Ephesians: Spirit Filled Life
Notes
Transcript
Spirit Filled Life
Eph. 5:18-21.
Intro:
What is the greatest need we have here at Victory Baptist Church?
Is it a new building?
Is it more people?
Is it more money?
Is it a youth program?
Maybe we need a church van.
All these things maybe need, but What I believe we need this morning is the medicine Paul is prescribing in these verses to the church in Ephesus. It is what every church and believer needs.
He tells them that they need the power of the Spirit of God working in their midst.
If we came to the place where the majority of the people in this congregation were truly walking in the Spirit and living a Spirit filled life, all the things I mentioned at the beginning, and more, would b a reality.
Now, let me say that we Baptists are a little afraid of the Holy Spirit.
We are afraid He’ll make us talk funny and do weird stuff.
Because of that there has been a tendency among some Baptists to avoid emphasizing the presence and ministry of the Holy Ghost.
I just want to go on record this morning and tell you that we need Him and all that He brings with Him.
We need Him and His presence and His power in a desperate way.
We shouldn’t fear the Spirit of God, but we should welcome Him and create an atmosphere where He feels at home, an atmosphere where He can work unhindered in this church.
In our text this morning, Paul is telling the Ephesian believers what the Spirit-filled life is.
He tells them that when they are walking in the Spirit, there will be some evidence of His presence in their midst.
It is that truth that I would like to focus in on this morning. I want to share with you the The Spirit Filled Life.
When you and I are filled with the Holy Ghost, we will still speak English, but we will be more like Jesus than we have ever been.
That is what the Spirit of God wants to do in your life and mine. He wants to duplicate the life of Christ in every saved individual.
Are you filled with the Spirit this morning?
What brings about the Spirit filled life?
What brings about the Spirit filled life?
What paul has mentioned leading up to these verses.
He has told us that we have born again and we have the Spirit already in us,
we have the ability to live lives that are pleasing to God.
We must walk different then the world
We must walk in love
We must walk in the light
We muct walk in wisdom.
If we are going to have a spirit filled life we must do and have those things that Paul has mentioned leading up to verse 18.
Now, he tells his readers, “And be not drunk with wine , wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.”
Side note and this will be all we need to say about this.
Paul is not giving a license to drink here
Some folk want to say, as long as you dont get drunk.
Paul is making a comparison and that is all.
The Bible does not strictly prohibit drinking any alcohol but....
Ive said it before and I will say it again, the Bible has nothing good to say about alcohol or the drinking of it.
Drinking leads to to many other things and it is best to stay away from it.
I cant tell you what to do in your own home, but I can tell you what the thus saith the Lord and God says that its a mocker, its raging, your fool if you drink it, your not wise, and you are not being controlled by God if you are drunk, they call it spirits for a reason.
As your pastor, I must urge you and plead with you, that if you want to be used by God, dont touch it. It will break up your home, destroy your finances and break your fellowship with God.
Its not a good thing and James says, “Him that knoweth to good and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”
Thats all I have to say about that.
So the...
First thing I want to look at this morning is the...
I. The Condition of a Spirit Filled Life v.18
I. The Condition of a Spirit Filled Life v.18
What does a believer look like when they are filled with the Spirit?
Paul is using something that I think was common to his readers.
A drunk man.
As liquor controls the life of the drunkard, Pro. 23:29–35, the Spirit of God should control the life of the believer.
(In their walk, their talk, their thoughts, their attitudes, their actions, etc.)
That is the comparison that Paul is making here.
The word “filled” means “to be full to the top; lacking nothing; nothing short of complete.”
If there is room for any other thing in our hearts, then we are not filled with the Spirit.
His will should be our will.
His thoughts should be our thoughts
His desires should be our desires.
The Holy Spirit is to be in absolute domination in our lives.
This little verb is in the “active tense.”
This means that it is to be a constant state of being.
Very literally, we are to “go on being filled with the Spirit.”
Sadly, this kind of consistent living in missing from many Christians walk with God.
This verb is also in the “passive voice”.
This means that this filling is something that is done to us.
It is not something we can work up on our own, but we are to be vessels that God can fill and use for His glory.
That means that we are to be clean, ready and open to the filling of the Spirit of God.
It is also worthy of noting that this verb is in the “imperative mood”.
This makes it a command.
Paul is not offering us an option for living, but is laying down the command of God for our lives.
When all these things are taken together, it seems clear to me that it is the Lord’s will for every believer to be filled with the Spirit at all times.
When we aren’t, then it seems obvious that we are walking in rebellion and sin before the Lord, James 4:17.
Why is this so serious of a matter?
Because when we are not walking in the Spirit as we should be, we will not be able to hear His voice when He speaks and God will not be able to use us as He desires to.
II. The Consequences of a Spirit Filled life v.19-21
II. The Consequences of a Spirit Filled life v.19-21
So what happens when you are living a Spirit filled life?
Just like a drunk man is affected from inside and out, a spirit filled man is affected inside and out.
A. Your Speech is affected 19
A. Your Speech is affected 19
“Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual song”
The apostle says that those who are full of the Spirit should “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs” and “Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord” (v. 19).
This does not mean that we go around singing all the time out loud.
What this means is that in Spirit-filled believers, a vertical music of the heart develops, so that those full of the Spirit “Sing and make music” in their hearts to the Lord.
This outflow is artesian, silently coming from one’s depths. It is informed and motivated by God’s words richly dwelling within.
And it is passionately joyful. Inevitably this heart-music becomes verbal.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
The result of each of us being spirit filled in our speech is that it will radiate out both horizontal and vertical in worship
They “speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.”
Spirit-filled people overflow in song!
O come, let us sing unto the Lord: Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.
Hannah in 1Sam.was accused of being drunk.
She spoke in her heart and lips moved but nothing came out.
She was making melody in her heart to the Lord.
Eli thought she was drunk, because he didnt know waht it was to make a joyful noise to the Lord.
Your speech will be affected when your life is spirit filled.
B. Your Situation is affected 20
B. Your Situation is affected 20
Note the words “always” and “for all things.”
Our lives are in God’s hands.
He guides and directs us through all things.
Therefore, we can thank Him for all things—no matter what the things are.
He controls all.
Giving thanks as we walk along throughout the day helps us to experience the fulness of God’s Spirit.
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
Verse 20 says that those full of the Spirit are “always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Now, these words have sometimes been misappropriated through a literalness which has done great harm to many sincere believers.
The words “for everything” have been interpreted without reference to God’s character or to the absurdity of thanking God for something he loathes.
The false reasoning is that “for everything” means literally for everything that happens, regardless of how evil it is.
Some have taken what they call “unconditional praise” to be the key to spiritual victory.
Thus they praise God for a spouse’s adultery, a daughter’s rape, a child’s death, a church split, a fellow Christian’s fall.
We dont praise Him for the things that happen, we give thanks for who He is. That is what will allow you to praise Him in the bad and the good.
We are to thank God in the midst of difficulties for everything which is consistent with his Fatherhood and his loving Son.
When you are full of the Spirit, it rules out a grumbling, complaining, negative, sour spirit.
No one can be Spirit-filled and have these things.
The two are like oil and water
They dont mix.
In America we, as a people, have so much. Yet we characteristically mourn what we do not have: another’s house, car, job, vacation, even family!
Doesnt Paul tell us to Be content with such things as ye have.
Such thanklessness indicates a life missing the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
But on the other hand, a positive, thankful attitude announces the presence of the Spirit.
Are you known for always being thankful or for complaining, murmuring, and pouting?
Spirit-filled believers are thankful people, not complaining people.
When we consider what God has done for us in the previous chapters of Ephesians, how could we not live with constant gratitude for His amazing grace?
C. Your Service is affected 21
C. Your Service is affected 21
Exalting Jesus in Ephesians
This particular result is important because the idea of submission recurs in the following sections (5:22–6:9, esp. 5:22–33).
Before speaking of it in marital, parental, and vocational relationships, Paul points out that we should submit to one another in the church.
A Spirit-filled person does not have a spirit of criticism, dissension, envy, divisiveness, or selfishness.
Stott puts this well:
The Holy Spirit is a humble Spirit, and those who are truly filled with him always display the meekness and gentleness of Christ. It is one of their most evident characteristics that they submit to one another. (Ephesians, 208)
The same is true of churches:
a Spirit-filled church has a body of people who are submissive—going out of their way to minister and serve each other.
There is no dissension or divisiveness, no envy or selfishness among its people.
In the fear of God, they submit to each other before they break the fulness of God’s Spirit.
Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
Those full of the Spirit obey the Scriptural admonition to Eph. 5:21
Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
In the Greek text verses 18 to 21 form one long sentence, with mutual submission being the final result of the Spirit’s filling.
The supreme model for our submission is Jesus Christ.
He, the Incarnate Son, God himself, in an electrifying moment stripped himself of His outer garments and washed the feet of his prideful, arrogant disciples.
He then said,
If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.
The Scriptures are clear. (Philippians 2:3
Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
The word submit means “to arrange under.”
It was used in the military to refer to the subordination of soldiers in an army to those of a superior rank (O’Brien, Ephesians, 399).
Good soldiers surrender control.
They surrender control of themselves, which in turn breaks them free from their selfish agendas and causes them to live in submission and for the good of others.
So it is with the Christian.
Christian leaders also humbly serve others.
Thielman says, “There is a sense in which even those in authority ‘submit’ to their subordinates” (Ephesians, 373).
For example, Paul said
For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more.
Husbands serve their wives humbly and tenderly and are even called to die for their brides, as we will see next week.
Spirit-filled leadership involves humility, as demonstrated by Jesus, the greatest of all leaders.
What is the motive for Christians to do this?
What is the motive for Christians to do this?
Christians submit to one another “in the fear of Christ” or out of reverence for Christ.
This is an indirect statement of the deity of Jesus, the Lord.
We submit to others because Christ is the ultimate authority over our lives.
This does not mean believers live in terror of Christ. It means they stand in awe of Christ, who is the King and Judge.
Believers stand in awe not only of His holiness but also of His forgiveness (Ps 130:4
But there is forgiveness with thee, That thou mayest be feared.
We are to serve each other, it is our duty to one another.
“For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake” (2 Corinthians 4:5
For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.
There are many Christians that we meet, especially Ind. Baptist who claim to be Spirit-filled but are brash, assertive, and self-promoting — and thus they give their claim the lie, for neither Christ nor the Holy Spirit is like this.
The key to submission is profound, reverent submission to Christ.
What a beautiful thing this is in todays self promoting world.
What a magnet for Christ!
The fullness of the Holy Spirit produces a life of profound beauty.
Just like a beautiful bouqet can bring color and life to a room, so can a spirit filled believer.
I would much rather have a church with 10 spirit filled believers then have a church with 300 believers.
Are we filled with the Spirit?
Has your speech been affected?
Has your situation been affected?
Has your service been affected?
Do we want to be filled?
If so, there are several points we need to understand about the call to “be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
1) It is a command, not a suggestion.
1) It is a command, not a suggestion.
We are not free to ignore it.
2) It is a plural command to the whole Church.
2) It is a plural command to the whole Church.
None of us is to get drunk. All of us are to be filled with the Spirit. It is not for the few or for some elite.
3) It is a passive command.
3) It is a passive command.
It means, “Let the Holy Spirit fill you” (NEB). There is no ritual, no formula. We must turn from any known sin. We must open ourselves to God’s Word so it dwells richly in us (Colossians 3:16
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
We must yield to the Spirit.
4) Last, it is a present tense command.
4) Last, it is a present tense command.
It is not once for all but continuous. We are to go on being filled. We are to keep drinking and drinking and drinking.
Con.
We have capacities for spiritual life and power which we scarcely can imagine. “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ … Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life” (Revelation 22:17)
if you were to be arrested this morning on the charge of being “Spirit-filled”, would there be enough evidence to convict you?
Or, has the Lord shown you some areas that needs work in your life?