After explaining who we are in Christ for three chapters, Paul begins chapter 4 of Ephesians by saying, “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called.” Because of everything Christ has done for you, I’m begging you to walk worthy of that calling. Or to say it another way, he gives us a snapshot of what a Spirit-controlled life should look like. We’ll take a closer look at some of those characteristics today.
And our reading from the book of Isaiah could be headlines from today’s newspapers! “Our courts oppose the righteous,” “Justice is nowhere to be found,” and “Anyone who renounces evil is attacked” for starters.
Today’s Readings:
Isaiah 59 & 60
Psalm 115.1-8
Proverbs 26.23
Ephesians 5.17-33
How Are We Controlled by the Holy Spirit?
Ephesians 5.17-33:
Not Wine, but the Spirit
For the last two days (here and here), we’ve been talking about what a mature Christian or Spirit-controlled life should look like from Paul’s instructions in Ephesians 4-6. Today we’ll continue talking about that subject by looking at the second half of chapter 5. Verse 17 reads:
17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit.
As believers, we should not allow anything other than God to control our lives—not a substance like alcohol or drugs, not anything else that our hearts crave like power, wealth, or prestige. Instead, we should be filled with and controlled by the Holy Spirit.
When a person is under the influence of alcohol, it will affect the way he or she thinks, speaks, and talks. In the same way, the principles of God should affect how we think and process all of life. They should change the way we talk and how we live.
Spirit-Controlled Communication
One major way we should be changed as we yield control of our lives to the Holy Spirit is in the way we communicate.
Paul says we’re to speak “to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord” (v. 19).
Paul isn’t suggesting we behave like a character in The Sound of Music by bursting into a song in the middle of a conversation, but there should be joy in our lives and our conversations should be filled with praise for all that God has done for us.
We should, also, have an attitude of gratitude, “giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 20).
For more on Spirit-controlled communication, you can read “The 4 Rules of Communication” from an earlier series where I take an in-depth and practical look at the verses on communication in Ephesians 4.
Spirit-Controlled Relationships
Being under the control of God’s Holy Spirit should affect our relationships, “submitting to one another in the fear of God” (v. 21).
Submitting isn’t just for those under one kind of authority or another. The Holy Spirit’s work in us enables us to submit our selfish wants and desires and helps us learn to prefer others above ourselves.
23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it (Lk. 9).
3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others (Phil. 2).
Then within the husband and wife relationship, Paul instructed, “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord … Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her (vv. 22, 25).
Wives are called to submit to the leadership of their husbands and husbands are to lay down their lives for their wives, each a unique form of submission. This is a sacrificial love that involves laying down what we want (those selfish desires, Matt. 9.23-24), preferring each other as more important than ourselves (Phil. 2.3-4), submitting even when the other one isn’t doing his or her part (1 Pet. 3.1-6), giving honor (1 Pet. 3.7), and showing respect (Eph. 5.33).
These are things we need God’s help to do. That’s why I titled this post “Snapshot of a Spirit-Controlled Life.” But there is even more to this picture so we’ll continue tomorrow with more snapshots of a Spirit-controlled life.
Today’s Other Readings:
Isaiah 59 & 60:
Headlines: Our Courts Oppose the Righteous!
Wow! As I reread today’s passage, it occurred to me the phrases could be headlines in today’s newspapers!
Headlines like: “Our courts oppose the righteous,” “Justice is nowhere to be found,” “Truth stumbles in the streets,” “Honesty has been outlawed,” “Truth is gone,” and “Anyone who renounces evil is attacked.” Look at chapter 59.13-15 in the NLT:
13 We know we have rebelled and have denied the LORD.
We have turned our backs on our God.
We know how unfair and oppressive we have been,
carefully planning our deceitful lies.
14 Our courts oppose the righteous,
and justice is nowhere to be found.
Truth stumbles in the streets,
and honesty has been outlawed.
15 Yes, truth is gone,
and anyone who renounces evil is attacked.
Verse 13 reminds us that all sin is first against the Lord. Notice it says, “We have turned our backs on our God.” When we deny and turn our backs on the Lord we are expressing contempt for Him, in effect, saying that we are dissatisfied with His blessings, that He is not good, and that we want and deserve something better than what He has given us.
This passage, also, says we sin willingly, knowingly, “We know we have rebelled … we know how unfair and oppressive we have been, carefully planning our deceitful lies.”
All of Society Suffers
We shouldn’t be surprised when unbelievers act that way. But as followers of Christ, let’s pray for God’s help to live righteously because when the believers in a nation begin to compromise and live like the rest of the world, all of society suffers.
One Day Soon …
But if you have read the back of “The Book,” you know that God won’t allow these things to go on forever. One day soon …
Verses 18-19 (NLT):
18 He will repay his enemies for their evil deeds.
His fury will fall on his foes.
He will pay them back even to the ends of the earth.
19 In the west, people will respect the name of the LORD;
in the east, they will glorify him.
For he will come like a raging flood tide
driven by the breath of the LORD.
God is slow to anger and rich in mercy. He is patient even with the unrighteous, not desiring that any should perish (1 Pet. 3.8-9).
But … there will be a day of accounting:
… the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up (1 Pet. 3.10).
Not only will the time to repent come to an end for mankind as a whole, but it can and does come to an end for individuals.
Hebrews 3.15-18 says:
… ‘Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.’ … Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey?
Grace & Holiness
We tend to think that’s not for today and certainly not a warning for believers. We say we’re under grace! But Paul told the Corinthians that because they had failed to examine themselves in the light of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, many were sick and some had even died (1 Cor. 11.28-32). They had failed to understand the importance of living the truly Spirit-controlled life that we have been talking about.
And Romans 1.18-32 paints a picture of God “giving over” unrepentant sinners to sin without restraint and allowing them to suffer the consequences of the same.
Is God a God of grace? Absolutely! Is He patient and longsuffering? Yes, but He is also a righteous judge and zealous for the purity and holiness of His church.
Psalm 115.1-8:
When Enough is Enough
As the psalmist said in verse 3:
Our God is in heaven. He does whatever He pleases.
At times it looks as if God is ignoring sin and unrighteousness, but He is in control and can use it all for His holy, just, and righteous purposes. But He also knows when enough is enough.
Proverbs 26.23:
Earthenware Covered with Silver Dross
Fervent lips with a wicked heart are like earthenware covered with silver dross.
It’s not enough to call ourselves Christians, go to church, attend Bible studies, or even serve in some area of ministry. That can easily be silver dross over a life that is far from God. Jesus said in Matthew 15.7:
Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying. ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.’
We can’t claim to worship God one minute and then act unloving toward our brother the next. We can’t claim to be in right relationship with God, yet not with our spouse.
If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also (1 Jn. 4.20-21).
If the relationships in our lives are not right, we need to make setting them right a high priority. Matthew 5.23-24:
Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you,leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
All of this points back to our main subject, living a Spirit-controlled life and not living in ways that merely satisfy our sinful hearts or look good to others.
Tweet “You can’t claim to worship God one minute and then act unloving the next. #worship #soulsurvival”]
Coming Up:
In the next few days, we’ll talk about angry children, hypocrisy, the armor of God, and more.
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And if you don’t already have a copy, you might want to purchase a copy of my eBook, 10 Benefits of Keeping a Spiritual Journal. It’s available on Kindle or in paperback (the paperback has 31 days of blank journaling pages with prompts to help you get started).
Blessings as you grow in Christ,
Donna ♥
Note about this post:
I began blogging through the Bible in 2012 and have done so every year since then. These posts are the product of many edits and additions throughout those years. Some days I make major changes, other days fewer.
A while ago, I read Jen Wilkin’s book None Like Him about the attributes of God. One is His incomprehensibility. In it, she says, “God is incomprehensible. This does not mean that he is unknowable, but that he is unable to be fully known.”
I have found that to be true each year as I’ve gone back through the Bible. Sometimes I find myself feeling as if a passage just appeared there for the first time. I’m reminded that no matter how many times we read through the Bible, we have only scratched the surface. I hope you feel the same.
Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways,
And how small a whisper we hear of Him!
But the thunder of His power who can understand?” (Job 26.14)
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