Living By The Spirit's Power Series

Living By the Spirit’s Power

Text: Eph. 5:15-20

Introduction

1. Illustration: “The presence of the Holy Spirit is the keystone of all our hopes.” (John Nelson Darby)

2. A major section of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians deals with living as God’s holy people who are imitating our God and Savior.

3. In our text today, he tells us how to do what he’s been encouraging us to do. He tells us we need to be doing to important things:

a. Living With Purpose

b. Living Full of the Spirit

4. Read Eph. 5:15-20

Proposition: If we are going to be the people God is calling us to be we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Transition: First, Paul talks about…

I. Living With Purpose (15-17).

A. Be Careful How You Live

1. This section of Paul’s letter is a continuation of his encouragement to live worthy of our calling. In v. 15 he tells us, “So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise.”

a. This opening phrase, be careful how you live, means to live accurately, precisely, or to give close attention to something. In other words, he is telling us to live with attention to detail.

b. Everything we do and say is to be done with God’s will in mind.

c. We are to live life on purpose, and that purpose, as we said last week, should be an imitation of Jesus.

d. He also tells us not to live like fools, but rather to be wise in all we do.

e. He’s not referring to intellectual knowledge, but to keep our lives on target, and that target is to please God in all we do.

2. Next, Paul tells us to see life’s moments as an opportunity to shine the light of Jesus to those around us. It’s a concept I like to refer to as a “divine appointment.” He says, “Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days.”

a. Here, Paul is telling us to “redeem the time,” in other words to buy up as many opportunities as we can.

b. Now, for some of the ladies, this is like seeing a new pair of shoes. You already may have an entire room dedicated to your shoe collection, but you just must have that pair that caught your eye.

c. For me, the phrase is, “yes, Honey, it’s another guitar!”

d. In other words, we are to see life’s moments as something we need to have and make it count!

e. We are to see every breath as a gift from God, and he expects us to make the most of every moment to serve Him and further His kingdom.

3. Paul continues this line of thinking in v. 17 when he says, “Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.”

a. We each have a job to do, and that job is to serve God in everything we do.

b. Paul is telling us something that I think many, or even most people struggle with: we act all too often without thinking.

c. For example, when we’re driving, and someone cuts us off. Our first response is to say a less than encouraging phrase motivated by anger rather than love. Or even worse to give the other driver a “one fingered salute.”

d. We do this because we have a natural tendency to act before engaging our brains. What Paul is telling us to do the opposite, think and then act.

e. For those of us who are social media users, how often have we pushed send and then regretted it? Think before you post!

f. But the big idea here is to think before you act.

B. Live Wisely

1. Illustration: I’m not sure who said this, but I think it’s the truth. “God has a plan for your life. The enemy has a plan for your life. Be ready for both. Just be wise enough to know which one to fight and which one to embrace.”

2. Living with purpose is knowing what to hang on to and what to let go.

a. “Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone.” (Col. 4:5-6)

b. There is a difference between knowledge and wisdom: knowledge is what you know, and wisdom is understanding what to do with what you know.

c. The Bible tells us to live like were wise and not like fools. Now, what are going to do with that knowledge?

d. The Bible tells us to be doers of the word and not just hearers of it. Now, what are going to do with that knowledge.