If you have your Bibles, turn with me to Ephes
ians chapter 5.
The text for today is going to be verses 20
and 21, but since it's been a while since
we've been here in Ephesians, I want to back
up a little bit and start reading in verse
18 just to get our thinking back in the flow
of the context of where we are.
So look, starting in verse 18, and do not get
drunk with wine for that is dissipation,
but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one
another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs, singing and making melody with your
heart to the Lord, always giving thanks for
all things in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ to God, even the Father, and be subject
to
one another in the fear of Christ.
Now, if you remember, the thrust of this
passage is that command that we find there in
verse
18, look at it again with me, be filled with
the Spirit.
And as I said, this is not something that we
pray for, "Lord, fill me with your Spirit."
I learned that in this study.
This is something that we are commanded to be.
Now remember the Greek literally is, be being
continuously kept filled with the Spirit.
So for a Christian, it's a moment by moment
deal.
Every second of every day, every minute of
every day, you can either be about walking
in the flesh or walking in the Spirit.
Filled with the Spirit is the same thing,
being filled with the Spirit.
We said last time we were here is synonymous
with being controlled by the Spirit.
Remember I gave that illustration of a wind
and a sail moving a boat along, being moved
along with the Spirit, being yielded to the
Spirit, being directed by the Spirit.
And as we grow in spiritual maturity in the
Christian life, we will ever only grow in
so far as we are filled with the Spirit.
Because when we're not filled with the Spirit
in those moments that we're not, we're just
kind of flattened out.
We're just kind of walking in the flesh and at
that point there's no progress at all for
us in spiritual growth or growing towards
spiritual maturity.
And so again, the times of spiritual growth
for the Christian are only those times when
we are filled with the Spirit and really in
the moment is really the only important time
to God.
You want to know why?
Think about it.
You cannot live in the future.
I mean, have you ever noticed that you've
never gotten to the future?
You're not in the future right now, are you?
No, you can only live your life in the moment.
Now, we like to think about the past, right?
We like to tell old stories.
Some people get stuck in the past, right?
That's all they ever want to talk about, the
good old days.
And we like to think about the future.
Many people love the science fiction movies
and books and stuff that Rodgedale told us
he likes and those are usually set in the
future, right?
John MacArthur said this.
We love the future because the future we haven
't blown yet and we love the past.
Because why?
Well, we tend to only remember the good times,
the good old days, right, about the past.
It's the present that we're trying to get out
of, but we never succeed because you can't.
You can only live here in the present.
You got to make it right, right here, in the
present, right now.
This is where we're always going to live.
So if you're filled with the spirit, then that
's not something that you promise God
that you're going to do at some point, you get
me?
It's not, it's something that you are or you
aren't every moment of the day being filled
with the spirit.
I mean, there's a sense, there's a sense in
which God is not interested in your future
commitments.
What do I mean like that?
Well, he's not interested in your future love.
What you're telling me you're going to do, he
's only interested in your being filled
with the spirit right now.
Because again, that's the only time you'll
ever live in this earthly existence is in
the now.
So far in this text, after the command itself
be filled with the spirit.
And if you remember that's contrasted there in
verse 18 with being drunk with wine, we
went over all of that.
Paul then starts to list out some of the
consequences of being filled with the spirit.
And the first one came out of verse 19, look
at it out of a thankful and joyful heart.
What we just got finished doing, speaking to
one another in Psalms, hymns and spiritual
songs, singing and making melody with your
heart to the Lord.
Now I can't go back over all that that we go
back and watch the sermon if you didn't
get to, if you weren't here for it.
But as Christians, basically, we have a new
song.
Remember how many times I showed you that?
We sing a new song because we're new creations
, we're new creatures in Christ Jesus.
That's an absolute byproduct of being filled
with the spirit.
But let's move to the next consequence of
being filled with the spirit verse 20.
Look at it with me.
Always giving thanks for all things in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even
the Father.
Now, Psalm 100 verse 4, you know it.
We've been singing, enter his gates with
thanksgiving and his courts with praise, give
thanks to
him, bless his name.
So one thing a spirit filled person is always
going to be, is thankful.
I mean of all people, it is the Christian who
by far should be the most thankful of
any other kind of people.
Maybe the greatest act of personal worship
that we can render to God is to be thankful
when we worship.
You should come to church every Sunday.
I don't care what went on during the week.
You should come to church every Sunday during,
in that door, thankful as a Christian.
We're going to get to that in a minute.
That's the heart of worship when you come here
.
Corporate worship, personal worship, first and
foremost as a thankful part.
And that's really because thanks ultimately,
you know what thanks does when you're thankful
to the Lord in this way, it crucifies self.
Thanksgiving ultimately, it recognizes God as
the source of everything in our lives.
A spirit filled person is thankful in the
midst of anything, the good things and even,
even
the difficult thing.
Being thankful as a Christian, what that means
is you see beyond the circumstance of
the moment to the plan of God that's at hand
in your life.
These beyond the trials and the tribulations
to the big picture of the sovereignty of God
and how he's working in your life.
All Christians live under what you, you have
heard me call this many times the umbrella
of Romans 828.
We can't quote it enough as Christians.
Look at it with me, Romans 828 and we know
that God, look at that word, causes, what's
the next phrase, all things to work together
for good to those who love God, to those who
are called according to his purpose.
A truly thankful Christian sees the hand of
God in everything, the good and the difficult
and our trust in that and our understanding in
that deepens as we mature in our faith.
You don't start out there, you grow there in
deeper and deeper levels.
Spiritual maturity has the ability to say, "
God, I thank you even for the hard times,
for the difficulties in life, on your job, in
your family, in all circumstances."
Now look, we don't like difficulties, do we?
Does anybody here like difficulties?
Raise your hand.
That's 100% right there.
And we certainly don't enjoy difficulties, do
we?
No.
There are times when we're dealing with
something in front of us and we just can't
understand
God, how in the world could anything be
working for good in this?
I just don't understand.
But as Christians, working towards spiritual
maturity, what we do is that we trust, though
we can't understand, that God does have
purposes in those things.
And we know that, not only do we know that
from Romans 8.28, we know that from the next
verse, Romans 8.29, look at it, "For those
whom he foreknew, he also predestined to
become
conformed to the image of his Son."
We can thank God for all things, as we're
going to see in a moment, because God is
working
in and through all the things that happen in
our life, and he has an ultimate goal in
mind with the all things, and that is for us
to be, one day, just like Christ in glory.
That's why he's working.
Job understood.
And read the book of Job after great trials.
I mean, think about it.
Think about having all 10 of your children
killed in one day in a tornado, the boils,
and all of the things you know that Job went
through, you know what he said, "Naked I came
from my mother's womb, naked I shall return
there; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken
away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord."
You know what that means?
I thank you, God, when you give.
I thank you, God, when you take, because I
know that you have purpose in both of those
things, in the giving and in the taking.
Let me tell you, you get there, that's
maturity in the Christian life.
That's not easy, but that is the maturity of a
spirit-filled person.
In St. Corinthians 415, look at this, what
Paul says, same phrase, he's saying this to
believers, "For all things are for your sake."
Think about that.
Believer.
What are you saying?
Something that God does is for you, believer,
both the blessings and the trials, for you.
Why?
Look next, so that the grace which is
spreading to more and more people may cause
the giving
of what?
Thanks to a bound to the glory of God.
Now just in that verse, the ultimate glow is
what?
The glory of God, the means to the glory of
God is thanksgiving.
The means to thanksgiving are all things that
God does in your life.
In other words, for all things are for your s
akes, so that you might be thankful to God,
so that he might be glorified.
That's what that verse means.
You glorify God by being thankful for all
things, all circumstances.
Now, that's easy for me to sit up here and say
, but it takes spiritual maturity to get
there.
Now, that might have been way too much
introduction, maybe, I don't know, but it does
lay a foundation.
I know that for what our text is going to be.
Let's look at it.
Verse 20 of chapter 5 starts out, always
giving thanks, so when are we to be thankful,
always?
You may say, oh, bro, fill it by here, bro,
see that, but you don't know my problem, man.
Still says always, you don't know my husband,
still says always, you don't know my wife,
still says always, you don't know my kids,
still says always, you don't know how I get
treated at work, still says always.
I can keep going if you want me to.
And it still says always, and it's always
still going to say always, and it's never
going to change.
Why?
Because folks, this recognizes that God is in
control of your life, not you.
And that God is in this miraculous process of
conforming you to the image of Christ,
and He's using all the things that He
purposely brings about in your life to do it.
And when you are to live in thanksgiving for
all things, when you do that, you are bringing
glory to God when you do.
Watch this tremendous statement in 1 Thessalon
ians 5/18, right in line with our text, starts
out in the good things.
Does it say that?
No.
What does it say?
In everything, give thanks for this is God's
what will for you in Christ Jesus.
If you're having trouble discerning God's will
, well, just try starting right there.
That's pretty clear.
In everything, give thanks for this, the
giving of thanks in everything is God's will
for
you.
And go back to, let's back up to Ephesians 5/
17 real quick.
So do not be foolish, but understand what the
will of the Lord is.
And then He starts out this list of what the
will of the Lord is, and guess what it
includes
this 20th verse, always giving thanks, God's
will is for Christians to be thankful, always.
Shakespeare said this, "How sharper than a
serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless
child, in gratitude thou marble-hearted beamed
."
Even he recognized what it is to have in
gratitude.
Now, what is, let's just all be honest right
here for a second, we'll start with me.
What is our go-to fleshly reaction to trials
and tribulations, right in complaint, okay?
That's the immediate reaction, and that's
always the opposite of giving thanks, right?
It's the opposite of what we learn when we
went through James.
Do you remember what we learned in James?
Something incredible.
He said, "Consider it all joy when you
encounter various trials," what?
And then what does he do after that?
He goes on to explain how God uses the trials
to mature us, remember?
The testing of faith produces endurance, and
that brings about maturity.
Usually, our first response to some hard stuff
that comes our way is to whine, right?
To complain.
But this Bible right here, as I've already
showed you, is saying all over the place,
to be thankful, because even in that hard
thing, God is doing his perfect work.
This is the will of God.
Again, I'm not saying this is easy, but I am
saying that it's possible, and I am saying
that it's only possible when we are filled
with the Spirit and the power of the Spirit.
Now, let me walk you through three kinds of
thankful people, and as we go through them,
think about which one of these you fit in,
okay?
We'll take that little test.
Number one is the easiest.
There are those who are thankful after the
blessing.
I mean, for sure, we can all raise our hands
on that one, right?
I lost my job, but the next day out of the
blue, I got a better job.
Thank you, Lord, right?
I mean, that's easy.
And you better be your first reaction, because
you're not doing well spiritually if that's
not your immediate reaction.
And, boy, we got a lot of blessings to be
thankful for, don't we?
Goodness gracious gracious.
Yeah, y'all time, line up your blessings and
line up your problems.
If you're a Christian, your blessings, I will.
If you can't get a bigger list of blessings,
then you need to come see me.
I'll give you some more you're not thinking
about.
Well, let's get to number two.
The ability to give thanks before the battle
starts for the victory to come.
No matter how the thing shakes out, now we're
getting to a deeper level of faith.
These are the folks who believe God before
anything happens, no matter what it is going
to be.
This is celebrating before the war.
This is Jesus at the tomb of Lazarus, John 11.
After that scene, everybody's crying, weeping.
And after Jesus said, "Hey, remove that stone
," he says at the end of verse 41, "Father, I
thank you that you have heard me."
But before anything happens, thank you, Lord,
for what you're going to do.
That's faith.
And you know what happened?
And that way you say, "Lazarus, come forth."
He came on out.
Now, of course, this is harder, right?
But God wants your thanksgiving before the
battle begins, because you know what?
You know, as a Spirit-filled Christian, that
no matter what is going to happen in this
thing
coming up, that God is going to work in it and
through it for your good and his glory.
And that's why you thank Him, for no matter
what, how it shakes out.
Now, that kind of trust takes a higher level
of spiritual maturity than thanking God after
He blesses you, right?
Oh, but then there's a third level.
Third level is hardest of all.
Seeing the Lord in the middle of the battle,
when everything is going aww, I want you to
think about old Jonah, imagine being in this
situation, floating around in the stomach
acid of a huge fish, and you got a problem
with that, and you say, "I can't really have
happened."
What?
God made DNA in every human being different
than in all of human history, for God's sake.
I mean, He makes planets orbit.
You don't think He could put Jonah in a big
fish?
Huh?
And when Jonah gets his act together, he
starts to pray in chapter 2.
I don't know if we, do we have this one up?
Did I have that one?
Okay.
I didn't go over the verses with Rachel before
.
Chapter 2 in verse 9, Jonah starts to pray
after he gets his act together, he says, "But
I will sacrifice to you with the voice of what
?
Thanksgiving to that which I have vowed I will
pay salvation is from the Lord."
You know what happened?
In the next verse, God commands that big fish
to spit Jonah up onto the beach.
Now think about that for just a second.
Put yourself in that situation.
There's no Jonah in the stomach of a huge fish
and at that moment he doesn't know what's
going to happen.
It's pitch dark.
They don't have no lights up in there.
Right?
Okay.
He don't know what's going to happen.
And there he is saying, "Thank you, Lord.
Thank you, Lord.
Salvation is from the Lord."
Now we ain't never been in a trial like that,
right?
I don't care what you're going through.
You ain't never been through nothing like that
.
But Jonah gives us the example to follow in
that extreme situation.
Now, listen to me.
I do not think it's wrong to say to God, "Man,
I don't understand this."
I just, again, I just cannot possibly see any
good in this for anybody in this situation.
I just, I can't see it, but I trust your word,
Lord, that it is for my ultimate good, that
it is for your glory, even if I never
understand it in this life and I have to wait
to get
to heaven to understand it.
And on that basis of trust, I'm going to thank
you for it because you are working out your
purposes here in this.
You're conforming me to the image of your Son,
and I will be like Him when I see Him.
I will see Him as He is, and I'm going to be a
joint heir with Him.
Let me tell you, that takes spiritual maturity
.
And yes, if you don't understand the trauma
that you're going through, be honest with
God, because He's omniscient.
He knows you don't understand it, but He's
looking for that trust.
He's looking for that faith.
He's looking for that level of spiritual
maturity.
Folks, that's all a part of conforming you to
the image of Christ.
Remember, and Acts Paul and Silas, they are
locked in stocks in that jail.
If you read about that in history, I mean,
they were just as stretched out as they could
possibly be.
There ain't too many more things more
uncomfortable than that.
All your muscles start to tighten up, you're
in a lot of pain, but what are they doing
in them stocks?
The Bible says they're singing and giving
thanks and praise to God.
Oh, Peter and John got beat down really hard,
and after that, beaten, what did they do?
They come out of there.
They were thanking God for the honor of having
been beaten for the sake of Jesus.
That's not easy, certainly possible through
the power of the Spirit when you are filled
with the Spirit.
And if you can thank God in the middle of the
pain, you have reached a level of maturity
that I think few Christians ever really know,
especially in today's American evangelicalism
with all of the constant talk that we have in
the church at large of the blessings of
God, the blessings of God, the blessings of
God.
Too many ministries, that's all they ever talk
about.
And then there's a poor person in the pew
knowing, "That ain't happening in my life
like this.
My life's a different story.
I sure hope this is for everybody else, but it
ain't happening for me.
It ain't happening for nobody."
Jesus said, "In this world, you will have trib
ulation."
It's purpose.
But I can deal with it better when it's
purpose.
If it wasn't purpose, then that's when I would
have a problem.
This reality, though, should never stop us
from striving to get to the point of being
thankful for all things.
If you've never read or heard of the story of
Joni Erickson Tata, she was paralyzed
completely
in a swim pool accident.
If you've never looked this woman up, you
should.
Go on YouTube and look her up.
I'll give you the spelling of her name later.
This is what she said after the accident.
Totally paralyzed.
And I want you to get this if you don't get
anything else.
Giving thanks is not a matter of feeling
thankful.
It's a matter of obedience.
Can you get that?
I mean, that is profound.
It's possible to not feel thankful, but it's
still a matter of obedience, as we're seeing
here today, to be thankful.
That's in line with what I mean by, just as I
said a minute ago, "Lord, I don't understand
what you're doing.
I don't get this, but I'm thanking you anyway
."
That's obedience, right there.
It's obedience.
You don't always have to feel thankful.
We all got something we're going through right
now.
Some of us got multiple things, hard things we
're going through, right this very minute.
You don't have to feel thankful all the time,
but in those moments when you do give that
thanks to God for whatever it is, that's a
matter of obedience to Him.
It's a recognition church that my life, and my
circumstances, and my whole destiny for
the rest of this life, and the life to come is
in the hands and exists in the sovereignty
of God.
That's what it does, and everything that
happens is, again, working toward the goal of
conforming
me all.
It's so amazing to the image of Christ, and
thereby God gets all the glory for that.
Let me tell you, if you can get there, what I
'm telling you here, it will have a profound
effect on your attitude when the tough sled
ding comes, when the storms of life come.
Now, go back to Ephesians 5.20.
So far, we've looked at just the first three
words, always giving thanks, but we kind of
already covered what it says next, always
giving thanks for all things.
That's what I call a little Clint Eastwood
theology, the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Okay?
The list of things is really long, and there's
only one kind of a person that can be thankful
for everything, and let me tell you, that's a
humble person.
And that's because a humble person knows they
don't deserve anything.
Let me tell you something, the only thing any
of us deserve is for God to have left us
alone and left us to ourselves to go through
life, pulling our own levers, pushing our
own buttons.
You know what that would have resulted in?
Utter rebellion.
Even if you went to false religion, or you
didn't go to no religion, utter rebellion
against the God of the Bible, and every moment
that you live, every day that you live in
that condition, you're storing up wrath for
the day of wrath, the Bible says.
That's all you deserve.
That's all I deserve.
Just God, just leave us alone.
And what a pathetic life we live.
No matter whether it's religious or not, if it
's not in line with saving faith and Bible
repentance, it's rebellion against God.
Man-centered psycho-babel says, "You deserve
to be happy."
Can you find that verse?
Or anything like that, anywhere close to that
in the Bible?
You deserve to be happy.
I've heard counselors tell, "Yeah, go on in
divorcing.
You deserve to be happy."
What?
Do what God hates, because you deserve to be
happy?
Let me tell you something.
If you have a problem being thankful, you know
what your problem is?
It's pride, because you know what you're
really saying?
God, I just can't be thankful.
I'm not getting what I think I deserve.
But if you know that you don't deserve
anything from God, but Him just leaving you to
yourself
which results in hell, and you see yourself as
nothing but a wretched sinner who deserves
absolutely nothing but the wrath of God, then
for anything that God gives you, there could
be nothing but thanksgiving, right?
Nobody thinks like this, nobody thinks like
this, but a humble Christian.
This is just not natural.
And by the way, humility is part of being
filled with the Spirit, because you're only
filled with the Spirit when you deny yourself,
when you die to self.
The sin of all sins is pride, really, break it
down.
That's what God's Satan, the eye disease,
remember?
Eye will be like the most high.
Listen, whenever we complain about any of our
circumstances, marriage, family, job, I mean,
we all got complaints, right?
Who in here don't have complaints?
We all do this.
At the root of our complaints, it's really
because we think we deserve better.
I mean, I really should have a perfect spouse,
really.
I mean, I really should have a perfect job
because I'm me after all.
You know what that is?
Pride.
You cannot be prideful and thankful at the
same time, can't be.
Verse 20, when are we to be thankful?
Always.
For what are we to be thankful for?
All things.
Again, don't, don't get me wrong, not easy,
not easy.
You don't always hit the mark, but possible
with a Christian.
And then next in, in verse 20, how are we to
be thankful in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ to God, even the Father?
Now, very simply in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ just simply means consistent with who
he is, consistent with what he has done.
And because of our connection to who he is and
what he has done through Bible repentance
and faith, by far we should be folks, the most
thankful people on the earth.
I'm so thankful, God, you didn't lead me to
myself.
What a, what a mess I was making before God
invaded my life of my life.
It was a disaster every day.
You've been saved from the wrath to come.
As we've been learning in Ephesians, we've
been blessed with every spiritual blessings
in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
How can you not every moment be thankful?
I mean, do I really need to take you through
all that long list again?
When you take yourself through all the
glorious realities, folks of salvation, no
matter what
we have to go through in this life that God
has ordained for us and being conformed to
the image of Christ, we have certainty, bed
rock certainty that it's all for our ultimate
good
and his glory.
We hold on to that.
Sometimes we've got to hold on to that by our
fingernails, right?
If you are a Christian, the absolute, no
comparison, greatest thing that could ever
happen to a
human being has happened to you, nothing,
nothing comes close.
If some kind of way you just give me a deal,
here's a deal, buddy, I'm going to let you
live out this life in the flesh on the earth
with $200 trillion for eternity.
And you can live every day on vacation and do
whatever you want to do, or you can come
to faith in Christ and be in heaven totally
and join here with Christ and holy without
any sin.
Which of them two things you go to?
I only have to think about.
I want to be without sin.
That's the highest plane of existence for any
human being.
Guess what, Christian?
That's what's yours.
Come up soon, coming up sooner than you think,
sooner than I think.
So what I'm trying to say, it really doesn't
matter what God has ordained in your little
normally less than 100 year life, which is a
dot on the timeline of eternity, whatever
hard things you have to go through, which is
all for your good and the glory of God as
He's conforming you to the image of Christ,
they don't compare with the reality of who
God has changed you to be now in this life and
what God has in store for you in eternity.
That's why Paul says in Romans 8, 18, "For I
consider the sufferings of this present
time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory that is to be revealed to us."
And if I had a dollar, for every time I've
quoted that verse in my prayers, you get that
in your bloodstream.
You will be amazed how going through
difficulties will change for you.
And you have to work at that, folks.
Every day you have to work at that to keep
your mindset.
It doesn't just stay with you like in osmosis.
You have to be, you have to be in filled with
the spirit mode to maintain that mindset.
Because you know what, as we battle our flesh
by nature, we are so self-seeking.
We are, we think so highly of ourselves.
We think, man, I don't get what I want.
We get all upset because it didn't go our way.
And we get unthankful.
And again, that's just pride, thinking we
deserve better.
But spirit-filled humility says, "Man, I know
I deserve nothing but hell and wonders
of all people I have been saved from God's
wrath.
I'm in union with Christ and I'm going to be a
joint heir of King Jesus for all eternity.
How in the world can I be anything but utterly
thankful every day, no matter what I have to
go through as I'm on my way to the celestial
city?"
Notice again, verse 20, "Thanks for all things
, even in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to
God, even the Father."
This is emphasizing the love of the Father to
his children through who Christ is and
what he has done.
And he's always giving us gifts, James 1, 17,
every good thing given and every perfect
gift is from above, coming down from the
Father of lights with whom there is no
variation
or shifting shadow.
What a verse.
So verse 20, "Always giving thanks for all
things, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ
to God, even the Father."
Next I want to close out with a quick look.
One more.
And this will be quick.
The next consequence of being filled with the
Spirit, verse 21.
Now I want you to know verse 21 is going to
connect us to a whole lot of what's coming
up in chapter 5.
And if you read ahead, everybody's going to
get a turn, so don't get uneasy.
Verse 21, "And be subject to one another in
the fear of Christ."
Now in this verse we transition from our own
personal walk to our relationship with others.
Be subject to one another in the fear of
Christ.
That is the foundational expectation in a
believer's life toward other people, if indeed
there has been a genuine conversion in your
life.
And of course the word "fear" here is not like
when you're watching Freddie Kruger.
In the biblical sense what it means is "rever
ential awe."
That's the fear of Christ, honor, worship, ad
oration, praise.
That's what it means to fear crying, to fear
God, which is the beginning of wisdom the
Bible says.
And what does it mean, "be subject to one
another"?
Well let's look real quickly over at Philipp
ians 2-3 and here we find a description of what
it means to subject yourselves to others.
Look what it says, "Do nothing from selfish
ness or empty conceit, but with humility of
mind
regard one another as more important than
yourselves."
So first, if you're going to subject yourself
to others, you're going to have to humble
yourself and you're going to have to distance
yourself from selfishness and empty conceit.
What in the world does that phrase mean?
It means the pursuit of personal glory.
That's what it means.
And the pursuit of personal glory is really
the motivation for selfish ambition.
That's not how a Christian behaves and you're
going to have to regard others as more
important
than yourself.
Boy, you think that's easy?
Think about it.
Then verse 4, "Do not merely look out for your
own personal interest, but also for the
interest of others," and then it just goes on
to give this tremendous illustration about
Jesus.
I mean you can find it later.
Back to verse 21, chapter 5 of Ephesians, "Be
subject to one another in the fear of
Christ."
The spirit that produces this kind of subject
ion to one another is the same one as what we
just read described in Philippians 2 right
there.
It's a humble spirit.
It's a selfless spirit.
There's no vanglory or self-ambition and it
considers others better than itself.
It serves others before it even serves itself.
Let me tell you, that's the gold standard
definition of all Christian relationships.
So when we think about how we relate to all
other believers, it's all summed up.
Look at the end of that verse, in the fear,
that's how you get motivated to do that for
the sake of Christ, for the honor of Christ,
for the glory of Christ.
That's why we are subject to one another.
Not easy.
Again, you know why?
Because we are all naturally in our flesh self
-centered, aren't we?
I mean we don't even realize how self-centered
we can be.
We really don't.
But at the same time, this is a command.
We're not talking about roles and functions
here.
We're talking about essential nature of
believers is to be this way with our new
nature.
That's what it means.
Like hear me, not easy but possible when we
are filled with the Spirit in the power of
the Spirit.
We submit to each other, we subject ourselves
to each other and then Paul is going to move
on from here to show us how that works, wives,
husbands, children, parents, slaves, masters,
and our day employees, employers.
But that will have to wait.
As I said, it's next week, Lord willing, we're
going to look at that.
But for now, I hope this has helped you and
moved you along the way in your growth in
spiritual maturity.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you for this very convicting
two verses.
It's hard, life is hard, hard things come, but
how thankful I am that you have shown
us that they are purposed.
What a purpose to spiritually grow and to be
conformed to the image of Christ for your
glory.
That's the highest purpose of all purposes.
And it makes sense to me that we would have to
go through hard things to get there.
So Lord, I want to pray right now that you
would just sink this down into all of our
hearts and minds.
I pray that we would walk out of here today,
all of us, with a deeper understanding of
what this means and that we would strive to
lift this way for your glory.
Jesus' name we pray in.
Amen.