Filled With the Spirit

Ephesians  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented
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Introduction

Similarities to chapter 4 and the message last week. We see him flesh out his put off, renew, put on.
Ephesians 4:22–24 “to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”
Where we are going with this sermon: {slide}
Imitate God by Walking in Love (Put On)
Avoid Sin by Walking in Light (Put Off)
Be Filled With the Spirit (Renewing)
As Paul has moved from the gospel in the air to now the gospel on the ground. Practical theology and truly the core of his message is how you change. How are you transformed into what you have been called into?
If you place your faith in Jesus and believe in him. For the most part, inwardly, we want to change. We want to stop falling to temptation and sinning because we know it harms us and others and most of all it offends God.
But how do we change?
It’s one thing for me to tell you to just stop it and start being better.
Stop being angry and start being nicer. Be more loving.
Be more patient. Ready… go!
Paul gives us the secret sauce here…
he says, if you want your life to look like Jesus. If you want to bear the fruit of the Spirit in your life…
than stop focusing on the fruit or the change and focus on the God who changes!
Don’t focus on the desired result… focus on God who empowers results.
Focus on being filled with His Spirit and watch your life change.
Imitate God. Copy his life and his will and his way.

Imitate God by Walking in Love (Put On)

Mimic

child mimicking their father. Copycats. my daughter was copying everything I said…
Just as children learn by watching and copying their parents, we learn by looking to Christ’s example of love, compassion, forgiveness, and holiness—and walking in His ways in every area of our lives.

Walk in Love

To imitate God in this context means to walk in love. Max Anders
This is the way, in which our lives demonstrate true imitation of God, which is through loving God and loving one another.
John 13:34–35 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.””
what was the example from Ephesians 4:32 “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”
In today’s world, culture, society, what would you say is the pervasive characteristic of all kinds of groups?
There are driving characteristics of people who go to a certain school, part of a certain club?
When you think of the democratic party? the republican party?
People who attend Conant? Mascenic? DCA? Or Heritage?
What about people who live in Jaffrey? Peterborough? New Ipswich? Massachusetts?
People who are from Canada? Or people who are from San Francisco?
People who are from the South? North?
Do you see how each of these places have certain over stories that narrate the actual lives of these people walking underneath them.
What is the driving characteristic of people who attend Hope Fellowship Church?
Know God. Grow in Christ. Serve others in love.
Transition: So how can we become a people who are known for godliness (imitating God) and a people who are known for their LOVE??? Well, we must be a people who are following Jesus’ example.

Jesus’ Loving Example

Christ loved us…
Jesus loves you.
How did he demonstrate and live out this love for you??
“Gave himself up”
To give up your life as a sacrifice.
Associated with a solider who sacrifices his life on the front line of war, out of his deep love and loyalty to his country and the freedoms. He gives himself up for his country.
A mother who sacrifices her career, or her freedoms, out her deep love for her children. She gives herself up for her children.
A father, who sacrifices his free time and freedom, in order to work his tail off, to provide, because of his deep love for his family. He gives himself up for his family.
Given up to our sin
Same verb here used in 3 distinct places which lays out an incredible contrast between Jesus and sinful humanity, like you and me.
Positive: we give up ourselves in sacrifice and as an act of love for someone else.
this is the ultimate example for us all to follow. To take up responsibility, a bear a burden for others, and lay down our lives. This gives life meaning and satisfaction and enables a certain transcendence to our reason for being here. This is why every successful society viewing this sacrificial love as a positive. And selfish, cowardly self preservation as a negative. Self-love and self-care and self-focus… are not to be viewed in a positive light… unlike the way our society sees it today.
Negative: we give up and quit and out of self preservation because it’s too hard and we don’t want to try. We end up loving ourselves or our sin or our comfort more than what it is we are striving for or what we began to give ourselves for.
 The Christian idea has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried. G. K. Chesterton
When we reject God and pursue our sin, and eventually we will get what we wanting. Our hearts become callous and we are given up to our own devices and we sell our souls to the devil.
Ephesians 4:19 “They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.”
We sacrifice our spiritual and eternal lives, out of our intense love for our sin and ultimately a complete love for ourselves.
Romans 1:24 “Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,” (given up to a debased mind)
But Jesus… did the opposite.
He gave himself up not to be consumed by sin but to defeat sin and out of love to save us from eternal damnation.
Ephesians 5:2 “And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
Ephesians 5:25 “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,”
Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
this is the gospel.
Sinner.. do you know these truths? Do you know Jesus died for you… so you can die to sin and be raised to walk in newness of life? He hung on a cross for you.

Living Sacrifices

Lives as an offering of love with a pleasing aroma to God. It is honorable worship to him.
Genesis 8:21 “And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.”
Jesus’ sacrifice was a pleasing aroma to God… and he in turn says, he will pardon us and we are reconciled to God.
Now out of a response to his grace and his saving sacrifice. We respond in worship, and our worship is offering our bodies and our lives as living sacrifices for him. As Jesus walked out sacrificial love so too should we.
Our lives are LIVING SACRIFICES
Romans 12:1 “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”
1 John 3:16 “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.”

Summary:

Imitate God by living a life characterized by sacrificial love (walk in love). Follow Jesus’ example for the blueprint of this.

Avoid Sin by Walking in Light (Put Off)

Walk in Light

After he tells us to imitate God by walking in love which is the PUTTING ON OF THE NEW LIFE OF JESUS.
HE tells us to Walk in the LIGHT to put off the sin.
Walk in love (put on)
Walk in light (put off)
He get’s really practical here.

Avoid Sin (resist)

Not named among you
Sexual immorality - Porneia , prostitution.
Impurity - filthy, dirty sin, perverse sexual sins, romans 1 - exchanging natural relations for perverse unnatural relations like homosexuality and such.
Covetousness - greediness
this isn’t ambition to grow so you can give and bless. This is a envious desire to acquire more and grow bigger so you can build up yourself and your image and gain the power you hunger and thirst after.
these are named among our culture, big time. IN fact, you could probably define American culture by these three things.
Are you avoiding these? Resisting them?
These are out of place
Remove: Filthiness, foolish talk, crude joking
Court Jester…
Replace: Give Thanks
Identification with sin and not identification with Christ as the one who rescues us from these consuming lifestyles and sinful practices, will result in us missing out on the kingdom of God.
It is not a matter of salvation in this instance but a matter of identification. — Max Anders
Now you might be tempted to infer that because you have committed one of those sins, than you no longer can get into heaven?!
But this is not Paul’s point. He is coming at it from the fact that we are all dead in our trespasses and sins. We have all fallen short and we are all sinners. However, if you choose, and Paul would make this choosing clear. If you harden your heart and allow your heart to grow callous to God and you do not reach out to him and you CHOOSE NOT TO BE IDENTIFIED WITH CHRIST. You deny his salvation and you do not put on his new man, new clothing. You become identified with your sin more than you identify with your Savior.
Like a christian believer who struggles with same sex attraction and is seeking to renew their mind and with it their sexual attraction, by yielding to the spirit and having the word of christ dwell in them.… versus… what’s popular today, says, I’m just a gay christian. Homosexual christian.
Well, now you’ve created a whole separate category of christian… those who say, the holy spirit can change me and transform me in everyday except my sexual attraction. He can’t have that… in fact, I will define my identity around that. That is a dangerous game. Be warned.
These Don’t Mix Together
Oil and Water and Light and Dark (vs. 7-8)
You were darkness. But now. You are light.
These things don’t seem to mix.
Practically, we are to avoid and put off our sin, because there is gross inconsistency if Christians are participating in flagrant unbecoming sins that characterize unbelievers.
We shouldn’t be surprised when the world acts like the world…. we are too be surprised when believers act like the world.
Light and dark do not mix.
Sin festers in the dark.
the other day I was cleaning out our basement storage room. I had a gym bag stored in the corner that had fallen down the side and sitting on the floor next to foundation concrete wall, it had a water bottle in it that had spilled in it, so it was dark, wet, cold… oh and the cat litter box was maybe a foot from where it fallen. The bag when I found it, when I brought light onto the situation… the nike bag was, furry, fuzzy, and growing, oh and green… It was it’s own biome. What did I do?
Light and heat of the sun purifies and eliminates and exposes the darkness.
Light the suns rays can actually kill viral particles. In the winter, we are inside more and therefore, get sick more often.
What does light do?
Light purifies and cleanses.
Light exposes. makes visible.
SCOOBY DOO. what happens at the end of every episode? The lights come on, the monster’s mask is ripped off and the real culprit behind all the scaring and fear is revealed for everyone to plainly see.
Remember who you were…
You were darkness.
Now you are light.
Walk as children of light.
Be who you already are.
Paul quotes from an ancient christian hymn, a song.
Ephesians 5:14 “for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.””
many of you need to wake up, step out of dark, rise up from your deadness and your old man and old ways… and let the light of Christ come and shine upon you… purify you from sin, cleanse you from your wickedness, your porneia, your impurity, your greed… and expose these to the light… so they can be dealt with and you can find freedom… and new purpose and meaning to walk in the light.

Be Filled With the Spirit (Renewing)

Review:

Imitate God by Walking in love (Put On). (slide)
Avoid Sin by Walking in the light (Put Off)
Be Filled with the Spirit (Renewing) (vs. 18)
Logs of wood. past.
Need to be put in the wood shed, split and stacked, cord wood.
power tools, enable the processing of the wood to be used (be filled with the spirit, chainsaw and wood splitter)

Walk in Wisdom

PAUL GETS IN YOUR FACE.
Don’t be stupid.
What were you thinking? I wasn’t??
Don’t be a fool. Be wise.
Don’t walk like a drunken fool.
Look carefully how you are walking… walk carefully.
hiking the mountain. Watch your step.
Don’t be drunk. Be spirit-filled.
You can be arrested for “driving under the influence”
“under the influence” of spirits (alcohol) versus “under the influence” of the Holy Spirit
Drunkenness is Debauchery: lavishness, wastefulness, recklessness, wantonness. Often, involved in overindulgence in something to the point of destructiveness and wastefulness.
Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ exposition of Ephesians 5:18–6:9, Life in the Spirit in Marriage, Home and Work, is entitled ‘The Stimulus of the Spirit’. Writing as both a physician and a pastor, he helpfully compares and contrasts the two states of drunkenness and the Spirit’s fullness.
He says: ‘Wine—alcohol—… pharmacologically speaking is not a stimulant—it is a depressant. Take up any book on pharmacology and look up ‘alcohol’, and you will find, always, that it is classified among the depressants. It is not a stimulant’. Further, ‘it depresses first and foremost the highest centres of all in the brain … They control everything that gives a man self-control, wisdom, understanding, discrimination, judgment, balance, the power to assess everything; in other words everything that makes a man behave at his very best and highest’.5 What the Holy Spirit does, however, is the exact opposite. ‘If it were possible to put the Holy Spirit into a textbook of Pharmacology, I would put him under the stimulants, for that is where he belongs. He really does stimulate … He stimulates our every faculty … the mind and the intellect … the heart … and the will …’ (the renewing of the spirit of our minds, this Holy Spirit stimulates real life transformation. )
John Stott as follow up: Consider now how Paul paints the contrast. The result of drunkenness, he writes, is debauchery (asōtia). People who are drunk give way to wild, dissolute and uncontrolled actions. They can behave like animals, (pursuing their desire or instinct, uncontrolled…) The results of being filled with the Spirit are totally different. If excessive alcohol dehumanizes, turning a human being into a beast, the fullness of the Spirit makes us more human, for he makes us like Christ. — John R. W. Stott

To Be Filled

Clarify what this filling is not:
Not the dramatic sign gifts seen at Pentecost (e.g., tongues of fire, speaking in various languages). this filling is a entirely different greek word and context.
Instead, a continuous, daily infilling of God’s Spirit like “living water,” empowering believers through His Word.
1. Imperative Command: “Be Filled”
Point: It’s a command, not a suggestion.
This is a directive to every believer, not an optional task or a “when convenient” duty.
God’s desire for His people to walk in the fullness of the Spirit.
2. Plural Nature of the Command
Point: The command applies to the entire Christian community.
Not limited to a select few “super Christians” or leaders.
Everyone—every believer—is called to be filled with the Spirit.
Together, we turn from darkness and walk in the light and together we are called to the same Spirit-filled life.
3. Passive Voice: Yielding to the Spirit
Point: It’s not about formulas or techniques.
We don’t manipulate or coerce the Spirit.
Being filled is passive in that we yield and open ourselves up to the Spirit’s work.
Illustration: Like a cup positioned under a stream of water, we allow the Spirit and God’s Word to pour into us, filling and transforming us. Yet, I will say there will be a great deal of effort to habitually position the cup of your life to be filled by the spirit.
4. Present Tense: Continuous Infilling
Point: Being filled with the Spirit is a continuous, ongoing action.
Comparison with John 2 (Jesus at the wedding feast): Unlike the singular act of filling the jars, Ephesians implies a continuous filling.
John Stott’s insight: We are sealed once with the Spirit, but we must be continuously filled.
The implication: Our minds and lives are renewed by this constant filling, as the Word of God and the Spirit dwell richly within us. (Colossians 3:16 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”)
We have been ‘sealed’ with the Spirit once and for all; we need to be filled with the Spirit and go on being filled every day and every moment of the day. — John R. W. Stott
5. Application: Living in the Spirit’s Filling
Go on being filled each day, yielding moment-by-moment.
This is for you… not some special class of christian. But for you. Everyone. Is commanded to imitate God through a lifestyle of love, avoiding sin by walking in the light and purging the darkness, so each of christian is called to yield to the filling of the spirit in their lives… as it washes us and cleanses us and heals us and transforms our thinking, changes our desires, and …..
dear christian…. I don’t want you to miss this… there is no arrival point, or filling point. There is a lifelong filling of the Spirit… renewing of your mind…
or as Paul describes it in Col. 3:16
Colossians 3:16 (ESV)
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
This filling of the spirit, then, is best understood, as a command for the believer to yield himself to the illuminating, convicting, and empowering work of the Holy Spirit.
As he works in our hearts through his Word, our lives are brought into conformity with the will of God…
We are not controlled by the Holy Spirit in the same way as a hand controls the functioning of a glove. Rather, we are governed in the sense that a speed limit sign controls how fast we drive. We are governed by it, in the sense that we have yielded to its authority and are law-abiding persons.
We are to yield to the control of the Spirit.
We are to drive “under the influence” of the Holy Spirit not drive under the influence of spirit of our sin and flesh.

Beneficial Results of Being Filled with the Holy Spirit

The chapter ends with 4 Greek participles. Stott lists them this way.
Drunkenness is a depressant. the Spirit is a stimulant and it stimulates fellowship, worship, gratitude and submission.
The spirit stimulates relational interaction with God and one another.
Fellowship: (Speaking) addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs
spirit filled people want to be together and sing together
Worship: (melodying) singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart
spirit filled people want to sing and play songs of worship to give glory to God!
Gratitude: (thanking) always and for everything give thanks
spirit filled people recognize God’s grace and as a response give him thanks.
Submission: (subjecting) be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.
spirit filled people see themselves subject to Christ and therefore, subject to one another as part of the one body of christ, the church.
we are all subject to Christ.
Stott says: the wife is to be subject to the authority of her husband, but her husband is to be subject to the needs of the wife. Children are to be subject to the authority of their parents, but parents are to be subject to the needs of the children. Slaves are to be subject to the authority of their masters, but masters are to be subject to the needs of their slaves. The principle is an attitude of mutual subjection, which is a mark of being filled with the Holy Spirit. It is simply a matter of fulfilling the golden rule: doing to others as we would have others do to us.

CONCLUSION

WHAT IF HOPE FELLOWSHIP CHURCH
was a spirit filled church that we were so often renewing the spirit of our minds by letting the word of God dwell within us richly.
that we were known for fellowship, worship, gratitude, submission.
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