March 18, 2018 Sermon - Be Wise and Filled with the Spirit - Ephesians 5:15-20
You have got to be filled with something.
Aristotle, an ancient thinker, said “Nature abhors a vacuum.” He based that on noticing that nature requires every space to be filled with something, even if that something is colorless, odorless air. (See Meme at doc end). You’ve gotta be filled with something.
Our cats are super happy to sleep 20 hours a day. To be fed, to be petted, played with on occasion, to have their litter box changed. That’s all they need to be happy. To be filled.
But humans, we’re different. We crave stimulation, in order to feel fully alive - whether it’s physical, mental, emotional, social, or spiritual.
And if we feel under-stimulated, we'll generally complain of being bored, antsy, anxious, irritable, lonely, or even depressed.
So, You’ve gotta be filled with something. Question is, what’ll you be filled with?
Today’s passage give us some insights about this:
“Be very careful, then, how you live —not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”.
Paul gives us 3 contrasting ways of being and then he gives us a cure for depression
He says:
· Don’t be unwise but wise - make much of all opportunities
· Don’t be foolish but understand God’s will
· Don’t be drunk on wine but be filled with the spirit
Don’t be unwise but wise, making the most of every opportunity (Stewardship)
Every Pastor wants the members of the church he leads to live a life that makes God smile. To find healing, to live well, to be content on the one hand, but also to want to make a difference in the world because of the gospel
I want for you what I want for me: I want you to live a life that brings glory to God. There is, in fact, no better way to live your life than to be focussed on making God smile, on bringing glory to His Name.
And to do that we need wisdom. We need wisdom from God. In fact, Scripture says:
Don’t be unwise but wise, making the most of every opportunity (Stewardship)
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
11 For through wisdom your days will be many, and years will be added to your life.
12 If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you; if you are a mocker, you alone will suffer. Proverbs 9:10-12
So real wisdom is wisdom that comes from God and that makes a difference in our lives.
If you want to be wise, you will fear God. That includes respecting God, having genuine reverence for God and it includes fidelity to God.
We seek to align our lives with His will as He has revealed to us in the Bible.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
Now, I love the water. Sunsets by a lake are among the most beautiful things I've experienced.
I’ve been a pretty good swimmer since I was tossed into the lake at age three by my grandmother and left to sink or swim.
Not quite that bad, but she was old school and I guess she figured she could teach me both fear of water and mastery of water at the same time. Apparently it worked because I’m here to tell the story.
I learned how to swim, but I didn’t learn to fear the water until about 15 years ago when Barb and I were at the Pinery Provincial Park with the kids.
I decided one bright, sunny afternoon to swim out to the only buoy that I could see after seeing someone else do the same thing. I figure, hey, if he can do it so can I.
So I started to swim out to the buoy that was maybe 25 metres out from the shore. About half way there I started to feel the undertow.
There was water coming in to the shore and water leaving the shore at the same time.
About 3/4’s of the way there I started to feel tired, but I was proud and wanted to accomplish this ‘little feat’, so I kept going. When I reached the buoy I was pretty tired. I started to get nervous about swimming back.
On the way back, about 1/2 way to the shore, I began to feel exhausted. And I panicked. My heart was racing, the undertow was making it very difficult to make any progress to the shore.
I didn’t have a choice, so I kept going. I reached the point of complete exhaustion and thought, “wow, this is it. I’m going to drown. This is how it ends”.
Completely spent, I flailed my arms forward and tried one last time to touch the sand under the water. I felt the bottom of the lake and was able to walk to shore.
What do you think that might have taught me?
Do you think I take the water lightly anymore? Do you think I learned the power of water and my relative weakness that day? Yup.
Now everytime I go into a lake or river to swim, I think about that experience at the Pinery, and I’m cautious. I still swim, but I’m no longer ignorant of the dreadful power of water.
My relationship with water has changed. I am not its master. I respect it, do not treat it glibly.
Until you and I come to understand that God is good, and that part of His goodness is His mighty power which is so great that we should stand in reverent awe and fear before Him, we are not going to be wise.
Maybe clever. Maybe we’ll know stuff. But we won't be wise.
To be wise is to fear the almighty. When we fear Him, we will never treat Him glibly. We will be much less inclined to be arrogant and self-sufficient.
When we fear Him as the Scripture calls us to pretty plainly, we will want to and we will seek His grace to conform our lives to His will. We will want to lead disciplined and effective lives. That’s how to live the very best kind of life that honours God.
Sp the Apostle Paul says: “Be very careful, then, how you live —not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity...”
When we have begun with wisdom, then we’re able to be good stewards of our time and energies.
Last week Pastor Arlene prayed for the offering and mentioned the idea of “giving God our firstfruits” when it comes to giving to God. I love that.
God wants you and I to make the most of every opportunity. To see the opportunity in even mundane moments.
Barbara and I were in Banff at a Couples Retreat in January of 2015 and we went to a restaurant with some other pastors.
My friend Joel Zantingh who some of you know, greeted the waitress by saying: “We’re here to give you the best customer service experience of your week!”
He asked her name, introduced all of us to her, laughed and joked with her throughout the meal, and very genuinely thanked her as we left.
Oh, and he left her a huge tip as well. The waitress was pleasantly surprised, clearly, by the way she was being interacted with because it was out of the norm.
And so a seed was planted. Kindness was shown. And down the road, God will give the increase.
That taught me something. If I bring my best to every moment, I will make the most of every opportunity. If I’m truly present to others, God will use me to bring blessing.
If I deal with my personal stuff in private, spending large chunks of time talking to God and being in His presence, then I won’t bring my burdens so much with me.
Then I will be present to you, to those who walk into the church, the mission. May we learn to make the most of every opportunity.
Don’t be foolish but understand God’s will
This is connected to “not being unwise”. That word, foolish, means: acting without reflection or intelligence, acting rashly.
[Show pic of person looking in mirror] To reflect is to think about the way you are living. Think about your relationships, your conduct, your words.
You might know people who have said: “God is going to use me for great things”. It’s good to have that confidence, if it’s based in walking closely with God and hearing His encouraging voice.
But if He’s going to use you for great things, He will first find you faithful in small things.
"Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. Luke 16:10
May we understand God’s will in the small things, and be obedient in the small things, so that He can trust us with the big things.
Don’t be drunk on wine but be filled with the spirit
You’ve gotta be filled with something.
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery.
Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”.
If I was a betting man, and I’m not, I would bet that more than just me in this room has at one time tried to fill up with alcohol, or marijuana or you name it.
We’re either trying to ‘get happy’ or we were trying to ‘forget our pain’, or we were just following the crowd without much thought.
And likely more than just one of us regrets the results. Spoiler alert. There’s nothing unique or special about being three sheets to the wind. Getting high.
Behaving badly because we were in an altered state. That’s as normal as it gets. And really, if you think about it at all, it’s extremely boring.
There is so much more to life.
And that’s why you and I are called to leave all of that behind us. That was part of the old. We don’t want to live in the old. We want to live in the new.
We are new creations in Christ, so it is our privilege to have the Holy Spirit dwell inside of us. Paul says “Be filled with the Holy Spirit”
You are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Can you say to the person next to you: Brother, Sister, you are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
If you trust Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, the Holy Spirit lives in you. But God through Paul says to us what he found necessary to say to the earliest Christians: Behave as though the Holy Spirit lives in you.
And that’s all about the glorious freedom that we have as children of God to live each day filled not with an excess of wine or any other material thing that often causes more harm than we’d like to admit.
You and I have the freedom to be filled with the Holy Spirit. To live and move and have our being as a people belonging to God who can express the life of the Spirit in our conversations.
And here also is a cure for depression that Paul gives us. (Same passage as before)
We can speak to one another in psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit. We can be a joyful people who do such things.
We are a singing people who can make music in our hearts to Jesus. We are a thankful people, in everything giving thanks to God the Father in the name of Jesus.
I use to have a tough time falling asleep. My brain would not turn off. I’d be stressed out, I”d be focussing on things that didn’t actually allow me to be calm and relaxed enough to sleep. But lately I’ve had a different practice.
I simply thank God, and I dwell on the goodness and might and creative power and glory and grace and kindness of God. That’s all I think about. I apply my imagination to my thoughts of God.
And the norm now is that I fall asleep in great peace, and quickly. Thoughts of God lead to calm. They lead to confidence. They block worry, the block anxiety. They block other unhelpful thinking patterns.
And I’m so glad that He gives His shalom so freely.
I really pray and desire that the members of this church, including me, lead lives that make God smile.
That we live well, that we have contentment in Jesus, and that we make a difference in the world. I want us to live lives that brings glory to God. Lives that make God smile, that bringing glory to His Name.
16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
You’ve gotta be filled with something. Let us choose to be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:19
