The Resurrection Life is a Spirit Filled Life
November 28, 2015
There are three skills God gives us to develop that will help us become more fruitful in living out our faith. In other words, living out our new life in Christ doesn’t just happen… We have a responsibility to do something with all the grace God has given us in Christ. There are actually some skills that we need to sharpen if we are going to become fruitful and effective Christians.
Skill #1 Examining How You Live: Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.
One of the reasons we struggle at living out our faith is that we live unexamined lives. That’s the thought behind the command to “be very careful how you live.” The idea is to take a good look at how you are living, to investigate how you are living.
Paul gives the criteria for self-examination: Are you living as unwise or as wise? Unwise people fall back into old patterns of living. The old patterns are dictated by what the world says is good. The old patterns are dictated by works and not grace. So the old patterns are fueled by feelings of guilt, fear, shame, and trying harder. But the new patterns are the easy way of Jesus: peace, love, freedom and grace.
Skill #2 Understanding God’s Will Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.
Again, this just doesn’t happen by chance. We don’t come to faith and then magically grasp how God created us to live. This skill is about tuning out the ways of the world and tuning into God’s will. The skill we are sharpening here is the ability to study and discern God’s Word, and then apply it to our everyday life. This skill is about engaging our minds in the discovery and application of God’s will. This skill is also about learning to listen to the Holy Spirit.
Skill #3 Being Filled With the Spirit Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.
What’s involved with “being filled with the Spirit?” This is a command to be obeyed. Being filled with the Spirit doesn’t just happen because we want it to happen. And being filled with the Spirit doesn’t happen simply because we ask God to make it happen, as if there is some supernatural outpouring of the Spirit that happens every time we need to be filled.
God commands you to let the Holy Spirit be the dominating force within you. That’s the idea behind Him filling you. You allow His thoughts to be your thoughts, His ways to become your ways, His desires to become your desires. The idea is one of allowing Him to permeate every part of your being.
There’s one more thing here we must to remember. This is a command that is to be obeyed over and over again. Why? Because in our humanness we tend to succumb over and over again to other influences that fill us and control us. There will be times when we are filled with grief, anger, fear, frustration, insecurity, pride and even hate… you name it. That’s why God calls us to obey this command on a continual basis.
And as God’s Spirit fills us, Paul shows us how to identify if we are living Spirit-filled lives. Look now at verses 19-21 We will be: speaking to 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, and submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
You will experience joyful worship. Joy will begin to dominate your life because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of joy! And when you are full of joy it just kind of spills out of you. You will make music in your heart to the Lord!
You will experience a grateful heart! You will become thankful for simple everyday things. You’ll begin to see how God has blessed you with your spouse, and you’ll be grateful, how God has blessed you with the grace to know Him, and you’ll be grateful.
You will enjoy Loving relationships. You will submit to your brothers and sisters in Christ out of reverence for Christ. You will see them as equals at the foot of the cross. You will see them as beloved children of God. You will want to put their needs above your own because that’s how Jesus treated you.