Being Filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18)

Ephesians: Building the Church  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented
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Different churches have divergent ideas as to what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Perhaps you've wondered what it means in your own life. In this sermon, we focus on the meaning of the second half of this verse! Watch/listen at: http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermon/65231723597187

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Transcript
Series: Ephesians: Building the ChurchText: Ephesians 5:18
By: Shaun Marksbury Date: May 28, 2023
Venue: Living Water Baptist ChurchOccasion: PM Service

Introduction

We’re in the latter half of Paul’s epistle, the practical section, and we’ve slowed down a bit in our walkthrough of the Book of Ephesians. I try to avoid the temptation to study every potentially interesting point, choosing instead to look at each paragraph or section of thought. I don’t want to lose the flow of the author’s argument. Sometimes, though, it’s necessary that we pause in a section and really consider it, and last time, we noted that vv. 15–21 of this chapter form a hub of thought for these three chapters. As such, we’ve been slowing down our pace, taking time to consider these verses in context.
The Lord in v. 15 commands us to walk in wisdom, which includes redeeming the time (v. 16). The wise walk also requires us to understand the will of the Lord (v. 17). Here in v. 18, wisdom manifests in two commands — don’t be drunk and be filled. As such, the contrast here is not so much wine vs. the Holy Spirit but being foolish and being directed by the Spirit of wisdom.
We took time last Sunday to consider the negative command — “do not get drunk with wine.” We saw that the command isn’t a prohibition against drinking but against the foolish abuse of alcohol. Scripture condemns drunkenness, and those Christians who sin by drinking to inebriation are not walking wisely in the Holy Spirit.
Still, there may be some confusion here. We read the word “filled” and sometimes imagine ourselves as cups, vessels with limited capacities to hold liquid of some sort. If we fill ourselves with wine, the thinking goes, we have no room left for the Holy Spirit. Or, to continue the analogy, if we reduce the amount of alcohol in the cup (or any distracting substance), we can get more of the Holy Spirit in there. However, this isn’t what the verse is communicating, and that would be a completely inaccurate understanding of the Holy Spirit’s relationship to our lives.
The verses which follow help us to understand the positive command to “be filled with the Spirit” (vv. 19–21). While it’s not completely apparent in our English translations, five participles follow in these verses, logically advancing the positive command here. So, to be filled with the Spirit, we are to be “ ‘speaking [to one another]’ (v. 19a), ‘singing’ (v. 19b), ‘making music’ (v. 19b), ‘giving thanks’ (v. 20), and ‘submitting [to one another]’ (v. 21).” These will come together in exhortations for the Christian household (5:22–6:9). Next week, we’ll talk more about these consequences.
For today, though, we’re zeroing in on the command to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We’re also going to see that this command can only fit within the framework of the gospel promises of the former half of Ephesians. So, this evening, let’s consider the command and then consider how we can apply it in our lives. Let’s start by rereading the verse.

The Command to Be Filled

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,
Like we said, there is a negative command, and it’s followed with a description. To engage in drunkenness is to engage in wastefulness. The contrast to that is the positive command. Let’s examine the verb of the command.

The Verb of the Command

The verb translated “be filled” is from the Greek word plēroō. It’s a command, but an odd one to consider. It’s a passive verb, meaning that the subject (you) are not the actor, but the recipient of the action. Moreover, the command is also present, which one commentary notes could be rendered, “be being kept filled.” I’m not sure that makes it less confusing, though.
Part of the reason is that our minds may come back to the insufficient image of filling a cup with water. When MacArthur explains the term in his commentary, he gives three senses to plēroō, “be filled.” First, he says it could speak of “the wind filling a sail and thereby carrying the ship along.” Second, he says that it “carries the idea of permeation, and was used of salt’s permeating meat in order to flavor and preserve it.” Third, he explains that the term “has the connotation of total control.” So, the command to be filled means to be moved, permeated, and controlled by the Holy Spirit.
Think about it this way. The command here is for the Christian to allow something to happen. Consider the contrast to drunkenness; it’s not that you have filled yourself with too much liquid for the Holy Spirit to fit, but by choosing to linger long over your drinks, you’re putting yourself into a state which is contrary to the Holy Spirit. By rejecting drunkenness, your mind can think soberly about matters of the Spirit. The Christian has the Holy Spirit, and now the Holy Spirit can fill, move, permeate, and control.
Let’s consider some examples of filling. When Jesus announces His departure, He promised His disciples the Holy Spirit in part because sorrowed filled their hearts (John 16:6); they were under the control of sadness. To use a supernatural example, Satan filled Ananias and Sapphira’s hearts to lie and hold back some of their promised money (Acts 5:3). In these examples, individuals retained personal choices, but there were also motivations that we could describe as moving, permeating, and even controlling.
To again go back to the negative command, a person boozing it up can be said to be moved, permeated, and even controlled by their drunkenness, which certainly leads to debauchery. Instead, the Christian should seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit, being led in a wise walk. Let’s consider the primary example of being filled with the Holy Spirit before moving on to personal application.

The Primary Example of Spirit-Filling

In Acts 2, we see a shift in how God operates in this world. The shift is not from works to grace, for all people throughout time have been saved by the grace of God. The saints in the Old Testament looked forward to the promise of the Messiah who would finally take away their sins. In the New Testament era through today, we look back to that Christmas morning, when the Son of God took on human flesh, lived a sinless life, and died on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins. No one in history earned the mercy of God, but He gives us grace in Christ Jesus, nonetheless.
The difference between the Old and New Testaments is that God turned from working through the nation of Israel to working in the borderless church. What unites the church is the same person who convicts and saves it, the Holy Spirit. He would now permanently indwell all His people, not temporarily for a select few. This shift occurs at Pentecost.
After the resurrection and ascension of our Lord into heaven, the disciples await the promised Holy Spirit. We read there was suddenly “noise like a violent rushing wind, and it [plēroō] filled the whole house (Acts 2:2). They then saw what appeared to be tongues of fire that distributed themselves and “rested on each one of them” (v. 3). Once they were filled, the Spirit gave them utterance to speak in languages that they hadn’t learned before (v. 4; note the careful listing of the languages in vv. 7–11), and they began preaching the gospel. The people assume at first that the apostles are drunk with wine (v. 13), but what follows is a clear, cogent, impassioned plea from Peter to his lost countrymen (vv. 14–36).
This example is helpful to us because it shows us the contrast between the halting disciples before Pentecost and the bold witnesses after their filling. We might expect that every Christian filled with the Holy Spirit might have the same result, so much so that Christians seeking to obey Ephesians 5:18 mistakenly pray for a personal repeat of Pentecost. The filling of the Holy Spirit, however, does not necessarily follow such a pattern. So, how should we apply this in our lives?

The Application of the Command

How can we apply this command to our life? The short answer is to read the rest of Ephesians and follow it. Again, v. 18 is the command, and what follows in the next verses are the consequences of the command. As you might guess, though, we’re not doing that right now. Before we go any further in the book, let’s think a bit more about the command to avoid misapplication.

What Does it Not Mean to Be Filled with the Holy Spirit?

As we said, the command to be filled with the Holy Spirit makes no sense outside of the gospel. Jesus died for our sins, rose again, ascended, and then He sent us the Holy Spirit. The disciples in Acts 2 did not call down the Spirit from heaven and infuse themselves with Him. Moreover, we’ve seen that the command is passive; the Spirit comes to us as He wishes. So, we can conclude what this command doesn’t mean.
First, this command doesn’t mean to get sealed in the Spirit. Paul already said Christians are sealed by the Holy Spirit (1:13, 14; 4:30). This is part and parcel with the gospel message, so 5:18 is not commanding us to somehow get “more sealed” or “sealed again” in the Holy Spirit. God sets His seal on us in the form of the Holy Spirit when we believe; there’s no way we can accomplish this from our side.
Second, this command doesn’t mean to get indwelt by the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is already indwelling us, for Jesus promised all who believe would have the Spirit in their innermost being (John 7:37–39). In the Upper Room, Jesus promised that the Spirit “abides with you and will be in you.” (John 14:17). In 1 Corinthians 2:12, Paul affirms that “we have received… the Spirit who is from God.” So, “be filled with the Spirit” does not mean “receive the Holy Spirit” — Christians have already received Him.
Third, this command doesn’t mean to get more of the Spirit. Consider that again: we have already received Him, the Holy Spirit — period. Yet, it may seem that the command to “be filled” means to receive more of Him, as though we could parcel the third person of the Trinity and receive Him piecemeal or one drop at a time. In John 1:16, we read, “For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.” The Holy Spirit doesn’t lose cohesion or deteriorate in us. He doesn’t leak out of us, requiring us to obtain more of Him! We’ve received Him in fullness at conversion, even if we’re too full of sins and distractions at the moment to realize it.
Fourth, this command doesn’t mean to get baptized in the Spirit. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is an important doctrine, but it doesn’t apply at this point in the Christian life. In 1 Corinthians 12:13, we read, “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body… and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.” Similarly, in Galatians 3:27, we read “all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” It’s impossible to be in Christ and yet be unbaptized by the Holy Spirit, requiring a second experience later. We don’t need a Holy Spirit booster shot to make Him effective in us!
Fifth, this command doesn’t mean to “get drunk” in the Spirit. We really shouldn’t have to note this, as this false concept completely misses the contrast between drunken behavior and the Holy Spirit’s filling. Yet, some engage in odd behaviors, with whole churches barking like dogs, laughing, falling down, or engaging in apparent involuntary movements sweeping through like a social contagion. Scripture says the fruit of the Holy Spirit is self-control (Gal. 5:22), and “God is not a God of confusion but of peace” (1 Cor. 14:33). As such, God would not be leading us from one form of senselessness (alcoholic drunkenness) to another under the guise of being Spirit-filled. This is not only a bad interpretation of this verse, it’s a concept entirely foreign to Scripture, bearing more in common with the ecstatic experiences of pagan religious practitioners.
These amount (except the final one) to legalistic efforts to accomplish what God has already accomplished. Some of these are well-intentioned but deny the realities of the good news. Others are mystical but no less works-based. With these denials out of the way, what does it mean?

What Does it Mean to Be Filled with the Holy Spirit?

Quite simply, being filled with the Holy Spirit means what we’ve already said: we should be moved, permeated, and controlled by Him. However, we need to consider an additional fact with this, least we get mystical. One may think that a feeling or a desire inside is the Holy Spirit, and others may seek some otherworldly experience to believe “filling” is occurring. We need a tether.
The Holy Spirit provides that in His inspired Word. Look at the participles that follow — being filled with the Holy Spirit means “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” (vv. 19–20). We’ll talk more about this next week, but, for now, we can already see a very different focus than the mystical experiences people seek today.
Let’s now consider the parallel passage. Around the same time in prison, Paul wrote Colossians 3:16, which says, “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” Note not only the similar content, but the important difference — instead of “be filled with the Spirit,” Paul writes, “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you.”
Remember that the Word of God is the Word of the Spirit. Paul wrote these words, but it was the Holy Spirit who so moved him (cf. 2 Pet. 1:20–21). We hear the Spirit speak through the Scripture (cf. Heb. 3:7; Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22). To put it another way, to be filled with the Word of God is to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
When we consider the command this way, it fits perfectly within Ephesians 5. We’ve been reading about the need to walk in wisdom, and we find both light and wisdom in the Word of God. We’ve been reading about the need to know the will of God, and we also find that recorded in these sacred pages. We’re about to read about communicating biblical truth to one another. We’re reading the Bible and wanting it to move, permeate, and control us.
The Holy Spirit gives us understanding of His Word (1 Cor. 2:12–14). We should seek Him prayerfully to help us grasp what is written in these pages. The goal is to be filled with Him, with all that He has revealed to us.

Conclusion

This may not be as flashy an answer as you would have heard in other churches, but the question is what the Holy Spirit has inspired for us. There’s a freedom in that. We don’t have to await for a sensation or a still, small voice in our soul to know we’re filled with the Spirit. Moreover, we don’t have to fear that we’ve lost the Holy Spirit if we go through times of sorrow and sadness.
We can soberly consider our lives, evaluating whether the Spirit motivates our decisions, whether He permeates every arena of our dealings (public and home), and if His Word controls our speech and actions. Where we find that we fall short, we need to accept in faith that we have the Spirit in fullness already and simply seek His help in these areas. He is gracious and wants us to grow, and He will help us fulfill this command.
Of course, this all rests on whether you have the Spirit. If you don’t have the Son of God, trusting in Him for salvation, then you don’t have the Holy Spirit. Thankfully, God gave us both His Son as well as the Holy Spirit. All who call upon Him receive Him, and they can know they receive Him in fullness.
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