Sermon Text: Ephesians 5: 15-20
15 So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise.
16 Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days.
17 Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.
18 Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit,
19 singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts.
20 And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Morning Message
Last week I took you through a whole list of things that we need to do in order to walk in the way of love. I realize that some of what I talked about might be easy for us to do; hopefully we are already following some of these guidelines to the best of our ability. Depending on our personalities and how God has made us, many of these ways are very difficult or maybe even seem impossible to keep. Stealing or unwholesome talk might not be a real issue for you, and you might not even have to think about adhering to these guidelines. For some though, these things are very difficult and take a lot of work. I don’t know about you, but I have seen people who are very prone to taking things that don’t belong to them. For some this is a habit, and for some it is a sickness. I have witnessed people that I used to work with that would take anything from the work place that wasn’t nailed down. Once again, some out of habit or perceived need, and others who seemed to get a thrill out of taking things. There are some who are so inundated with unwholesome talk, foul language, that it becomes normal conversation. People will apologize to me for using one of those words when speaking to me. I always tell them that it doesn’t really bother me, but God is always listening. I have a neighbor who has a swing outside with a biblical phrase on it. When her son was living at home, on a daily basis we would hear her screaming terrible swear words at him. Even now when he comes home to help her with something she losses her temper and out pours the words. Now I don’t try to listen to my neighbor’s business, but the screaming is hard to ignore. Last week her son said something to her about it, and she said, “I will repent later.”
Some of the other things are difficult for all of us. Not lashing out in anger, forgiving some of the terrible things that are done to us, these things can seem impossible, and from a human stand point they are. This is the problem, and there is a solution if we really want to live the way that God is calling us to live. Our scripture today says be careful how you live, not as unwise but as wise. As Christians we do not pay enough attention to how we live. Our faith is to be lived out, not occasionally visited. Everything that we do and say should be monitored by our faith in Jesus. From the time that we wake until the time that we lay our heads on the pillow at night, we should be constantly mindful of who we are in Christ. You might think that this is impossible, but it’s not. You might ask, why do we need to be so diligent in our faith? Because the days are evil. Everywhere that I look in this world, in this country, I see ungodliness. I am not going to stand up here and sugar coat it for you; if it’s going to get worse than this, I pray that Jesus comes back for us soon. The point is, now more than ever, we need to be living our faith.
Understand what the Lord’s will is. Oh my, how are we supposed to know God’s will. Let me make this very simple for you. I don’t know the mind of God, but I know what His basic will for mankind is: for all to be saved and live for Him. It is as simple as that, God’s will, since the beginning of time, since Adam and Eve took that first bite of the apple, is that mankind would return to him and live for him. How can we live for God? We must be filled with the Spirit. Do you know what it means to be filled with the Spirit? I hope that I can help you understand that a little better. We must understand the difference between the baptism of the Spirit and the filling of the Spirit. The baptism of the Spirit happens only once: when you come to Jesus and are saved. It’s a past event in a Christian’s life. It takes place for all believers, you have the Holy Spirit in you. It is never commanded, always by your decision; it is positional truth; it places the believer in the body of Christ. It brings us into union with God, and it resides in us for life. You can never lose your salvation or your access to the Holy Spirit. Because we have the Holy Spirit in us, God identifies us with Christ.
The filling of the Holy Spirit can happen many times and it is a present reality; it can be ours whenever we want. It’s for obedient believers. This could be a problem, are we obedient? We, as Christians, are commanded to be filled with the Spirit. We can experience it, and it is practical for us to live filled with the Spirit. It enables us to live for Christ, to communion with one another, to have fellowship with Jesus. It is, and can be, a repeated experience when as believers we are fully yielded to Jesus, and we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit in order to serve the body of Christ. What does all of this mean? There is a bottom line here. Can you see the connection? These things that seem to hard and impossible for us as mere humans, are very possible if we allow ourselves to be filled with the Spirit. Please listen to me for a moment. I am not making light of how difficult it is to live like a Christian in this world. What I am saying to you is God has thought of everything, and if we really want to and allow ourselves to be constantly filled with the Holy Spirit, we can do all things through our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ. It is still not easy; nothing worthwhile in life is; but it’s possible.
In Christ’s Love and Peace
Pastor Bob
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