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Good morning, everyone. Let’s turn our Bibles to Ephesians 5 and we’ll read verses 8 onwards. This is quite a big passage, so what we’ll do is maybe we’ll read through it as we go along. Let’s pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for this time.
we bless your great name as we come before you, your throne of your grace, as you, as your people, as your redeemed community. We pray that you would work in our hearts. We need your word, we need the work of your Spirit in our lives, we need transformation, for Father, we plead with you that you would be gracious to us, be merciful to us. God, we pray that we all would grow in the knowledge of your word so that we would live according to the knowledge that we receive from your word. Your Spirit powerfully work in our lives. We pray that you bring transformation in
our lives, Father, in Jesus Christ, and we pray. Amen. This is a, uh, basic outline that I put here, you know. Um, Paul gives a series of exhortations on how not to live. He mentioned in the previous section about immorality, impurity, greed, filth and coarse talk. All those things should be avoided. Those should not be even mentioned among believers. And last week we have seen that the sexual desires are a part of us, but they are not, they are very strong in us, and those desires must not be fulfilled apart from the bond of marriage. Those should be only be fulfilled in the bond of marriage. And any deviation in thought, act,
behavior, words is a sin, and we must avoid it actively as God’s holy people. And such deviations are improper among the saints and they should not be even named among us. And sin, and we have also seen that, sin and disobedience attracts God’s wrath. No matter what you believe, no matter what you confess, but if our life is not consistent with the word of God, sin, if sin is a prevailing thing in our lives, the word of God says that it attracts God’s wrath, it attracts God’s anger. And in our present passage, Paul supplies another reason why God’s people should not participate in immoral acts, thoughts or deeds or words.
Here is the basic outline. First part, we’re going to look at how to live, that we are called to live as the children of light. And secondly, Paul gives the summary of all the exhortations that he has been giving from chapter 4 verses 1 onwards. Yeah, first, live as the, as children of light, verses 8 and 9 and 10. Paul says, “For you were formerly darkness, but now—” As I mentioned that in the previous context, Paul gave the judgment of God as a reason to avoid sin.
And Paul gives positive reasons for believers not to be disobedient. And Paul uses metaphors of darkness and light in this passage to make his point. And the image of light and darkness here are the metaphors to signify the holiness of God and also the evils of this world. If believers continue to indulge in a lifestyle of sin compatible with who we are now in Christ Jesus. And he says, “You are formerly darkness.”
You are formerly darkness. What did he mean by that statement? What does this formerly darkness mean? If you go back to Ephesians chapter 2, verses 1, 2, and 3, Paul defines the state of darkness there in which we were once. He says that you were dead in your trespasses and sins, and which you formerly—get the same word, formerly—walked according to the course of this world, which means darkness, you were in darkness, you walked in darkness, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now is at work in the sons of disobedience. And among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath. See, Paul repeats these elements of truth, you know, who we were, in this passage as well, right? But he’s using a
metaphor of darkness here. Uh, so sexual immorality, living relationships, porn, soft porn, sexual talk might be happening things in this world, but they should not be appealing to a believer. Those talk should be disgusting to our minds, to our ears. We were formerly part of that, those fellowships, those friendships. We were formerly part of the kingdom of darkness. And if you are still relishing in those deeds of darkness, as Paul earlier said, that you have no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
Right? In chapter 5, verse 5. And Paul clearly defines who we are now. If you genuinely believed in the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ for your sins, if you repented of your sins and have put faith in the saving work of Jesus Christ, then Paul says, “But now you are light in the Lord.” You are light in the Lord. And what does it mean?
It means that you are no longer darkness. The deeds of darkness should not be even mentioned among us. We who are light have been rescued from the dominion of darkness, from the kingdom of darkness. And look at what Paul said to the Colossians, chapter 1 verse 13. He said, “For he rescued us from the dominion, domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.” Darkness and deeds of darkness and that lifestyle reign, that lifestyle reigning in us, was a past reality, should be a past reality. But now we are transferred into the realm of light. And the image of light and darkness, as I mentioned, they are the metaphors of God’s holiness and the evils of this world. And the image was used throughout the Bible, especially in the book of Isaiah. You know, Isaiah
chapter 5, you can read those verses later, right? So there are these metaphors, holiness of God and the evils or the sins of people, and this is a very prevalent metaphor in the Bible. And Ephesians chapter 5 verse 8, he know, it doesn't simply say to love the light, it doesn't simply say do the deeds of the light, right? He begins by saying, “You are light in the Lord.” You are light in the Lord. So when we are, when we were converted, our lives, not our surroundings, would change from the darkness to light. We who were formerly darkness, what was trans, we are transformed, right?
And this radical transformation had taken place in the Lord. That's because not of your upbringing, not of your godly parents, not because of whatever, it's because of our union with our Lord Jesus Christ. It's because of our union with our Lord Jesus Christ. We have entered a new domain and became light in the Lord. All change was possible and will be possible only because of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So my brothers and sisters, if you take this entire passage from chapter 4 verse 1 into consideration, any of those things that we have talked about, if we are relishing in those things, if we are still holding on to that kind of a lifestyle, bitterness, anger, lies, anything, not being kind to others, not being easy on others' offenses, holding onto our hearts, anger, brooding over others' offenses against us, all those things, those are shameful things to even be mentioned in our lives as Christians. It's not just immorality, all what Paul has been talking in this passage, we should not entertain
such a heart. We should deal with our hearts. This change, again, when Paul says you are light in the Lord, it means that this change is a tangible change. Though we struggle with sin, struggle with forgiving others, struggle to be kind towards others, struggle with immoral thoughts at times, but we don't live, we fight, we struggle, we fight by the grace of God, right? Because we are light in the Lord. That change is tangible. Once we were unable to forgive, once we are, we only avoid people, put them off, because no, it's a danger, you know, I'll be in danger before, if I fellowship with that person I'll be hurt. But now I am in the Lord, so myself is no longer important. What
the Lord says is more. How the Lord wants me to live is even more important. So by the grace of the Lord, by the work of the Holy Spirit in me, I become easy on their offenses. I forgive them. Because in the light of God's forgiveness of our sins, this is nothing.
This is nothing. This is nothing. You are light. People of light cannot and should not be yearning for darkness. Now see the distinctive mark of the people of darkness in John chapter 3 verse 19. This is the mark of the, what, the people of darkness: “This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world and people love the darkness rather than the light, for their deeds were evil.” I want to make a point from this verse. People of darkness love darkness because they are in darkness.
Then people of light on the contrary should love light, not darkness. But why those who profess to be in the light still love darkness? Why do we still entertain sinful thoughts and acts? Why are we bitter? Why don't we forgive? Why are not we kind? Why don't we let go? Why do we avoid people? Why? That should be the tangible difference. Therefore Paul says, “Walk as the children of light.”
“Walk as the children of light.” Now, in the Lord, we should conform to our new identity. In the original language, walk means to walk around the full entire circle or in one particular direction. Here we walk in the light or in the direction of the Lord or in the direction that the word shows us.
And this is not fruitless. The triune God produces fruit in us. The presence of the Holy Spirit produces the fruit. God is good and right and true. As his imitators, we produce the fruit that consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth. As we submit to his leadership, as we obey his teaching, as we walk in that path, we will be fruitful.
We'll be bearing the fruit of goodness, righteousness and truth. Those who walk in the light do good works. Those who walk in the light live righteously. Those who walk in the light, they speak truthfully. This walking and bearing, they do not happen automatically. Verse 10, it says, “trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.”
Those who walk, see, you know, the phrase here, the trying to learn, is actually one word in the original language. That is dokimazo, which means to put to test or to examine or to approve. ESV and NASB add the word try here, which actually diminishes the effect of the original word.
Because it gives a sense that something is attempted, but not necessarily carried out. Right? And the context does not warrant such a reading. So the word try or trying is unnecessary because most of us use ESV and few people use NASB. So these two are very good versions.
I recommend not to use other versions. You. But here, again, the translators are humans. Their judgment could be a little error at times, but yeah. But this does not lead us into any error, but there is kind of a dilemma here with this word. So the word learn or discern means scrutinizing something to perceive its genuineness. Now, CSB puts it right.
Translation, uh, somewhere in the middle is called Christian Standard Bible, um, something like an NIV. So it says, “testing what is pleasing to the Lord.” And the word was used in the Romans in the sense, it says that, do not — I think I forgot. Yeah, it’s here. So, “do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is good.” It’s not try to discern, but you discern what is good, pleasing and perfect will of God. So what must we discern? According to the text, we must discern what is pleasing to the Lord.
And do that. We must discern what is pleasing to the Lord. A person in the Lord should perceive what is pleasing to the Lord, not what is pleasing to us. What is pleasing to us is to avoid people. It’s comfortable. What is pleasing to us is to brood over all past mistakes of people. That’s very comfortable.
What is pleasing to us is count the sins of all our brothers and sisters or family, whatever. That is more pleasing to us. But as Christians we’re now transferred from the — that domain of darkness into the light, and by the virtue of your — of our union with the Lord, what’s that? We are light in the Lord, and because we are light in the Lord, what we try to do — again, we discern — is what is pleasing to the Lord.
We should discern what pleases the Lord in every situation, which counts as good, righteous and true. And as part of our responsibility to walk as the children of the light, we do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness. Now Paul repeats this statement here again, which means we have no fellowship or have anything to do with the unfruitful deeds of darkness. And as enlightened people, we must be able to see the end of darkness, that is unfruitful. The result of indulging in deeds of darkness is unfruitful. It is, it is no fruit. It’s worthless, it’s useless, it’s waste of time and energy. There will be only regret. Have you ever, you know, were satisfied after committing any sin? There’s
regret. If you’re a believer, only regret. I wish I didn’t do that. I wish I didn’t speak like that. Right? It’s only unfruitful. It must not be pleasurable to the saints, and these deeds do not please God. If they do not please God, then why must we participate as the children of light?
See, the reason for our existence to please the Lord. And this does not mean that believers, know, are to avoid fellowship with unbelievers, right? It doesn’t mean that. Scripture is clear that we are in the world, so we fellowship with the people, we talk to people, we, we befriend them, but we do not do the deeds of darkness so that the unbelieving friends and family, they see the light. Instead, it means we are to refuse anything to do with the sinful deeds. We do not partner with them in doing anything displeasing to the Lord. And this is the purpose of our redemption. Second
Corinthians chapter 5, verse 15, it says, “He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” We live no longer for ourselves. If you believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, if you claim that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior, it means that we do not live for ourselves anymore.
So what does it entail? Forgiving others is not easy, but the point is I do anymore this the feelings of, no, the sexual feelings are very strong in us. The attractions of the world, the flesh, are very strong in us. But I live no longer to please myself, so I do not indulge in any sinful thought or act the Holy Spirit with whom we are sealed until the day of redemption.
We will fight because we are sealed by the Holy Spirit. In contrast to this negative admonition, Paul offers a positive command. He says, “but instead, even expose them.” Expose them. Don’t corrupt the deeds of your brothers and sisters. Do not partner with them. Believers who avoid the deeds of darkness have a responsibility to expose them. Don’t turn a blind eye when you see someone sinning, but expose them. It doesn’t mean that you make it public.
It doesn’t mean that you take a trumpet and shout. No, it doesn’t mean that. This means to uncover, reveal that which is hidden, which is done in secret. And how do we do that? How do we do this? This is primarily to be done in the context of the church. If someone is in error, we confront them in gentleness and humility. We follow the Matthew 18 principle. You don’t go to another brother or sister, “Hey, you know what this brother did? You know how he spoke?” Yeah, he shouldn’t have spoken like that. Avoid all such conversations. You see something, someone do something, go to that person. As the children of light, we must do that. Go to that person, and if he doesn’t listen to you, brothers or sisters, talk to him, not to make him or her guilty, but so that he
would realize this mistake, repent of his sins. And if he still persists, be patient with him. Pray over him. Pray over him. Cry in the presence of the Lord for him. And if he still is, he or she is, you know, getting worse in sin, bring it to the And that discipline is also with a motivation to love, to earn, to win that brother or sister to the Lord.
God has placed us in a local church for our sanctification. I mentioned this last week also. We are not in a church to show that how holy I am. How beautifully I pray. How many verses I know by heart is not to show off.
We are here as needy people to help build other needy people. To walk along with people who struggle. Not to condemn them, not to look down on them. Not to avoid them. We are all weak, we are all needy, we all need help. So better fold that better than thou attitude, put it aside, because we are not better. Look at your own heart, the thoughts that you have, the struggles that you have. You are not better. With
an unbeliever and a friend or family, we must uncover the darkness through the light of the gospel. It’s an opportunity to share the gospel. When you see an unbelieving family or friend sin before you, it’s an opportunity to share the gospel, them the hope of the gospel. It is only the gospel. It is also only by the gospel that an unbeliever can ultimately be saved. In verse 12 — it was 12 — it says, “For it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which were done, which are done by them in secret.” And Paul gives another reason for us not to take part in the unfruitful deeds of darkness.
They are so bad that it is shameful even to speak of those deeds. In this context, the deeds of sexual immorality or the shameful acts, they are done in secret. So, do not discuss those things in the light. But if a brother or sister is involved in any shameful act, expose them to them, shed the light of God’s truth on them and confront them. Confront them. The aim in doing all this is so that we all would be pleasing to the Lord.
Verse 13. “All things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light.” Now this verse develops the thought in verses 11 and 12. The exposure of the deeds of darkness by the children of light brings their true nature into light. And when the light of God’s word exposes the deeds of darkness, the darkness can be seen from what it is. It is only by the truth of God’s word we will be able to see what is darkness.
A person who is in darkness cannot tell another person that you are in darkness. Right? Yeah. Then he quotes a saying in verse 14. “For this reason, it says, ‘Wake, sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.’” He begins the saying with, “for this reason,” for this reason, you know, when you shed light, when you shed light on the darkness, when you expose deeds of darkness through the light of God’s word, for this reason, which means is inferring from this previous statements. The question we need to ask is, for
Where did Paul quote this? He's saying, he could, you know, it's — he says, it says. But we don't find this verse anywhere in the Bible. Paul is not quoting precisely from the Old Testament writings. Probably it is a combination of the Old Testament verses in Isaiah — you can refer those verses — and is giving a Christian interpretation of those verses, or he's shedding a kind of a Christian light or on that a symbol. One of the New Testament scholars, he says that Paul is bringing out the fuller meaning of the previous revelation in the light of its fulfillment in Christ. He gives the gist of the meaning which is clearer now that the mystery that had earlier been concealed has now been revealed in the advent of Christ.
And another question that we must ask is, to whom is Paul addressing these words? Is writing to the church. It applies to the believers. It refers probably to the wayward people. But he addresses those secretly indulging in the unfruitful deeds of darkness. They're probably not believers, or maybe backslidden believers, or probably not believers, church. These are the people who have the facade of a Christian, but but how they are unbelievers. They love darkness. Once the deeds of darkness are exposed by the light of God's word, our spirit was 13, he calls these wayward people to Christ, because Christ will shine on them. It is Christ to transform lives.
He is capable of turning our lives around from darkness to light. No other therapy in the world can achieve this feat. It's only the gospel. It's only Christ and his redemptive work which can deliver us from the deeds of darkness. Nothing else. There is no hope. Brothers and sisters, dear brother and sister, if you are struggling with sin and secretly indulging in any sin — in the entire context of chapter 4 — bitterness, unkindness, unforgiveness, sexual immorality, impure talk, you may not have, you may not be having extramarital relationships, but it could be an addiction to watch something on your
gadget. If you reason that it is a minor sin and that Christ will forgive, no, he will break your deeds into account. Maybe a severe discipline is awaiting you if you persist in that sin. You may not lose your salvation. Once you are in Christ, God justified you and he has taken full charge of you. Discipline you and me if we do not turn away from our sins. Turn to Christ and he will give you grace and life. The conclusion of point one here is this.
Paul gives us another reason in this passage to avoid all sin. Bitterness, resentment, unkindness, unforgiveness, sexual immorality, covetousness and filthy coarse talk. A lifestyle of sin is incompatible with our condition in Christ. Last time we have seen that we have the help of the Holy Spirit.
What does he give us? Self-control. Self-control is the fruit given to his people. We understand that these sexual desires are very strong. But don't give in to them. Instead, seek the Holy Spirit. He will give you self-control. If you're burning with sexual desires, do not run to your gadgets or to television set or your computer.
Do not indulge in unhealthy thoughts or imaginations. Run to the Holy Spirit. At the moment, if your marriage life is not really strong and you're struggling with sexual desires, do not think of alternatives. That is sin. Run to God. We have the Holy Spirit. We are the light in the Lord, therefore we have to walk as the children of light. And secondly, Paul calls us not merely to remain spectators if someone indulges in sin. We are called to expose the deeds of darkness in gentleness and humility with the word of God and graciously turn them to Christ. That Christ will shine on them.
Finally, summary of all the exhortations that Paul mentions here. There are quite a few exhortations here. We'll try to look at them very quickly. Verses 15 to 21. The first point is, be wise, not fools. After a series of exhortations, summarizes his exhortations in verses 15 to 21. Verse 15: “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So that do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” You see this change of terminologies: walk in light, walk in darkness, walk in wisdom, walk in, do not walk as fools. These are parallels, right? So walking in light is walking with wisdom, walking in darkness is being foolish, right? He concludes from all his previous exhortations that we should walk worthy of a calling and
as the children of light we should know what pleases the Lord and be wise. That is being wise, knowing what pleases the Lord and choosing that is being wise. In verse 15, he says, “be careful.” Be careful. That's an imperative. That's a commandment. It is a call to be vigilant.
We should not be careless in our Christian walk. We should always need to be alert. But the word careful means paying close attention. And it's a call to scrutinize. We always need to do that. It is a call to be wise. Wise people value instruction.
Especially from God's word and all of their steps. And decisions, you know, accordingly. On the other hand, fool. Fools like to play around with sin. Take chances. Right? How far can I go with something before it becomes a sin? Have you ever thought like that? That is foolish. That is foolish. This kind of mentality is foolish. It is essential for us to be continuously careful, watchful and vigilant, pleasing to the Lord in this world which is full of darkness. We cannot do this alone, and the temptations are too powerful for us. No, we need help both vertically
the spirit, from the Spirit of God, and the horizontally from our brothers and sisters in Christ. Without the loving eyes of those around us, without the loving eyes of those around us, we will often deceive ourselves. So never think that you are wise in your understanding, in your decisions. Value the fellowship of brothers and sisters. Value godly fellowship. And how can we, how can we grow to be wise people? Number one, verse says, “Make the most of your time.” Making the most of your time because the days are evil.
How we live matters. Making the most of your time is a commercial metaphor used for purchasing a commodity, and it implies a period of vigorous trading while there is profit to be made. Right? And the same is true in the Christian walk. Make most of your time is a metaphor, making the best use of our time and efforts. Do not waste time. Do not be foolish in the use of your time. So this text calls us to identify the things that waste our time. This text calls us to prioritize everything that is pleasing to the Lord uncompromisingly. And as the children of light, we must not waste our time and opportunities that God gives us to grow, because the days are evil.
This means we live in an age of evil. The present evil age, in other words. We can easily be distracted by the evil around us. So much is happening in this world. We can easily be distracted. So we need to be focused and determined. of it. We have only a few chances to make our lives matter.
And we want to avoid squandering our limited opportunities and resources. And this is said in the context of living our Christian lives productively as lights in the dark world. We must be doing only those things which please the Lord. The second point is, he says that “Understand what the will of the Lord is.” Verse 17. “Do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” Right?
True wisdom is founded on the fear of the Lord. Job 28:28 says, “Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding.” Since it is founded on the fear of the Lord, it is also marked by godliness.
Godly living and morals do not come automatically to us. They do not come if you sit on your mobile phone, social media, video games or OTT. It comes by discipline. Godly living and morals should be developed like a skill. This skill is developed by reflecting on scriptural truths, earnest prayers, godly fellowship, and applying those discerned truths in your daily life. Here the will of the Lord is the revealed will in Christ Jesus, and we need to discern these timeless Christian principles from the word, and we need to seek to apply them in different — that's being wise. That's understanding the will of the Lord. And it also means that we need to see everything from the vantage point of God, from the vantage point of God's mind and perspective. Seeing — we need to be people who see things as he sees them, make his will or his
judgment the standard of our lives and the rule of conduct. And the second point that we see here, is the second exhortation that we see here is, Paul says be filled with the Spirit. Be filled with the Spirit. Verse 18, he says, “Do not get drunk with wine, for this is dissipation,” or in some versions is debauchery, “but be filled with the Spirit.” You know, the word for drunk means a person soaked in the drink, in the wine.
There was a prominent cult in the first century called Dionysian cult. Dionysius was a god of wine. You ever wondered where my name came from? Dionysius was a god of wine. And the worshipers would get drunk, and many think that it was only an excuse for unrestrained partying. There might be believers of Ephesians from that background, and Philo, a first century Jewish historian and philosopher, wrote an entire treatise concerning this topic entitled “On Drunkenness.”
Right, in this section Paul is probably addressing a more prevalent problem of drunkenness, just like today, you know, just like he warns against sexual liberty, greed and other issues. And throughout history alcoholism has been a prevalent concern, and this remains true today also. And the book of Proverbs frequently addressed this issue and provided, uh, you know, consistent advice, cautionary advice in book of Proverbs. And Paul doesn't say drunkenness will lead to dissipation or debauchery, it will lead, but he says that drunkenness is dissipation. Drunkenness is debauchery. The original word for debauchery or dissipation was used in the context of Paul's, sorry not Paul's, prodigal son
Prodigal son’s loose living, right? Yeah, prodigal son’s loose living, he squandered his estate in loose living, that is dissipation, that is debauchery which means that the state of intoxication itself is loose living. As one gives to drunkenness, they are in the realm of debauchery.
You lost control of yourself and that state is debauchery. Debauchery or dissipation involves or leads to immoral behavior and loose and filthy talk. So drunkenness signifies a state of a person who lost control of oneself. Instead, Paul urges us to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Paul already mentioned that God has filled his church with his fullness and we are being built up into a holy temple. Now he urges that each individual of this holy temple should be filled with the Holy Spirit.
You know, we should not confuse this filling with the concept of baptism of the Spirit. At Pentecost, the baptism of the Spirit took place, where in the church, long awaited Holy Spirit came to reside in the church members. And whenever an individual is born again, they become part of that Spirit baptism.
And the Holy Spirit dwells in us until the day of redemption, as we see in Ephesians chapter 1 and also in Ephesians chapter 4. The Spirit of God dwells in believers. But here it says that be filled with the Holy Spirit. It is in the present tense which means we are to be continually filled with the Spirit.
A believer should be controlled, directed by the Spirit, but believers must cooperate with the Spirit’s indwelling if we are to live in the ways that are pleasing to the Lord and be consistent with his will. Who feels, who fills us with the Holy Spirit is God the Father. Who fills us with the Holy Spirit, we might be filled up to all the fullness of God. The Father is the source of the filling. What’s the point here? We need to be full of the Holy Spirit continuously. We need to live under the Holy Spirit, control of the Holy Spirit. It’s only then a
holy life is possible. It’s only then we would be able to overcome the temptations of darkness. The reason that we’re giving to the temptations or sins is that’s a sign that we are not under the control of the Holy Spirit. Have you ever asked this question, how is the holy life possible in this world? In Christ, we believers have the privilege of the indwelling Holy Spirit who can, who lead us, who can direct us and control us. And if we live in the realm of the Spirit or under his control, so, or under his authority, holy life is possible. As Paul said elsewhere, “walk
by the Spirit, you will not carry out the desires of the flesh.” So that means that we are never independent of God. We should never be independent of God. In this world, we will always need him. I know I’m running out of time, but please bear with me, few more points and I will close. Uh, because I don’t want to carry this to the next sermon. My next sermon will be after a long time, so, uh, hopefully, uh, so I want to just finish the last part, verses 19 to 20, the results of a Spirit-filled life. And these are the effects of being filled
with the Spirit. Paul mentions a series of participles here. What are participles? I’m not giving an English lecture. Participles are important. When we read the Bible, they look like verbs, but they act as adjectives, modifying the nouns. Adjectives generally describe the quality of a person. So here, participles, they look like verbs, but they modify the nouns or describe the activity of the noun. So the participles we see here become the qualities of the Spirit-filled person, right? And what are those participles here? “Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody
with your heart to the lord always giving thanks for the lord all things in the name of the lord jesus christ to god you are the father and be subject to one another in the fear of the lord what are the participles here speaking to one another singing and making melody with our hearts always giving thanks and be subject to one another right and uh when the spirit of the lord god fills us with his presence joy and singing are the outcome we find some such expressions in the book of acts in acts chapter 13 verse 32 it says the disciples were continually filled
with joy and with the holy spirit joy and singing are possible even in this difficult circumstances you know you are in difficult situation difficult circumstances you know crying is not only the solution option you can also be joyful you can also be singing how that's possible by the filling of the holy spirit we see that in acts chapter 16 verse 45 it says but about midnight paul and silas were praying praises to God you know they were they were beaten up in Philippi with many blows they're stripped naked and now they're in prison singing how because of the Holy Spirit right it's not because of
their zeal it's because of what God is doing in them the first part is about speaking or addressing you know in some versions is speaking in some versions is addressing is one of the results of the and what is the context of speaking or address addressing one another here what is sorry what is the content of the speaking or addressing here Psalms hymns spiritual songs Psalms here could be could mean Old Testament Psalms or Christianized poetic text no we see such writings even in the New Testament and the word for psalms here is also interchangeably used for a song in the New Testament it could
be a psalm or a song hymns again are all are also songs used in the early church to teach theology right and these are mainly about God and his nature his work spiritual songs are also songs these songs are spiritual in nature what else could I say you know these compositions are based on the inspired text of the Bible these songs are inspired from the texts of the Bible these compositions are based on the inspired by text alone.
Scriptural truths are converted into a song. Psalms are converted into songs. The lessons that we learn from the word are converted into hymns. The lyrics were chosen not for artistic value but for what? For the truth and depth of content. That is the emphasis here. So both preaching and worship played a teaching function in anchoring the people in the truths of God and in Christ. It's important what we sing. We don't sing feel good songs because it's music good is good or tune is good. We sing because us there is truth in us in that truth gives value to the song, right? And the singing in the church was done to worship God and also for mutual edification. Look at what Moses did in Deuteronomy chapter 31 verse 30.
Then Moses spoke — in the Greek Old Testament it's the same word which was used — Moses spoke in the hearing of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song until they were complete. The content of the song in Judaism, Deuteronomy chapter 32. But maybe they sang that song later, but before that he spoke that song into as people were hearing it. The content of the lyrics are important. The are meant for edification and contemplation.
Right? Some might be thinking, why do these believers only sing hymns? Because of its rich content. Right? So, and what is the basis of doing that? This is the basis of doing that. So the content of the songs we sing is very important. Writing to the Colossians, Paul encourages the believers to admonish one another in Colossians 3, verse 16. “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
See, your psalms, hymns and spiritual songs are also for teaching purpose. So the second participle, “singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord,” it could also be translated as “singing and making music in your heart.” Now this signifies that the rich theological scriptural lyrics were now given melody, a tune, to be sung from the heart to the Lord. In the first act, the content is spoken to one another. In the second act, it is given a tune and is sung unto the Lord. So when we sing, we are singing to one another for mutual edification, and also we are singing to the Lord.
So don't sing that because you have good voices. with whether you have good voices or not sing to an other person whether they will tolerate you or not you sing for his edification right and the and the third participle is giving thanks is also the result of spirit filling life spiritual life and according to this verse thanksgiving to God should be an aspect of corporate worship and how often should we give thanks he says always give thanks always God's people both corporately and individually are to possess a thankful heart in good times and bad times joyful moments and struggling times suffering times we need to praise God right and the fourth point
is be subject to one another in the fee in the fear of Christ is also the result of Spirit's filling I think Paul is writing this with a general attitude of mutual submission in one of the relationships within the church I know Paul is talking about wife submission children submission in the later context in the next passage but I think here is also talking about one another relationships in the body of Christ. And we are called to serve one another. Be servants of one another. In love, which Paul mentions in Galatians chapter 5 verse 13. We need to bear with one another in love.
Which means that we are called to serve others. In Ephesians chapter 4. If someone brings a valid correction, what must we do? We must submit to that correction of a brother or a sister. We are called in general to be humble and gentle with one another. It requires us to submit to the biblical framework of relationships in the body of Christ. Each member should accept the subordinate role in relation to the others. And there is submission to the church elders, wives, to their husbands, and children to their parents. We will deal with that next time.
Paul gives us the underlying motive of submission. What is that? Fear of Christ. We have to submit to others out of fear, out of reverence for the Lord. Not only that, we have to be afraid of failing the Lord. We have to be, we need to tremble if we fail the Lord. We all have to appear before the judgment seat of Christ and we must give an account. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 10. So what's the whole point? I'm done.
God has the most amazing plan for your life. I’m not trying to be a Joel Beeke. What’s that? We should hate sin and avoid sexually immoral thoughts, we should hate sin and put off all kinds of bitterness, resentment, anger, animosity, and God’s wonderful plan is that we are called to be full of the Spirit of God, God’s wonderful plan for us is that we live under the control and guidance of the Spirit of God so that we who are saved will be sanctified and be conformed the likeness of God, of Christ. We are called to live under the fullness of the Holy Spirit so that we, our lives will be pleasing to the Lord. Let’s pray. Father in heaven, we thank you Lord
for this time. Thank you Lord for your word. We plead with you Lord that these truths become convictions in our hearts. We pray that you would help us to submit and let the Holy Spirit God fill us and help us Lord, Father Lord, to live a life that is really pleasing unto you. Father Lord, we pray that you would shape our lives, transform our lives, build us up for your glory. In Jesus Christ name we pray, amen.