February 22, 2009
Morning Worship
Text: Ephesians 5:15-21
Subject: Living for God
Title: Intentional Grounding
Most of you know that I like sports. I am a life long sports fan – especially for our hometown teams. I love the St. Louis Cardinals, the Missouri Tigers (football and basketball). I even like ice hockey. I am exceptionally fond of the St. Louis Rams football team. Now in order to be a good sports enthusiast you need to have an understanding of the rules. Without understanding the rules the game doesn’t make much sense. But, when you have some understanding of the rules you can begin to clearly understand the purpose of the rules and the part they play in the game itself.
In professional football there is a rule called “intentional grounding”. Here is how it reads out of the NFL rulebook. Intentional Grounding of Forward Pass
1. Intentional grounding of a forward pass is a foul: loss of down and 10 yards from previous spot if passer is in the field of play or loss of down at the spot of the foul if it occurs more than 10 yards behind the line or safety if passer is in his own end zone when ball is released.
2. Intentional grounding will be called when a passer, facing an imminent loss of yardage due to pressure from the defense, throws a forward pass without a realistic chance of completion.
3. Intentional grounding will not be called when a passer, while out of the pocket and facing an imminent loss of yardage, throws a pass that lands at or beyond the line of scrimmage, even if no offensive player(s) have a realistic chance to catch the ball (including if the ball lands out of bounds over the sideline or end line).
Point 1 describes the result of the penalty. Point 2 describes the reason for the penalty. Point 3 describes the exception to the penalty.
OK, enough of my sports analogies. But I do want to share with you today about something that does take place in the church world. It could also be called “intentional grounding” but there is no penalty for it, there is no rule against it, and as a matter of fact it is strongly encouraged in the scriptures.
Let’s look at the Word in order to get “intentionally grounded”.
I want to begin with a word from the great apostle Paul to the church in Collosae. From the NKJV - Colossians 1:21-23, 21And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight—23if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.
Now let’s turn to Ephesians 5:15-20, 15Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. 19Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Your life in Christ requires intentional grounding.
Lord, open my eyes to see and my ears to hear what the spirit is saying to the church.
I. INTENTIONALLY GROUNDED IN THE WORD. 15Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise… Everything that you do in your Christian walk must be done intentionally. Nothing happens by accident. You need to be aware of what is and isn’t plaesing to God. That doesn’t happen out of natural wisdom or natural instinct. It comes from the prompting of the Holy Spirit in you. It comes as the Spirit gives you revelation from the word of God. It comes when your spiritual eyes are opened to all the promises God has given you. When you think of how you should live what comes to mind? For many it would be the things that you are to avoid in order to maintain that right relationship with the Lord. But Jesus didn’t put an emphasis on the negative when talking about how to live. He placed a premium on the positive. Instead of focusing on “Thou Shalt not…” He said, “Blessed are they who…”. In Matthew 7 he said these words, “24Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” Jesus’ focus was on putting God’s word and His promises into practice. That is what a wise man does because he knows that building on a foundation that is square and straight will produce a house that is square and straight. In my career as a carpenter I would guess that I probably have worked on as many as five hundred houses. When beginning the framing on a house the first thing that we would do was to check the foundation, for we knew that if the foundation was square and straight that everything else would fall into place. So we would check the foundation and if it were a little out of square we would make the necessary adjustments to get our floor square. That way the kitchen cabinets and countertops would fit properly. The pattern of the vinyl flooring would always run straight with the walls. The roof plywood would run straight. Everything worked. But I saw some construction crews who would just assume that the foundation crew had done their job correctly and would just start building on what was there. It was faster, it was easier (maybe) and if there was a problem it wasn’t their fault. You could always blame it on the foundation. You don’t have to worry about your foundation. 2 Peter 1:19-21, 19And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. 21For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. The word of the prophets was made more certain when Jesus came and fulfilled their prophecies. 15Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. If your life is lived with the intent of living according to the word and promises of God the evil days will not overcome you but you will make the most of every opportunity. Every opportunity to do what? To trust God’s word and show the world that every good and perfect promise if from the Father above in whom there is no shadow of turning. Proverbs 18:15, The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge; the ears of the wise seek it out. Verse 17, Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Romans 12:2 tells us that we are able to do just that. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. It is up to you to become intentionally grounded in the word.
II. INTENTIONALLY GROUNDED IN THE SPIRIT… In your life you have a lot of options; really there are just two options – God’s way or the wrong way. 18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Clearly Paul is making the difference between living for the flesh and waling in the Spirit. It is interesting that he mentions being drunk on wine in contrast to being filled with the Spirit. One is from the devil and the other is from God, but both have the ability to influence you in ways that you never thought possible. Wine alters your thought process, your judgment, and your personality – all in a negative way. I know that from personal experience and I’m not proud of it. But the Holy Spirit does the same thing and even more from a spiritual perspective. Your thought process changes because you have the mind of Christ. Your judgment changes because you see with the eyes of Christ. Your personality changes. Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave His life for me.” Verse 18, 18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. The word “debauchery” in the NIV or “excess” in the KJV means “over indulgence in sensual pleasures.” In other words, when you give in to one thing in order to satisfy the flesh, it will lead to something else and then more and so on… The flesh will never be satisfied. It seems to be for a period of time but then the next time more is required, and then more and more… It’s like riding a roller coaster. The first time is a great thrill; and maybe even the second time. But after a while it becomes so routine that the thrill is gone and you need a bigger and faster roller coaster. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Let’s look at the differences between being filled with the Holy Spirit and the sensual pleasures of the flesh. 1) The baptism in the Holy Spirit is not emotional. It is true that when people are filled (or refilled) with the Holy Spirit they may laugh or cry or both. These are emotional responses to what has transpired in you but that in itself is not the baptism in the Spirit. 2) The baptism in the Holy Spirit is not controversial. The only reason it appears to be controversial is because too many churches have chosen to take the doctrine of the baptism in the Spirit out of the church. Why do they do that? I can’t say for sure but I tend to believe that those churches desire to maintain control in the flesh instead of flowing in the Spirit. 3) The baptism in the Holy Spirit is the power of God at work in the church. Dr. J. Vernon McGee, a great radio Bible teacher who was not Pentecostal, said toward the end of his life, that if he were starting his teaching ministry all over he would give greater attention to the work and power of the Holy Spirit in the church. When Paul wrote, be filled with the Spirit, he never intended for anyone to think that it was a one-time event but instead it is to be continually experienced as the individual needs more of God’s power in his or her life or ministry. The tense of the verb in the Greek indicates that it should read, “Keep being filled with the Spirit over and over again. Ephesians 1:18-19, 18I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength… Jesus said in John 3:6, 6Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. It is for all believers. It is up to you to become intentionally grounded in the Spirit.
III. INTENTIONALLY GROUNDED IN THE CHURCH I have been uploading my sermons to a website called sermoncentral.com for over six years now. They have been read a total of 9,400 times. What I am about to say may be for some of those people who read my sermons but never attend church. If you are ever going to be what God has intended you to be, it must be through commitment to a local church. 19Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Can you be a Christian and not go to church? The obvious answer is “Yes”! But the real question is how good a Christian can you be without church? 1) Jesus said He would build His church and the gates of Hades would not prevail against it. You need to be a part of a church in order to be an overcomer. 2) Verse 19 says you are to 19Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Where does that take place? In the church where a group of believers can come together to edify one another. 3) Jesus gave gifts to the church for a purpose. Ephesians 4:11-13, 11It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. In our western culture the prevailing line of thought is to be your own person, do it your way, and watch out for number one. That is not the kind of Christian that God wants you to be. Verse 21, Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. It is up to you to become intentionally grounded in the church.
In football intentional grounding occurs when a player tries to prevent the inevitable by participating in the illegal. (The quarterback throws the ball away to keep from being sacked.) It is an act that brings a penalty.
However, in the life of a Christian, intentional grounding never results in a penalty; it never attempts to avoid reality, but moves toward it, and it always moves forward instead of backward.
Let’s go back and recap the things that God wants for you.
1. Be intentionally grounded in the word. Not only knowing the word but acting upon it as well.
2. Be intentionally grounded in the Spirit. Actively seek the baptism in the Holy Spirit and the subsequent refilling according to scripture. It is your power source and your refreshing.
3. Be intentionally grounded in a church. Surround yourself with those who are like-minded. Hebrews 10:24-25, 24And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
None of these things just happen on their own. You must be intentional in your purpose to receive and to believe and to respond according to rules – the word of God.
Be intentionally grounded.
