Walk as Light Pt. 3 (Living in the Spirit's Influence)
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We’ve made it to our last sermon in this mini series called Walk as Light. We’ve seen Paul call us in this text to walk as children of Light. We’ve been exploring exactly what Paul means. What he means is that Christians have a new identity in Christ. We are no longer darkness, but light. He wants us to live consistently when our new character in Christ. He calls our behavior our walk. We’ve looked at three reasons from this text why that is so important and what that practically looks like.
I. Our walk becomes Christ’s witness (vv. 7-10)
I. Our walk becomes Christ’s witness (vv. 7-10)
People see Christ when they look at our lives. The world doesn’t read the Bible, but it does read Christians.
II. Our walk exposes the enemy’s wickedness (vv. 11-16)
II. Our walk exposes the enemy’s wickedness (vv. 11-16)
The only real hope the world has is Christ. It’s our job to shine the light of his truth on sin. That way the world can see its sin and the mercy to Christ, turn to Christ and find salvation.
III. Our walk display’s Christ’s wisdom (vv. 15-21)
III. Our walk display’s Christ’s wisdom (vv. 15-21)
Eph. 5:15
15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,
Last week saw in v.17-18 that people who walk wisely know how to use their time well (v.16) and they understand that God’s will for their life is holiness. They use holiness as the standard to make every decision. We are going to look at the last characteristic of those walk wisely this morning and thus display Christ’s wisdom
C. They live under the influence of the Holy Spirit. (vv. 18-21)
C. They live under the influence of the Holy Spirit. (vv. 18-21)
The first thing that we must realize here that God wants our faith to impact our behavior and not simply our intellect.
18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,
This whole section of Ephesians is about your lifestyle reflecting your identity. And to walk wisely, we are told to “be filled with the Spirit.” (v.18) What that tells me is that the Holy Spirit didn’t simply come to shape your beliefs and theology, but he also came he to shape your decisions and your behaviors.
+Baptists have a little reputation of being afraid of the Holy Spirit. More than once we have been described as the “frozen chosen.” The reason is that we have not wanted to fall prey to the clear abuses of the Holy Spirit that was witnessed in some more charasmatic churches. I’ve seen Benny Hinn knock rows of people down with just the wave of his arm. We could go on and on from the great Awakening in John Edwards’s day up to now.
This is not a message on the abuse of the Holy Spirit. But, I do want out our tendency for abuse. We tend to take God’s truth and the work of the Holy Spirit and shine it at our head and not at our feet.
*Let’s say it’s 3:00a.m. and one of your children cries out from another room. They’ve had a bad dream. You want to get into their room quickly to comfort them. The house is pitch black, but you don’t want to wake up your spouse by turning the house lights on. So, you pick up your phone laying beside your bed and flip the flashlight on. But, on the way to the room, your stump your little toe on the foot of the bed, run into the a chair misplaced in the kitchen, and trip over the tennis shoes left in the living room. All because, instead of shining the light at your feet, you were shining it at your head.
We’ve pointed the Holy Spirit’s light only at o
It’s easy in the name of avoiding the Holy Spirit abuse to shine his light only at our head and made him only about right doctrine. Let me give you a life principle:
Life Principle:“A Christian’s beliefs will never impact anyone until that Christian’s life does.”
Life Principle:“A Christian’s beliefs will never impact anyone until that Christian’s life does.”
The wisdom of the Holy Spirit is not only seen in what we believe, but in how we walk.
“A Christian’s beliefs will never impact anyone until that Christian’s life does.”
“A Christian’s beliefs will never impact anyone until that Christian’s life does.”
1. For the Holy Spirit to direct your life, he has be the greatest influencer of it. (v.18)
1. For the Holy Spirit to direct your life, he has be the greatest influencer of it. (v.18)
Paul calls us to ask, “What or who is controlling your life.” He starts by using an illustration that everyone will understand, being under the influence of alcohol.
18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,
Everyone in that day and our day understands the affects of alcohol. Back then water wasn’t all that trustworthy to drink all the time, so that grew grapes and made grapejuice. Let grapejuice set in a container in the heat for a few days you get fermintation and wine. People that drink too much wine get drunk or as we might say it, intoxicated. Wine takes control of the mind. It ruins the your judgment. That makes you say things you wouldn’t normally say, go places you may not normally go, and do things that you wouldn’t normally do in your right mind.
1 Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.
The RSV (Rushing Simple Version) of that verse is “If you don’t think wine will make you look like a fool, you are a fool.”
This would be a real good place to stop and preach a sermon on the dangers of alcohol. I won’t give you a sermon here, but I will give you something to think about.
Look at . This is my favorite Scripture concerning alcohol in the Bible. This is King Lemuel’s momma talking to her son who is a young king. And, she says that there are two things that he needs to stay away from as a young man. Too things that are going to be a great temptation, but will destroy his life. Guess what they are? Wild women and alcohol.
1 The words of King Lemuel. An oracle that his mother taught him:
2 What are you doing, my son? What are you doing, son of my womb? What are you doing, son of my vows?
3 Do not give your strength to women, your ways to those who destroy kings.
4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to take strong drink,
5 lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted.
6 Give strong drink to the one who is perishing, and wine to those in bitter distress;
7 let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more.
8 Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute.
9 Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.
1 The words of King Lemuel. An oracle that his mother taught him:
2 What are you doing, my son? What are you doing, son of my womb? What are you doing, son of my vows?
3 Do not give your strength to women, your ways to those who destroy kings.
1 Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn her seven pillars.
2 She has slaughtered her beasts; she has mixed her wine; she has also set her table.
3 She has sent out her young women to call from the highest places in the town,
1 Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.
2 The terror of a king is like the growling of a lion; whoever provokes him to anger forfeits his life.
3 It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife, but every fool will be quarreling.
1 The words of Agur son of Jakeh. The oracle. The man declares, I am weary, O God; I am weary, O God, and worn out.
2 Surely I am too stupid to be a man. I have not the understanding of a man.
3 I have not learned wisdom, nor have I knowledge of the Holy One.
1 Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn her seven pillars.
2 She has slaughtered her beasts; she has mixed her wine; she has also set her table.
3 She has sent out her young women to call from the highest places in the town,
Prov. 31
Proverbs 20
How many great men have had their lives destroyed by a seductive women? His momma is telling him that the king is too important to have his life destroyed that way. But that is not all that will destroy.
How many great men have had their lives destroyed by a seductive women? His momma is telling him that the king is too important to have his life destroyed that way. But, that is not all that will destroy a life.
4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to take strong drink,
5 lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted.
6 Give strong drink to the one who is perishing, and wine to those in bitter distress;
7 let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more.
8 Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute.
9 Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.
4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to take strong drink,
5 lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted.
In other words, if you drink alcohol and that affects your decision making and your actions, it will affect other people that you are responsible for. You might say, “But pastor, I’m not a king.” You are a Daddy, or a Momma, or a husband or a wife. Or, you are going to be one. Everyone in here has someone that you are responsible for and your bad decisions will hurt them. I’m not saying it’s a sin to drink alcohol. Neither is the king’s mother, I’m just saying that it is simply not worth the danger of the harm it has the capacity to bring. There’s a lot more to say about that, but I don’t have the time to do it here.
So when you are drunk, alcohol influences you decisions and your actions for harm. But when you are filled with the Spirit, it influences you decisions and your actions for your good. He makes you wise. So “filling of the Spirit” means directed, influenced, and ultimately governed by the Holy Spirit.
There are some aspects of this word that you should be aware of.
a. We are commanded to be filled.
a. We are commanded to be filled.
This is an imperative. He’s not giving us an option here.
b. We are commanded to have the filling done to us by the Spirit.
b. We are commanded to have the filling done to us by the Spirit.
This is a passive verb. That means this is something done to us. How can we be commanded to do something that we have no power to do? We can’t manufacture the filling of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit doesn’t respond to our beck and call. But we can direct our will so that we desire the Holy Spirit to fill you. You can create an atmosphere where he wants to come, through prayer, Bible reading, fasting, meditating on his word.
*Here’s an example: If you want hummingbird feeders flying around your house, do you go to the store and by hummingbirds? No, you buy hummingbird feeders and keep them full with sugar water. They will be all over your house. You can’t make them come but you can create the conditions where they want to come. They same is true with the Spirit.
c. We are commanded to be fill as an ongoing process.
c. We are commanded to be fill as an ongoing process.
In the language of the New Testament, this is a present tense verb. That means that means the action is ongoing. So you could translated it like, “Be being kept filled.” So being filled by the Holy Spirit is not something that happens one time. This is not salvation. It’s something that has to happen over and over again as we wake up every day and say, “Holy Spirit, I am yours. Direct me as you will.”
Outside of trusting in Christ for salvation, there is no more important command in Scripture that to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
And ultimately it is about submission to his will.
*This does not mean that we are to be controlled by the Holy Spirit like a hand controls a glove or a ventriloquist controls a puppet. We are not puppets. It means that we are joyfully governed in the sense that a speed limit sign controls how fast we drive. We are goverened by it, in the sense that we have yielded to its authority and are law abiding persons. Being filled with the Spirit is yielding to the will of God in our holiness.
2. When the Holy Spirit directs your life, he produces a noticeable difference. (vv.19-21)
2. When the Holy Spirit directs your life, he produces a noticeable difference. (vv.19-21)
a. He produces people who love to sing together. (v.19)
a. He produces people who love to sing together. (v.19)
a. He produces a people who love to sing together.
a. He produces a people who love to sing together.
a. He produces a people who love to sing together
a. He produces a people who love to sing together
19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart,
Some churches fight over what style of music they sing in worship. I despise worship wars. They are selfish and speak to how unhealthy the church is.
Paul says that churches of people who are filled with the Spirit love to come together and sing about Jesus and to Jesus. They sing all kinds of styles, “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.”
And they are singing out of their heart. That means that it doesn’t matter how bad you may sound, because its worship and it’s beautiful to God.
*Keith Getty in his book sing says what matters in a church is not the style music that the church is singing, but the passion they sing their worship to God no matter what style it is.
b. He produces people who don’t take for granted the grace of God. (v.20)
b. He produces people who don’t take for granted the grace of God. (v.20)
20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Eph.
God didn’t have to give us his Spirit or his salvation. He didn’t have to produce Christlikeness in us. Everyday, we live thankful for his grace.
c. He produces people who gladly to submit to the Lord by submitting to each other. (v.21)
c. He produces people who gladly to submit to the Lord by submitting to each other. (v.21)
21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
The next section is all about that .
Remember that we shine as we display the wisdom of Christ. And, we can’t display his wisdom unless we are filled.
Right now are you filled by the Spirit? Are you yielding to his direction. Are you listening to him in every decision.
worship-music, scripture
thanksgiving
mutual submission among believers