Keeping Power Switched On

Christian Living Series 5 of 9

October 11, 1987

Ephesians 3:19

Read 4:32-5:18. Emphasize 5:8 (You are LIGHT who once were darkness)..and 5:18 (KEY VERSE: *Be filled with the Spirit!*) Finding God's fullness as an on-going reality; carrying forward God's purpose for us, of being filled with GOD!)

I. LIVING AS GOD'S BELOVED CHILDREN MEANS:

Being FAMILY to God. The very idea of "family" as a good thing has been under attack:
1. The *sacred concept of 'family'*
  The idea of belonging to one another for better or for worse; the idea that with God as Father, the community of faith IS family; *generally seeking the good of other family members*. (Sibling rivalry/friction may be a fact even within the church; but the idea of family is scriptural.)
2. The *sacred institution of the individual family*
  This is dealt with later in the epistle; it is basic to the formation of character. In the reality of our society today many have to 'make do' without the ideal of parents (or parent!) who have no higher priority than children; it may be passe', but that does not make the ideal invalid., but the concept of commitment and loyalty and *togetherness* is vital.
  ILLUS: Senator Paul Tsongas made a statement with his resignation a few years ago.. he had to choose between making policy for a nation.. or making an impact on his own family and children. Evidently Senator Tsongas chose to go with what would *last!* For our children will outlive and outlast this great Republic!
  A *family* is NOT to be just an aggregation of individuals held together by mutual selfishness, meeting in the kitchen as they scramble off to work. They MAY have to do a lot of that *but a family is made up of people who CHERISH each other!*
3. The *fact of FAMILY in the CHURCH*
  God is Sovereign; He is also "Abba." We must learn to make this more and more our own truth; to *appropriate it!*
  [We are "family" with God, and God's family must be *sexually pure*.]
Being SEXUALLY PURE
1. God's Word speaks forthrightly about many of the issues that are argued back and forth in our society. We need to know what it says, and how we as Christians stand on such issues as *abortion*; as on *homosexuality*; and as on how we shall face the impending epidemic of *AIDS*. (In five years every one of us will be personally acquainted with a family that has a victim.)
2. God's WORD is not a clinical manual on medicine or human fertility; but it ought to be the foundation of the kind of sex education that leads us *from animal sex to human sexuality. ***
3. Sexual purity is the standard for the church for all professing Christians. NO believer can afford to rationalize, to lower the standards. The Bible has a clear standard: *all sexual intercourse outside of the marriage covenant is sin.* Homosexual intercourse [if there are children of the young age present, call intercourse "intimacy"] is sin, but so, also, is all heterosexual sexual intercourse that is not sanctioned and blessed by God in covenant blessing.
4. God expects purity
  1. not only in the actual acts and physical relationships; but
  2. in the intent and thought life. Sin begins with intent; with the cultivation of thoughts of evil. (There IS a distinction between "thoughts of evil" and "evil thoughts." There CAN be a resisting of temptation; of the enemy's attempt to twist HUMAN desire into EVIL desire.)
  Summary of "Being sexually pure": Sexual impurity is wrong *because it breaks God's holy laws*; *but it is also wrong in that **it violates the sanctity of the family; and it treats PEOPLE as objects of selfishness*. I would love to change the more`s of our culture but that is not going to happen overnight.
Sexual impurity will NOT be unpunished. Indeed, it carries the seeds of destruction, disappointment, and even despair in itself. *But tonight we are speaking to God's family!*
The emphasis for THIS sermon is: LET THE CHURCH BE PURE! THEN THE CHURCH CAN HAVE POWER!
We all love it when we cry out against the sinfulness "out there!" "The world" is going to hell.. and we need to cry out against it.. *but the fact is, WE NEED TO MAKE CERTAIN OUR HEARTS ARE PURE, OUR MINDS ARE GOD'S TEMPLES! AND *THEN* GOD MAY BE ABLE TO USE US TO CHANGE THE NEEDY, SINFUL WORLD!*
[Living as children of light, in God's family, also means:]
NOT being GREEDY (Greed is the power.behind.the.throne in most sin; even (especially) in the sexual sins we have discussed; "power brokers" of the obscenity market).
We like to hear about the dastardly, flagrant sins of the world but we *don't* like to hear that we are in grave danger because the same fires of selfishness burn within US! If we LIVE TO GRASP! THEN THE SEEDS OF HELL ARE WITHIN US!
But we may be FREE from *impurity* and *covetousness, which is idolatry*! HOW?

II. ALL THIS THROUGH 5:18. FULLNESS. THE REALITY OF BEING FILLED!

(V 14: *Be awake to what is really going on!*)
*BE an OPPORTUNIST!* (v 15: *Walk with your eyes open!*) When He knows He can trust you, God will put you in places.. thrust you into opportunities where
1. you will know His prompting;
2. you will NEED His Presence and power;
3. you will find "*BREAK.THROUGH FULFILLMENT!*"
*But ALL THIS BECAUSE OF "5:18!"* We CAN be filled with the Spirit! We can STAY filled with the Spirit!

Exhortation:

GET sanctified! If you are a believer, (Romans 12:1,2:) *Present YOUR body to God! Give HIM your LIFE!* Be filled with the cleansing, empowering baptism of the Holy Spirit!

Get SAVED if you need to, in ORDER to get sanctified! STAY FILLED! STAY BEING FILLED!

(EH) Give Me a Holy Life