This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

I want to welcome you to day 3 of our look together through Ephesians chapter 5.
We're going to be looking together at verses 15 to 20 today. We've been talking
these last few days about what it means to live a life that imitates God.

To live the kind of life that shows other people who God is in this world. And
we've been talking about living a life of love because God is love. Living a
life of holiness because God is holy.

Living a life of light because God is light. How do you walk in the daylight?
How do you pull all of this off?

How do you live that kind of life? Where do you find the strength? Where do you
find the power?

Are we just fooling ourselves that any of this could ever happen in us? Human
beings who mess up and foul up and see sins and temptations every day of our
lives. How do I walk in the daylight?

How do I walk in holiness? How do I walk in love? Verses 15 to 20 talk about how
to do that.

This is where the power is. Let me read those verses. Be very careful then how
you live.

Not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity. Because the
days are evil, therefore do not be foolish. But understand what the Lord's will
is.

Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. But instead be filled with
the Spirit. Speak to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.

Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord. Always giving thanks to God the
Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. How do I live the
walk that God wants me to live?

Well, he begins by saying you've got to walk carefully. You've got to think
about what you're doing. The idea of this word here is the word circumspectly
with great attention to detail.

Which direction am I going? Not only do we walk in the light, we walk in a sense
on a tightrope. You ever watch a tightrope artist?

They are very careful with how they walk. They look at every step. They think
about it and they plan it.

And Paul, when he talks about walking in darkness or walking in light, he gives
three contrasts that build on each other. First he says, if you're going to live
the kind of life that God wants you to live, you need to live not unwisely, but
wisely. That's the first of these three contrasts.

Live wisely. Not unwisely, wisely. Now, what is wisdom?

Well, wisdom is the practical skill of putting God's principles into action in
your life. Wisdom isn't about knowing it. You wouldn't say that somebody is wise
if they knew all about relationships, but every relationship was a mess, or if
they knew all about how to communicate to other people, but every time they got
up and communicated, you couldn't understand a word that they said.

Now, wisdom is being able to put that principle from God into action in your
life. It's interesting. The Bible says, if we're wise, that means that we make
the most of every opportunity.

Did you know that the Bible emphasizes opportunity management more than it does
time management? Now, we're often, I know that I often am all about time
management, get the most out of every minute, out of every hour. But the Bible
says not get the most out of every hour, but get the most out of every
opportunity.

I like that, because it reminds me that the most important things are the most
important things. If I'm trying to get the most out of every hour, I might
ignore this relationship so I can get more done this hour, but when I realize
it's about opportunities, I realize this is the only chance I have in this
relationship, maybe right now, to make a difference. If I miss this, I have
missed an opportunity.

Get the most out of every opportunity. To live the kind of ways that we've been
talking about this week, it means I live not unwisely but wisely, putting God's
principles into action. Now, if I'm going to live wisely, I've got to do the
second thing that Paul talks about here, to not be foolish, but to understand
God's will.

He draws a contrast. To live wisely, I've got to not be foolish, but to
understand God's will. In fact, to not understand God's will is to be foolish.

To be foolish means I'm understanding my will, what I want, the direction I want
to go. To be selfish is to be foolish, but when I understand God's will, His
direction, the way that He wants me to go, that makes all the difference. Now,
these verses aren't about somebody else being foolish, they're about me being
foolish.

When I decide to go my way, that is foolish. There's a way that seems right to a
man, the book of Proverbs says, but the end of that is death. That's foolish,
but when I understand God's will, His direction, that's where life is found.

So I just say, "God, I want to know what you want in this situation. And if I'm
not asking Him that, then I'm going to end up being foolish. And I don't know
about you, but I have been foolish a lot of times in life.

I want to be wise. I want to understand what God's will is. " And then Paul
builds on that by saying, "If I'm going to live out God's will, I've got to,
here's the other contrast, not be filled with wine, but be filled with the
Spirit.

Not be filled with something that's going to affect me like wine and with
drunkenness, but be filled with the Spirit that's going to affect me like God
with unselfishness. " Now these verses are not about being drunk primarily,
although the Bible many times warns against drunkenness. These verses are
primarily about what you're filled with.

And it's saying you can't be filled with some substance from this planet that
somebody has tread out with their feet and expect that to change your life. It's
God's Spirit that changes your life. And what does it mean to be filled with
God's Spirit?

Well, to understand that, first of all, you have to know who God's Spirit is.
You remember in the movie Star Wars, the idea of the force, Luke trusts the
force. A lot of people picture the Holy Spirit as that kind of unseen type of
spiritual force.

And that is not what the Holy Spirit is because the Holy Spirit isn't a what.
He's a who. The Holy Spirit is a person.

He is God's person in your life. What does it mean to be filled with the Spirit?
It means to be filled with the person of God giving you power and direction and
guidance.

If you want to understand God's will, you've got to be filled with God's person
and depend on your filling of God's person. You see, the Bible tells us it's
what's on the inside that counts. And one of the pictures in the Bible is that
we're containers.

And the most important thing about a container is not what it looks like, aren't
you glad, some of you? It's not what it looks like on the outside, but what it
holds. If I'm holding a glass, a clear glass, I'd like to know whether it's
holding water or vodka or lighter fluid.

It would make a big difference to know what's in it before I decided to take a
drink of it. The Bible says that you and I are to be filled with God's Spirit.
It's a very important phrase, "filled with God's Spirit.

" The verb that's used here, "filled," it's a plural verb. It implies that all
of us are to be filled, not just a few, but it is every Christian who is to be
filled. This verb that's used for "filled," it's a continuous verb.

It implies repeated action. It's not something I'd just do once in my life and
it's taken care of. It's a daily action.

It's like breathing is a continual experience throughout the day. Being filled
with God's Spirit is a continual trusting and depending on God throughout the
day. And that means that being filled with God's Spirit is not a matter of more
or less.

It's a matter of yes or no. Sometimes you hear this phrase like, "Wow, he was
really filled with the Spirit tonight. " Either you are or you aren't.

Now, I understand that we do different works by God's Spirit and I understand
that we grow in God's Spirit and we see and sense God's Spirit working through
people in greater ways at certain times, but in your own life, it's either a yes
or a no. Are you filled with the Spirit right now? Are you trusting Him?

Are you trusting yourself? Now, how do you say yes to this continuous depending
on Him in your life, on His Spirit? Well, you realize a third thing about this
verb, filled, we're walking through what this verb means.

It's a plural verb. It means all of us are to be filled. It's a continuous verb.

It means it's repeated action. It's also a passive verb, which in the Greek
language means it's something that is done to you. It's not something you work
into your life by your own works.

It comes through trust, through depending on God. Filling is something that God
wants in your life and as you trust in Him, He will do in your life. And then
there's a fourth thing in this word, filled.

It's an imperative verb. That means it is a command. It is something that God
orders for every Christian.

So how do I respond to all this, what this verb means? It means I trust God. It
means you trust God to fill you as He said that He would.

If I'm going to really be filled, it's not a matter of I pray all night long.
That's just a spiritual way of saying I'm doing it myself. You don't have to beg
or fast or pray all night to be filled with God's Spirit.

God said He would fill you. As you're filled, He might motivate you to fast or
to pray all night long, but that's not how you get filled. He commanded us to
allow Him to fill us.

Now what's my part? My part is to thirst, to desire, to confess, to trust in
Him, to trust in what He said He's done. As a new believer, someone taught me
it's like spiritual breathing.

That I, in a sense, exhale and I recognize God has forgiven me of every sin in
my life. That's gone. Then I inhale and I recognize God has filled me with His
Spirit based on His promise.

I've always liked that picture because it reminds me that it's a regular, daily
part of my life, of my spiritual life. Just like wherever I am, I breathe
physically in order to stay alive. Wherever I am, I need to breathe spiritually
to be spiritually connected to God and living for God.

I exhale and recognize He's forgiven and I inhale and recognize that He is
filling me. And if I'm filled with the Spirit as I'm filled with the Spirit,
it's going to impact my life. In fact, Paul talks about the way it's going to
impact your life.

He says it impacts the way that you talk to others. He says you talk with Psalms
and hymns and spiritual songs. That doesn't mean you break out singing in the
middle of anything like some Hollywood musical.

It means that God is a part of our communication to each other. In worship
services, did you realize as you're singing in a worship service that you're not
just singing for yourself but for the other people that are there? In worship
services, in small groups and conversations as we bring the Bible in, we
communicate God's truth.

I'm expressing the Spirit's filling as I talk to others. I'm also expressing the
Spirit's filling in the way I talk to myself. I sing and make music within my
heart to the Lord.

There's something good going on in my heart. And I also express my spiritual
filling in the way I talk to God. You give thanks to God.

Now, notice that the main evidence of the Spirit's filling in these verses is
the way I communicate. Now, that's not the only evidence. In other places in the
New Testament, we find out about the fruit of the Spirit, love and joy and peace
and patience.

We find out about the gifts of the Spirit that God's given us to do, things like
teaching and leadership. But here in these verses, it's about the way I
communicate. You express the Spirit's filling through the way you communicate to
others, the things that you're saying to yourself in your own heart, and the way
that you talk to God.

And whenever you find yourself speaking in ways to others that tear them down
rather than build them up, speaking to yourself in ways that tear you down
rather than build you up, instead of thanking God, thinking about all the things
that are bad in your life, that's a moment to say, "I need some spiritual
breathing. I need to exhale and inhale and realize I need God's Spirit to fill
me right now. " In fact, as we pray today, I'd like to do that right now.

Just a spiritual breathing exercise. Just right now, wherever you are, just
exhale and recognize God has forgiven me. And nothing can change that fact.

Thank you, God, that I'm forgiven. And because of your forgiveness and your life
in me, Jesus, I can live a different life in this world and I live with hope
towards eternity. Exhale and then inhale.

I hope you breathe in between those two. And inhale and recognize God's Spirit
is in me and I can depend on him for life today. I'm not depending on just
myself for life.

I can depend on him for life and direction and power today. Give me your life
right now, Jesus. And then do that throughout the day.

Breathe out, breathe in. Breathe out, breathe in. Recognize his Spirit fills us.

Thank you, Jesus. We thank you. In your name.

Amen. Well, make sure to join us tomorrow. We're going to be talking about the
one thing that makes relationships work.