Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Last week we spent some time covering this portion of Scripture in Ephesians Chapter 5 where Paul is writing about the spiritual walk of the believer.

The fact is the moment you put your faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are given and sealed with the Holy Spirit.

The life of the believer is characterized by being filled with the Spirit.

We saiid this is not a static filling as you may fill a box with balls, but a dynamic empowering filling, like how the wind fills the sails of a boat and gives it movement.

It is an ongoing filling that guides our lives, gives us direction, convicts us of sin, and (as we studied last week), grants us wisdom in an evil world, and enables us to discern the will of the Lord.

Today we are going to continue along that theme, in talking about our worship.

What I first want you to understand is that worship is not an event; it is a lifestyle.

William Temple defined worship as “…the submission of all our nature to God; the quickening of conscience by His holiness; nourishment of mind by His truth; purifying of imagination by His beauty; opening of the heart by His love; and submission of the will to His purpose.

All these gathered up in adoration is the greatest expression of which we are capable.”

· The quickening of conscience by HIS holiness (not mine)

· The nourishment of mind by HIS truth (not mine)

· The purifying of imagination by HIS beauty (not mine)

· Opening of the heart by HIS love (not mine)

· The submission of the to HIS purpose (not mine)

Nothing we you do is more serious and important than worship; nothing.

The basis of our worship, and the only basis of our worship, is to be the person, nature, and character of God through His son, Jesus Christ.

It is is not for entertainment.

It is not a performance or an emotional appeal.

It is to be the highest expression of love and reverence we can give to our Lord.

Worship is the highest expression of the believer’s life and therefore the music that accompanies our worship should be the highest, noblest, and the best.

Music dominates our culture and world.

Rarely, can we get away from it.

If you are in the car, music is usually playing, at home, on the television, on our phones.

If you go into a store, on an elevator, exercising, and so on.

In today’s world, almost everything we do has music involved in some manner.

The reason is music is a powerful emotional stimulator.

Truthfully, music is a gift from God.

No wonder Satan uses music to pull people away from God and divide people.

Music bypasses the mind and reaches deep into the heart, but music also reaches deep into the mind.

The more we know about God, the more we will worship Him, but the more we worship the more we will know about God.

God created music to extol His truth and honor His name.

Music helps us learn.

Why do you think we use music to teach our children their ABC’s?

Scientists found that music induces a state of meditation and relaxes the brain.

Thus, the effect of music on memory is that it allows our brains to become more disengaged or more free of “debris” which impede our thoughts.

Marketers also caught onto this and search for that perfect jingle to help you recall the product they’re marketing:

· “We are Farmers....”

· “I’m a Pepper...” (Dr Pepper,1977)

· “Two All Beef Patties....” (McDonalds, 1975)

· “Oh I wish I were...” (Oscar Meyer Hot Dogs #1 Jingle Ever 1960’s)

· The Intel Theme was one of the most notable tunes in commercials with just 4 Notes.

Now, if we can do that for hamburgers and sodas, how powerful should it be to use music to help up memorize Scripture and teach doctrinal truths?

Music is a powerful way to glorify God, and declare the awesome truths of His deeds, majesty, and character.

But as the world grows more evil, so does the world take music deeper and deeper into corruption.

Satan also uses music as his training ground for the minds of degenerate people.

He also uses music to convey false doctrine.

It seems that, in most cases, if you want music that is beautiful, and noble, and lofty, and pure, and good, and intelligent and magnificent, you have to go back in time to a less sensual era, a less blatantly corrupt era.

The reason why music is so important in the church is because it is the gift God gave us music to help facilitate our worship of Him.

Worship is the highest expression of a believer’s life, and therefore the music that accompanies our worship should be of the highest reverence and honor to God.

In the cases with secular music, it reflects the attitude of the society in the time it was produced, but that’s not true with Christian music.

The music of the church should expresses the unchanging truth of the Word of God, that transcends culture.

But understand this, that worship is not restricted to music alone; music is a means to express worship.

Music give sour worship wings to elevate our worship, express our adoration to our Heavenly Father, and declare his truths.

Music does not motivate worship or induce us into a ‘Spirit of worship’.

What I mean by that is worship should not be not an emotional exercise to produce within us a feeling.

Music is the expression of our worship through the Spirit of God.

Your worship comes from the truth of the Gospel that you have come to love and understand.

Someone once said, “Worship begins when we put God into our view.”The

more we understand the truths of God’s majesty, the more we have to worship.

It is not something that needs to be conjured up in us.

It is something that is a result of the overflow of knowing God and His truth in our lives.

In other words, the more you begin to understand who God is, His mighty works, and the truth of Scripture, the more you want to praise him.

Over 250 times in the Bible we are told to praise the Lord.

It is the second most frequent command in the Bible.

In fact God mentions in the Bible worship 509 times.

What produces true worship is His truth in your heart and work of the Spirit of God.

Your preferences, your style, lighting, instruments, and all these other peripheral things are irrelevant if our worship is not rooted in the truth of Scripture and led by the Spirit of God.

Our attention and focus is on Him and His truth and everything else becomes a distraction from Him.

What all this leads to is our text in Ephesians 5:18 “18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,” Now, why would Paul contrast being filled with the Spirit with being drunk?

Because pagan worship was rooted in becoming drunk so that you would lose your inhibitions to the point of reaching some kind of stupor in relationship to the god you are worshipping.

Then, add to that temple prostitutes and you have a description the pagan religious experience.

It is total abandonment to all things sensual.

That’s why on the Day of Pentecost, when the crowds saw the first disciples worshiping they thought they were drunk.

Acts 2:13 “13 But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.””

Now Paul follows that prohibition with a command.

Instead of getting drunk, be filled with the Holy Spirit.

literally in the Greek - “be being kept filled with the Spirit.”

It is a command for a continuous filling.

Some people think being filled with the Spirit is some kind of ecstatic experience; some people equate it with being slain in the Spirit or speaking in tongues.

None of that is not what Paul is talking about.

Paul is contrasting the effects of alcohol with the results of the Spirit-led life.

Drunkenness damages the body, The Spirit builds the body

Drunkenness is a spiritual root to destruction, the Spirit gives life

Drunkenness inhibits our fignht against temptation, the Spirit empowers us over temptation

Drunkenness makes us lose control, the Spirit leads us in order and reason.

Drunkenness produces immorality, the Spirit builds holiness in our lives.

Worship is inseparable from holiness.

Holiness is inseparable from obedience.

Obedience is inseparable from knowledge.

Knowledge is inseparable from Scripture.

And Scripture, it leads to knowledge.

Knowledge leads to obedience, obedience leads to holiness, and that’s what it means to be under the control of the Holy Spirit.

What happens when we abandon the Holy Spirit and truth?

There are those in modern worship circles who marginalize the importance of scriptural integrity.

The operant priority is feeling, musicality, and popularity.

There are others who brand themselves Christian music because of the popularity and therefore the financial benefits of that popularity who really have no faith at all or they’re a heresy.

Bethel Church in CA is a popular worship band derived out of a cult and Hillsong has drifted so far away from the faith that neither one of these have a place in worship of God.

What does Paul tell us to do? Look at his command in Ephesians 5:19-20 “19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,”

Speaking is the Greek word laleō.