How are you supposed to know whether your spiritual experiences are normal, whether this is simply what life with God looks like? This sermon, based on the fifth chapter of Ephesians (Ephesians 5), sums up the spiritual person in three words: informed, equipped and grateful, showing what breaks down when any one of them is missing. The speaker compares us to actors stepping onto the stage with a learned role, and points us to the book of Psalms as a record of those who walked this road before us. Listen and consider which of the three is most missing from your own walk with God.
Discussion questions
For your small group or for personal reflection after the sermon.
- In Ephesians 5:15-20 Paul contrasts getting drunk on wine with being filled with the Spirit. According to this passage, what separates a wise life from a foolish one, and what might that have meant to the Ephesians?
- Why does Paul connect being filled with the Spirit with psalms, hymns, singing and giving thanks? What do these practices tell us about what a spiritual person looks like?
- The speaker summed up the spiritual person in three words: informed, equipped by the Spirit and grateful. Which of these three is hardest for you right now, and why?
- What happens to faith when gratitude is missing and only knowledge and activity remain? How do you understand the warning about pride and the cycle of trying to earn God's favor?
- The speaker admitted it is hard for him to believe that being a good father or teaching English could change a city. In what small things do you doubt that God can work through your obedience?
- The speaker encouraged us to read the Psalms as a record of people who walked with God. Which psalm could you read this week, and what struggles or expectations of God do you want to bring to it?
