Filled with the Holy Spirit

Good morning, welcome to New Horizon, please open your Bibles to Ephesians 5.

Baptisms after service for Paul Enerson, Melinda Richter and their daughter Evelyn.

In our sermon series:

Called to be imitators of God, as His children who walk in His sacrificial love;

As a result we are to put away all that is impure within us and instead live a life of thankfulness.

This means that we, on some level, close ourselves to certain aspects of relationship that would allow for darkness to find a place in our lives- “Do not become partners with them.”

V. 10 begins an idea that followers of Jesus are called to seek out what pleases God and live accordingly.

Rather than being self-pleasers, or people-pleasers, we are called to find in God’s Word what brings God pleasure and live in such a manner.

Let this sink in a bit.

Paul hammers the same nail again in v. 17 when he calls believers toward wisdom and away from foolishness and once again challenges them to understand God’s will.

Now, Paul will begin describing for us a life of wisdom, a life that has sought out God’s plan, that which brings God pleasure, and how such a life of wisdom is applied and lived.

Once again, you should notice the form- Do not, and do.

Read Ephesians 5:18- “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit…”

Pray.

Paul lists two sort of lives here in v. 18- let’s take a bit of time differentiating between the two so that we can have a clear vision of what Paul expects of his readers.

1. What is the drunken life?

What happens when one is drunk with wine?

Paul doesn’t condemn here the drinking of wine, but instead the drinking of wine in excess.

Overly consuming.

We can overly consume much in this world.

What is the result, or problem, of drunkenness?

Paul has just called the Ephesians Christians to walk in wisdom rather than foolishness.

Drunkenness here is perhaps the greatest possible example of foolishness that the apostle Paul is able to conjure.

Produces debauchery.

KJV- Excess; CSB- Reckless living;

Greek word can be taken a couple of ways- both are valuable to see here.

An abandoned life.

A life that has rid itself of meaning, of purpose, of value.

With no higher purpose, such a life merely seeks immediate comfort through pleasure.

Post-apocalyptic movies and tv shows- Just survive. No need for morals, purpose, relationship. One goal- stay alive.

A life without restraint.

Consider what alcohol does to a person- lowering inhibitions, getting rid of the boundaries that we usually have.

“I drink to lighten up, to become more comfortable.”

Alcohol removes our restraints, and in the process can lead to all sorts of thought patterns and behaviors that were previously unheard of.

Drinking in Ephesus.

What about those who don’t struggle with drunkenness?

Consider that word debauchery once more.

The overindulgence of many of life’s gifts can lead to an abandoned life without restraint.

Money, influence, sex, belongings, comforts.

2. What is the Spirit-filled life?

What happens when one is filled with the Holy Spirit?

Be filled with the Spirit.

Passive voice.

Be filled, not fill yourself.

Not the result of some behavior, not a reward.

We are saved by grace, through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

Live in light of what God has accomplished in your life through the Spirit.

It’s who you are, live accordingly.

Present continuous tense.

This is a filling that happens throughout all of your life in Christ.

Ian Hamilton- “This does not mean that the Lord will not punctuate your life with moments or even seasons of transforming, reviving power. But it does mean that we are not to live for these moments or seasons but seek every day to be filled with the Spirit by bringing every thought captive to Christ and our whole lives in happy submission to His Word.”

So many crave a feeling, a high, but our text reminds us of the constancy of the Spirit in our lives.

This is why Paul will spend so much less time talking about what brings about the Spirit in one’s life and instead focuses on the marks of living according to the Spirit.

How would we define being filled with the Spirit?

Charles Hodge- “People are said to be filled with wine when they are completely under its influence; so they are said to be filled with the Spirit when he controls all their thoughts, feelings, words and actions.”

What is the result of being filled with the Holy Spirit?

We are filled with the Word of God.

Colossians 3- Parallel passage.

Colossians 3:16a- “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly…”

Like Hodge said, we are called to live under the influence, so to speak, of the Holy Spirit.

We obey God, specifically we obey what God has revealed for us in His word.

Why is the filling of the Holy Spirit necessary?

Oscar Joseph- “Our nature craves excitement- some stimulus that shall set the pulse dancing and thrill the jaded frame, and lift the spirit above the task-work of life and the dreary and hard conditions which make up the daily lot of multitudes. Man loves to feel himself alive; he would fain live twice his life at once; and he would rather draw excitement from horrible things than have no excitement at all.”

Doesn’t this describe life for so many of us? We do crave excitement, we crave that which we feel will give life meaning and purpose.

Oscar Joseph- “The mightiest and most moving spring of feeling is in the spirit of man kindred to God. There is a deep excitement and refreshment, a joy that human thought transcends, in the love of God shed abroad in the heart and the communion of true saints, which makes sensuous delights cheap and poor. Toil and care are forgotten, sickness and trouble seem as nothing; we can glory in tribulation and laugh in the face of death, when the strong wine of God’s consolation is poured into the soul.”

Here is the point made by Joseph- the highest pleasure in all of life is right relationship with God, living in light of His will by the strength of His Spirit.

What are the benefits of being filled with the Holy Spirit?

Living as God has created you to live.

A life of control.

Whereas a life of drunkenness lives without proper boundaries, the Spirit filled life is a life lived with self-control.

Specifically, self-control to live within the boundaries of how God has created us to live.

This past week, I have been considering the way I think about the world around me.

Our desire is to constantly seek out ways in which we can see the world around us changed.

Paul seems to give us a different place to begin.

Do not be filled with wine, but be filled constantly with the Holy Spirit.

Constantly reminded of Paul’s situation.

Oscar Joseph- “Evil days they were, when Paul lay in Nero’s prison; when that wild beast was raging against everything that resisted his mad will or reproved his monstrous vices. With supreme power in the hands of such a creature of Satan, who could tell what fires of persecution were kindling for the people of Christ.”

What was Paul’s focus throughout?

He knew who he should be. He knew who Christians should be.

Filled with the Holy Spirit in every possible circumstance of life.