Whether you're new in your walk with God or you've been following Him for a very long time, there's tremendous value in taking a refresher course on Christian doctrine. Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll presents a primer for aspiring theologians. It's not based on Chuck's personal opinion, but rather it's founded on five different tests that Paul identifies in his letter to the Ephesians. As we resume the message Chuck started last time, we'll pick up with test number three. It's found in Ephesians 5 verse 17.
Chuck titled his message, The Christian Life 101. Test number three, the decision-making test is verse 17. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
Starts with a negative, ends on a positive. Do not be foolish. Don't think you can live your life without concern for God. He made you. He has a plan for you. He is on your side, if you will. He is in your corner.
He loves you as deep as the ocean, as wide as the green. His mercy and love are on our behalf. So don't be foolish, but the positive now is understand what the will of the Lord is. Question for this test, are you actively and correctly pursuing the will of your Heavenly Father? Actively and correctly pursuing the Father's will. Understand the word means to grasp, to comprehend.
How do I do that? Listen carefully, listen carefully. You pray with an open heart. You go to his word because he never leads contrary to his word. You seek the counsel of people you admire in the Christian life who are objective, have nothing to gain or lose in your decision.
They're hard to find, by the way. And then having done so, you wait, you wait, you listen to his voice as he speaks to you in messages just like this, or in messages from his word, or maybe a hymn or a song that's being sung, or the counsel of that individual that you maybe hadn't sought out but seeks you out. And then forgetting what you want, you obey. And you understand what the will of the Lord is. Please notice it is the will of the Lord, not the will of powerful people. Do you realize, you don't because you don't know us that well, every time Cynthia and I have made a large and significant decision, we have had good people counsel us against it, and they were wrong. They meant well, but our plan was not to listen to man, but to God. It's amazing how often human wisdom is wrong. And it doesn't come from mouths of the evil, it comes from well-meaning people. As one of those people said to us one time when we were moving from one ministry to another, we were trying to convince them the Lord was in it, they said, boy, the Lord gets blamed for a lot of things he hadn't got anything to do with. That's my response to that.
I didn't do that, but I thought of doing that. And the result was, after we got to that ministry, it was 23 years of some of the greatest years of our lives, how wrong that woman was. But she loved us, and she didn't want us to go. So she told us what she felt was right, and she was wrong. Because we had sought the counsel of people who had nothing to gain or lose, who were willing to tell us the hard thing and ask us the tough questions. And we had to decide, do we want to please ourselves or do we want to please our Father?
Have we hid it every time? No, of course not, we're human. This isn't about perfectionism, it's about walking as best you can in the truth. Sometime what you hear from others that you don't want to hear is the right thing to hear. Okay, understand what the will of the Lord is.
Are you actively and correctly pursuing the Father's will? Okay, that's three tests. Here's number four.
How you doing? Most of you look like you're awake, still with me through this exam on 101, 18, 19, and 20, the control test. Do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks for all things, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God, even the Father. Question, are you living your life under the influence and control of the Holy Spirit? One of the most significant verses in all the Bible is verse 18, Ephesians 5. The negative, which is Paul's style, followed by the positive.
Now, some teach that this is a comparison. Just as the drunken condition is a stimulant, so the influence of the Spirit is a stimulant, and this drunken condition brings about a new direction and control, the Spirit brings a new direction to stop. Medical journals I've checked and medical doctors I've talked to have all affirmed that drunkenness is a depressant.
Alcohol doesn't stimulate, it depresses. The Spirit of God is a stimulant. This isn't a sermon on alcoholism, this is a sermon on Spirit-filling, a Spirit-filled life.
But Paul begins where some of them were, familiar with drunkenness, not uncommon in that day, just as it's not uncommon in our day. Alcohol becomes a depressant, the Spirit becomes a stimulant. Alcohol causes loss of control, the Spirit of God causes a gaining of control. Alcoholism leads to serious and tragic consequences, as every addict will tell you. Once they have begun a path of sobriety, they will tell you it is a maddening, maddening series of consequences.
It will wind up ruining everything. Whereas the Spirit of God never dehumanizes, it never turns us into animals out of control, but makes us more human than ever under the Spirit's leading. Well, how can I know if I'm filled with the Spirit? By the way, the filling of the Spirit is directly linked with how we handle the sin of our lives. And when it comes into our lives, we present it to the Lord and we claim His forgiveness, the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin, and we say, Father, that was a wrong thing to do. I bring it before you and I agree with it.
I agree with you that that was not right. And forgive me, I trust you to forgive me, and may I now walk unto your control. And you do that. And Lord, when I encounter something similar again, give me strength ahead of time so I don't yield to the wrong, but I do what's right. I ask for your control. It's a command.
Be filled. He never commands us to be sealed. That's passive. He does it for us. Never commands us to be baptized in the Spirit.
That's not for us to be involved in. The Lord does that when we're converted. But he says, be filled. Be filled. Be controlled. Be under the influence of the Spirit of God.
How can I know that I am? Great question. Verses 19 and 20. Number one, you speak to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. I think that has reference to speaking to one another, sharing in the things the Lord is showing you, expressing to others your gratitude for the things you're learning.
Your conversation is on the level of the Lord, and he is regularly communicating to you his truth. And the next is your singing and making melody with your hearts. It doesn't mean you walk around singing all day.
Don't do that. Man, it's hard to be with Christians that want you to harmonize with them as they're singing all day. Sometime you do sing, and most often you're not singing. You're singing in your heart. I've heard some of you sing. You should just sing in your hearts. That's a great place for you to sing. One of my mentors, Ray Stedman, tells a funny story that early on he wouldn't face the fact that he couldn't sing, and he was determined to sing in the choir. And so he got in the choir, and finally some fellow choir members and others encouraged him not to sing in the choir. He said, when I left the choir, the church thought that they had gotten the organ repaired as a result of his not singing. It's fine if you're alone to sing at the top of your voice your one note.
That's great. Just keep doing that, but this is about the heart. It's being melodious and harmonious in life. You're around some people that you want to harmonize with in their life because their lives are beautiful melodies, and you can fit into them, and they can fit into yours, and you're making great music.
We say our words are the chemistry is right when I'm around folks like that. If you are abrasive and a complainer and one that continually sees the negative side, I know you're not filled with the spirit because the last sign is giving thanks always for all things. Isn't it great to be around people that are up that don't focus on the negative, that don't murmur? Understand that when you're filled with the spirit, you're not negative. You are a grateful individual giving thanks for all things.
I'm hesitant to get any more specific, lest my family remind me of it at lunch as to how this works its way out. You're in the middle of heavy traffic. Give thanks. Teach me how to do that.
You're dealing with people that are hard to be around. Give thanks. Go on.
The list is endless. Filled with the spirit, are you actively pursuing his will? Are you deliberately under his influence and control? What a difference. Wouldn't it be great if we for one hour of our time as a body of believers were all at the same time spirit-filled?
Would that be unbelievable? Not one murmur, not one complaint, only a giving of thanks, a melodious, harmonious relationship, a sharing in the things that Christ is teaching us, a growth that is balanced and fun and easy to be with? What a wonderful way to live. What a wonderful way to grow a church. What a wonderful way to grow old.
What a wonderful way to live. Verse 21 is the last test, the submission test. Are you deliberately and often finding ways to honor and serve others out of reverence for Christ?
See how it reads? And be subject to one another in the fear or out of respect for Christ. I like the way Martin Lloyd-Jones put it in one sentence. The spirit-filled life is not to be measured merely by one's private morality or even by one's private spiritual experience, but by how one conducts himself or herself with other persons. If your Christianity is making you more of a recluse, it's not Christianity. It's selfishness. If what you are calling the Christian life is pulling you more and more away from and out of respect for others, there's something twisted in your thinking.
We are to be subject to one another out of respect for Christ. He didn't run from people. He ran toward them. Rather than being protective, he was vulnerable. In fact, when they came to take him under arrest, remember? We're looking for Jesus of Nazareth.
I am he. Some of them fell back thinking they were going to have a fight on their hands. That's why they brought the weapons and the clubs. You have nothing to run away from.
I'm here. That was my mission. And how respectful he was of those he was around, even those who had been caught in sin.
Hating the sin, he loved the sinner. Constant need, isn't it? Well, in the final analysis, verse 21 is saying that honoring and serving other people is a characteristic of the Christian life 101. Who are you right now honoring and who are you serving? Are you a daddy? You have a wife, and you have a family to honor and serve. You'll have no problem with her submitting if you honor and serve the family.
Trust me. Are you a mom? You have the opportunity to serve and honor your husband and your family.
You're a single. You have a circle of friends to honor and to serve. You're a leader.
You own your company. This is your opportunity to serve and honor those in your company, to celebrate with them the success of your company, or to have them with you grieve some of the battles you're going through together. Cynthia and I were just with Gary Smalley at Mount Hermon, and she and I said to each other as we finished our conference, he is a marvelous model of what he preaches. He really does honor and serve other people. You never get the feeling he's the star of the show. It's very disarming to be around a person like that. It's wonderful.
He is subject to others out of respect for Christ. Okay, time to grade your paper. Okay.
Give yourself 20 points for each answer that comes up right. Number one, your behavior. Are you being careful and wise in your behavior? That's the conduct test.
How'd you check out? On a scale of 10 to 20, 10 being worse, 20 being best. Let's give yourself a grade.
Okay. Time test. Are you cultivating discipline and discernment in the way you spend your time? Remember the extremes?
How you doing there? The time test. Number three, the decision-making test. Are you accurately and correctly pursuing the Father's will?
A control test. Are you living under the influence and control of the Holy Spirit? Keeping short accounts with sin, walking in relationship with your Father, in harmony with Him, agreeing with Him about life. Number five, are you deliberately and often finding ways to honor and serve others?
Now, give your test to the person's... No, no, I won't do that to you. Let's bow our heads. Let's close our eyes.
Just for a few moments. You've been patient to sit through a process of three, four, five points to help bring you face-to-face with life as it is for you. Some of us feel conviction in one area, some in another. You're sitting beside people who, like you, know what it is to struggle.
We're all in this thing together. Nobody in this room has it wired. Nobody qualifies as perfect.
Nobody in this room has it wired. Nobody qualifies as perfect, and that means we're all on the same level. Right where you're sitting, just make certain that your relationship with Christ is intact.
Let's go there first. There's been a time in your life when you and the Lord had a talk regarding your sin, and you came to the cross, or today you come there, and you agree without him there's no way you're going to make it to heaven. There's no way you're going to ever measure up. None of your righteousness will do it.
Good works and humanistic effort will never make it. So you agree you need him. So you take him. You receive him.
He becomes your Savior. Isn't that great? Right now. Right now. If you're not sure, do it now. Take care of it now. Okay, most of us are beyond the cross, and we've come to the Christian life, and you've had some exposure happen in this message. You've had some areas of weakness and need exposed. You can sit there and just lick your wounds and feel terrible, or increase your guilt and shame, and that's counterproductive.
That's not the answer. You can say, on the other hand, Lord, I have such need in this area, or these areas. Please help me in the process of living for you to know how to do this in our big family, or with our small children, or with my partner who isn't easy to live with, or in my situation where things are out of control and at times impossible for me to corral. You're my Lord, and I know you care about these things. The fear of the future may be some of your hang-up, and maybe that's what needs to be dealt with here. When the Lord leads, there's nothing to be afraid of. It doesn't mean it'll be easy.
It means he'll be there for you and with you. And so, Lord, I am very, very grateful that you have been our faithful God and guide to bring us to yourself and to now lead us in your way. You've never told us it's easy.
You've never told us it's simple, but you have given us a guide that will help clarify what would otherwise be confusing. Thank you. Thank you, dear Father, for a love that's greater than our love could ever be, for an understanding that's deeper than ours could ever go, for a mercy that's wider than we would ever know.
The one who knows us the best loves us the most. Thank you. Now, thank you for your help as we separate from each other and as we move in all different directions, all across this country, involved in all different things. Bring us back again and again to the Christian Life 101. And remember, God loves you. Come on and remind us again and again the importance of who's in control, how we spend our time, the way we walk, the direction we take, and how we serve others.
For Jesus' sake, I ask it. And everybody said, Amen. Amen. Over the last several programs, Chuck Swindoll has identified five key areas or tests that reveal our progress in the Christian life. You're listening to Insight for Living.
And please stay with us because Chuck has prepared a closing comment just for our listening family. To learn more about this ministry, visit us online at insightworld.org. We're hoping today's study in Ephesians 5 has motivated you to take your next steps in your daily journey with God. Chuck's written a daily devotional designed to focus your attention on God's Word every day, either first thing in the morning or before you retire at night. It's called, Good Morning, Lord, Can We Talk? With a special emphasis on prayer, this refreshing book from Chuck includes 365 daily reflections, enough for every day in the New Year.
And it would make a thoughtful Christmas gift as well. To purchase Chuck's devotional book called Good Morning, Lord, go to insight.org slash store. Or call us if you're listening in the United States.
Dial 1-800-772-8888. If Chuck's November letter has already arrived at your home, then you've had the delight of reading his personal expression of thanksgiving for all God has accomplished in 2020 in spite of the forces of darkness pressing into our world today. It's been a remarkable year, and in many respects, it's drawn us closer together as followers of Christ, because in times like these, we truly need each other. So from all of us at Insight for Living Ministries, please accept our profound thanks for your support during this tumultuous year. Your voluntary donations have allowed us to touch lives all across North America and now all around the world through eight languages.
Chuck? By now, all of you know that I'm not predisposed to a doom and gloom outlook on life. God just didn't wire me that way. But without question, I've never witnessed the level of cultural chaos confronting all of us today. The forces of evil are dramatically at work, working overtime to create confusion, distraction, and fear. Frankly, the escalation of these battles has ignited a greater personal passion to preach and to teach the truth while there's still time. At Insight for Living, we're not winding down.
In fact, we're ramping up. We're completing one of the most productive years in the history of Insight for Living, and we're positioned to accomplish even more in this new year that's ahead. As we approach December 31st, I'm calling on you to personally invest your resources in Insight for Living so that people will hear the clear and calming message that God is still very much in control. Remember, your gift today not only brings insight to you, but your year-end gift delivers insight to others.
You see, it's your partnership that determines what we can accomplish together. So let's band together as a family to make sure the truth of God's Word breaks through the noise so that people far and near can benefit from Insight for Living. And I look forward to hearing from you today. And here's how to respond to Chuck Swindoll right now. To give a donation today, call us if you're listening in the United States, dial 1-800-772-8888 or go online to insight.org. Thank you for your generous support. I'm Dave Spiker, inviting you to join us again tomorrow when Chuck Swindoll continues the series, Becoming a People of Grace, right here on Insight for Living.
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