39] You can sing to him with your heart in your heart. And I feel like this verse is probably written specifically for Brett Carver.
[00:38:48] You don't have to be a good singer to sing to the Lord to make melody to him in your hearts.
[00:38:56] So we're to make melody to the Lord with our hearts and then a godward focus in the next verse. We give thanks to God always and for everything.
[00:39:07] I first of all love the trinitarian nature of this verse, that we are filled with the Spirit singing to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, you know, on the authority of Jesus, through the mediation of Jesus.
[00:39:27] That's why I love John Piper's. Definition of being filled with the Spirit. He says, to be filled with the Spirit means to be caught into the joy that flows among the Holy Trinity and to love God the Father and God the Son with the very love with which they love each other.
[00:39:45] To be caught up into that love, singing in the Holy Spirit to God the Father and God the Son with the very love with which they love each other.
[00:39:55] And notice it says, we give thanks always and we give thanks for everything.
[00:40:04] We are trusting that God reigns even over the difficult parts of life.
[00:40:11] We give thanks always and for everything when we are filled with the Spirit.
[00:40:16] And lastly, being filled with the Spirit, we submit to one another.
[00:40:22] The Lord submit to one another in the Lord. And what he's this is really just a preview of what's to come.
[00:40:35] You know, next he's going to get into our everyday relationships. Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord.
[00:40:45] Children, obey your parents in the Lord.
[00:40:49] You know, bondservants work, you know, not as people pleasers, but as bond servants of Christ, pleasing the Lord.
[00:41:04] How is this a mark of the Spirit? Because man, our nature is to jockey for position, to exalt ourselves.
[00:41:14] It's not to be servants.
[00:41:16] It's not to have a one another attitude of, you know, man, how can I serve you as my neighbor? How can I serve you as my brother and sister? That is of Christ. It was not of the ancient world. It was a despised value in the ancient world. And we just know it's not of our nature. So God works that in us, but submission here, you know, it literally means to be under rank. Okay, so that's not to say that husbands are more valuable than wives, but in God's hierarchy, he has appointed the husband as head over the wife. You know, it's not to say that your boss is more valuable of a person than you or a better person than you, but in God's hierarchy, he has established your. He has ordained that your boss be your boss. And we are to submit to him as to the Lord out of reverence for Christ, out of reverence for our boss's boss.
[00:42:16] And as we talk about, you know, knowing God's will and thinking again about Gideon, I mean, we wrestle with and what's God's will for my life? Who should I marry?
[00:42:33] Where should I work at, where should I go to school at, where should I live?
[00:42:37] I just want to say briefly, like that is not God's chief concern.
[00:42:43] God's chief concern is what manner of husband or wife will you be? What kind of Employee will you be wherever you live? How will you bless your neighborhood?
[00:43:00] So that is God's will for you. God's will for you is to be like Christ.
[00:43:05] God's will is that everything be reconciled to Christ. That's where history is headed, is all things being reconciled to Christ.
[00:43:15] You know, after creation, at the fall, everything broke. Our relationship with God was broken, our relationship towards one another was broken. Our relationship with ourselves was broken as we, you know, now have pride or shame over ourselves. And. And even our relationship with creation was broken as we abused things like alcohol, which Scripture says is given as a good gift not to be abused.
[00:43:40] All those relationships are broken. But in Christ, all things are being reconciled to him, okay? And we look forward to that day when all things will be reconciled to him. But where it starts is your heart needs to be reconciled to him.
[00:43:55] What did it say in Colossians that you who were once alienated and hostile in mind doing evil deeds, he is now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death. In order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, you need to be reconciled to Christ. And so what I would ask you is, what has been flowing into your life?
[00:44:20] Has it been alcohol?
[00:44:22] Has it been. I mean, what has been the dominating influence over your life? Where have you been turning to for an escape? Where have you been turning to for happiness and joy? Where have you been seeking refuge?
[00:44:37] What has control over your life? What dominates your thoughts?
[00:44:41] What dominates your emotions? What dominates your will?
[00:44:45] Is it Jesus or is it some lesser thing of creation?
[00:44:53] What's flowing into you and what's flowing out of you?
[00:45:00] First, Thessalonians 4. 3 says, this is the will of God, is your sanctification for every part of you to be reconciled to the Lord, for every part of you to be filled with the Holy Spirit. He wants to fill your parenting, he wants to fill your marriage, he wants to fill your employment. He wants to fill every aspect of your life. Are you inviting that the inflow of the Holy Spirit and the word of God into your life?
[00:45:33] Where do you need to repent?
[00:45:35] Let's turn to him, Father.
[00:45:45] Lord, I'm thankful for the ministry of the Holy Spirit because I need you, Holy Spirit, to just completely open this up to us.
[00:45:54] Lord, I don't know why, myself included, we're so scared to give you complete control because we've so obviously made a wreck of our own lives by trying to be in control, by submitting ourselves to lesser gods.
[00:46:08] Jesus, you are king of kings and Lord of Lords. And you are the best king.
[00:46:13] You are a delightful ruler.
[00:46:15] So, Lord, would you take complete control over us? Would you fill us even now, with all of you? God, just to imagine all of you filling all of me.
[00:46:29] Hasten the day, Lord. In Jesus name I pray.
[00:46:33] Amen.
