Our identity as a follower of Jesus requires that we live lives that are controlled and influenced by the Holy Spirit...

This week, we are looking at a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the Bible called the book of Ephesians. Yesterday, we saw a man named Paul explain to early followers of Jesus that that there is divine knowledge and understanding that is available to us, so make sure that we are living your life in a way that is exercising that divine knowledge and understanding in order to produce positive results in your life.

Paul then commanded the members of the church at Ephesus to take every advantage and opportunity to avoid what would be unwise. In addition, commanded the members of the church at Ephesus to, instead of living life in a way that consistently disregards reality, to understand what the will of the Lord is.

Paul’s point was that God has a desire for how he would like his followers to live out our identity as a follower of Jesus in relationship with Him and one another. However, a natural question that arises here is “Well Dave, that sounds great in theory, but I have a hard time living in a way that is according to God’s desires when it comes to my identity.  I just really struggle to live out all that you have just said. What you are talking about seems beyond my ability, so how do I get to the place where I am living my life in a way that reflects my identity as a follower of Jesus?”

Today we will see Paul provide us the answer to these questions. So let’s discover that answer together, which is found in Ephesians 5:18:

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,

In this verse, we see the Apostle Paul paint for us a timeless word picture that reveals a timeless truth when it comes to living our lives in light of our identity: “Do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit”. To help us wrap our minds around what Paul is communicating here, let me share a story that vividly illustrates this word picture.

My freshman year in college, after a home football game, I gave a teammate a ride back to Indianapolis so that he could visit his family. Now by the time we left campus and made it to Indianapolis, it was already past midnight. My teammate lived in one of the tougher sections of the city. After dropping him off, as I waited at an intersection on my way back to the freeway, I watched as a very large and very drunk man stumbled to my car.

As the man approached, I noticed that the front of his pants were soaked with urine. The man then reached my car, leaned across the hood, and proceeded to throw up all over the windshield and front of the car. After throwing up all over my car, the man then mumbled something and finished stumbling across the intersection and down the street.

Now if the Apostle Paul was riding shotgun with me on the trip, he would have called that man’s behavior dissipation. This word means to live a life that is of reckless abandon that is a waste. Instead of living according to God’s design and desire, this man’s reckless abandon resulted in a life that was wasting away toward destruction.

Paul then contrasts the life of reckless abandon of a drunken man with someone who is filled with the Spirit. The Spirit here refers to the Holy Spirit. Paul’s point here is that we are to carefully consider our lives when it comes to what controls and influences their lives. Instead of being controlled by something that results in a life marked by reckless abandon and that wastes opportunities to live wisely in relationship with God and others, we are to live a life that is controlled and influenced by the Holy Spirit.

And it is in this word picture that we see the Apostle Paul reveal for us a timeless truth when it comes to our identity as a follower of Jesus. And that timeless truth is that our identity as a follower of Jesus requires that we live lives that are controlled and influenced by the Holy Spirit.

The timeless reality is that we are influenced by what influences us. Whether you are a follower of Jesus or not, you are influenced by what influences you. Your life does not occur in a vacuum; in your life there are external and internal forces at work in your life that influence your life. And here we see the Apostle Paul reveal for us the reality that in order to live a life that reveals and reflects our identity as a follower of Jesus, we must live lives that are controlled and influenced by the Holy Spirit.

You see, when we read the accounts of Jesus life that are recorded for us in the Bible, what we discover is that Jesus relied on the power and the strength of the Holy Spirit to live the life that we were created to live but refused to live in relationship with God and one another. And Jesus relied on the power and the strength of the Holy Spirit to accomplish the mission He was given.

You see, Jesus shows us what it means to be truly human. Jesus provides for us the example of how we are to live our lives here on earth and accomplish the kingdom mission that we have been given here on earth. As followers of Jesus we are to live Spirit filled lives. In other words, our lives are to be controlled, influenced and empowered by the Holy Spirit so that we would reveal and reflect Jesus to others as we live in relationship with God and others.

Now a question that arises here is “what does a life that is influenced and controlled by the Holy Spirit look like? And how do I know if my life is controlled and influenced by the Holy Spirit?”

That is a great question. And regardless of whether you are a follower of Jesus or not, a person can look at their lives and the lives of those around them and begin to recognize what controls and influences our lives.

Friday, we will see Paul begin to unpack four specific evidences that appear in lives that are controlled and influenced by the Holy Spirit...