2012.07.29AM.ROOTED.The.Filling.of.the.Holy.Spirit.Eph5.11-21

Rooted in Spirit-Filled Living, Part 2 Preached by: Matthew S. Black Text: Ephesians 5:14-21 Series: Rooted in Christ Date: July 29, 2012, 10:30am Living Hope Bible Church of Roselle, IL Introduction: Open your Bibles to Ephesians 5. We are continuing our series: “Rooted in Christ”. The title of the message is: “The Filling of the Holy Spirit”. What we need More Than Ever What we need more than ever is the filling of the Holy Spirit. We need His control. Today the church needs the Holy Spirit in this way more than anything else! Those in the Body have already received many blessings of the Spirit. We have been · baptized into Christ’s Body (1 Corinthians 12:13), · sealed by the Holy Spirit (1:13), · reconciled by the Spirit (Eph. 2:16), and · given the Holy Spirit as a deposit (1:14). Yet the Church is often so spiritually empty! Some, like ancient Israel, “have forsaken … the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water” (Jeremiah 2:13b). Others have made no conscious departure and are present at the church’s services, read their Bibles, and lead steady lives, but have no joy or delight in God. Hughes, R. K. (1990). Ephesians: The mystery of the body of Christ. Preaching the Word (173–174). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books. This morning we are going to talk about the Spirit-filled life. For the Christian, there is no other life. Romans 8:14, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” God gave you the grace in salvation to yield your life to Christ. This “filling of the Spirit” is the same ongoing yielding to the Spirit’s leading. The heart of Paul’s message in the book of Ephesians is found in Ephesians 5:18, “Be filled with the Spirit”. Without that hope, fulfilling all the commands in this book would be legalism. It would all be done in the power of the flesh. Ephesians 5:11–21 (ESV), “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. 13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 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.” “15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” I. Roadblocks to Spirit-Filling vs. 11-17 ----------------- A. WORLDLINESS – Those Christians who are NOT Spirit-filled will be tempting themselves with the world. ----------------- Eph. 5:11, “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.” Don’t take any part with the unfruitful works of sin. These things will weaken you and deaden you. Don’t touch them or play with them. They will hurt you. Don’t mess around in any way with them. We are not only to have nothing to do with those things tinged with sin, we are to EXPOSE them. Expose the Works of Darkness by Holy Living Matthew 5:16 (ESV), “let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Everything ought to be different: · What you watch on TV · How you drive · What spouse you are looking for · How you treat your spouse · Your language · Your thought life ----------------- B. WASTING TIME – Those who are NOT Spirit-filled are time wasters. ----------------- Eph. 5:15-17, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” Be wise with every moment of time! Paul warns us to avoid the unfruitful use of our time. Don’t be idle! 1. Our time is not our own. It is a stewardship from God. Therefore we are called not to use our time for our own comfort, but to please God with it. 2. Our time is perfectly measured. Everyone gets 24 hours in a day. Busy people are not given a special button they can push to get 28 hours. If you find out where that button is, please inform me. Unfortunately, no such button exists. Therefore, a wise person knows we have very little time in this life, and our time must be invested wisely. He remembers the words of James who said, “Life is like a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.” Time is a precious commodity that is quickly passing away. 3. Time is a non-renewable resource. In other words, you live in this moment once, and once it passes away, it is gone forever. Use it wisely. Here are some ideas. Redeem your time from the mundane. We spend many hours in getting ready for the day, driving to and from work, down time at work, break time, or doing mundane tasks around the house. Many of the things we do are automatic functions that require no thinking. How can you redeem that time? · If you are driving, turn off your radio. Instead, get an interesting audio book—it could be theological, historical, scientific, whatever. Expand your heart and mind. You can also use an mp3 player in your car for this. · Use the mundane time for praying for people. Use the book Operation World. Each day a different country is listed with its needs. Learn about the countries of the world so that you can have more compassion in prayer and pray for · Meditate on a passage of Scripture. Learn a verse during your morning devotions, and bring your mind back to it during the mundane time. Instead of surfing the web, checking out Facebook, watching TV, etc, do something fun with your family. Read a missionary biography together. Husbands, we have a tendency to think that time spent at home is a waste of time. We would never say it, but most men are goal oriented. We like to see big projects accomplished. Most of the time there are no great mountains to scale at home. I have cheated my family out of time so that I can get more projects done at work. What I’ve realized is that God will bless me with efficient use of my time if I put priorities first. We’ve got to spend quality time with our family. As I said time is a non-renewable resource. Use it wisely. Application for Parents and Children: Let me make an application for parents and children. Be careful of time wasters for our children such as video games and films (even though they are good films). As parents we are stewards of our children’s time as well. Instead, spend time with your children. Memorize Bible verses together. Play a family game together. Have a family night at home. It doesn’t have to cost anything. Time with your family is a non-renewable resource. Finally, we come to another important principle: 4. We are to live every moment of time to the fullest. Paul says in Colossians 3:23 (NKJV), “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men”. Young Jonathan Edwards made a series of resolutions one year early on in his life. One of those resolutions reads this way: Resolved: Never to lose one moment of time, but to improve it in the most profitable way I possibly can. Jonathan Edwards. Works, Volume 1 (Converse: New York, 1829), 68. The missionary-martyr Jim Eliott said in his college days at Wheaton College not far from here: Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt any situation you believe to be the will of God. Jim Eliott in Kenneth Boa’s book Conformed to His Image: Biblical and Practical Approaches to Spiritual Formation (Zondervan: Grand Rapids, 2001), 269. ----------------- C. IDOLS – Those who are NOT Spirit-filled turn to other things to fill them. ----------------- Eph. 5:18, “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit”. Don’t Waste Your Life with Idols: Debauchery Eph. 5:18, “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery.” Now Paul’s not just picking on the sin of drunkenness. This could be applied to any sinful thing that controls a person and leads them to excess. Every time you turn to an idol instead of Christ, you are wasting your life. Of course, it is never the Lord’s will for a Christian to be drunk. This especially needed to be said in Ephesus, the heart of Greek culture and a wine country where overindulgence was common. The wine-god Bacchus dominated many lives and even enslaved some in the Church — just as it does today. Hughes, R. K. (1990). Ephesians: The mystery of the body of Christ. Preaching the Word (172). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books. Do Not Get Drunk with Wine Obviously no one who has a life style of drunkenness will enter into the kingdom of heaven. Paul gives a comparison and a contrast with wine. Indulgence with alcohol will lead you to debauchery, which literally means “to waste your life” or to be “unsalvageable”. It is the very word used of the prodigal son when it says he “wasted his substance with riotous living” (Luke 15:13). Don’t yield your self to this substance that will control you. What is needed is the flood of the Spirit. Jesus told the Samaritan woman, “… whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14). Ibid., 174 Jesus will satisfy us as the Spirit floods our soul with LIVING WATER! II. The Reality of Spirit-Filling vs. 18 A. What Spirit filling is NOT. A Lack of Self-Control So many people look at the filling of the Spirit almost as a holy zap, where it is a mystical happening. It is sometimes confused with a sudden emotion. So many unholy things have been done in the name of the filling of the HOLY Spirit. We think of what has been called “the Toronto blessing” and there people are acting drunk and laughing uncontrollably – calling this a work of the Spirit. People’s hearts are twisted and most people involved in this kind of thing are naïve and confused. Not Simply a One-Time “Second” Blessing Jesus said, “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you” (John 14:16–17). The Holy Spirit is permanently indwelling all believers. MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1986). Ephesians. MacArthur New Testament Commentary (246). Chicago: Moody Press. Regeneration and indwelling is a one time act, but the filling of the Spirit is a moment by moment surrender to God. Not Receiving “More” of the Spirit Being filled with the Spirit does not describe a process of progressively receiving Him by degrees or in doses. Every Christian not only possesses the Holy Spirit but possesses Him in His fullness. God does not parcel out the Spirit, as if He could somehow be divided into various segments or parts. “He gives the Spirit without measure,” Jesus said (John 3:34). Ibid., 247-48. B. What Spirit-filling IS. What Does it Mean to Be Filled with the Spirit? Eph. 5:18, “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit”. The word “filled” means, “completeness or filling to capacity. Acts 1:8 gives us the promise, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” “Be being filled”: present tense, imperative, passive. · Present tense: This could be literally translated, “Be being filled” – It has the connotation of a continuous replenishment, an ongoing and repeated filling. Moment by Moment Surrender The Spirit-filled life does not rest on yesterday or look to tomorrow, but is a moment by moment surrender in the present. Illustration: Married men, if your wife asks you “Do you love me?” What are you going to tell her? “Come back in two weeks, and I’ll let you know!” In the same way, being filled with the Spirit is right now, moment by moment. It’s not just a one time surrender, but Spirit filling is a moment by moment surrender. · Passive: “be filled” – We do not fill ourselves, but we yield and surrender to the Spirit who fills us. The work of the Holy Spirit in us and on our behalf can be appropriated only as He fills us. Every Christian is indwelt by the Holy Spirit and has the potential of receiving the fulfillment of all Christ’s promises to those who belong to Him. But no Christian will have those promises fulfilled who is not under the full control of the Holy Spirit. Ibid., 247. Keep in Step with the Spirit Galatians 5:16 (ESV), “walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” To “walk” could also be translated “Keep in Step with the Spirit”. The idea is that on a moment by moment basis, you are to yield to and obey the voice of the Spirit of God. If you do what He says, you will not be a slave to gratify the desires and carnal lusts of the flesh. Christ – Take up Your Cross – Deny - Follow Surrender! This is what it is to be filled with the Spirit! Jesus said it this way, “If you want to come after me, take up your CROSS, DENY yourself, and FOLLOW me”. The Spirit is sent in place of Christ. Now we are called to FOLLOW and keep in step with the Spirit! · Imperative: this is a command for every Christian to obey – “Be filled with the Spirit!” To not yield to the Spirit is disobedience! Word Saturated Christians are Spirit-Filled Colossians 3:16 (NKJV), “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.” This answers the question as to “how am I to yield to the Holy Spirit?” The Word of God The Spirit of God The Lorship of Christ Being filled with the Spirit and “letting the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom” are the same thing. This is really the pathway to Spirit-filling. Stephen Olford put it this way. He had a diagram of a triangle. · The base is the Lordship of Christ · The one side is the Word of God · The other side is the Spirit of God III. The Results of Spirit-Filling vs. 18-21 · Separation from sin · Sincere thankfulness · Singing to one another and the Lord · Submission to one another · Study of the Word Ephesians 5:18-21, “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. What does the Spirit-filled life look like? Choose to let the Spirit minister to you by choosing the following 5 marks of Spirit-filling. A. Separation from sin, verse 18, “be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit”. This is a decision to be controlled by God’s Spirit rather than sin. You will always be a slave to something. You are either a slave to God or slave to sin. Choose to be filled with the Spirit in your separation from sin! If you are toying with the world you are NOT filled with the Spirit. Spirit-filled Christians don’t toy with the world! They don’t turn to idols. They have NOTHING to do with the unfruitful works of darkness, rather they EXPOSE them. B. Singing—joyfulness about God’s control, verse 19, “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord”. James 5:13 (ESV), “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.” When you are obeying the Spirit, you are going to be totally given over to God’s control, and no matter what is happening, you can sing of God’s person. The Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs are God-centered. We are filled with JOY that God is in control, such joy that it moves us to singing! · Singing in private: A Spirit-filled Christian regardless of his musical ability, will find himself filled with such joy that he or she will burst out with praises in song to God. · Singing corporately: Singing is both “to yourselves” and “to the Lord”. o “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” o “singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord” A Spirit-filled Christian was find intense joy in corporate worship. A person who is Spirit-filled is not focused on the musicians or even his fellow believers, but on the Person of God and His truth. · Scripture saturated singing. I believe it was Martin Luther who once said, “Things in song are remembered long”. He wanted the whole world to remember Psalm 46. Do you know Psalm 46? You do if you’ve ever sung, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God”. It is important that we sing at church and in the home. Singing will aid your families Scripture memory. Example: Psalm 19, “The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul” C. Sincere Thankfulness for God’s control, verse 20, “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”. A complaining heart is NOT filled with the Spirit. Choose to be filled with the Spirit by having a thankful Spirit, knowing God is in control of all things. Application: What is it that we complain about? [wait for answers] That includes, dirty diapers, layoffs, stubborn spouses, harsh bosses, lazy co-workers, difficult neighbors, crazy drivers, discouraging sickness, your own never ending tiredness, and insanely FRIGID weather. Do you complain about these things? You cannot complain and be filled with the Spirit at the same time. Choose to be filled with the Spirit by having a thankful Spirit. Clarification: That does not mean you are thankful because of all things, but for and in all things. It is these things that test your love and stretch your dependence on God’s Spirit. D. Submission to others under God’s control, verse 21, “Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.” The filling and control of the Holy Spirit will lead us to a spirit of humility. We will desire to seek the welfare of others before our own and to be mutually submissive. The rest of the book discusses how this submission works out. In the rest of chapter 5 and through 6:9, Paul expands on the principle of believers’ submission as it controls the relationship of husbands and wives, children and parents, and slaves and masters. MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1986). Ephesians. MacArthur New Testament Commentary (269). Chicago: Moody Press. Ephesians 5:21 (ESV), “submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” Every one of us has authority over us. All authority on earth is broken, but it is ordained by God in spite of the brokenness. Romans 13, Paul speaks of Government – saying “the powers that be are ordained by God” We all ought to submit with reverence for Christ… · Children submitted to parents · Wife Submitted to Husband · Husband submitted to Christ · All people submitted to authority · Christians submitted to Elders · All of us submitted to Christ · All of us submitted to one another because of Christ · Christ Submitted to God · God submitted to no one. Choose to be filled with the Spirit in your submission to all those in authority over you! Joyfully submit to your supervisors and bosses. Joyfully submit in your family relationships. Wives submit to husbands. Husbands, submit to God by loving your life and leading your wife in humility and gentleness. Spirit-filled and led children submit to their parents. Spirit-filling for all ages That brings me to an important point. There is no such thing as the stage of “teenage rebellion”. That idea was invented to excuse irresponsible parents. Teenagers who love God NEVER rebel. In fact they are the most fervent people God has ever used. Think of those who died young in Christ’s service. David Brainerd, Jim Eliott, E. Study of the Word – Colossians 3:16… This last one we get from the parallel passage in Colossians. Look over at Colossians 3:16. Paul wrote this while he was under house arrest in Rome. Instead of saying “be filled with the Spirit” he wrote a parallel idea. He said in 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.” Being filled with the Spirit is the same as “letting the Word of Christ dwell in us in a rich and profound way”. Conclusion: Being filled with the Spirit is vital to understanding the rest of this letter from Paul. He goes on to speak of godly living in the home, relationships between husband and wife and children, and even slaves. He then speaks of our battle in spiritual warfare. Acts 1:8 gives us the promise, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Ultimately our yieldedness to God will transform the world! Two Illustrations Cutting off – ingrown toe nail I was so afraid of going to the doctor! Yet I was dealing with the pain of this every day. I was afraid. Perhaps you are afraid of what surrender looks like. Trust me, whatever pain is involved in surrender will be made up for in comfort by the Holy Spirit. Evan Being filled with the Spirit is like a child trusting his father. Everywhere I go, I always have little Evan saying, “Can I go home with you? Will you rock me?” All my children want to be just like me. They obey me because they know I want the best for them. Do you trust God that way? Are you ready to give up your idols and be filled with the Spirit?