Introduction:
God created the eye and all its power of perception. The garden He placed Adam and his wife in was filled with beauty. Every tree he planted was "pleasant to the eye" (Gen 2:9). God looked at everything that He had made and it was very good (Gen 1:31). It was pleasant and agreeable. God created beauty and the ability for humanity to enjoy it.
The eye is a sensory powerful organ. The prophet Jeremiah looked around at the desolation of his nation and said "Mine eye affecteth mine heart..." (Lamentations 3:51 KJV).
What we watch shapes who we are, what we do, our political preferences, and our actions and this is why everyone from retailers to political parties pay billions of dollars in efforts to get our attention. TikTok shapes trends and how young people dance. While Jeremiah was talking about the psychological and spiritual distress he experienced by witnessing war, it is true that the affects the heart in more ways than PTSD. The children's Sunday School song warns:
O be careful little eyes what you see
O be careful little eyes what you see
For the Father up above
Is looking down in love
So, be careful little eyes what you see
Taken the wrong way it can almost seem like a warning against the eyes beholding beauty, but that is not what it means. There are many beautiful principles in God's word and world that can be taken out of context or abused. The letter to the Ephesians says:
Ephesians 5:8-20 (NKJV)
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), 10 finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. 11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. 13 But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. 14 Therefore He says:
“Awake, you who sleep,
Arise from the dead,
And Christ will give you light.”
15 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, 20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another in the fear of God.
There was a time when our lives were characterized by darkness. Darkness is used as a metaphor for evil and what is contrary to God's plan for us. These things included sexual immorality, greed, and obscene and vulgar speech which Ephesians contrasts with thanksgiving (5:3-5). These things are the things that those who walk in darkness do, not realizing that greed is idolatry.
The text says that we are now characterized by light. The beautiful fruit of the Spirit grows in the Light. It is characterized by goodness, righteousness, and truth. These are things of beauty and a thing of beauty is a joy forever.
Being a part of the community that is the children of Light is that path to knowing what God's will is. There are some things that there is no need to pray about. God desires for us to be good and right in our relationships. If we walk in the Light as He is in the Light, the Blood of Jesus Christ His Son continually cleanses us from all sin! (1 John 1:7)
You cannot do all the good in the world, but the world needs all the good that you personally can do. You are not darkness anymore, so your life should not be so much about worrying about the darkness, or cursing the darkness, as it is about lighting another candle. In another place, the apostle says, "Don't be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good!" (Rom 12:21).
When we live as we ought to, it has a way of exposing what is not right in the world. When we tend to our relationships as we should, the brokenness of the world is seen and the purpose of us being Light is to expose the enemy and to show the world what it's like to live in communion with the Father. There should be aspects of our lives that differ from the surrounding culture. We should be the example of genuine love in the world. When we walk into a new place the atmosphere ought to change. We ought to be so charged with faith, hope, and love that it is contagious. You are salt and light. Saly only affects what it touches! Light only makes a difference in contrast to darkness!
In the middle of the text, some scholars believe that the writer of Ephesians stops to sing a little song. This is characteristic of the Pauline tradition. When Paul and Silas were beaten and thrown in jail secured in stocks, they burst out in song! There are moments when you just have to sing your way through and there are other moments when you sing just because you have a song! The favorite book of the Apostolic church was the book of Psalms. They were a singing church. This little song seems to be a composite of select verses from the book of the prophet Isaiah.
“Awake, you who sleep,Arise from the dead,And Christ will give you light.”
Isaiah 26:19 (NKJV)
"Your dead shall live; Together with my dead body they shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust; For your dew is like the dew of herbs, And the earth shall cast out the dead."
Isaiah 51:17 (NKJV)
"Awake, awake! Stand up, O Jerusalem, You who have drunk at the hand of the LORD The cup of His fury; You have drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling, And drained it out."
Isaiah 52:1 (NKJV)
"Awake, awake! Put on your strength, O Zion; Put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city! For the uncircumcised and the unclean Shall no longer come to you."
Isaiah 60:1-4a (NKJV)
"Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. 2 For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the Lord will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you. 3 The Gentiles shall come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising. 4 “Lift up your eyes all around, and see..."
I like that last part. One translation says, "Look around!"
And this is what the very next verse states, "See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise..." (5:15).
I like the word, "circumspectly." It means to carefully consider all circumstances and possible consequences. One of its synonyms is "prudence. Ecclesiastes 2:14 (NKJV) says, "The wise man’s eyes are in his head, But the fool walks in darkness."
Proverbs 4:14-19 (NKJV) reads: "Do not enter the path of the wicked, And do not walk in the way of evil. 15 Avoid it, do not travel on it; Turn away from it and pass on. 16 For they do not sleep unless they have done evil; And their sleep is taken away unless they make someone fall. 17 For they eat the bread of wickedness, And drink the wine of violence. 18 But the path of the just is like the shining sun, That shines ever brighter unto the perfect day. 19 The way of the wicked is like darkness; They do not know what makes them stumble.
Perhaps we have all done it. Looking down at our phones while walking through the world. It is dangerous. Ephesians, Ecclesiastes, and Proverbs warn in a chorus that we must have our eyes wide open as we walk through the world. "Walking" in Scripture is a way of speaking of one's overall lifestyle and course. The Christian ought to be the most awake person in the world!
We have been given a resource. An inner Light that guides, the Light of the Holy Spirit. He is the Light that lightens every man who comes into the world (John 1:9). In order to overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil we must walk in the Light. When we do, our time will not be wasted. We will redeem moments that might be otherwise spent in ways that would not profit. When we walk in the Light of God's Spirit we will be aware of what pleases Him. The will of God is not as shrouded in mystery as we sometimes make it out to be. It is His will that we follow the leading of His Spirit.
Quit drinking alcohol and be filled with the Spirit. Keep being filled with the Spirit. We talk about "getting the Holy Ghost" as if there is a one-time event. The Lord desires for us to live in such a way that we are continually living under the influence of the Spirit. We are to walk in the Light. Being filled with the Spirit should be a lifestyle rather than an event. All those on the day of Pentecost were filled with the Holy Spirit initially as they spoke with other tongues for the very first time (Acts 2:1-4). A short time later when Peter and John were brought before the high priest and his family, Peter was "filled with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 4:8). Then when Peter and John were released after a night in prison, they returned to the believers and they all prayed. "After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly" (Acts 4:31). Here Ephesians could be translated as "be being filled with the Spirit." It is in the present continuous tense. It could be translated as "keep on being filled with the Spirit." In Acts 6:3, when the apostles were choosing deacons to distribute food to the widows the church decided that they should "choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom." These were people who were known to keep being filled with the Spirit. It was a characteristic of their everyday lives. The life of the Christian is one that should be characterized by a continuous infilling of God's Spirit!
John 7:37-39 (NKJV)
"On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” 39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified."
Jesus has come and He has given us of His Holy Spirit (1 John 4:13)! We have access at any moment to drink from the waters of life freely (Rev 22:17)!
But, sometimes we are like the woman at the well in John 4. We ask how can we draw water from a well that is so very deep. How do we draw from the deep wells of the Spirit that we might continually be filled with the Spirit? Has God given us any means of grace by which we may obey Ephesian's admonition to continually be filled with the Spirit? There are three things in the final words of this text that tend towards a Spirit-filled life. These are practices that prime the pump for the flow of the Spirit in our lives:
1. Singing
"...speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord..."
Just as Ephesians stops in the middle of the text to sing, he tells us so should we. Music is a gift that God has given humanity. It is powerful.
When Saul was troubled by an evil spirit, it was David's harp playing and singing that soothed his troubled mind (1 Sam 16:14-23). When the prophet Elisha was seeking a word from the Lord, he had them bring in a minstrel (2 Kings 3:15). There is power in the decision to sing and sing together. There is power in music to stir the Waters of the Spirit within us! It stirs up the Spirit that is in us individually and collectively. We are the temple of the Spirit. We should sing to one another. What we do here on Sunday mornings matters! We ought to do it more often.
He mentions psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. There is a place for all three in our spiritual life.
Singing the Psalms back to God is something that the church has practiced since its earliest days. One of the most unexpected musical hits in history was the 1993-94 album of Gregorian chants by the Spanish Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo de Silos that topped the charts in Europe and the US. It was number one on the classical music charts and number three on the pop music charts. These recordings of a group of men singing in unison to one another the Words of God have a calming and stilling effect. Medical research has indicated that listening to this music has an "interiorizing" effect. Although the singing is light and calming, it is also passionate and strong. This creates positive psychological effects on the listener. Researchers say that this may lower blood pressure, increase levels of DHEA, and reduce anxiety and depression. It can also stimulate the communication of the left and right hemispheres of the brain and create new neural pathways. (75 Masterpieces Every Christian Should Know).
Hymns are those traditional songs that we sing together.
Spiritual songs are spontaneous. Paul mentions singing in the Spirit (1 Cor 14:15).
Singing to one another and singing to God is a way of facilitating our own Spirit-infilling. What would it look like if we began to sing about Jesus instead of expressing our bitterness and worry? It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness!
2. Thanksgiving
20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Researcher Brene Brown has shown that practicing gratitude produces joy. The Bible says that it is the joy of the Lord that is our strength! (Neh 8:10). And joy is an aspect of life that is connected to the Spirit (Gal 5:22).
What if gratitude is like the handle of a faucet that we have the power to turn on and experience the outflowing of the Spirit of God?
What does life look like that is continually practicing gratitude? What would it look like if "thank you" was one of the chief words in our vocabulary? Giving thanks to God in His transcendence through His Incarnation! Realizing that in Christ God came to us and that seated on the throne of Heaven is a Man Who understands our woes and trials!
Saying "thank you," thinking "thank you," walking "thank you" changes everything, because it opens the windows of heaven and the deep places of God's immanent working up and allows them to flow into our lives!
What would it look like if our practice of giving thanks for our food before each meal was more than a habit and actually a reflection upon what God has given? It was after Jesus gave thanks that the loaves and fishes were multiplied. Practiced gratitude multiplies what you have!
The blessing of the Holy Spirit brings abundance! The thankful person has more than enough because they create a space where God is pleased to dwell. He inhabits the praises of His people.
Isaiah 12 says that with joy, we draw waters out of the wells of salvation (JESUS). Gratitude is our joy bucket!
Practiced gratitude brings joy. When we practice gratitude together and as individuals, we open up the floodgates of the Spirit!
3. Submitting
21 submitting to one another in the fear of God.
Finally, Ephesians tells us that another practice that brings an infilling of the Spirit is mutual submission.
Submission takes effort.
First of all, it is something that has been abused by sinful people. Submission is about liberty, not bondage. And when the person on either side of the equation begins to think that abuse or neglect is wrong, the relationship has moved outside of its godly intent. Submission is a discipline and disciplines are about liberty, not bondage. Practicing submission for submission's sake and saying that you are simply being obedient can devolve into legalism, and the apostle Paul says that no one can be saved by works of law (Gal 2:16).
Before Ephesians mentions the household codes, and as the writer is giving us the means to live continually being filled with the Spirit, this is the preface: "Submitting to one another." It is something that we are to continually do. It is not a one-time affair or a one-way discipline.
We live in a world where we are bound by the belief that we have to have things our own way. Submission frees us from that. Often our battles are over things that in the big scheme of things do not matter. We fight over things that mean nothing and then wonder where the Spirit's work is in our lives. We major in minors instead of focusing on what matters because we are like children in our understanding sometimes and we carry bitterness that will block the flow of the Life-giving Spirit if we do not take up the cross.
We are called first of all to self-denial and self-denial has a way of freeing us from the shackles of having to have everything go our way every moment and in everything. Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty!
Ephesians mentions three relationships that defined the first-century Greco-Roman world: husbands and wives, parents and children, and slaves and masters. He tells those who had less power in those relationships (wives, children, and slaves) to submit to those with more power. The humor in this is that this was something that according to the surrounding world, they had no choice in. Ephesians elevates their role in the relationship by telling them that they do have a choice and in order for the Spirit to flow into their lives and situations they should exercise that choice.
The difficult part of these verses was for the husbands, parents, and masters. Their submission was found in acts of love toward those that they held power over. This completely changed the power dynamics. It brought liberty. No longer could a husband be a tyrant always demanding his own way in the name of submission, but in love he became a servant to his wife. No longer could parents exasperate their children and expect obedience for obedience's sake, they were to love their children and respect them as fellow creatures made in God's image. No longer could slaveholders treat slaves as property, but as fellow citizens in the kingdom of God. When there is mutual respect it allows the Spirit to flow.
The Bible does not teach submission in all situations. When submission becomes destructive its bond is at its end. It takes being filled with the Spirit to understand when this is so or every time we do not get our way we will claim liberty. This goes for submission to the State, in our most intimate relationships, and to religious structures.
When we practice submission as a regular discipline we will be filled with the Spirit and be able to discern when submission to God supersedes submission to any human authority.
Richard Foster offers seven practical areas where we can practice the discipline of submission. The first is submission to the Holy Spirit. Next, is to the written Word of God as it is contained in Scripture. Then there is submission to our family. Freely and graciously members of a household should make allowances for one another. Philippians 2:4 says that we should care about the welfare of others as Christ did in His humiliation and Incarnation. Galatians 6:2, "For you were called to be free, brothers and sisters; only don't use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love." Submission is about freedom, not oppression or control. Then there is submission to our neighbors. When I think about being a good neighbor, I think about Mr. Rogers. He lived his life trying to model Jesus's command to love our neighbor as ourselves. When the oppressive system in the 1960s did not allow blacks and whites to swim in the same swimming pool the system had become destructive and it, therefore, lost its power over Christians. Mr. Rogers invited Mr. Clemmens, a black police officer, onto his show and they put their bare feet into a small wading pool as they made conversation. When we choose the basin and the towel we are most like Jesus. We submit to our neighbors for their good. Next, is submission to the body of Christ. We should all belong to a fellowship of believers where there is mutual submission. Next, is submission to the broken and despised. The Bible has much to say about caring for the quartet of widows, orphans, the poor, and strangers who live near you. When we make a decision to care for our neighbor and submit to their needs the Spirit of God flows into us and through us. Finally, there is submission to the good of the entire world. Jesus did not die for a select few, but for all.
Application:
We are called to a life of walking in the Light and contrasting the darkness that is in the world. This week, what would it look like if we began making sure that our playlists were filled with songs of praise and our mouths were filled with gratitude? What would it look like if we began to offer praise instead of complain, to light candles rather than curse the darkness? What if we filled our homes and social media accounts with praise and gratitude? What if we decided to submit to someone else this week and not demand our rights or our way?
Conclusion and exhortation
In the Benedictine monastery where Gregorian chant is practiced, they regularly sing through the entire book of Psalms over the span of a few weeks. Their voices are in unity. There is a mutual submission that is practiced as their voices lift one another. God wants us to sing in tandem and that takes the ability to harmonize. If one monk decided that they wanted to sing their own way in spite of the others, there would be disharmony and no flow or benefit.
