The Spirit-Filled Life is in the Mundane

Here is the transcript from my first sermon I had to give in preaching class.

Ephesians 5:15-21

15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Big Idea: The Spirit-filled life is in the Mundane

Compliment: The “why” of the “what.”

Me: I grew up as a PK. My dad was a YP until he became a Sr. P. Now I am studying to be some sort of P, and one day I will marry someone, who will be my PW. I have always been in the church. I grew up next door to the church. I played hide and seek in the building, I played dodge-ball in the gym. I learned music from my mom, so I was always involved in leading worship through music. I had a very close circle of church friends. But although I did not ever say it, I was not very open to new people. Maybe your church does this too, the “meet and greet,” aka, “everyone shake hands and be nice to someone behind and in front of you… who you will intentionally ignore the rest of the service.” Then, worship time. Because of my musical background, I love to pick apart when the band messes up. I love critiquing the fills the drummer does and pointing out when the singers are flat… which is a lot. I have even given ratings on a scale of 1-10 for the musicians during the music. I also love noticing typos on the screen. Everyone notices and tries to keep going, but I take advantage of it for the sake of comedy. But then, I realized something. I was doing all the “what” without the “why.” Sure, I sang, I said hello nicely, I gave thanks about stuff. But I never questioned why I was doing any of it.

We: We have a problem. If we are stuck in “doing church” with only the “what” and not the “why,” then all of our actions are pointless. Man looks at outward appearance, God looks at the heart. If we only are concerned with how our churches look, instead of what our churches are, then we have missed the point. In the same way, if we are only concerned with raising our hands in worship, giving thanks, and being friendly simply just to do it, then it is worthless. Let us then move into the standard to which God has called us into as believers.

God: Context: Paul divides the book into two parts; chapters 1-3: theology, chapters 4-6: ethics. A proper view of God breeds a proper view of life. Our passage today is in Paul’s second major section: ethics. This is how we ought to “walk.” Paul says to walk in unity, walk in love as Christ did, walk as children of light. Paul is concerned with how we regulate one’s life, conduct one’s self, and make due of opportunities.
We see in Ephesians 5:15-21 that Paul’s first concern is for them to “look carefully how you walk.” Examine yourself. Make sure not to walk unwise but wise. Walking in wisdom, as Paul states here, means to make the best use of the time. Why? Because the days are evil. Procrastination is the thief of time. Therefore is procrastination a sin? Perhaps, but it is at the very least stupid. (v 17) Therefore, believer, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Every Christian in America is obsessed with wanting to know the will of God for their life. Usually this means that we want to know the future instead of trusting in God and living our daily lives. (v 18) “And do not get drunk (intoxicated) with wine, for that is debauchery (worthlessness), but be filled with the Spirit.” What is Paul saying here? The way to the Spirit filled life is not to drink beer? Or is he saying do not be filled with wine, but be filled with the Spirit? Perhaps we read into this too much. Imagine an intoxicated person, they stumble around, unable to make good decisions. This is what I believe Paul is describing; a stupid Christian. It is possible to be a Christian and make terrible decisions; to walk in a way that is not pleasing to Christ. Walking intoxicated means to be unwise, to not know the will of God, to live selfishly, to not do things that are not worthwhile. Walking intoxicated could simply be, to use Paul’s previous words, wasting time. How much time have you spent on Facebook this week? Playing videogames? Being with fellow Christians, but talking about worthless things? Paul calls us to something higher, namely, to be “filled with the Spirit.”
I could spend hours explaining the theology behind the “filling of the Spirit.” We could go to Acts and watch men and women be filled with the Spirit. We could go to the Old Testament and read of kings and prophets becoming filled with the Spirit. But instead, let us look together at what Paul says it is here. Being filled with the Spirit is firstly (v 19) “addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.” Secondly it is, “singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart.” Thirdly it is (v 20) “giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” And lastly, the Spirit filled life is (v 21) “submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

You: Where are you at? When you sing, where is your heart? Do you make melody because the Spirit inside you is singing? Or are you as I was, critiquing the band, your mind elsewhere, or singing just to sing? When you greet fellow believers, do you say hi and then ignore them? Or do you address one another with Psalms and hymns? When you give thanks, is it out of habit? Or out of the Spirit inside you? And when you submit to authority, do you do it out of obligation? Or out of reverence for Christ? Look carefully, then, how you walk o believer. Do not waste time, for there is none to spare. Do not be unwise, but listen to the Spirit. Do not take part in worthless things, but do all for God. And be filled with the Spirit, walking in the Spirit in the mundane. We do not simply long for the “what;” the things that Christians ought to do. We long for the “why.” For the “why” brings meaning in the mundane. For truly, the Spirit filled life is in the mundane, the overlooked, simple areas of life that are taken for granted.

We: Now if I were writing the Book of Ephesians, I would say the Spirit filled life is packing your bags and becoming a missionary. I would say the Spirit filled life is selling all you own to give to the poor. I would say the Spirit filled life is wearing a deep V and Toms shoes! Just kidding. But still, when I look at this text it seems so… easy. Seriously? That’s all that it takes to be Spirit filled? I can do that! Let me challenge that thinking, the Spirit filled life does not come from performing the actions, the actions are poured out from being Spirit filled. Why do we give thanks? We are filled with the Spirit. Why do we address others with psalms and hymns? We are Spirit filled. Why do we sing? We are Spirit filled. Why do we submit to others? We are Spirit filled and have reverence for Christ.
Imagine what our worship services would look like if we sang because the Holy Spirit was singing in us. Imagine talking to fellow believers, praising God together because the Spirit inside of us is Praising God. Imagine giving thanks to the Father in the name of Jesus Christ because the Spirit was doing the same. And imagine submitting, putting others first, respecting, honoring others, because Christ did for us. This is the Spirit filled life. The Spirit filled life is in the mundane. What if we, as a Church, consciously did the mundane with joy. What if our church services were not filled with people trying to be spiritual, but were living as Spirit filled people? The entirety of the Spirit filled life is mundane. It is every day. It is the little things that we do out of habit. Look at this list Paul is giving us! Do not waste time, do not do useless things, but give thanks, address each other with hymns, sing, and submit out of reverence for Christ. This is mundane; this is the Spirit filled life. Where we are at now, the actions that we are doing now ought to be done as Spirit filled people.
Pray

The Secret of Sin

I have a friend who I work with who has been talking to me about what He believes. He recently read the book The Secret. The book develops the idea of the Law of Attraction. Through constant thought of some desired thing, it becomes manifested in reality. Thoughts become real. All that is needed is belief and no doubt. Sounds pretty great right?

I really could go into why this view is inconsistent (what if two people want the same girl and are both without any doubt? And what if the girl with an equal amount of belief and no doubt does not desire either of them? See.), but that is not what is important to me right now.

From the perspective of a believer in Jesus, knowing that nothing can ultimately satisfy other than God Himself, this view is fundamentally promoting worship of anything other than God.

Think about it? Would you need to depend on God if: Whatever you think of, you get? Wealth, power, sex, etc? 

At the core, “The Secret” is what Genesis 3 has been teaching for roughly 6,000 years; we can find life outside of God. Taking good things that God gives us, and making them ultimate things. Aka, Romans 1:25, worshiping and serving the creature rather than the Creator. Sin. Adam and Eve desired good things! Eve was tempted with good food, a delight to the eyes, and wisdom. All good things, but Adam and Eve broke God’s perfect law because they desired those things more than the good God that created them.

Ever since, Satan has used the same lie over and over: you can be your own God, accountable to no one, and have life... Just like in The Secret.  Unfortunately, this is not true. Whether you like it or not, there is a God who is the author and Lord of everything. And on the DAY, He will either be your loving Father… or your condemning judge; both based on his perfect justice. Choosing to build your identity on anything other than God (like money, power, sex, etc.) is sin, and it is enslaving.

Romans 6:20-21 says, “²⁰For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. ²¹ But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.”

What does sin want? It wants to look like life, but it ultimately leads to death.

What does Jesus want? It looks like death, but it ultimately leads to eternal life that starts now!

Jesus came that we might have life and have it to the full! (John 10:10)

Jesus came so that we might invest in imperishable things rather than perishable! (Luke 12:33

And finally, to take slaves and set them free! “³⁴Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. ³⁵The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.³⁶So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:34-36)

In the end, belief that you are god leads to death. Only by submitting to the living Jesus can you be set free from sin and death. Coming from the God that cannot lie (Hebrews 6:18) and invites all weary people (from trying to find life outside Him) into His rest (Matthew 11:28), every person must respond to this truth. Either by rejecting and living a life of fleeting pleasures, or by repentance that leads to life. I implore you, chose the second. There is no greater choice than to fall into the loving arms of Jesus.

Definitions, and Faith

I know it's been a long time since I blogged last... but here we go.

To the atheist, “faith” is the unjustified belief in something that cannot be experienced with the five senses… because it is invisible. So basically they think Christians are people who simply have some belief in something that cannot be proven scientifically, because it is not real. They set up the argument, “well if God exists, and you believe that on this ‘faith’, then I believe that there is a flying spaghetti monster flying around above your head. And I also believe that on ‘faith.’ See? Same thing.”

What?

Let’s identify the problem here for a moment.

First of all, believers have allowed non-believers to define biblical terms. That seems like a problem…

Secondly, we believe their definition of faith... double problem.

Let us begin to break down what faith is NOT. Then we will build up what faith IS.

Faith IS NOT the unjustified belief in the EXISTENCE OF GOD. God never intended us to simply “believe He exists” for no logical reason. Romans chapter 1 says that God has revealed Himself through His creation, and He does not need to “prove” He exists, because it is obvious that He does. In fact, He has shown that He exists to every person who has ever lived. The only reason that people do no believe is not because there are no good reasons, but because they suppress the truth and exchange it for a lie.

Harsh. But the Bible is not all hunky dory “KLOVE encouraging verse of the day” type stuff all the time… That will be a future blog.

So then, what IS faith? Let’s go to Hebrews 11 verse 1. “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Atheists look at this verse and say, “SEE! Christians believe in made up crap that can’t be proven! Thus, there is no God.” Ok, wait a minute. We must ask the question of this verse… What are the things hoped for? And what should we be convicted about not seeing? Answer: the promises of God.

Now that is what faith IS. Now what are the functions of faith? Romans chapter 4 talks of how Abraham was justified by faith. Why? Because he BELIEVED IN THE PROMISES OF GOD! This “faith” is in contrast to being justified by works. Although he and Sarah were unable to have children due to their age, He still believed (and did not waver) concerning the promise of God in that He would make Abraham a great nation. Thus, one of the functions of faith is the channel of righteousness, from belief in the promises of God for things to come.

I would encourage you to explore another aspect of this faith. If you continue on in Hebrews 11, you will find that it is full of people not being justified by their faith, but steadfastly living for God after becoming believers. Faith also keeps us going, because we know that God will do as He has promised. 

Random Cultural Issue of the Day: Yoga

I recently had to discuss in an online class my opinion of yoga and whether it is ok or not for Christians to do it. Just about every other post said that it is not wrong for Christians to do yoga, but I disagree. I had gotten some good feedback about the post, so why not throw it up on my blog right?? Enjoy!


Yoga is in itself evil, ungodly, satanic, and against the gospel of Christ. Christians forget that you cannot separate the physical aspect of yoga from the spiritual, because in yoga the purpose of the physical is to open up the spiritual. The physical motions and techniques are learned and mastered because they are trying to dig deeper into the spiritual. The spiritual aspect of yoga is for the person to look inside one’s self for inner beauty and worth. The practice has many ties to the new age movement, which finds its foundation in eastern Hinduism. 


The Christian who says, “I like yoga, I just think it’s bad to go into the spiritual stuff” is making a self contradicting claim. It’s like saying, “I love chocolate doughnuts, without the doughnuts. But the chocolate is really good.” Obviously this person does not like chocolate doughnuts, because one of the key aspects of the thing itself is not liked. In the same way, yoga without the spiritual is not yoga; it is glorified stretching. Stretching is not evil, it is good. Christians ought to be good stewards of their bodies. But when we say we like yoga for the stretching aspect, we ought to say we like to stretch… because that is what we are doing.

The Hunger Games, a critique of its worldview

Confession, I have a slight addiction to trends. And because of this, my interest was peaked when The Hunger Games started getting tons of attention. Naturally over the Grace University Choir Tour… I read the first book. Some of my friends read the whole series that weekend, but I have somewhat of a life still (Sorry guys).

Here is my critique from the standpoint of a Christian worldview. I have been hearing a lot of Christians somewhat divided over this subject; is the message good? What themes are contrary to Christ? Is it just another evil Harry Potter?

The premise of “the kids have to kill each other” freaks most Christians out. The problem is, that is not the point of the movie. I also saw one review from a Christian position saying that this book promoted the type of oppressive and evil government that was in the book/movie. Once again, this is not the point.

We need a clear understanding that the story follows Katniss Everdeen, and from her perspective and thought process she has a very clear sense of morality. She knows the games are evil, that the government is basically promoting communism, having to break the law to survive is wrong but necessary. She hates the idea of having to kill her fellow “tributes,” she hates that she is just another pawn in the government’s plan to “keep peace.”

There are, admittedly, a few parts in the book where Katniss is naked. But this, I think, helps develop the moral decline of the Capital. The Capital forces her to get undressed so they can “make her pretty” to their standards. The author Suzanne Collins does a great job getting inside her head and revealing how dehumanizing the experience is. She feels the makeup artists are saying she does not have worth until they give her a “beautiful” body.

The Capital is a perfect representation of America right now. In my mind, the clothes and style of the people of the Capital is no less ridiculous that where we are at as a culture right now. Looking at artists such as Nicki Minaj, Ke$ha, and Katy Parry… I would say we are not far behind the world of The Hunger Games in regards to style and morality.

I neither think the book wrong to read (provided that the age of the person reading is old enough for themes of violence and moral decline) nor the story evil. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, have read the second, and am starting the third.

Christians cannot simply separate themselves from culture and hope that they will keep themselves or their children safe from ideas. Whether they like it or not, ideas will be heard. My warning to parents: in regards to this series and other series, is that their kids may know that the book has bad themes but not know why. Teaching your children to think critically about the world’s ideas is far more valuable than telling them something is wrong with no reason for it. 

The Immaturity of “Christian Songs”

Think over these things... 

In my further thought of the effects of immaturity in the western church, I have discovered how unhelpful and trapping most of the Christian music genre is. I have nothing against contemporary worship songs (as long as they are “God-centered” and not “man-centered”), but what I do have a problem with are the songs on the radio that are not meant for corporate worship within church gatherings. 

Consider the following song; I’m sure you’ve heard it.

The chorus to “Remind Me Who I Am” by Jason Grey: “Tell me once again who I am to you, who I am to you. Tell me lest I forget who I am to you, I belong to you.”

This song is not meant to honor God, be in awe of God, praise God, fall in love with God. Nothing. From reading the lyrics, the only conclusion I can come to is that from listening to and singing this song it subtly puts an entitlement to our value. 

The song says, “God, tell me why I’m valued. I know I’m valued; I just need to be reminded of it all the time, especially when I’m sad and I think that life stinks.”

How is the edifying to the body of Christ? The song is all about us!! All about OUR value, and not about how much we need to get over thinking highly of ourselves and counting OTHERS more valuable then ourselves. "... Let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reference and awe." (Hebrews 12:28) 

Acceptable worship is being in awe of God; not constantly wondering if we have any worth.

These songs produce immaturity among believers because of these reasons:

1)      We become more focused on ourselves and OUR worth rather than presenting ourselves as living sacrifices. (Romans 12:1)

2)      We unnecessarily question basic doctrines of the Bible. If you want to know your worth, read the Bible. The Bible says that the ONLY reason you have ANY worth is because Christ died for you out of love and clothed you with righteousness. (Isaiah 61:10, Romans 6:1-4, Galatians 3:26-27, 1 John 4:19) The Bible describes anything you do as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6), and even Paul says that he counts everything he does as rubbish apart from Christ (Philippians 3:8)

3)      The last reason is that this song and songs like it are singing to people in trials or hard circumstances, so because of that for some reason we need to be reminded of our value? No. This is the wrong mindset. We rejoice in trials. Job understood that both good and bad come from God (Job 2:10). Paul rejoiced through praying and singing to God when he was in prison (Acts 16:25). And James teaches that the man that is steadfast under trials is blessed (James 1:12).

Simply put, these lyrics plant a spirit of selfishness. It's all about ME. Christ died for ME. Now God needs ME to preach to the nations.

We need a spirit of humility, and die for one another; just as Jesus modeled for us on the cross (Philippians 2:3-8)

To avoid these consequences of listening to these songs, try these few things:

1)      Stop listening to “Christian” radio. Instead buy cds of good artists (Phil Wickham, Leeland, Chris Tomlin) that sing about how wonderful and perfect and glorious God is, and that we are meant to serve Him.

2)      If you continue to listen to “Christian” radio, look up passages that talk about what they are singing about. If they question basic doctrines and make you doubt that they are actually true, look them up. Study them. And God will give you understanding (2 Timothy 2:7)

3)      Keep in mind that just because “Christian” songs are popular, doesn’t mean they’re Biblical. How many artists have gone to seminary for Theology?

4)      Listen to Hymns. They have been tested for hundreds of years for theology. Most if not all of the unBiblical songs have been weeded out from the hymnals. 

In Intellectual Neutral - William Lane Craig

The Problem of Infancy–Introduction

I've been thinking a lot again. Oh boy, here we go… (Note: I've discovered how lengthy and deep this topic can go, so I will have to split it up into a few blog posts.)

Today in the western church, we are consumed with the problem of infancy. Perhaps some would call this problem “Carnal Christians,” or “Lukewarm Christians.” I see them as the same thing. So what is an infant? Let’s see how the Bible defines it.

Hebrews 5:12-13- “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child."

Ephesians 4:14- “So that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.”

Colossians 2:8- “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to the elementary spirits (or “principles") of the world, and not according to Christ.”

By these verses, infancy is lacking Biblical knowledge which results in the believer getting taken captive by deceitful schemes by human cunning. What are these schemes? Let me list a few:

Relativism 

Liberalism (political, biblical, economical, or educational) 

Marxism  

Pragmatism 

Secular Humanism 

Darwinian Evolution 

Environmentalism 

Feminism

For the past few decades, the western church has asked, “Why do so many of our young people lose their faith when they go to college?” or “Why are people so ashamed and unskilled to share their faith?” Scripture gives us the answer. They are infants, they are tossed and turned by every wave of doctrine, and they are overtaken by deceptive philosophy. Simply, believers are ill equipped. An hour sermon once a week is not enough to grow them into maturity.

How then do we grow into maturity? Hebrews 10 gives us the answer:

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” Hebrews 10:23-25

Therefore,

“Let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God.” Hebrews 6:1

"Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature" 1 Corinthians 14:20

Learning is fer Dummy's

           
     I’ve been reading Augustine’s “On Free Choice of the Will” almost all day today. And obviously because I’ve read about a third of one of his classic works, I am now an expert. So I would like to share my elite knowledge with you surfs (kidding).

       
    Augustine develops that all learning is good, and in fact no one can “learn” evil. In his later works he develops the idea of “original sin,” which is where we get that doctrine. So in fact we don’t have to “learn” how to do evil, but how to do good.

               
   I’m sure that you’ve heard this before.  A common analogy in the church is “you don’t have to teach a baby how to be bad, it already knows how to be a stealing, lying, cheater that only desires what is in his/her best interests. You have to teach it how to be good.” What I hadn’t contemplated before is the second part, we have to be taught how to be good. In fact, without being taught, there is no way that we can learn to be good. First comes teaching, and then comes learning. When we learn, we act; because we understand that we ought to act in a certain way.

             
   What I instantly thought of is, why are so many people in the church still refusing to be Spirit led, and cling to sin more than to Christ? The answer is simple, it is not the pastor (though sometimes it is) because he is teaching the Word, (2 Timothy 3:16) it is the people sitting in the pews. The average church goer, literally, is unwilling to learn. If they were willing to learn, they would not do evil. For “it follows that doing evil is nothing more than turning away from learning.” (Augustine 2)

                 

Works Cited

Augustinus, Aurelius, and Thomas Williams. On Free Choice of the Will. Indianapolis U.a.: Hackett, 1993. Print.
ESV Bible