Living Under the Lordship of Christ

Well, good morning, church. What a blessing it is to serve the Lord and to know him and to be gathered together in the

Lord's day to offer and render unto him that which is rightfully due to him. That is all glory, power, praise be unto the one true and trium

God. If you are able, please turn to Ephesians chapter five. And we're going to be examining verses 15 to 21.

When you have that, please do stand for the reading of God's word. Again, the text is

Ephesians chapter five, starting in verse 15. Hear ye this morning the word of the

Lord. Look carefully then how you walk, 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, 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.

You may be seated. Let us go before the Lord in prayer.

Lord, we cannot even begin to fathom the depths of your love, the depths of your wisdom, the depths of your power and sovereignty.

And Lord, we pray God that even this morning, by means of the indwelling of the

Holy Ghost and the preaching and proclamation of the word of God in the gospel, we would get just a foretaste of the glory that is veiled in your sight.

Lord, help us to see with eyes of faith, to live under the rulership, kingship, lordship of Jesus Christ, to come under that perfect sovereign grace that only you can provide.

We ask Lord to help us to put away foolish things, to ready our hearts for worship and for instruction, and lead us not in our own ways, but in the path of everlasting life.

We pray these things and we ask your blessing over the reading and preaching of your word, in Jesus' name, amen.

If I sound louder than I usually am, it's because I went swimming yesterday and I can't hear now from this ear.

So, if I'm talking too loud, it's not because I'm particularly upset, it's just I can't hear very well.

I want to comment real quickly on the selection of music that you have heard this morning and that we partook in and sang from our hearts as we approached the throne of God's mercy.

And one of the things that I want to point your attention to is the first song that we sing is, come ye sinners, as pastor also pointed out, how appropriate the call of the gospel is for you and I this morning, is that God is inviting us, he's calling not the righteous, but the sinners.

And he's calling us to himself. We'll recognize that when we come onto him, we come onto a holy, righteous

God. And this holy and righteous God will not leave you as he found you, but instead he will change you, he will transform you, which is why then the next song was, holy, holy, holy, we come onto a holy

God. And then we come unto, we come, we who love the Lord, because we see the face, the beauty, the majesty of pure holiness.

And we love him as he loved us, as he's demonstrated his love for us in the mercies of the cross of Jesus Christ.

And it brings us now to our teaching and our sermon this morning, which is living under the lordship,

I know it says leadership in the bulletin, but it should be lordship of Christ. Coming under the proper lordship of who

Jesus Christ is. And when we come onto him, he changes us, transforms us, gives us a new way of life.

And that is the entire focus of Paul in Ephesians, starting really in chapter 2, when he goes on to speak of the great grace that we've received through the cross and the merit of Jesus Christ, with the great love of which he loved us.

And then he begins to talk about the mystery of the gospel in chapter 3. And how this mystery of the gospel is that there is an inclusion of the

Gentiles into the covenant family of God. It is no longer that God is just dealing with one particular ethnic group, but instead his heart has now gone towards all the nations.

And all the nations can come unto the God of Israel and be not only saved, transformed, but in covenant relationship with the

God of Israel. Then we see in chapter 4 and 5, this new way of life, this new creation, and how we as Christians ought to conduct ourselves, how we ought to live in a fallen and broken world.

We begin this message, particularly in verse 15, when Paul says these words in Ephesians 5 .15,

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise.

Now, notice the indicative. Notice what is being brought to our attention.

Look carefully. Look carefully. At what in particular is he asking us to look at carefully?

When you give that instruction maybe as a father, a mother to your child, or maybe as a boss to an employee, and you say, look at this carefully, you're asking them to examine, to take time, to really make sure you understand what is in front of you.

And Paul says, look carefully then how you walk, how you walk.

This imagery is brought up time and time again in the Scriptures. We see of Enoch, Enoch was a man who walked with God.

Noah was a man who walked with God. The command that we are given in Micah chapter 5 or 6, he says to walk with God, to love justice, to walk humbly with your

God. It's to walk. Now, how do we as Christians walk with He who is unseen, with He who is invisible, with He who is not tangible, that who we cannot literally hold on to or grasp?

How do we walk with that which we cannot see? And how does this fit in the narrative of what

Paul is trying to admonish those in Ephesus, to look carefully then as to how you walk?

Well, the way that God's Word is commanding us to walk is not literally obviously walking in a garden with God, although that's the imagery that should be conjured up, just like God was walking in the midst of the garden in Genesis chapter 3.

So God invites us to walk with Him, which is a statement of relationship.

God wants you to be in relationship with Him. Now, the only problem is, is that you are sinful and He is holy.

How can a sinful man walk with a holy God? And the

Gospel reveals to us exactly how, that God in the fullness of time brought forth into the world

His Son, Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin, not one who had inherited sin, but one who was perfect, blameless and the spotless

Lamb. So much so that when John the Baptist sees this one coming on to him, he says,

Behold, the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world and this Christ, this

Messiah, this perfect Lamb, lived a holy life, the life that you are unable to live.

You're incapable of living. No one here can say they are without sin.

Not you, not your grandfather, not your grandmother, not your pastors, no one in this room, no one in this world can say that they are without sin.

So great is the infection of sin that we have had unbroken generations who have been consumed and who have ultimately died as a result of sin.

But in the midst of the sea of humanity, there stands only one who was born without sin, who sinned not in his earthly life or course, and this is the righteous one, even

Jesus Christ our Lord. He lived a life that you could not live and he then died the death that you deserved.

That death on a cross. Notice the magnitude. God stepping into humanity, stepping into that which he created and then being crucified by his own creatures.

You see, one of the church fathers said that he who fashioned the stars was himself fastened to a created piece of wood that he himself brought into existence by the very hands of those whom he formed out of the dust.

What an incredible statement. What a powerful message we see in the cross of Jesus.

He died the death that you deserved. Next to two criminals.

Died a death that was horrendous, fit for a murderer, fit for a blasphemer, fit for someone who is a sinner.

Yet Jesus, the sinless one, the righteous one, the spotless one, took that upon himself.

And then God in his infinite wisdom and power left not that one in the grave, but instead raised them from the dead and seated him at the right hand of majesty, where he now lives and is ascended above all powers and principalities and is himself the ascended, glorified

Lord of history. And this one Jesus is the one to whom we present to you this morning and the one to whom he beckons all men, come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.

This is the one with whom we must walk with. This is the one to whom we must cling to in order for us to walk humbly with our

God, with our creator. Therefore, as Christians, we must walk wisely.

And so if you're following along, please write this in. Christians must walk wisely.

Why? Why must we walk wisely? Well, notice what it says in verse 16. Making the best use of the time because the days are evil.

The days are evil. Therefore, we see why we see such an indicative, such a call to walk wisely.

It's because the days in which we are in are indeed evil. So Christians must walk wisely as the days are evil.

Now, there's three reasons I want to give you this morning to make most and wise use of our time.

The first one is what we just read. Number one, the days are indeed evil. Now, what does that mean that the day is evil?

Well, it means simply this, that evil is increasing, not decreasing. You see, evil has always been around us.

So evil was humanity, even in its early civilization, in its early conception, that God brought forth his judgment upon an unjust people by flooding the world and the global deluge.

So evil were the people of Canaan that God had to wipe out a whole people group because of the wickedness.

But yet, even today, we're living in evil times and evil continues to increase.

You see, we think in modern times, humans think that the more that we progress in our technology, the less evil we become, but really that's not true, is it?

It just enables different kinds of evils. You see, the days are indeed evil and are only getting more and more evil.

Jesus said this in Matthew 24 in the Olivet Discourse, speaking of the end times, he says that the love of many will cool off and evil shall increase.

We've seen that today. Just a generation ago, we see how quickly even just race relations in this country have devolved, have gone down at an all -time low since the civil rights movement.

We see how neighbor rises up against their own neighbor. If you have the app, what's that called?

Nextdoor. That Nextdoor app is really telling because all

I see there's a bunch of neighbors complaining about each other. And the reality is, is that again, our technology is enabling just different kinds of evils.

Evil is increasing. So therefore, we as Christians must make good and wise use of our time.

You see, evil must be countered and it must be countered with good and the goodness, not of our own self, but the goodness of the grace of Jesus Christ that is merited to us by faith in him.

We now bring the goodness of God to the peoples, to our neighbors, to our politics, to every aspect of Christian life.

And again, we must be devoting ourselves even more as Christians then to the things of God.

We must make the best use of our time. And unfortunately today, again, partly because of our technology, we can either be hyper productive as a result of technology, or we can be hyper unproductive because of technology.

And so we have to make the best use of our time, be wise in how we administer our time as saints, as Christians, because the days are indeed evil.

The second thing I want to present to you as to why the Christian ought to walk wisely and why the

Christian ought to make the most of his time is because number two, the days are short.

The days are short and life is indeed a vapor that you are here just for a little while and then you're gone.

You're like the blade of grass in the field that quickly sprouts and then quickly withers away.

Our time here on this earth, if we're lucky, what, 80 years, 90 years, 100 years?

And what is that in comparison to eternity? And yet, even if we just turn on the news, we find that people die young all the time, tragically.

Car accidents, sickness, disease, war, so many things that cut short human life expectancy.

And yet, we do not know when our last breath will be. Therefore, we live with the knowledge of knowing that we can die at any moment, at any time.

It is but by grace that you are alive even today, that God by his goodness has sustained you and put breath in your lungs.

And yet, because of the brevity of life, we are to be reminded that we are to make the most of the time that we have, to use our time wisely, to honor

God, to glorify God. And the last reason I'll give you this morning as to why we ought to use our time wisely is because we will give an account to him, to the creator, for our use of time.

You see, living under the lordship of Jesus Christ is to recognize that your life is no longer your own.

But rather, you have now come to him who is the proper ruler, sovereign, and maker of your life.

Therefore, we must surrender even our time, which is so precious, which is so fleeting, to him to whom all things belong and of whom every knee shall bow and every tongue confess.

Living under the lordship of Christ is, again, is to recognize your life is not your own, that time does not bend to your will, but follows the sovereign course of Jesus Christ.

Therefore, consider with me this morning what life for the Christian looks like under the proper lordship of Jesus Christ.

Verse 17 of Ephesians 5, Paul goes on to say these following words, therefore, again, every time you see the word therefore, think of it as a result of what was just mentioned, do not be foolish, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the

Lord is. Understand what the will of the Lord is.

You see, there is a wisdom that comes with knowing Jesus.

There is a wisdom that is accompanied by the indwelling of the spirits, and it means that God is calling us away from foolishness or childish things, things that do not profit, things that do not add, things that are of no heavenly good, and to put away those things, to put on the things that are of God, to be not foolish, but to be discerning.

And I want you to write that in there, do not be foolish, but be discerning what the will of the

Lord is. Do not be foolish, but discerning. You know, verse that was in our, in the previous section that we didn't get to read, but in John chapter nine, verse four,

Jesus says some remarkable words, and he says something to this effect, he says, work while it is still day, for the night is coming when no man can work.

Work while it is still day. You see, the foolish man wastes the day away, does not do what is required of him, or what would be profitable or good for him, or his family, or his business, or for the things of God, but instead, the foolish man allows that time to be withered away, does things at the last second.

You know, now I have to admit, I was kind of like that for a long time. I was the kid in school that if there was a project and we had a week to do it,

I'd be working on it the night before, and not only the night before, but the very last hour of the night before,

I'd be, oh, it's nine o 'clock, I should probably start that project. And guess how that went?

Usually those projects would not be graded very well because I was foolish and did not make the most of my time.

And yet, so many of us carry that over even to adulthood, even into family life or work life, and we're foolish with the time that we have.

And yet, God is calling us to be wise, not foolish. God is calling us to be good stewards. Part of living under the

Lordship of Jesus is learning to be a good steward of that which the Lord has apportioned to you in life.

Therefore, we're to be reminded not to be foolish, but to be discerning, to be discerning, to recognize, to seek out what the will of the

Lord is for our lives. And so the foolish man does not take the brevity of time into consideration, let alone what

God's will is. Oftentimes, even Christians make the mistake of not pursuing the will of God.

Instead, they think that God is kind of like a cosmic cheerleader on the side, and whatever you decide to do with your life, whatever you want to do with your life, he'll just be on the sidelines and he'll cheer you on.

That is not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible is sovereign. Every knee will bow to him.

He will not bow to you. Therefore, recognize and discern what the will of the

Lord is. And I've taught you this before, but I want to give you again just four things to consider.

I know I'm giving you a lot of lists today, but I want to give you four things to consider on how to discern the will of God.

And the first one is very simple and it's very important. And you kind of need all four of these, at least, in order to know if this is

God's will. And the first part is, is it biblical? So you have to ask yourself this question.

If you're in life and you're considering a life change, you're considering what the will of the Lord is, ask yourself this question.

Is this biblical? A few years ago, I was at a church in Edmonton.

I was pastoring a church there. And a couple come up to me and invited me to dinner.

They were, you know, boyfriend and girlfriend, and they invited me to dinner and I'm thinking, okay, great, you know, maybe they're, you know, thinking of getting married and, you know, want to ask me for premarital counseling.

You know, that'd be great. You know, they invite me, we go to Red Lobster and they gave me a really nice meal. And then they say, pastor, you know, we've been praying about this a lot.

And I think, you know, me and so -and -so, we're going to move in together. I said, really?

I said, without getting married? Like, yeah, you know, we prayed about it and we feel like, you know, the

Lord will be okay with that. You know, I just about dropped my lobster and steak and said, well, we're not praying to the same

Jesus then. Because my Jesus wouldn't permit that because it's in his word. He never contradicts his word.

So you cannot pursue something that is not God's will for you. And how do we know

God's will? It has to be in the word. Okay, can't contradict this word of God.

Can't contradict the scriptures. Second thing is that the spirit of God ought to testify.

Now, how does the spirit of God testify to these things? Well, the Bible says in Romans 8, that God's spirit bears witness of our spirit, that we are

God's children. Jesus said of the third person of the triune God, the Holy Spirit, that his job is to convict the world of sin and righteousness.

Not just sin, we focus on that part a lot, but it's to convict of sin and righteousness, what is good and what is evil.

And the spirit convicts. There ought to be a conviction, a heaviness, of the working of the spirit in your life.

The third part, very important, is that there ought to be a consensus amongst godly people.

You should bring your heart, your desires, your thoughts, your considerations to godly people to see if the spirit is also testifying to that degree.

I'll give you a perfect example. When I was younger and my wife and I decided that we wanted to move to Canada, before we actually made the decision, we brought it to our pastor, we brought it to many friends, and the thing that we heard often was, we don't want you to leave, but this sounds like Jesus.

This sounds like God's working in your life and God is leading you in this way, so therefore, we give you our blessing.

That's so important. Often as Christians, we don't even consider the counsel of others, and let alone the counsel of pastors, and that's such a danger, that's such a pitfall for Christians.

We think that we can do it all on our own, that we can muster up enough intellect or strength to make these difficult decisions of life, but God's word encourages us to bring things to godly people.

We see that throughout the book of Proverbs. Matter of fact, within God's law, it says that you need two or three witnesses for every matter to be established.

Therefore, we ought to bring our hopes, our dreams, our concerns to God's people to see if there is a consensus amongst the people of God, and the last thing that should be considered when considering the will of the

Lord is am I forcing the circumstances or are the circumstances being sovereignly opened?

You see, sometimes the first three things align. It's not unbiblical. It's maybe a very biblical thing you wanna do.

Then you feel a conviction about it, and then people around you seem to affirm it, but then the circumstances don't open up.

The circumstances don't seem to align, and recognize this, that our God is a sovereign God, and when

God opens a door, no man can shut it, but when he closes a door, no man can open it, and so these four things ought to align, and we can begin to discern what the will of the

Lord is, and follow him, and consider his will for our lives, not to be foolish, but again, to be discerning.

The four things I just gave you, these are ways, and these are not the only ways, but these are ways that I have seen to be tested and true to discern the will of the

Lord for the Christian life. Therefore, again, do not be foolish, but be discerning as to what the will of the

Lord is. We see in verse 18, Paul then goes on to say the following, do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the

Spirit. I want you to write this in. We must not waste our time in debauchery, but be filled by the what?

By the Spirit, by the Holy Spirit of God. Notice what's being brought to our attention here.

Paul uses the abuse of wine as an example of a wasted life.

So Paul not only just says to you, hey, here's what it looks like, or here's some practical advice, you know, don't waste your time.

You know, be wise with your usage of time, but he then brings up an example. He uses the abuse of alcohol, the abuse of wine, debauchery, as an example of a wasted life.

You see, the idea behind the Greek word that is used here for debauchery isn't simply drunkenness, but the wastefulness accompanied by drunkenness.

It's not just to be drunk, but it's also, again, it gives the connotation, the idea of all the wasted time and effort and energy and money that goes along with the consumption of alcohol and the consumption of, you know, any type of addictive behavior.

You see, drunkenness here is just simply the go -to drug of the ancient world.

You know, they didn't have some of the drugs that we have today, obviously, and so you can, you know, take that example of debauchery and drunkenness with wine, you can insert pretty much anything there.

You know, notice what the scripture says, do not get drunk with wine or do not waste your time with wine.

Do not waste your time with pornography. Do not waste your time with recreational drugs.

Do not waste your time with the things that detract from the glory and the majesty of God in the

Christian life and walk. Make use, wise use of your time.

And there is nothing necessarily sinful in itself with drinking wine, although I got a lot of Baptist friends who would say otherwise.

There's nothing particularly sinful with the consumption of wine, but where it becomes sinful is when, of course, one gives themselves over to it fully and waste their life and time away.

You see, drugs, alcohol, these are all things that we use today, just as it was used in the ancient world as a way of escapism.

Today was a tough day at work. I'm gonna drink a couple beers so I can just kind of forget about my day and kind of mellow out.

But then what do we do with our afternoon hours if we're just consuming alcohol? Well, oftentimes our afternoon hours, instead of being productive or put in study for the word of God, instead it becomes wasted.

And we just kind of waste away. You know, wine can be a thing of gladness, according to Scripture.

I just want to put this out there. There are more times in Scripture where wine is actually put in a positive connotation rather than a negative.

But the ones that are negative are pretty strong in reminding us that we as Christians ought not to be mastered by anything because we already have a master.

We have a Lord to whom we must obey and bow the knee, and that's King Jesus. If you can, turn to 1

Peter 4. And notice what the Apostle Peter says concerning this very thing.

Very similar and wise advice, similar as to what we see from the Apostle Paul. And notice what, again, it says in 1

Peter 4, starting in verse 2, Paul giving this good word of stewardship of God's grace, he says in verse 2 of 1

Peter 4, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh, no longer for human passions, but for the will of God.

There you see that again. The idea of putting away human passion to pursue God's will.

Verse 3 says, for the time that is past suffices for doing what the

Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.

With respect to this, they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you.

Let's stop there for a moment. Peter, through the inspired word, is giving us instruction.

He says, therefore, as Christians, we must not continue in the course of life like those of the

Gentiles. And the sensuality, the passions, the drunkenness, the orgies, the drinking parties, lawless idolatry, these are all examples of a wasted life, of a life that has not come under the proper lordship of Jesus Christ.

He says, don't waste your life on these things, dear Christian. Don't do it. There's a better way.

There's a better life to be lived under the grace of God, under the will of God, under the sovereignty of God. And he says, with respect to these things, they are surprised, that is the

Gentiles, when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery. Is that not true?

Maybe you recognize this in your personal life, whether at your job, or whether at school, or some other social settings, where you're around unbelievers, and they begin to partake in things that are not wholesome, things that are not of God.

And then they wonder, what's so different about you? Who do you think you are? Why don't you come over here and have a beer with us?

Why don't you come over here and do this with us? And they invite you to participate in their wickedness.

And then they think it's strange when we do not participate. And when we do not participate with them, they malign you.

They judge you. They cast dispersion on you. And they say, who do you think you are?

What do you think you're better than us? There's so many times in life where opportunities like this arise, where your faith will be tested, where your conscience will be tested.

But remember and hold fast to what the will of the Lord is. Ask yourself, is participation in this honoring to God?

Is it biblical? But what the brothers think, is the Holy Spirit testifying in my heart, through my conscience, that this is a good or a bad thing?

Consider, dear brethren, what the will of the Lord is. Not be foolish. Make the best use of your time.

Live under the Lordship of Christ. And the reason why it says in verse five, but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

Remember, beloved, that we will give an account. And how we live in this world matters and has implications for eternity.

Not that we earn salvation, not that we earn our place in heaven, but rather that our place in heaven is not determined by our works.

That's through faith in Jesus Christ and only the merit of Christ earns us any grace for heaven.

But in regard to the crown and in regard to the glory that God receives in our

Christian worship, brethren, how you live matters. How you live has great implication because we will give an account to him who's ready to judge the living and the dead.

That is why then Paul tells us again in Ephesians 5, 18, don't waste your life on debauchery. Don't waste your life on drunkenness.

Don't waste your life on things that are not producing kingdom fruit, but instead be filled by the spirit.

You see, oftentimes we turn to these drugs, we turn to alcohol, we turn to pornography as a way to fill a void in our hearts, to fill the void in ourselves.

Yet there is one who stands ready to give you all fullness. And the fullness that he offers is through the indwelling of his spirit.

He will make you whole. He will make you filled.

And it's by his spirit. What the world offers and the way that you can try to fill yourself by means of the sensuality and the drunkenness and the origins of the world will ultimately fail to produce that which it promises.

It will never make you whole. It'll never make you full. It'll only ever leave you wanting more and more.

And yet when you come onto Christ, you come onto the lordship of Jesus Christ, you are filled with the same spirit that raised him from the dead.

The same spirit that was hovering over the surface of the deep in Genesis chapter one, verse two, who brought all things into being, who brought all things into creation.

Again, one cannot live properly under the lordship of Jesus and be a drunkard or an addict to any of the passions of the flesh.

Again, this is why the reason why the botry and addictive lifestyles are incompatible with Christianity because they submit our wills to the flesh and not to the will of God.

Therefore, beloved, run from sensuality, run from earthly passions, run from the things that will distract you, that will keep you and draw you away from the goodness of Christ and run onto Christ.

Run to him who is good and the proper lover of your soul, who will make you whole and filled with the spirit of God.

Run to Jesus, beloved. Now, we see in Ephesians chapter five, verse 19, after we received the word of being filled with the spirit, he says, addressing one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the

Lord with your heart. You see, one of the dangers of the botry is that it clouds judgment and it clouds the intentions of the heart.

One cannot properly praise and magnify God in a drunken state, in an altered state of mind.

Therefore, God is calling us to be of sound mind, to come before him, to offer him what is rightfully due to him, that is praise, glory, and adoration, addressing one another, that's the

Christian's church, addressing one another in psalms and hymns, spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the

Lord of your heart. You see, Christian worship matters. It matters. And I wanna use this as an opportunity to remind you, beloved, that when we gather on the

Lord's day and we sing songs, you know, I'll be honest with you, I'm still getting familiar with some of the songs in our hymnal.

These are not all, I didn't grow up in a very traditional church, more of a contemporary church.

And so a lot of these songs are still, you know, difficult for me. I'm still trying to get used to it. But when I learn a song,

I try to sing it from the heart. Because oftentimes what you find in the hymns are far better theologically than what you find in modern day contemporary

Christian music. And these are songs that have been tested and tried and are true.

They have a rich historic foundation. And isn't it awesome that we can come together on the

Lord's day and sing a song that's been sung for 200, 300, 400 years, joining the saints throughout history and singing with gladness in our hearts.

Therefore, when we sing together and we learn a song, let us sing from the depths of our heart and appreciation for the rich historic faith that we have.

And also for the grace that is accompanied in our singing that we get to minister not only to God and the host of heaven, but also we're ministering to each other.

Isn't it beautiful and wonderful when we come to a church and you hear every voice lifted and you hear that voice and that song rise to the altar of grace, to the throne of God himself?

It's a beautiful, wonderful thing. So I want to admonish us and encourage us. Let us be also known not just for a church that preaches the gospel, but that sings the gospel.

Not only a church that even sings the gospel, but a church that lives out the gospel. So that when people and visitors and unbelievers come in our midst, they can see and say alongside with scripture,

God is truly among them. So let us continue to be filled with the spirit, to walk in the fullness of God's goodness.

And so I want you to write this in here in the next part. A spirit -filled life is one filled with worship from the heart.

I'm gonna say that again. A spirit -filled life is one filled with worship from the heart.

And it's on to the Lord. And this is what it looks like to be living under the lordship of Jesus.

A life under Christ's lordship is a life of worship. Not one of drunkenness, not one of debauchery, not one of sensuality, but one that is in constant, unbroken chain of worship.

And that might sound like a new concept to you. Like, what does that look like? What does it mean to live a life of worship?

Does it mean that I have to sing a hymn every single moment of every single day? No. But that when life's difficulties arise, instead of running to drunkenness, you run to worship.

When there's things that are praiseworthy in life and day -to -day life, and there's a good report, you respond to that good report with worship.

And not just drunken celebration. You meet every occasion in life with true worship, recognizing that every gift, every good gift comes from our father from above, but every hardship is meant to lead us back to him.

And so whatever we face in life, whether good or bad, whether good or evil, we turn and use that as an opportunity for true worship.

Therefore, that is what a true life under the Lordship of Christ looks like. It's an unbroken life of worship.

It's a life of praise, glory, adoration to the one who gave it all. And we address one another in Psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the

Lord with your heart. This also brings up another very important point, and it's that Jesus Christ is

Lord even over Christian worship. You see, our church follows something that's called the regulative principle.

And the regulative principle essentially says that God is the one who sets the standard for worship, that we do not go beyond that which is written.

We do not go beyond that which God has ordained for Christian worship and Christian gathering, but rather that Jesus being the proper

Lord, not only of history, but especially of his church, he gets to set the parameter of what true and biblical worship looks like.

And so coming under the Lordship of Jesus means that I don't get to pick how I worship. God has already ordained how we are to worship.

And that is a comfort, is a protection for us. So just remember, beloved, that God's word ought to reign supreme in the

Christian life because Christ is Lord over every aspect of life. Verse 20 of Ephesians 5,

Paul says this, giving thanks always and for everything to God the

Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. What a beautiful way to end that awesome thought, to give thanks always.

I don't know about you, but I don't always give thanks for everything. And we think about the implication of that, giving thanks for everything.

It's a nice verse to read. It's a nice little thing that posts on social media, but how does that apply to my life, in day -to -day life?

Do I truly give thanks for everything? The answer is no. I don't give thanks for the guy who cut me off in the highway. You know, it's like, oh, thanks.

I'll probably, I might say that very sarcastically, but not typically in a place of genuine thankfulness.

You know, once we were driving cross country, my family and I, we've done lots of cross country trips. We like, we're kind of a road trip family.

And one time we were in Ohio and I was going pretty fast. I was going, you know, faster than I should have been.

I've got kind of a heavy foot, which is one of the reasons why I don't like to put Christian bumper stickers on my cars is because I do have a heavy foot.

And the last thing I want to do is bring attention or misalign the name of Jesus on my car because of my heavy foot.

But we were driving pretty fast on this highway in Ohio. And unsurprisingly,

I got pulled over. And as I got pulled over, I was thinking to myself, oh, great, now I got to pay a ticket and I got to pay fine.

It's going to slow me down. I'm trying to get to a destination. And this is just so inconvenient. I'm not thankful for this at all.

You know, the interaction took about 10 minutes, got a ticket, went on my way. Not even 10 minutes later on that road, we hit some very heavy traffic.

Traffic that was so heavy that actually we were stuck in traffic for about four hours without even moving.

It happened to be that, you know, just up the road about, you know, 10 minutes from where we were, there was a huge car accident.

And I kind of thought to myself, you know, had I not been stopped there, I could have been involved in that accident and it could have been disastrous for my family.

And so you have to begin to recognize that oftentimes there are things that may seem as inconveniences in life, but they're often used by the

Lord to be a blessing and a protection for us. And it's only in eternity that we'll begin to discover all the times in which

God has preserved us, even though we felt so inconvenient and we felt so terrible about this or that.

And yet in the midst of those difficult times, God was actually preserving us and doing something about our knowledge and notice.

And it's oftentimes that's the case, that God is at work and we don't even see it, we don't even recognize it.

And so beloved, we ought to give thanks in all things, give thanks to the Lord and submit to Him for everything, to God the

Father. And we do so in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Please write this in, we must acknowledge that all things are from God.

The good, the bad, the beautiful and the ugly, everything stems from His good and sovereign hand.

And we have to give thanks in the name of Jesus. We must give thanks in the name of Jesus.

Notice the progression here in verse 18, you have this command to be filled with the spirit. Verse 19, you have this command to address one another in Psalms and spiritual songs and worship, making melody to the

Lord with your heart. And then we receive this other word of giving thanks always for everything to God the

Father in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Your life ought to be structured like worship. You see, when you come on Sunday to worship service, we have a structured service, we have an order of service and it allows us to be productive in honoring

God in the time that we have. In the same way, our lives ought to be orderly, similar to Christian worship.

And notice how Paul starts that, he says, don't do this, but instead do that. Don't be drunk, be filled the spirit, make melody with your heart, worship

God, and then you end with a doxology. Your life should end with doxology.

A doxology is something that you find at the end of many parts of scripture. You see at the end of songs and hymns, it's meant to end a thought with a glorification of God to lift high the creator.

And our days ought to end similar to that. A day filled with either great hardship or great joy ought to end the same way with praise and doxology to the one true

God. And so therefore we see and recognize that our life indeed ought to be one of sacred service, of a living sacrifice, of constant praise and worship.

We all see this similarity here in verse 19 and 20 where it says to address one another in songs and spiritual music.

Verse 20, giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

You see, the reason I think this is here is because I think verse 14, according to many scholars, verse 14 is saying, you have this quotation from Isaiah 60,

Awake, O sleeper and rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you is often thought to be an ancient hymn of the church.

And so Paul inserts this hymn, this ancient hymn of the church in verse 14. And then he goes on to list how our life ought to be like a song.

It ought to be kind of like a hymn where our worries and our praises ought to be directed to the one true

God in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's our life. Our life is like a song.

What kind of song will you be? What kind of song will you render onto him who is worthy?

Live under the Lordship of Christ. Paul then ends this thought in verse 21 by saying submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

You see, submission to Christ's Lordship means to humbly submit to one another out of reverence.

That's the last word I want you to write. Reverence or fear. Submission to Christ's Lordship means we humbly submit to one another out of reverence or fear of Christ.

Now we see, you don't have to turn there, but I'm gonna read to you a scripture from Philippians chapter two, a very well -known text of scripture.

Paul says in Philippians chapter two, starting in verse two actually, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord of one mind, doing nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Let each of you look not only to his own interest, but also to the interest of others.

And in this way then Paul says, had the same mind that was in Christ Jesus, that though he was in the form of God, did not think equality with God, a thing to be grasped or held on to, but he humbled himself even to the point of obedience to death on a cross.

This is the heart and the mind of the Christian ought to have. The life of the Christian who is under the proper

Lordship and submission of King Jesus is the life of one who submits to the church, to one another out of love, fear and reverence for Christ and his great name.

So all human relationships, this isn't just applied to the relationships in church. So all human relationships as Paul shows and demonstrates in the text, find your pattern and meaning and ordered expression under the authority of Christ.

All things come under Christ Lordship. All things come under his headship.

Therefore we ought to submit to one another out of fear and reverence. Peter puts it this way in 1

Peter 2, verse 17. He says, love the brotherhood. He says, submit to the emperor.

Love the brotherhood. It's out of love, reverence, fear that we submit to one another because in that way, we glorify our

King and our Savior and our Redeemer. Even the Lord Jesus Christ who has been presented to you this morning.

The same Jesus who came the fullness of time, born of the virgin to live the life that you could not live that the death that you deserved was raised again to glory.

The same Jesus who now beckons you to come under his proper Lordship, to come under his headship, to be a new creation and to be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may be a walking testimony and a walking example of true and living worship that is holy and acceptable to God.

Let your life be a song and come under Christ. Come to him if you've not come. My invitation to you, if you've not come to know

Jesus Christ, the Bible commands men everywhere to repent of their sins, that is to turn away from sin, acknowledge your sin has caused a division between you and your maker and turn to Christ.

Turn to Christ and he alone can save you. The Bible says, there is no other name given among men by which we may be saved, but the name of Jesus.

It is to his name and his name alone that every tongue shall confess and every bow, every knee shall bow, even unto the glory of God the

Father. May you know him today and may you be filled with the spirit that he gives and we pray all these things in his name.

Let's pray. Father, let our life be a song, a song of thanksgiving to you, a song of praise and worship to you.

That the life that we live would be a sweet melody to you. Lord, we pray God that you would help us in the difficulty of life and the difficulty of relationships to recognize your true and proper lordship over all things.

That as we submit to you, knowing that you can make all things right if we surrender to your will, so that we may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with you forever in the next.

We know Lord that you are ultimately working all things together for good for those who've been called according to your purposes.

We ask God that you'd help us to see with true eyes of faith that which you've laid before us so that we can live a holy and perfect life, not under our own merit, but under the merit of another, the merit of Jesus Christ, who alone lived that perfect and holy life.

And that as he merits that to us, we are transformed and changed by the in -working of the

Holy Spirit so that you've given us a heart that is able to love and obey thy commands.

We pray Lord that you'd work in us that which is pleasing in your sight to the only God, be glory, power, and dominion both now and forevermore through Jesus Christ, amen.