Intro to Eph. 5:18a

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/27/2019 11:05 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Intro to Ephesians 5:18a

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Ephesians 5:18a

 

            Message of the verses:  “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation,”  “Don’t get your stimulus from wine (for there is always the danger of excessive drinking),” (Philips). Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life” (NLT).

 

            I was looking over John MacArthur’s commentary on Ephesians and as I looked at the 18^th chapter which he entitles “Do Not Get Drunk with Wine,” I noticed that it has a total of 15 pages in it.  This kind of took me by surprise and because I had a bit of trouble sleeping last night I decided to read through this section, but I only got through five of the fifteen pages.  Now what I want to do in this introduction as far as today is first of all go over the different names of the sections that are found in MacArthur’s commentary, which is something that I use in my Spiritual Diaries which go with the “Focus” portion of it.

 

1.      “Scripture Always Condemns Drunkenness.”

2.      “Scripture Sometimes Commends Wine.”

3.      “Guidelines For Christians.”

A.      “Is Today’s Wine The Same as That in Bible Times?”

B.     “Is It necessary?”

C.     “Is It The Best Choice?”

D.     “Is It Habit Forming?”

E.      “Is It Potentially Destructive?”

F.      “Will It Offend Other Christians?”

G.     “Will It Harm My Christian Testimony?”

H.     “Is It Right?”

 

            These are the subjects that we will look at as we study this short section of Ephesians, but actually if you go back to some of the other things that we have been looking at this fits right into them.  If you look at the entire verse you see that there is a choice to make, either getting drunk with wine or being filled with the Holy Spirit.  We have also looked at being in the darkness or being in the light.  We also looked at walking in wisdom as opposed to walking in foolishness.

 

            As I went through some of MacArthur’s comments he had much to say about what the Bible has to say about the tremendous problems that drunkenness brings onto individuals and their families. I want to quote from proverbs 23 and verses 29-35 which to me is a good example of some of the things that the Bible has to say about drunkenness.

 

“29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? 30 Those who linger long over wine, Those who go to taste mixed wine. 31 Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it goes down smoothly; 32 At the last it bites like a serpent And stings like a viper. 33 Your eyes will see strange things And your mind will utter perverse things. 34 And you will be like one who lies down in the middle of the sea, Or like one who lies down on the top of a mast. 35 “They struck me, but I did not become ill; They beat me, but I did not know it. When shall I awake? I will seek another drink.’”

 

            Needless to say we will be looking at this subject for a little while, but it is my desire to not linger as long as I could on this subject.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is my desire never to ever end up like the person written about in Proverbs 23.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to think about humility.

 

Today’s quotation is from a man who I have tremendous respect for and that is Charles Swindoll who said “Soul surgery transpires as serenity replaces anxiety.”

 

6/27/2019 11:33 AM