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"Before you Walk with Christ, Sit with Him"

Ephesians 5:1-20

By Clancy Nixon

August 20, 2006

Church of the Holy Spirit

Ashburn, Virginia

www.holyspiritanglican.org

The great evangelist Dwight Moody once held up a glass and asked a crowd,

"How can I get the air out of this glass?" One man shouted, "Suck it out with a pump!"

Moody replied, "That would create a vacuum and shatter the glass." After numerous other

suggestions, Moody smiled, picked up a pitcher of water, and filled the glass. "There," he

said, "all the air is now removed." He explained that victory in the Christian life is not

accomplished by "sucking out a sin here and there," but by being filled with the Holy

Spirit. Yes, we are to get rid of sins, but if we want real victory, if we want to look like

Christ, we need far more than the absence of obvious sins.

Every man is filled up with something. The question is, what is he filled with? A

man who spends his time admiring himself in the mirror, will be full of himself. If he fills

himself with the pleasures of this world, the world will be too much with him. If he fills

up on wine all evening, he will get drunk. In Ephesians 5:18, the Apostle Paul

encourages us not to get drunk with wine, but instead to be to be filled with the Holy

Spirit. In Acts 2, at the first Pentecost, observers thought hat maybe Peter and the others

were drunk with wine; instead, they were filled with the Holy Spirit. They said, it's only

nine o'clock in the morning it's not immediately obvious to me why that answer should

have been persuasive! Whatever else might be said about being filled with the Spirit,

when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we will look and act like Jesus. Amen? We will

do the things he did, say the things he said. The New Testament indicates that Jesus spent

more time with the twelve, hanging out with his homeboys, than he did doing anything

else. As we hang out with Jesus, sitting with him in his presence, we naturally act more

like him. You know the cliché about how dogs look like their masters? You look like

who you spend time with. Most of you know that my sons are adopted, but they look like

me. They have picked up all my bad habits (and some of my good ones), and they have

the same mannerisms as I do, because I hang out with them. Paul says in 5:1 that we are

to imitate God in Christ, walking in love, as Christ loved us.

Christians long to grow into the likeness of Christ, but most of us find that this is

not so easy to do. It's not difficult to grow in Biblical knowledge; you do some research,

ask a knowledgeable person, or listen to sermons, or read books. Ignorance is a relatively

easy condition to fix. Some people find study difficult. Whether you like Bible study or

not, far more difficult than study is growth in Christlike character, in the fruit of the

spirit. It is much easier to do a word study on kindness and really get that concept than it

is to be a kind person. Character, Paul tells us, grows from habits of action, which grow

from habits of thought, which in turn grow from initial thoughts. Paul is chock full of

moral advice in his letter to the Ephesians. He tells us to avoid any hint of sexual

immorality; don't indulge in coarse joking; and don't go near drunkenness. Paul's advice

sounds easy enough to follow, but the truth is that many Christians struggle in these

areas, and have struggled for years. So how do we grow in character? Are we missing

something?

We've been studying Paul's letter to the Ephesians, and we have come to chapter

5, which is filled with instruction on how to live the Christian life, how to walk the walk.

The first three chapters are theological, and the last three are more practical. Paul uses the

picture of the "Christian Walk" to describe our conduct, our behavior. Chapter 4, verse

17 says in the King James Version, "Do not walk as the Gentiles do, in the vanity of their

mind; but be renewed in the spirit of your mind." Notice: to walk upright, you begin by

renewing your mind. 5:2 says, "Walk in love as Christ loved us, and gave himself up for

you." In 5:8, Paul exhorts us to "walk as children of the light..." The Greek verb

paripateo, literally to walk around, the NIV translates as "live" rather than "walk." I love

the NIV, it prefer it, but sometimes you miss things if your look at only one translation. If

you want free Bible software that has several translations, see Jim Craft! The picture of

a walk ells us that godly behavior is more a journey than a destination.

Watchman Nee was a Chinese Christian teaching in China before and during the

Japanese invasion of China in the 1930's and 1940's. Nee was a man of action in a time

that called for action, not some contemplative type. Nee says that most Christians make

the mistake of trying to walk before they are able to sit, but that is a reversal of the true

order. (Nee, Sit, Walk, Stand) The key to the Christian walk is found in the beginning of

the letter to the Ephesians, the doctrinal part. Paul says in chapter 1, verse 20, that Father

God "raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly

realms." Then in Chapter 2, verse 6, Paul writes that "God raised us up with Christ and

seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus..." The key to the Christian

walk is to realize our position in Christ. The Christian life does not begin with walking; it

begins with sitting. Christian life began with Christ, with his victory on the cross. When

he ascended to heaven, his position became clear to us, seated with the father on the right

hand of the throne of heaven. The life of any individual Christian begins when you and I

see ourselves in Christ we take hold of the truth that we are seated with him in the

heavenlies! Before the cross, Christ was already seated there, but we did not know it.

Before we became born again, we were predestined, we were seated there also, but we

did not know it. In our daily walk, we can forget our position with him. Beloved, receive

this truth not only will we be seated with Christ in the heavenlies, we are already

seated with him spiritually.

Nee says that our natural reason tells us that if we do not walk, we will not reach

our goal. How can we grow in our character if we do not walk it out? This is a paradox

of the Christian life. We find that if we walk, we get nowhere. Christianity starts not with

a big D-O, but with a big D-O-N-E. Grace is at work, not us! We do not enter the

Kingdom of God by doing anything to clean up our act; we enter by trusting in what

Christ has done, and him alone, to make a way to heaven for us. The same is true with

growth in Christian character. It's all about grace. Ephesians opens with the statement in

chapter 1, verses 3 and 4 that God has "blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the

heavenly places in Christ." Notice that this is in the past tense. We are already blessed.

Indeed, he "chose us from before the foundation of the world." From the outset of the

letter to the Ephesians, we are invited to sit back and enjoy what God has already done

for us, not to try to attain it for ourselves.

Walking implies effort, and Paul tells us in chapter 2, verse 8 that we are saved by

grace, through faith, and not by works, so that no man can boast. Watchman Nee puts it

this way:

"Christ will give us everything, but we can receive none of it except as we rest in

him. Sitting is an attitude of rest. Something has been finished, work stops, and we sit. It

is paradoxical, but true, that we only advance in the Christian life as we learn first of all

to sit down.... To sit down is simply to rest our whole weight upon the Lord. We let him

bear the responsibility and cease to carry it ourselves."

This last week, I have been struggling with some of my own limitations and sins.

In 5:11, Paul tells us to have nothing to do with the deeds of darkness, but rather to

expose them. He is referring here to exposing the sins of others, perhaps because our

silence may be understood as approval. Before we have any authority to expose the sins

of others, however, we must be in the light with our own sins. I think that means we are

to confess our own sins not only to God, but also to someone else who can hold you

accountable. The Christian life is not about "me and Jesus." Paul writes about the body

of Christ working together. In verse 12, Paul says that it is shameful even to mention

what the disobedient do in secret. The best way to confess is typically in a one on one

meeting with a peer, but there are occasions when public confession can be helpful for

the body. I confess to you that I have been in violation of the Broadlands neighborhood

covenants because I had never submitted a written proposal to have a portable basketball

hoop on my driveway. I was foolish enough to believe that I could just buy one and put it

on my property! The uncovering of my violations went from bad to worse. This week I

also discovered that my insurance rates have gone up because I have had two moving

violations in the last three years. Now both of these are problems of behavior. It's not

immediately obvious how sitting is a solution to those problems rather than walking out

Christian principles. Walking might look like skimming your neighborhood manual to

understand what is permissible, and obeying all highway signs. Sitting is more

foundational and motivational. I have told myself not to speed, I have asked God to give

me patience, and still I do it. Obeying the law has not been strong enough motive for me

to clean up my act. Why is that? It is a habit, and Paul tells us that habits are rooted in

our stinking thinking.

When I sat with Christ and confessed my sin of speeding to him, God forgave me

and asked me why I was speeding in the first place. I replied, because I was late. God

pressed in on me. Why were you late? I told him, I was late because I was trying to do

too much. God asked me, why were you trying to do too much? Many reasons

immediately occurred to me. I thought about the possibility that I was doing too much so

that I'd feel important, because I'd read that some people do that, but I realized that that

was not it either. As I sat, I realized that I was speeding because I didn't want to waste

time. So the question was, why did I think that time spent in the car was wasted? As I sat

before him, God showed me that the reason I habitually sped was that I was anxious that

I would miss something. On one occasion that I was caught speeding, I was anxious that

I would make somebody angry or even disappointed with God because I might not return

their call soon enough. So I made the call, and made myself late. I sped to make up time.

I was letting anxiety rule my heart, rather than the peace of Christ. I was acting out of

fear, not love. God showed me the truth about my behavior it was based in anxiety, a

lack of trust.

Friends, speeding is not the way to walk our walk or to drive our drive! If we

know our position in Christ, if we see ourselves seated with him in heavenly places, then

we do not need to be in a hurry. He is working everything out in his time. The law

brought me up short, but law is not enough. To motivate us to change, we must go to the

heart level.

For me, slowing down on the road began with slowing down with Christ and

listening to him speak forgiveness and peace to my soul. Walking began with sitting.

God also showed me that I have not been sitting long enough with him in prayer. I have

been spending enough time reading my Bible and praying, but I have not spent enough

time reflecting on my behavior, listening, and enjoying him.

Last evening, I had many things still to do. I came upstairs from my cave and

shared with Ginger my frustration with my own shortcomings, which also have to do

with not slowing down and paying enough attention not only on the road, but in some

relationships. She comforted me, prayed with me, and the Lord spoke the truth in love to

me. After our prayer time, I felt exhausted. Then I did something that I have found to be

an enormous help recently. In Ephesians 5, Paul tells us to sing and make music to the

Lord. I lay down on my couch and listened to a Chris Tomlin worship CD. The Lord

ministered grace and healing to me as I soaked in his presence. I had come upstairs filled

up with my own problems, I gave them to Jesus in prayer, and then I filled my mind with

worship. I was reminded of my position with Christ in the heavenly realms. I am finding

strength in just sitting with God, with no agenda, other than to be with him.

Be filled up with God. Abide in Christ. If you want to walk out a life pleasing to

God, do not skip sitting with Him. Receive the truth about who you are. You are seated in

heavenly realms with him.

Let's stand. Prepare to give to God the burden of your growth in Christian

character, or your lack of growth. Give God your failures. Confess your sins. He knows

you are trying to be more like Christ. Instead of striving, place your trust in Christ. Give

him your burdens of sin. Go ahead and do that now, silently in prayer...

Oh God, we offer our burdens, our failures our shortcomings to you. Forgive us,

Lord. We cannot grow in character by our own strength. Fill us with more of you, oh

God.