High on God
Ephesians 5:15-20
We just came from a state that has legalized marijuana use. And you see it everywhere, particularly on the only road to the beach where we used to live. Cannabis Center. The Weed Shack. It’s there for the buying. (Sorry, I didn’t bring home any souvenirs!)
Why do people like to get high? Why do people like to get drunk? I know sometimes there are medical reasons. But for recreational use, it’s an escape of sorts, isn’t it? If I don’t feel good about my present life, maybe for a little while I can escape to a better life, where everything is happy, where everything feels good ... at least for a little while.
But what if we could be high on God? What if we could find our greatest fulfillment in our Heavenly Father? What if we could lose control to THE Spirit instead of to spirits? And if we could, what would that look like? How would it benefit us? That’s the gist of today’s passage. Two big thoughts today: live deliberately, and yield control to God. Let’s consider both:
1. Live deliberately
The King James Version says to “walk circumspectly.” The idea is to navigate life with great care, the way you might walk through a thorny path. While in the Northwest, I took advantage of some of the wild blackberries that grow alongside the road practically everywhere. But when you pick blackberries, you have to walk circumspectly. You need to move deliberately. Because as good as those fresh berries are, there are a lot of thorns between you and the ripened ones. All the ones closest to the trail have already been eaten. So you have to lean over and stretch your arm, and move your leg carefully between briars. You have to move circumspectly, deliberately.
For some of you who have been in combat, consider walking through a minefield. Same idea, with greater consequences. One false step and you’re gone, or at the very least, part of you is gone. You must tread carefully.
In the passage, Paul gives some ways to walk carefully. He says to make the most of every opportunity. The word is “kairos” in the Greek. It’s talking about “the appointed time.” In fact, some translations use the phrase, “redeeming the time.” Think of carpe diem, or “seizing the day.” Take advantage of each opportunity God gives you. Watch for what God may be doing around you. Don’t waste a moment. Live on purpose.
And in so doing, Paul says you will understand what the Lord’s will is. You will see the hand of God at work. You deliberately build a relationship with your neighbor, and God will show you what may come from that relationship, how you may be there in a time of need, to convey the love of God to a not-yet-believer, or to someone who has drifted away from the faith. And now that person experiences the love of God through you, and their life is forever changed.
Live deliberately. Watch for what God wants to do in and through your life. And secondly,
2. Yield control to God
Verses 18-20 contrast two very different forces to which a person may yield control. You can get drunk on spirits, or you can get drunk on the Holy Spirit. When it comes to spirits, several Bible verses speak against drunkenness; not the use of alcohol, but the misuse of alcohol. Since Paul mentioned wine specifically, some scholars think he was referring to the cult worship of Dionysius, which included drunkenness with wine as part of the worship service. I’m sorry to disappoint you, but we have no plans to initiate such a practice here anytime soon! Paul actually says elsewhere that a glass of wine is good for your stomach. But if you’re one of those types who cannot stop with a glass, stay away completely. Guard against letting other things take control of your life.
Now you might expect the Bible to say, “Don’t get drunk on wine; rather, abstain! Just stay away from the stuff!” But instead, he says, “Here’s something you can get drunk on: get drunk on God’s Spirit. Fill yourself with God! Get high on God!”
Consider two actions the Holy Spirit takes in our lives: He “seals” us the moment we believe in Christ, the moment we enter the family of God, the moment we turn away from our sin and throw ourselves at God’s mercy. God’s Spirit seals us into the family of God for all time. It happens at salvation. We have no role, no choice in it. God does it. God brands us as his children for all eternity.
Then, daily, hourly, minutely, we are to be “filled” with the Spirit. Elsewhere, Paul calls this “walking in the Spirit.” Note it is a command, so we have a say in it. Yet, notice it is passive, meaning it is something done TO us, not BY us. We choose to yield to it. It is ongoing, and it is repetitive. We need to keep being filled with the Spirit. The literal translation might be, “Go on being filled.” We need to keep yielding to Holy Spirit control every day of our lives. You are sealed, then you are filled.
So what is the evidence that one is filled with the Holy Spirit? Some cool things are going to happen when you’re high on God: Your conversations with other believers are going to be musical: psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (verse 18b). There are different opinions about what these categories represent. It’s not really important. The important thing is that our conversations will be marked with praise of God, rather than gossip about others. We will make music in our hearts (verse 19). And we will constantly give thanks to the Father, regardless of what is happening in our lives (verse 20). That’s no easy task! We don’t have to be thankful FOR what happened, but we can be thankful that God can still work through it, no matter how bad, for his good plans (Romans 8:28).
John MacArthur says, “Being filled with the Spirit is living in the conscious presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, letting His mind, through the Word, dominate everything that is thought and done” [The MacArthur Daily Bible, p. 997]. Of course, our model in this is Jesus himself, who always lived on this earth in a prayer connection with the Heavenly Father. He told his followers, in John 5:19, “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.”
Let me give an example of when an entire church sought to walk with God. Steve Stone is affectionately nicknamed the “Starbucks Pastor” because Starbucks did a short video feature of him in 2016 as part of their “Upstanders” series on individuals who have made a difference in their community. Steve pastored a United Methodist church in Memphis named Heartsong. He was challenging his church to follow the teachings of Jesus when an Islamic Community Center purchased property and began construction across the street. Steve faced a challenge of how to respond, with all the anti-Islamic sentiment across America following 9/11. He admits that he felt ignorance and fear himself, but was determined to challenge himself and his church members to act how Jesus would. So he first put up a sign by the road that said, “Welcome to the neighborhood, Memphis Islamic Center!”
One of Stone’s church members said, in a news interview, “Me and my wife both were thinking about leaving church because I just did not accept what was going on.” Member Mark Sharpe asked his pastor what he should do. The reply? Just read the gospels. Which Sharpe did. And they helped him reach a pretty emotional realization about the situation. “I figured out I was the problem,” he told the reporter. “What was going on with the world today, I was the problem.” [https://www.upworthy.com/what-happens-when-a-muslim-center-opens-up-across-from-a-christian-church-community]
Pastor Stone got over his own personal fears and introduced himself to the center director, Dr. Bashar Shala. When it became clear that the Islamic Center would not reach its goal of opening its new building by Ramadan, Shala requested a small space in Stone’s building for his folks to pray for a few nights. Stone said, “No, you’re going to use our main auditorium.” They ended up staying the entire month of Ramadan, and the two congregations began to form friendships.
In the years ahead, the two congregations have sponsored monthly projects for the homeless and annual blood drives on 9/11. They’ve gotten together each year for Thanksgiving feasts, and have sponsored an annual picnic for the community, last year surprising Pastor Stone with a special retirement recognition. Now they are building a community park which will sit on both of their properties.
When Stone early on received some criticism from another pastor in Christianity Today, he responded with a column entitled, “Why We Opened Our Church to Muslims.” In it he wrote, “All we have ever done or will ever do is a witness to Jesus—his teaching, his life, his death and resurrection, and the presence of the Holy Spirit with, in, and through us. Our Muslim brothers and sisters know this about us because we always speak of Jesus and our love for him, and our love for them because of him, every time we are with them. There was no trading of theologies. They are Muslims; we are Jesus followers; both of us are clear about that. Jesus said people would know we are his disciples by our love for one another, and that is just what is happening with the dear and gracious people of the MIC [Memphis Islamic Center]. They recognize us as people who have been with Jesus. Allowing MIC to use our Celebration Center for prayer was done in the context of our relationship with them.” [https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/januaryweb-only/whyopenchurchmuslims.html]
Wow! Live deliberately. Yield control to God. And see what God might do. Let’s pray about it:
Lord, you know we are by nature selfish creatures who tend to live for ourselves, and sometimes for others we love. What if we were to live for you first and foremost? What if our greatest desire would be to seek more of you? Help us to give up on anything less. Help us to be high on you, to allow your Holy Spirit to control our thoughts, our feelings, our actions. We ask this in the name of Jesus our Lord and supreme example, amen.
