Joshua and Judges: The doctrine of leadership part 52 - Essential qualities of leadership: The filling of the Spirit; Eph 5:18.

Title: Joshua and Judges: The doctrine of leadership part 52 - Essential qualities of leadership: The filling of the Spirit; EPH 5:18.

 

Announcements / opening prayer:  

 

 

EPH 5:18

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation [non delivering or destructive], but be filled [present passive imperative] with the Spirit [constant, daily dependence],

 

EPH 5:15 Therefore be careful how you walk [present imperative], not as unwise men, but as wise,

 

EPH 5:16 making the most of your time [exagorizo; participle describing what it is to walk wisely], because the days are evil [surrounded by opposition to God].

 

EPH 5:20 always giving thanks [present active participle; coincides with the filling of the Spirit] for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father;

 

EPH 5:21 and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ [present passive participle].

 

Php 1:9 And this I pray, that your love may abound [perisseuo; present active] still more and more in real knowledge [epignosis] and all discernment,

 

Php 1:10 so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ;

 

Agape is to over-abound more and more in full knowledge and discernment or understanding and by so doing the believer will be able to approve [dokimazo: present infinitive] the things that are excellent.

 

What does this say about the believer who does not have any notion of agape or just a superficial knowledge of it, which would indicate that he doesn't care for it all that much? He will not be able to approve the things that are excellent, and so he will think other things are excellent that aren't. He will be in the dark concerning that which is life indeed.

Php 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things [present middle imperative].

 

Php 4:9 The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things [present active imperative]; and the God of peace shall be with you.

 

To care for the mind of Christ is to desire to know its most delicate and intricate parts and to be able to put these together in full understanding. Those who only want to read headlines, those who want free stuff and care not to think about how that will affect those around him and the long term effect upon the whole, those who are satisfied with understanding as little as is needed to just be accepted fail to discern the intricate details of the mind of Christ.

 

"things that are excellent" refers here to those moral and spiritual concepts and actions which involve delicate and keen distinctions, those that require a deep and keen discernment to recognize.

 

It didn't take long, even less than one generation, for some in the church to begin to deny the physical reality of Christ, and for a great deal of Christians in the western part of the Empire, Rome, to begin to look at Christianity as only a moral code concerned only with the behavior of persons and neglecting the supernatural work of Christ and regeneration. Very soon salvation by works was taught which is seen in the writings of Clement of Rome and others that laid the foundation of legalism that would flourish in the Roman church. How could such false doctrine occur so quickly? For this reason - love did not abound in more fuller knowledge that was given by the apostles.

 

For instance, the believer is the slave of Christ, he is said to be free, he is the bride of Christ, the brother of Christ, the friend of Christ, and the son of the Father. How can he simultaneously be all of these things?

 

1. Slaves: privileged servers under grace

2. Free: privileged self determination to exploit grace

3. Friends: privileged learners of grace

4. Sons: privileged heirs by means of grace

5. Brides: privileged responders to grace 

 

Not the ordinary, everyday, easily-understood spiritual obligations, but the finer points of Christian conduct are in the apostle's mind.

 

How does such discernment happen without a full course diet of the word of God on a consistent basis and a daily desire to put its principles into action, for I do not understand agape through study alone, but in applying it to my fellow believer and fellow man. If a believer says they know all about God's love and when another person who is difficult to love is placed in front of them and they find that they cannot love them, then they don't know a thing about God's love. If they do not, they cannot approve of the things that are excellent.

 

Php 1:9 And this I pray, that your love may abound [perisseuo; present active] still more and more in real knowledge [epignosis] and all discernment,

 

Php 1:10 so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere [without hypocrisy] and blameless [not a stumbling block to others] until the day of Christ [Rapture];

 

Php 1:11 having been filled [perfect participle] with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

 

The believer was made righteous at salvation though Jesus Christ, and as the perfect tense makes even more clear, he is righteous forever. In his daily living in the plan of God this righteousness blooms into a fully ripened fruit of experiential righteousness which brings maximum glory to God. There is no other way for him to live. It is the life that is Christ and that is righteous by God's perfect standard, and it demands the filling of the Spirit continually.

 

Php 2:14 Do all things without grumbling or disputing [present active imperative];

 

Php 2:15 that you may prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear [present middle indicative] as lights in the world,

 

Php 2:16 holding fast the word of life [present participle], so that in the day of Christ I may have cause to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain.