Ephesians 5:14-21 – Berris Patience – 2026 01 18

14 For this reason it says,

“Awake, sleeper,
And arise from the dead,
And Christ will shine on you.”

15 Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, 16 making the most of your time, because the days are evil. 17 So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; 20 always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; 21 and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. (NASB 1995)

Transcript:

Ephesians chapter five. We’re still in Ephesians chapter five. Today we are going through verses 14 to 21, Hebrews chapter, Ephesians five, 14 to 21. For this reason it says, awake, sleeper and rise arise from the dead and Christ will shine on you. So then be careful how you walk, not as unwise people, but as wise making the most of your time because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine in which there is debauchery, but be filled with the spirit speaking to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your hearts to the Lord, always giving thanks for all things in the name of, for Lord Jesus Christ, to our God and Father, and subject yourselves to one another in the fear of Christ. God, I pray and ask that you’ll use your words and use me Lord as your mouthpiece to present these truths to your people and that the hearts and the ears will be receptive and not just to attain knowledge or more knowledge of these verses, Lord, but to use the knowledge and apply to our lives and to live the life that you’ve called us to live. Lord, I pray your spirit will lead and direct every aspect. And again, we pray that Christ will be glorified and your saints, your people will be edified for Christ’s sake. In Amen. A pastor once told the story of rushing through an airport to catch a connecting flight. His first flight had been delayed and now he had only minutes to cross the terminal. He sprinted dodging families, weaving through crowds, dragging his carry on like a reluctant dog. And when he finally reached the gate sweating breathless, the agent looked up and said, I’m sorry sir, the door is locked. He protested. The plane is right there, I can see it. The agent nodded kindly, yes, but the doors are closed or the doors is closed and once they’re closed it can’t be opened again. Even if the plane hasn’t moved, he stood there staring at the plane that he could have boarded. If only he had arrived moments earlier, later he reflected. That’s what Paul means by redeeming the time. Of course our version doesn’t use that word, but that is what the original language portrays redeeming the time. Opportunities don’t always disappear with noise and drama. Sometimes the door just quietly closes. And the point of this, God places moments in our lives, moments in front of us, moments for us to obey, moments for us to encourage, to repent, to reconcile, to serve. They don’t always come with flashing neon lights. And once the door closes, even if the plane so to speak is still there, the opportunity may not be reopened. Paul uses this phrase in Ephesians chapter five 16, redeeming the time, and that is the idea that I wanna speak on this morning. He uses this phrase in Ephesians five 16, making the most of the time or redeeming the time. And this carries the sense of buying up every moment or every opportunity before it slips away, not doing so out of panic but out of wisdom. And again, you will address this, that this is how we approach the S because the doors of life don’t always stay open and they won’t stay open forever. More time is wasted, not in hours, but in minutes. A bucket with a small hole in the bottom gets just as empty as a bucket that is deliberately kicked over. How then can we make use of this time, the time that God has given us, the time that God has entrusted us with. We are told that we have to be and we need to be a Ali to be good stewards of even the very time that we have seen that we’re finite beings and we don’t possess all the time in the world and know when you’re younger. Some of us are still there at that younger stage. We think I have all the time in the world. Tomorrow is not promised to any single individual on the planet whether you’re a Christian or not. So how can then, how can we then make use of this time that God has entrusted with to us? Paul, in the closing of this section in chapter five, provides us with some of practical ways, some practical ways in which the church, the ways in which you and I can and should make the best of the time that we have, as well as reminding them, reminding the church in Ephesus and by default reminding us why they and why we are to make the best of the time that God has given us. So here are a few practical things. The first point is this, we redeem the time are the times by being alert verses 14 to 16, and I read that again for this reason, it says, awake, sleep or rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you. So then be careful how you walk, not as unwise people, but as wise making the most of your time. Because the days are evil, we make or we redeem the time by being alert. Remaining alert signifies maintaining a state of preparedness and readiness. That’s the idea behind being alert, it’s being prepared and it’s being ready. This means being mentally prepared. This means being emotionally, spiritually and physically prepared. In the context we have before, Paul is going to be focusing on the spiritual preparedness that we ought to be alert and be aware of. And Paul uses when he uses this verse here, he uses the same formula that he used when he quoted Psalm 68 earlier in the passage for us, the difference with this verse or this phrase or this quote that Paul uses is not scripture. And you’ll notice that he says, it says he doesn’t apply the same or in the Bible or in the scriptures. It says, he said, it says so in this phrase or this quote that Paul uses, there are elements in it that can and are biblical and it matches actually some of it matches portions of Isaiah 26 verse 19 and Isaiah 60 verses one and two. So this statement that Paul uses in verse 14, it’s agreed upon by all the commentators that I looked at, that he’s quoting a traditional hyn from the worship of the early church. So he is quoting a hy quoting songs, obviously a song that has theological theological truth in it, a song that is theologically and biblically rich. And again, we’ll see more of this about singing and songs and so on in the final point. And by employing the same formula as he did with Psalm 68, what Paul is trying to do here is showing the authoritative nature of this phrase or of this statement or this quote, even though it’s not scripture, but he’s saying it’s authoritative because it’s sound is wor is founded or the foundation is in scripture. So the person here that Paul addresses, he’s making a general statement. He’s not necessarily pinpointing certain individuals in the church. Um, um, talking about the sleeper, he’s a general statement. So it’s to whom it may concern, that’s the sleeper that is being addressed. And the only other time Paul uses this term is in First Thessalonians five verses six and seven to seven and in verse 10, and he uses it here, the term sleeper in a metaphorical way. And in those verses, Paul is addressing the believers differentiating themselves from the unbelievers through their conducts, through the life in which they live. And the same thing that we are seeing and we’ve been seeing in Ephesians here, not just chapter five, but throughout the entire book, this is because they, and by default and by application we, so why are they supposed to act and live differently than the society in which they’re lived? Because they are sons. We are sons of light, we are sons of the day. Therefore Paul says, let us not sleep like others do, but let us be sober. Let us be alert. The verb awake that is, is used in connection with waking someone up from sleep. So embedded in this is that there’s somebody else. And here in the context, Paul is the one waking this sleeper up. But it it tells us that we as believers have a responsibility. And again, you’ve, it’s not as if you’ve heard this for the first time. We have a responsibility for each other. We have a responsibility for waking each other up spiritually. So that’s the idea is somebody waking someone else up who is sleeping. And the idea here in our texts, and the same in first Thessalonians five is a rousing, rousing, a fellow believer to vigilance and sobriety. So this is somebody who is lackadaisical and we want them to grow spiritually and we’re waking them them up. These are words which speaks of life on the pathway to discipleship, the proper decis discipleship as opposed to a life that is oriented and surrounded in the pursuit of worldly pleasures and the things of the flesh. This is a command that carries the idea of an ongoing force. And Paul, again, this is common in Paul’s writing, in in in Ephesians here as we see it, it’s not a one time thing. It means then it implies that there are always somebody sleeping in the church spiritually. And it’s the onus, the responsibility is to constantly wake that individual up. Like we see in Hebrews chapter 10, 24, 25, spurring each other on to love in good works. It’s a call to remain in a state, a constant state of spiritual alertness. And this passage, this wake up call Paul is setting the church up, setting the believers at Ephesus up for the armor of God passage in chapter six when we get to it. So this is a wake up call for those within the community that are spiritually dull, the ones who are morally lax. This is the believer who is drifting towards moral lethargy. And Paul recalling is recalling the believers former state or former status by implication in this well that we saw in verses chapter one or chapter two verse one, that they were dead. But now they’re alive, they’re living, they’re awake. And now because of their participation, because of our participation in the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we have been made alive. However, the world in which we live, the world system in which we live, the flesh, the ruler of this world, the prince of the power of the air, what is his desire? What is his constant motive? It’s to drive and to tempt and to draw the people of God away from the things that are God and want them to continue in that state of deadness even though they’re not dead. But he wants them to continue living the lifestyle that they have been drawn away from, that they’ve been saved from. And if he can accomplish this feat in the church, his job is being done, he’s doing his job. It’s not that he can take your salvation away, he wants, you’re saved, you’re saved for eternity. And he knows that. But his desire is to see us not live the way that God wants us to live. And that’s why we need wake up call on a regular basis, not just from time to time or regularly. It also implies that we as a body of believers have to be alert as we’re looking at that idea, alert of the brothers and sisters that are around us. We have to be alert when there is sleeping going on spiritually of course because you can’t wake somebody up if you don’t know they’re sleeping. So that bears the idea as well. So the wake up call is to stop. If this is the case participating in the unfruitful works of darkness that Paul spoke about earlier in the passage, it is not to present your bodies as instruments of unrighteousness but presents them as useful for God. Paul talks about you wake, once you’re awake, the light of Christ will shine upon you and the light of Messiah will shine upon the believers. And this could be understood in the this way that God is empowering and God’s empowering presence in your life. God is guiding your life. God will continue to strengthen your life. God will continue to encourage you in your walk. God will continue to sustain you along this pathway of discipleship once you’re alive. You can’t do this if you’re sleeping ’cause sleeping signifies death. It’s it’s, it’s used metaphorically as of death as well. But this also may point, this light shining may also point to the work of the Holy Spirit of God that is within us, whose presence is grieved within us by sin as we saw in four verse 30. Yet he can energize and he equips the believers when we turn. And when you and I turn from sin and commit our ways to living a holy life, it is essential for us. It is essential for you and I to avoid reaching this state of complacency. It is essential for you and I to reach this place where we avoid in inac. In attentiveness like that of Jonah. You were familiar with that story. Jonah was commissioned by God go to Nineveh and regardless of what his reasoning were for running and he tells us that in the end of the book that you are merciful, that I know you are gonna save them. How dare God save people? And he ran and he jumped on this boat going to Joppa. So going in the complete opposite direction and here’s this tempestuous storm. Warm people on the boat are fearful for their lives. And what was Jonah doing comfortably? Sound asleep in the boat And the guy’s like, what? What’s wrong with you man? Don’t you realize we’re perishing? Get up, call to your God, get up out of that spirit, that state of spiritual deadness that you’ve been saved from. Stop acting like you’re still spiritually dead and call upon your God so that he can have mercy on us. Get back to the state where you’re spiritually alive again, where you’re actively functioning in the capacity of a living person spiritually. And that’s where some of us can be. That’s where some of us can go to at times this state of Jonah where things are going chaotic around us and we’re comfortably sound asleep, undisturbed, unbothered by the things that are happening around us. Let us be alert. Let us not get into that state. So it stands to reason that if we are going to be alert, we obviously must be awake. And once we are awake, then that state of being prepared and well ready will be evident in our conduct, which is Paul’s next point in verse 15, being alert in your walk. See then that you walk carefully, king James’ Circumspectly, Paul desires for the church to constantly be on guard, continually paying close attention to your conduct. That is the desire of Paul, not just on a one-off basis. This watchfulness is in sharp contrast to the one that is asleep. This is the theme that was on the Mount of Olive, the DIC discourse where Christ warns his disciples about the difficulties that lies ahead. And Paul is doing something similar here, warning the church that there’s difficulties that are coming again chapter six, we’re not gonna be able to face those difficulties if we’re sleeping. We’re not gonna be aware of the difficulties if we’re sleeping. We can’t be alert of the difficulties if we’re sleeping. We are not capable of putting on the armor of God if we’re sleeping. And the word carefully underlines the significance of engaging in an intentional daily focus on moral and spiritual introspect. So this isn’t something that we only do when we’re observing the table, which is once a month. We don’t just carefully examine our lives or shouldn’t just carefully examine our lives. Lord’s supper Sunday. This is every day of our lives. And that’s what Paul is trying to emphasize in this. The idea behind this word underlines the kind of care that a judge take or would take when he’s undergoing an investigation. We see this in Deutero in 19 verse 18. So how then do we conduct ourselves as new creation in Christ Jesus? We do so with wisdom practicing the virtues that was listed and that have we’ve been looking at previously imitating God, putting off the vices that we saw that is dishonoring to God and demonstrating a life as wise people, which means the opposite is true. If we are not living in the manner that God has called us to live in the conducting our ways, in the manner which God has called us to, then we’re acting and living foolishly. And by default this means that the world that isn’t saved, the world that is still in darkness, the world that is still children of disobedience are by default foolish people. How do we acquire this wisdom to live the way that God wants us to live? This is acquired through prayer. This is acquired through prayer and to this end de Paul prayed for the church in chapter one verse 17. To this end, you are commanded to pray according to James one verse five, if anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives freely. This is not worldly wisdom that we’re asking for. This is not worldly wisdom that we’re seeking, which is foolishness in the sight of God according to one Corinthians three 19. This is wisdom from God himself. The unwise aren’t necessarily foolish in their intellect whether they’re unsaved or saved. The unwise means they’re careless, it means they’re inactive, it means they’re spiritually drowsy. And this is contrary of course to the wise and those, these are those who are discerning, those who align their steps with God’s will and who will live in a constant state of awareness. One of the main reasons why the believer, why we, why you and I ought to orient our entire lives around God and the things pertaining to God is due to the climate in which we’re living. And Paul says this, so we have to make use make the most of the time. Why? Because the days are evil. The days in which we are living in are evil. And this is a reminder to the believers of the climate and the culture in which they’re in. It is one that is present that is filled with present and persistent evil. This is evil continually. This is like going back to Genesis chapter six where God is examining the scope of Sodom and Gomorrah and he is like this is just every thought, every intent of the a heart of these people are just evil can continually, this is the state in which the Ephesians live. This is the state in which we live and this is why we need to be on constant alert this age is living in a full enticement to sin. Spoke briefly about this in Sunday school. That’s what entices them and that is what they gravitate to. And this Paul reminds the church this, this age, this age of sin and evil. This will come to an end. And while that is comforting and reassuring to us, it also should be scary to us because we need to remember that there are people that are living outside of Jesus Christ including family members and close friends of ours. So yes, it’s comforting to know that all that we’re seeing in our world will indeed come to an end by the grace and the glory of God. But we also need to be alert in spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, making the most of the time, buying back the time, redeeming the time. Paul isn’t talking here about productivity hacks or squeezing in more task in the 24 hour that you’re given. No, Paul is talking about living with spiritual alertness in a world where distractions, where distortions and moral drifts are real. Paul is advocating for his readers and for us to utilize every single second that God has given us in a God honoring productive manner. And this is a simple but a profound statement, a pro profound verse which is commanding us, which is commanding you and I to live out every single aspect of our lives oriented around God and the things pertaining to God. And that is where the struggle comes in in this era. Every day can potentially abound with evil and that’s why Jesus told his disciples, don’t worry about tomorrow ’cause sufficient for tomorrow is its own evil. This is one of the reasons why Paul will later implore the Ephesians outfit themselves because of the evil days and the evil society in which they live outfit yourselves with the armor of God and this is how we’re gonna be able to face and to stand against these evil days. Nevertheless, Paul does not advise them to passively and we need to be mindful of this. Paul doesn’t advise them to be passively, to be passive in this, to find a safe place, to find a safe space, to find a bunker and just seclude ourself from the world and from the evil that is around until Jesus returns no. Paul is advising the church to participate in the mission of the risen Jesus Christ, to fill the world, to turn the world upside down to you as that phrase acts with the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ that is essential. He also calls us to devote our lives to performing good works. Multiple passages if Galatians six 10 is one of them. Thus walking wisely means not only living ethically purity but in integrity before God. It also means aggressively doing good in sharing the gospel. This is how we’re going to be alert. We have to be alert as a body of believers, we have to be prepared, we have to be ready for the evil days that pause that are coming but they’re here, we have to be ready. We make most or we make the most of our time by staying alert. But it also involves being aware, which is the second point, being aware versus eight 17 and 18. Therefore, do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is. Do not get drunk with wine, which in which there is debauchery but be filled with the spirit. Be aware encompasses the ability to recognize, to comprehend and possess knowledge regarding the things of God. That is what I’m highlighting when I say be aware. Paul warns the church not to become foolish. Instead they need to gain knowledge in what the will of God is in their lives. In Proverbs 10 23, we are reminded that the fool delights in what their evil conducts. But the man of understanding the delights in wisdom being wise is doing the things which pleases God, which are pleasing to God. And in so doing, we’re fulfilling, uh, we’re doing the will of God in our lives, which means that if one is not walking in the ways of God, such an individual is acting foolishly as I mentioned earlier, but is also outside of the will of God. Determining God’s will may be list. May is rather less complex than we often perceive. We see this thing as it’s so we make it so broad and so wide. Should I take the 4 0 1 or highway two, which is God’s will. Those are some of the things that we we use and incorporate in our spiritual lives that it doesn’t matter whichever one your preference is. That’s what that boils down to. But here is the will of God here. How are we going to know the biblical will of God? Not what pen or color pen to buy from the store and praying and fasting over that. It’s doing the things that we’re commanded to do as we’ve been seeing in Ephesians chapter five, it’s putting on the virtues that Paal tells us to put on. It’s putting off the vice that Paul tells us to put off. It is acquiring and knowing the will of God. It is talking, it’s imitating Jesus Christ. It’s imitating God as the one who’ve saved us and called us to himself. Here are a few other verses talking about God’s will in Romans chapter 12 verses one and two, he’s presenting our bodies a living sacrifice which is holy and acceptable to God, which is our reasonable act of service That is God’s will. First Thessalonians five 18. It’s giving thanks in all circumstances. That is God’s will for us to be a thankful and a grateful people. Again, we’re gonna see this in the third point. One Thessalonians four, three. It’s abstaining from sexual immorality. Paul talked about this. That’s one of the vice that we need to put off. That is God’s will. It is doing good. One Peter two 15 foolishness is drifting with the culture, just going with the flow of the current of the culture, reacting to circumstances living out without any form of reflection whatsoever. While understanding is a deliberate spirit shape, attentiveness to what aligns with Jesus Christ. This awareness does not originate from us. It’s not originated from our own intellect. It arises from our attentiveness to the things of God through the word of God by the Holy Spirit of God. It is a result of the Holy Spirit’s internal influence, enabling the believer, enabling the individual to be filled with the knowledge of God’s principle and to embody those principles in their actions. Being aware of the Holy Spirit’s guidance is absolutely vital for us as believers. We may falter in our understanding of God’s will if we are not receptive to the leading of the Holy Spirit, we will not know what God’s will is for our lives. In other words, if we’re not allowing the Holy Spirit to lead us and that is quenching the Holy Spirit of God. And this is not something that we allow to happen occasionally there be there being, being led or controlled or filled. The same things means the same thing by the Holy Spirit. Paul presents this as a continual action. And again, this is where it’s difficult because we’re not always led by the Holy Spirit of God. And in all honesty, if we’re honest, sometimes we don’t want to be led by the Holy Spirit of God in certain circumstances. We want our own way. We want to do things the way we want to do it. And that’s where the problem lies. The contrast is between being guided by God and being influenced by alcohol. That’s contextually what Paul is saying. Don’t be filled, don’t be controlled with alcohol, don’t be controlled with wine, which leads to dissipation or debauchery. Be controlled by the Holy Spirit of God. Why is Paul saying this about drunkenness? He’s not trying to be the alcohol marshal in the church of Ephesus. He’s not saying, listen, don’t drink wine at all or any strong drinks. Now you may say that or you may come to that conclusion based on your own conviction. Paul is speaking against drunkenness. That’s what he’s speaking of here. And many will use this verse to say, see, Paul is anti alcohol. He’s pre, he’s speaking against drunkenness. Now I don’t drink. My last alcoholic beverage was 2020 2004. But it’s my personal choice because of my position that I, I picked up and again, not wanting to be a stumbling block for believers. Oh pastor drink though I can go indulge. And I’ve heard stories of pastor just, he wasn’t a drunker but thirsty, went and have a nice high school beer. A young convert was with him, aiding him in the, the mission that they were on. Saw past the drink and oh I can drink too. So he took a drink and of course he was an alcoholic or recovering alcoholic and you know where that led? He he, he regressed. So Paul is not trying to police the drinking of alcohol that again, I’m gonna leave with your conscience. He’s against drunkenness. And this was a major issue in the first century, by the way, so much so that the Jewish philosopher, Philo, you may have heard of him, wrote an entire treaties addressing the issue of drunkenness in the first century. Drunkenness caused people to act foolishly. And I’ve seen it. It causes them to act foolishly do silly, stupid, nonsensical things. And in the Greco-Roman religions drunkenness. So here’s another aspect to drunkenness. In the first century, drunkenness was seen as a mean by which one could experience ecstasy and union with a God. So whether Paul had this in mind from philo, the philosopher, or whether he was wr writing about them. And again, this was common back then where at dinnertime or time they consume a lot of alcohol to the point again where they got drunk or wasted. One thing is certain is peaking against drunkenness. That is absolutely certain because it, it leads you and it doesn’t lead into a life of spiritual good choices. Have you ever seen a drunk person make a moral good choice? That’s the idea. It will never lead you to acting morally upright and spiritually upright in the eyes of God. So as opposed to being led or controlled by this spirit, lowercase SB control be led by the Holy Spirit of God. To illustrate this, intoxication leads to to a diminished clarity. It diminishes your clarity, it reduces self-control. In fact, some cases self-control is non-existent. In some cases clarity of mind and thought is non-existent. Conversely, being guided by the Holy Spirit of God is associated with enhanced clarity. Or we think clearly we think better when the Holy Spirit of God is the one directing us. We have greater self-control, which is one of the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Galatians five verse 23. We have a sense of wholeness and a purposeful direction in our lives. And while you might be saying, well I am not a drunk even if I consume the occasional alcohol, so I’m good, we need to remember that it’s anything that numbs for us who aren’t drunkard by way of application. It’s anything that numbs that distracts or dominates your inner life. This to can function in the context of wine. I love how the author of Hebrews puts it in verse one of, uh, if my memory serve me correctly, chapter 12, that we need to let go of the sins. But prior to that he said the weights and the weights in the context of that passage is not necessarily sinful things they can, there can be common everyday life, things that aren’t grotesquely sinful, but it’s distracting you and it’s hindering you from running. And the author of Hebrew said, if this is the case, you have to let that go. You have to let it loose so that you can run with with purpose and run with endurance. So anything that dominates a thought, anything that dominates your thinking, anything that leads you away from the word of God, from the leading of the Holy Spirit of God in reality in essence is like the wine, what the wine would do. ’cause it distorts and distracts your vision. We need to be aware, we need to fill ourselves with the knowledge of God. We need to acquire wisdom. And again, James one five, we need to ask God for that wisdom. And this is not a one-off thing. This has to be a daily thing. Folks, we’re daily seeking God’s wisdom because you don’t get it and then all of a sudden you’re the wisest person on the planet and he’s gonna stay that way. Solomon did the right thing. He asked, God said, I don’t want anything but wisdom. I’m dealing with your people. And I’m sure Solomon had in the, for the back, the forefront of his mind actually Moses and what Moses went through and the trauma and the pain and the anguish saying he was dealing with these people. Joshua took on it and there was the same trouble, the same issue. So I want wisdom and God granted him that. But did Solomon always act wisely? Absolutely not. Because maybe that was the one time that he asked God for wisdom in dealing and guiding the people and he thought this was good enough. We need to be constantly asking God for wisdom. That’s how we’re gonna become aware. Finally, in verses 19 to 21 of this section, we will examine the characteristics of our life that is guided by the Holy Spirit. So Paul ends on a a very uplifting positive note in verses 19 to 21. Let’s just be reminded of what these verses are saying, speaking to one another in Psalms, in hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to our God and our Father and subject to one another in the fear of Christ. Redeeming the times call us to be aware. It cause us to be alert, but it also cause us to be amicable means living in harmony, subjecting ourselves as Paul in verse 21 to each other, a word that of course has been taken so ra out of context that we’re afraid to use it in the church. And Paul of course is gonna springboard into saying, wives submit or subject yourselves to your husbands. But this is living in harmony with one another. This is living in unity and in submission to one another. This spirit filled community will seek to minister here, to seek, to minister to God’s people and have a heart of gratitude towards God for his people, for what God has done for them. And you have heard it said that the Christian life, we touched on this slightly in Sunday school, that a Christian life is not lived in isolation. And here Paul makes this abundantly clear. It is not lived in isolation. There are people who, again, things that all that matters is their relationship between them and God don’t have to go to church or if I go to church, it doesn’t matter if brother so and so and Sister Soandso are growing, that’s their business, that’s their problem. I just need to make sure that I’m right before God. The Christian life is not lived in isolation and will see that the Christian life is not one that as the world sees, is boring and lifeless and hopeless. But we present it like that to the world many a times. Paul is not envisioning individuals engaging when he talks about this music aspect of worship. He’s not envisioning individuals engaging in a private musical expression, in isolation in their closet, in their own worship period. The phrase that one of the phrases that he uses here speaking to one another suggests a community whose discourse is deeply saturated in worship, a community deeply saturated in worship and the emphasis is on the formative role of music within the community. Music, uh, we mentioned this again in Sunday School, is powerful, very, very underestimated by the church, by the people of God in the power that it has and can have and the influence that it has and can have on the people of God. Very formative role in the community of the body of believers. And this is not the, the performance itself, it has nothing to do with performance. And what I want you to note, one way in which body corporately shows that they’re filled with the Holy Spirit of God, believe it or not, contextually the way Paul phrases this is by doing the things that are listed in verses 19 to 21. We show that we are actually led by God’s spirit when we’re doing these things that he lists in 19 to 21. ’cause those are tied in being filled from a grammatical standpoint, from the original language. They’re tied with being filled with the Holy Spirit of God. This is accomplished by speaking to one another. And we often see and talk and we are familiar with music being sung even if it’s acapella. But Paul takes it another level here. He said, we, we just talk to yourselves in Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. There’s a aspect of singing as well, which he will touch on. But he says he starts off this speaking and it may seem foreign to us, odd to us talking songs, but this was a manner of expression used throughout the entirety of scripture. Moses spoke emphasis on speaking, spoke the words in front of the entire assembly of Israel in Deuteronomy 31 31. The Bora likewise spoke her song, spoke hers song to Israel. And David as well did this in Psalm in second Samuel 21, Psalm 18 verse one. So there is that aspect of ministering to each other in songs, Psalm, SMS and spiritual songs. Again, we don’t often do this, but clearly this is a method that we can employ as we minister to each other. The singing of praise. And again, we touched on this in Sunday, school is always, should always have to use that word always directed towards God. But here Paul states that there is a horizontal dimension to singing his world. When we hear each other sing praises to God, the hearts should be strengthened, the hearts should be encouraged, the hearts should be uplifted. And in Colossians chapter three, verse 16, Paul State that there’s even a teaching aspect in singing. Hence why it is so profound that the church stays biblically sound when it comes to the singing of songs because it’s teaching as well as ministering. Paul describes here a community in which the elements of worship serves as a foundation for mutual support and encouragement among the members of the body of Christ. So you see, this is what we do here on Sunday mornings every Sunday, this is what we should be doing. This is what our focus should be encouraging and supporting mutually the body, even through our singing. This is what we should be focused on. On Tuesday afternoons, on Wednesday night, every gathering. They’re not just ritual, they’re not ritualistic meetings Sunday morning, well it’s Sunday and ritualistically, traditionally we have to go to church. No, it’s being encouraged. It’s being edified, it’s glorifying God together, singing praises, ministering to each other through songs and through the reading of scripture, through the proclamation of the word of God. This is why we gather. And may we never deviate from this truth. May we never come to the point where it’s ritualistic. Maybe we never get to that point where we’re perturbed or bothered by the fact that Sunday’s here again, and it annoys me to a different level when I hear believers act like that, oh, it’s Sunday again. Really? So the thought of being amongst God’s people doesn’t excite something in you. It doesn’t stir something in you. Something is wrong with you. That’s your viewpoint of coming to church. We should be excited about it folks. We should be excited about being among God’s people. We should make it like, oh, there’s this movie coming out and I’m so excited. Why can’t that be every Sunday? Why can’t that be every Tuesday? Why can’t that be every Wednesday that we’re bursting with joy, that we’re eagerly anticipating the day when we come together as a body of believer to worship and honor our God and our savior for what he has done for us, for bringing us together, uniting us, harmonizing us for the grace and his glory. We have missed it significantly. Folks in the church. We have missed it and pray to God that his church gets back to this place where we’re excited to meet, excited to get together. That’s why we see in Acts seven days of the week, they’re gathering. It wasn’t because of food, even though that was involved. And I’m not speaking against food here, I’m looking forward to later just so we’re aware. But it wasn’t. It wasn’t just because of food. Luke tells us it’s for the breaking of bread. Yes, it’s for the fellowship of the believers. They love being around each other and it’s for the teaching, the solid teaching from the men of God that they were getting. Those are the things that excited them to meet seven days a week. And we can barely, we barely want to come to church once a week now. And when we do come, we can’t wait again if this does not apply to us. I know we’re different here, but we can’t wait for pastor to say amen so we can leave. Where have we gone wrong? This is what Paul is trying to emphasize, that there should be something fascinating about this. And I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. This is a prelude. This is a precursor to what eternity is going to be like for us. Why not enjoy eternity? Now before it comes, our mindset has to change, our mindset has to change. And again, this goes back to the leading of the Holy Spirit. This goes back to asking for wisdom. We don’t want to be led by the Holy Spirit. We don’t want to feel excited about coming to church. We want to see it as a burden. It’s not ritualistic. This is God ordained, spirit filled time where the body lauds is her God, where the body lifts each other up in their holy faith. You lack growth because you are lackadaisical in your gathering. You lack growth because you’re lackadaisical in your gathering. And as Paul has been emphasizing, don’t think you’re gonna grow and mature in the way that God desires and expect outside of the body of believers. Never gonna happen, guaranteed. Paul is minister to each other. In Psalms are the books of praise often referred to the Old Testament Psalms or Psalm like compositions. And this carries a sense of scripture, rooted praise, scripture rooted praise. Every one of these phrases or terms are gonna be rooted in scripture. Hymns were and still are. Songs of praises, again directed to God or Christ. And this possibly included the confessional hymn like that of what we see in Philippians two, six to 11. That was and his is a hymn. By the way, spiritual songs are a broader term used. However, these songs that are spirit inspired or spirit shaped, and these are songs that are oriented around the risen Jesus Christ and what he had accomplished on the cross. This is not inspired in the same way that scriptures are inspired, but the emphasis is on the spirit leading and directing God’s people to worship God for what he has done in their lives. And this speaks volume to the so-called gospel songs or Christian songs, however they title them that we have floating in our society today that you hear them and they have nothing to do with Christ, they have nothing to do with his church. They have nothing to do with anything profoundly close to what’s written in God’s word. They may have tack on Jesus or God in there a few times and that categorizes it as gospel music or Christian music is oriented around Jesus Christ, what he did, just like our preaching and our teaching. The songs have to be rooted and grounded in the life person and work of Jesus Christ. Later in this verse, Paul speaks of singing, which is vocalizing making melody, which is instrumental. We talked about instruments as well, that engages. And here it is not emotions. It engages not the emotions but the entire person. It’s not just the emotion. There’s an emotional aspect of it because we are emotional beings. But it’s not just the emotions that are being engaged. It’s not just the voices that are being engaged, it’s the entire being. Pauses, make melody we in your heart. That’s the inner man. That’s your entire being. That’s the description of your entire person. That’s where these songs of worship ought to be oriented. Not just, it felt good. Alright? The voices sound great. It’s your entire being. This worship that is portraying expression of joy that involves who you are in your being that is guided by the Holy Spirit of God. And that is directed towards our Lord and our savior, Jesus Christ. Emotional worship is directed towards self, which elevates the pride of man. And this kind of worship that we see in the verses that we have before us are pleasing to God and are a part of doing the will of God when we act out this in our worship. And again, we engage the heart. And once we engage the heart, once we engage our entire being, any thought, any idea of performance is gonna be gone out the window. We’re not gonna have any desire to perform, to get the pat on the back when we engage our entire being. A continual heart of gratitude for all that has been accomplished on our behalf. Go again back, right back to chapter one. Through our Lord and our savior, Jesus Christ should be regarded as the defining aspect of the life of the believers. Paul opens his letter, embodying this very practice. He treats God as deserving unceasing praise because of what God has lavished upon him and his people. And as Paul rehearses these gifts, he cannot help but interrupt himself with recurring doxology to the praise of his glorious grace. That’s why Paul kept doing that. He was so excited and elated about what God has done. He couldn’t help but in the middle of all of this, continually give God praise and glory. It echoes the worship of the 24 elders that we see in Revelation who fall before the throne of God and fall before God and declare, we give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the one who is and was because you have taken your great power and have given and have begun to reign in Revelation one, verse 1117. And Paul says, give thanks for everything. And this cast a very wide net, acknowledging God’s hand in all things. It’s one thing to give thanks in the circumstances like we see in one Thessalonian, five, it’s a totally different ball game to give thanks for all things. It’s tough, it’s tough. But again, this has to be the heart attitude of the believer. Paul’s gratitude certainly encompasses God’s saving work, yet it also extended to his people. And nearly all of his letters begin with thanksgiving. For the community that he’s addressing always signifies such a gratitude that is not meant for occasion. It’s not occasional, it’s not confined again to corporate worship. So it’s not just Sundays or Wednesdays or Tuesdays. It’s always, it should permeate our daily lives. This should be the rhythm of God’s people. This should be our posture before God on a daily basis, on a weekly basis, is he highlights self-denial and attentive care for others as an indispensable mark of life together in Jesus Christ, subject to one another that causes for selflessness, not selfishness. When this posture is neglected, the community’s openness to the Holy Spirit of God working in their lives is diminished and shared. Life becomes less aligned with the gospel and the intent of the gospel submission in the Bible is never about inferiority. And we’re gonna see this next week when we get to the husband wife passage. It’s not about superiority, but that’s how our inferiority, that’s how the world portrays it. That’s why it’s neglected and pushed under the rug in most churches. It’s not about coercion or erasing one’s agency. The verbs itself or the verb itself means to order oneself under usually in the sense of voluntary alignment for the sake of love, for the sake of unity, for the sake of the mission of God. It’s a relational posture, not a power grab. It’s not grabbing or grasping at power. The idea is this. This idea rather, will also be applied as we, as I mentioned to the husband and the wife, and by default the entire church. But this particular, this is particularly for the maintaining of the unity in the body of Jesus Christ. The motivation for this submission, pauses should come from fear of our Lord and our savior, Jesus Christ. So you’re not forcing people to submit. They’re doing it willingly. And again, once we get this grasp, once we get this down path, the church will look so much differently when we’re willingly submitting ourselves to each other. Paul doesn’t just say to the leadership here, even though verses are there for that, he says to each other, it’s similar to what he said. Let in Philippians, let each esteem other. Let each think of each other better than themselves. So the idea here is humility. It’s humility. Life choices and conduct should be profoundly influenced by wisdom. When the Apostle Paul speaks of living as wise people and not as unwise people, he’s not, he’s referring not to the Greeks or to the Roman standard of wisdom, but the kind of wisdom that God has revealed to us in his word, the psalmist proclaims the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. All who follow his precepts have good understanding. Psalm 11, verse 10, and when he spoke through the prophet Jeremiah, the Lord in in fact pointed out the severe limitations of human wisdom. This is what the Lord says, Jeremiah 9 23 24. Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom or the strong man boast in his strength, or the rich man boast in his riches. But let him who boast boast about this, that he understands and knows me, that’s referring to God, that I am the Lord who exercises kindness, who exercises justice and righteousness on earth. For these, in these things, I delight declares the Lord. If we’re gonna brag, if we’re gonna boast, let’s boast about Jesus Christ and what he has done for us. Paul says that’s his only boast. In fact, in the cross of Christ, we have to redeem the time. We have to be alert, we have to be aware, we have to be amicable, we have to be prepared. We have to have knowledge in the scripture. We have to ask for God’s wisdom and his spirit’s guidance and direction in every aspect of our lives. And we have to humble ourselves before each other, submitting to each other, ministering to each other, not just in Psalm hymns and spiritual songs as Paul has in the past before us, but in every way we possibly can. This is the expectation of the community, of God’s people. And this is how we’re gonna show a difference to the world in which we’re living, the evil world in which we’re living. And this is how we’re gonna ready ourselves for that battle of the evil that persist on a daily basis. Lord, we are grateful, so thankful for your love, so thankful for your mercies. Thank you for this portion of scripture, Lord. And some truths are very challenging, difficult, even. But Lord, through your grace, may you strengthen us to live this life. May you strengthen us, Lord, through your spirit. May you continue to grant myself the leaders of this community, the bodies of believers here, there, the adherence of this community, wisdom to pursue a walk that is wise in this world. Lord, may we ready ourselves and prepare ourselves to face the evil days that we’re living in where we continue to immerse ourselves in your word and continue to look to our Lord and our savior, Jesus Christ, in whom our only boast is, and in whose name we pray. Amen.