Living Under the Influence
Living Under the Influence
Introduction
<Ephesians 5:15-21 (NIV)>
Epitaph on a tomb in ancient Greece: “O stranger who passest this the tomb of Anacreon, pour libation over me in going by; for I am a drinker of wine.”
A. I don’t think I’ll use that saying on my tombstone when I die!
B. Let me share my experience with alcohol and it’s not very extensive. I got turned off of the stuff early when I tried guzzling the remaining contents of a bottle of beer I found in the ditch when I was 9. I’ve tried desperately to overcome my dislike for alcohol over the years without much success…I’ve toured the odd winery over the years…but I just can’t aquire a taste for the stuff…Bu seriously, shortly after my wife and I were married we decided we would not be consumers of alcohol. It’s not because we were convincd that the Bible forbade Christians from consuming alcohol, because it doesn’t – if you have the freedom to drink moderately it’s fine with me – but because of what we wanted to influence us and how we wanted to influence others. We felt it was the wise thing to do!
C. Life is full of decisions like this – times where we as Christians have to make a choice – a choice to live wise lives. This morning I want to talk about how we can live wisely in a broken world.
I. <What does wise living look like? (v. 15-17)> (NIV)
A. <Wise people pay attention to how they live> <v. 15>.
1. Be proactive – don’t let life come to you!
When we possess something valuable – car, home, garden, health – it’s important to us so we take care of it.
2. Your Christian life deserves thoughtful attention.
B. <Wise people make the most of their time> <v. 16>.
1. We all get the same amount of time – sixty minutes each hour and twenty-four hours each day.
2. No one is ever cheated and no one can expand time.
3. You are to make the most of your opportunities.
C. <Wise people understand the will of God> <v. 17>.
1. We cannot live well and do right unless we understand God’s will (rf. V. 10).
2. God’s will is not elusive – it’s accessable to all – we need to read the Bible and use our common sense to obey it.
How many of you, when you set out by car for Winnipeg, jump in, turn on the engine, fold your arms, close your eyes, and step on the gas pedal?
The Christian has God’s will, has been given a mind to think ahead and anticipate consequences, and has the freedom to make choices – we need to use these privileges wisely!
II. <How is wise living achieved? (vv. 3-5)> (NIV)
A. <We need to come under the right influence> <v. 18>.
1. We need to avoid drunkenness.
· This is not a prohibition against consuming alcohol – the OT portrays wine as a blessing from God.
· Backdrop to Paul’s teaching is the raunchy ‘worship’ that was participated in at the Temple of Dionysis in Ephesus.
· Both the Old and New Testaments do, however, denounce drunkenness.
2. We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
· Paul is not making a comparison between alcoholic drunkenness and spiritual drunkenness, but he is making a comparison as to the influence drunkenness and the HS have on a person.
Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones, writing both as a physician and a pastor, compares and contrasts the two states of drunkenness and the Spirit’s fullness. He says, ‘Wine – alcohol - …pharmacologically speaking is not a stimulant - it is a depressant. Take up any book on pharmacology and look up ‘alcohol’, and you will find, always, that it is classified among the depressants. Further, ‘it depresses first and formost the highest centres of the brain…They control everything that gives a man self-control, wisdom, understanding, discrimination, judgement, balance, the power to assess everything; in other words everything that makes a man behave at his best ad highest’. What the Holy Spirit does, however, is the exact opposite. ‘If it were possible to put the Holy Spirit into a textbook of Pharmacology, I would put him under the stimulants, for that is where he belongs. He really is a stimulant…He stimulates our every faculty…the mind and the intellect…the heart…and the will…
· People full of alcohol loose control but people full of the HS gain control – they become like Christ.
· God gives us the freedom to choose which influence we will come under.
3. We have the freedom to choose which influence we will come under.
Do you sense an emptiness, that life is devoid of meaning, purpose, and significance? You can choose what you will do about this emptiness. Paul would say, “Be filled with the Spirit.”
B. <We need to understand how we come under the right influence > <v. 18b>.
1. This is a command: an obligation is placed on us.
2. It’s in the present tense: Not an occasional experience but an ongoing condition (I kow people who claim that they can count the times they have been filled with the Spirit).
3. It’s passive: We’re not told to fill ourselves; we’re told to be filled. We are to submit, surrender, and allow the HS to be the dominant influence in our lives.
4. It is plural: This is teaching for the entire church.
C. <We need to understand the benefits of coming under the right influence.> (vv. 19-21)
1. Being filled with the Spirit will affect your worship
(speaking/singing) <v. 19>.
2. Being filled with the Spirit will enable you to be thankful <v. 20>
· Always: Not genereated by good times, but by the Spirit.
· Everything: Not a cruel command in the face of tragedy, nor an unreasonable command. We are only to give thanks for those gifts that God gives.
3. Being filled with the Spirit will help you to be submissive.
· Christ modeled submission – for him there was no conflict between lordship and servanthood.
· If we respect Christ we will submit to one another.
· Submitting is one of the essential characteristics of the Christian life. (Paul mentions submission more than 20 times.)
Conclusion