“Under the Influence” Part 2
Ephesians 5:18
REVIEW
I. Our Wealth and Worth In Christ 1-3
II. Our Worthy Walk in Christ 4-6
A. Live in Unity 4:1-16
B. Live in Newness of life 4:17-24
C. Live in Love 4:17-24
D. Live in Purity 5:3-14
E. Live in Wisdom 5:15-6:9
1. Seize every opportune moment 15-16
Stop walking as unwise but take advantage of every opportunity because we live in evil days.
2. Seek to understand the will of the Lord 17
Stop living by impulse but seek to understand what God wants because we live in evil days.
The “and” continues the list of characteristics of a wisely lived life. In addition to seizing every opportunity moment and seeking to understand God’s will a wise life continually yield to the influence of the Holy Spirit.
3. Be continually filled with the Holy Spirit 18-20
Stop being under the influence of wine but be under the influence of the Holy Spirit.
“Stop getting drunk with wine in which is dissipation.”
A life influenced by chemicals lead spins out of control. It leads to reckless and loose living.
A spirits controlled life produces the opposite of a Spirit controlled life.
First, it is a non-optional command. “Be filled!”
Second, it is a command to all believers “ya all” be filled.
Third, Paul used the passive voice which means it is something done TO us not by us.
“Be filled by the Holy Spirit not yourself”.
Fourth, Paul used a present continuous tense verb which means we are to continually yield ourselves to the control or influence of the Holy Spirit at all times.
It is not some onetime or occasional spiritual high or ecstatic experience.
God intends that we live in continual state of being controlled or influenced by the Holy Spirit.
A.W. Tozer wrote:
The Holy Spirit is not enthusiasm. I have found enthusiasm that hummed with excitement, and the Holy Spirit was nowhere to be found there at all; and I have found the Holy Spirit when there has not been much of what we call enthusiasm present.
The key term linked to this work of the Holy Spirit is “filled”. Ya all continually be filled by the Holy Spirit. The specific term is used all through the New Testament in both the general sense and a spiritual sense. It would be used for many different things, fill a glass, fill up a ravine, finish a project, fulfill prophecy, carry out a mission. It also indicates the domination by a particular emotion i.e. Filled with anger, filled with joy or gladness, filled with sorrow, filled with peace, filled with comfort. It has the idea influence or control. It describes the sense in which something permeates your thinking and feeling. All of us can identify with how it feels to be overwhelmed or numbed by a particular emotion.
It was used to indicate one’s life being characterized by a particular behavior i.e. Filled with unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, envy, strife, deceit, filled with the fruit of righteousness, full of grace and power. Paul calls us to be completely and continually influenced or captivated by the Holy Spirit. He is to be the one who directs our everyday life.
Used specifically of the Holy Spirit, it indicates a higher level of connection to and control by Him. Be continually directed by the Holy Spirit. Be continually enlightened and empowered by the Holy Spirit. It is to be a way of life. It is similar to other concepts used to describe the Spirit’s work in the believer. We are told to live or walk by the Spirit and we will not fulfill (be dominated by) fleshly desire.
He is like a perpetual life coach or encourager.
He is like gas for the engine.
He is like the generator continually recharging the battery.
He is like wind in the sails.
He is like refreshing life-giving water.
THE KEY TO FILLING
This passage really doesn't give us a how to. We are just told to do it. If the filling of the Spirit is not a reference to some super spiritual phenomena, and then the “how to” is not really all that complex. The filling of the Spirit describes someone who lives by the Enlightenment and energizing of the Holy Spirit. The filling of the Spirit describes someone who is under the influence or direction of the Holy Spirit in all parts of their life. The Holy Spirit is responsible not just for becoming a Christian but for growing as a Christian.
We will spend some time talking about all of the ministries of the Holy Spirit I later time.
Today I want to identify at least two areas where the Holy Spirit works.
Since we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Galatians 5:25
The Holy Spirit is responsible for our salvation or our regeneration or new birth. At the moment of salvation, the Holy Spirit comes to indwelling us. Paul made it clear that if you don't have the Holy Spirit you also don't have Christ. There are many things the Holy Spirit brings about at the moment of salvation or regeneration.
It is also clear that we walk or grow or live by the direction or influence of the Holy Spirit.
Filling is related to our daily walking growth. Along with His direction comes supernatural empowerment. Cooperating with the Holy Spirit as he works in our life may result in a supernatural manifestation in the course of obeying His direction.
If we keep with the analogy of the coach, it becomes clear what we need to do.
First, you must have some sort of connection with coach; some sort of awareness.
There also needs to be time and communication. We must have a teachable spirit. We then need to trust the coach’s ability to give us direction. Finally, we need to actually do what the coach tells us to do.
The command to be continually filled with the spirit is a command to yield ourselves to continual connection with the coach and to continually listen to the Holy Spirit and do what He says. There are no 1-2-3 steps to be filled with the spirit. There are at least three elements however involved in obeying this command.
Awareness
There must be an awareness of who the Holy Spirit is, what he does and what he wants.
We must have a connection to the Holy Spirit. The initial connection comes at salvation.
The more we are aware of his presence and work in us the more we will come under his influence rather than the influence of the flesh. Ignorance or apathy brings about powerlessness.
We must not be like the old farmer ignorant of modern conveniences.
He went into town one day and the salesman at the hardware store documented buying a chainsaw. The salesman made the sale by promising the farmer he would be able to cut wood faster and easier than his old crosscut saw. Two days later, the farmer returned with a chainsaw. I tried out this contraption and it didn't even come close to cut and would like my old saw. You promised I could cut more but I cut less. I couldn't even get one tree cut down. The puzzled salesman asked to see the saw, pull the pull the rope and saw fired up the roar.
The farmer jump back and exclaimed, "What’s that noise?"
Sometimes we become so used to living by the impulses of our own flesh that we forget we have the enablement and enlightenment Holy Spirit of God at our disposal. Over the next several weeks to clear up some misconceptions of the Holy Spirit so we can get to know this ever present coach. I suppose commander would be a better term. We have a misconception that the Holy Spirit comes along to help us.
In reality, he is sent to direct us and empower us to carry out God's directives not ours.
and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fulness of God. Ephes. 3:19
knowledge of God's love to his Holy Spirit causes us to be filled up with the fullness of God.
The more we understand the more we trust of the more we obey. At the point of trust and obedience we are filled were influenced or controlled by the Holy Spirit.
Paul prayed that the Colossians would be filled with the knowledge of his will. He wanted their lives to be directed by God's will.
The first element is awareness.
We need to be aware of who he is. We need to be aware of what he does. We need to be aware of what he wants.
God will sometimes provide some spiritual experience to increase our awareness of his presence. With the early church it was a room that was shaken as a result of their prayer meeting. At that point they became much more aware of the Holy Spirit's presence and they were before. As a result, their faith was stirred and their resolve to preach the gospel in the face of persecution was strengthened.
Faith/trust
The next indispensable element necessary to live under the influence of the Holy Spirit is trust.
If you don't trust the coach, you're not ready to listen to Him. Paul provides a significant clue to both the saving ministry of the Spirit and the perfecting ministry of the Holy Spirit.
You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Galatians 3:1-5
We received it the Holy Spirit initially not by working for it, but by hearing the truth and believing it. The Galatians were being deceived that that was the only ministry of the Holy Spirit. After salvation, it was up to them to become more like Christ.
Paul made it clear that the perfecting ministry of the Holy Spirit comes about exactly the same way as the saving ministry. We are perfected by hearing with trust or faith. Without faith it is impossible to please him. Without faith we will not come to him.
Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. 14And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able also to admonish one another.
What was the catalyst for being filled with joy, peace, hope, goodness, knowledge and ministry to the body of Christ? Faith! Believing!
At the point of faith they abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Basically what Paul is saying here is that they were filled or influenced by the Holy Spirit.
God didn't leave us to hang out there to battle it out on her own. Just as Jesus daily encourage the disciples in their walk he sent the Holy Spirit to carry out the same ministry not just with 12 disciples were even 170 but with everyone who puts their faith in him.
We need to unfurl our sales and wait for the wind of the Holy Spirit to blow into our life.
It is a matter of faith. There may or not be some ecstatic periods or tingling down the spine. It is a simple faith in the promises of God; hearing with faith.
We must first have awareness that there is an available coach. We must be aware of his continual presence. We must have an awareness of what he expects.
Second, we need to trust him.
We need to believe that God will do in us and for us what we cannot do in our own flesh.
We need to believe that he is and he is a rewarder of those who trust him. (Heb 11:6)
Obedience
Finally, it is not enough just to know something. It is not enough just to hear and be aware of his direction and believe that it is from him and for us. We need to do it. We need to submit to His rule in our life. It is a matter of waking up every morning to report for duty.
Surrender to the direction of the commander and chief of our soul.
What is the major factor that directs our decisions?
All of us are directed by something; impulse or the Holy Spirit.
When Paul commands us to continually be filled with the Holy Spirit it is a command to humble ourselves and submit to His direction and cry for His empowering.
Paul talks about not quenching the Holy Spirit. (1 Thess 5:19)
The word quench means to suppress, stifle, extinguish. This is the opposite of yielding to him or surrendering to his will. This essentially is saying, "NO!" to the Holy Spirit.
This is ignoring the coach. This is refusing to push the gas pedal. This is disconnecting from the alternator so the batteries the longer being charged. This is failing to put up your sails into the wind. Failing to obey the Holy Spirit is like refusing to drink from the artesian well he provides.
Paul also talked about grieving the Holy Spirit through disobedience. Not only can we miss the fullest of the spirit by saying no, we can miss the fullness of the Holy Spirit by saying yes to things contrary to the way and will of God or doing our own thing.
God was adamant about two sins of Israel.
"For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That can hold no water. Jeremiah 2:13
This reminds me of the song trust and obey for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus but the trust and obey.
I think the filling of the Spirit is nothing more than yielding or surrendering to the direction of the Holy Spirit communicated in the word of God and trusting his power to do in us what we could never do on our own.
So how do we know if we are under the influence of the Holy Spirit? Just as there is plenty of evidence for anyone under the influence of chemicals there are sure signs of someone under the influence of the Holy Spirit. The most extensive list is found in Galatians 5.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23
Most of the evidences that demonstrate someone is living under the influence of the Holy Spirit have to do with the quality of relationships and the power of ministry to the communication of the truth of the Word of God. These also come out in spiritual gifts; speaking gifts were serving gifts. Relationships/speaking truth
RESULT OF FILLING
Paul mentions three specific things here. The results connected with this passage can be identified by the “ing” terms which follow.
? Speaking and singing truth to one another and praise to God.
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; Ephesians 5:18-19
No one really knows for sure what these three categories of music entailed.
The best guess is that psalms referred to the actual psalms which were written to be sung.
Hymns referred to music directed to the praise of God. Spiritual songs were, like a miscellaneous category probably referring to as songs of spiritual experiences with God. The singing and making melody are an ample occasion of the Psalms hymns and spiritual songs.
When one is under the influence of the Holy Spirit it will manifest in the communication of truth to one another and praise to the Lord from a heart that is filled with him.
? Giving thanks for all things.
always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; Ephesians 5:20
When we are under the influence of the Holy Spirit there is a sense of gratitude to God no matter what the circumstances may be. The flesh is always complaining. Paul told the Philippians that a demonstration of the fact that they were children of God would be that there would be no grumbling or disputing among them.
? Submitting to one another in the fear of Christ.
The last ING word is found in verse 21. A sure sign that someone is under the influence of the Holy Spirit is that they're willing to be under the influence of God ordained authorities. Paul explains with that authority structure is later. He talks about husbands and wives. He talks about children and parents. He talks about slaves and Masters.
The command is clear. Continually yield to the influence of the Holy Spirit in every area of life.
Be aware of and listen to your coach! Trust your coach! Obey your coach!
