“So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 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; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father;”
Paul has been talking about how we should walk in an evil world, so that the way we relate to those of the world would not be in such a way as to participate with them in darkness, but rather to let the Light of Christ manifest itself to them through us and expose their deeds as fruitless and disgraceful. The ultimate purpose, of course, not being to bring condemnation on them, but in hopes that some will repent and believe the good news.
Now, he turns his attention to the church and begins to instruct us as to how we ought to be relating to one another as Christians, and he will tell us what condition must exist in order for us to do that.
After that he’ll narrow his focus and talk about the Christian relationship in marriage, and in chapter 6 he will include the children and discuss the home relationship as a whole. After that he includes slaves, and even though we do not practice or condone slavery, still, Paul has much to say about the Supervisor/subordinate relationship in the work place.
That’s just a look through the binoculars at what’s ahead. For today though we need to talk about these verses, 17-21, and we’ll spend a lot of our time in verse 18.
A DISTINCTION
We have some things to give our attention to from these verses, but I think the primary topic here, by virtue of the fact that if we don’t understand this term we cannot possibly comprehend the gravity of the rest of our text, is being filled with the Spirit.
We must approach this systematically for the sake of clarity.
So I want to begin by getting some possible errors in thought out of the way so we don’t stumble over them as we go.
Looking back first at the Old Testament, we know that the Spirit of God came upon some Old Testament characters for the accomplishment of a purpose. In those cases it was a temporary filling, and it was for the specific task at hand.
One example of this is found in Exodus 31:3, when God tells Moses that He has “…filled [Bezalel] with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship…” for working with gold, silver and bronze in the building of the Tabernacle.
Another example is Sampson, who performed great feats of cunning and strength against the Philistines when the Spirit of the Lord came upon him. (No, it wasn’t the hair)
This is not what Paul is talking about in Ephesians 5
There are many examples in the Old Testament of the Spirit coming upon men or women in this way; for prophesying, for accomplishing tasks and so forth, but I’m sure you get the idea from these two examples.
So let’s move to the New Testament.
An early example we see there is that of Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist. When Mary approached her the baby leaped inside her, and it says in Luke that Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and pronounced blessing on Mary and the fruit of her womb.
Then, although it doesn’t specifically say so, we may assume that Mary was filled with the Spirit as she burst forth with what we call the ‘Magnificat’, in Luke 1:46-55.
Then a few verses later, Zacharias, who hasn’t been able to speak for about six months but finally does something right and is given his voice back, is filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesies about the impending birth of the Messiah.
Then Jesus is born, and when the time comes for His and Mary’s ritual cleansing ceremony in the temple, the Spirit comes upon Simeon and leads him to the temple where he too, prophesies over the baby. Then here comes Ana, filled with the Holy Spirit, and she begins proclaiming far and wide that the Messiah has come.
There was a whole lot of filling going on around that time.
But this wasn’t what Paul meant in Ephesians 5
After the day of Pentecost, when the Comforter had come and all believers were indwelt by the Holy Spirit, we see them ministering to people, and there is visible evidence of those people receiving the Holy Spirit.
So we come closer and make a sharper distinction here, by talking about the difference between being baptized in the Holy Spirit, and being filled with the Spirit.
HOLY SPIRIT BAPTISM
John the Baptist heralded the coming of the Messiah, this way;
“I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” - Matthew 3:11
Then later on, near the end of Jesus’ ministry, He who is the giver of the Holy Spirit made His disciples this promise;
“…I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not
behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you.” - John 14:16,17
Observe that in that promise Jesus said two things pertinent to our study today. One, that the Holy Spirit would be with the believer forever, and two, that He would be not only with the believer, but in the believer.
I have talked with people who believe that when they sin the Holy Spirit leaves them and doesn’t come back until after they’ve repented. This passage in John 14 settles that debate sufficiently. “…that He may be with you forever”
The Holy Spirit is not spiteful, or fickle. He indwells the believer at salvation and He does not leave. Our sin grieves Him, but He is in us to bring us to repentance, point us to Christ, and continue the work of sanctification.
To think that He would leave us when we sin is as absurd as thinking the doctor will leave the room in disgust because we present symptoms of illness. It’s why he’s there
Listen to Acts 2:1-4
“And when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent, rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.”
This, as Peter was to say in just a few minutes, was in fulfillment of the prophet, Joel; but it was also a fulfillment of John the Baptist’s prophetic declaration in Matthew 3, and it was fulfillment of Jesus’ own promise in John 14.
Notice please that John said Jesus would ’baptize’ with the Holy Spirit, and here in Acts 2 Luke writes that they were filled with the Holy Spirit.
Well, there certainly is no discrepancy there. If they were immersed in the Holy Spirit, then how could they not be filled?
ANOTHER DISTINCTION
But here is where we have to stop for a moment and clarify something else. Dr. Lloyd-Jones put it very well, so I’m going to quote him on the subject of a common misunderstanding in people’s thinking. He said:
“The way to approach this, it seems to me, is to remind ourselves that the Holy Spirit is a Person. The Holy Spirit is not just an influence. So many seem to talk about being filled with the Spirit as if the Holy Spirit were some kind of liquid. They talk about having an ‘empty vessel’, an empty jug, and having the Spirit poured in. That is entirely wrong because it forgets that the Holy Spirit is a Person. He is not a substance, not a liquid, and not a power like electricity. We all tend to fall into this error. We even tend to refer to the Holy Spirit as ‘it’, forgetting that the Holy Spirit is the third Person in the blessed Holy Trinity.”
- “Life In The Spirit - in Marriage Home and Work” - Lloyd-Jones, pg 47 1973 Baker Books
So John used a good metaphor, because being a baptizer, saying the Messiah would ‘baptize’ with the Holy Spirit and fire would have put a very clear and graphic picture in the minds of his hearers.
But in the sense that He came on the day of Pentecost, if we remember that He is a Person, then we might explain what happened this way; He came as had been promised by the Redeemer, and took up such full and significant residence in the believer, so as to be the all-encompassing, most powerful influence over their lives.
Look at the example of the Apostles and the others in that Upper Room. They were hiding there. Ever since the ascension of Jesus they had been in hiding from the Jews for fear of suffering and dying at the hands of Jesus’ enemies.
But when the day of Pentecost had fully come, and the Holy Spirit came as promised and filled them, they stepped out of that room to the streets of Jerusalem preaching boldly that Jesus was the Christ, and nothing could stop them or deter them from their mission.
BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT
Now after this, we are told in numerous places that believers were filled with the Holy Spirit. And here, I think, we come to what Paul is talking about in our text.
Stephen, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
Barnabas was said to be faithful and full of the Holy Spirit.
In Acts 13:52 we read, “And the disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit”
Now I submit to you that this is something other than that original indwelling that took place at Pentecost, or that takes place the moment any repentant sinner believes the gospel.
To say, ‘so and so was filled with the Holy Spirit and rejoiced’, or something of that nature, if we’re talking about a Christian, would be like saying, “so and so had a nose’.
If all Christians are filled with the Holy Spirit in the sense that He indwells us at salvation, then there’s not much point in declaring that as a prelude to something that a Christian says or does. It’s understood. It’s a given.
So to purposely mention it indicates that it means something else.
So let’s sharpen our focus even more.
Another thing Lloyd-Jones pointed out was that people around us may have a strong influence in our lives, and we might use a term like, “Full of so and so”, meaning a person is so constantly thinking about another that he or she is ‘full’ of that person. One has a controlling influence over the other.
My wife has controlling influence over me. Not in a bad way. She’s not controlling by nature. But my love for her and desire to please her controls much of what I do, where I go, decisions I make, goals I strive for. I’m full of her.
This comes much closer to describing what Paul is talking about in Ephesians 5.
When the believer is indwelt by the Spirit at conversion, it is entirely God’s doing. It is the giving of life and in most cases the new believer doesn’t even have knowledge of what is really happening to him.
But the thing Paul is talking about is something in which the believer is at the least, a participant. Notice he doesn’t say, ‘pray daily for the Spirit to fill you’, and he doesn’t say, ‘wait on the Lord to fill you’.
It is more like a command for the believer to do something. To partake of something.
Since it is a command, it cannot be an ’experience’ or a special blessing to be sought. We are to pursue it (filling) constantly.
We are to be perpetually filled, by virtue of our unwavering pursuit of Him.
Now I want to go back and look at verse 18 in its entirety and then make some observations about it.
“And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit”.
Paul probably said this the way he did to address a present error. Part of the worship in the temples of false gods was getting falling down drunk. There were probably people coming out of those religions and bringing some of these practices to Christianity, until they learned otherwise.
But Paul was not condemning wine, as much as using it to illustrate the influence of the Spirit over our lives. When a man is drunk he is ‘under the influence’ of alcohol.
When a man is filled with the Spirit, he is under the influence of the Spirit.
C. S. Lewis pointed out, “…you can understand the nature of drunkenness when you are sober, not when you are drunk…”
MERE CHRISTIANITY Book III Christian Behavior, chapt. 4 -Collier Books
But when we are under the influence of the Holy Spirit, that is when we best understand the nature of the Spirit.
As I sat reflecting on these things and thinking through these things Paul is saying in the chapter, it occurred to me that the spiritual weakness that Christians seem to convey so often, must be a manifestation of a failure to do this.
Paul says to be filled with the Spirit. Do most of us have any inkling what that means? How do preachers teach on this passage? Do they gloss over that one line and focus strongly on the ‘be not drunk with wine’ thing, to hopefully detract your attention from the fact that they don’t want to expose their ignorance about the Holy Spirit? Because I really don’t think the Holy Spirit and our relationship to Him are taught very often. At least, not outside of Pentecostal churches; where often the emphasis is too strong. Not always, but often.
So what are we generally taught? That the Holy Spirit fills us at salvation, that He points us to Christ, that He brings to our remembrances the things we’ve learned from scripture at the time we need them? What else? Very little!
He’s the third Person of the blessed Holy Trinity, and He has feelings! And Paul writes to Holy Spirit indwelt believers, and says, ‘be filled with the Spirit’.
So we need to be willing to lay aside our fundamentalist paranoia, and admit that according to scripture there is an experience with the Holy Spirit beyond in-filling at conversion.
It is the kind of experience you have with the most significant person in your life, when you seek them out every day because you want their influence in your life to the extent that it controls you.
And that, I think, is where most of us have our greatest struggle. I repeat what I said just a few weeks ago. The only thing that keeps any of us from being a strong force for God in ministry and service, is our own choices. We go just so far, surrender just so much of ourselves, and say, ‘no more’. I’ll go this far, but no farther.
I’ve read so many of C. S. Lewis’ works that I often can remember something he said, but not what book it’s in. Somewhere, he was telling of a man who, in response to a comment that was made about his love for his wife, said, “Love her? I am her!”
His meaning was that he was so consumed with love for her that his identity was lost in her.
This is what Christ calls us to, believer. To be so consumed by Him that our self is lost in His will.
Let’s just quickly single out some phrases in this chapter so far, from verse 1 to 18, that, according to Paul, would have us walking in the victory of the Christ-life.
“be imitators of God” vs. 1
“walk in love” vs. 2
“walk as children of light” vs. 8
“trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord” vs10
“walk…as wise (men)” vs. 15
“understand what the will of the Lord is” vs. 17
“be filled with the Spirit” vs. 18
The underlying message I see here, is that in order to do these things there has to be a drawing so near to Christ, in order to imitate Him, learn what is pleasing to Him, understand what His will is, emulate Him and His love and light in our life, that our self is lost and He becomes the all-encompassing, overwhelming influence in our lives.
I think that is the secret to being filled with the Spirit. Indwelt, to be sure, because we are Christians. But filled and powerful and equipped for service and relating significantly to the brethren, because we lay self aside daily and invite Him to fill us to overflowing.
Listen to this prayer of George Croly. I don’t know if everyone here has sung this, but some have. But hear it without the music and ask if that is really the prayer of your heart.
“Spirit of God, descend upon my heart’
Wean it from earth, through all its pulses move’
Stoop to my weakness, mighty as Thou art,
And make me love Thee as I ought to love.
Teach me to love Thee as Thine angels love,
One holy passion, filling all my frame;
The baptism of the heav’n descended Dove,
My heart an altar, and Thy love the flame.”
- Spirit of God, Descend upon My Heart - Croly
People, in a very short time all of us are going to be there with Him in the place He has prepared. All of the cares and concerns of this life will have fallen away. All of the earthly goals and pursuits that seem so important to us now will be forgotten.
What will be important to us then will be Him. Worship of Him, Praising His name, serving Him perfectly and with delight, …
But we needn’t wait. To be sure we will be complete then, but He has invited us to participate now in the Spirit-filled life. How far will we go? How much will we surrender to Him? How much will we let Him fill us?
He has a lot more to give than we usually dare ask for, believer. We just have to come to a place of raising our hands in surrender, putting ourselves entirely in His care, and saying, ‘fill me, Lord, and use me’.
He’s always willing. Let Him.
