Let's pray and ask God for his grace to speak and to hear the word of God. Heavenly Father, Holy Father, our Father, best of fathers, we come into your presence tonight looking to hear from you. The trouble is we are but weak and feeble creatures, Sin still clogs our arteries and veins and would want to deflect whatever we might hear. Sin would make two and two five or 87 or anything but four apart from your grace. We need ears to hear, eyes to see, a heart to understand, and a willingness to obey what we hear. If any man is willing, he shall know of my teaching your son promised. Lord, we want to be willing hearers. Would you please help the speaker tonight? May he speak the words of Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. And to you will go all the glory. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. Please turn your Bibles to the book of Ephesians, chapter 4. Some of you who read ahead were quaking as you saw. I was preaching on Hebrews 4 through 6, which you go 4, 5, 6. That's three chapters. We'll be here until 1030, and that's not probably going to happen. What I was asked to do was to give a charge to the congregation, and I am giving a charge to you all tonight. What would any minister want of his congregation in light of what the scripture teaches? A cynic might say, well, pay him well and leave him alone or something like that. That's a charge to the congregation. And that's not my goal tonight. I assume that you take care of your pastors well. A sad reality in England, it's a joke, but it's a sick joke. Lord, you keep him humble and we'll keep him poor. And why do a lot of ministers in the UK come to the States? Well, frankly, if they want to support their family, it's a struggle to support a family in the UK on the basis of what many churches pay their people. That's not a problem here, so I'm not going to go there. But I want to speak about what are the responsibilities that God gives to you that any pastor would want to have see a reality in the lives of his people. A first point I want to make before I give you the overview is A churchman, I'm going to be talking tonight about a churchman. What's a churchman? The responsibilities of a faithful Christian churchman. A churchman is an old-fashioned word. It's a historical term for a Christian who knows what he or she believes, they know what their church believes, and they're committed to their church because it's the place where God has a plan for time and eternity. In Matthew 16, 18, our Lord said, they came to build his church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. Now, no book in the New Testament has more to say about the doctrine of the church than Paul's letter to the Ephesians. In fact, if you're a word counter, he uses the word church more times in the book of Ephesians than any other book in the New Testament. In chapter one, verse 22, he says, Jesus Christ is given his head over all things to the church, his body. In chapter 3 verse 10 he says, the multiplied or manifold wisdom of God is made evident by the church to the watching angelic powers. Angels in heaven watch you and they're kind of dumbfounded because they know that some of the angels fell and there's no reveal plan in scripture that God was going to do any redemptive work for the fallen angels. But to their amazement, the Son of God got up off of his throne, so to speak, and assumed humanity and came to earth to redeem the likes of you and me. And the angels still can't get over it. It says the multiplied manifold wisdom of God is being revealed to the angelic powers as they watch us. In chapter 3, verse 21, Paul prays that God's mighty power might be on display in the church for his honor and glory. unto him who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above. Paul keeps putting up words to give us an idea of what a big deal it is, the power that's available to the church. In chapter 5, which has the rest of the references to church, the husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. In 524, as the church is to be subject to Christ in all things, so a wife is to be subject to her husband in all things. In 525, Christian husbands are to love their wives like Christ loves his bride, the church. 526 and 527, Christ washes his bride, the church, in the scriptures that he might make her holy to present before himself a beautiful bride. In 529, Christian husbands are to love their wives practically and nurture them as Christ does his church. And finally, in 532, Paul says, there's a mysterious connection, but if you can fathom the relationship between a husband and a wife, it's kind of sort of like the relationship between Christ and his church. A churchman is a person, I know what I believe. I know what my church believes. I'm committed to this church. because the Church of Jesus Christ is God's plan in time. A point I want to make is it's so important that you be a churchman, not just a sampler of churches. Well, we go to this church in the morning or we go to that church in the evening. Or as one person said, we change churches because the toys in the nursery were just so much better in this church than in this other church. And you go, well, that's really dumb. Well, we would never be accused of being dumb, would we? Sin wouldn't make us stupid, would it? The most important thing you can do with your life is to line up with and be on board with what God's doing. You know, there's not a person in this room who wants to pour their life down a rat hole. That's an old-fashioned phrase, but you get the gist of it. You don't want to pour your life down a rat hole. But if you're giving your life to something that's just going to give way, it's not going to last, who wants to do that? You don't want to climb the ladder of success just to find out that it's leaning against the wrong wall. Such are the plans of men if they're not directly tied to what God's doing in history. I'm not going to be giving an invitation to become ministers or missionaries. That's not where this message is going. I'm talking about just being a faithful churchman. Being a person who understands what God's program is all about. It involves the church. I'm committed to this local display of the church. until such time as God takes me home or the rapture, whatever your eschatology, I'm not into the rapture, but whatever your eschatology is. You know, outside of Memphis, there's a lake called Reel Foot Lake, R-E-E-L, reel, like the real fisherman, Reel Foot Lake. It's about a half mile wide, it's I think nine miles long, and what Real Foot Lake is famous for is the fact that it used to be the channel of the Mississippi River. But in 1810, in the greatest earthquake in American history, the great New Madrid earthquake hit that area of the Mississippi, and the Mississippi jumped over a mile and a half. So a real foot lake is really impressive until you realize it comes to a quick end. It doesn't go anywhere. It's not the Mississippi. It's just a long skinny lake. Now imagine if you were like some person who went out and you went to South Florida and said I want to buy one of those big speedboats you know like the drug runners use and then the Coast Guard uses to chase the drug runners. You know it's just a big long skinny boat with huge engines in the back and I want one of those. and you put it on a tractor trailer or two of them and you bring it back to the Memphis area and you stick it in Real Foot Lake and you're going back and forth on Real Foot Lake thinking I am some really bad dude. Well you're a really foolish dude but it's Real Foot Lake. The action's over here on the Mississippi a mile and a half west. Don't you want to be where the real action is? Don't you want to be where the real current is? Well, my own dawning realization when I was in parachurch work for several years, and I realized that the parachurch was not God's first choice. The parachurch was not what Christ came to establish on the earth. I was thinking, what's going to happen to my wife and kids? I was working with students. I was shepherding students. I was teaching students. I was evangelizing students. But I was doing it in a parachurch context. I didn't have a doctrine of the church. Me and my Bible and Jesus, that was Christianity. And the church was just so much extra frosting on the cake. But we were the cake. Well, you kind of go, you were not only stupid, but you were ignorant. That's true. I was stupid and ignorant. But I kept reading my Bible. And I kept seeing that the church was the apple of God's eye, the church was where it was at. And so if I wanted to have my life mean something in my lifetime, and not just pour my life down a rat hole, I needed to be where God was working and God's working in the church. And about the same time God called me into the pastoral ministry, and I left parachurch work. I challenge you men, especially you young men, to evaluate your life and your work in light of Christ's priority, which is building his church as the gift he's going to give to his father, by asking you, are you a churchman? Are you a churchman? I challenge you women, and especially you younger women, to ask yourself, as you look at your life plans, are they in any way connected to what Christ is doing in history? Are you a church woman? You know, one of the struggles that men have, and I think women do too in a different way, is they want to be significant. If you went up to a young man, 22, hi, would you like to live an insignificant, meaningless life? Well, duh. Nobody says yes. But in every man's mind, it says in Ecclesiastes that God has put eternity in our hearts. Even if you're an unbeliever, there's a nagging sense in the back of your head that you're going to live for eternity. The question is, how are you going to spend the short time you have here on earth in light of eternity? I want to live a significant life. Well, here's a question. How can a finite person who doesn't know everything that's going to happen, how can I possibly make a significant choice what I'm going to do with my life? You know, what if Sal said, you know, I've been thinking about this and me and Rachel, we're going to open a roller rink in Davenport. There's nothing wrong with opening a roller rink in Davenport. I could make up something else. You could open up a yogurt parlor in East Moline. There's nothing wrong with that. But if they were to do that without recourse to the fact that God's building his church, it'd be a foolish venture. Maybe they think, I could make good money. Or we could employ our kids later in life, they could work here. And those aren't wrong things, but they're wrong if you're ignoring the fact that I could be investing my life in Christ's church as a layman, not as a minister. I use Sal as an illustration here, but you as a layman, are you a churchman? Are you investing your life in the church? I have to know what God's called me to do, and then it's up to Him what He does with my life, with my obedience. I can be obedient and seemingly unheralded in my lifetime. But in eternity I found out that my weak, flabby little acts of obedience were use of God in a significant way. But I can't know that this side of the glory. You go, well, some people are famous. Yes. And Jesus says some people are famous, aren't going to be so famous on judgment day. And other people who are unknown and unheralded are going to be famous after judgment. So I can't know what's going to ultimately happen. All I can do is be obedient to what God gives me to do as my calling in life. If he's called you to be a layman, we're going to come back and look at that. Only the eternal sovereign God knows the end from the beginning. It's revealed in scripture what we should be. I need to make his will, my will, my priority. And so tonight, my challenge to you tonight is I would like each and every one of you to become a biblical churchman or church woman. And we're going to see some of these things in Ephesians chapter 4, 5, and 6. So if you turn in your Bibles, we're going to look at Ephesians 4, 5, and 6. Chapters 1, 2, and 3 are mostly about our privileges as Christians, our privileges as churchmen and churchwomen. And I know that because chapter 1, 2, and 3 are full of what people who are into grammar call indicatives. Indicative sounds like indicates, yes. These are things that the Bible indicates are all true of you. These are things that are just truths. Like for example, when you read the book of Romans, did you know the first six chapters up to verse 11, all of Romans at that point is nothing but statements of fact. There's not telling you to do anything. It's not telling you to get up off your seat and get moving. These are just things that are true of you because what God has done for you in Christ. Well, most of the first three chapters of Ephesians are full of indicatives, things that God says, this is true of you by the grace of God. But then look at the first word in chapter four. Some versions, it's the first word. My New King James, it's the second word. I therefore, so it's an old Bible teacher's thing to say, what's the therefore? Therefore. I went to seminary. I know these things. Okay. And so the first time I taught this, I had 17 points. You go, I was afraid you'd say that. Well, tonight I've compressed them into only 10. I'm letting you off easy. But we're going to go quickly. So there you go. I actually once preached the first three chapters and the last four chapters in one sermon and received the award for the longest sermon ever given in that church, which is not my goal tonight. But we're going to look at 10 things. I could compress them even to fewer. But the point is I want to keep them a little bit separate so you can be clear in your head what's going on. So let's look at the first six verses of Chapter 4. I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord. Wow, he's in prison. Huh. Okay. I beseech you, I beg you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called. With all lowliness and gentleness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace, there is one body and one spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all. Or in all. Paul says, I'm in prison. I get worried that you're not. I'm writing to you, beloved church in Ephesus. And I'm asking you to live out your lives, to live out your lives, to what he calls walking in a manner worthy of the first three chapters. And so in the bulletin, Chuck said, can you give a sentence to capsulize what you're gonna say? And Paul's basically saying, be who you are. Be what the scripture says God has done. Be who you are. And if you're a baby Christian or one who's not faithful in reading your scriptures very much, you don't know much of who you are. The new associate pastor has a beautiful little girl. She's a very privileged little girl. She has great blessings upon her. But other than the love of her mother and her father, she doesn't know much about the details of all the things that are blessings in her life. And we can be babies into the faith and not realize all the things that God's done for us in Christ. You can live a life worthy of your high calling, Paul says, even if you're in jail. He didn't say, I get a time out because I'm in jail, so I don't have to live like a Christian, so I can live like a hellion like the rest of the guys in prison. But when I come out, I'm going to go back to living an apostolic life. No, Paul wrote Ephesians from prison. and was living for Christ. He was being who he was even though he was in prison. Our circumstances don't control who we are. They shouldn't. You know, the kind of person who's, I'm this way at home, I'm this way at work, I'm this way at church. If you're not consistent in all three, then you need to stop and take inventory because there's something wrong. You can and we should be the same person all the time. In verses 7 through 10, he talks briefly, and this is not a command of what to do. It's just, did you know that God's given gifts to all Christians? And then verses 11 through 14, he says again, God's given even gifted men to the church to help build the church up to maturity. So there's nothing for us to do there except be aware of the fact he's given gifted men to the church. And we saw the installation of one of those gifted men this morning. But then in verses 15 and 16, he picks up again the idea of what Christians are to be in light of who they are. And he says, individual Christians are to make spiritual growth their priority so the whole body can build itself up as each part functions as it should. The temptation for most of us, and I can remember when I was a layman, I was converted in 1969, called to the ministry in 1976, went to seminary from 79 to 81, was installed as a newest associate pastor in 1981. So the first 12 years of my Christian life was as a layman. And I could frequently find myself in this mindset that I was just a layman so it didn't really matter what I did or what I was up to because I was not an important person. And that's not what we're reading here. It says we're all called to the same thing. We're all called to be who we are all the time, at home, on the golf course, at the fishing hole, at school, at work, at church. I'm called to be this unique person that Christ saved. Dr. Paul Brand was a world-famous expert on leprosy or Hansen's disease. I heard him lecture once in Atlanta at the Christian Medical Society. He talked about some unique things about pain. He wrote a book called The Gift of Pain. If you know anybody who has chronic pain, this is a good book to read, The Gift of Pain. He wrote another book and he also lectured on the fact that cancer cells operate like so many Christians in churches. He said the way a cancer cell operates is it sucks in all these nutrients and sucks in things from all over the body and contributes nothing to the body. So you have this growing mass which is just sucking, you know, frequently people with cancer lose weight because the cancer is sucking all the nutrients out of their body while contributing nothing to the body. And he said too many professing Christians behave like cancer cells. They take in much but they give little. Now, we each have different gifts, I get that, and we each have different backgrounds or different places in our Christian lives. But I think Paul wants us to make it our point here to say, you know, you need to be giving all of you have according to your gifts and graces. You need to be making spiritual growth your priority. Let's look at these verses in 15 and 16. But speaking the truth in love that you may grow up in all things into him who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effect of working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love." I can't take a month off my Christian life and not contribute to the body. I can't take a month off my life and say, I don't feel like being whoever I am to these other people. I need to be walking with Christ 24-7 all my life, and that's what he calls us to. I can't stop to elaborate this point more, but we'll go on to the next one. Chapter 4, verses 17 through 19. Here he says, Christians are to leave their pagan ways behind. Their pagan thinking, their pagan behaving, their pagan lewdness and everything. This I say therefore in testifying the Lord that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that's in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness, Now, I can be master of the obvious, but Paul says, if you're a professing Christian, then you're not a pagan Gentile anymore, or you're not a pagan Jew. You're a new person in Christ. And it's time, if he says, and he wrote this how long after he'd been in Ephesus, I don't know. But he expected them to be putting away stuff that was a carryover from their BC days. And if I sat down with you over a cup of coffee and looked you in the eye and said, how much of the world are you still up to here in? Or how much of the world is under your fingernails? Or how much of the world are you still indulging in? He said, it's time to put that away. He says, speaking the truth in love, we're just Not do that stuff anymore and we're to be living a different kind of life. And we're not pagans anymore. We shouldn't think like pagans. We shouldn't watch what pagans watch. We shouldn't read what pagans read. We shouldn't be like we used to be. Because that's not us anymore. You're a different person than you used to be. Look at verses 20 through 22 for my fourth point. I wish I could belabor each of these, but I don't have the time. And you don't want me to go take the time. But he says in verse 20, but you have not so learned Christ if indeed you have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus that you put off concerning your former conduct the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that you put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. A lot of pastoral work has to deal with people who haven't really put off all their BC habits and patterns and haven't put on their new lifestyle in Christ. And so, you know, I was involved in some church discipline cases over the course of my life. I think in my 31 years of ministry, we had to excommunicate five people, which I'm neither proud of. It's just what it was. But those were not my favorite times in the ministry. If you ask a pastor, what are your least favorite times? Sitting down with a person saying, you know, This is in your life, I'm not the only one who sees it, and this needs to be dealt with. And if the person's not teachable, it kind of goes downhill from there. But without someone sitting down and poking you, are you, or am I, are we putting to death the residue of the old person we used to be, the carryover? You know, my own experience looking at my life and then looking at people I pastored is this. I have a pet sin. And I gave it a bath. And I sprayed Chanel on it. I gave it a name Fifi. I put a pink ribbon around its neck. I keep it in the backyard where people don't see it. But it's still sin. It shouldn't be managed or coddled, it should be put to death. But pet sins want to linger and we want to keep them if they don't cause trouble and get out in the front yard or stink up the neighborhood or stink up our lives. And it means that we have to have a killer instinct with our sins and that of a cold-blooded killer as opposed to a sin manager. Oftentimes, it's tempting just to manage our sins and not really put them to death. That's too convicting. Let's move on. Chapter 4, verse 23 to 32, the fifth point. Believers are to put on their new identity in Christ and the behavior that goes with it. What kinds of things might we see in our new identity with Christ? Let's read verse 23 to 32. And being renewed in the spirit of your mind and that you put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, and then he goes into, putting away lying, let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor. For if we are members of one another, Be angry, and do not let the sun go down in your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give to him who has need. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. What kinds of things here should we see as part of our new true identity? Well, believers don't lie. Now, when you become a Christian and you're used to lying, you say, well, I don't tell the truth as much as I might. You're a liar. A person who commits adultery is an adulterer or an adulteress. A person who lies is a liar. We shouldn't change the name of what we do, because one of the ways that sin cons us is it wants us to talk about it in another name, but what it really is. I'm not a drunk. I just don't drink like I should. I drink excessively at times. The Bible would say, well, I'm a drunk. I know a man who was a Christian salesman for many years, a big time Christian salesman at a high level in corporate America. And God finally dealt with him. And he has his website now. It's called Selling Without Lying. And so many different salesmen he's talked to at a high level say, well, that's what you have to do to sell. You've got to lie. You have to misrepresent the product or when it's going to be delivered or what the cost is and all these other things. He says, I've given up all that. I just deal with people straight. Selling without lying. We don't excuse our anger problem, but we face it and put it to death. We don't steal. And here's a great example of Paul saying. Before I was a Christian, he says, let's say I was a thief. You go, well, now that I'm a Christian, I don't steal. I don't steal anymore. Well, maybe you're just a thief between jobs. What's the opposite of stealing? The opposite of stealing is not not stealing. It's working hard, making some money and then being generous and giving to the people who have need. Before you took from people. Irregardless of where they're coming from, you took from people, you stole from them. Now, if the opposite of stealing is not stealing, it's working hard and then be a generous giver to those in need. We don't speak harshly, crudely, or in other ways destructive to others. I just speak to people frankly, I'm just a straight shooter. While that masks all kinds of harsh talk and insensitivity and crudeness, that shouldn't be part of who we are. All such behavior grieves the Holy Spirit and throws cold water on his fire. We shouldn't be known as verbal pit bulls. I just speak the truth. Instead of being verbal pit bulls, we're to be kind, tender, and forgiving people, just like our Lord forgave us. That's too convicting, let's move on. The sixth point, chapter 5, verse 1 and 2. Christians are to be sacrificial lovers like our Lord. Therefore be imitators of God as dear children and walk in love as Christ has also loved us and given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling aroma. Now you know the difference between a skunk and all kinds of other smells. Skunks stink. Even Bear Grylls on one of his shows was going to show us how to kill a skunk and then cook it and eat it. But it was so nasty and so gross that even Bear Grylls couldn't force it down. Skunks stink. And you go, what's the point here? We often, as Christians, are known for, these people are against this, and this, and this, and this, and this. And I could be against all kinds of things, because I'm standing for righteousness. Okay? When was the last time you ever sacrificed of yourself to do someone else good? Well, I went around telling those people what they were doing was sin. I just point out sin. I have the gift of discernment. Okay. Don't want to go on a vacation with you. But how many Christians do you know, are you known as a Christian who is, wow, these people are special. This guy has, I've just seen him give to other people. I've seen her give to other people. They've sacrificed. Sacrifice means it cost you something. It wasn't I got an extra five in my billful this week and so here you go, you poor beggar. But if it actually cost you something. The early Christians gained credibility, not just because they had the best message in town, but they backed it up. They lived sacrificially because this world's not their home. And if it seems like I'm giving up all my toys in this world for the world that's to come, it's because I believe there is a world to come and I'm going to be abundantly entering into it. And so I can help dying plague victims, even at the risk of catching the plague myself. I can take in unwanted babies if first century pagans withdraw in the garbage dumps. I can give of myself to others, and that gives credibility to whatever talk I have over here that seems to be very righteous and very good in my own eyes. But if I'm not sacrificially living over here, then it takes away the polish from my so-called righteous speech. Am I a sacrificial lover like our Lord? Seventh point, verses 3 through 14. Christians are especially to be known for sexual purity. and a couple other things. Let's read that. But, he talks about sacrifice in the first two verses, but fornication, that's a big word which means all kinds of sex outside of biblical marriage, and all uncleanness or covetousness, and it could be sexual covetousness here, wanting someone who's not your spouse. Let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints, holy ones, neither filthiness, Nor foolish talking. You know, you're the guy who always has the clever joke that's always just a little bit off. It's just a little bit playing with dirt. Nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving a thanks. For this you know that no fornicator Unclean person, nor covetous man who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore, do not be partakers with them." It's a sober warning. He says, don't let TV preachers con you, don't let your own conscience con you, you can't live like hell and think you're going to heaven. So he gives this warning, be not deceived, don't be conned, don't be faked out. And then he says, God's wrath is coming upon unbelievers for doing this. Do you think that now that I've supposedly all these things I've done for you in Christ and you claim to be in Christ, but you're still doing all the filthy things unbelievers are doing without any cutoff, without any attempt to cut off, without getting any help to cut it off. Eighth point, 5 verses 15 through 17. Believers are to live their lives with their eye on the prize. What does that mean? Let's read these verses 15 through 17. See then that you walk circumspectly or wisely, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days were evil. Therefore, do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. He's saying here to live circumspectly. Circumspectly means you have a sense of what's going on and you're not living just as if you're alone in your own little universe, but you're living circumspectly, understanding the context in which you live. We live in a corrosive culture. What would that be like? Well, imagine in the old days, I can remember back in the 50s and 60s, they would have mosquito sprayers go through the neighborhoods and behind a jeep that would fog the neighborhood and kill the mosquitoes and half the kids. I remember kids in my neighborhood running behind the mosquito fogger. I'm sure their lungs didn't have any mosquitoes after that. But imagine if these guys were going through the neighborhood and they're spraying battery acid. You know what battery acid does? Men learn this the hard way. They work on their battery cables and they'll get some of the corrosion off and they wipe their hands and their jeans. And then the next day they have holes in their jeans. Where did the holes in my jeans come from? From wiping the battery acid corrosion on your jeans and the battery acid will just eat through your jeans. Well, imagine what it would be like if you're in a culture where there's battery acid just in the air. It would eat through everything. And that's the kind of culture we live in. We breathe poison air. We're exposed to it. All kinds of filth. And I can't get up each morning and face the day casually. Well, I wonder what today's going to bring. Let's go out the door and see. And I get hit in the teeth with a baseball bat. I spit out my teeth and go back in the house and say, I need to reconsider what's going on out there. As our culture today likes to say, we need to live each day intentionally. What does that mean? Like there's a purpose, like there's a meaning, like I have my head in the game. You know, a lot of times we just go out the door like la-di-da, I wonder what today's going to bring. And you're going out into a culture that's no friend to grace. You're going out into a culture that's corrosive. And I need to be Fill with the Holy Spirit as it goes on to say in the next verse in order to have the power to do the things I need to do. But the point is is that I can't go on. Pretending that this world is just neutral. It's not neutral. It's against you. It would destroy you if it could. It would destroy your kids. You would lose your mind if it had its way. It's a very hard place to live. And so the idea that I'm living circumspectly. I'm not living casually. I'm not living nonchalantly. Number 9. I only have 10 points, so we're making good progress. Verses 18 through chapter 6, verse 9. This is the verse that says that we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. It says you need to be filled with the Spirit. But it's a plural you, like most of the you's in the New Testament are. It's a southern you, all y'all. All y'all need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Let's read that. And do not be drunk with wine, or in fentanyl, or in all kinds of other things, in which is dissipation, wastefulness, destructive, but be filled with the Spirit. And that's a plural there. It's not a singular you. For many years I read my Bible as if Paul was speaking to me personally. And I read all the singulars, all the yous as singular. Most of them are plurals. He's speaking to the whole congregation, all the Ephesians, all the people here. at Sycamore Baptist. You need to be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God. Let's just stop at this first place. As a church member, If I'm filled with the Holy Spirit, holy attitudes are welling up within me, he says here, produced by the Spirit, and that overflows in how I speak to others, it overflows in how I do marriage, it overflows in how I do parenting, it overflows in how I do work. How can I tell if I'm not filled with the Spirit? If I get up and go through the day and I'm not being spiritually minded, that's a good telling, understanding that I'm not spirit-filled. When I'm not warm-hearted for Christ, what does it say? When I'm filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. You don't need to come up to me afterwards and quote some psalm. I'm going to go, You got the point of the message. But the idea is that the things of Christ, the message of Christ, the message about Christ in the Bible is filling my soul, washing my mind, and it can't help but overflow in how I talk to other people. And I'm singing and making melody in my heart to the Lord. We brought this up at Sal's ordination, and it came up this morning, and I bring it before you today. Bottom line, apart from all the doctrinal issues, do you love Jesus Christ? Really? If everybody cleared out and we just had you, do you love Jesus Christ? That's the final question that our Lord asked Peter three times. Peter denied Christ three times. He got to reaffirm Christ three times. And if I love Christ, it's going to overflow. You know, when my kids were little, I love my kids when they're little. I love them all through their lives. I would sing to them when they're little. I don't sing to them as adults. That wouldn't go well. But they have higher standards now that they've gotten out of infancy. But I would carry my kids around the house, and I would sing to them. Why? Because I love them. I have all different kinds of expressions of affection for them. You create terms of affection for your kids. You don't go, how are you today, firstborn male child? We go, well, that's cold. It's true, but it's cold. And you have all these nicknames that you don't want anybody outside of your house ever to hear, because those are family nicknames. And they're precious in the family, but they sound really foolish and kind of weird outside the family. And they're expressions of love that you can't help but having. Well, if I rarely find myself overflowing with love to the Lord, if I'm not singing and making melody in my heart to the Lord, I have to ask myself, what is my spiritual temperature? Am I really loving the Lord? giving thanks always for all things to God the Father. Christians should be the most thankful people on the planet. I mean, they should be the most thankful people on the planet. And oftentimes we're gripers and complainers and we're not thankful. We're not thankful to the Lord. We're not thankful for other people who do stuff for us. And that just, that's a sign that I'm not really filled with the spirit because the spirit will help me to see how and why I should be thankful. giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and submitting to one another in the fear of God. And then he begins to go into, well, here's some ways that you can practice your submission. When I don't want to submit to my role in God's plan for me. I don't want to be the head of this house. I don't feel comfortable leading. I don't feel comfortable following, so we'll get this together. Or I don't like submitting to my parents. Well, I know, we're all sinners. If you're a person who's uncomfortable leading, but your call is to lead, it's uncomfortable, but you have to work through it. You can't just say, well, you know, being this isn't my gift. I don't have the gift of giving, so I don't give to the church. I don't have the gift of controlling my anger, so I'm going to punch you in the nose. If I'm not willing to submit to my role that God calls me to in this text right here, then I'm not filled with the Spirit. If I'm not the kind of employer or employee this text talks about, I'm not filled with the spirit. Am I a loving, sacrificial husband? Would my life look at me and say, yeah, he's a knucklehead, but he does love me and he does sacrifice for me. Am I a submissive, respectful wife? I know he's a sinner saved by grace, but I respect him and I submit to him out of my love for Christ. Am I an obedient kid who acts and speaks in an honoring way to my parents? Am I a respectable employee who is honest, hardworking, and I treat my employer like I should? Eight hours of pay, eight hours of work. And my respectable employer, who works hard, treats my employees with respect, the way a Christian should treat his employees. I mean, this passage talks about the spirit of God fleshes itself out in all the relationships that we have. And the Bible always has, it speaks to the person under authority first, wives to their husbands, children to their parents, employees to employers. But then it also comes back and says, this is the way the person in authority is to act. But if these things aren't flowing out of my life, if I'm not working on them, if I don't find them happening, then I need to stop and say, I'm not being filled with the Spirit because I'm not doing these things. My last point, verses 10 through 20. Sober minded believers wear their spiritual armor faithfully. So not to become casualties in spiritual combat or leave a place in the line because you were wounded and temporarily out of action. We had to drag you back to a hospital because you showed up at the battle line naked as a jaybird and you got winged and now you're not here to help out. I know you know this, but I feel bad that I have to even say it. We don't live in Disney World. This world is no friend to grace. Spiritual warfare is real. I know pastors who have literally lost their minds in spiritual warfare. I know pastors who have lost so much of their lives in spiritual warfare. I know so many Christians these things have happened to. This is a tough world to live in. And for those of you who are under 18, you kind of go, well, other than dealing with my parents or a difficult teacher or something, I don't see how hard it is. Newsflash, your parents are protecting you from all this garbage and wait till you get out of the house. We just had one of our students who went to, I think he was homeschooled, went to a Christian college and had his first job. After two weeks he comes home and says, I can't believe the way that people talk to each other and they talk about each other behind their back. Are all jobs like this? Well, I'm not sure where he thought he, you know, he wasn't working at Disney World, he was working in just a normal company, but the idea that the world is a friend to grace was not something that connected with his brain. There are no non-combatants in Christ's church. You are a combatant. You go, I'm a peace lover. I'm a lover, not a fighter. Well, guess what? The devil doesn't care what you call yourself. He's going to go after you. There are no pacifists in Christ's church. I'm again war. The devil doesn't care. I encourage you ladies, check out on Amazon the movie Mrs. Miniver, made in 1941. It won the Academy Award as best picture. Britain's in World War II by itself. It's fighting the Nazis who are getting ready possibly to invade. Mrs. Miniver is a middle-aged housewife. Her husband's an architect. She's got a son at Oxford, a daughter graduating from high school. And World War II happens in their village on top of their house. Their beautiful architectural masterpiece gets blown to smithereens. The things that happened to her, and we watch it as women in our church because women need to understand spiritual warfare, that war came to her. Bomber pilot from the German Air Force got shot down and landed in her garden and she had to hold his luger on him while she called the local police to come and pick him up. That's the way the real world is. We are at war. And men, if your head isn't in the game, you're setting your family up to get hurt. You're like a company commander who doesn't really care for his troops. Moms, you're in the same boat. We are at war. And so Paul spends, this is the longest extended passage in the New Testament in spiritual warfare. So we're all to wear our armor all the time. It's divinely provided protective gear. You know, for a couple of years I was a catcher. And, you know, you put on everything you can to be a catcher because between balls and bats and people sliding into you, there's lots of opportunity to get hurt. So you gladly wear your protective gear. If you don't wear your protective gear, you are so foolish. The belt of truth. Everything hangs on the belt of God's truthful word. I need to know the word because the belt of truth is what's going to keep me Together, it's what I put all my stuff on. He talks about the breastplate of righteousness. The Kevlar vest provided by God to protect your vital organs. is you're laying on your deathbed and the devil comes. Oh, poor baby. And he kicks you. Do you not feel good? You feel like you're dying. Let's go over your life. Remember some of that stuff you did these years ago? And he brings things back to your mind. You wonder, gosh, am I even a Christian? I forgot I did that. And the devil attacks you. What are you going to say? I'm not that bad. That's a losing argument. We're worse than the devil says. You can have a Bible study with him. Satan, I'm worse than you say. I've done things worse than that. But let me tell you about Christ. You gave him, the Father gave him who knew no sin to become sin, that I might become the righteousness of God in him. Christ is my righteousness. I plead no righteousness of my own. I'm not here because I'm goody two-shoes. I'm here by the grace of God. So knowing that you have the breastplate of righteousness protects you when your flaming arrows are coming at your chest. The shoes of readiness. I stand strong because my feet are shod with the gospel. I know who I am. I know whose I am. I can share my testimony about God's grace. I'm in the battle. The shield of faith. What is the shield of faith? You know, sometimes I would look at my people and I'd know all the problems of their lives. And sometimes I would just feel like crying, but that's not really helpful. It says, well, Steve's really empathetic, but it doesn't help them. So I didn't do that. But I would look at all their problems. I would feel like crying because there's so much going on in any congregation. And I was thinking today. great times and then this terrible thing happens. There's a car wreck, there's a cancer diagnosis, there's the company closes down, all the things that go to make our lives hard and difficult. Do I believe the Lord and what he says, or do I believe circumstances? Are circumstances sovereign? Are appearances sovereign? Or is God sovereign? You know, Romans 8.29, 8.28 and a half, most things work together for, all things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose. And so faith says, I believe what God says, even though everything else in my life is screaming at me that it's not true. Everything else is screaming that it's not true. I believe God's word. You know, I can remember early on in my Christian life, I had a situation that broke my heart and I was laying on my bed praying. Job came to mind and Job says, even if you kill me, I will still hope in you. He believed God, even though he felt like he was being killed. When you sing a mighty fortress, maybe you're like me, for many years I wondered, what's this one little word will fell him? You know, we don't fear for the devil because one little word will fell him. Is it Christ? No. What did Luther say the one little word was? Was it the gospel? No. Well, what's the one little word that will fell the devil? Liar. Luther would talk back to the devil. The devil would make some accusation against God. You know, a God who loved you wouldn't treat you like this. A God who loved you wouldn't let this happen to you. If God was really good, this wouldn't be the case. I know my God. I know what the scriptures tell me about my God that I have not yet experienced. You're a liar. You are a liar. We need to be better at telling the devil that he's a liar. The helmet of salvation Knowing that you're saved by grace alone and Christ alone keeps you safe and steady in combat. There was a woman who was dying and her pastor said, well, what if, I don't know if I used this illustration while I was here last time, but I think it's a good illustration still. Her name was Janet and she was dying and her pastor said to her, John Brown said, well, what if God lets you slip into hell? What if he doesn't save you? She says, then I'll lose my life, but he'll lose his reputation. Because he said that those who come to him, he would never cast out. And I came to him. And I don't believe he's a liar. I don't believe he tells falsehoods. I'm saved by the grace of God, not because of anything I've done or not done. I'm saved by the grace of God alone, the helmet of salvation, knowing whose you are, knowing you're secure in that position. The sword of the spirit, Christ wielded in times of temptation. And it gives you moxie. I don't just have to stand there and be a punching bag. I can take the sword of the spirit and I can return blows to the devil in the situation. And finally, I don't know how to describe all prayer here, but to be alert, focused, and to be situationally aware in my prayer life. You know, we pray at dinner sometimes, really vapid prayers. Jesus, thank you for this day. Now lay me down to sleep. What else? Thank you for this food. If I should die before I wake, no. And we pray some really weenie prayers. And we don't really have our head in the game. And meanwhile, meanwhile, family members can be going through really hard times. And I'm not thinking situationally about what's going on. You know, if you're in battle, you have your head on a swivel. What does that mean? You just don't go la-dee-dah down the street and see what happens. You're aware that all kinds of things are going on and you need to be very careful. You need to have situational awareness. And so with my head on a swivel, I watch out not only for myself, but my fellow soldiers. You hear about somebody else in the congregation has a tough thing happen. Well, that's too bad. No, it's more than too bad. They're a brother in Christ. They're in the line with you. You need to pray for them. You need to uphold them. They're a sister in Christ who's going through something. You need to uphold them. It's not just you. It's not just your family. He's talking to the whole church here. Be alert, focus, be situationally aware in your prayers. This isn't a game of paintball. This is for keeps. People's lives are at stake. So my charge to you as a congregation, is brethren, be who you are. All the things that Paul said are based on the first three chapters of the riches that we have in Christ, so therefore be this person. Conduct yourself like a Christian churchman. Honor Christ in your lifetime. And I think most of you are doing that most of the time, but we can always do it better, can't we? Amen, let's pray. Father in heaven, I've gone on about a lot of things tonight and some of them were on target and some of them were not. Some of them stung and some of them were nothing. But Lord, whatever situation confronts us individually, I pray that you would take your word and you would apply them to my brothers' and sisters' hearts. Thank you for the grace that you've exhibited this congregation. You've given them faithful pastor after faithful pastor after faithful pastor, and that is no small thing in this fallen world. I pray, Lord, that as we heard the charge given to our new pastor this morning, I pray that they would hear the charge tonight to them to be who they are, to be faithful Christian churchmen and churchwomen. to be these things that Paul tells us to be in light of all the blessings of Ephesians 1 through 3. Lord, make us stand out in the community. Even if people think we hold to weird doctrine, may they say that those people are the most loving, sacrificial, holy, non-potty-mouthed, non-verbal pit bull people I've ever been around. They're gracious and kind and long-suffering and forgiving, and I want to be like that. May we share our testimony of the grace of God, and may we show them in the scriptures what we believe. Lord, make this church a lighthouse in the Quad Cities. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.