Filled and Submitted
17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. 19Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 21Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Eph 5:17-21 (NIV)
Do not get drunk on wine… be filled with spirit, submit to each other … the bible says. Why talk about “Drunk on wine” and then seemingly linking it to be being filled with the Spirit? What has this got to do submitting to one another…
Perhaps you have heard of Haley Joel Osment. Some may remember him as the child star in the 1999 movie The Sixth Sense, with his famous line “I see dead people,” well, he was sentenced to probation last Thursday after pleading no contest to charges of drunken driving and marijuana possession. Osment, now 18, was also ordered to complete alcohol rehabilitation counselling and pay $1,500 (U.S.) in fines as part of an agreement with prosecutors that called for two misdemeanour counts to be dismissed.
Another recent story of drunk driving that caught the headlines - Mel Gibson after his recent arrest for drunk driving, he issued this statement, “After drinking alcohol on Thursday night, I did a number of things that were very wrong and for which I am ashamed. I drove a car when I should not have, and was stopped by the LA County Sheriffs. The arresting officer was just doing his job and I feel fortunate that I was apprehended before I caused injury to any other person. I acted like a person completely out of control when I was arrested, and said things that I do not believe to be true and which are despicable. I am deeply ashamed of everything I said, and I apologize to anyone who I have offended. Also, I take this opportunity to apologize to the deputies involved for my belligerent behavior. They have always been there for me in my community and indeed probably saved me from myself. I disgraced myself and my family with my behavior and for that I am truly sorry. I have battled with the disease of alcoholism for all of my adult life and profoundly regret my horrific relapse. I apologize for any behavior unbecoming of me in my inebriated state and have already taken necessary steps to ensure my return to health.” Obviously, Gibson was ashamed of the racist, abusive, profanity he used while drunk.
Not too long ago our own BC Premier Gordon Campbell was also caught with driving under the influence of alcohol. Do you think any one of these three want to be remembered for their poor choice?
Everyday there are more stories of drunkenness, some ended with tragic results. Substance abuse is killing people everyday, yet more and more are falling into it, perhaps placing their faith in miraculous drug-induced euphoria to escape just for a moment, for a time, the humdrum of an existence that is crying out for meaning. There is something inside people, the way in which people are designed by their maker, to look for some resemblance of a meaningful high in life. It is no surprise that the beer commercials, always have folks, enjoying a great time, with awfully good-looking people, showing no beer gut, nice tan, with no throw-up, no jail-record, no stench, no roadkill, with the message ““rub a dub a dub, life does not get any better than this.” It seems to feed the myth many people believe that you cannot even begin to get a real kick out of life without a good soaking of specially brewed spirits or drug.
Is there anyone who can see this as a sign of human weakness rather than enjoyment? Is skid-row on our Hastings and Main enjoyable, is that a better lfie? Or is it one of the scariest places to be in even in daytime? Ask Osment, Gibson, Campbell, is life better because of the high they got from being drunk? Perhaps they’re glad to have not killed anyone. My suspicion is that when they can think clearly they’d want to bury and forget the whole thing ever happened? Is there anyone who wants a better life than that or do we want to believe that life does not get any better than getting drunk? From the richest to the poorest, everyone as Bruce Springsteen once sung “has a hungry heart,” and it does not matter whether u were born in the USA or in some third world country.
To be sure, the Bible does not forbid drinking of alcoholic beverages. Speaking to his protégé, Timothy, the apostle Paul counseled him in 1 Tim 5:23 (ESV) “No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.” Medicinal, healing properties of alcohol – eg - red wine is now known for controlling cholesterol. But what the Bible frowns upon is the abuse of alcohol, where it is used to get high and get out of control. Pro.23 speaks negatively of the state of drunkenness.
Got to remember Jesus Himself made wine out of water in a wedding party in Cana. He also gained a reputation among the conservative religious elite of his day as a drunk of all things because of His close association and friendship to those who are poor in spirit and needed the Spirit of God to fill them (Lk.7:34). He used wine to be speak of His kingdom saying the cup in the Lord’ supper represented the blood of new covenant, that would bring hope and salvation and complete healing for anyone who will take the risk to bet their life that God cares
In our time through the book of Ephesians, we have discovered God wants to fill the hungry heart, by offering Christ to us in the grace and peace of God. Paul writes in this inspiring way in Ephesians 1:3 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” Paul gets inspired as he is taken up by this godly vision of a new family in Christ, that is brought together in the peace of Christ, so he prays for his readers to grasp God’s love that has no boundaries built in, for He is able to do more than we ask or imagine. He shares his insight on God – that God is in the business to bless the people He has created, thought about and loved even before the universe was formed, that he will choose to make them holy and pure, through the cross of Christ, so that His beloved people could share His riches, His pleasure, the deep enjoyment that the Father, Son and Spirit shares intimately from eternity. Paul also prays for his readers to have capacity to take hold of the hope that is implanted by the Spirit of God that they may know “the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.”
There was a mom who tried to comfort her little kid whose pet dog is suffering from tumors. The dog has to put down. So she explained that the dog is going to doggy heaven. The kid was curious and wanted to know what heaven is gonna be like for the dog. So she says that the dog will do his favorite thing which is chasing squirrels. The kid thought for a while and then he said “Dog heaven must be squirrel hell.”
That kid is a deep thinker, eh? When Paul instructs his readers to be filled with the Spirit, he’s telling them to be filled the vision of the kingdom of heaven, with all of God’s vision, with all of God’s work, with all of God’s blessing, with all that God has built into you spiritually to connect with Him- we are to absorb all of this daily, BECAUSE WE GET EMPTY, and need constantly refueling, being filled with Him, to be controlled by this awesome thought, be fully alive to hope, faith and love, to be caught up in rapturous love of God that we get what Paul says about God’s grace and peace – being blessed by God with EVERY SPIRITUAL BLESSING in CHRIST! People get empty to go to drink and get a sense of illusory bliss and go out of control, whereas Christ’s beloved drink in the Spirit and get their sense of heaven’s bliss and have full self-control. Paul’s desire is for us to be fully aware, fully alive, be fully sober with the hope that we have, and to make it real today!
Next, we are to make this faith authentic, make this hope concrete, by lovingly including others, i.e. submission to another who is beloved of God, blessed of God with His grace and peace, of like faith. Exhortation here is eternal life starts now in concrete real life ways, by bring others into your life, meeting their needs. He has invested into you gifts of grace, as part of His resurrection victory dance, distributing it to all sons and daughters of God to be workers of blessing rather than workers of ruin, to build up the family of God, to get a piece of heaven while on earth. You now have a part in the family of God, no longer dominated by darkness, but now illuminated with the light of Christ.
He is building into you a desire to share the blessing of God. Now that you realizing with deeper clarity, having seen the light of the gospel, the hope that received in Christ thru faith, instead of getting filled with the spirits brewed by human hands just to get your needs met, are now called to get into the stream of blessing others meeting another’s need, for God has met your need to be secure and loved.
Drink in the Spirit of God, get filled up by releasing yourself, abandoning yourself to the purpose of God, by doing something useful to build up another according to their needs. Would you now relate with people of like faith, with deep humility, the humility of Christ, that has no reservation, to come down from the throne of heaven and gain a reputation as one who eats and drinks with the lowest class of human life.
Let’s not waste time anymore, but be self-controlled in the Spirit, rather than indulging in things that do not last, such as unworthy talk, immature bitterness or anger, stealing, immoral behavior but let us bring hope to each other, speaking the truth in love, growing up in him, being kind, compassionate, forgiving, submit to another i.e. offering God’s precious gifts to each other, mature enough to share what God has imparted in us as gifts.
I like what Dallas Willard (p.364) writes:
Anger and contempt toward others is only removed by the vision and experience of God being over all, ensuring that all is well with me and that others are his treasures. I no longer need to engage in the violence of name-calling, for I do not need to “put others down” in order for me to be “up.” I no longer need to secure myself in life, for I am secure.
May the grace and peace of Christ flood us, as we think clearly of the hope we have received, offering God to each other, being imitators of God, who offered his life for us. Instead of using the time like the way we used to, may we be inspired to invest our time with others as they have need, sharing life, waste time with them, so that church is no longer a program, but a people you share life with in the unity of the Spirit. Surely we have been taught in Christ, to put off selfishness, to think about others. God has called you family – will you call others family too? Is that not what it means to be submitted to another?
Larry Crabb wrote this: “ordinary people have the power to change other people’s lives.” He is talking about people really connecting with one another like the way Frodo connects with Sam in the Lord of the Rings, where friendship is loyal and deep, staying together thru the tough times and the good. The way Jesus connects with us. New vision of greatness of love in new family of God Eph. Speaks of.
What would it be like if we had a vision for each other, if we could see the lost glory in ourselves, our family and our friends? What would the effect on your sons or daughters be if they realized that you were caught up with the possibilities of restored glory, of what they could become – not successful, talented, good-looking or rich but kind, strong and self assured, fully alive? – Larry Crabb (1997,p.65) in his book entitled Connecting.
I like Crabb’s words. God has restored each believer, can we see that in another?
Do not get drunk on wine… be filled with spirit, submit to each other … the bible says.
Because Mary, full of faith, filled by the Spirit, submitted to God and to the care of a tiny being named Jesus, who depended on her for sustenance, He’d grow up to be a blessing to the entire world. Generations called her blessed for she cared for another and bring into the world the baby Jesus, as she said “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said” (Lk.1:38).
Because Jesus, filled by the Spirit, submitted to God, cared enough for the world, no, loved the world, even while the world is filled with sin, all of humanity gets heaven if they choose to believe.
Because you believe in Christ, you are restored in Christ, filled with the vision of the Kingdom, united in one heart and mind, filled with God, filled in His word, filled up by choosing to not indulge in the things that war against God, surrendered to God’s purposes, knowing you are saved and loved forever, surrendered to His will, that says you are now part of the family, possessing gifts from the Savior, now with a capacity to build into another, hope, faith and love, the stuff that change the world, you are poised to bring grace and peace.
Scripture does not tell us how to do it, because it assumes you know for Christ showed the way, with the life He lived and the death He died and the life victorious over death, and now you do it, like He did, filled with the Spirit, as you know how Christ did for you. Be filled with the Spirit of grace and peace, be so filled from the overflow of life, you’d “burp” God out, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in submission, in service in giving grace, the gospel to another! Be absorbed into the hope of God, with fullness of faith in Christ and offer now the embrace of heaven to each other as you are filled with the Spirit thru faith in Christ who loved you with an everlasting love. Let us change this world, by becoming less demanding, more in tune with God’s ways, the new way of the Spirit, creating a new family in Christ, recovering the aim of the church, destined for greatness in the love of God, a life worthy of the calling which we have received by grace and peace of God! This is church – God’s way, God’s style, God’s family, filled and submitted!
