Community Beyond Imagination

We are continuing in our study through the book of Ephesians that we’ve called “Church Beyond Imagination’…

and our goal in this study, which I believe was Paul’s goal for writing the letter in the first place… is to...

“Pursue God’s unimaginable vision for his church so that he might receive MUCH glory.”

What God is doing in his church is SO FAR BEYOND US… so far outside our typical ways of thinking about “church”...

That the Holy Spirit working through the Apostle Paul... wants us to change our THINKING about church to match God’s own vision for his church…

so that we would WALK in that vision… so that we would live it out.

By the way, we are going to see today that Paul really likes this metaphor of “walk” when he’s talking about our life in Christ and in the church…

As a community of saints… a family of families… we are going on a walk together.

This year my kids were finally at the age where we could enjoy more hikes as a family...

And up until this year, the hikes weren’t super hard or super long… and I just wore whatever sneakers I owned to go on hikes...

The hikes you can take with very young children are pretty easy… so it didn’t require a special pair of shoes or even much other gear.

But as we started to hike further and on more varied terrain, I realized that I needed better hiking shoes than my minimalist Saucony’s.

I didn’t need the top of the line $200 Salaomons… but I needed something with better grip than what I currently owned...

So I bought a pair of decent, middle-of-the-line, waterproof hiking shoes… and it’s been one of the best purchases I made all year...

I’ve noticed SUCH a difference, not the least of which is that my feet stay DRY most of the time.

And if I decided to go on even LONGER or HARDER hikes and cover more ground, I’d need even better provisions for my feet.

There are two principles at play here that I want to point out to you as the reason WHY I’m telling you all this:

FIRST, The type of walk we take determines the equipment needed to complete it.

SECOND, and possibly more importantly, good equipment is not to be wasted on lesser pursuits.

The type of walk determines the equipment needed to complete it.

Good equipment is not to be wasted on lesser pursuits.

(you don’t buy the top of the line if you are just going on a one mile hike).

And that is true in our WALK in Christ together...

God has called us to the EVEREST of pursuits… walking as the people of God called the church...

We need glorious, supernatural equipment to live out this calling.

AND THE GOOD NEWS IS: he has provided us with EVERYTHING we could possibly need… every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

So we must not waste that equipment on lesser pursuits.

We must not waste God’s supernatural provision on selfish gain… on carrying out the desires of our flesh… on foolish living...

Because to do that is the same as never having received it...

So here’s what we are going for today:

Big Idea: Walk in God's supernatural provision for his community of saints.

Your Bibles are open to Ephesians 5… and three times in the passage we are going to study today, Paul commands the churches to “walk” in a certain way together...

These are actually the last three times out of five that Paul uses the word “walk” in the book of Ephesians… I’ll remind you of the other two times that we’ve already looked at in this study.

The first time Paul used the word “walk” was in chapter 4:1 where Paul launched into this second half… the application section of his letter…

He said, ““I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,” (Ephesians 4:1, ESV)

In other words, “God has this high and holy vision and purpose for his church… now LIVE IT OUT!”

And he followed that up with some teaching toward UNITY in the church.

The second time Paul used the word was in chapter 4:17 that we studied last week where Paul drew a distinction between the world’s way of walking and the church’s way of walking...

He said, “Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer WALK as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.” (Ephesians 4:17, ESV)

We have to PUT OFF our old way of thinking and walking and PUT ON a new way of thinking and walking IN CHRIST.

He said that our BEING (in the new self) must change our THINKING (the renewing of our minds) which must change our DOING (our walking).

And he gave some specific ways that should play out in the church.

And today we are continuing with three more ways they should WALK… along with THREE supernatural provisions he gives them to accomplish that journey.

Let’s read Eph. 5:1-21 and see if you can hear the three times Paul commands them to “walk” in a certain way...

Did you hear it?

WALK in love… WALK as children of the light… look carefully how you WALK... as wise...

And if you were paying close attention, you would also notice that those three commands happen in the context of BIBLICAL COMMUNITY.

We are on a family hike… not a solo expedition.

Those three commands to walk are going to organize our study today… and the first command is this...

1) Walk in his sacrificial love. (5:1-6)

Look at v. 1 again - Eph. 5:1-2 “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love...”

Be imitators of God.

Does that seem like a big ask to anyone else?

That’s a big mountain to climb!!!

“You mean that I am supposed to do what GOD does???”

“I’m supposed to be righteous like him? Holy like him? Gracious like him? Peace-filled like him?”

That’s exactly what Paul is saying.

And so we push back, “BUT HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE???? HE’S GOD! HE’S PERFECT! I’M NOT!”

And then we settle down when we notice the how: “as beloved children.”

As those who are already secure and showered with the love of the Father.

That’s the equipment God provides us to walk in the way he calls us.

[soft and slow] Do you believe that you are a beloved child of God in Jesus Christ? You must believe it if you are going to walk in the way God calls you.

It’s part of what we BELIEVE when we say, “I believe in Jesus for salvation.”

We are saying, “I believe God has LOVED me enough to save me and make me his child.”

In Ephesians 1, Paul reminded us that before the foundation of the world, we were predestined to adoption as sons.

But this isn’t just any kind of love: I found this fascinating: The word for “beloved” is typically used for an “only child.”

And I don’t mean this to be offensive at all when I say this… but you know the reputation of only children, right?

That they receive ALL of the affection of their parents… some might even say they are SPOILED… they get ALL the love!

And I want you to understand that’s the degree of love Paul is talking about here when he says that WE are beloved children.

And we know that we are not God’s only children… but Jesus Christ is his only begotten Son…

And the Father LOVES the Son with a PERFECT, INFINITE LOVE.

And we are IN HIM… CHRIST… and therefore God LAVISHES his love on each one of us like we are his only children.

And it is from that position of secure and abundant love that we are to be imitators of God.

This week, Asher had this little paper airplane… and he threw it across the room… and he must have really impressed himself...

Because he exclaimed, “Heavens to Betsy, that thing flies!”

What four-year-old says, “Heavens to Betsy???”

One who spends a lot of time with his daddy who loves him and who says that all the time.

We are to be imitators of God: Learning his ways… hearing his voice... drawing near to his heart… most specifically walking in his love.

We are called to walk IN love…

This is like when we talked about being IN CHRIST… and I used the image of a saturated sponge...

We are submerged in the love of God because we are IN CHRIST… and therefore God’s love must saturate us…

it must be what comes out of us when you bump up against us if we are IN CHRIST.

That’s what it means to walk in love.

Now, there is a particular quality of God’s love that Paul emphasizes here: Eph 5:2 “Walk in love… as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

That’s the gospel in a nutshell…

That Christ loved us even when we were unlovable… even when we were dead in our sin…

chapter 2 says he loved us BECAUSE of the great love with which he loved us.

And he gave himself up FOR US… he died in our place, for our sin.

That’s how we KNOW we are beloved.

When we BELIEVE Christ’s sacrifice.

And Paul is saying that the standard of love for the believer is the same self-sacrificial love of Christ.

But I want you to notice the ultimate recipient of this sacrifice: He gave himself up FOR US… but his sacrifice was TO GOD.

That’s so important if we are going to understand how to love others in the Church.

The ultimate goal of our love is the glory of God.

And it’s OK to admit that loving others is hard. And sometimes it’s going to feel like it’s not worth it.

It’s going to require us to sacrifice time and money and self…

We are going to have to sacrifice our opinions and preferences and getting our own way all the time...

And that will be FOR THE SAKE OF others...

But it is ultimately a sacrifice we are making TO GOD.

It’s not about the how worthy we feel like the other person is...

GOD is worthy… and therefore the sacrifice to love others is worth it.

That’s the only thing that will keep us going sometimes.

But our flesh is warring against that. Our sin nature… our old self… wants to make love about ME rather than about GOD.

That’s why Paul inserts a list of perversions of love at this point… ways that we distort love and make it about US… sins that will keep us from experiencing and extending the sacrificial love of God.

I’m going to go through this list slowly and I want you to think about the self-centeredness involved in each of these sins… and I want you to consider if any of them are standing in the way of you walking in sacrificial love:

Sexual immorality

ANY Sexual ACTIVITY outside God’s design for a committed marriage between one biological male and one biological female.

How about impurity?

Are you indulging in and enjoying SIN instead of enjoying God? Through your entertainment choices… the things you read and set your mind on?

How about covetousness?

Do you seek to gratify yourself at the expense of someone else?

If we are to WALK IN SACRIFICIAL LOVE… these actions and thoughts… must not even be NAMED among us.

That's what Paul says at the end of verse 3...

He’s is not saying that we should never confess these sins if they DO exist or talk about these sins in order to address them for what they are...

He’s saying that they must be ERADICATED from our midst. Completely out of mind so that we don’t HAVE to talk about them.

To use words from chapter 4, we must PUT THEM ALL AWAY.

There shouldn’t be a HINT of them left.

Someone should never be able to say, “Oh yeah… Oak Hill Fellowship Church… that’s where that guy Homer goes… he’s a real creep.”

We should never be able to say, “Yeah, I know that person is controlled by greed… but aren’t we all sometimes? Who am I to say anything?”

These sins must not be NAMED among us… we are the community of SAINTS...

“Saints” means we are set apart as holy unto the Lord…

We are HIS church… HIS BELOVED children… gathered together to be a DWELLING PLACE FOR GOD… FILLED WITH ALL HIS FULLNESS.

Like we talked about last week with the temple… the Holy Spirit looks at these things and is “grieved”… he says, “what is THAT doing here?”

Those are the action/thought sins that Paul mentions… but he also mentions some sins that we commit in the way we talk...

Is there any filthiness in your speech? "Shameful talk” or “obscenities”...

How about “foolish talk”? Could any any of your speech be considered “Foolish Talk”… Or you could say, “Empty talk” or “silly talk”… nonsense.

Conversation that doesn’t build up… that doesn’t have any substance.

Flattery… Acting like the expert on every subject when you really don’t know anything… humor that is not necessarily obscene, but still isn’t helpful (it’s just foolish)...

How about Crude joking.

Teenage jokes? Dirty old man jokes? Jokes that are derogatory to women or men or other ethnicities?

This word was also used in Paul’s day to refer to sarcasm… not ALL sarcasm is necessarily wrong... but some definitely crosses a line into unhelpful territory.

And we’ve got to take CARE in our words… make sure they are LOVING.

Paul says that all of these sins of our words are out of place in the community of saints… they can’t find their home here!

Are you convicted yet? What are we to do?

Look at the end of verse 4 - They must be replaced with thanksgiving.

Doesn’t THANKSGIVING seem like an odd replacement for all these sins?

But think about it: Thanksgiving is responding to the grace of God.

It is a VERBAL recognition of all that we have been given in God: every physical blessing… and as adopted children, every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

All of these sins are perversions… replacements… for the GOOD provision God has given us in order for us to show love.

And that’s why THANKSGIVING is the antidote to this kind of sin.

Because when we are thankful for the BETTER love with which God has loved us, we won’t desire the worthless counterfeit.

The love that we have found in Christ must displace all that is worldly in our hearts.

Verse 5 tells us that people who are defined by this list of sins have no inheritance in the Kingdom of God…

They are NOT beloved children...

This world is all they have to live for and so they indulge...

But as beloved children, we have been given EVERYTHING in Christ!

And our awareness of that love must produce GRATITUDE in our hearts that comes out in THANKSGIVING in our words!

Now, it can be easy to offer “empty words”… words that SOUND thankful… or even loving... but are really selfish… words that SOUND SPIRITUAL but are really fleshly…

That’s what Paul is addressing in v. 6…

“Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.”

It doesn’t matter how spiritual you make yourself sound...

It doesn’t matter how much you CLAIM to be a Christian...

If the pattern of your life is indulging your old self… your sin nature… then you are still living in sin, under the wrath of God, and therefore have no place in the Kingdom of God.

This is a stern warning. This is not to be taken lightly.

You are either a beloved child walking in love or you are not.

But listen: the proper response to this is NOT to wallow around in guilt and say, “OH NO! I still have sin in my life, I must not be a child of God! I guess I’ll never get to heaven!”

The proper response IS to say, “This selfish sin is not a reflection of God’s love… it does not belong in God’s kingdom… let me get rid of it!”

And then we go back to our Father who we are imitating… and we get more familiar with his love toward us… and we walk in that love toward others.

Paul’s goal in saying these things is that the church of Jesus Christ would walk in selfless love… not so they would think that they are defeated in their sin.

He’s saying, “GET RID OF ANYTHING THAT WOULD STAND IN THE WAY of imitating your loving Father.”

Get all the stuff that he HATES out… all of the stuff that he is going to judge and burn in the end… get it OUT...

and walk in the LOVE that has been given to you in Christ.

Do you believe that God loves you in sending his son to die for you? Then walk in that love.

Christ has provided a love that is better than our sin. And that love is a purifying love.

That’s where Paul takes us next… Look at verse 7 - “Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.””

In saving us, God has shone the light of his Son Jesus into the darkness of our hearts, so therefore, we must...

2) Walk in his purifying light. (5:7-14)

Explain: The main command here is “walk as children of the light.”

So we are BELOVED children and we are children of the light.

He is describing the change in our NATURE that happens in conversion:

You WERE darkness… now you ARE light.

This is about our NATURE… our BEING… our IDENTITY.

God’s people are LIGHT… The church is the family of light.

But what exactly does that mean?

Light, here, refers to a PURE and TRUE understanding of the way God created things to be.

It’s about purity:

If you go to the rough side of town, when does all the impure stuff start happening? AFTER DARK.

Why? Because we think that darkness is HIDING something.

Light is all about understanding what is PURE.

But it’s also about a TRUE understanding...

If I’m “in the dark” on something, I don’t understand it.

If “the lights go on” for me, I have come to understand it.

It’s TRUE understanding.

Light refers to a PURE and TRUE understanding of the way God intended things to be.

Ultimately, the SOURCE of light is God himself.

We ARE light IN THE LORD.

2 Cor. 4:6 - “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6, ESV)

The light of Christ shines in our hearts… gives us PURE and TRUE understanding of God’s GLORY... and MAKES us light.

And so we must WALK in that purifying light.

It’s God’s PROVISION for our lives… it’s like a torch to walk through the dark night of this world… and we must USE it.

True believers ARE light in the Lord… and so WALK in that light...

Don’t waste the provision...

Use the light to discern what is pleasing to God.

That’s why Paul says, “Do not become PARTNERS with [those who deceive you with empty words].”… because they are still walking in DARKNESS.

They are hiding their sin… their sexual immorality or impurity or greed... under the cover of darkness… under their lies and deceit.

When Paul says, “Do not become partners with them,” he is SPECIFICALLY referring here to the community of saints: to church partnership or what we might call church membership.

Do not allow those who are not children of LIGHT into your COMMUNITY OF SAINTS… into your MEMBERSHIP... into your PARTNERSHIP.

WHY? Because the church is the body of CHRIST…

The church is the community of saints who are light in the Lord.

We are the outpost of his KINGDOM in the dark kingdoms of this world…

We are the children of GOD… the dwelling place of God by the Spirit!

So those who are still walking in darkness don’t have any place there.

It’s not that we don’t talk to them or avoid them in the world...

It’s not that they aren’t allowed in our Celebration Gatherings...

It’s that the PARTNERSHIP of the church community is not available to them.

In church membership, the church is affirming: yes, we SEE the light in you.

We believe that you have made a credible profession of faith and we are inviting you to walk in the light with us as we pursue Christ.

Practically speaking, we as elders GUIDE that process of membership and announce those who have committed to membership...

But we are ALL responsible to partner with one another in that membership… and to NOT partner with those who walk in darkness.

So how do we know if someone is a child of light or a child of darkness? We get around them and look for the fruit.

Paul clarifies: the FRUIT of light is found in all that is good and right and true...

Good… as GOD defines it… remember, God created and said, “It was GOOD.” GOODNESS is a fruit of the Spirit.

Right - referring to the righteous standard of God...

And TRUE - referring to the truth that is found in Jesus.

The fruit of a new nature is SEEN in EVERYTHING that is GOOD and RIGHT and TRUE.

And believers use the light they have been given to DISCERN what is pleasing to the Lord.

They do that for themselves… AND they do that for the other people around them who are part of the community of the saints...

It’s not just that I walk according to my OWN light...

It’s that we walk in light together.

Paul says in v. 11, “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.”

Expose them. Bring what is darkness into the light. Make it visible.

Now that may seem harsh to you.

In fact, it may seem TERRIFYING to you… the idea that you would shine LIGHT on someone else’s sin…

That you would call it what it is…

That you would point it out to them...

That you would make sure it doesn’t stay hidden.

Some of us wouldn’t DREAM of doing that with someone else… mostly because we TREMBLE at the thought of someone pointing our sin out to us…

We realize that we are sinners too and we have faults of our own… so who are WE to expose them?

Answer: We are children of light.

We ARE light in the Lord.

And if you are calling people out based on your own righteousness, you are sinning just as much as they are... and by the measure with which you judge, it will be measured back to you.

But if you do it as a source of Christ’s LIGHT… then it becomes an act of GRACE.

Paul says in v. 13 - But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light.

We don’t expose darkness to shame people… we expose darkness so that they can be transformed into LIGHT.

I love what Paul Tripp says, “…If your eyes ever see, or your ears ever hear the sin, weakness, rebellion or failure of [another person], it’s never an imposition. It’s never an interruption. It’s never a hassle. It’s always grace.”

He goes on to say, “...in relentless grace he will reveal their need to you again and again so that you can be his tool of awareness, conviction, repentance, faith and change.” [https://www.paultripp.com/articles/posts/parenting-its-never-an-interruption]

That’s what Paul means when he says “expose them… for anything that becomes visible is light.”

Sin thrives in the dark. Shame thrives in the dark. But freedom comes through the light of Christ.

And so we turn to those who claim to know Christ but who are trapped in sin and we lovingly say the heart of v. 14 -

“Awake O sleeper and arise from the dead and Christ will shine upon you.”

So if someone were to fall asleep next to you in church and started snoring, you might nudge them and say, “WAKE UP” so that they aren’t embarrassed… or so that they don’t disrespect the one speaking...

How much more should we call awake those who are SPIRITUALLY sleeping in church???

Those who are missing out on the light that is in Christ and are disrespecting the Father of Light?

Are you spiritually sleeping in the darkness of your sin this morning?

WAKE UP! The Light has come! His light can and will shine upon you if you turn to him in repentance!

And if you ARE walking in the light, do you know someone who is still walking in darkness?

Maybe they claim to be a Christ follower, but darkness is surrounding them?

Call them to become wake up to the purifying light of Christ.

That may start out with a little nudge...

It may work its way up to a whisper… “wake up… Jesus is better than this sin...”

It may have to work it’s way up to a full blown, “WAKE UP!!! ON ACCOUNT OF THESE THINGS THE WRATH OF GOD IS COMING!!!”

But always… always… there is the hope given: if you wake up, the light of Christ will shine upon you.

You will BECOME light in him.

That’s what gospel centered accountability looks like… we’ve been talking about this the past few weeks:

We call sin for what it is…

We call people to wake up in repentance…

and we hold the hope and light of Christ out as the motivation.

We speak the truth in love.

Remember this little poem that Paul quotes here in v. 14 because it is useful to help us realize what we are doing in accountability.

We are helping people WALK in the light of what God has done for them in Jesus Christ.

Paul is actually doing this very thing as he continues in verse 15 -

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

In other words… USE THE LIGHT of Christ to LOOK CAREFULLY how you walk… so that you can WALK WISELY.

We must walk in love… walk in light… finally this…

3) Walk in his Spirit-filled wisdom. (5:15-21)

Explain: The most basic definition of wisdom is “knowledge applied.”

We take what God has revealed and seek to understand and do it.

Really you could say that this is command to “look carefully how you walk… in wisdom” is the SUMMARY of all of the previous “walk” commands…

To walk in wisdom is to use the purifying light of Christ to lead us on the path of love, not as the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their minds, but with renewed minds, in a manner worthy of the calling to which we have been called.

In other words, look at every other command to “walk” that Paul has mentioned so far in Ephesians and they have a touch-point with this word “wisdom.”

To walk in wisdom is to fulfill God’s plan for the church, because according to Eph. 3:10, the church is the DEMONSTRATION of his wisdom to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

And just like Jesus is the source of all love and the source of all light and the source of new life… he is also the source of all wisdom.

He is described in 1 Cor. 1:30 as “wisdom from God.”

JESUS is what it looks like to apply the knowledge of God… because he IS God and fulfills all of God’s word…

And we are growing as his community of saints… as his BODY… into his fullness.

So how do we do this? How do we WALK in wisdom? Well Paul gets REALLY practical here:

First, we must make the best use of our time because the days are evil. (v. 16)

We need to pay attention to how we use our time. Paul says “look CAREFULLY.”

The Psalmist prayed, “Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

Wise people know that we have a limited time on this earth, and they make it count for eternity.

They know Christ, and they serve him with their time… in every sphere in which they live.

They don’t serve their own agenda that will die with them…

They serve Christ’s agenda that will endure beyond these evil days.

That means that you actually have to UNDERSTAND Christ’s agenda… which leads into verse 17...

Verse 17 - “Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”

Remember the agenda of Christ from a few weeks ago?

It was seen in the gifts he gives: the Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Shepherds and Teachers?

We said that these gifted people equip the church to carry out Christ’s agenda: Mission, Purity, Multiplication, Care, and Understanding.

Are you getting equipped in those areas and using your spiritual gifts to move Christ’s agenda forward?

Are you on his agenda, or on your own?

Are you consumed with serving him, or with indulging the passions of your flesh?

That’s what Paul focuses on next...

Verse 18 - “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,”

This is about who or what CONTROLS you…

Drunkeness is all about your sensual desires controlling you…

And Paul says, “That is debauchery. It’s a WASTE of the life God has given you.”

But notice the contrast: the opposite of getting drunk with wine is being filled with the Spirit.

In the same way that alcohol controls you when consumed in excess, so too the Spirit should control us.

You could say, “Drink the Spirit in excess.”

This is the opposite of last week: last week, we saw that the Spirit was GRIEVED because of our sin...

If our bodies and our church body is a temple of the Spirit, the Spirit doesn’t move out, he doesn’t pour out his wrath on sin, he doesn’t reject us...

He moves to the side and is GRIEVED by our sin. He says, “What is that doing here???”

And once we GRIEVE our sin with the Spirit and repent, we can “Be filled with the Spirit” once again.

THAT’S wisdom. The life of wisdom is a life controlled by and filled with the Holy Spirit.

God has given you the HOLY SPIRIT… the THIRD PERSON of the TRINITY… don’t WASTE the provision.

So what does that look like? Well Paul gives us a list… (can you tell that Paul really likes his lists?)

And you can think of this list both as the FRUIT of being filled with the Spirit AND the FUEL to help us be filled with the Spirit...

It serves in both ways. Spirit-filled people do these things… and these things HELP our hearts be filled with the Spirit.

First Paul says that being filled with the Spirit involves...addressing one another in Psalms and hymns and Spiritual songs.

Notice: this is about the community.

This isn’t just singing in your shower.

This isn’t about FORGETTING everyone around you so you can get lost in some personal worship experience.

This is ACKNOWLEDGING everyone around you and actually SINGING to them.

Now I don’t think Paul is suggesting that we turn our lives into a worship opera and just sing to everyone all the time...

Although David and Laura might THINK that’s what I think it means because of how I sing around the office.

I believe Paul is instructing us in our CORPORATE SINGING.

YOU ALL are singing the TRUTHS of God to one another when you sing… YOU are the choir… the worship leaders for everyone else.

And if I’ve asked it once, I’ve asked it a hundred times: when people see you sing, are you communicating the truth of God and the joy that it is to be the dwelling place of God?

God is using YOU to help his people be FILLED with the Spirit.

Now that’s NOT to say that we don’t sing TO THE LORD as well...

Paul says that being filled with the Spirit involves singing and making melody in your hearts to God.

So not only is singing beneficial to the people around you… it’s beneficial to your relationship with God.

God loves to hear you sing!

And he created singing to tie the TRUTH of his word to your heart.

You will certainly not remember every word of my sermon, but you WILL remember every word of “How Great Thou Art” if you sing it enough.

And that becomes an opportunity for you to RELATE TO GOD. To sing TO him. To express your heart to him.

A heart that is filled with the Spirit SINGS to God.

Paul also wants us to relate to God in thanksgiving

Verse 20 - To be filled with the Spirit involves “giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,”

We already saw this in verse 4 - thanksgiving is what we put on in place of the sins of the flesh.

We recognize that God gives good gifts… he has given us everything we need and more in Christ… and so we EXPRESS thanksgiving.

We verbalize it.

And we recognize that every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places comes to us through Christ… AND every physical blessing is from him and through him and to him.

I find it ironic that God put this passage that is often used at Thanksgiving services right here for us on the Sunday before Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is possibly one of the most CHRISTIAN holidays we could observe… if we do it right.

Make sure you VERBALIZE your thanksgiving to God this week… with your family… with your friends… with those who don’t know Jesus.

And then SPEAK IT EVERYDAY.

Because God deserves all thanks… and that thanksgiving is how we walk in Christ.

So in this section on being “filled with the Spirit,” Paul first mentioned with our relating to one another… then he mentioned two ways we relate to God… and he is going to return to how we relate to one another.

Verse 21 - Being filled with the Spirit involves “submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

We get low before Christ.. and therefore we get low before each other.

We aren’t here to consume… we aren’t here for everyone else to serve us… we aren’t here for our own fame or glory...

CHRIST is all… and we are here to serve one another.

This call to submission is a call to everyone in the church… from the elders to the deacons to the ministry servants to the children… to humble themselves in their role and serve Christ by serving one another.

It does NOT mean that there are no roles of leadership or authority in the church...

Instead it means that we serve WITHIN those roles recognizing that CHRIST is the head, and we are his body.

We serve WITHIN our roles with a submission mindset.

So what I hope you see here is that walking in wisdom… just like walking in love and walking in light… is a community effort.

If we reject the community God provides, we AREN’T being filled with the Spirit…

and therefore, we can’t walk in wisdom… that is to say we are walking in our own foolishness.

The walk won’t always be easy. The terrain is rocky… and the pinnacle of the mountain is HIGH and glorious…

Hopefully you are feeling that this morning. Our goal is not to paint the Christian life as something that is easy.

Our goal is to convince you that God has provided everything you need for this walk:

He has poured out his love for you in Christ.

He has caused the light of Christ to shine in your heart… to reveal the darkness and wake you up to new life...

He has given you Christ as the embodiment of all wisdom... and his Spirit as the one who guides us in that wisdom.

Walk in God's supernatural provision for his community of saints.

He is Worthy:

Praise the Lord for being the source of all love, light, and wisdom.

Lord I praise you because you have shown me your _______ (love, light, wisdom) through ___________.

We are Needy:

Lord, I need your __________ (love, light, wisdom) this week as I walk through _________________.