The sermon continues an ongoing exposition of Ephesians, returning to 5:18-21 to focus specifically on verses 20 and 21. The preacher recalls the contrast established two weeks earlier between being drunk with wine, which enslaves a person to passion and leaves a household walking on eggshells around an unpredictable parent, and being filled with the Spirit, which frees a person to become most fully themselves and most like Christ. Verses 19 through 21 are read as the visible fruit of that Spirit-filled life, and the sermon takes up two of those fruits in turn: giving thanks always for everything, and submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

On thanksgiving, the sermon insists this command is more radical than it first sounds. Giving thanks "always, for everything" must come from the heart rather than as a coerced, child-forced-to-say-thank-you performance, and it must hold in every circumstance, not only pleasant ones. Paul's own life supplies the pattern: in 2 Corinthians 6, he describes being sorrowful yet always rejoicing, poor yet enriching many, in the midst of affliction and hardship. The sermon roots this capacity for constant gratitude in three things named in the text: thanksgiving flows from Christ's finished redemptive work (we can thank God "in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" because nothing, not suffering, hunger, or death, can separate us from his love), from God's fatherhood (a father who disciplines out of love, illustrated by a child forced through years of unwanted piano practice who later thanks the parent who pushed them), and from the Spirit's illumination of the hope and inheritance believers have in Christ, drawn from Ephesians 1:11 and 17-19, where God is described as working all things according to the counsel of his will for the good of those who love him. The sermon pushes further into the hardest register of this command using Romans 5:3-5 (suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and hope does not disappoint) and especially 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, where Paul, after three unanswered pleas to have his thorn removed, hears that God's grace is sufficient and that power is perfected in weakness — leading Paul to boast in his weaknesses rather than merely endure them. The preacher applies this personally, recounting his own exhaustion and dependence on God before a recent Christmas service that God nonetheless used to draw in many first-time visitors, and observes that joy and gratitude often deepen precisely in weakness and the valley of the shadow, not only in green pastures — noting how the psalmist shifts from speaking of God in the third person to addressing him directly as "you" only once he enters that valley. Philippians 4:6-7 closes this section: prayer and supplication are to be brought to God "with thanksgiving," producing a peace that surpasses understanding.

The sermon then turns to verse 21's call to submit to one another, tying it to the broader shift in Ephesians from doctrine (chapters 1-3) to application (chapters 4-6), where humility is named as the first mark of a life worthy of the calling received. Submission is not, as one skeptical listener once objected, merely an "Asian" or old-fashioned virtue, but a command rooted in Christ's own words in Mark 10:42-44 that greatness in the kingdom means becoming a slave of all, and in Paul's practice in 1 Corinthians 9:19 of making himself a slave to everyone for the sake of the gospel. Philippians 2 supplies the deepest ground: the mind of Christ, who did not cling to equality with God but emptied himself, became a servant, and was obedient to death on a cross. Practically, this means continually asking what one can do to bless a spouse, child, or fellow believer, especially those who are not naturally lovable.

Finally, the sermon addresses "in the fear of Christ," distinguishing true reverence from both a slavish fear of a tyrant and the domesticated, therapeutic image of God common today, illustrated by the analogy of God as an airbag we're glad to have but hope never to need. Mark 4:39-41 (the stilling of the storm) is read closely: the disciples' fear of the storm gives way to a deeper, appropriate fear ("they feared with a great fear") once they grasp who Jesus is — a disordered fear reordered. Matthew 10:28-31, Acts 9:31 (the church walking "in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit"), and Psalm 130:4 ("with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared") together show that true fear of Christ is inseparable from having been forgiven and loved by him, not opposed to it. The sermon closes with C.S. Lewis's image of Aslan — "he's not safe, but he's good" — as a picture of the reverent, gratitude-filled, submissive life the Spirit produces in those who belong to Christ.

Bible Verses Used

• Ephesians 5:18-21: the sermon's primary text, contrasting drunkenness with being filled with the Spirit and naming thanksgiving and mutual submission as evidence of that filling.

• 2 Corinthians 6:4-10: shows Paul's pattern of being sorrowful yet always rejoicing amid affliction, grounding the call to give thanks in all things.

• Ephesians 1:11, 17-19: God works all things according to the counsel of his will and enlightens the eyes of the heart, enabling grateful hope even in hardship.

• Romans 5:3-5: suffering produces endurance, character, and unshakeable hope through the Spirit's outpoured love, supporting rejoicing in suffering.

• 2 Corinthians 12:9-10: God's grace is sufficient and power is perfected in weakness, the sermon's key text for boasting and giving thanks in personal weakness.

• Philippians 4:6-7: commands bringing every request to God with thanksgiving, promising peace that surpasses understanding.

• Mark 10:42-44: Jesus redefines greatness as becoming a slave of all, grounding the call to mutual submission.

• 1 Corinthians 9:19: Paul's example of making himself a slave to everyone models submission in practice.

• Philippians 2 (kenosis passage): Christ's self-emptying and obedience to death on a cross is held up as the pattern for humble submission.

• Mark 4:39-41: Jesus calming the storm illustrates the shift from disordered fear of circumstances to right, reverent fear of Christ.

• Matthew 10:28-31: distinguishes fearing those who can only kill the body from fearing God, within the framework of the Father's care.

• Acts 9:31: the early church grows while walking "in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit," showing fear and comfort coexist.

• Psalm 130:4: "with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared" ties true reverence to having been forgiven, closing the sermon's argument.