In today’s Scripture reading, the Apostle Paul says that he wants us to have united faith. As Paul admonishes us, all of us must be united in one common faith as God’s people. This common faith of unity is also indispensable for us to lead a proper life of faith. Put differently, we can lead a life of faith that’s pleasing to God only if we are united in our common purpose to serve the Lord and obey His will in our lives. Indeed, it’s precisely because God wants all of us to have such faith of unity that He has given today’s Scripture passage through the Apostle Paul.

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Picking up the thread from this morning’s sermon, I would like to continue to share the Word of God with you this evening. In this morning service we examined how we have put on the unsearchable riches of God’s grace, and what God has spoken to us. And I would like to spend this evening examining this issue further. The Bible says that God has given us these unsearchable riches of His grace, but what does this really mean? It means that God has not only remitted away all our sins, but He has also made His own people and blessed us to live forever, giving us the right to reign over the Kingdom of Heaven as His children and rule over all the God-created dominion as its masters.

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Paul said in today’s Scripture passage, “Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma” (Ephesians 5:1-2). Put differently Paul is saying to us, “Whoever has been saved by God must be His imitator. And since the Lord your God has saved you from all your sins and condemnation by sacrificing Himself, you ought to turn away from all those filthy sins that you had committed in your past and live a godly life.”

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A brother and a sister in God’s Church, both of whom are ministry workers, will get married tomorrow, and I will be presiding over the wedding ceremony. Usually, when a wedding takes place inside a church building, I feel comfortable enough to speak of spiritual issues, but since tomorrow’s wedding will take place in a wedding hall with many non-believers present, I am not sure if I would be able to raise spiritual issues while presiding over that ceremony. Non-Christians often react rather badly when spiritual issues are addressed. So it’s likely that I would have to keep my wedding sermon short and simple.

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Today’s Scripture passage is drawn from Ephesians 5:18-21, and I would like to focus my sermon on verse 18 in particular: “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit.” Prior to this passage, the Lord said to all of us who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, “But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks” (Ephesians 5:3-4). This passage was spoken to us the believers in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The Lord then said that for those who have become righteous people by faith, “All things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light” (Ephesians 5:13). He then told us here in today’s Scripture passage to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Our task for today is to find out how to interpret this passage correctly, and how to be filled with the Holy Spirit in our lives.

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Yesterday, Myung-bak Lee was elected as the 17th President of South Korea. Regardless of the election outcome, we all hope and pray that God would hold the incoming president steadfast and watch over him so that he would provide a good leadership in all the affairs of the nation, from the military to the economy, diplomacy, and cultural policies. We should pray for the leaders of our country because national stability and prosperity directly influence our gospel-preaching ministry.
Earlier in Ephesians chapter 5, we saw how the Apostle Paul admonished every married couple to serve one another, and we also learned that the spiritual meaning of this admonishment is that God’s Church ought to submit to Christ.

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