Reclaiming Life

0:10Thank you for listening to the sermon audio podcast from Crossroads Reformed Baptist Church in Rockdale, Texas. Crossroads Reformed Baptist Church is a reformed confessional Baptist church that meets every Lord's Day at 10 a.m. for Bible study and 11 a.m. for corporate worship. For more information about our church or for directions, you can visit us online at www.crbcrockdale.org. Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Morning.

0:41You can go ahead and open to Ephesians chapter 5, and as we begin, then I want to say that this is a tough uh this is a tough passage this morning. This is a tough teaching. But I'm so thankful on Sundays like these that we do the Lord's Supper prior to the sermon, uh, so that we can again have this testimony of grace, the assurance of salvation given to us by and through the death and resurrection and broken body and shed blood of our Lord. So I ask us then that please keep that into the forefront of our mind as we uh dive into a otherwise difficult text and let that grace and that assurance permeate and stand at the forefront of our words and message this morning. But we will be in Ephesians chapter 5, uh covering verses 15 to 21. This is the last part of that section. And by way of introduction, let me ask a few questions. Do you ever at times feel like life is getting away from you? Like your schedule is chaotic? Like time is this angry beast bearing down on you? Do you struggle with feeling satisfied, fulfilled in life? Always feeling disappointed and unsettled? Is your conscience burdened, but you're unable or unwilling to address it? Consider then the context of our earliest brothers and sisters in Christ who received this letter from Paul in Ephesus. We oftentimes think that our generation and our circumstances unique to us. That we are uniquely tempted, uniquely tested as compared to the past. Church, this is just not true. These people in Ephesus, as we remember, hopefully all the way back from chapter one, they were steeped in dark pagan worship. They had whole trades dedicated to the manufacture of idols, of dark magic spell books. They worshipped openly Artemis, the supposed queen of heaven. And so those who were in Ephesus, who were saved by the gospel, their entire lives and culture was completely turned around. Imagine that culture shock, having experienced everything that you have experienced up to that point, everything that you have believed, everything that you have lived, completely changed. Imagine the regret they would have felt having lived alive for so long. Imagine the strain of life, the discord, the persecution, the temptation to go back to that old way that was so enticing for them. Imagine the difficulty of reforming decades of pagan tradition and habits, of false worship, of selfish ambition. I can assure us all this morning that as tough as we think we have it sometimes, and we do, as unsettled as you think your life is at times, if we would take a serious look at the past, we will find then the strength and perseverance by and through the body of Christ in these very difficult times. I bring that up because it is that context that Paul is writing this letter, and it is in that context that we receive the words this morning. So then what he tells them about how to walk, that is how to live their life. That's extremely important for us, isn't it? If Paul has this short letter to remind a group of people in the midst of all of that, the truth about God, the way of salvation, the way they live their lives, then the things that he says, those are a treasure for us, aren't they? It's a good thing that we have such a letter. And by the grace of God, we have a word. So with all of those things in this context, and then for us, all the things of life that are swirling around us from day to day, we come to Paul in anticipation, asking, Paul, tell us how to live. Tell us how to reclaim this fallen life that it may be used for eternal glory. Life is so unpredictable, isn't it? Tell us how to live. Give us wisdom. What are the most important things that we should know? Those are important questions. And we have the words. The question then, as we begin, is will you hear them? Will you listen to them? Or will you keep looking for better answers? By the grace of God and according to his will, I pray for us this morning that he will show us how it is that we reclaim a life in Christ and that we would obey it and live it for his purpose and his glory. So let's stand together then as we read our text, starting in verse 15, Ephesians 5. Look carefully then how you walk, not as wise, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is, and do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, and 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. This is the word of the Lord. Lord, we thank you for the wisdom that you have given to us in your word. Lord, through the mind and hands of Paul. We pray and ask, Lord, that your spirit would fall upon us this morning and fill us, Lord, with the wisdom that you have for us in this word. Lord, would it convict where it needs to convict? Would it shape and change where it needs to change, Lord? Would it refresh and encourage? Lord, we need your grace and we need your spiritual wisdom. And so we pray and ask for that this morning in the name of Jesus. Amen. A common objection from the crowd that is more spiritual and less religious against the one who takes theology and theological pursuit seriously is that such people like us, perhaps, are all brain and no heart. Have we heard this before? I will say, in many cases, that that objection is not without merit, because it at least sometimes is. However, the war from the ditches is generally grenades tossed from one side to the other, where one claims that the other side is far too emotional and led along by life from one feeling to the next, while their side claims that the other is too harsh, too cold, too unfeeling, too rigid in their dogma. And pointing that out is necessary once again as we move into the text this week and especially in the coming weeks, these texts will elicit a great deal of emotion from us, and perhaps even a great deal of consternation. I don't want us to lose sight of the reality that we are indeed whole people, right? We're not just brains, but we're not just emotions either. I need us to see that in this effort to reclaim life, that is to be transformed to the image of Christ, it begins with the renewal of the mind. It begins with wise walking, as our text says. That is not to say that it is emotionless. Quite the opposite. Wise walking is very emotional, but it is guided by truth. And that's how our text began. As we look into the wisdom given by Paul to reclaim life and to walk in love, he says then in verse 15, look carefully how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise. And remember what Paul is meaning by walk here. This is our life, everything. This is how we live. It's how you behave. It's the things that you do, it's the things that you say, and it's the things that you think. This is your walk. Look carefully, as he says. This is to examine intentionally and in great detail how it is that you behave, how it is that you speak, how it is that you think, how it is that you act. Look carefully at these things. So this is not emotional first, this is intellectual, this is diagnostic. With all diligence, we could say, with all planning, with all perception, with all thought, examine yourself and make an honest and accurate assessment of how you live and the things that you do. This is what he is saying. Make an accurate assessment of how you think. This is a laborious and often neglected task. Most people, many of us included, don't think critically about what it is that we think and we do.

12:40How do I treat my husband? How do you treat your husband? Do you respect him? Are you submissive?

12:53How do you? How do I treat my wife? Do I honor her? Do I cherish her? Do I present her as the crown of my life? How do you act around other people? How do you respond in difficult, stressful situations? What do you do when you're alone? What goes through your mind when you lay at bed at night?

13:19What are your passions?

13:26You can see then from just that sample what a task it is to examine yourself honestly and truthfully. This is very difficult. But it must be done. It must be done because how can one possibly hope and expect positive transformation? How can one hope and expect for sanctification into holiness without examining your walk, looking carefully how it is that you live? Unless, of course, you think that it doesn't matter, or that it's all a work of the Spirit, so you'll just rest in his sanctifying work and you'll just coast on to heaven however he wishes to take you. May that never be. So I do not run aimlessly, Paul says. I do not box as one beating the air, but I discipline my body and I keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. For God is a God of means, isn't he? He saves and he works through means. He sanctifies through means. So step one, then, is a careful examination of one's self, and an unshakable commitment to fight the fight of discipline, and obedience and conformity to his word. And such a command and such a thought often gets men fired up, doesn't it? It should. All this talk of fighting, right? All this talk of discipline, obedience, and running and racing and winning. Often viewed as very very masculine. And as such, the ladies tend to turn their attention off here. Let me remind you though. It was the woman who first was deceived by the enemy. And not fighting for truth, but instead she acted according to her eyes, according to her feelings. Don't think for a minute, ladies, that your fight against the temptation to be emotional, to be independent, to be reviling, to be a feelings-driven woman aren't any more worthy, aren't any more necessary to battle against than all that men battle against. They are. And the second we dismiss those spights, we've lost. You've lost. So again, I say, examine yourself, church, all of us. Look carefully how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise. The obvious step too, then, after having honestly and carefully examined yourself, is to compare it to wisdom. Examine and compare. Am I walking as a wise person? That is one who is obedient to God's word, who is being informed by and through God's word. Am I walking as an unwise person? Am I being disobedient? Am I acting on impulse and emotion? Consider your thoughts, your actions, your responses, and ask, do these align with God's word? Am I being faithful? Is this feeling I am feeling, is this emotion I am having, is this thought, is this habit, is this action, is it in step with Scripture or not?

18:22If it isn't, it must be changed. I know this is a hard teaching. But the attitude of, I just can't help it. As in, you can't help how you feel, you can't help how you respond, this needs to leave our thinking church.

18:48Because if that is true, and you really can't help how you think, and you really can't help how you feel, and you really can't help how you respond, then please tell me why it is Paul is exhorting all believers here to consider carefully how they live and how they walk, as wise people and not as unwise people. What would be the point of Paul saying, Christian, make the best use of your time because the days are evil if you had no capacity or spirit-enabled ability to actually make the best use of your time? Do you see that? If you're honest with yourself, if we are all honest with ourselves, far too often we don't reclaim our life because we just don't want to.

19:40We like our sin. We like our habits. We cling to our attitudes.

19:51We cling to our identities, our habits, our attitudes, even when those accord to the old nature. The one that died with Christ and needs to go to the grave and stay there. We cling to the old man because we bought the lie. We bought the lie that above all things we must be authentically us. But Church, what if that authentic you is sinful? What if he's not wise? What if the authentic you is foolish and needs to change?

20:32Then what?

20:37Are you too stuck in pride to admit that you are wrong? Are you too rigid and selfish and self-centered? To say that you need to change, that you need to fix these things, that you need to follow biblical wisdom, that you need sanctification of the spirit? If you are not growing, if you are not walking in wisdom, it is almost certainly not because you can't help it. It's because you don't want to. Or you're too prideful to admit that you need to change.

21:22That is tough teaching, church.

21:26But I say to you, as the scripture says, don't be a fool any longer. Look carefully how you walk. Not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of your time because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. The next command, then, our text gives us as we move on is to not get drunk. With wine. Let me tell you, though, that this command almost certainly, or most certainly, goes well beyond the overconsumption of fermented juice. In fact, I think, and I would say with a fair amount of confidence, that the main exhortation here has nothing to do with alcohol. But we must walk through this illustration then as Paul gives it to us. And more broadly, we know at least some in the early church were consuming, overconsuming communion wine to the point of drunkenness. 1 Corinthians 11. When you come together, it's not the Lord's supper that you eat, for in eating each one goes ahead with his own meal, one goes hungry, and another gets drunk. What? Paul says, Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you to this? No, I will not. That's a different church, right? It's a different people. However, we do know that many pagan traditions would heighten their worship experience through alcohol consumption. In an effort to bring about this ecstatic or emotional experience, right? So the error is to enhance worship through means other than through the word and through the spirit. And there's various and broad applications for that that we don't have time for this morning. But a second passage that helps us with the clarification for our text this morning is in Acts chapter 2. Another familiar passage that you know, when on the day of Pentecost, the apostles, having been filled with the Spirit, they went out with zeal to preach, proclaim the gospel, and what were they accused of? Remember? Being drunk with wine. So at the very least, we see some similarities or connections between the outward manifestations of being filled by something with this clear illustration of how a person acts having been filled with too much wine or alcohol. Okay, then so more narrowly when we bring this into our text and apply this in context to what we're talking about this morning. And Paul is addressing here what is he saying, that there are two main ways I think we can apply this. First is that we must, church, consider our tendency to be filled with things other than the spirit. We must avoid the tendency to seek to enhance our lives, to empower and enhance our worship experience with things other than word and truth. That is spirit-guided beauty and goodness. All else our text says is debauchery. What is debauchery? It's wastefulness through excess. It's being filled with and motivated by temporal, worldly, emotional things as opposed to the spirit of truth. So the question then is what is filling you? What is exciting you? What is influencing you? What is driving you? What is informing your life? What is shaping your walk? Hear the words of Proverbs 23, 31. Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. What is the temptation there? Well, it's quick, it's easy, it's beautiful, it sparkles, it goes down smooth, and you're transported to this state of bliss and relaxation. How often are we enticed to all manner of things in life and in worship that produce this desired effect for us, that produce this experience, but they're devoid of the power of the Spirit? How often in worship do we chase that experience over faithfulness? How often in our lives do we chase an experience over faithfulness? How often in life do we choose easy amusement over challenging wisdom and sanctification? That's the command. To reclaim your life for the glory of God, it must be empowered by the Spirit and in truth. Our worship must be done in spirit and in truth. Alone. Again, that doesn't mean it's not experiential. It doesn't mean it's not emotional. But it does mean that it doesn't go down smooth and easy. As perhaps we expect. It takes diligence. It takes wisdom. It takes refining. It takes the spirit to shape, to challenge, to refine. It takes a heart of thanksgiving.

27:11Willing to give all for the glory of God. This is the opposite of amusement.

27:22It is spirit-inspired wisdom and sanctification and growth through diligence, through obedience, and through these creative pursuits empowered by the Spirit. Secondly, and probably just as important, that the filling of the Spirit must and always does produce a noticeable manifestation of outward behavior change. We don't want to err here like the charismatics do and think that this means that the filling of the spirit makes us act like drunk people. Because it doesn't. But rather the true indwelling and the true empowering of the spirit changes us in a noticeable way. There have been days when I've woken up and for whatever reason I'm just in a good mood. And maybe I walk out of my office and I just start singing or acting silly, and the response from the family is always the same. Like, what's gotten into you today? That's not a command to be happy or to be silly all the time. It's an illustration to say the empowerment of the Spirit, while not necessarily, it's not necessarily going to put you in a happy mood all the time. He is going to impart some change that is outwardly noticed. People will notice a change that something or someone has indeed gotten into you. What is then that noticeable change that the filling of the Spirit produces? What is that noticeable change that the Spirit produces in us? It is a change, listen, it is a change that is exactly the opposite of, or the contrast to the change or the manifestation that wine produces. What does wine produce when we put too much of it in us? A loss of self-control? Diminishing wisdom? Diminishing discernment? A lack of prudence and instability of our faculties, lack of balance and grounding, often negative changes in mood and behavior over time. To be filled with the Spirit necessarily produces the opposite of all of that. It increases our self-control. It provides us greater wisdom, more discernment, sharpens our prudence and our piety. It further grounds us, it gives us a sure and stable footing. It clears our mind. It heightens our intellect. It shapes our behavior in positive ways. This always happens. It produces a life that is opposite of the prodigal. That word debauchery in our text this morning can also be translated. It's essentially the same word as prodigal. You remember the prodigal son, who in excess and wastefulness squandered his inheritance. Squandered it in sin and licentious living. He sought temporal, temporary satisfaction over eternal glory. The filling of the Spirit, that is the reclaiming of our life by Christ, is the exact opposite of that. We're called the prudence. We value our lives. We add value to our lives. We add value to others' lives as opposed to just consuming. It creates, it builds, it disciplines and disciples. It saves, it stores up. It supports, it teaches, it grows. It is the opposite of a drunk who is always a burden to others. The spirit-filled Christian is wise, sober-minded, stable, dependable, prudent, restrained, with an eye ever to eternal glory. Let me also add one more element here that Martin Lloyd Jones inserted into his commentary that I think is particularly potent for us today. He points out that nowhere in Scripture do we read that the Spirit of God, when it indwells and empowers and fills a person, does it exhaust them? The opposite is true. The Spirit gives us zeal, it gives us power, it gives us motivation, it gives us drive, it refreshes our soul, it brings us joy and comfort and peace. So, church, I say to us, if we are living in this perpetual hangover, to keep the analogy going, of drained energy, of spiritual and emotional exhaustion, I ask, are you filled with the Spirit? Are you receiving spiritual nourishment? You may very well be filling yourself with all manner of things, perhaps some necessary to a degree, but church, debauchery of anything that is excess of anything, must be guarded against, or it will indeed quench the filling of the Spirit who refreshes us and empowers us. That could be a whole sermon in itself, but we will continue. Finally, then we look, verse 20 and following. 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. This demands there that there is a corporate element to a reclaimed life. A reclaimed life is corporate. It goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway. All these previous commands and all that follow are only possible by and through the fulfilling or the indwelling of the Spirit. The reclaiming of our life, the transformation of our corporate worship, as we are attempting with every effort to do, the unity of the body, this all demands that we are filled with and empowered by the Spirit, without which none of this that we're talking about this morning is even possible. The point made then as we close this section is to both close out in one sense what he has been saying for a number of verses now, as well as to introduce the exhortation that follows, that we'll get into next time, and that is that a reclaimed life is no longer individual or individualistic. The reclaimed life is corporate, it is mutually submissive. The reclaimed life is a life as a member of a body whereby a person lays down their life. They lay down their individual rights, their desires, they do so for the sake of the body. They do so for the sake of the community, the church. We will see that, of course, this includes the marriage relationship. This includes our relationship with our kids, parent to child, our work relationships. Those we will get to in the coming weeks. But boy, of closing out this section and moving into that section, let me say this: this whole concept of submission to one another. And the corporate focus of our lives is guided and informed and empowered by one thing. Let me say that again: this concept of submission to one another, the corporate focus of our lives. This is guided and informed by one thing, and our text gives it to us. Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Reverence for Christ is the motivation. We submit to one another, we care about one another, we help one another, we even reclaim our own lives in obedience, as we have been talking about. Because we honor and serve Christ, we fear and revere Christ. In submitting to one another, we submit to Christ. In honoring and serving one another, we honor and serve Christ. In reclaiming our life, we do it for his sake. In loving and caring one another, we love and care for Christ. Matthew 25. And the king will answer them, truly I say to you, as you did it to the one of the least of these, my brothers, you did it to me. There's so many points of application here. I struggled, honestly, with this this week to figure out how to navigate all the various ways in which we could take this entire passage. They're quite limitless. But I think the cleanest way to summarize this is to say that the reclaimed life, the spirit-empowered life, the life that is walking in love, the life that is transformed by the power of the gospel, is not in any way self-seeking. It's not selfish at all. That's gospel-centric, isn't it? It summarizes the life of Christ, Mark chapter 10. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be a slave to all, for even the Son of Man who came not to serve, not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom from many. And again, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each one of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others, having this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. But he emptied himself. By taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of man and being formed, being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. And amen and amen. The glorious news of the gospel is that Christ humbled himself in obedience. Christ humbled himself in obedience to the Father, so that in his life and in his death, you would be saved. That you would be saved from your sins, that you would be given eternal life by grace through faith. The God of the universe, the creator of all things, came to earth. He submitted himself to the Father in perfect obedience to save us and to give us eternal life. We thank him eternally for this work.

40:09Won't we then receive that gospel?

40:14And in receiving it, won't we allow it to empower and to inform our lives, to shape us, to change us, to do something in us? Won't we too, church, in reverence to Christ, reclaim this new and eternal life that He has purchased for us, that He has given to us, that He has gifted to us by faith. Won't we do that through wise walking? Through spirit-filled submission. This is the way, church. To the glory and honor, honor and praise of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. May we walk in love. May we walk in submission and obedience, reclaiming our life, our new life in Christ. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, as always, we thank you when you challenge us, Lord, through your word, to thank you that you were challenging me. Especially, perhaps, Lord. But Lord, I pray corporately this morning that you would refresh us again in your grace. Refresh us again in the gospel, Lord, that there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, Lord. You have done the work. So we pray even now, Lord, would that grace cover us? Lord, will we even now seek the forgiveness that the cross of Christ has given to us, Lord?

42:27That we would be free from guilt.

42:32That we would be assured that it is in Christ alone that we have eternal life and eternal security. Now, then would you, Lord, would you from that assurance, Lord, and from the surety of that salvation empower us, Lord, to live. Lord, to reclaim the life that you have purchased for us, Lord, that we would walk wise, that we would be transformed in obedience, Lord, that we would truly put off the old man and put on the new. As difficult and as painful and as trying and as testing as that may be, Lord.

43:19Help us to do that. For your glory, Lord. Because we fear Christ. We revere Him.

43:34Lord, and we desire to be holy as He is holy. And Lord, help us by your Spirit in that effort. We ask all these things in the name of Jesus. Amen.