A THANKFUL HEART OF WORSHIP - A Spiritual Alarm Clock
November 25, 2018
Ephesians 5:8-20 (p. 816)
Introduction:
My wife Kari is not a morning person. She hates to get up and is hard to wake up…but she is a million times easier to get up now than when we first got married.
When Kari was really young you could not wake her up…it was a little scary.
One time she was babysitting our nieces and nephews and we got home late…It was my brother in law and sister and I. The doors were locked, the porch light was on so we rang the doorbell…beat on the door…walked around to the bedroom and saw Kari asleep…so we beat on the window so hard we were afraid we’d break it…nothing…we called the phone…beat on the door and window some more…she never moved…so I broke in the window and climbed in…let the others in…and made sure Kari was still breathing.
I’ve never met anyone before or since that slept deeper than my wife in our early years of marriage.
Miraculously all that changed at the birth of our first child…she still hated getting up, but Ricky’s cries woke her almost immediately. 38 years later…she watches Oaklynn and gets up pretty early to take care of her…she still doesn’t like mornings…but she sure loves Oaklynn.
I share this with you because falling into a deep spiritual sleep is a scary thing…and I believe our loving and saving God bangs on our windows…knocks on our door…calls our phone…through His Holy Spirit…but many just snore on.
I wrote a poem concerning the Holy Spirit’s call a few years ago:
The Spirit’s Call
WHEN I WAS YOUNG I HEARD THE SPIRIT’S CALL
COME TO A SAVIOR WHO DIED FOR US ALL
BUT I HAD PLENTY OF TIME AND WANTED TO PLAY
SO I RESPONDED
GO SPIRIT, GO AWAY COME AGAIN SOME OTHER DAY
WHEN I WAS OLDER AND I HEARD THE SPIRIT’S CALL
COME TO A SAVIOR WHO DIED FOR US ALL
I WAS BUSY WITH SCHOOL AND WORK AND WANTED THE PAY
SO I RESPONDED
GO SPIRIT, GO AWAY COME AGAIN SOME OTHER DAY
AT THE END OF MY LIFE I HEARD THE SPIRIT’S CALL
COME TO A SAVIOR WHO DIED FOR US ALL
I COULD BARELY HEAR HIS WHISPER AND HAD TO SAY
I’M TOO OLD TO CHANGE AT THE END OF MY DAYS
SO I RESPONDED
GO SPIRIT, GO AWAY COME AGAIN SOME OTHER DAY
THERE WAS NO OTHER DAY.
How many times does God in His AMAZING GRACE sound the spiritual alarm clock?
“WAKE UP, SLEEPER, rise from the dead. And Christ will shine on you.”
I. WHAT’S IT LIKE TO LIVE SLEEP WALKING IN THE DARKNESS?
Paul says, “You were once darkness”…He says, “The deeds we did then were fruitless…so shameful we don’ want to mention how disobedient to God we were…we were foolish…we got drunk…we lived in debauchery.”
If you don’t know what debauchery means, it means…“an excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures.”
If you go back to verse 3 in Ephesians 5 he says there was sexual immorality, impurity, greed, dirty jokes.
It’s a description of a life without God…a life of self gratification and idolatry.
And it doesn’t mean we were all addicts or “in the gutter” drunks (although some of us were)….It simply means we were lost in the darkness of this world…and our God was spelled with two letters…M.E. ME!!!
But we stumbled in the darkness unaware of how lost we really were…because we were surrounded by a crowd of people living the same way with the same purpose.
Paul told the Corinthians “the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel.” (2 Cor. 4:4)
Satan surrounds us with friends that keep us asleep in the dark…He tempts us with temporary trinkets and momentary numbness…we keep stumbling in the dark…asleep to the reality we are headed toward destruction…and many times we just keep hitting the snooze button as God sounds the alarm…sin wears us out…so we just desire some rest…
Sin always has a diminishing factor to it…It always gives you its best in the beginning…it never gets better after that…only worse…but you’re always chasing that first high for the rest of your life…
Sin always takes you farther than you want to go…It keeps you longer than you want to stay and it always costs you more than you want to pay.
John Piper said, “Sin gets its power by persuading me to believe that I will be happier if I follow it. The power of all temptation is the prospect that it will make me happier.”
And every one of us has followed the darkness of this lie.
Many of our friends, family and neighbors are trapped in this darkness…many believers shipwreck their faith by falling back into this lifestyle.
Its why Paul says, “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.” (Eph. 5:15-17)
So here’s the important question for all who are asleep and live in the dark…
II. HOW DO WE WAKE UP AND LIVE IN THE LIGHT?
Paul tells us…“Now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.” (v. 8)
There’s only one way to wake up from the darkness of sin…and that is through the intervention of the Holy Spirit.
Many settle for getting drunk and that artificial joy…Paul says, “Don’t settle for that…instead be filled with the Spirit.”
God’s light consists of Goodness, Righteousness, and Truth. Real life comes when we find out what pleases the Lord…not what pleases us.
The issue is when you and I are asleep spiritually…even more dramatically true according to scripture “Dead in our transgressions.” We are not good…we are not righteous and we don’t want to hear the truth.
[In the depth of my sin and rebellion no one could tell me anything…I didn’t care about my sin…unless I got caught and got in trouble. I didn’t really feel any shame, in fact a part of me was proud of being such a rebel…my primary focus was on immediate gratification not eternal consequences…I certainly wasn’t looking for God…BUT GOD CAME LOOKING FOR ME.]
I remember the day I got drunk with 3 friends and hit a mail truck in front of Lafayette High School…I don’t remember fighting with police or going to jail…I don’t even remember how I got home…but I vividly remember waking up the next day and seeing my car in the driveway…totally demolished, ripped to shreds and bent in a U shape…and I remember heading to the shower and having this thought…“I should have died in that car…How am I still alive?” And then the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart…And I heard His voice say…“If you had died yesterday…you would have gone to Hell…you are lost in your sin…You are separated from God.”
Jesus said the Holy Spirit would be sent by Him…He would be left here in the world to be His advocate…that means lawyer…and here’s what the Heavenly Lawyer would do for those who are caught asleep in the darkness of sin:
JOHN 16:8-11 (p. 753)
The Holy Spirit began to convict me in God’s courtroom…You are not good…you are a sinner…you are not righteous…God is righteous…and you are lost and bound for judgment Rick Burdette.
He sent people into my life to share the message of the gospel…Jesus died to pay for your sin…His righteousness can become your righteousness…The condemnation of judgment has fallen on Him…Rick accept this truth…Rick die to your old life and be buried with Christ so you can live anew…and on January 17, 1978…I did. I stepped out of the darkness and into His light. I woke up to a brand new morning.
I love how Ephesians 5 describes being filled with the Spirit…It causes a unity to form between family members. We speak to one another with psalms, hymns and songs from the spirit.
When we are filled with the Spirit of God it pours out in a life of worship…Its a shared life of praise…Its a song that forms in your heart and must be shared.
EPHESIANS 5:19-20 (p. 816)
We’ve become illuminated by the Holy Spirit…He shines through us and makes us the light of Christ in the darkness.
[The darkest place I’ve ever been (physically) was in a cavern about 2 miles underground…I was there with Tyler and dozens of other people…no flashlight…no fire…nothing…just darkness…and then the tour guide lit a match…and instantly from this one match the darkness disappeared. One tiny match pierced the darkness…it exposed everything…
So when we are told…“You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord…Live as children of light…light consists of all goodness, righteousness and truth.”
We are the match in the cavern of darkness…we are to find out what pleases the Lord…and when we do…to live it…
“Wake up, sleeper
Rise from the dead
and Christ will shine on you.”
