Praise and Submission In Christ – Ephesians 5:15-21

Introduction

As most of you know, I grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. And over the last week or so two of my old friends from Georgia died. One from a drug overdose, and the other from suicide. An old friend called me to walk me through what happened, and with that he also caught me up on how most of our old friends are doing. And what became abundantly clear is that the ones who are not walking with the Lord, the ones who aren’t Christians are a mess. They are dead, in prison, in the middle of a divorce, or some other tragic situation. And while on the one hand, what I kept thinking was that it could’ve been me, on the other hand, I keep thinking, it doesn’t have to be anyone. 

I was not brought up in a Christian home, but by God’s grace I was brought into the Christian family, the church, and that has changed everything. And all of you with ears to hear this morning have been, or can be brought into that same family, into that same reality, and kept from the tragedy of a wasted life. I know some of you have backgrounds like mine, but most of you don’t. Yet, it makes no difference whether you are tempted towards drugs and suicide, or some everyday sin that the world sees as acceptable, it is all spiritual suicide, it’s all a waste. But the answer, the solution to keep us from such things is Christ, His Word, and His church. 

You see, it’s not because I’m any better than my old friends that I haven’t ended up like them; it’s because of God’s grace in and through God’s Son, God’s Word, and God’s church. By God’s grace I was brought into a family of faith who have loved me, taught me, helped me, and held me accountable. For my entire Christian life, almost twenty years now, I have only been a part of one church. I’ve only ever been a member here at Cornerstone. No doubt, we’ve changed and reformed over the years, as Christians, as the church is supposed to, but our basic MO has been the same: to know Jesus, love Jesus, and follow Jesus. And this church has helped me do that more and more. 

In my time here at Cornerstone we have had a lot of ups and downs. We’ve been through a lot of hardship and heartaches. And I’ve received a lot of encouragement, as well as rebuke over the years. But it all has helped me to live a better life, to be a better man, a better husband, a better father, a better Christian… There were times where I wanted to run, where I wanted to leave, but we didn’t. We stayed and we worked through things, and we repented, and we learned, and we grew. And I can’t help but think that if my old friends would be part of something like this, if they would submit themselves to Christ and His church, then their lives wouldn’t be in shambles. Instead of drugs, divorce, prison, or death, they could have life and life abundantly.

One pastor in the CREC (Pastor Rich Lusk) recently said, “Before we had clowns in the White House and filling Congress, we had clowns in the pulpit. America got clown world because we’ve had clown church. Clown church started with clown worship and clown pastors. As the pastors go, so goes the church; as the church goes, so go the men; and as the men go, so goes the nation.” The church is to be salt and light, and both her success and her failure have a massive impact. It certainly has on me. The church is crucial for faithfulness. 

But I’m afraid that even we Christians forget how important this all is. Even many Christians have embraced modern individualism, and seek to live the Christian life detached from the church. Sure, they might go to church on Sunday to hear a sermon or something, but they never join a church and submit themselves to the body. Or if they join they leave as soon as something happens that they don’t like, or as soon as someone rebukes them or tries to hold them accountable. I mean there’s a church on almost every corner, so they just keep churc