In 1867, Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel invented a new high explosive, which he named “dynamite.” He was convinced that his invention would make war too horrible to ever happen again. However, he quickly discovered there was no shortage of buyers for his new explosive. He made a huge fortune from its sales, yet was horrified with the suffering and misery it caused in wars and conflicts. But what was he to do?
Towards the end of the 19th, century he awoke one morning to read his own obituary in the local paper: “Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, who died yesterday, devised a way for more people to be killed in a war than ever before. He died a very rich man.”
Actually, it was Alfred's older brother who had died. A newspaper reporter had confused the epitaph. But the account had a profound effect on Alfred. He decided he wanted to be known for something other than developing a means to kill people efficiently, and for amassing a fortune in the process.
As a result, he initiated the Nobel Prize – an award for scientists and writers who foster peace. Nobel said, “Every man ought to have the chance to correct his epitaph in midstream and write a new one.” (Doug Murren and Barb Sharin, Is It Real When It Doesn't Work? Thomas Nelson, 1990)
Wouldn’t that be nice? Well, the good news is WE CAN! As long as we’re still alive, we can correct our epitaphs and write new ones. We can always redeem the time that’s left.
You say, “Phil, how?” How can I redeem the time I have left to make the most of it? How can I correct my epitaph before it’s too late? How can I insure that the legacy I leave behind is a positive one for my children and grandchildren? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Ephesians 5, Ephesians 5, where the Bible shows us how.
Ephesians 5:15-16 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. (ESV)
Literally, “redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” We can buy back the lost and wasted years, if we…
LIVE WISELY.
Literally, the text says we must walk around as wise people. We must exercise great skill in the way we live. We must use good judgment.
Show the video, Spot the Gorilla (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo)
In his book, Did You Spot the Gorilla, psychologist Richard Wiseman describes an experiment where volunteers watched this short video of two teams passing basketballs. When asked to count the number of times the white team passed the ball, most volunteers came up with the correct answer, but most of them also missed the man in the gorilla suit, beating his chest, right in the middle of all the action. How did you do? Were you so intent on counting passes that you completely missed the gorilla?
Richard Wiseman concluded that most people go through life so focused on the immediate task at hand they completely miss gorilla opportunities. He gives the example of a team of 3M researchers who were trying to develop a high-strength adhesive. One of their attempts produced a product that was actually the opposite – a very low-strength adhesive. Most of the team thought the result was a failure, but one saw it as an opportunity. That adhesive failure went on to become the invention that made 3M Post-It notes a reality. (Richard Wiseman, Did You Spot the Gorilla? How to Recognize Hidden Opportunities, Arrow Books)
Don’t be so focused on the problems, you miss the prospects for success. Don’t be so focused on the mundane, you miss the gorilla opportunities. It does us no good to whine and complain about our failures. Instead, let’s live wisely, and so redeem the time we have left. But in order to live wisely, we must…
UNDERSTAND GOD’S WILL.
We must comprehend what God wants us to do. We must know his desire for us.
Ephesians 5:17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. (ESV)
When we understand God’s will, then it keeps us from doing foolish things. A wise life is a life lived according to the will of God.
Tim Sanders, former chief solutions officer at Yahoo, talks about establishing the right priorities:
He says, “Take your life and all the things that you think are important, and put them in one of three categories. These three categories are represented by three items: glass, metal, and rubber.
“The things that are made of rubber, when you drop them, will bounce back. Nothing really happens when these kinds of things get dropped. So, for instance… my missing a game or a season of football will not alter my marriage or my spiritual life. I can take 'em or leave 'em.
“Things that are made of metal, when they get dropped, create a lot of noise. But you can recover from the drop. You miss a meeting at work, you can get the cliff notes. Or if you forget to balance your checkbook and lose track of how much you have in your account, and the bank notifies you that you have been spending more than you have – that's going to create a little bit of noise in your life, but you can recover from it.
Then there are things made of glass. And when you drop one of these, it will shatter into pieces and never be the same. Even though you can piece it back together, it will still be missing some pieces. It certainly won't look the same, and I doubt that you could actually fill it up with water, because the consequences of it be being broken will forever affect how it's used.
The thing is, you're the only person who knows what those things are that you can't afford to drop. More than likely, they have a lot to do with your relationships: your marriage, your family, and your friends. (Tim Sanders, www.sanderssays. typepad.com, 8-25-06)
And most importantly, your relationship with God.
Those are the things we must focus on, because they are the most important and they are the kind of things that are in line with God’s will. You see, when we put God’s will first, then He takes care of all the rest. Jesus said, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33), i.e., all your needs will be met.
If we want to live wisely, then we must understand God’s will. And if we want to understand God’s will, then we must…
BE FILLED WITH GOD’S SPIRIT.
We must be controlled; we must be influenced; we must be directed by the Holy Spirit of God.
Ephesians 5:18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit… (ESV)
God’s will is very clear here. God does not want us to be filled with intoxicating spirits. He wants us to be filled with His Holy Spirit. Do not get drunk on wine, he says, which leads to debauchery or recklessness.
A few of summers ago (July 3, 2006), a Delaware man was preparing for a cookout on a July 4th weekend. Only he decided to use gunpowder instead of lighter fluid to get his coals lit in the grill. Well, you know what happened. The whole thing blew up on him, and he suffered burns on his face and hands. Police said the man had been drinking. (“Quick Takes,” World, 7-22-06, p. 7)
That’s the nature of alcohol. It may make us feel good for a short while, but it ends up blowing up in our faces. Alcohol wrecks lives. It wrecks families, and it wrecks relationships. So don’t fill yourself up with wine.
Instead, fill yourself up with God’s Holy Spirit. Let the Spirit of God take control of your life, not alcohol.
James Emery White is a seminary professor. And when he teaches on the concept of the Holy Spirit’s filling, he brings two glasses of water and two packets of Alka-Seltzer to class. He drops a packet of Alka-Seltzer, with the wrapper on, into one glass. Then he plops an unsealed packet into the second glass, and they all watch it fizz.
He says to his students, “Both glasses have the Alka-Seltzer, just as all Christians have the Holy Spirit. But notice how you can have the Holy Spirit and not his filling.” What we want to do is unwrap the packaging around the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit within. (James Emery White, Long Night's Journey into Day, WaterBrook, 2002)
You see, it’s NOT a matter of how much of the Spirit we have. As believers in Christ we have all the Holy Spirit we’re going to get (Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 12:13). He indwells every follower of Christ in all His fullness. No. It’s NOT a matter of how much of the Spirit we have. It’s a matter of how much the Spirit has of us. How much influence and control do we allow the Holy Spirit to have in our lives?
Tell me, what influences you the most? Is it alcohol? Is it work? Is it the pursuit of pleasure or power? Is it sports? Is it some radio or TV show that you have to listen to every day? You see, we can be intoxicated by more things than wine. We can be intoxicated by power. We can be intoxicated by work. We can be intoxicated by the pursuit of pleasure.
The only problem is when we allow these things to master us, they enslave and eventually destroy us. Only the Holy Spirit can master us without enslaving us. On the contrary, when we allow the Holy Spirit to control us, He sets us free to achieve God’s supernatural plan for our lives.
In 2007, Julio Franco (show picture), at age 49, retired as the oldest position player in modern baseball history, a record that has yet to be broken. The year before, on April 21, 2006, Julio Franco became the oldest player in Major League Baseball history to hit a home run, and just a week later, on April 27, he became the oldest player in 97 years to steal a base.
Retired outfielder, Andy Van Slyke, accused Franco of using steroids, but Franco's response demonstrated the true source of his remarkable life.
Franko said, “Tell Andy Van Slyke he's right – I'm on the best juice there is. I'm juiced up every day, and the name of my juice is Jesus. I'm on his power, his wisdom, his understanding. Andy Van Slyke is right, but the thing he didn't mention was what kind of steroids I'm on. Next time you talk to him, tell him the steroid I'm on is Jesus of Nazareth.” (“It Wasn't All Bad,” The Week, 5-5-06, p. 2)
When we’re juiced on Jesus, we can be all that God wants us to be. When we’re filled with His Spirit, we accomplish God’s amazing will for our lives.
You say, “Phil, that’s what I want. I want to be filled with God’s Spirit. I want to live under His influence and control. How do I do that?”
Well, it’s very simple. 1st, invite the Lord Himself to take control of your life. Jesus said, “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” (Luke 11:13). If you want the Holy Spirit to fill your life, just ask Him to.
Then spend time listening to Him, allowing His words to influence your thinking and behavior. If we don’t spend time with a person, how in the world can that person ever influence us? So it is with the Lord. If we don’t spend time with Him, then He has no opportunity to influence us. But the more time we spend with Him, the more He is able to influence our thinking and behavior.
I’m going to read from Colossians 3:16, but I want you to keep your eyes right here on Ephesians 5:18-20. See if you notice any similarities. Colossians 3:16 says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God”.
Did you notice the similarity? Ephesians 5 says, “Be filled with the Spirit and you will speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs…” Colossians 3 says, “Be filled with the word of Christ and you will sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs…”
You see, being filled with the Spirit and being filled with His Word produce the exact same results. That’s because the Spirit of Christ influences us through His Word. And it’s only when we take the time to listen to Him that we experience His power (or influence) in our lives.
How much time are you spending in the Word of God these days? That’s the amount of influence He has in your life. God cannot influence you if you’re not taking the time to listen to Him.
I encourage you: Read something from the Bible every day. Think about what you read. Write some of your thoughts down. Then ask God to help you apply those thoughts to your own life that day. If you’ll keep doing that every day (or nearly every day), I guarantee you will find your life so full of the Holy Spirit’s influence, you’ll be absolutely amazed at the transformation that takes place.
If we want to live wisely, then we must understand God’s will. And if we want to understand God’s will, then we must be filled with God’s Spirit. And if we’re filled with God’s Spirit, then we…
EXPERIENCE HARMONY IN ALL OUR RELATIONSHIPS.
We experience a wonderful unity in the Body of Christ. We experience joy and peace as we serve the lord together. Look at the result of the Spirit filled life in vs.19
Ephesians 5:19-21 …addressing 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, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. (ESV)
In the original language, these are all participles describing the result of our being filled with the Spirit. That is to say, when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we address one another in songs; we sing and make melody in our hearts; we give thanks always for everything; and we submit to one another.
When we allow the Holy Spirit to influence our lives, He transforms all our relationships. He brings harmony in the church. He brings harmony in our homes (Ephesians 5:22 – 6:4), and He even brings harmony at work (Ephesians 6:5-9).
A teacher once asked her students to list what they thought were the 7 present Wonders of the World. The students cast the most votes for: 1) Egypt's Great Pyramids; 2) Taj Mahal; 3) Grand Canyon; 4) Panama Canal; 5) Empire State Building; 6) St. Peter's Basilica; and 7) China's Great Wall.
Most of the students were quick to decide, but one girl was having trouble with her list. The teacher asked her about it and the girl admitted that she couldn’t make up her mind about the 7 wonders, because there were so many.
So the teacher said, “Tell us what you have, and maybe we can help.”
The girl hesitated, then read, “I think the Seven Wonders of the World are: 1) to see; 2) to hear; 3) to touch; 4) to taste; 5) to feel; 6) to laugh; and 7) to love. (getSynergized Newsletter, July 27, 2003)
Oh, when we can feel and laugh and love together that truly is a wonder that far outshines any other wonder! And it’s a wonder that comes only when we’re under the influence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
My friends, let’s make the most of the time we have left. Be wise and understand God’s will. That is to say, be filled with God’s Spirit and experience the harmony that only He can bring to all your relationships.
As we close our service, would you make this your prayer? Sing it with me:
Spirit of the Living God,
Fall fresh on me.
Spirit of the Living God,
Fall fresh on me.
Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me.
Spirit of the Living God,
Fall fresh on me.
