WEBVTT 00:00:08.320 --> 00:00:44.719 This morning, Ephesians five, verses eighteen through twenty-one, Paul says, Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing, and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. 00:00:47.520 --> 00:00:54.320 This is a passage that, the first blush, has a contrast in it that's unexpected. 00:00:54.560 --> 00:01:01.439 In the whole paragraph here, Paul is encouraging us to seek the will of the Lord. 00:01:01.759 --> 00:01:06.879 Earlier he told us to take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, instead expose them. 00:01:07.040 --> 00:01:15.359 He's confronted our speech, he's confronted adultery and sexual immorality in our life, and so now he moves into drunkenness. 00:01:15.599 --> 00:01:20.799 And the contrast in verse 18 is what confuses people. 00:01:21.680 --> 00:01:25.200 It's a somewhat of unusual and unexpected contrast. 00:01:25.280 --> 00:01:28.959 He says, Do not get drunk with wine, instead be filled with the Spirit. 00:01:29.760 --> 00:01:43.599 And you have whole movements of charismatic Christianity that take this verse to justify holy giggling and acting silly and outrageous and running around chasing each other. 00:01:43.920 --> 00:01:50.239 Massive churches, not in some corner, but uh massive churches in our country practice getting drunk in the spirit. 00:01:50.400 --> 00:02:04.560 You know, I remember as a new Christian watching big churches, mostly in Canada, that acted this kind of thing out with, you know, holy barking and people running around and meowing, and basically acting drunk in the spirit. 00:02:04.799 --> 00:02:12.639 And they derive that teaching from this verse which connects being drunk or contrasts being drunk with how you act in the spirit. 00:02:12.719 --> 00:02:18.639 And obviously, Paul's not describing holy barking or holy meowing. 00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:21.120 But what is he describing? 00:02:21.199 --> 00:02:26.000 And what is the contrast here between drunkenness and being filled with the spirit? 00:02:26.319 --> 00:02:34.479 It was early on in my marriage where my wife had made some kind of um chicken stock. 00:02:34.719 --> 00:02:44.800 She had made a uh chicken for dinner that night, and then she had, you know, boiled the chicken carcass or whatever with all kinds of other vegetables and stuff on the stove for several several hours. 00:02:45.439 --> 00:02:59.360 And I got up uh, you know, hours after we went to bed and got a drink of water and see this pot filled with dark liquid sitting in the sink. 00:02:59.759 --> 00:03:01.599 And so I dumped it out. 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:04.639 Um I'm trying to help. 00:03:04.879 --> 00:03:05.840 You understand this. 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:07.680 I'm trying to help. 00:03:09.280 --> 00:03:15.840 Uh and in the morning she wondered where her chicken stock had gone. 00:03:16.319 --> 00:03:21.199 And uh, you know, that's not the embarrassing part. 00:03:22.639 --> 00:03:27.680 The embarrassing part is that over the course of our marriage, I have done that three times. 00:03:29.280 --> 00:03:32.080 Uh all three entirely accidental. 00:03:32.319 --> 00:03:34.479 All three, I thought I was trying to help. 00:03:34.639 --> 00:03:37.439 Uh, we buy the Costco chicken stock now. 00:03:40.080 --> 00:03:56.479 The second time, she was in the kitchen with me, and I'm cleaning up the pots and uh dump it in the sink, and you I could feel like the air sucked out of the room, and she's like, and I actually look down at the trap where the garbage is supposed to think, can I pull that out and rescue this? 00:03:58.719 --> 00:04:01.759 And it's, you know, it's embarrassing. 00:04:01.840 --> 00:04:06.879 The connection to drunkenness here is there was no alcohol involved with these mistakes, I assure you. 00:04:07.360 --> 00:04:09.280 These were sober mistakes. 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:30.079 But the contrast Paul's going for here is kind of why that me dumping the chicken stock down the sink is such a like a hurtful thing to do, accidental, but hurtful, because what was in that pot had so much potential to, well, to feed me, honestly, is where it was going. 00:04:30.399 --> 00:04:44.480 It had potential to strengthen me and to feed me, and work had gone into it and labor had gone into it, and it would have been to my benefit, and instead I poured it out and dumped it away, giving nobody any benefit at all. 00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:50.959 The contrast in verse 18 here is not between drunkenness and filled with the spirit. 00:04:51.279 --> 00:04:55.040 The contrast here is not between alcohol and the third person of the Trinity. 00:04:55.279 --> 00:05:02.959 The contrast here is between the word debauchery, which in many translations is dissipation, which is probably a better word for it. 00:05:03.360 --> 00:05:06.560 The word for dissipation, the word for, it's the word for pouring out. 00:05:06.800 --> 00:05:13.519 It's the word for dumping something over and spilling it out so that it's meaningless, so it means nothing. 00:05:14.240 --> 00:05:23.439 That's contrasted with the word for filling up in verse 18, a word that has been used throughout the book of Ephesians, filling up plenero, which means could fill up from the inside. 00:05:23.519 --> 00:05:27.759 It is a is a word for uh wine jugs that are filled to the very top. 00:05:27.839 --> 00:05:30.639 That's one of the most common ways that word is used in the Greek language. 00:05:30.800 --> 00:05:35.199 You have those water jugs or wine jugs, and you could fill them up to the top. 00:05:35.439 --> 00:05:46.959 Of course, the the liquid goes inside and fills it up if there's uh other, if there's rocks or something inside of it, the water would fill in all the holes and the rocks and all the gaps, and it would fill up every nook and cranny. 00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:48.879 That's this word. 00:05:50.079 --> 00:05:55.680 The contrast with that is the other word, dissipation, where something is poured out. 00:05:55.920 --> 00:06:07.360 And it's the opposite, where something comes out of the bottle, and if you hold the bottle upside down, all the little droplets will come out and it goes in the ground, and you can't get it back into the bottle again, no matter how hard you try. 00:06:07.680 --> 00:06:13.600 If you dump water out of your water bottle onto your front lawn, you can't get it back into the water bottle. 00:06:13.759 --> 00:06:15.040 Like it's gone. 00:06:15.439 --> 00:06:16.879 That's what happened to it. 00:06:17.040 --> 00:06:19.279 That's the contrast in verse 18. 00:06:19.839 --> 00:06:30.800 That there is something, debauchery is a fine word for it, I guess, in the sense that when you're pouring out your life for meaningless, it's usually connected to immorality. 00:06:30.959 --> 00:06:34.079 It's usually connected to what we would call debauchery. 00:06:36.079 --> 00:06:39.439 How opposed to that is having your life filled up. 00:06:39.519 --> 00:06:41.519 Now, what is an example of pouring your life out? 00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:52.720 Well, Paul's already talked about sexual immorality earlier, which is a very common way people pour out their life, but here he has something even more specific in mind, verse 18, do not get drunk with wine. 00:06:53.279 --> 00:06:56.160 Drunkenness is what he's talking about. 00:06:57.040 --> 00:07:00.079 You were designed by God to enjoy this life. 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:06.240 You are designed by God to take delight in this world, and drunkenness deadens that. 00:07:07.120 --> 00:07:13.279 Wine is designed by God to gladden man's heart, the scripture says, but drunkenness deadens his life. 00:07:13.600 --> 00:07:16.399 Drunkenness is a pouring out of his life. 00:07:16.720 --> 00:07:18.560 We understand this contrast with food. 00:07:18.720 --> 00:07:24.480 Food is designed by God for enjoyment, but the glutton turns food into his master. 00:07:24.639 --> 00:07:27.519 The glutton becomes a slave to food. 00:07:27.759 --> 00:07:33.920 Something that was designed by God to give you joy, holds you captive, and robs you of your joy. 00:07:34.319 --> 00:07:44.319 And the same contrast is seen, of course, with alcohol, designed by God to gladden man's heart, but instead used to derail his life. 00:07:44.959 --> 00:07:50.480 I'm sure all of your families have illustrations of this principle in it. 00:07:50.639 --> 00:07:53.839 Somebody who through drunkenness has harmed his family. 00:07:54.160 --> 00:08:09.519 God designs husbands to be protectors and a source of joy in the home, a source of provision in the home, and drunkenness turns the husband into a threat rather than a source of provision, a source of wastefulness. 00:08:09.839 --> 00:08:11.839 Drunkenness harms careers. 00:08:12.800 --> 00:08:34.399 Husbands are called to provide for their family and work hard and make a life for himself and how he provides for his family, and drunkenness wrecks that and ruins your reputation at work and limits opportunities for advancement and ultimately spends what money you have wasting it, spreading it out, dumping it on the floor. 00:08:34.960 --> 00:08:37.679 It harms finances rather than saving for your future. 00:08:37.840 --> 00:08:41.039 You spend for now and will have forgotten in the morning. 00:08:41.679 --> 00:08:44.240 And obviously, it harms relationships. 00:08:45.360 --> 00:08:54.720 Families whose kids have to go away and live somewhere else because they can't be trusted around the drunk person in their home. 00:08:55.120 --> 00:08:56.799 That's dissipation. 00:08:57.120 --> 00:08:58.399 That's debauchery. 00:08:58.639 --> 00:09:05.919 That's a pouring out of your life, a wasting of your life, a deadening of your life, a washing your resources away. 00:09:06.720 --> 00:09:13.919 What starts with drinking to take the edge off becomes a wasting of your life. 00:09:14.879 --> 00:09:18.000 God means for us to use our money to advance the kingdom. 00:09:19.200 --> 00:09:23.039 When you use it to deaden your life and alienate your family, it's wasted. 00:09:24.320 --> 00:09:26.320 Here's a little thought exercise. 00:09:27.120 --> 00:09:33.200 The CDC, and this is a statistic that comes from pre-COVID, so it's back in a trustworthy era. 00:09:35.279 --> 00:09:42.879 The CDC says that the typical alcoholic spends$70 a week in alcohol. 00:09:47.440 --> 00:09:49.919 I don't really know what to make of that number. 00:09:50.559 --> 00:09:55.120 And as you read the, there's a whole study that goes with this, it's on the CDC website right now. 00:09:55.360 --> 00:10:04.799 It chases down about, you know, how many six packs of beer or whatever are connected with a person who is the typical alcoholic getting drunk a few times a week. 00:10:05.200 --> 00:10:09.440 70 bucks a week is what they came up with. 00:10:10.480 --> 00:10:15.600 Now, that's roughly$15 a day, so to speak. 00:10:15.919 --> 00:10:27.759 If you were to save$15 a day for 40 years with a 5% interest, which is a pretty basic form of interest, after 40 years, you would have$700,000. 00:10:29.200 --> 00:10:33.600 That's enough for a house, even in Northern Virginia. 00:10:35.679 --> 00:10:39.120 That's enough to pay for your cars your whole life. 00:10:39.919 --> 00:10:43.279 That's enough to leave a house to your kids. 00:10:43.919 --> 00:10:51.679 If you have a few kids, that's enough that when you die, your house can be sold and divided among your kids, and they would all have enough for down payments for their own houses. 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:53.759 Even in Northern Virginia. 00:10:56.559 --> 00:11:01.360 Drunkenness is dissipation because it takes that away from your family. 00:11:01.600 --> 00:11:07.600 It takes the dad away from providing a house for his family and houses for his kids to nothing. 00:11:08.559 --> 00:11:16.960 Even if he's not violent, even if he doesn't rage and threaten everyone in the house, he pours out his life. 00:11:19.759 --> 00:11:26.879 This is in contrast with the rest of verse 18, being filled with the Spirit. 00:11:27.120 --> 00:11:31.440 It's not coincidental that Paul uses this contrast, obviously very intentional. 00:11:31.679 --> 00:11:36.159 He's inspired by the Holy Spirit, so this is the Holy Spirit inspiring a verse about himself. 00:11:37.600 --> 00:11:41.279 And the person who is filled with the Spirit becomes a blessing. 00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:50.559 There's a contrast to drunkenness in every way, leaves a legacy to his family, provides for his family, and creates a sense of warmth and worship around him. 00:11:50.720 --> 00:11:52.159 This is being filled with the Spirit. 00:11:52.320 --> 00:11:57.440 You can just think of the contrast between the deeds of the flesh versus the fruit of the spirit. 00:11:57.840 --> 00:12:05.200 Deeds of the flesh are hostile and confrontive and divisive and self-centered and self-focused. 00:12:06.159 --> 00:12:15.759 And the works of the Spirit are fruitful and loving and kind and generous, hospitable, patient. 00:12:15.919 --> 00:12:19.039 Just think of all of the words associated with darkness versus light. 00:12:19.120 --> 00:12:21.759 I mean, all this is caught up in this contrast. 00:12:25.440 --> 00:12:28.639 Now, Paul's used this word for fillness over and over again. 00:12:28.799 --> 00:12:36.960 Ephesians 1, verse 23 is the first time we see it, where he says that Jesus is filled by the one who fills all in all. 00:12:37.120 --> 00:12:40.720 That God, our Heavenly Father, fills Christ with Himself. 00:12:40.879 --> 00:12:46.320 So the second person eternity, the Son, is filled with all that is God. 00:12:46.720 --> 00:12:49.440 The whole essence of God is the Son. 00:12:49.600 --> 00:12:50.960 He is filled up from the inside. 00:12:51.039 --> 00:12:54.639 There's nothing that is the Son that is not the Father. 00:12:55.279 --> 00:12:59.039 All the fullness of God is filled with the Son. 00:12:59.519 --> 00:13:02.000 That's the first place we see this in Ephesians. 00:13:03.200 --> 00:13:06.559 The whole nature of God, all of the divine attributes fill Christ. 00:13:07.120 --> 00:13:20.240 And then Jesus comes to the earth, and through the gospel and the sending of his Spirit, Jesus is the forms the church, which is the body of Christ, and the Spirit fills us. 00:13:20.559 --> 00:13:23.039 The Spirit of God fills the church. 00:13:24.559 --> 00:13:30.240 In Ephesians 3.19, Paul prays that we would be filled with all the fullness of God. 00:13:30.399 --> 00:13:39.840 So the very image of what the Father did to Jesus earlier, filling him with himself, is now Paul's prayer that the church should be filled with all the fullness of God. 00:13:40.159 --> 00:13:42.399 Again, that's Ephesians 3.19. 00:13:43.679 --> 00:13:45.840 So I hope you see the contrast. 00:13:46.240 --> 00:13:49.360 Drunkenness pours out and wastes. 00:13:50.639 --> 00:13:55.440 But the life that is set on God is filled up and is filled up by God Himself. 00:13:56.080 --> 00:14:00.159 Now, there's people ask theological questions on verse 18. 00:14:00.240 --> 00:14:03.360 It's an imperative, but be filled with the Spirit. 00:14:03.679 --> 00:14:04.879 That's the imperative. 00:14:06.080 --> 00:14:10.720 It's a present imperative, which means like right now, ongoing, be filled with the Spirit. 00:14:10.879 --> 00:14:16.240 It's an imperative to you, which means you're supposed to do it, but it's passive, which means it's happening to you. 00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:18.159 There's no good way to render that in English. 00:14:18.240 --> 00:14:20.879 We don't have English translation that captures that kind of thing. 00:14:21.039 --> 00:14:25.279 And so we have theological questions by just reading it in English, but be filled with the Spirit. 00:14:25.360 --> 00:14:27.360 I thought salvation was something God did to you. 00:14:27.519 --> 00:14:29.200 Doesn't God regenerate you? 00:14:29.759 --> 00:14:32.480 God gives you faith and brings you from death to life. 00:14:32.559 --> 00:14:33.679 It's God who acts on you. 00:14:33.759 --> 00:14:35.840 It's what being born again is, Jesus says. 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:39.120 You can't you don't cause your first birth, you can't cause your second birth. 00:14:39.200 --> 00:14:41.840 And so what does it mean with be filled with the spirit? 00:14:41.919 --> 00:14:48.480 If you're filled with the spirit of salvation, how can you be more filled with the spirit throughout your life? 00:14:48.799 --> 00:14:51.759 Do you grow in the level of spirituality you have? 00:14:51.919 --> 00:14:55.519 And you know, there's some churches that even use the analogy of leaking. 00:14:55.679 --> 00:15:09.840 I used to work at a church uh that that taught that that you uh at salvation you have the Holy Spirit, but then through sin, the Holy Spirit uh dissipates through your own life, and then before you go on a mission trip or something, you have people lay hands on you and you're refilled with the Spirit. 00:15:09.919 --> 00:15:12.000 You fill back up and then you leak again. 00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:18.080 I mean, this is a very common teaching in a lot of American Christianity, and they get that again from this verse. 00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:22.960 But I think that's a wrong way of understanding this imperative. 00:15:23.039 --> 00:15:31.519 Again, it is passive, it's you're it's happening to you, the Holy Spirit is doing it to you, but the imperative nature of it is in contrast to debauchery. 00:15:31.600 --> 00:15:40.480 Rather than wasting your life, Paul is saying, continue in how you're walking, continue walking, being filled with the Spirit. 00:15:40.639 --> 00:15:44.720 Of course, it's the Holy Spirit who fills you, so continue along that way. 00:15:44.879 --> 00:15:47.600 Stay filled, in other words, with the Spirit, abiding in you. 00:15:47.840 --> 00:15:53.440 So he's making a contrast between wasting your life and using your life for the Lord. 00:15:55.039 --> 00:15:56.720 You think of the prodigal son? 00:15:57.360 --> 00:16:02.559 The prodigal son, the word prodigal, by the way, doesn't mean someone who runs away and comes back. 00:16:02.799 --> 00:16:04.399 That's not what the word prodigal means. 00:16:04.639 --> 00:16:07.759 Although we use it that way because that's what happens in the story. 00:16:07.840 --> 00:16:13.039 So we say the word prodigal means, you know, the the cat went away and came back three weeks later, much fatter than he was when he ran away. 00:16:13.120 --> 00:16:14.240 It's the prodigal cat. 00:16:14.480 --> 00:16:14.799 No. 00:16:15.519 --> 00:16:21.200 The word prodigal means somebody who just spends all their money and is left begging. 00:16:22.639 --> 00:16:25.039 Think of the story of the prodigal son, he goes away. 00:16:25.279 --> 00:16:29.440 He had all the wealth of his family, and he wastes it all. 00:16:29.759 --> 00:16:35.279 He had the inheritance from his father, wastes it, and comes back in desperation. 00:16:36.399 --> 00:16:37.840 That's the contrast here. 00:16:37.919 --> 00:16:42.399 And when he comes back, the father has joy. 00:16:42.799 --> 00:16:50.399 The father is filled with joy, the very joy that is in heaven itself, when a sinner comes to faith. 00:16:50.639 --> 00:16:51.440 That's the contrast. 00:16:51.600 --> 00:16:52.960 That's what Paul is after here. 00:16:53.120 --> 00:16:57.519 When you walk in sin, you pour out your life in meaninglessness. 00:16:58.080 --> 00:17:02.320 But when you have faith in God, you are sealed with the Spirit. 00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:03.759 The Spirit regenerates you. 00:17:03.840 --> 00:17:05.279 He gives you faith. 00:17:05.519 --> 00:17:12.480 You're set on a course, and the Spirit convicts you along this course, and you are growing in godliness throughout your life. 00:17:12.799 --> 00:17:14.880 Jonathan Edwards described it this way. 00:17:15.039 --> 00:17:21.839 He explained this verse by saying, the Christian is filled, but as you grow in godliness, your capacity grows. 00:17:22.160 --> 00:17:24.559 The size of your cup increases. 00:17:24.799 --> 00:17:29.279 Your cup runs over, of course, but as you grow in godliness, the size of the cup grows. 00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:35.359 And that's the course you're set on your whole life, where you continually grow in godliness. 00:17:35.519 --> 00:17:38.880 You continually grow in your knowledge of the Word. 00:17:39.039 --> 00:17:42.799 You can continually grow in your conformity to Jesus Christ. 00:17:43.519 --> 00:17:46.960 By understanding, verse 17, what the will of the Lord is. 00:17:47.119 --> 00:17:48.559 That's your growth. 00:17:49.519 --> 00:17:54.160 So it is an awkward English phrase, but it's not awkward because the theology is awkward. 00:17:54.240 --> 00:17:57.279 It's awkward just because translation is awkward. 00:17:58.480 --> 00:18:02.640 So my question for you this morning is: Is your life being filled up or poured out? 00:18:03.599 --> 00:18:08.160 As you seek the Lord in your life, or are you filling up or are you pouring out? 00:18:08.559 --> 00:18:12.640 Are you walking in a way in your life that is glorifying the Lord? 00:18:13.839 --> 00:18:21.039 Bringing peace and joy and worship to those around you, or are you walking in your life in a way that is pouring out what the Lord gave you? 00:18:21.279 --> 00:18:22.799 Living for yourself. 00:18:23.039 --> 00:18:30.559 Paul's going to go on in verses 19 and 20 and 21 to provide three descriptions of what it means to be filled with the Spirit. 00:18:30.720 --> 00:18:32.640 And again, these are not causative. 00:18:32.880 --> 00:18:38.240 You don't do these things in order to be filled with the Spirit, but because you are filled with the Spirit, this is what your life looks like. 00:18:38.400 --> 00:18:42.720 Because the Holy Spirit does seal your heart and guarantee your salvation. 00:18:42.880 --> 00:18:46.400 From the language back in Ephesians 1, this is what that looks like practically in your life. 00:18:46.480 --> 00:18:49.279 And so if you're taking notes, you can jot these three headings down. 00:18:49.440 --> 00:18:50.960 First is worshiping. 00:18:51.359 --> 00:18:55.920 A person who is filled with the Holy Spirit has a life that is fixed on worship. 00:18:57.359 --> 00:19:02.240 Verse 19, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. 00:19:02.559 --> 00:19:08.480 No, all three of those are a form of singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart. 00:19:08.799 --> 00:19:13.359 So when you take verse 19 here, it's talking about corporate worship. 00:19:13.680 --> 00:19:15.680 Because you're singing to one another. 00:19:15.920 --> 00:19:19.279 You're communicating, the word, here it's translated singing in the SV. 00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:20.559 It's just a word for communicating. 00:19:20.960 --> 00:19:25.680 You're speaking to one another, you're communicating, or verse 19, addressing one another. 00:19:25.759 --> 00:19:28.160 But when you're addressing one another, we have an English word for this. 00:19:28.240 --> 00:19:31.839 When you're addressing one another with a song, it's called singing. 00:19:32.480 --> 00:19:34.079 So that's what he's after here. 00:19:34.319 --> 00:19:39.440 You're communicating to one another with hymns and songs and psalms. 00:19:41.200 --> 00:19:52.880 But what's spirit-filled about that is not the volume out of your mouth, although that's an indication of it, but what's spirit-filled about that is the melody that is in your heart. 00:19:53.200 --> 00:19:55.759 And that is such good news for some of you. 00:19:56.319 --> 00:19:57.759 Such good news. 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:06.480 You can be a beautiful singer and not be able to carry a tune in a U-Haul. 00:20:06.559 --> 00:20:07.519 It's okay. 00:20:08.799 --> 00:20:15.839 Because what makes the singing of the church beautiful is the melody that is in your heart. 00:20:16.240 --> 00:20:20.799 It sounds like a cheesy card or Christian poster or something, but it's not. 00:20:20.880 --> 00:20:23.119 It's actually a biblical principle. 00:20:23.839 --> 00:20:36.480 The beauty of your voice is in the melody that is in your heart as you sing to one another, as you make the music of the church. 00:20:36.799 --> 00:20:38.240 I loved this morning's music. 00:20:38.400 --> 00:20:40.720 What appropriate music to celebrate Reformation Day. 00:20:40.880 --> 00:20:42.160 What appropriate songs. 00:20:42.319 --> 00:20:46.640 I loved the choir anthem, Immortal, Invisible God. 00:20:46.960 --> 00:20:50.720 What an incredibly beautiful depiction of music. 00:20:50.960 --> 00:20:54.480 That there's no way I could ever sing anything like that. 00:20:54.880 --> 00:21:01.279 But to hear it sung magnifies the glory of the Lord in the room as people are singing with that kind of skill and capacity. 00:21:01.920 --> 00:21:05.119 So it a little bit discourages me that I could never sing like that. 00:21:05.200 --> 00:21:11.599 However, the other songs that are participatory, you can't join in on the choir anthems, you know that, right? 00:21:12.640 --> 00:21:13.839 You let them sing. 00:21:14.240 --> 00:21:16.559 You make melody the Lord in your heart. 00:21:18.720 --> 00:21:27.039 But it causes you to grow in your love for the Lord so that on the participatory songs where you do sing, it's the melody to the Lord in your heart that is coming out. 00:21:27.599 --> 00:21:32.160 That's what it means to be spirit-filled, to have such a love for the Lord that you sing. 00:21:32.319 --> 00:21:37.119 It's not coincidental that after launching the Protestant Reformation, one of the Luther did a few things. 00:21:37.279 --> 00:21:54.000 He took a wife, he got married, devoted himself to preaching, devoted himself to Bible translating, translated the Bible into German, and then to writing songs for the church to sing, songs that were participatory, songs that a congregation could sing as they worshiped the Lord. 00:21:54.400 --> 00:21:56.559 That's what it means to be spirit filled. 00:21:56.720 --> 00:22:01.359 Now, there's you know three words in here psalms and hymns and Spiritual songs. 00:22:01.680 --> 00:22:04.480 I preached a whole sermon on these three before. 00:22:04.559 --> 00:22:05.359 It's on our church website. 00:22:05.440 --> 00:22:09.839 If you look up Ephesians 5.18 on our church website, you'll uh 5.19, you'll find this on the church website. 00:22:09.920 --> 00:22:15.200 So I don't want to re-preach all of it except to say that they are three different things, even in the Greek language. 00:22:15.440 --> 00:22:17.920 Psalms is legitimately the book of Psalms. 00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:18.960 They're put to music. 00:22:19.039 --> 00:22:26.240 Like when we sing uh Mighty Fortress is our God, that's Psalm 46, and it is a psalm that is basically put to music. 00:22:27.680 --> 00:22:29.920 The Jews would sing the psalms. 00:22:30.559 --> 00:22:32.400 Most famous, those are the Hala Psalms. 00:22:32.559 --> 00:22:34.240 They sung at Passover. 00:22:34.400 --> 00:22:36.319 They would sing through the Psalter. 00:22:36.880 --> 00:22:39.359 Certain psalms that were chosen for them to sing. 00:22:39.440 --> 00:22:46.799 They would sing the Psalms of Ascent, for example, one starting in Psalm 120, they would sing those psalms on their way to Jerusalem with the pilgrimages. 00:22:46.880 --> 00:22:47.599 That's what it means here. 00:22:47.839 --> 00:22:52.079 Psalms that were written by God, inspired by the Holy Spirit, for us to sing in worship. 00:22:52.319 --> 00:22:55.440 Hymns is a word for poetry that is put to music. 00:22:55.519 --> 00:22:56.319 And you would see these. 00:22:56.400 --> 00:22:57.839 We have hymnals in the Purachs. 00:22:57.920 --> 00:23:02.640 If you'd open up the hymnals, most of the hymns in the hymnal, not all of them, but most of them are hymns. 00:23:02.720 --> 00:23:04.720 And what a hymn is, is poetic. 00:23:05.119 --> 00:23:06.960 They have stanzas and structure. 00:23:07.440 --> 00:23:09.599 Something is a hymn, not based on what year it was written. 00:23:09.680 --> 00:23:13.680 Like if it was written when you're, you know, it was written before you were born, it's a hymn. 00:23:13.759 --> 00:23:15.359 And if it was written after you're born, it's a song. 00:23:15.599 --> 00:23:15.920 No. 00:23:16.160 --> 00:23:17.519 It's not the distinction. 00:23:17.759 --> 00:23:19.680 There's hymns written right now. 00:23:20.240 --> 00:23:21.599 There's hymns written today. 00:23:21.759 --> 00:23:22.799 And it's not about the music. 00:23:22.880 --> 00:23:27.359 Like if it has a drums, it's a song, but if it has the organ, it's a hymn. 00:23:27.599 --> 00:23:27.920 No. 00:23:28.240 --> 00:23:31.359 Also, or you can it's not about the music that goes with it. 00:23:31.519 --> 00:23:32.640 It's about the structure. 00:23:32.960 --> 00:23:34.480 Poetry put to music. 00:23:34.640 --> 00:23:36.960 Something with stanzas and lines and rhythm. 00:23:37.440 --> 00:23:38.960 Their music repeats the stanzas. 00:23:39.519 --> 00:23:41.920 It's poetry put to music. 00:23:42.000 --> 00:23:42.640 That's hymn. 00:23:42.799 --> 00:23:43.440 It's a hymn. 00:23:43.680 --> 00:23:48.160 That's what the Greek word means, and we keep the same distinction in English as well. 00:23:48.480 --> 00:23:52.640 Although, you know, in English, I guess it's kind of more for him, it's more religious, I suppose. 00:23:52.720 --> 00:23:54.400 But then spiritual songs. 00:23:54.640 --> 00:23:59.519 Spiritual songs have a testimony aspect to it or a more free-flowing aspect to it. 00:23:59.599 --> 00:24:01.440 It doesn't have the poetic structure. 00:24:01.599 --> 00:24:04.880 This is a lot of uh songs that we do sing in church, follow this. 00:24:04.960 --> 00:24:07.440 If you'd have put the words, the words wouldn't have a poetic structure. 00:24:07.519 --> 00:24:12.640 It's more about the affections of knowing the Lord, the experience of encountering the Lord. 00:24:12.720 --> 00:24:16.400 It's not that hymns are better than songs or songs are better than hymns. 00:24:17.440 --> 00:24:19.920 But it's that you worship with all of those. 00:24:20.240 --> 00:24:24.480 Because the point here is not is there a balance between hymns and songs? 00:24:25.039 --> 00:24:28.400 The point here is what's the melody in your heart? 00:24:29.119 --> 00:24:33.759 So if you're angry about how many hymns we sing, then you're out of tune. 00:24:41.599 --> 00:24:49.920 And it's not just talking about a church, although you hear the music at church, of course, you're singing to one another, but this is a pattern in your life. 00:24:50.559 --> 00:24:53.920 You're communicating, but it's reflecting what's in your heart. 00:24:54.480 --> 00:25:05.519 We're gonna leave the walls of the church here, but before we do, understand why singing is such an important indicator if you're filling your life up or pouring it out. 00:25:05.680 --> 00:25:08.480 Because you ask who's the audience to your singing? 00:25:08.799 --> 00:25:11.039 When you're singing here, the choir is not the audience. 00:25:11.119 --> 00:25:13.200 They're looking at you, but they're not the audience. 00:25:13.519 --> 00:25:20.319 And when the choir is singing, you're not the audience, everybody is singing before the throne of God. 00:25:20.559 --> 00:25:21.599 We're singing to him. 00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:23.279 He is the audience. 00:25:24.480 --> 00:25:27.119 He is the one receiving our worship. 00:25:28.079 --> 00:25:36.799 You think of David dancing before the ark when the ark finally got moved back into Jerusalem and his he was dancing and worshiping and singing, and his wife told him, Stop. 00:25:37.039 --> 00:25:38.400 This is embarrassing. 00:25:38.640 --> 00:25:44.079 You're supposed to be the king, and you're dancing all around every which way, and you're singing, and you're just making a scene. 00:25:44.240 --> 00:25:45.200 Act like a king. 00:25:45.440 --> 00:25:47.759 Kings have dancers, they don't dance. 00:25:48.960 --> 00:25:59.599 And David's response was, Oh, I will do even more despicable things before you than that, because I'm singing, he used the word, I'm singing before the Lord. 00:25:59.839 --> 00:26:02.000 He's the one that's my audience. 00:26:03.119 --> 00:26:08.000 So you understand that same principle is true in church that we sing before the Lord. 00:26:08.079 --> 00:26:09.279 And this is his worship. 00:26:09.359 --> 00:26:11.519 It's the Holy Spirit who provokes us in our own heart. 00:26:12.160 --> 00:26:13.920 So, first, worshiping. 00:26:14.079 --> 00:26:15.279 Second, thanking. 00:26:15.920 --> 00:26:16.559 Thanking. 00:26:16.799 --> 00:26:22.079 Verse 20, giving thanks always and for. 00:26:23.039 --> 00:26:24.160 No, don't say it. 00:26:24.319 --> 00:26:25.119 Don't say it. 00:26:27.200 --> 00:26:28.160 Everything. 00:26:29.519 --> 00:26:31.920 That's one of those words that you'd like to edit out, right? 00:26:32.480 --> 00:26:36.000 You're supposed to give thanks always and for everything. 00:26:37.279 --> 00:26:40.799 It doesn't say give thanks for a lot of things and complain about the rest. 00:26:41.759 --> 00:26:44.720 But give thanks always and for everything. 00:26:45.200 --> 00:26:47.359 Why are you supposed to be thankful for everything? 00:26:47.440 --> 00:26:52.480 Because there's suffering in the world, there's hardship in the world, there's drunkenness in the world, to use an example from just the verse before this. 00:26:52.559 --> 00:26:54.960 I mean, there is hard, difficult, sinful things in the world. 00:26:55.039 --> 00:26:57.920 Why would you supposed to be give thanks to God for those things? 00:26:58.160 --> 00:27:06.400 Because you understand the other biblical principle that God is at work in and through all things for his purpose. 00:27:06.720 --> 00:27:11.920 That all things can be used for God's glory and for your good. 00:27:12.079 --> 00:27:14.400 Even sin magnifies the glory of God in the gospel. 00:27:14.559 --> 00:27:18.960 And if you take that and say, well, I should sin so that grace can abound, may it never be. 00:27:19.359 --> 00:27:22.000 You don't understand grace or what glory means then. 00:27:22.559 --> 00:27:29.039 But the principle here is that you give thanks for all things, even hard things, even difficult things, even you're the victim of sin. 00:27:29.359 --> 00:27:33.440 You can give thanks even if you're the victim of sin because God is going to do something through that. 00:27:33.519 --> 00:27:35.440 You may not know what in this world. 00:27:36.400 --> 00:27:38.319 You may not know what, but he's going to do something. 00:27:38.400 --> 00:27:40.319 So that's the that's the basic theological principle. 00:27:40.400 --> 00:27:41.839 Paul's not teaching that principle here. 00:27:41.920 --> 00:27:43.519 That's taught in other passages of Scripture. 00:27:43.599 --> 00:27:46.079 It's not taught in this passage, it's taught in other passages. 00:27:46.319 --> 00:27:55.119 But in light of what he teaches about God being sovereign over all things in other passages, he draws out this principle here, which is you're supposed to give thanks for all things. 00:27:55.759 --> 00:28:02.319 So you understand how this imperative is conditioned on the truth that is taught elsewhere in the Bible. 00:28:03.359 --> 00:28:05.200 You give thanks to all things. 00:28:05.519 --> 00:28:14.559 You think of Job seeing his family die and losing everything, and you know, he can he can go before the Lord. 00:28:14.799 --> 00:28:16.400 He wrestles with the Lord. 00:28:16.720 --> 00:28:19.920 He wrestles, he recognizes the Lord has the right to do what he wants to do. 00:28:20.079 --> 00:28:23.359 He doesn't understand how glory is gonna come out of this, but of course it does. 00:28:23.599 --> 00:28:33.920 We don't all have our prayers answered like Job had his prayers answered, of course, but the principle stands that if you're Joseph sold into slavery, you recognize God's gonna do something with this. 00:28:35.759 --> 00:28:37.279 God's gonna do something. 00:28:37.519 --> 00:28:39.119 And so you can give thanks. 00:28:39.359 --> 00:28:42.400 You're thrown in prison like Paul and Silas were, you can give thanks. 00:28:42.480 --> 00:28:45.920 They were singing songs of thanks while they were in prison. 00:28:46.720 --> 00:28:48.799 They didn't know what was gonna happen. 00:28:49.759 --> 00:28:52.480 But they were thankful for it before it happened. 00:28:52.720 --> 00:28:55.599 You go through a trial and you're thankful for the trial. 00:28:55.839 --> 00:29:03.119 You don't know what God is gonna do for the trial, but you're thankful for it when it's happening, in all things, through all things. 00:29:03.519 --> 00:29:04.079 Always. 00:29:04.480 --> 00:29:06.559 So is there a time you're not supposed to be thankful? 00:29:06.880 --> 00:29:07.200 No. 00:29:07.599 --> 00:29:09.200 You're always supposed to be thankful. 00:29:09.359 --> 00:29:12.880 What a great indication of if you're if you're spirit-filled. 00:29:13.039 --> 00:29:18.319 What a great indication is you're walking according to the will of God is are you thankful for where you're walking? 00:29:18.640 --> 00:29:22.960 If you're not thankful for where you're walking, are you walking in the spirit? 00:29:23.200 --> 00:29:25.599 Are you walking according to the will of the Lord? 00:29:25.920 --> 00:29:28.640 So you're thankful at all times. 00:29:28.880 --> 00:29:31.920 Notice that this, even this is Trinitarian, it's according to the will of God. 00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:37.519 You're giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father, but how can you give thanks to God the Father? 00:29:37.759 --> 00:29:42.319 Well, you can only approach God the Father through the Son Jesus Christ. 00:29:42.559 --> 00:29:47.599 There is no way, there's no pathway, there is no channel to God the Father except through faith in Christ. 00:29:47.759 --> 00:29:50.240 No one comes to the Father except through the Son. 00:29:50.400 --> 00:29:53.920 And no one can come to the Son unless the Holy Spirit draws him. 00:29:54.319 --> 00:29:56.240 And so this really is Trinitarian. 00:29:56.319 --> 00:30:04.480 Uh Paul is very well aware of what Jesus taught in his life, that if you want to come to the Father, you come through him, and that no one can come to the Son unless the Holy Spirit draws him. 00:30:04.720 --> 00:30:07.839 And so he's making reference to that, I think, here in verse 19. 00:30:07.920 --> 00:30:13.119 I mean in verse 20, you're giving thanks to God the Father in the name or according to the will of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:30:13.200 --> 00:30:16.559 And it began, of course, back in verse 18 by being filled with the Spirit. 00:30:16.720 --> 00:30:18.079 So you can reverse engineer this. 00:30:18.240 --> 00:30:31.200 The Holy Spirit indwells you, gives you faith, opens up your eyes to behold the truth of God's word, and causes you to see God at work in the world, even through your prior sin that led you to a point of brokenness that causes you to put your faith in the cross. 00:30:31.359 --> 00:30:45.759 The cross is, of course, where the Son of God, Jesus Christ, died for our sin, bearing the penalty that we deserved, buried in the grave, resurrected on the third day, offering free life to those who would believe Jesus got to the cross because he was sent by the Father. 00:30:45.920 --> 00:30:46.799 So you go backwards. 00:30:46.880 --> 00:30:49.359 The Holy Spirit saves you by giving you faith in the Son. 00:30:49.519 --> 00:30:55.359 The Son was on the cross because the Father sent him to the world to be the substitute for sin. 00:30:55.519 --> 00:31:06.319 Or go frontwards, that in heaven, the Father designed a plan of salvation with the Son and the Holy Spirit that involved the sending of the Son to the earth to be our substitute for sin, which Jesus was. 00:31:06.400 --> 00:31:11.119 He died on the cross, buried into the grave, resurrected on the third day, ascends to heaven. 00:31:11.279 --> 00:31:16.559 The Father and the Son together send the Holy Spirit into the world that gives you faith and draws you to faith in the gospel. 00:31:16.720 --> 00:31:18.319 So you can be thankful for all things. 00:31:18.480 --> 00:31:20.720 Look at it frontwards, backwards, sidewards. 00:31:20.880 --> 00:31:21.359 I don't care. 00:31:21.440 --> 00:31:23.440 Just be thankful at all times. 00:31:24.480 --> 00:31:27.119 Thirdly, submitting. 00:31:27.440 --> 00:31:28.640 Submitting. 00:31:29.839 --> 00:31:36.960 You're supposed to be submissive to the authority structures that God puts in your life and in the world. 00:31:38.400 --> 00:31:43.279 Now, again, all of the spirit-filled life is hostile to the way people in the world would want to live. 00:31:43.440 --> 00:31:48.160 People in the world do not want to gather together in a group and sing the psalms to each other. 00:31:48.400 --> 00:31:50.640 Not going to happen unless the Holy Spirit dwells in you. 00:31:50.799 --> 00:31:54.480 People in the world do not want to be thankful at all times and for all things. 00:31:54.640 --> 00:31:55.279 They don't. 00:31:55.519 --> 00:31:56.880 They want to complain and grumble. 00:31:56.960 --> 00:31:59.680 And people in the world definitely don't want to submit. 00:32:00.160 --> 00:32:03.279 You don't want to submit to authority because you are the authority. 00:32:03.519 --> 00:32:13.440 You know, in a secular worldview, you are the authority, or the government is the authority, and you can submit to the government if it's the one that you voted for, then you're okay submitting for it to it. 00:32:13.519 --> 00:32:16.400 But if it's one the other people voted for, ain't no way you're submitting to that. 00:32:17.039 --> 00:32:19.680 That's the that's your typical worldview. 00:32:20.319 --> 00:32:28.960 It's so contrary to the Christian worldview, which recognizes that there's authority in the world placed there by God. 00:32:29.519 --> 00:32:32.559