The Filling of the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit Part 3
Ephesians 5:18-20
(From Steve Meenho Kang, Live by the Spirit (Bloomington, IN: Westbow Press, 2022)
Currently we are going through the message series, “The Holy Spirit.”
During this series, we are examining things that are related to the work of the Holy Spirit.
First week, we talked about “the person of the Holy Spirit.”
Second week, we talked about “the baptism of the Holy Spirit.”
And today, we will talk about “the filling of the Holy Spirit.”
I used to think that there were two kinds of people: The saved and the unsaved.
However, the Bible describes a third kind of people: The saved but unspiritual.
The spiritual person is Spirit-dependent, Spirit-directed, Spirit-dominated, and Spirit-empowered.
However, the unspiritual Christians say that they believe in Jesus but act like people who do not know Jesus.
In their speech, language, lifestyles, priorities, and personalities, they sound and look just like people who do not know Jesus.
They let God in to save them, but not change them.
The saved but unspiritual see salvation the way a farmer sees a hundred acres of untilled soil—lots of work.
“Church attendance, Bible reading, prayer, sin resistance—It is hard work!”
No wonder they are tired.
No wonder they lack joy.
No wonder they have thirsty hearts.
Nothing repels non-Christians more than gloomy, unspiritual Christians.
People who do not know God do not see any compelling reasons to believe in God.
And God does not want any of His children to live this way.
God wants us to live Spirit-dependent, Spirit-directed, Spirit-dominated, and Spirit-empowered lives.
It is time to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
As we talked last week, when we believe in Jesus, we are baptized by the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit comes into us and dwells in us.
But why do so many Christians live powerless lives?
Why are we so spiritually dry?
Why are we so tired and burdened?
Why can’t we love our spouse, our children, our parents?
Why can’t we control our temper or forgive ourselves?
Why are we so powerless?
God never promised an absence of distress.
But He does promise the assuring presence of His Holy Spirit.
All we have to do is obey God’s command to be filled with the Holy Spirit, who reside in us.
I. We must obey it cooperatively (v. 18).
Verse 18 says this.
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit,
What happens when someone gets drunk on wine?
That person is controlled by the alcohol in his or her body.
They cannot speak coherently or walk straight.
When a person gets drunk on wine, that person is controlled by alcohol.
Just like that, when someone is filled with the Holy Spirt, that person is controlled by the Holy Spirit who is in that person.
This is why the verb “be filled” is written in a passive verb.
This means, “Let the Holy Spirit control you.”
The word “filled” means “controlled by.”
When I am filled with anger, I am controlled by anger.
When I am filled with jealousy, I am controlled by jealousy.
Just like this, when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we will be controlled by the Holy Spirit, who is in us.
In other words, there is no ritual that we must do.
There is no special place that we must go.
We do not have to attend, revival meetings or retreats.
We do not have to be prayed over by some individuals.
Rather we must permit the Holy Spirit who dwells in us to fill us by yielding to Him.
The verb “be filled” has nothing to do with content or quantity.
However, some people think that the filling of the Holy Spirit is like filling the gas in a car.
When the gasoline gets low, then we go to gas station to fill it up.
And as we drive around and the gasoline goes low again, then we have to go to a gas station to fill in again.
Some people think that the filling of the Holy Spirit is similar to this.
We go to church and fill ourselves with the Holy Spirit, and then we go out to the world throughout the week.
And when the Holy Spirit gets low, then we have to come back to church to fill up with the Holy Spirit.
However, the filling of the Holy Spirit is not putting what is outside of us into us.
Rather it is letting the Holy Spirit, who is already in us, control us completely.
We must cooperate with the Holy Spirit and we must permit Him to control all areas of our lives.
If this is true, then why do so many Christians not live Holy Spirit-filled lives?
It is because some Christians do not give full control of their lives to the Holy Spirit who lives in them.
It is like this.
I have two identical cups of water.
In one cup, I put Alka Seltzer tablets in the water.
In the second cup, I put the same Alka Seltzer into the water, but this time the package is unopened.
What happens?
The one that I opened permeate though the whole water.
However, the one that is unopened cannot be dissolved.
The package prevents it from permeating the water.
Just like this, some Christians have something that won’t allow the Holy Spirit to permeate them.
It may be false theologies that we believe.
It may be hidden sins that we have.
Or our desire to control our own lives.
These things prevent the Holy Spirit from having full control over our lives.
Furthermore, some people allow the Holy Spirit to control some areas of their live but not the other areas of their lives.
The Holy Spirit is allowed to enter some areas their lives but not others.
It is also like this.
I have a glove that has five fingers.
But I clipped two fingers with clothespins.
Then my fingers cannot enter those areas with clothespins.
What the hand is to the glove, the Holy Spirit is to the Christians.
Every single Christian has the Holy Spirit dwelling in them.
But not all Christians have given our full control to the Holy Spirit.
Perhaps you let God enter your prayer life.
But you do not let Him enter your hobby life.
You let God enter the area of finance.
But you do not let Him enter what you do in the living room.
Remember the question is not, “How can we have more of the Holy Spirit?”
But rather, “How can the Holy Spirit have more of us?”
A palm and a few fingers will not suffice.
We must work together with the Holy Spirit.
We must obey it cooperatively.
II. We must obey it continually (v. 18).
Verse 18 says this.
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit,
“Be filled with the Spirit” is a command, not a suggestion.
We are not free to ignore it.
We must obey this command.
If we are not living a Spirit-filled life, we are living in disobedience.
As the result, we will not be able to live a life that God intended for us.
The abundant life…
The supernatural life...
The transformed life… is not possible without being filled with the Holy Spirit.
The Apostle Paul not only gave a command, but gave a continuous command.
The filling of the Spirit must be continuous in the sense that it must be a daily, moment by moment experience.
This is why the Apostle Paul wrote “be filled” in the present tense.
This means that it should not be a once and for all experience, like the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Rather it must be a continuous experience.
It must occur repeatly and continuously.
It is not good enough that we were filled with the Holy Spirit when we went on a revival meeting 20 years ago.
It is not good enough that we were filled with the Holy Spirit when we went to a short-term mission trip 10 years ago.
We must continuously be filled with the Holy Spirit right now.
This is what the Bible commands.
We must obey it continually.
Sound burdensome?
Are you wondering… “My work needs attention. My children need dinner. My bills need paying. Back then I had a lot of time for God. I had time to pray to be filled with the Holy Spirit. But now, I do not have the time to do it.”
Continuously being filled with the Holy Spirit sounds complicated, but it need not be that way.
We must think of the filling of the Holy Spirit as having the awareness of His presence in our lives.
We must seek to live in uninterrupted awareness of the Holy Spirit in us.
We must acknowledge His presence everywhere we go and in everything we do.
While you are driving, you can say, “Thank You, God, for being here.”
When you are at work, pray, “I welcome Your presence, God.”
In everything you do, acknowledge His presence.
We are commanded to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
We must obey it continually.
III. We must obey it collectively (vv. 18-20).
Verses 18-20 say this.
18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord,20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The verb “be filled” in verse 18 is written in the second person plural.
This means that the filling of the Holy Spirit is a collective command.
It is not commanded to some special selective group of Christians within a church.
It is commended to every single Christian.
Young, old, men, women, educated, uneducated, rich, poor, seasoned saints, and new Christians.
All of us must obey it.
Therefore, it is a collective command in the sense that the invitation is offered to all people.
Furthermore, it is a collective command in the sense that it is something that we must do together.
This is why verse 19 says that we must speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs.
The filling of the Holy Spirit is something that we have to do together and with one another.
We must encourage and challenge one another to consistently live lives that are filled with the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit dwells in us.
However, when we gather in Jesus’ name, He is also among us.
He fills us individually and collectively.
Not only we must be filled with the Holy Spirit individually, but we also be filled with the Holy Spirit collectively.
It is something that we do individually and collectively.
Therefore, during the week, we must live Spirit-filled lives individually.
But when we get together on Sunday to worship, we must speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit.
We must sing and make music from our hearts to the Lord.
When we get together for small groups, we must share our testimonies to give thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We must encourage and challenge each other to continually live Spirit-filled lives.
We must do it together.
For example, if we want to have a Spirit-filled worship, we must live our lives as worship to God throughout the week.
Then we gather on the Lord’s day to worship Him.
We must come early and prepared.
We must do it together.
The filling of the Holy Spirit is a group thing.
We must obey it collectively.
Conclusion
Therefore, I want you to take inventory.
As you think about your life, do you see any areas in your life that are not Spirit filled?
Any resistant pockets?
Any blocked fingers?
Your tongue.
Do you tend to stretch the truth?
Puff up the facts?
Is your language filled with profanities and foul talk?
Your attitude.
Is it filled with thanksgiving to the Lord?
Or is it filled with complains, resentment, and anger?
Your relationships.
Do you treat your spouse, children, parents, friends, co-workers like Jesus would treat them?
Or are your relationships filled with fights and bitterness?
Perhaps, you can go to each room of your house or each place you spend your time, and let the Holy Spirit walk with you.
This could take time.
We must live Spirit-filled lives.
We must obey it cooperatively, continually, and collectively.
