Practicing the Presence

Text: Ephesians 5:15-18, TLB

Focus: The Spirit

Function: practical ways to keep in the presence of God.

^15-16So be careful how you act; these are difficult days. Don’t be fools; be wise: make the most of every opportunity you have for doing good. ¹⁷Don’t act thoughtlessly, but try to find out and do whatever the Lord wants you to. ¹⁸Don’t drink too much wine, for many evils lie along that path; be filled instead with the Holy Spirit and controlled by him.

Good morning!

Historically, the Church of the Brethren have been teetotalers since right before the prohibition.

In a similar vein, growing up in an evangelical wing of the Mennonite Church, we heard the same thing. Drinking alcohol is worldly and no good for you and you can be sure that you won’t sin by drunkenness if you never drink.

And of course, being a bible based church, we heard this perspective from this passage of scripture that tells us not to be drunk with wine.

Now,for full disclosure’s sake, I am not opposed to having a social drink. While I was learning to cope with my depression, I was an alcoholic. And through the process of healing and restoration, the salvation that God promises to bring us, I spent 11 years as well without drinking alcohol.

One can’t use alcohol to treat depression. There is a song on my playlist that I love and it has great meaning to me. It is “Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior” by Jimmy Swighart. As I was in deep prayer and meditation while listening to this song, I kept crying out to God for a healing from the trauma that I experienced as a child and through a series of difficult events and suffering, with the help of a good therapist, a patient wife, and much time spent in prayerful meditation, I found the promised healing that Jesus says he will give us.

Remember, I have been focusing on Abundant life. Jesus is our Savior. He saves us. Not simply to keep us out of hell, but is the one who restores us to God and each other. God’s restoration, God’s salvation, Jesus’ salvation is holistic. I believe that in time and through the helpful spiritual direction of things like our gathering together here we experience that abundant life.

Tee-totaling had a good affect on me in one way. I grew up with the knowledge that we were not like other people because we abstained from alcohol and that proved that we were Christians. It was religious and that was comforting to know that I was set apart for God.

But, I have mockingly said it this way, we grew up with the adage “we don’t smoke and we don’t chew and we don’t go with girls that do.”

It was a holiness code that we followed that indeed made us feel like we were special and it was a part of our faith.

I love the people that I know that are still in that holiness tradition and I understand, as it says in Romans 14:6b-9, that some of us abstain as a way of sacrificing for the Lord, and the Lord is pleased with that, and others imbibe because they know they are free in Christ and the Lord approves of their liberty as well.

So according to scripture, Holiness is great and is commanded. But what is holiness? I believe it is being filled with the Spirit and carrying out the mission and calling that Christ has given us.

I believe that holiness is practicing the presence of Christ in our lives. And that is accomplished through the power of the Holy Spirit who is present in us. Especially those of us who trust in Jesus for our restoration to God, others and ourselves.

So why am I only focusing on one half of one verse in our entire text today.

I believe that it is a disservice to preach holiness as merely defined by the things that we do not do.

That is a negative approach to the power and strength of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Remember, God is a verb. God is the action in our lives that empowers us to be like Christ and show that love to others.

So let us look again at the salient verse about not being drunk with wine. It has the command in the negative of something that we are not to do, but the emphasis in the passage is on being filled with the Spirit of Christ.

When we are filled with the Spirit of Christ, we are focused on the mission and purpose that Christ has for us. We are given meaning to our suffering and successes by the power of the Spirit.

So, holiness, then, in my estimation is not defined by the things we don’t do, but the things we actually do.

I once preached a flop of a sermon calling it the do-do principle of our faith. It isn’t based on what we don’t do, but on what we do, do.

I was hoping to drive home that idea that merely abstaining from the things that people take to excess sometimes in order to prevent excess leaves us far short of being holy people.

I believe it leaves us trapped in a sin avoidance mindset instead of a Joyfully enable Spirit led lifestyle.

If all we do is abstain, we are then trying to accomplish the work that God has for us in our own strength. Well, actually we are not focused on the work we are called to do, but we spend our lives worried about whether or not we are sinning.

I am reading the book of Job in my morning devotions right now. And one of the things that strikes me is that if Job had a fault, it was his fear of sinning. The text says that he offered sacrifices all the times just in case his kids sinned. And then disaster did strike and he says that the thing he always feared came upon him.

It would be ironically sad if he was so prosperous and yet so afraid of losing his wealth that he didn’t enjoy it.

Here is the thing. Job was a righteous man. And when he was questioned by his friends, he was able to recount his generosity and how he was the one who sustained the poor people in his neighborhood.

He was loving his neighbor as much as he loved himself and he was caring for them and letting the Spirit of God lead him.

He was doing the second part of our salient verse. He was being filled with the Spirit of God and letting God lead him in his life.

In our text, he does tell us to be careful about the way we act. God wants us to remember that the time given to us is a time for us to prosper and be blessed and a blessing to others as we continue the work of Jesus together in our lives and community.

And I am convinced that as he is talking, he is speaking of the Spirit lead life. In the next few verses, he speaks of how we maintain a connection to the Spirit by our fellowship and mutual encouragement.

He tells us to look for opportunities to do good.

A Spirit led life is also a selfless life. I recognizes that God is present in us to bless us so that we can be a blessing to others. Out of our bellies shall flow rivers of living water that bring life to the pain in the world around us when we act in faith through the power of the Spirit.