Empowered
Romans 8:26-27; Ephesians 5:17-21, 6:18
The Holy Spirit fills believers and empowers them in their service and prayers. What is the secret of power to you? If you are Popeye, the secret of power is a can of spinach. If you are Superman, the secret of power is kryptonite. If you are a Christian, the secret of power is the Holy Spirit.
Our focal passages are Romans 8:26-27 and Ephesians 5:17-21, 6:18. We are commanded to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God comes into our lives when we invite Christ into our lives to be our Lord and Savior. This is a once-and-only-once experience. Being filled by the Spirit, however, is a day-by-day experience. No one would think of teaching a Sunday school class while drunk, but it is just as wrong to teach a Sunday school class without being filled by the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 5:19-21 points out that when we are filled by the Holy Spirit, it is evident in the way we speak and worship. If we are filled with the Spirit, we will treat one another as we would want others to treat us. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we will be encouragers for others in the church, not fault-finders.
Ephesians 5:22-6:9 points out how we are to live lives of Spirit-filled submission in different relationships. This passage points out right relationships between husbands and wives, parents and children, and employees and employers. In all three relationships, we are to treat others as we want to be treated. Be an encourager and do your part to make relationships grow and develop into Christ-centered ones.
Paul calls for the followers of Christ to submit to one another. Submission is a bad word in our society. We make heroes of people who won’t submit to anyone’s authority. You never hear Mel Gibson, or Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sigourney Weaver talking about submission, unless it is beating the bad guys into submission. Mike Wilkins, in his sermon “New Relationships,” says, “Christian submission is not about being a doormat. Paul, who writes this passage, deals harshly with both secular authorities, and with Christian brothers and sisters who overstep their bounds and treat him as less than he is. The submission that Paul is calling us to is a mutual submission – not one where there is one person in submission, and another in authority, but one where we would submit to each other.” The world has different ideas of true leadership and submission. True leadership is submitting to one another in Christ’s love.
Ephesians 6:18 and Romans 8:26-27 call for the believer to pray in the Spirit. We are to intercede on behalf of all believers. Even when we do not know how to pray, the Holy Spirit will intercede for us. The Holy Spirit takes our frail, feeble and faulty prayers and translates them to the Father so that they are acceptable and in harmony with His holy will.
In closing pray for spiritual protection. Second, pray for others and not just for yourself. Third, pray for the salvation of others.
Dinkins– Lessons in the BSL series for the summer quarter are being written by David Dinkins, pastor of First Baptist Church, Kingstree, and former director of missions.