Are You Filled with the Spirit?
"Are You Filled With The Spirit?"
Ephesians 5:18
By Joel Willoughby
We've always appreciated your ministry and the word and come and share with us again. All right, thank you. Yes, "Brains, Bibles and Beyond!" is the podcast, or repost something on my Facebook page.
But if you want to look back, a couple Christmas things. And so one's about where Jesus was really born, and the other one was a little, little more detail about the star of Bethlehem. So two Christmas things you might want to look up, really interesting things.
Helps us understand the scriptures a little bit better there. Okay, let's see. So are you filled with the spirit? That is the title today.
There is some bad theology that floats around that makes us a little bit scared sometimes to talk like this. But this is from scripture. This is a scriptural command, and so we don't want to shy away from it.
We want to embrace scripture and understand it very well. So that's what we're going to do today. Are you filled with the spirit? That's a very good question, and it's a challenging and convicting question.
I hope you're ready for this. And I want you to really focus in on what scripture has for us here today. And so there is a scriptural command in Ephesians 5:18.
So we'll start there. That's going to be a main focus. We're going to walk through parts of the Book of Ephesians, and then we're going to see a lot of parallel scripture in Colossians after that.
But this is the big main event here in Ephesians 5:18. The command here he says, and do not get drunk with wine. I think we can all agree there.
Yeah, it's a bad thing. And he gives a reason for that. He says, for that is debauchery.
In other words, that's excessive. It's too much. It's not right.
It's sinful. Okay, he says. But in contrast to that, be filled with the spirit.
Be filled with the spirit. Of course, that's the most direct command we have here, be filled with the spirit. So we have to understand if this is a command in scripture, we're being told to do this, we need to understand it and make sure we're obedient to it.
Those are big, important items here today. And so that's, we're going to be walking through and trying to figure this out. So let's get some context here for Ephesians 5:18.
And I would love to, but we're not going to go through the whole epistle here. Ephesians, we're not going to do that, but you should read the whole book in one sitting. This is a part of good Bible study.
You want to spend a long time in each verse. I think it's the most often. Your reading should be like that.
Spend a lot of time with each verse. Read slowly, read repeatedly. But there also needs to be a time where you just, in one sitting, read through a book that you're studying.
And with something like Ephesians, it's a little bit easier because it's a little bit smaller than the other ones. It really doesn't take too long to do that. Just kind of do a flyby to see what it's like.
And I would just challenge you to do that at some point, especially after this message. I think it would really help you out. So we're going to walk through just a few of these texts.
Better understand the command. Let's start with Ephesians 3:14 through 19. So we'll walk over there.
Ephesians three, verse 14, for this reason. So you'd have to look back, because he's already context, right? You have to look back. But it has to do with being called to the gospel and how important that is and God's eternal purpose with it all.
So as Paul builds that up, his response to it, for this reason, he says, I bow my knees before the father, which is that idea of worship. Worship is the bow, the knee, the bend, the knee. He's worshiping before them.
He drops to his knees in humility, he says, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. Just showing the supremacy there that according to the riches of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his spirit. And by the way, I forgot to mention this well, in your inner being, but I did something a little bit different with this PowerPoint presentation.
And the highlights of blue is showing plurality, plural. The whole church, all y'all, that could be a definition there. All of y'all with the blue.
And then green is just another emphasis, but blue specifically is showing that it's everyone. So the church body, I just want to put a big emphasis on that. In the western mindset, mainly American culture, we are individualistic.
We focus on individuals. That's not inherently evil. That's just the way our culture is.
But it can be led to evil when we are focusing on ourself and selfish and things like that. But the eastern mindset, which is the authors of scripture and things, they're more of a collective community. And there's pros and cons to each side, really.
But it's just the fact of the matter. It's how they think. And so with them, it goes without saying that they're usually thinking of the group.
And so a lot of times when we read scripture, we're usually just thinking of me, what am I, commanded? How does this apply to me? Things like that. And so I just want to emphasize the fact that this is a lot of plural ideas here. Okay, so moving on then, with verse 17.
So that, why is he strengthening us and all these things? Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. That's a wonderful thing. Dwell in your hearts through faith that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints.
So together, collectively as a church, we're doing this. We're not alone on an island doing this. And so it is God that has rooted us.
It's God that has grounded us in love. He's done these things for all of us. He strengthens us.
He gives us the ability to understand, to comprehend, but he does it with each other. So you will always have a better understanding of scripture. When you are together with other believers and you are working together with it, you'll always have a better idea of what's going on there, what is.
So just to back that up a little bit so we may have strength to comprehend with all the saints. What is it? What is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. You collectively, all of you.
That's a wonderful thing. Okay. This is really cool to actually know the love of Christ.
Now, it's interesting because it says to know it and it surpasses knowledge. It's like, now wait a minute. What? So it's the idea that, I know my wife, but there's a whole lot more learning I need to do, and she would be the first one to say that.
Okay, so it's sort of that idea. I know, the love of Christ, but there's always deeper. It's always deeper to go into that well.
And it's a wonderful thing. And we're going to continually do this over and over again. And this is so that we may be filled with all the fullness of God.
So we're already talking a little bit about that be filled with the spirit idea. He's been talking about this a bit as we're working up to our main passage. Here.
Then he continues on. He says, I. This is now Ephesians four, hopping up.
Ephesians four, verse one. I, therefore a prisoner for the Lord, urge you, all of you, to walk in a manner to live worthy of the calling to which you have been called. Okay? He urges us to do that.
Okay, well, I see the importance. I want to do this. And so he continues on in verse two, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love one another.
And so a lot of times we look at this, we think about ourselves, but really, it's collective, okay? We're humble before God, working together. We're gentle with each other because we're thinking of God. We're under his service, right? We're bearing with one another in love.
That means you got to put up with each other sometimes. Sometimes not everyone is your best buddy, and you bear with one another in love. That means even patience and teaching things like that, whatever it may be.
And we're eager to maintain. Eager. We're passionate, we're diligent.
We want to maintain this unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. So the Holy Spirit is working to unify us, and we can help that or hinder that. That's our choice, and so we need to do that together.
You're going to find that the very key point of all this is when we are making sure that we are filled with the spirit and that our other brothers and sisters in Christ that are in the same church body that we are, are doing the same. We're helping each other do this. Let's continue on then.
Now we're going to hop all the way up to verse 17. So remember, we're just kind of hopping through here a little bit. So it's still in Ephesians four, but hopping to verse 17.
Now, this I say, and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the gentiles do. In other words, the unbelievers outside of the church in this context. Okay? You must not do that.
Why? Because how do they live? They live in the futility of their minds. The emptiness, the vanity. It's meaningless.
You live, you work, you pay your bills, you die, right? Just soak up as much fun as you can on the earth, and then you're dead. You're back in the ground, right? That kind of an idea, that's not how we should be living. There is great purpose.
We have eternal purpose. This is a wonderful thing. Don't live like them in the futility of their minds.
He continues on and says they are darkened in their understanding. They're alienated from the life of God. They're away from it because the reasoning is of the ignorance that is in them.
Ignorance means not knowing. They don't know God, they don't know his love. They don't know those things due to the hardness of their hearts.
Okay, then we move on. Ephesians five, verse one. Therefore, because of all these things, now we're really working up.
Remember, verse 18 is our main command, so we're working up to it here. Therefore, be imitators of God, not these gentiles. Be imitators of God.
Be like him as beloved children. Altogether, we're all brothers and sisters together in the same spiritual family here. It's a wonderful thing.
And then verse 15, way up there. Now look carefully. Then how you walk.
Now that. Look carefully. That's where we get the word acrobat from.
So the idea it's acrobats. It sounds just like it. So you are on the tightrope.
You're being very careful. You think about the guy that would connect the tightrope between skyscrapers or something like that. That's how I think about it.
This is a life or death thing. You are looking carefully how you walk, but notice it's you. Now, when you normally read this, do you think it's just you, singular? But this is you, plural.
All of us, we're in this together. We want to make sure that not only am I not falling off that tightrope, but my brothers and sisters on the same rope are not going to fall either. I'm helping them out.
I'm strengthening them as well. Look carefully, then. How you walk.
You live not as unwise, but as wise. That word, wisdom, it means skill. The idea is that we are skillfully doing this.
Someone can't just decide, 40 years old, having done maybe a civil engineer job his whole life or something, and then just suddenly say, you know what? I'm going to be an acrobat. And that very day, go walk a tightrope across the skyscrapers. Right? That's not going to happen.
You have to develop a skill. And so we help each other out. We help each other out.
We train each other. We don't want to do this foolishly. We want to do this wisely, with skill.
Okay, so then making the best use of the time. This is the prime way of doing this, skillfully. How do we live the christian life? By finding the moments.
By finding the moments. There's actually two different Greek words for time, and one has more to do with how we westerners think of time, which is church starts at 10:00 kind of thing. There's an exact time for that.
There's a chronology, the word chronos, so it's chronology. Things happen in an exact order. It's a linear timeline, that kind of a thing.
That's not this word. This word is the other one. And this is the one that has to do with a moment, a season.
It's much more general, broad. So we find the moments of life, okay? We make the most of them. We find a moment in our culture, we would say things like, we make time, we find time, right? That is kind of the idea here.
I don't have time for all this and that and the other thing, to walk with God, to be in his word, to pray, to encourage and challenge other believers. I don't have time to look at them on the tightrope and how they're doing it. It's hard enough for me, right? But we're going to find time, we're going to make time.
We're going to find those moments. You're going to say, hey, I'm already at church here. I can go ahead and talk to somebody.
I haven't talked to so and so in a few weeks. I need to get with them, or, well, I can just shoot a quick text message throughout the week or something and just give some encouragement and say, hey, this is what I've been reading. How about you? That kind of a thing.
So you're making the best use of the time. You're finding these moments. Why the reasoning? Because the days are evil.
The days are evil. And so, in other words, you've really got to be looking around and you really got to be watchful and you really have to be careful. It's a hard life out there.
And so all the more reason to really be focusing on how you're living and how others are living, because it's easy to slip into the old life, the life without Christ. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Understand what he wants in this life and for you and for us.
So then we come to verse 18, and do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, excess, right? But instead, contrast be filled with the spirit. So think about that drunkenness, right? I don't know how many people have experience here. I'll be honest with everybody.
I used to have quite the problem with alcohol years ago. Praise God. He's given victory over those sort of things.
So I have an idea of what that is like. And you lose control, you lose judgment. You're not thinking as clearly.
You aren't really yourself, so to speak. You don't have the filter in your head that says, don't say that thing or don't do that thing. It kind of goes away.
So a lot of times you look like a fool, you act like a fool. Well, it's the opposite. In contrast, when you're filled with the spirit, he actually gives you more control.
He gives you better judgment, better discernment. You are completely in control, but he helps you. He strengthens you.
He supports you to know the will of the Lord, to recall these things and to carry it out better. And so it's quite the opposite. And we need to be filled with the spirit.
And so how do you do that? We're going to emphasize this here in a moment. But here he goes, he starts to tell you exactly how you do this, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. And so there you have three categories of music.
Three categories of music. So basically, this is how I divide it. Psalms is inspired scripture.
That is music. And we have a whole book of psalms. Right.
That's really cool. We need to make sure we sing those. That's an important thing that's inspired music for us.
Right. And so here and there, we need to sing those. Hymns would be music that is from inspired scripture.
And so you're looking at it, you're finding, say, Ephesians five, and you go, this is really helpful. Let's put this to music. Let's have some ideas out of here, like in Christ alone or something like that, right? This would be a hymn style.
And then you have the spiritual songs, and these are the songs that just come from the spirit. And so it's nothing that would be of the charismatic nature or anything like that. But the idea that you are enjoying God, you are with him and he makes you joyful, and a song comes up.
Right? It might be just something that your soul just praises God with, or it might be lament. You might having a time of mourning or something. And God just gives you words, gives you thoughts, and you express those to him.
Right? So we do this, though, to one another. Notice that addressing one another. So what are we doing here when we sing? When we were singing earlier today, I hope you are focusing on the words, and it's not only about the words, but that's the major part.
And you are focusing on the words and you are actually teaching each other. You are saying this is true. This is accurate doctrine.
You're challenging and encouraging each other in the body as you sing this. At the same time, others are doing that to you. And so you're being reminded of these truths.
You're being challenged, and you're thinking, this is who I am. This is who we are. And we're unifying ourselves as we make melody or have harmony.
At least we're intending. Right? I'm not very a musical person, so, yeah, I always make sure that the people in the sound booth know not to have the microphone on when I sing. It would definitely ruin the picture of harmony.
But the idea is that we're singing, we're harmonizing, so that the music, the physical music that you'd hear is a display of the spiritual reality of our hearts being united in doctrine and in love for God, things like that. And so let's move on. It says, singing, making melody to the Lord with your heart.
I just covered that. And then verse 20, giving thanks, another part of it. Giving thanks always and for everything.
That's a tall order to God the Father. That's primary. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, he's the one that through him we have access to the Father.
Right? And then finally, verse 21, submitting to one another. And once again, look at this unity, this plurality here among the church body, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ, we are to do that. Okay, so let's review this command.
All right, here it is. Be filled with the spirit. That is the command.
We can't get away from it. How is this done? Because if I were to, say, be filled with the spirit, you said, okay, I don't know what to do. What do I do? How do I know if it's done? And that's the important part today.
So how is it done? Paul? Sorry for the grammar lesson, but it's necessary. God chose grammar. You think about that.
Language is one of the things that's never had a beginning, because the Father, son, the holy spirit have always communicated. Language has never had a beginning. It's always been with us, which means grammar, syntax, those other evil words, they're actually not evil, and they're actually been a part of God forever.
And so this is how he chose to communicate his will. It's pretty interesting stuff. And so he says, there's five supporting participles here with four tasks, addressing, singing and making, giving thanks, submitting.
Those are five, all those "ing" words in this context. And so he gives four tasks there. We're addressing one another, we must do this.
This is how we're to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We're singing in that making melody that goes together. Right.
And so that's that physical display of our spiritual reality. And then we're giving thanks to God. Secondarily, we do give thanks to each other.
Of course, we want to show appreciation because that other person has submitted to God and done a loving thing. Something like that. But primarily, all good gifts come from the father.
Right. That's James one. All good gifts come from the father.
So we give thanks to him, and then we're submitting to one another. And so how do we do that? By, you know what? There's some fun stuff. I wanted to do this next week.
Maybe there's a big snow coming. I haven't looked at the weather. I don't know, but maybe there's a big snow coming.
And so you're going to find, like the one hill in Iowa and you're going to go sledding down. So actually, I tell people it's really kind of flat in the middle, but then Iowa on the edges, it gets really hilly, doesn't it? Yeah. There's places.
We know there's places. Okay. But instead of doing this other fun thing, I might say, you know what? I'm rather.
I'm going to make best use of this moment, and I'm actually going to maybe take some other people along with me and I'm going to make sure that I can encourage them and challenge them in the word. Maybe we can pray together a little bit while we have a bunch of fun, or there's somebody that can't go out. And you know what? The hill is going to be really busy anyways.
I'm going to go to them instead, and I'm going to minister to them. I'm submitting to them. I'm going to serve them.
And it's out of reverence for Christ. And the list goes on, tons and tons of examples. I'm just going to let the Holy Spirit kind of apply it to your own hearts because there's so many things I could say here.
Just go through what this actually is talking about. Okay, so then be filled with the spirit. Be filled.
All right, there we go. And then we have this in verse 19, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, addressing one another. There you have your participle.
That's how you do it. Okay, then singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart. Singing, making melody.
There's a second task, our second task there with two more participles. And then we have giving thanks always and for everything to God the father and the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Giving thanks.
That's our next participle. Another command. That's the third task.
Then the fourth and final task. Here it is, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Pretty awesome thing. So that is the command and that's the how to. What I think is really cool is Paul actually addresses this to the people at Colosse too.
To the Colossians. Let's go over to the Colossians. And so here Colossians three.
And we're going to look at verse 15. Here's he says, and let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. Now that's the same thing as be filled with the spirit.
That's the same thing. There is one God, right? Three persons that fulfill different roles, things like that. We're not going to go into that right now.
But the idea is that it is the same idea. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. That's like being filled with the spirit.
Just different wording here. To which indeed you are called in one body. You are called to him in one body.
The body of Christ, the pillar of truth. Right. The church, the bride of Christ.
Lots of names here, he says, and be thankful. That kind of sounds familiar already, doesn't it, to our last passage and be thankful. That's interesting.
What else does he say? He says, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Another thing that's the okay, be filled with the spirit. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. It's the same idea. It really is the same idea.
If the peace of God rules in you, that means you are doing everything you're supposed to be doing. You're not sinning and you're being obedient, you're worshiping and glorifying him. If the word of God dwells in you richly, that means it can't help but just come out and theology comes out of your mouth and fingertips.
You're going to say and do the right things when you are filled with his word. That's a wonderful thing. So being filled with the spirit is the same thing.
That's a really cool idea. So then he says, teaching and admonishing one another. That also sounds familiar to Ephesians five, doesn't it? Teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
Even the same three items, the musical categories there with thankfulness in your hearts to God. He says thankfulness again, that must be a big idea. That's a really big idea.
We're going to kind of come back to that here. So let's review the command. Be filled with the spirit.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. The word of Christ dwell in you richly. So we have this common ground filled rule, dwell in you richly.
How is this done? All right, well, you have four supporting participles, this time with three tasks. That shows us how. Okay.
But it essentially comes down to being the same thing. So teaching and admonishing, singing, giving thanks, those are your four participles in your three tasks that are right there. And really it comes together to be the same thing, which is pretty cool.
Okay, so then some context here for Colossians 315 through 16. As we're going to ramp back up to it, but we'll back up, I want you to notice a bunch of parallels between Ephesians and Colossians. And really, I'm not showing you everything and I'm not going to do it super slowly if you've known my nature so far.
But I'll tell you this, I'm encouraging you to sit down and read Ephesians and sit down and read Colossians and just go through it in your own time, each one in their own sitting, if you can, in the same day or one one day, one the next day. It really isn't going to take that much time. And as far as the time that you have 24 hours in a day, how better to spend 1 hour, right? It won't even take you one.
I think it would take 1 hour to read both books. I think that'd be just fine. Okay, so here we go.
We're going to know some things here. Read the entire books together. Let's start with Colossians one, nine through 14.
Once again, we're going to kind of hop. We're going to hop through things here, so don't think we're starting in chapter one. We're going to go straight through.
I would not do that to you here in this hour, but I would do it another time. Let's start with Colossians one, nine through 14. Here we go, verse nine.
And so from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, all of you. So the writers in this letter here, Paul being the main writer, but there was always a group that was writing. It's kind of interesting.
And we have not ceased to pray for you asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. It's kind of like saying be filled with spirit, right? Basically the same thing. So that's where he starts then verse ten, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.
If you haven't already, you're starting to notice there are parallels here. Colossians and Ephesians, they're very similar in a lot of ways. There's a different focus, there's a different purpose, and they're different enough.
There's lots of differences too. But I want you just to notice a lot of the main points here are very similar. Being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy.
Giving thanks to the father that thanks again. Right. We begin this a lot.
Where did that come from? Right, the thanks comes from. We'll say it this way. Thankfulness is a symptom.
There's a source issue and that is being filled with the spirit, but thankfulness is a symptom of it. You can't help but just give thanks. So it's a constant, give thanks, give thanks.
How are you going to give thanks? We're going to have to think about God. You have to meditate on him, you have to get into his word, you have to be with his people, you're going to have to be praying, you're going to have to do all those things to have a regular lifestyle of giving thanks. You're going to have to do it.
And so he says, mentioning this in verse twelve, who has qualified you, so, giving thanks to the father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. Wow. Already there is a huge list of things to be thankful for.
Just from what we've been reading in scripture today. It's a wonderful thing. So then we continue on here in verse 13, he has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to his kingdom, to the kingdom of his beloved son, in whom we have redemption.
So of course, he's talking to people that have trusted in Christ as their savior. He's forgiven their sins, trusting in the finished work of Jesus on the cross. He didn't just die, he was buried and rose again three days later, in whom we have redemption altogether through him, the forgiveness of sins.
It kind of puts an equality on us too. No one's better than anybody else, right? We all needed the savior the same. There's no one that needed less of the blood that was spilt.
It doesn't work that way. We all needed him the same. We are all equals in that sense.
We're not equals in every sense, but we are equals in that sense that we all needed him equally for salvation. So then, Colossians two, starting in verse one here. For I want you to know, remember, the blue is for the plurality, the whole church here, just a reminder there.
For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those that lay out of see and for all who have not seen me face to face. Well, what's that? Verse two. That their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love to reach all the riches.
Whoa. All the riches. That sounds cool.
Verse three or. Sorry, continue. Verse two.
All the riches of full assurance, of understanding in the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ. What's the difference between a secret and a mystery? Okay, a secret. You never know it.
A mystery is revealed. So everyone knew there was this offspring that was coming and then they started to say the Messiah that was coming. And of course, Christ is the New Testament word for Messiah.
And so here, now it's been revealed. Here he is, the promised one. There's been several hundred prophecies in the Old Testament just relating to his first coming.
And here he is. It's been revealed then in verse three, in whom in this Christ Jesus Christ, Yahweh himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. That's awesome.
He continues on. I say this why? In order that no. 1 may delude you with plausible arguments, thinking that there's wisdom and knowledge outside of God, outside of scripture.
There's nothing that you need as far as living for God, to please him, to be godly, to have a holy lifestyle. Nothing is outside of Christ, outside of the scriptures. And so I don't want anyone to delude you with plausible arguments.
For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit. We have the same holy spirit in us, don't we? Rejoicing to see your good order, in the firmness of your faith in Christ. When he does go to see them, therefore, as you receive Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, that is, by faith, right rooted and built up in him and established in the faith.
Those are things God has done. He's rooted us, he has built us up, he's established us. Those are passive verbs.
There, he's done it for us, just as you were taught, abounding in Thanksgiving, just as you were taught abounding in thanksgiving. See to it. It's a little slow on the draw here.
That's why I'm pausing. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world. Okay, all these different things.
There's lots of different ways that someone might persuade somebody that, hey, there's this really cool knowledge, wisdom, truth outside of all these things. And you got to check this out. This is how you really make it.
Okay? And not according to Christ. So it has to be according to Christ. That's the bottom line.
So then he continues on here in verse nine. For in him, Jesus Christ, the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. He is 100% God and you have been filled in him.
That's really cool. Like the peace of Christ, the word of Christ dwells in you richly. You are part of the body of Christ as believers.
You have been filled in him who is the head of all rule and authority. That's a powerful, powerful thing, he says. If then.
So Colossians three one through 17. Now this is getting right into our main text for Colossians. If then you have been raised with Christ, and of course you have.
Seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above those commands there. Focus on him being heavenly minded, eternally focused, not on things that are on earth.
For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ and God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Big emphasis on Christ here in Colossians especially.
Sorry, it's got dry there real quick. I talk too much. I think they say slow down.
There we go. All right, we're back at it. So Christ is everything and we are to focus on him.
And so then with this mindset, verse five says, put to death. Therefore, what is earthly in you? Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and covetousness, which is idolatry. There's a common idea here where they would mention a list of five things and then the next thing is kind of like a title of that list.
So the idea is that they have put these things off. They have done this. This is generally the idea.
They go, yeah, we've done this. We put away the idols, all these things that we have been worshiping in our hearts beforehand. But this is the metaphors of clothing.
So you take all of that off. Well, then what are you? You're naked. That's a shameful thing.
And so you don't want to just put that off. There's more to do, he says, on account of these, the wrath of God is coming. So, of course, put all those off.
But then you're naked, so you have to put on, right? You have to put on everything else in these. You two once walked when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away.
Anger, wrath, malice, slander and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another. Seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and put on the new self.
You don't want to be ashamed. You want to have that new self. You want to be clothed with Christ here.
And have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised. Barbarian, Scythian, slave free.
But Christ is all and in all, so we have that equality and that sense of value. You don't look around and say, well, there's the rednecks and there's the geniuses. That kind of thing.
That'd be like in today's language. Instead we go, hey, we're all brothers and sisters in Christ. That's who we are.
We have equally been redeemed. We're equally his children. Put on then.
You don't want to just be naked, right? Verse twelve. Put on then. That'd be shameful.
As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, impatience. Bearing with one another. Doesn't this already.
It sounds real familiar. It's very repetitive with Ephesians bearing with one another. How so? And if one has a complaint against another, getting very specific here, forgiving each other, to what extent? As the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive, all of you.
Church body together. Forgive means to release, right? It's not my job to punish. There are times where there's church discipline.
The Bible gives us instructions for that. But that's not what it's talking about here. It's talking about those little offenses, those little things.
We must forgive each other. And when it has been taken care of, when there has been an ask for forgiveness, we give it right. We don't hold it back.
We give it freely, just like God did. So you also must forgive. And above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
Going back to that united harmony of the church body. And let the peace of Christ. Here it is, the main text.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. And so this is kind of the. After you put off all that stuff, you put on that new stuff, and you are letting that peace of Christ rule in your hearts.
This is your authority, right? This is your authority. You want peace within the body of Christ. How is that possible? Well, if everyone is mature in Christ, spiritually mature, or you're going in that direction, you're growing together.
There is peace. When there's something out of place, someone that might fall off that tightrope, right. Then you challenge them and you encourage them.
You come alongside them. Maybe they need some training. Maybe they need some correction.
Who knows? There could be a lot of different things. Maybe they just need a smile. Just help them out, whatever the way they need to be helped, into which you indeed were called, you were called.
And to live in such a way that the peace of Christ rules in your hearts, in one body, you are called to be united with other people. We are not to be on islands. We are called to be united with other believers and be thankful.
We see that over and over again. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom.
That skill. Do it well. Don't just be a tyrant or something like that.
Or don't just do it flippantly. Do it lovingly. Do it skillfully.
It takes practice. Maybe we can even train each other in how to do this. Well, that'd be good, too.
Singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Not begrudgingly, not because this is just tradition, not because this is liturgy. This is what we have to do.
This is what we got to get through this. No, we lovingly do this because why? We are being encouraged, and we are being taught, and we are encouraging others, and we are teaching them. And with these songs, we are being unified together in this way.
Verse 17. And whatever you do in word or deed, this is all of y'all, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. So how do you know if you are filled? How do you know if you are filled with the Holy Spirit? So here's an example.
Imagine having a cup of pure water. Just a cup. Pure water.
No tricks. It's just water. Okay? And then I get bumped.
Somebody runs by, bumps me. What comes out of the cup? It doesn't take a genius to figure this out, right? It will only and always just be that water. That's all it's going to be.
All right. This does not change because of how many times I get bumped or how hard I get bumped, right? If I have that cup of water, I get bumped. Boop.
It's just water coming out. So take that idea and let's move on to something spiritual. What happens when life bumps or squeezes you? The trials, the tragedies, the hardships.
Okay. When these things happen, or even just getting stuck in traffic when life bumps or squeezes you. Okay, things that are irritating.
What comes out, whatever you're filled with will come out. You see, it's the same idea. So will it be the fruit of the spirit? If it is the fruit of the spirit that is coming out, remember, fruit is results, right? And so if you've been walking with the spirit, you are filled with him.
If life bumps or squeezes you, that's what's coming out. That's the evidence of it. If it's not, then you are not filled with the spirit.
So it's a challenging thing. I think of sometimes that I don't practice self control or love or gentleness. I'm not long suffering.
I'm not joyful when things happen. Why is that? The hard convicting truth to myself is that, well, I must not have been filled with the Holy Spirit, which means I must not have been walking with him. That's a hard one that challenges me all the time.
So here's the fruit of the spirit real quick, just as a reminder. In Galatians five, Paul, when he wrote this, could not find a word in the Greek language to really identify what this was, because this is such a huge concept. So he ends up saying, the fruit.
The fruit of the spirit. Okay, well, what kind of fruit is this? It's such a complex thing. Fruit being the result, right? Such a complex thing.
He goes, well, it's a love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. Fruit. The word fruit is singular.
It's one thing. If you're missing one of these little pieces, you don't have it. This is all together.
This is what happens when you walk with the Holy Spirit. This is the evidence. This is what comes out.
I'm telling you, this is super convicting to me. Every time I think about this, and especially when I teach it, I am not coming up here saying that this is me every day. Far from it.
I got my family here. I can't lie. Right? So they know better.
I challenge you, though, to think about it for yourself. And let's review this command then, because once we figure out that we haven't done these things, or when we don't do these things, how do we correct it? How do we correct it? We want to correct it. We want to help other people.
So do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery. But be filled with the spirit. And how so? Remember the participles here, addressing one another in psalms and hymn and spiritual songs.
Task number two, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart. Task number three, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Task number four, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
That's the job here in Colossians three. What do we have here? And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. That's the command.
Okay, we have another command here. Just likewise. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.
So what do we do? How do we do this? Here's the how to's task number one, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom. Task number two, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Don't just sing on Sundays.
Sing throughout the week and with people. Unify with people. It's wonderful.
And then task number three here, whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of our Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. That's a big deal. So be filled with the Holy Spirit.
There are so many different references to this in scripture. Here's a few big ones. Keep in step with the spirit.
That's from Galatians five. The fruit of the spirit. Abide in the vine.
John 15. Right. Walk with God.
That's all over, like first John, and it's just all over everywhere. Delight in the word. I think, like even psalm 37.
You're delighting in him. Delight in the word. Enjoy your relationship with God.
That's all over. All over scripture. This is what it is.
Be filled with the Holy Spirit. We're constantly challenged to live this way. It's a wonderful, wonderful thing to live this way.
So let's pray and be focusing on how we can be pleasing God today. Heavenly Father, I thank you so much for your help with us with scripture, to teach us, to be so patient with us, to forgive us when we ask what a great God you are. I pray that we'd recognize the body of Christ around us, to be thinking not just of ourselves and how we're living before you, but how our brothers and sisters in Christ are living before you and how we can help them humbly, gently, skillfully with wisdom.
And thankfully, I pray we'd be giving thanks with all these opportunities. And not to find it as a chore, but to see the love that is there and the reward, just the relationship with you, but even the eternal reward that is to come. But lord, we love the opportunity to have this joyful relationship with you even now.
This eternal life. What a wonderful quality of life that is. Even with trials and tragedies around us, even with some of us, maybe in poverty and other hardships that are around us, we can still have joy in you through it all.
We are so thankful for that. I pray that you'd help us to be united, to be be filled with the spirit. To let the word of Christ dwell richly in us.
Let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts. That we would be pleasing to you. That the sacrifice of our lives would be a sweet smelling aroma to where you are in the heavenly places.
We love you. Thank you for loving us first. In Jesus name, amen.