Filled With The Spirit

Overflow - Pt. 2

But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines, it'll shine out the clearer. — J.R.R. Tolkien

Living life in the Overflow:

We must remember that all our vocations, ministries, etc. will one day cease to be. But, we will always be his child. God graciously uses us to serve others, but first he graciously saves us from sin, form our selfish rebellion against him and his ways. Anything we do for God is simply the fruit, the overflow of his new life within us. Even more than my work, he desires our fellowship with him, our continual acknowledgement of him in all my ways.

Ephesians 3:17–21 “... to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

Ephesians 5:18–20 “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The Holy Spirit, like the Father and the Son, is not just a doctrine, an idea, or an experience to be tagged on to the other doctrines and experiences of our Christian life. He is the God who has invaded our lives with his transforming presence.

Thesis - Being Filled with the Spirit is directly correlated to how we respond to God’s gifts.

Respond correctly - when squeezed - joy and peace overflow.

Theology of “gift” (Thank you Andrew Wilson)

Charisma (a gift of grace which means: a free gift), from charizomai (to show favor, give freely) because of Charis (grace, kindness).

We are, as a church, unashamedly, charismatic.

Truly, all of Christian theology is charismatic. Every doctrine that comes from the Gospel concerns a gift of grace. The only exception would be our doctrine of God, and that’s because He is the Giver.

Whether we are talking about Creation, life, sex, fall, promise, seed, covenant, Israel, redemption, Law, land, temple, kingdom, hope, incarnation, cross, resurrection, Spirit, gospel, church, sacraments, prayer, Scriptures, judgment, new creation all find the concept of gift at the heart.

Christianity is grace from start to finish and every where in-between.

Reminder, gifts are not rewards, they are received, not earned or worked for. They are always good.

May I help frame your concept of life… Existence itself is a gift.

The creation story is full of gifts:

Life is given to creatures

Earth is given to humanity

Woman is given to man

Children are given to woman

Genesis draws our attention to the quality and quantity of the gifts:

“Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of the all the earth and every tree with seed in its fruit.”

Peaches, apples, lemons, watermelon, mangoes, bananas, garlic… your favorite: cocoa.

Then a few chapters later: animals, “As I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.” Steak, eggs, lamb, fish, bacon… everything.

God gives humans dominion over all creation to tend and care for and enjoy:

Mountains, forests, waterfalls, deserts, jungles, glaciers, canyons, lions, tigers and bears and pandas.

He gives rain, he gives light, He gives beautiful colors, fragrances and flavors even though, as Spirit, he has neither a nose or a tongue.

Creation is charis

This is of course contrasted with the serpent who gives nothing and only works to question and doubt the Giver and his gifts.

The temptation to eat of the one tree is equivalent to going to Morton’s Steakhouse and complaining that there aren’t any McDonald’s cheeseburgers on the menu.

They desire it, eat it, they die.

The fall is what happens when we think God’s gifts aren’t good enough.

But the gifts keep on coming anyway.

The gift of promise that the seed would crush the snakes head.

He gives clothing, He gives Eve sons

He gives humanity an ark, a covenant, a rainbow.

He gives Abram a name, a child, a blessing, and a land. The land is a good land, the name is a good name.

He gives freedom from slavery, manna from heaven, water from the rock, and forgiveness from sin.

He gives prophets and priests, tabernacle and Torah, and presence.

Pause = The fickle, conniving gods in Homer… Strings attached. They are full of tricks. One only needs to see The Ilyiad and the gift of the Trojan Horse.

God’s gifts are good, always good. and also very good.

The rainbow guarantees goodness forever

The covenant made with Abraham promises blessing to the world.

The land is good full of milk and honey and giant clusters of grapes

This is most true with the most extravagant gift in all history - the incarnation, the gift of God Himself.

From His fullness with have received grace upon grace. (charis upon charis).

He is himself a gift, the gift, the most outlandish demonstration of love that god could possibly give.

His ministry is full of giving

Giving the crowds: good news, sight, speech, cleansing, hearing, bread and fish, freedom from demons, peace, joy, forgiveness, fellowship, life!

And the gift of himself on the cross.

His parables are full of lavish giving.

The sower scattering so much seed some doesn’t take root.

There was a king who forgave a debt of ten thousand talents

A vineyard owner who gave people more than their work was worth.

A father who gave the inheritance to his rebellious son.

A nobleman gave three months wages to all his employees before leaving on a foreign trip.

A king who gave wedding invitations to every social outcast in the country

His miracles verge on extravagance.

What wedding needs an extra 150 gallons of wine?

Why can’t He miraculously feed the thousands with 5 loaves and 2 fish yet also not count properly - filling 12 baskets of extra

Walking on water?

Speaking to the storm instead of saying, “let’s sail tomorrow.”

Produces fish for fisherman that make the boats sink and nets break?

Yet all this is eclipsed dramatically by the gift of Jesus Himself - His life.

Titus 2:11 “11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.”

Romans 5:15 “15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!”

James 1:16–17 “16 Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”

1 Corinthians 4:7 “7 For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?”

This - the theology of Charisma

Then comes the Spirit

The gift Jesus spoke more about than any other.

He spoke so highly of this gift, this person, that he said: John 16:7 “7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.”

He also says about this gift and your reception of Him:

He will lead you into truth

He will give you peace

He will help you, comfort you

He will give you power to witness about me all over the world.

The Day of Pentecost

Fulfilled promise, sound of rushing wind, fiery tongues - The Spirit is poured out on His disciples and He is described by the apostles and prophets in their writing as a gift belonging to their children’s children and to all who will call upon the name of the Lord in repentance and faith.

He is the gift that money cannot purchased nor be earned.

He is the gift that guarantees our eternal security and inheritance with Jesus

He is the gift that has shed abroad the love of God in our hearts.

He is the gift given to assure us that we are children of the Father.

He is the gift that gives knowledge, wisdom, faith, miracles, healings, tongues, interpretations, prophecy, and discernment for the edification of the Church.

He is the gift that transforms us and produces the character of Christ in our lives.

He is the gift of the Holy Spirit.

He is the One we are to be being filled with...

Ephesians 5:18–20 “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Thesis - Being Filled with the Spirit is directly correlated to how we respond to God’s gifts.

What is imperative now - How to Respond to the Gifts

One thing Christians have always wrestled with is how to properly enjoy all these gifts without worshipping them. This is a challenge to anyone who has tasted delicious champagne, had sex, or prospered financially.

How do we respond, because we must respond.

We cannot respond by attempting to earn or repay Him for them.

Romans 11:35–36 “35 “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?” 36 For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.”

We must start with the mindset that says 3 things:

The gifts are good

They are from God

We are receiving them.

From There Our Response is comprised of at least 4 things:

Thankfulness

Ironically the correct response comes from the same word - charis.

Essentially returning charis with charis.

We respond to gifts (charismata) by giving thanks (eucharisteo)

Thankfulness honors the giver.

Additionally, thankfulness empowers us to enjoy the gifts more. C.S. Lewis said, “The delight is incomplete until it is expressed.”

However, it is also one of the most difficult of human duties.

If the bible is continually reminding us of something, it’s probably because our natural bent is opposite.

"I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought”

In fact, scientifically or in psychiatry, repetitive negative thinking is a cause of cognitive decline.

Thanking God for his gifts forces us to ponder what we have rather than what we lack.

Consider this: the Words of Jesus recorded for us that initiates the feeding of the multitude is: Jesus looked up to Heaven and “gave thanks.”

It’s worth asking ourselves how often we give thanks for our life, our wife, our children, our existence, etc.

Because Paul tells us in Romans 1:18-21 the essence of sin - is not giving thanks.

We must excel, more than anyone, in gratitude… For it is the proper response to His gifts and leads to being filled with the spirit - His joy and peace.

As we express our gratitude for His gifts, we Worship.

This moves our attention from merely on the gifts to the goodness of the giver.

We allow every gift to show us something about the Giver… following the photons of light back to the source (it’s greater).

Augustine wrote about this extensively, Gifts he said are like vessels that carry us back to our homeland; they should be enjoyed, but only in that they are taking us to our true source of joy and our true love.

“If the things of this world delight you, praise God for them, but turn your love away from them and give it to their Maker.”

Stewardship/responsibility.

Jesus focused much on this part of the gifts.

Invest your talents, work your vineyard, use wealth wisely, keep your lamps full… Make the most of what you have or what you have will be taken from you.

The gifts God has given us are not just for us.

1 Peter 4:10 “10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.”

Romans 12:6 “6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith;”

Fourthly, Pursuit

We react to the gifts we have been given by pursuing more and more of them.

We respond to charis (grace) by asking for more grace.

Remember, we cannot become satisfied with too little of God.

It may come off to us as rude.

If my wife gives me a gift that’s nice, it would be odd to pursue her to give me more. But that is because my wife and God are quite different.

My Father God’s supply is inexhaustible.

Remember He is the one who never tires or gets weary.

He is the one wants a river flowing through you, not a stream.

He is the One who says, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”