“Living a Spirit-Filled Life”
OPEN: I want to speak this morning on the topic of being filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is something we Christians like to talk about a lot - but I think for some it is a matter of talk but not necessarily a matter of experience. We talk about the doctrine of the HS, being in step with the HS, the revelation of the Holy Spirit – the ministry of the Holy Spirit but do we really know the reality of the Holy Spirit? - It’s hard to overstate the importance of this topic in the life of the believer and the life of the Church. For in this age of the Church – the kingdom of God is all about the power of the Holy Spirit manifesting Himself through us
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For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. (1 Cor. 4:20) For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. (Romans 14:17)
When the Bible talks about the kingdom of God – it’s not saying, “Here’s a nice little churchy kind of idea.” When the Bible talks about the kingdom of God it is saying this is how God rules – this is how he has made life to function. When we see teaching on the kingdom of God it means we are to align ourselves with kingdom principles. When we do that we he can begin to fulfill his intended purposes in our life and find the joy of seeing our lives work as they’re supposed to work.
Jesus wants every one of his children to learn to depend upon the Holy Spirit every day of our life.
The absolute very first thing that occurred when Jesus began his earthly ministry was the empowering ministry of the Holy Spirit falling upon him as he was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. “As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:16-17)
The very first thing that initiates the birth of the Church age was the arrival of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. - In fact Jesus told his disciple not to do a thing until they had been immersed in the Holy Spirit.
“On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 1:4-5)
the first lessons we learn in the book of Acts – is that change is not going to come by the power of man/flesh – at least not the kind of change that Jesus wants to bring about.
If you are going to experience real change (walk in wisdom – know what the Lord’s will is) it won’t come about by your own will power. That’s why New Year resolutions don’t work. Most of them are forgotten by the third week in January. There’s got to be something more powerful than the will of man. That’s what Jesus was saying to his disciples, “Though you have been with me for 3 years and more, it is not enough that you have heard Me teach the multitudes, and have seen Me heal the sick and even raise the dead. It’s still not enough – You’re not yet empowered. You need to be empowered with the Holy Spirit in order to be effective and fruitful and live this new kind of life.” None of us can in our own energy, accomplish what Christ has commissioned us to do. We need something stronger than the power of the flesh – We need supernatural power to live the kind of life Christ calls us to. We need a personal invasion of the Holy Spirit into our lives – to be equipped to become the kind of people he desires us to be.
- the night before he was crucified – Jesus comforted his followers with the promise of help that would come from the Holy Spirit. If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever - the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. (John 14:15-18)
Notice what Jesus calls the Holy Spirit here – He is the Spirit of Truth. The Spirit is going to open your eyes to truth – real truth. Not the junk pseudo-wisdom the world is constantly sending our way. But life-giving, hope-restoring, stress-busting, aniexty-removing truth. The kind of stuff that brings real freedom to a person. The kind of truth that will constantly be reflecting the heart and mind of Jesus. It has always been God’s plan that Christians live a life that is filled, directed, empowered and led by His Spirit.
Context = Deadness. I think it’s important to once again look at the context in which this instruction is
given.
“Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
The word for sleep here is the same word that is used when Scripture talks about people dying. Jesus is trying to wake up a dead sleepy church. He’s literally trying to wake the dead. Now what’s so amazing to me about this is that this statement would fit perfectly for people who don’t know Christ – who are not yet saved – but it’s not written to people who are not saved nor is it meant to be applied to people who are not saved – it is written to the Church. To sleepy little Christians who are still acting more like unsaved than the saved. More like children of darkness than children of light. “Do not be foolish but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine which leads to debauchery. Instead be filled with the Spirit.” The passage comes right before what will be the some of the most challenging passages in this book – He’s going to talk about husbands and wives reflecting the love and sacrifice of Christ in their lives, and children responding to their parents and employers and employees reflecting Christ – and then it gets really interesting. That’s all just the preliminary stuff. In the end of chapter six he goes into a teaching on the reality of all-out spiritual warfare. And that our struggles are not against flesh and blood – even though that’s the realm in which it is played out – but against the rulers and and authorities against powers in dark places against spiritual forces in the heavenlies. And you think you can do this in the flesh? You think you can succeed in this without the Holy Spirit? You think you can do this while maintaining some kind of sleepy little comfortable form of casual Christianity? Let’s talk about being filled with the H/S
It’s A Response Of Obedience –
We need to note it is not a suggestion. God is not saying, “If you want to it would be nice if you were filled with the Spirit.” Have you ever noticed that God is not much into suggestions? He is only into commands. If you are going to be wise – making the most of your time – discover the will of God – we need to be filled with the Spirit.” Interestingly there is no command to be baptized by the Spirit. In the entirety of the NT, there are 7 references to the baptism of the Holy Spirit and never once is the baptism of the Holy Spirit commanded of the believer. Why? Because the baptism of the Holy Spirit is automatic. The filling of the Holy Spirit is commanded, but the baptism is not. It is automatic.
It Applies to Every Child of God.
Not easy seen in the English text – but still very important – The command of Eph 5:18 is plural in Greek – it applies to every believer. That means the Spirit’s fullness is not reserved for an elite group of Christians. You look at some Christians and say, “Oh, they are so spiritual. They love Jesus so much and they with Him so closely. The Spirit’s power is so evident in their lives. Why can’t I be like that?” It may simply be that you are seeing what happens when people allow the HS to fill and control them. Every believer is baptized - indwelt by the Spirit but not every Christian is filled with the Spirit. If we were, a command to be filled would not be necessary.
It’s Continuous.
It has to be – “because the days are evil” It’s in the present tense. An accurate way of translating it would be “Keep on being filled with the Spirit.” In other words don’t get filled with the Spirit today and expect that filling to cover you from here on out. You can go home and eat a big meal on Sunday but that does you no good on Monday and Tuesday. The filling is depleted. The same thing happens when you fill your can with gas. The minute you leave the gas station you begin to run low on fuel. No matter how full of the Spirit you are when you leave church, what you received in that service will not last all week. Fact is some husbands and wives won’t make it out of the parking lot after church without losing their sanctification! Why? Because we live in a world that depletes that experience of filling. Sin depletes it. People deplete it. You’re filled with the Holy Spirit when you leave worship on Sunday morning because you are in God’s presence with God’s people, communicating with God. When you go out on Monday and start jostling around with people in a sin-soaked world, you begin to notice that your filling can begin to get depleted in a hurry. Ill – Do we have any gas-tank gamblers here? I use to gamble with the needle. I knew just exactly how far I could go with the needle actually hit “E” But then there comes that unavoidable day of reckoning, when your vehicle doesn’t go as far as you anticipated it to go. It’s not a very smart concept to try to get by without being filled with the HS. We need to focus on being filled. As we go through the week, the water of God’s Spirit is replaced by other things. There is a displacement that takes place. Now it’s not that the HS leaves you and leaves you empty. He doesn’t leave you at all. It’s the relationship between you and the HS which is depleted.
How Do I Become Filled with the Spirit? How are we filled with the HS? - It’s a crucial question.
Now what I want you to do is notice this passage that comes out of Colossians 3. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Col. 3:16-17) Look familiar? It should. It almost parallels the passage in Ephesians. There are two participles here and three in the Ephesians passage
I believe that illustrate how a believer is filled with the Holy Spirit. (teaching – admonishing – sing
and make music in your heart – giving thanks – submitting) Some one might say, “Wait a minute – that seems almost academic – what about the experiential side of the Holy Spirit?” The emotional experience is not the yardstick. We are not chasing after a feeling here. There are those when they talk about the FILLING of the Spirit what the really are talking about is the FEELING of the Holy Spirit. They spend their life chasing after what I call the “Thrill of the fill” It’s not that the emotions aren’t involved. But we not chasing just after an emotion -
Teaching - “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom.”
Don
