Lesson 14 – Ephesians Chapter 5:19-21
I left you hanging last time on the subject of being filled with the Holy Spirit. We had the contrast within Ephesians 5:18, where Paul basically tells us, don’t get drunk on wine to handle life’s problems (like the world does), but live a life filled with the Holy Spirit.
As we begin to examine just what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit, I have five questions, so get your spiritual thinking caps turned on:
• Have you ever found yourself begging, bargaining, and pleading with God for some spiritual change in your life?
• Better yet, have you ever worked hard in order to please God so that He’d give in to your request?
• Have there been times that you’ve felt it was your responsibility to wait on God to fill you with His Holy Spirit?
• Have you ever experienced the frustration of desiring to be filled with the Spirit, but just not knowing how to go about it?
• Have you come to the place in your life of total dependence and total surrender to God, thus making it possible for the Holy Spirit to maximize His work in your life?
So let’s continue with “being filled with the holy Spirit.”
There are quite a few differing theories out there when comes to the filling of the Holy Spirit. When these views are presented, it can become confusing for some people, because these teachers will use the Bible to back up their positions. Some say the Holy Spirit indwells the believer at the moment a person is saved. Others will teach that He (the Spirit) comes sometime after salvation. Many years ago I went to a Pentecostal church that believed you weren’t filled with the Spirit until you spoke in tongues.
Then there are those who are convinced that the Holy Spirit comes and goes in a person’s life, that there will be some days you have Him and some days that you don’t. This usually goes along with the ones who believe that they can lose their salvation.
So, before we go any further, let’s try to point out what being filled with the Spirit “doesn’t” mean. First, it’s not some kind of crazy electrifying experience, where all of a sudden God zaps you and you go off in a spiritual trance. We’re not Christian zombies.
Second, being filled with the Spirit isn’t a case where God gives you His Spirit and cuts you loose, saying, “There you go my child, good luck out there, I’ll see you on the other side.” If that were the case, we would be living our life in the flesh and not in the Spirit.
Third, that there is a difference between the indwelling and the filling of the Holy Spirit. The moment we give our life to Christ, is the moment the Holy Spirit comes into us, He indwells us permanently.
Eph. 1:13
“In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.”
Rom. 8:9
“However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.”
Every believer is given the Holy Spirit with their salvation. He’s in you, it’s a done deal… you are sealed with the Spirit by God through His salvation.
Forth, being filled with the Spirit does not describe a process of increasingly receiving Him by different degrees or in doses. You either have the Holy Spirit or you don’t.
John 3:34
“For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for He gives the Spirit without measure.”
There’s no dispersing of the Holy Spirit in bits and pieces.
And lastly,
I Cor. 12:13
“Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.” (NLT)
Being filled with Spirit is not the same as the baptism of the Spirit. Some will say that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is evidenced by speaking in tongues… it is not. At salvation, every believer has been baptized with and received God’s Holy Spirit. When we go through water baptism, we already have the Holy Spirit in us.
John MacArthur, “Although its results are experienced and enjoyed, baptism by and reception of the Spirit are not realities we can feel, and are certainly not experiences reserved only for specially blessed believers. This miracle is a spiritual reality… whether realized or not… that occurs in every believer the moment he becomes a Christian and is placed by Christ into His Body by the Holy Spirit, who then takes up residence in that life.”
So far, we’ve talked about what being filled with the Holy Spirit is not. And we’ve also shown that when a person is born-again, they receive the Holy Spirit completely and not partially… God has sealed us with His Spirit. The Holy Spirit is in us and with us.
Paul says to us, “be filled with the Spirit.”
• What does being filled mean exactly?
We can say that a Spirit-filled life doesn’t come about by some kind of specific formula, but that it is a “relationship” between us and God… it is a relationship with a person… and that person is the Holy Spirit.
J. Oswald Sanders, “From the contrasting commands, “Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess,” and “Be filled with the Spirit,” we would be justified in concluding that the person who is filled with the Spirit will be dominated and controlled by the Holy Spirit even as a drunkard is dominated and controlled by his intoxicating wine.”
Sanders points out that a Christian is to be dominated and controlled by the Holy Spirit. When we hear the words dominated and controlled, our flesh might have a tendency to bristle against this, saying, “Wait a minute, I’m free, I don’t want to be dominated by anything.” Our natural-self, the “old man” in us, is self-serving and doesn’t have the heart of a servant, but as Bob Dylan sings, “You’re gonna have to serve somebody.” In serving God we need to submit to Him, allowing Him to dominate and control us. Of course we always have the option to opt-out of submitting to God, but I would never recommend it.
Bible commentary, “The continuous aspect of being filled involves day-by-day, moment to moment submission to the Spirit’s control. The passive aspect indicates that it is not something we do but that we allow to be done in us. The filling is entirely the work of the Spirit Himself, but He works only through our willing submission.”
Charles Stanley, “When Paul said to be filled with the Spirit, he was not commanding us to sit around passively and wait for something to be poured into us. The Holy Spirit has already been poured in. If you are a believer, you have already been filled with the Holy Spirit the way the men and women in Acts were filled. He has taken up permanent residence in your heart. You have all of Him you are ever going to get. The question is, how much of you does He have?”
Practically speaking, having a Spirit-filled life is daily surrendering ourselves to God. To do this we need to start each day clean before Him… not holding on to any sin. Jesus said for us to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. To even come close to this involves surrendering our will and desires to Him, that we would be willing to give back to Him our time, talent, and possessions.
In Matthew 19 we have the story of Jesus and the rich young ruler, who was dominated by his possessions.
Matt. 19:21
Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
This man needed to be dominated by God and not by his possessions. Jesus said to him, “Come and follow Me.” The person who follows Jesus is a person who is filled with the Spirit.
Back to the practical – A Spirit-filled person sees to it that they get into God’s Word, letting it seep down into their soul. This takes a commitment on our part. Studying God’s Word and allowing the Spirit to guide you into His truth. A Spirit-filled person will take time to contemplate the deep things of God, and as they have understanding, they apply it to their life.
Psalm 42:1-2
“As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God. I thirst for God, the living God. When can I go and stand before him?” (NLT)
Do you have a thirst for the Spirit-filled life?
I Cor. 2:12
“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God,” (NASB)
For us to be filled with the Holy Spirit is not some unattainable allusive thing for us. God wants His children to want Him, and when we pursue Him with a pure heart, that means we are Spirit-filled.
Gal. 5:22-25
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”
The sign of a Spirit-filled believer is in the fruit they exhibit, and not in a particular experience.
The Spirit-filled life is a life of working in harmony with the Holy Spirit. A Spirit-filled life is a relationship where two work as one. To walk by the Spirit is to be led by the Spirit. The Spirit-filled life reaches into every area of life, including your occupation. To be filled with the Spirit implies freedom for Him to occupy every part of our lives, guiding and controlling us. The Spirit-filled life is a life of dependency on and sensitivity to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
Charles Stanley, “The Holy Spirit will become important to you as you allow Him to be. He won’t force Himself on you. He sits back quietly and waits. Give Him control. He’s not asking for rededication. He’s asking for surrender. Only when you raise the white flag is He able to assume control. Only then is He able to slide over into the driver’s seat of your life. It’s at the point of surrender that you begin to experience…and enjoy… the quality of life that I have come to know as the wonderful Spirit-filled life.”
Being filled with the Spirit is indeed walking in the Spirit, thought by thought, choice by choice, action by action, all under the domination and control of the Spirit… it is a life lived for God.
Eph. 5:19
“Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,”
These are the consequences of the Spirit-filled life. We often think of consequences as a negative, but in this case, it is definitely a positive.
Speaking to one another… as Christians, yes, we can all get along. Speaking to one another means that we’re communicating with each other, we’re having fellowship together. The word Speaking here includes any sound offered to God from a Spirit-filled heart.
In psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing… Ok, I love you guys, but I’m not going to sing to you, and I’m pretty sure you don’t want me to sing to you. But, I will gladly speak of the psalms to you, and I will speak God’s Word to you.
John MacArthur says, “The Spirit-filled life produces music. Whether he has a good voice or can’t carry a tune, the Spirit-filled Christian is a singing Christian. Nothing is more indicative of a fulfilled life, a contented soul, and a happy heart than the expression of song.”
And making melody in your heart to the Lord…
Col. 3:16
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”
From GotQuestions.org:
The book of Psalms is the collection of songs written under the direction of the Holy Spirit by ancient Jewish leaders such as David, Moses, and Solomon. These inspired songs were part of the Hebrew Scriptures and used in corporate worship. The word psalm means “praise.” Although many of the psalms are cries for help, laments over Israel, or questions about God’s plan, the major theme in all of them is worship. Even when the psalmist was crying out his questions or frustrations to the Lord, he usually ended with a call to praise God in spite of everything.
Making melody in your heart to the Lord, is something each Spirit-filled believer is capable of doing. It comes down to a matter of the heart.
Is your heart in a place where you long to have this closeness with God? If not, go to Him in prayer and ask Him to direct your heart.
Eph. 5:20
“Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,”
Psalm 30:4
“Sing praise to the Lord, you saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.”
I Thess. 5:16-18
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
Heb. 13:15
“Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.”
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The argument might arise stating, “How can a person possibly give thanks to God when bad things happen?”
To always be thankful is number one, to recognize God’s sovereignty, that God is indeed in control of our lives. On the flipside, to be thankless is to disregard God’s control, Christ’s Lordship, and the Holy Spirit’s filling.
Bible commentary says, “If we can only thank God when things are going well, our thankfulness is on the bottom rung of faithfulness.”
When Daniel heard that King Darius had just signed a decree forbidding the worship of any god or man but only to the king himself, it says…
Dan. 6:10
“Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his house (now in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously.”
Daniel knew his actions might mean his own death, but it didn’t stop him from worshipping and thanking God. He is a great example for us to model after.
Joni Eareckson Tada, a quadriplegic Christian author and artist has said, “Giving thanks is not a matter of feeling thankful, it is a matter of obedience.”
A medieval legend tells of two angels sent to earth by the Lord to gather the prayers of the saints. One was to gather the petitions and the other the thanksgiving. The angel responsible for the petitions was not able to carry them back to heaven in one load, while the other angel responsible for thanksgivings carried his back in one hand.
Thankfulness is a complicated state of being…
When life is good, and someone is getting what they want, it is easy to achieve. When life is hard, and nothing goes right, it is hard to have a spirit of gratitude. In fact, for many people, difficult times or circumstances are the easiest excuse to justify ingratitude.
Ecclesiastes 3:3-4
“A time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,” (NIV)
When I think about being thankful in every situation, my mind can’t help but say to myself, “Do you mean even if my loved one dies, or God forbid my child?”
God knows our sorrows, Jesus cried over the loss of His friend Lazarus, and He wept over Jerusalem. God’s word can help us through the toughest part of life’s trials.
Rom. 8:28
“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
What if I lose my job? Yes. What if my spouse leaves me? Yes. What if my house burns down? Yes. What if my baby dies? Yes. What if I get cancer? Yes…
Life can hurt beyond our imaginations. But, when God allows trials and tribulations to come into our life and we complain and grumble, we are in fact questioning His sovereignty and wisdom as well as His deep love for us.
Do I thank God because something horrible happened? No. Ultimately, the Bible encourages us to focus on eternal things. The way to always give thanks is to remember to thank God for His eternal gifts and promises.
A simple prayer might be something like this; “Lord I come to you because my heart is shattered, the pain is unbearable and I can’t handle it, but Lord, I know You’re in control, I know I’m in Your hand and no one can take me out of Your hand… I give You thanks and praise for all that You are and all that You’re doing.”
Phil. 4:6-7
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
It’s easy to give thanks to God when everything is going good. The hard part is when things are less than perfect. Our thankfulness should be in the things in which we hope for. We should be thankful that God is who He says He is… omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent.
God is all knowing, He is always with us, and He is all powerful. He is holy, He is just, He is faithful, He is loving, He is caring, and He is in control.
God has us, how can we not give thanks for all things? We will understand all things? Sometimes we will and other times we won’t. Of course, our verse doesn’t mean that every second of every day Christians should be muttering “thank you God” under their breath. Giving thanks at all times is like praying at all times.
By us turning away from our earthly wants and desires, and then focusing on God’s promises that will matter forever, we will find that there is always something to thank Him for, even if our current circumstances are difficult.
• How are we to be thankful?
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ… it’s all about who Jesus is and what He has done.
We can give thanks always and for all things, because no matter what happens to us, it will turn out not only for our ultimate blessing, but more importantly, for His greatest glory! But without Jesus we would have nothing to be thankful for.
Now, the person who is in the world, separated from God and belonging to satan, has nothing to be thankful for. They don’t have God’s promise of salvation, they don’t have a heavenly eternal inheritance waiting for them, they don’t have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. These sons of disobedience only have torment and judgment awaiting them.
Rom. 1:21
“Because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”
Because we are in Christ, the good things and the bad things we go through all play a part in God’s economy toward us, thus conforming us to the image of His Son.
John MacArthur, “But the child of God is indwelt by Christ, is a joint heir with Him, and does have the Son interceding for him at the Father’s right hand. He has all of Christ’s promises made certain through the Holy Spirit who indwells in him. And as the Spirit fills him, he is cleansed from sin and more and more into conformity to Christ.”
The believer has so much to be thankful for. I hope you can be thankful no matter what season you’re in.
Eph. 5:21
“Submitting to one another in the fear of God.”
A Spirit-filled believer will have the right attitude it takes to submit to one another as our verse says.
Charles H. Spurgeon, a Protestant preacher of the nineteenth century, comments, “The way to rise in the kingdom is to sink in ourselves”
Spurgeon is speaking of humility.
Phil. 2:3
“Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.” (NLT)
It takes a certain amount of humility to be able to submit to one another.
Phil. 1:27
“Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;” (NASB)
If we are standing firm in one spirit and one mind in Christ, there should be on the part of the believer, a willingness to submit to one another.
Submit (hoop-pa-tas’-so) which means; to yield to one’s admonition, advice, or to obey, be subject to another brother or sister in Christ. This can’t be done in a godly way unless the person is Spirit-filled. The submission we’re talking about is not one person lording over another, but a mutual submission to one another with godly respect.
We will close here…
Submission will segway nicely into our next lesson, where we’ll get some biblical advice on healthy marriages.
Three things have been presented to us tonight, being filled with the Spirit, being thankful, and having a godly attitude of submission.