Latest / Bayside Davis Podcast / Ephesians 5:21-24 | How to Be Filled with the Spirit of God

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Ephesians 5:21-24 | How to Be Filled with the Spirit of God · Bayside Davis Podcast

0:05
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Basic Davis Podcast.
0:08
SPEAKER_00: You're listening to our current teaching series, Ephesians.
0:16
SPEAKER_00: You cannot live the Christian life apart from the Spirit of God.
0:26
SPEAKER_00: I'll say that one more time.
0:28
SPEAKER_00: You cannot live the Christian life apart from the Spirit of God.
0:37
SPEAKER_00: Jesus made this point very clearly and with great emphasis after his resurrection, before he went back into heaven.
0:49
SPEAKER_00: In fact, he also made this point prior to his death and resurrection as he was preparing his disciples during his last week for his coming ascension into heaven when he would leave them.
1:04
SPEAKER_00: That God would not leave us alone to carry out the Christian life, to live the Christian life on our own.
1:12
SPEAKER_00: That God would leave us with his presence in order to do what he is taught us and was teaching his disciples in the first century.
1:23
SPEAKER_00: In fact, listen to these words, John chapter 14, verses 16 through 19.
1:28
SPEAKER_00: And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another advocate to help you, and be with you forever.
1:38
SPEAKER_00: Who is that?
1:39
SPEAKER_00: The Spirit of Truth.
1:41
SPEAKER_00: The world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
1:52
SPEAKER_00: I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you.
1:54
SPEAKER_00: Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me, because I live, you also will live.
2:04
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is promising his disciples that after he leaves, they will have another helper that will come and empower them and lead them and guide them and illuminate the way of Jesus for them so that they can live the Christian life as followers of Jesus.
2:24
SPEAKER_00: And he says something so important.
2:33
SPEAKER_00: We'll get to that in a few minutes.
2:35
SPEAKER_00: I want to draw our attention to Ephesians chapter 5, verses 18 through 21 this morning.
2:42
SPEAKER_00: As we continue our study through this incredible book Ephesians, about both theology, chapter 1 through 3, theology about Jesus and God and the Christian life and salvation, and practice, chapters 4 through 6.
2:59
SPEAKER_00: So this is an incredible book, very balanced.
3:02
SPEAKER_00: He sets it up with theology because we have to understand what we believe before we understand how we're to behave or what we're to practice.
3:10
SPEAKER_00: And now we're in the practice part of this book, 4, 5, and 6 of Ephesians.
3:17
SPEAKER_00: And there's one point here in chapter 5, verses 18 through 21.
3:22
SPEAKER_00: And here's the point.
3:23
SPEAKER_00: Write it down.
3:24
SPEAKER_00: One point with a lot of sub-points this morning.
3:27
SPEAKER_00: Write it down.
3:28
SPEAKER_00: Be filled with the Spirit.
3:31
SPEAKER_00: Be filled with the Spirit.
3:32
SPEAKER_00: Notice what he says here.
3:33
SPEAKER_00: He says, do not get drunk on wine.
3:36
SPEAKER_00: That will preach in a college town.
3:39
SPEAKER_00: Which leads to debauchery.
3:41
SPEAKER_00: Instead, be filled with the Spirit of God.
3:48
SPEAKER_00: Interesting contrast.
3:51
SPEAKER_00: Why would he use these two realities or spheres of life to parallel and to compare or to contrast one another?
4:00
SPEAKER_00: And I'm going to explain that in a minute.
4:01
SPEAKER_00: But I want to say this first.
4:04
SPEAKER_00: The Bible does not forbid drinking alcohol.
4:10
SPEAKER_00: The Bible does not forbid drinking alcohol.
4:14
SPEAKER_00: Jesus drank wine.
4:16
SPEAKER_00: The disciples drank wine.
4:19
SPEAKER_00: Prophets in the Old Testament drank wine.
4:22
SPEAKER_00: The Bible does not forbid alcohol.
4:24
SPEAKER_00: The Bible does forbid getting drunk.
4:29
SPEAKER_00: And the Bible does teach us that sometimes in our own freedom as followers of Jesus, that we forsake certain practices for the good and flourishing of other people.
4:44
SPEAKER_00: There might be people that are struggling with alcoholism and addiction, that it would be unwise to flaunt our freedoms to be like, oh, you know, you're struggling with this and I know about it, and it doesn't matter because my freedom is more important than your well-being.
5:03
SPEAKER_00: The Bible declares that sometimes we withhold our freedom in love for the sake and flourishing of other people.
5:11
SPEAKER_00: So there's wisdom in this whole discussion about drinking alcohol in the Bible.
5:18
SPEAKER_00: Listen to what the Bible says about getting drunk.
5:21
SPEAKER_00: Romans 13, 12 through 14, the night is nearly over, the day is almost here.
5:26
SPEAKER_00: So let us put aside the deeds of darkness.
5:29
SPEAKER_00: There's a fly.
5:30
SPEAKER_00: Getaway fly.
5:34
SPEAKER_00: Put away the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
5:39
SPEAKER_00: Let us behave decently as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.
5:50
SPEAKER_00: Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.
5:57
SPEAKER_00: That's your fallen nature, pre-Jesus.
6:00
SPEAKER_00: 1 Peter chapter 4, verses 3 and 4.
6:03
SPEAKER_00: For you have spent enough time, Wesley, in the past, doing what pagans choose to do, living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.
6:18
SPEAKER_00: They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless while living and they heap abuse on you.
6:26
SPEAKER_00: They make fun of you.
6:28
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of like college town, right?
6:30
SPEAKER_00: Drunkenness was a societal problem in the first century city of Ephesus.
6:37
SPEAKER_00: Lots of people went around and they partied and got drunk.
6:40
SPEAKER_00: In fact, that was a part of the religious institution.
6:44
SPEAKER_00: They used to go to these pagan temples and they would get drunk and have orgies, and that's why the Bible talks about this stuff.
6:54
SPEAKER_00: And God says drinking alcohol is not forbidden, but getting drunk is forbidden.
7:02
SPEAKER_00: And there's reasons why.
7:06
SPEAKER_00: I asked AI to help me understand in modern simple language what getting drunk does to you.
7:17
SPEAKER_00: Not in all the language that most of us wouldn't understand.
7:20
SPEAKER_00: It says, when you get drunk, AI said, Alcohol chills out your brain by pumping up the brake chemical, GABA, while slowing down the gas chemical, glutamate.
7:33
SPEAKER_00: And it sparks a feel-good dopamine rush that makes drinking fun but hooks you for more.
7:40
SPEAKER_00: This messes with key brain parts, your frontal lobe for smart choices, leading to dumb decisions, cerebellum for balance, stumbling around, hippocampus for memories, causing blackouts, with effects getting worse as your blood alcohol level rises, mild buzz at low levels, dangerous slurring or passing out at high ones.
8:05
SPEAKER_00: Short term, it dehydrates your brain and sparks inflammation for that hangover fog.
8:11
SPEAKER_00: But it clears up eventually.
8:13
SPEAKER_00: Heavy or repeated binges, though, can cause permanent damage and possible addiction or even higher dementia risk down the line.
8:28
SPEAKER_00: Now, some of us, myself included, have got drunk.
8:35
SPEAKER_00: I drank all my alcohol in two years in high school, and then I've never drank since.
8:41
SPEAKER_00: I was living a life of wild, reckless living.
8:48
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not afraid to talk about that.
8:51
SPEAKER_00: I always think it's so weird when spiritual leaders don't talk about their failures or their lifestyles, you know, when they weren't following Jesus.
8:58
SPEAKER_00: It helps us to relate.
8:59
SPEAKER_00: Some of you are in here and you have lived that lifestyle, or you're currently living that lifestyle.
9:09
SPEAKER_00: God is not saying this to wreck your fun, to make you miserable.
9:16
SPEAKER_00: God is saying this because this at a biological level is not good for you, and more importantly, at a spiritual level is not good for you.
9:30
SPEAKER_00: Notice why he says this.
9:32
SPEAKER_00: Do not get drunk on wine, which leads, notice, circle this term, underline it, mark it, highlight it, memorize it, which leads to debauchery.
9:45
SPEAKER_00: Like Wesley, what is debauchery?
9:48
SPEAKER_00: Comes from a Greek term asotia, which means reckless living.
9:56
SPEAKER_00: Abandon when you abandon yourself to reckless immoral behavior, living, lifestyle.
10:06
SPEAKER_00: It actually is connected to the term prodigal.
10:09
SPEAKER_00: Remember the story of the prodigal son, Luke chapter 15, where a father has two sons, one's religious and one's wild.
10:17
SPEAKER_00: And the wild son says, Give me all that you owe me when you die.
10:25
SPEAKER_00: I want my inheritance.
10:27
SPEAKER_00: He got his inheritance, he left the father, he was basically saying, I don't want anything to do with you.
10:33
SPEAKER_00: He left the father and he went to a foreign country and he wasted all of his money on prodigal, reckless, wild living.
10:44
SPEAKER_00: And then it was gone.
10:47
SPEAKER_00: And his soul was miserable, the Bible says.
10:52
SPEAKER_00: And he had no money, and he was working in the pig pen, and he realized my life in my father's house was so much better than the life I'm currently living.
11:04
SPEAKER_00: And some of you, you come in here and you're like, my life following Jesus was so much better than the life I'm currently living.
11:16
SPEAKER_00: God says that when we drink, it leads to a reckless lifestyle with no concern or thought for the consequences of our action.
11:26
SPEAKER_00: God does not want us to be inebriated.
11:29
SPEAKER_00: God does not want us to be drunk.
11:31
SPEAKER_00: God wants us to have our full brain actively participating in living our life in the way of Jesus.
11:44
SPEAKER_00: And he doesn't want anything to taint our soul that would cause us to do things that are contrary to the way of Jesus.
11:52
SPEAKER_00: Getting drunk here is used as an illustration of being influenced by alcohol to the point it controls us and causes us to make decisions that lead to a lifestyle contrary to Jesus' heart for us.
12:08
SPEAKER_00: That's why God is saying this.
12:10
SPEAKER_00: And you might walk in here today and you've been like, I've been living that lifestyle, Wesley.
12:15
SPEAKER_00: And here's the good news you can change today by the grace of God.
12:21
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to do that next weekend or the weekend after this.
12:25
SPEAKER_00: You can say, God, I'm giving my heart and my life to you.
12:28
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to be controlled by substances or addictions or alcohol or parting.
12:33
SPEAKER_00: I want to be controlled by what?
12:36
SPEAKER_00: Notice what he says next.
12:38
SPEAKER_00: Be filled with the Holy Spirit.
12:43
SPEAKER_00: Instead.
12:45
SPEAKER_00: Or in the original language, but contrasting conjunction, be filled with the Spirit of God.
12:53
SPEAKER_00: Question, who is the Spirit of God?
12:57
SPEAKER_00: A guy I know in Portland, Oregon, the pastor of Bridgetown Church.
13:02
SPEAKER_00: He just wrote a book, The Familiar Stranger.
13:07
SPEAKER_00: And it's an interesting book because it's saying in Christianity, we talk about the Father and we talk about Jesus, but what about the Holy Spirit?
13:17
SPEAKER_00: And his thesis is in the modern church, the Holy Spirit is the familiar stranger.
13:24
SPEAKER_00: We're familiar because the Spirit of God is working in our life, but kind of a stranger because we don't quite know how to articulate who the Spirit of God is.
13:33
SPEAKER_00: So who is the Spirit of God?
13:35
SPEAKER_00: Write this down.
13:36
SPEAKER_00: Number one, the Holy Spirit is God.
13:41
SPEAKER_00: The third person of the Trinity.
13:45
SPEAKER_00: In Acts chapter 5, verses 3 and 4, the Bible calls the Spirit of God God.
13:55
SPEAKER_00: In John chapter 14, verse 16, Jesus says that the Spirit is another of the same kind as me.
14:04
SPEAKER_00: Interesting.
14:06
SPEAKER_00: Of the same person, not person, there's three different persons, the same essence, part of me, the Spirit of God is another of the same essence of me.
14:16
SPEAKER_00: In other words, Jesus is declaring, I am God, and the one I send, the Spirit, He is God as well.
14:24
SPEAKER_00: And then in Genesis chapter 1, verse 2, and this is just a few illustrated examples, there's many more.
14:30
SPEAKER_00: In Genesis chapter 1, verse 2, the Spirit of God does what only God can do.
14:37
SPEAKER_00: He is the creator of creation alongside the Son and the Father.
14:45
SPEAKER_00: All three of them in the Bible are declared as creators in creation.
14:51
SPEAKER_00: So the Spirit of God does what only God can do.
14:55
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit is God.
14:57
SPEAKER_00: The Spirit of God is not a force.
15:00
SPEAKER_00: Oh, you know, he's like this force, this familiar force.
15:05
SPEAKER_00: The Spirit of God is a person.
15:08
SPEAKER_00: The Father is God, the Son is God, the Spirit is God.
15:13
SPEAKER_00: There is one God.
15:16
SPEAKER_00: Three persons, one essence.
15:18
SPEAKER_00: Three persons, one being.
15:21
SPEAKER_00: That's what the Bible declares about the triune nature of God.
15:25
SPEAKER_00: You're like, that's weird.
15:29
SPEAKER_00: We only say things like that because we're not God.
15:34
SPEAKER_00: And we like to define things by our own human experience.
15:40
SPEAKER_00: But God is infinite and all-powerful and all-wise, and God is who God is and who he declares himself to be.
15:49
SPEAKER_00: And so we worship God for who he is, even if there's some mystery in that.
15:57
SPEAKER_00: In every healthy relationship, there's mystery.
16:00
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to know everything, you don't have to fully understand everything.
16:06
SPEAKER_00: You can learn and grow and cultivate a knowledge of who God is over a lifetime.
16:14
SPEAKER_00: And there's beauty in mystery.
16:16
SPEAKER_00: If we were God, we would understand God in all his full measure, but we're not God, so we pursue God all of our life to understand Him more and more.
16:28
SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
16:30
SPEAKER_00: So the Spirit of God is God.
16:33
SPEAKER_00: And the Bible says, in fact, the Bible commands us to be filled with the Spirit.
16:39
SPEAKER_00: There's two ministries of the Holy Spirit in your life that I want you to understand.
16:43
SPEAKER_00: There's many more, but these two are very prominent, especially in what I'm trying to explain this morning.
16:48
SPEAKER_00: The first is the indwelling ministry of the Holy Spirit.
16:53
SPEAKER_00: The indwelling ministry of the Holy Spirit means that the Holy Spirit is in you.
16:58
SPEAKER_00: This is what Jesus declared in the verses I read at the beginning of this Sunday's teaching.
17:04
SPEAKER_00: This is also what the New Testament declares over and over again.
17:08
SPEAKER_00: Romans chapter 8, verse 9.
17:10
SPEAKER_00: You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh, but you are in the realm of the Spirit.
17:16
SPEAKER_00: If indeed the Spirit of God lives in you.
17:19
SPEAKER_00: And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.
17:23
SPEAKER_00: In other words, the Spirit of God is in every person who belongs to Jesus.
17:29
SPEAKER_00: 1 Corinthians 6, verse 19, do you not know that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit?
17:35
SPEAKER_00: You are the home, the house, the dwelling place of the Spirit of God, who is in you, whom you have received as a gift from God.
17:49
SPEAKER_00: You have the Spirit of God in you.
17:52
SPEAKER_00: Whether you're in church on a Sunday or in class or at work on a Monday or going to party on a Saturday, it doesn't matter where you are.
18:00
SPEAKER_00: The Spirit of God is in you.
18:05
SPEAKER_00: You have God living, dwelling in you.
18:14
SPEAKER_00: Think about that a little bit.
18:17
SPEAKER_00: Ponder that in your life.
18:19
SPEAKER_00: Process through that as you cultivate your relationship with God and you're making decisions day by day, that the Spirit of God lives in me.
18:30
SPEAKER_00: Now, the filling ministry of the Holy Spirit is catalyzed by the fact that the Spirit of God lives in you.
18:39
SPEAKER_00: When he says, be filled with the Spirit here, he is ultimately in a conceptual way saying this the Holy Spirit influences you and leads you.
18:51
SPEAKER_00: He takes leadership of your life.
18:54
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't dwell in you just to be, you know, hanging out in your heart, one of your homies.
19:05
SPEAKER_00: He dwells in you to be the leading influence in your life and to transform you from the inside out.
19:15
SPEAKER_00: And to take leadership of your life.
19:18
SPEAKER_00: And part of this means that you relinquish leadership to God.
19:21
SPEAKER_00: That God, I'm no longer in control.
19:23
SPEAKER_00: I no longer want to be in control.
19:25
SPEAKER_00: That's why you are Lord Jesus.
19:31
SPEAKER_00: You're my master, you're my leader, you're the sovereign one over my life.
19:35
SPEAKER_00: You know what's best for me.
19:36
SPEAKER_00: That's why the Spirit of God leads us.
19:39
SPEAKER_00: He wants to be Lord, leading and directing, and we relinquish leadership to the Spirit of God who indwells us.
19:48
SPEAKER_00: All followers of Jesus have the Holy Spirit in them, no matter what.
19:52
SPEAKER_00: However, not all followers of Jesus are filled with the Holy Spirit.
19:59
SPEAKER_00: So on a Sunday, you have the Spirit in you.
20:02
SPEAKER_00: On a Monday, you have the Spirit in you.
20:04
SPEAKER_00: On a Saturday, whether you're following Jesus or not, you have the Spirit in you.
20:07
SPEAKER_00: However, that is not true that all followers of Jesus are filled with the Spirit in every given moment of time.
20:17
SPEAKER_00: Let me read you some explanations of this.
20:19
SPEAKER_00: I found it to be very helpful.
20:22
SPEAKER_00: Frank Thielman, who's one of the great New Testament scholars alive today, he says if we seek help in the analogy that Paul seems to imply between the controlling influence of wine and the controlling influence of the spirit, then with seems to be the most likely reading, filled with the spirit, is what he's saying.
20:44
SPEAKER_00: Just as the drunken person is full of and controlled by wine, so the believer should be full of and directed by the Spirit of God.
20:56
SPEAKER_00: Another writer said, Paul's point is that the Holy Spirit is the controlling influence, motivating and directing the lives of followers of Jesus.
21:08
SPEAKER_00: And then there's this great line by Harold Honor, who's no longer alive today, but some of the best writers are dead.
21:15
SPEAKER_00: Dead writers are great.
21:17
SPEAKER_00: Their works last the test of time.
21:21
SPEAKER_00: He said, Each Christian has all the Spirit.
21:26
SPEAKER_00: But the command here is that the Spirit have all of them.
21:32
SPEAKER_00: All of us have the indwelling ministry of the Spirit.
21:35
SPEAKER_00: We have all of the Spirit.
21:37
SPEAKER_00: But not all of us are filled with the Spirit.
21:41
SPEAKER_00: The Spirit might not have all of us.
21:46
SPEAKER_00: Let me just say that this is a command.
21:54
SPEAKER_00: That the Spirit is the source and sphere in which God works in our lives.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: And we're commanded as followers of Jesus to be filled with the Spirit of God.
22:05
SPEAKER_00: This should be our daily prayer.
22:07
SPEAKER_00: You should wake up tomorrow.
22:08
SPEAKER_00: You should say, Jesus, this is like a two-second prayer.
22:11
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, fill me today with the Holy Spirit.
22:15
SPEAKER_00: This should be our daily request and prayer that we are influenced and led by the Spirit of the living God.
22:25
SPEAKER_00: I love water.
22:26
SPEAKER_00: Do you?
22:27
SPEAKER_00: I love water.
22:29
SPEAKER_00: It's my favorite drink.
22:30
SPEAKER_00: Anybody, raise your hand if water's your favorite drink.
22:32
SPEAKER_00: Please raise your hand.
22:34
SPEAKER_00: Okay, and I'm praying for the rest of you.
22:36
SPEAKER_00: That water be your favorite drink, not Diet Coke or Coke Zero or all those sugary drinks.
22:45
SPEAKER_00: Water.
22:46
SPEAKER_00: It's God's drink.
22:47
SPEAKER_00: It's good for you.
22:50
SPEAKER_00: I'm not, hey, I'm not saying there's anything spiritual about drinking Diet Coke or but I'm just saying water's good.
23:00
SPEAKER_00: There is a difference between filling up your stomach and whatever else gets filled up, doctors in here.
23:10
SPEAKER_00: When you drink, how much of our body is water?
23:13
SPEAKER_00: Isn't it like 70%?
23:17
SPEAKER_00: 70 something percent?
23:18
SPEAKER_00: Wherever the water goes, a big, beautiful, clean cup of water fills up whatever it fills up.
23:30
SPEAKER_00: Brain, all the organ, everything.
23:32
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what it fills up.
23:35
SPEAKER_00: Versus a dirty big cup of water.
23:43
SPEAKER_00: Every day.
23:45
SPEAKER_00: You got the scriptures, you got prayer, you got Jesus.
23:49
SPEAKER_00: Lord, fill my soul with the Spirit of the living God.
23:57
SPEAKER_00: You can choose that.
24:00
SPEAKER_00: Or you can fill your soul with things that are contrary to the Spirit of God.
24:08
SPEAKER_00: You have a will.
24:09
SPEAKER_00: God gave you a will.
24:10
SPEAKER_00: He gave you decision-making ability every single day.
24:14
SPEAKER_00: But followers of Jesus are commanded to be filled with the Spirit of God, not to be filled with things that are contrary to the Spirit of God.
24:26
SPEAKER_00: I want you to notice what he does next.
24:30
SPEAKER_00: That was like 27 minutes of just one verse.
24:34
SPEAKER_00: I want you to notice what he does next.
24:36
SPEAKER_00: In verses 19 through 20, he gives us four things that happen in our lives when we are filled with the Holy Spirit.
24:44
SPEAKER_00: Four things that happen in our lives when we're filled with the Spirit of God.
24:47
SPEAKER_00: Verse 19.
24:48
SPEAKER_00: Speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit.
24:54
SPEAKER_00: Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord.
24:57
SPEAKER_00: Always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
25:03
SPEAKER_00: Then verse 21, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
25:08
SPEAKER_00: Four things that happen in your life when you're filled with the Spirit of God.
25:11
SPEAKER_00: These are just illustrated examples, not an exhaustive list, but these are really good.
25:16
SPEAKER_00: Number one, singing to the Lord.
25:19
SPEAKER_00: And by this he's referring to public communal worship.
25:25
SPEAKER_00: We need this in our life.
25:28
SPEAKER_00: We worship Jesus with Jesus' family.
25:34
SPEAKER_00: God's people have been doing this for thousands of years, coming together every week to worship with the people of God.
25:43
SPEAKER_00: Things happen in this setting that don't happen in your everyday setting.
25:47
SPEAKER_00: God works in a special way when his people are gathered together, so the New Testament declares.
25:56
SPEAKER_00: And singing is an outward vocal expression of an inward relationship with God.
26:04
SPEAKER_00: Worship is an expression of praising God through the art of music.
26:13
SPEAKER_00: And I would like to say something because I think this is really important, and it's been really important throughout history, but I think in our modern world we have lost some of this, that the arts has all have always been an aspect of telling the story of Jesus.
26:31
SPEAKER_00: Because God is the ultimate artist.
26:34
SPEAKER_00: If you go, if you've been around Europe, if you go to Europe, the places that are most sought after are places that were built as beautiful places of worship.
26:52
SPEAKER_00: The architecture, the beauty, the thought, the design, the greatest paintings for the most part in history are paintings that were done to tell the story of God.
27:10
SPEAKER_00: I've seen the greatest pieces of art in human history.
27:14
SPEAKER_00: And most of them are biblical, are telling the story of God through the means of art and artistic expression, statues and paintings, and all of these different things that were done by the great artists of human history.
27:32
SPEAKER_00: And I think this is a really important thing that art and visual aesthetic and beauty and the ability to express ourselves through the art is such an important aspect of our worship as the people of God.
27:47
SPEAKER_00: And it lasts.
27:49
SPEAKER_00: Think of the American version of church, it's so ugly.
27:53
SPEAKER_00: Like just these big square buildings, and they just have no architecture, and that's okay, I get it.
28:01
SPEAKER_00: But I'm like, then you go and you see these buildings that are like thousands of years old, and people are still worshiping in them.
28:11
SPEAKER_00: Wouldn't that be cool if we were able to build a beautiful, iconic building in the city of Davis someday that lasts for a long, long time.
28:22
SPEAKER_00: It is a place of beauty.
28:24
SPEAKER_00: Last Sunday night we had a worship night.
28:28
SPEAKER_00: A couple hundred people came to it and it was an amazing night.
28:32
SPEAKER_00: And thank everybody who led it and put so much effort into it.
28:36
SPEAKER_00: And I just think like what that was representational of is that art is an avenue to worship God.
28:46
SPEAKER_00: And thank you, Jake, and we call him the Don Don, Donovan.
28:53
SPEAKER_00: And uh everybody from DCF, Leanne and Peter, and what a beautiful thing.
28:58
SPEAKER_00: And I already have people saying, Can we do that again?
29:01
SPEAKER_00: Can we do that again?
29:02
SPEAKER_00: It would be amazing.
29:03
SPEAKER_00: We will definitely do it again at some point.
29:07
SPEAKER_00: Singing to the Lord, second, the second thing that happens in our lives when we're filled with the Holy Spirit in this context is singing to the Lord.
29:16
SPEAKER_00: Number two.
29:17
SPEAKER_00: The first being public communal worship, the second being private personal worship.
29:24
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we sing in public together, and sometimes we sing in private to the Lord.
29:29
SPEAKER_00: This is a representation of our daily spiritual rhythms in relationship with God.
29:37
SPEAKER_00: The last couple months I've been listening to a lot of new worship music, and I've just been walking around random places just singing to the Lord.
29:47
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, hey, have you heard this song?
29:50
SPEAKER_00: Donovan, have you heard this song?
29:51
SPEAKER_00: Kelly, have you heard this song?
29:53
SPEAKER_00: Let's sing it.
29:54
SPEAKER_00: It's amazing.
29:55
SPEAKER_00: And I don't have a great voice, but there is something so unique that happens in my soul when I sing to Jesus.
30:04
SPEAKER_00: And you and I need a daily spiritual worship relationship with God.
30:09
SPEAKER_00: Third.
30:10
SPEAKER_00: The third thing that happens in our lives when we're filled with the Holy Spirit is giving thanks to God.
30:17
SPEAKER_00: This is a heart of gratitude.
30:19
SPEAKER_00: You know, in our world today, we're so focused on what's wrong, gratitude sees what's right.
30:27
SPEAKER_00: The news, the sensationalism of, you know, culture and the way that we present things in media, it's always, here's what's wrong, but Christians should be like, here's what's right.
30:39
SPEAKER_00: Here's what's good and redemptive and beautiful and what God is doing.
30:45
SPEAKER_00: We need to focus more on what is right than what is wrong because the only thing that's going to change what is wrong is by shining light on what is right.
30:54
SPEAKER_00: That's Jesus at work in our world and human history.
30:59
SPEAKER_00: Gratitude is an aspect of prayer, it's an aspect of a healthy Christian life, and it is an aspect that is good for your mental health and well-being.
31:13
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes when we're walking through really painful, hard moments of life, we sometimes forget that there are even right things in the midst of the hard things.
31:25
SPEAKER_00: We lose sight of gratitude.
31:27
SPEAKER_00: And I just want to encourage you that if you're going through a really hard moment of life, even in the hard and painful and disorienting nature of human suffering, God is at work.
31:47
SPEAKER_00: And God is doing right even in the midst of wrong.
31:53
SPEAKER_00: Can I encourage you with that today?
31:55
SPEAKER_00: That there is always opportunity and reasons for gratitude even in the hardest moments of life.
32:03
SPEAKER_00: God is present and at work in our life.
32:07
SPEAKER_00: And then finally, number four, singing to the Lord.
32:11
SPEAKER_00: Singing to the Lord, giving thanks to God.
32:14
SPEAKER_00: And then finally, number four, verse 21, submitting to one another.
32:20
SPEAKER_00: This fly loves me.
32:22
SPEAKER_00: Submitting to one another.
32:25
SPEAKER_00: This is mutual submission in the Christian world in the first and second century.
32:30
SPEAKER_00: Christianity was not a legal religion in the Roman Empire.
32:34
SPEAKER_00: People had to meet secretly in houses.
32:38
SPEAKER_00: And so they developed this very family type of mentality where families would be mutually worshipping together in other families' households.
32:50
SPEAKER_00: So you had household codes that developed.
32:53
SPEAKER_00: How are we to live and exist as a family of God?
32:57
SPEAKER_00: And one of the key characteristics was mutuality, which goes back to Genesis chapter 1.
33:04
SPEAKER_00: Mutuality is a foundational characteristic of all healthy relationships.
33:10
SPEAKER_00: Mutuality is we are equally invested and we are equally flourishing based on this relationship.
33:21
SPEAKER_00: And mutual submission, according to the New Testament and the storyline of Scripture, is a foundation for all healthy relationships.
33:32
SPEAKER_00: Even Jesus submitted.
33:36
SPEAKER_00: And he is the foundation of our submission.
33:39
SPEAKER_00: Jesus submitted himself in his incarnation and his crucifixion for our well-being and flourishing.
33:46
SPEAKER_00: Listen to these words.
33:47
SPEAKER_00: These are so powerful.
33:50
SPEAKER_00: Philippians chapter 2, verse 3.
33:53
SPEAKER_00: Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.
33:57
SPEAKER_00: That is a word for all of us.
34:00
SPEAKER_00: Rather, in humility, value others above yourselves.
34:06
SPEAKER_00: Not looking for your own interest, to your own interest, but each of you to the interest of others.
34:14
SPEAKER_00: In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who, being in the very nature of God, did not consider a quality with God something to be used to his own advantage.
34:26
SPEAKER_00: Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
34:33
SPEAKER_00: This is his incarnation, that the Son of God be created human.
34:37
SPEAKER_00: And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient, he submitted, to death, even death on a cross.
34:49
SPEAKER_00: Jesus submitted himself to the Father by coming to this earth and dying on the cross for the flourishing and well-being of us as human beings.
34:58
SPEAKER_00: And we submit to one another.
35:01
SPEAKER_00: What if mutual submission was a part of relational flourishing?
35:07
SPEAKER_00: What if this is an aspect of relational flourishing that sometimes we wrestle against and war against in ourselves because we're always competing to dominate, to take precedence over everything and all of our relationships?
35:21
SPEAKER_00: What if mutual submission is actually beautiful and life-giving and healthy as humans created in the image of God?
35:33
SPEAKER_00: One writer wrote, Submission is not the obliteration of the self, but the giving of the self in love.
35:43
SPEAKER_00: Christian submission is always patterned after Christ, who poured himself out for the sake of others.
35:53
SPEAKER_00: Another writer said, It asks all Christians to submit to one another.
35:59
SPEAKER_00: No privilege group is in view.
36:01
SPEAKER_00: Christians are called to live in mutual submission.
36:04
SPEAKER_00: And without mutual submission, they cannot fulfill their destiny.
36:09
SPEAKER_00: Such submission is a strong and free act of the will based on real love of the other person.
36:19
SPEAKER_00: What are some examples of this?
36:21
SPEAKER_00: What does this look like?
36:22
SPEAKER_00: Let me give you a few examples before we close.
36:25
SPEAKER_00: In your words, here's what it looks like: affirm and encourage rather than criticize or compete.
36:34
SPEAKER_00: Yield in disagreements when the issue is not essential, choosing peace over being right.
36:41
SPEAKER_00: Apologize quickly when wronged and seek forgiveness.
36:47
SPEAKER_00: In actions, here's what it looks like.
36:50
SPEAKER_00: Serve willingly.
36:52
SPEAKER_00: Do the unnoticed or beneath me tasks that bless other people.
36:56
SPEAKER_00: Defer preferences, let someone else choose the restaurant, music, or whatever else you can't decide on.
37:05
SPEAKER_00: Support other people's callings, celebrate their success without envy and help them to flourish.
37:13
SPEAKER_00: In relationships, here's what this may look like: prioritize others' needs when it doesn't compromise what is right before God.
37:23
SPEAKER_00: Bear with one another or bear one another's burdens when they're suffering or struggling.
37:31
SPEAKER_00: Practice patience with other people's weaknesses and growth process.
37:37
SPEAKER_00: Be interruptible.
37:39
SPEAKER_00: Make room for people even when it's inconvenient.
37:43
SPEAKER_00: In leadership, this is what it may look like.
37:46
SPEAKER_00: Lead by serving.
37:49
SPEAKER_00: Empower other people with responsibility.
37:52
SPEAKER_00: Seek counsel because you don't know everything, and collaboration and wisdom and community is far better than you and your limitation.
38:03
SPEAKER_00: These are ways that we can mutually submit to one another.
38:10
SPEAKER_00: I'd like to close with this.
38:14
SPEAKER_00: Baptism is a command for followers of Jesus.
38:20
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, Go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you, and surely I'm with you always to the very end of the age.
38:47
SPEAKER_00: One choice that you can make today to be led by the Spirit of the living God.
38:55
SPEAKER_00: If you are a follower of Jesus, and Jesus has declared that baptism is an act of obedience in response to his redemption and salvation in your life, you can choose to be baptized.
39:10
SPEAKER_00: And I don't say this coercively, I say this declaring that your decision to be baptized and listen to what the Spirit of God is telling you will cause your soul and life to flourish in the way of Jesus.