Allowing the World to Encounter Christ Through Me

We're going to study one important concept from the book of Ephesians. All I want to do today is get one central idea in our heads as we walk out of this place on Sunday. And here's my goal. I hope that the thought that's going to be expressed this morning is so impactful in our lives that we remembered on Monday. Okay. And if we're remembered on Monday, I consider today a success. And here's the desire that we want to get accomplished. Today. I'm going to give you the goal right up front. Ready. Our goal is to allow the world to encounter Christ by encountering me. We've studied all this in the book of Ephesians together, first three chapters. Who is God and who am I in light of him? And Paul teaches us that premise to the book of Ephesians for the first three chapters. With this idea in mind, when you get to know the God that truly loves you and for the reason for which he created you, then the heart's desire that you will express would be to demonstrate that Jesus in this world. People are going to see me as I've seen Christ, and there's going to be something different about me. And so Paul's goal from the chapter three, end of chapter three on into chapter four and on from there, is that we as people would become a group in pursuing Jesus that reflects Jesus in this world.

The Bible talks about that in all sorts of places. That's the word that the idea of what the word disciple is all about. You learn from Christ and you reflect Christ. You're his student. He is your teacher, and you demonstrate that's what the word Christian means, right? It's biblical principle. It's like it's like the core of the Christian life here to allow the world to encounter Christ by encountering me, just to make sure we get that, we're going to say that together. Okay, the count of three, we're going to read that sentence. Ready? One, two, three. To allow the world to encounter Christ by encountering me. Awesome. Now here comes the convicting thought with this. If you were the primary tool in this world. To display to the world what Jesus looks like. And watching you. How would people communicate who Christ is? we could take that all sorts of ways, right? We could take that just in physical appearance. All of us thinking, oh, man, if I got to display Jesus, I need to look like a hippie. So I got to, I got to go to the store and get the long hair, wig or whatever. And the peace sign that's most pictures of Jesus are like a hippie looking Jesus. I don't think that's accurate, but. But that's just what we see. You know, you've done it. You've seen a hippie looking guy walk down the road and you say, oh, look, it's Jesus, right? Judgmental people.

Right? We're not talking about looks and we're not talking. We're not talking about personality. Because I can say to us, we want the world to encounter Christ by encounter. I mean, you're thinking, oh, personality. Jesus is a very docile individual. And so he was very humble and quiet. And he walked like this everywhere he went. You know, that's not what I'm talking about. Some of us have a personality that's quiet. Some of us have a personality that's loud and obnoxious. But what I'm talking about when I talk about Jesus is the content of his character. And God has called you to represent him in the world. A city on a hill. A light that is to be displayed. And so if you were the primary tool, by the way, the church is the number one method in which God has chosen to represent himself in this world. But if you were the primary tool. For which the world could look at and get an identity of what Jesus is about. And they would look at you. Who would they say Christ is? I can tell you as a I just think about that question and turn in my head. A lot of thoughts roll in my mind, things that I feel like in my life. I do well, and I want to continue to pursue those righteous things and display Christ in a manner that I think Christ deserves to be displayed.

And then I think about things in my life that I fall short in. And areas of my life that if someone caught me in those moments and that was their picture of Jesus, what a horrific picture of Jesus that would be. And there are times I drive down the road with Alpine Bible Church on the back of my car and I think, well, I probably shouldn't have Alpine Bible Church in the back of my car today. When we talk about our Christian life and we think about questions like that, the thought that we often come to is the idea of conviction. And we ask questions like that. And oftentimes we begin to think about areas in our life that we fall short in displaying Christ that way. And honestly, the last chapter that Paul talks to us about, the way we should display Jesus, he says a lot of things that we should be doing in our lives. And when we look at those things, sometimes they're very convicting. They're reaffirming sometimes and sometimes they're convicting. And there's a danger in the way that we perceive conviction in our life as Christians, because sometimes we take conviction that God desires for us to have, and we treat it more like condemnation. And what I mean is, if you are a believer in Christ this morning, what God desires for you to have in your life, in pursuing him, is when we mess up.

It's not condemnation, it's just conviction. Just to turn back to him and just pursue him because God created you for a relationship. And in fact, the Bible actually says that in John chapter 16 and verse eight it says when he it's talking about the Holy Spirit, Jesus is teaching about his job in our lives. This is when he comes. He will convict the world concerning sin and unrighteousness and judgment. The Holy Spirit's going to work in our heart. When there's things in our lives that doesn't align with Christ, God's going to convict us in a way that would motivate us to pursue Jesus in the way that we live them out. So that way, when the world sees us reacting to who we are in light of Christ, it sees a clear picture of who Jesus is. Not a perfect picture, but it can see a picture. And Romans actually goes on and says in chapter eight and verse one, rather rather than conviction, it talks about condemnation. And a lot of times we like to heap condemnation on ourselves. We walk around feeling guilty, like that's going to do us any good in our relationship with the Lord, just feeling bad all the time. And it says to this in Romans eight one, there is therefore there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Meaning, if you're in Jesus, God has already paid for your sins. The cross bore the sins that you would live in this world, Jesus already paid for all. There's no reason to walk in condemnation because of it. Because Jesus was the sacrifice for those sins. There's a there's a false philosophy that comes with this. I'll explain in a minute. But there is no condemnation to you who are in Christ. You understand that God loves you incredibly. Ephesians chapter one told us, God has blessed you with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms, and he has loved you before the foundation of the earth. Now, if God in Christ isn't condemning you, there's no reason for you to condemn yourself. But while God desires this to convict you. And the reason for that conviction isn't so you walk around this world feeling bad. The reason for that conviction is so that you draw near to Christ and enjoy your relationship with him. And just to clarify and be clear on the difference between what condemnation and conviction is, there's this little chart. I think it's in your notes this morning if you want to look at it. But this is what I'll show you what condemnation makes us feel like. And then we'll talk about what condemnation conviction helps us to accomplish in our lives.

I want to say, before I read this to you, I stole this, all right? This isn't I didn't this come from a brilliant mind? This came from. I think it was. I believe it was. Mark Driscoll wrote this for his congregation. But. But this is the idea of what condemnation does. Condemnations from Satan. And it leads to despair. In revelation chapter 12, Satan's actually referred to as the accuser of the brethren. More than anything, what Satan likes to do is bring up past mistakes that we've made and thrown it, throw it in our faces if it makes us unworthy to be before the Lord. Okay? And based on our own self worth, we are unworthy to be before the Lord.

But because of what Jesus has done, you get to enjoy the presence of the Lord. If you accept Christ's sacrifice. And so condemnation makes us feel like we're undeserving. It leads to despair. It comes from Satan. It ends in sorrow because there's no hope for that position. It makes us believe we can't change because all we do is we see ourselves as continued failures. It leads to the old identity and sin. I'm a sinner and all I do is sin, so I might as well just keep doing what I'm doing because I'm good at it. It brings a vague uncertainty about sin. Yeah.

When you get trapped in a religious system and you have no hope for getting rid of your sin, apart from anything that you're doing in this world, like good works, all you can do in this life is continue to do good works and just hope that eventually you may at some point cross that line where you've done good enough, where God's going to find you acceptable, but you never have the certainty of knowing if you've done enough good, where God's going to accept you.

And so condemnation just heaps. This judgment on you and you never know is God am I? Am I in your graces now or not? Do I find mercy now or not? And it just puts you in this place of despair. By the way, it's not biblical that theology, there's no hope in good works. It brings vague uncertainty about sin. It looks to self as the solution to sin, and it's a burden to bear. It's a burden that you can't bear. And if you trust yourself to bear, it will last for eternity. However. Conviction. Conviction is from God. It leads to life because it puts our hope in Jesus. Conviction ends in joy because it actually has a resolution. Jesus paid for your sins so that you can enjoy a relationship with him. It brings reconciliation. Conviction. Conviction leads to a new identity in Christ that brings specific awareness of sin. It looks to Jesus which you can't go wrong and it is a blessing.

And what we often do when we treat sin like a condemnation. This is what we do. I sin and I quit coming to church. I run the exact opposite direction of God, as if I'm going to go handle this on my own, fix my life, and then get back in church. Condemnation. Conviction works this way. I look at my sin. I look at what Jesus has done for my sin. And rather than run away from this God who I know hates sin, I can run to him because he is also a God who forgives sin. And so, Ensign, I should find myself drawing closer to Jesus than further away from him. Because what God ultimately desires is restoration of my relationship to him. God created me for that. It's healthy for us when we read questions like, if you were the primary tool in the world to display Jesus, what would the world say? Looking at you as it relates to Jesus are condemnation? No. It's convicting. It's a great place for my wife to stop and say, Lord, where is it? Where is it? Before my wife and my kid and my job and this world and the people I encounter? What? What is it I need to let go of just to let them see you? Paul carries this crazy idea that when we see the value of God's worth in our lives, that we're going to want to display that others could come to know him, and we're going to want to enjoy his presence in our lives.

And so any time that we're convicted, it's about turning to Jesus and allowing the world to encounter Christ by encountering me. God wants us to enjoy life with him. And so Paul, on the premise of everything that I just said, basically says that in chapter Ephesians chapter five and verse one, therefore. Be imitators of God. Allow the world to encounter Christ by encountering you. Imitate Christ in what you do. I ask the question, do you know what the greatest miracle God ever did was? What was the greatest miracle God ever performed? I hope, I hope, I hope you know this answer. I hope we're not searching for this, but what is the greatest miracle Jesus has ever performed? His death, burial and resurrection. Right? God's death, burial, and resurrection is the greatest miracle he has ever performed. But the beauty of that miracle is that God has taken this miracle, that he's performed for the entire world, and he's transcended the magnitude of the world. And he's made it personal in interacting with your own life. And so this great miracle of Jesus resurrecting from the dead becomes your own personal miracle as you place your faith in Christ. And that miracle that God performed as he as he was resurrected from the dead, he's then given you the promise to those who placed their faith in him.

You will also be resurrected from this world and God has given you a new life, a new identity, a new hope, a new perspective in him. And so that wonderful miracle that God worked for this world, God continues to work that miracle within you. And you become a part of the story. The greatest miracle that is ever performed continues to be performed as people trust in Christ. God transforms you from the inside out. That's what Paul is asking us to do as a body of believers here. It's on the backdrop of Ephesians chapter two, knowing that God has brought the dead to life, to those who've trusted in him, he's resurrected us from the death in our relationship with him, to enjoying the life of a relationship with him is to imitate and mimic that. Show the beauty of Christ in your life. Allow the world to encounter Christ by encountering you. And you have become a part of the great miracle for which Christ has performed. And we want this Jesus to look real because he is real. And so Paul then begins to explain to us just the detail of what that means for our lives, for the rest of the chapter, what we're going to look at is the specific of what he just said there. Be imitators of God. What does that even mean? So he says in the remainder of the chapter, he just reminds you that you are beloved children.

God is. We're imitating this because God has extended his love in ways that you've never experienced in any other relationship in this world. God has given everything that he may bring you life and that you may experience joy with him. And so he says in verse two, and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave himself up for us an offering and sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. Paul asks us to walk in this love, and I love what he does in this verse because we have a tendency of defining things our own way rather than just speculating what love really looks like. He then defines it as Christ gave himself up for us. An offering and a sacrifice. That's a fragrant aroma. You want to know what real love looks like? And you want to know what this love that I'm talking about and walking in looks like. Look at Jesus, who gave everything. Love is about laying down everything that you are to extend yourself to the one you desire to love. And Jesus did that. And Paul is calling us as people is imitating him that we begin to walk in that love. I think Paul chooses this example for us. First of all, to show us what real love is. Second is to show you.

How you're truly loved. And third, I think this because when we understand and we can see how much we're loved in our lives, it really fills our cup. You think about the goodness and the love that God perpetually extends towards you. It fills your life up. And when you're in a place of your life that feels like despair and hopelessness, the reaction of your life isn't like bubbly and joyful, right? It's despair and helplessness. And so Paul reminds us as people that when he asks us to imitate the goodness of God, he's saying in the context, because you are a beloved child of God, God has filled your cup up with all of his goodness before you. He says in Ephesians one, every spiritual blessing Jesus has extended your way. Fill yourself up with that and allow that cup to overflow in your lives. It's as goodness. Walk in love, he says. Walking in love for us just reminds us that we are, as people, to live in such a way that you desire to experience a loving relationship with him. Can I tell you that the most miserable people, I think, on the planet are Christians who have no passion to pursue Jesus? You put one fence in Christ and one fence in the world, and you try to get the best of the both worlds and you really get the joy of nothing. Sin is fun for the season.

And so if you want to have fun and you don't want Jesus, then choose sin because you're going to have a lot more fun than just half heartedly following Christ. But we know God has a far more joy than what sin presents, because sin is only fun for a season. But when you put your straddle the fence and you put your life in both areas of the world, there is no joy in that. The Bible calls that lukewarm Christianity. It's unpleasing to the God. God has created you to pursue him alone. And in that find joy and walking in love. It's saying to us that we experience a loving relationship with him. You could you could think of it like this way as a parent, you are always going to love your child, right, regardless of what your child does. But you as a parent with your child aren't always going to be able to experience that love together. Why? Well. Kids are stubborn sometimes, right? And sometimes they disobey. And sometimes they do things contrary to what your will is. And so rather than experience the joy of that relationship, there exists tension. Because it's going contrary to what the relationship is intended to be. And so when the Bible talks about us needing to walk in love, or we should walk in love, our pursuits become God's desire. Lord, I see how much you love me. God, I want to love you back.

In the same way I want to experience life with you. Anytime you get a new friend, you know what makes great friendships? Enjoying the same things together. We got these bonds over particular things. You unite with people easier when you have common interests with them. And he's saying in this passage of Scripture that we're walking in love when our pursuit becomes what God's interest is, we have these common interests together, and we're pursuing these things together. And so we're experiencing that relationship with one another. We're walking in love. Anything contrary to that is really sin. When we walk in sin, we're walking contrary to the nature of God, and we're not experiencing the love and that relationship for what God's created us to experience it in. And so rather than walk in the love of that relationship, we're walking away from his presence being perceived in our lives. And Paul describes for us as believers in order to imitate him. It begins with learning to walk with him and in him. And as we walk in him, we begin to display to this world what a walk in Christ looks like. And so Paul asks us in this passage of Scripture to imitate him and to walk in him and to consider how much he's loved you, because it's the inspiration to us to also respond to him in love. And so, as Paul tells us, the beginning picture for us is allowed the world to encounter Christ by encountering us.

He then describes for us the next portion of this text. It starts in verse three and it goes, I think to verse two, verse 15. He describes for us what it looks like to not do that. And the last half of the verse, he describes for us what it looks like for us as believers if that is your desire. And so he says this beginning in verse, in verse three says, but immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. And thus there must be no filthiness and silly talk or coarse jesting which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks for this. You know with certainty that no immoral or impure person, or covetous man who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things the wrath of God comes on the sons of disobedience. Convicting. Or condemning. Paul begins to describe for us a life that's apart from Christ. And here's the reason I think he's doing that. It's because the believers in the church of Ephesus became lethargic in their relationship with Jesus. They didn't see the significance of living in light of who Christ was and walking in that love. A matter of fact, I think there was a false philosophy that developed early on in Christianity, and Paul addressed it a few times, and the belief goes like this.

This is this is not a this is not accurate theology, okay? Belief goes like this Jesus already died for all of my sins. And so since I have Jesus and he already died for every sin I'm going to do anyway, I might as well live like hell. All right, because Christ already paid for it all. Jesus paid for my sins so I can just keep on sinning. Yippee, right? I'm. Jesus is my get out of hell free card and so I can do whatever I want. And Paul looks at that particular type of thinking and theology that developed, and he says, listen, this should not even be named among you. As a matter of fact, if you read Romans chapter six, he contradicts that philosophy. It's all Romans six is about. Shall we go on sinning, that grace may abound? May it never be. Why? Because Jesus has given everything to know you. And he wants you to know him. And rather than walk in sin. To know him means to walk in his love. Live a life in favor of him, rather than a life that opposes him. When you truly see when Paul writes this letter expressing to the believers, when you truly see the love of Christ that's going that's been extended to you, you're going to want to love Jesus in return.

As far as eternity relates, you had no hope. You were dead. There was no relationship with God to be had. You were separated him from him forever. And because of Christ's great love for you, he has extended every thing that you may experience the joy of the Lord for all eternity. Why not respond to that in a way that says, Jesus, I love you too. Bible talks about in this verse six, a very pressing theology for us. He says to the believers who are being adopted into this philosophy that they can live however they want. Let no one deceive you with empty words. For. Because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. I want to just be honest this morning and say this God judges sin. You think as a as a as a pastor, you consider the wrath of God. If I were to come here this morning and to just talk about hell, I'm going to talk about hell for just a minute, because we're talking about the wrath of God. If I were to come here and teach you about hell. And hell isn't a real place. How horrible for me to talk about a place like that. And people have a genuine fear, rightly so, of what hell represents. How horrific would it be just to flash hell over our lives, to manipulate people, to do whatever it is that you want them to do? Right.

That's not loving at all. But if hell is real. And I don't talk about it. How unloving would that be to not share about what hell is and what it represents and everything that hell is supposed to be as it communicates to us in Scripture. And so I'm sort of in a, in a false dilemma. And so I want to I want to or false a dilemma in explaining that I want to tread lightly in talking about hell, I want to tread soberly, I want to tread respectfully, but I want to tread in the way that Scripture talks about Jesus. It talks about the wrath of God and coming upon people who are the sons of disobedience. I would just say this today in our in our theological thinking, there was a popular book, even written last year about just hell's not real. God just loves us because he just should look at us, right? And so there's no such thing as hell. Just. I'm lovable. God, right? If hell doesn't exist, why in the world would Jesus die on the cross? I mean, that was the sickest joke. What is it so horrific about the eternity to come apart from God, that Jesus saw the necessity to come and sacrifice his life in such a horrific way? That says to me that eternity is something to take serious.

You think about what allows us to escape the idea of what hell is about? Because I'm just lovely, right? If God's wrath. It's poured out on Jesus. What makes me more special than him. Well, look at the teachings of Christ. You realize Jesus taught about hell twice as much as he taught about heaven. There is something significant about your relationship with Christ. There's something significant about what Jesus sought to accomplish on the cross. In addition to the escape of hell, it's also about enjoying a relationship with him. And here's the dilemma of why people challenge themselves over whether or not the doctrine of hell is real or isn't real. It's because they wrestle with this question how can a loving God exist and hell exists? I mean, how can I look at that question and think, I just read in verse one and verse two, God's talking about walking in love, and we just cheerfully skip, or rather love and love. And he's going to let us love and love. And then you get to verse six and you're thinking, and now the wrath of God is there. How in the world can I take verse one, talking about a love of God, and unite it with verse six, talking about the wrath of God, and expect to believe that there is a loving God who exists. There is no help.

That's where the premise comes from. Let me give you an illustration to see if this helps. You walk into a courtroom. And there's a man on trial. And as you're sitting there for the man that's on trial, the reason you're in that courtroom today is because you're the one who's been violated against. Say something horrific happened. Your child was brutally beaten, raped and murdered by the individual who was in this courtroom. And your heart is broken. And all you want is justice for what's been done. And the judge walks in. And he simply steps up and says, you know what? You're guilty. But you're free. Go. Enjoy your life. How would you, as a parent, react in that courtroom? I mean, your kid just lost your life, and. And the judge said he loves that individual, but where's the love for you? Where's the appreciation for what's been done against you? Where is the mercy and the grace and the justice? Where is it? Look at Jesus. Dying on the cross. God's. Son. God created this world. For a sacrifice for God. Excuse me? God created this world for a relationship with him. And the world responds and hate to him. We reject our creator, we become our own gods. We enjoy sin rather than we enjoy his presence. We take His Son and he is crucified. The world crucifies Jesus and God cries out for justice. Unless God brings his justice, there is no love.

God not only loves us, God loves himself. God is love. God lives in community with both father, son and spirit. Loving one another and God in that love desires justice for what's been done even against himself. Because God loves himself. And he brings justice because God judges sin. And the beauty of it all. As the Bible also describes his justice. This way you go before the courtroom and now, this time, rather than you being sinned against, you're the one who sinned against your creator, and you're coming for your judgment. And God pronounces his judgment upon you are guilty. But Jesus steps in and he pays the penalty for your sins, that you may experience a relationship with him and at the cross of Christ. Not only do you see the justice of God being displayed for us as people, but also the love of God being declared to us as people, that God is just and God is love. And God desires to have that relationship with you. The justice of God is a loving thing. And we all have a choice. To go into eternity telling God, God, I will pay for my own penalty. And the weight of that is for eternity. Or God, I accept what you've done for me. And when you consider. That love. The hopelessness that we have, but now the relationship that we enjoy in Jesus forever.

Paul looks at this passage as a scripture, and he's saying these things that are in your life. Let them have no presence, but rather be the imprint of Christ in this world. Display him. When the world looks at you, let them see Jesus. Paul then goes on and describes this way. He says in verse seven. Therefore. To not be partakers with them. For you were formerly darkness. But now you are light in the Lord. And so walk as children of light. But the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth. Trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Verse ten just says to us as people, when we walk out of the world and into Christ, we're learning what that looks like. We're not going to do that perfectly. We're going to make mistakes. But what we're in the process of doing is we're not about avoiding sin. Our perspective isn't how can I avoid sin? How can I avoid sin? Our perspective is how can I walk with Christ? And in so doing. My life walks away from sin. Jesus, how can I draw to you more and display your goodness more? God, I'm learning what it means to walk in your will. And so he goes on in verse 11 and he says this, do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret.

But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. For this reason it says, awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. He's talking about the light of who you are in Christ. Sometimes we get to places in our lives where the circumstances around us seem so dark that we just get hopeless. I always remind myself of a quote by Winston Churchill that says, these are not dark days. These are great days. For no matter how dark the day may be, the greater your light is in Christ, the darker the moment, the greater the light of Christ pierces into that darkness and shines forth his light into this world. And so the idea behind this text is that you don't lose hope in the midst of darkness, when everything else seems to not be going your way, and people are disagreeing with you and they can't figure out what in the world it is you're doing with this Jesus, your Jesus that you're choosing to impact this world with, is shining so beautifully into that darkness that you just consider the joy of Christ that's coming forth in your life that others may see. May the Lord, the world, look at us and see Christ the way that we're choosing to live. And so Paul does this for us in the last portion of this text that we're going to talk about together.

If your heart's desire is to be a display of Christ for this world, that they may see you and see Jesus. Paul takes the last few verses of this text, and he describes for us if that's your desire, here are some things in your life that could help you show the beauty of Christ as you live in this world. He says this. Therefore, be careful how you walk, not as unwise men. But as wise. Make the most of your time because the days are evil. The Greek text gives this idea. It's talking about time in the Greek text, but it gives this idea that we as people take a step back and we look at our life and we realize our life has a beginning, and our life very soon will have an ending. And we only have so much time in this world as we consider just the shortness of our life in light of eternity. We make the conscious decision that with what we're going to do in this world, is just allow our lives to display the beauty of Christ. You've only got so much time. Use it for what counts. Use it for what matters. Making a difference in this world. And so Paul goes on and says in verse 17, if you take the desire to imitate Christ in this world, you understand you've only got so much time to display that and only so much time that you can make an impact for Christ in this world.

In verse 17 begins to explain the needs of the things that we can do. He says, so then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is, and do not get drunk with wine, for this 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. And so Paul says to us in these passages of Scripture, it's important that we become learners of what God's will is. If you're interested in loving Jesus the way Jesus desires to be loved, learn about him. And here's how you do it. Be controlled by the spirit. Being spirit filled literally means being spirit controlled. It's saying to us, we surrender. It's looking at our lives and saying, God, I could live for all of this, and I'm looking at you. And when I consider the things that my life could be impacted for in this world as I live it out, I surrender to you. God have your way in me. Spirit control me. And if your desires to walk in the way of the Lord, not only do you allow the spirit to have control by surrendering to God's will in your life, he says that we speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.

You know, we're communicating and teaching the Word of God to each other as we sing songs. You had all the books in the Bible? Do you know the most quoted book from the Bible? It's the Book of Psalms. The most quoted book in the New Testament is the Book of Psalms. The Book of Psalms is a book of songs. When you study early Hebrew tradition, when the Hebrew children, the Jewish people, when they wanted to learn scripture, do you know what they did? They put it to songs. We learn better from Psalms. We memorize things better from you did it. If you went to school and had a major test, all these definitions, you got to learn, right? We even did it with our ABCs and A, B, C, d, E, F, g. This is how I learn these letters, right? The songs do it and Paul sang to us. If you want to learn God's word, just sing it man. Sing the Word of God. Do you know some of the best theologians out there today? I hate to say this, but it's rappers, man. If you like rap, the theologians that are coming out in just the idea of Christian rap, it's amazing. They put so much more than my sermon can even possess. They say it so fast, it's amazing.

I mean, you got young kids. If you want your young kids to learn what it means to pursue the Lord in their lives, do you know the best way you could do that as a parent? When they get in the car, turn on K-Love, turn on a Christian song, help them to learn the songs you know, they're probably not going to know the theology. Now, explain to me how the theology of love I don't know, I don't know, I just know God loves me. Okay? But as your kids sings that song when they get older, they're going to keep singing those songs because they're going to remember, there were times in my life where I was, I was riding in the car with Mom and dad, and we sang this song, and all of a sudden it's just coming to my mind. Now that I'm older, I'm thinking about these words. And man, if I just thought about this as I was growing up, those that those words and that song, they're powerful. I mean, Paul, we could say we could take it loosely and say, Paul's saying to sing these spiritual songs to us, but really his focus is the word of God that we would come to know him. And can I tell you those first two passages just to surrender ourselves in the spirit and to saturate ourselves in the Word of God? It's easy to do.

You know what he's saying? Pray. Surrender to God in prayer. You do that in prayer. Just stop and pray and give your life to God and surrender to him. And take some time to read your word. Saturate yourself in God's Word. Determine and understand and grow what the will and the will of the Lord together. If it's your desire to imitate Christ. And so he says in verse 20. Always give thanks for the things in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the father. And be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. It's hard to live life and perspective of my relationship to Christ. It's hard to live it contrary to him if I'm not thankful. I determine in my heart that I'm going to carry an attitude of thankfulness for what Jesus has done for me. It puts me in a position where I'm recognizing him in my life everywhere I go, carrying an attitude of thankfulness for what Christ has done. Saturate yourself and understanding that his love that's been extended to you. Fill yourself up with His word and surrender to His Spirit. Take some time and just pray before the Lord. And he says in verse 21, and be subject to one another in fear of Christ. So say next week we're going to start just a couple of weeks in talking about being a godly spouse and being a godly parent, I can tell you the greatest mission field you have is as parents and as a spouse is to be what Christ desires for you to be before your spouse and before your children.

And so it's important to talk about. And I think Paul immediately jumps into all these things that we're supposed to do in our lives. And he specifically brings it down to the family because of the purpose for which God created the family. And on the backdrop of talking about marriage, Paul says this in verse 21, just before he talks about the husband and wife, he says, be subject to one another in fear of Christ. Can I tell you? We're not good at that. Culturally. we don't like to do things unless there's something in it for us. Now I'll do that. But what do I get? Right? You're a little kid. Take out the trash. I'll do it. But give me a dollar. What's in it for me? We've learned such an individualistic approach to our society that we're all about what's in it for us. And we are last in thinking about what it means for the community. And when you flip it for the sake of Christ your first, and thinking about what it is as it relates to community and last thinking about self. And so when Paul is saying this in verse 21, he's saying, be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.

And he's about to talk in the context of the family. But we could talk in any relationship. Do not love people because of what they're going to do for you. Do you not do things for people because it might pay off for you in the end? Do things for people because you love Jesus regardless of what they do. I can even say it in the context of marriage. I don't want to preach a whole sermon on this, but. But sometimes in our marriage we get selfish and we choose not to love our spouse because our spouse isn't loving us the way that we want to be loved. And that's not the way God called you at all. When you made a commitment to your spouse, God calls you to extend your love to them regardless of the way that they love you. That's the vow we make. Love is not about what you do. For me to deserve the love that I'm giving you. Love is about giving itself anyway. And when it says in this passage, be subject to one another, it's saying, regardless of the way other people are reacting around you, God has called you to be his light in this world, not because of them, but because of Jesus. Jesus is worth it. You think about if Jesus took that approach to our relationship with him? God, you're going to love me because I'm lovable, right? God will never love you.

The standard of perfection that he has for us is so unachievable that there is nothing you can do to earn his love. Matter of fact, there's nothing that you can give God that he can't do himself. But he chooses to love you anyway. And here's the miracle of that. When you choose to love someone despite the way they respond to you. It gives them the opportunity to change. It gives them the freedom. We love him because he first loved us. And in doing that and extending that love and subjecting his self for us. We experience that relationship with him holistically and beautifully. Be imitators of Christ. Let me leave you with this thought. If you were the tool. To display Christ. What would the world say about Jesus? If your desire is to imitate him in this world, walk in that love. Walk, experiencing him. It's not about what you're doing wrong. It's just about pursuing Christ in this world. Let go of the sin and understand that you are beloved in Christ. And allow the spirit to have control and learn about him as you open up His word and sing those songs of praises as you see the beauty of who Christ is and subject yourself to one another not because of what they're doing, but because of who Christ is and man. When the world looks out and sees you and sees this church, they see Jesus.