THE FULL BODIED CHURCH

Everything we have been looking at in this series is in the context of the church, which is what God was, is, and always will be doing in the earth. It is His priority even if it isn’t yours!!! I’ll let that sink in for a moment because the implications are, at best, troubling. How can we pretend to be servants of the most high God if we have no stake in what is His greatest concern? We are the bride of Christ, the body of Christ, the temple of Christ, the family of Christ. We are not independent Christians anymore than our fingers are independent of our body.

So all the personal admonitions about how we walk as Christians, and how we live, and how we speak, and everything we’ve been looking at is embedded in this group of people, the church. You are part of something bigger than yourself. The American narcissistic individualistic approach to life is one of the most profoundly anti-christian characteristics of our culture. We fret much over the gay agenda or Socialist politics or the drug addiction that plagues our society. As disturbing and wrong as these things may be, far more ubiquitous and damaging is our notion of the self that dictates all our decision making. Without the seed bed of self idolatry, none of the other vexing sins could flourish. This, of course, is reaffirmed by Jesus constant warnings against the rule of self, the need to dethrone self, put self to death, and follow God! Tonight I want to look at three aids to un-selfing. They may surprise you.

Ephesians 5:18–21 NKJV

And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God.

SINGING

I’m not going to elaborate on the first part of v.18 as I addressed the problem of sipping saints Sunday AM. Suffice it to say that there are more good reasons not to drink than there are good reasons to drink. When I got saved I got delivered. If you’re still drinking your liver is still in trouble.

Get the sermon from Sunday morning. Hopefully it will make you wise.

Tonight, however, I want to think about Paul’s alternative to alcohol! Be filled with the Spirit and how that plays out.

Filled means to top something off…to fill it until there’s no room for anything else. It is sort of a play on words suggesting that instead of filling your glass, you ought to fill your spirit with the Spirit!!!

It is in the present tense, meaning it is an ongoing action and it is in the imperative mood which means it is an order. An imperative verb tells you what to do. It is a bossy verb. So we are being commanded to constantly be full of the Spirit of God.

That in itself is a very un-selfing posture.

Romans 8:5 (NKJV) — 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

To set your mind on something is to put it front and center. To give it serious and constant real estate in the geography of your mind. To fill up your thoughts with the thoughts of God…who He is, what He does, what pleases Him.

If you have ever seriously tried to do that, you know what a challenge it is. To spend your day keeping your mind on the things of God when all around you is temptation and distraction and provocation. So Paul gives us some helpful hints on how to be being filled with the Holy Spirit.

He starts here with singing!! Who would have thought of that one!!! Apparently God!

It is remarkable how singing focuses us on the song. We can do it in a very mindless way and yet our mind is very much engaged, especially if we are singing lyrics that glorify God.

How often have you spontaneously started to sing a chorus from church and the whole spirit of the moment shifts, morphs, and the presence of God can fill your car, or your kitchen…your heart. Making melody in your heart!

And note the community that is implied: speaking to ONE ANOTHER, in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.

TIME Aug 16, 2013: As the popularity of group singing grows, science has been hard at work trying to explain why it has such a calming yet energizing effect on people. What researchers are beginning to discover is that singing is like an infusion of the perfect tranquilizer, the kind that both soothes your nerves and elevates your spirits.

Better than drinking!!!

The elation may come from endorphins, a hormone released by singing, which is associated with feelings of pleasure.  Or it might be from oxytocin, another hormone released during singing, which has been found to alleviate anxiety and stress. Oxytocin also enhances feelings of trust and bonding, which may explain why still more studies have found that singing lessens feelings of depression and loneliness...

I preached a sermon a few years ago about our musical God. Our created nature, reflecting God in whose image we are made, is powerfully affected by music, and singing. something that God Himself does, apparently taps into that spiritual realm to the point that it has physical benefits. 

The benefits of singing regularly seem to be cumulative. In one study, singers were found to have lower levels of cortisol, indicating lower stress...  Study after study has found that singing relieves anxiety and contributes to quality of life. It turns out you don’t even have to be a good singer to reap the rewards.  According to one 2005 study, group singing “can produce satisfying and therapeutic sensations even when the sound produced by the vocal instrument is of mediocre quality.”

Be that all as it may, there is a reason why one of the most encouraging books in the Bible is the Psalms. Most of Psalms were sung by the assembly or by the Levitcal choirs. There’s a reason why we start our services with singing!

Psalm 95:1 (NKJV) 1  Oh come, let us sing to the LORD! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.

Isaiah 30:29 (NKJV) 29  You shall have a song As in the night when a holy festival is kept, And gladness of heart as when one goes with a flute, To come into the mountain of the LORD, To the Mighty One of Israel.

This is how you approach God, how you come into the Mountain of the Lord! The heavens are full of singing. It is a key to being filled with the HS!

GRATITUDE

The next thing Paul encourages us to do is to give thanks always for all things.

We have all heard many sermons on gratitude but I want to zero in on its impact on being filled with the Holy Spirit.

I am thinking of a time when the children of Israel were under great stress, carried off into Babylon, defeated. Daniel has just recieved word that a trap has been laid for him and all the faithful Jews. If anyone worships any God but but Darius the king, they should be put to death. I would say that is stressful.

Daniel 6:10 (NKJV) 10  Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.

How did Daniel deal with it? He gave thanks.

Recent clinical trials have revealed that people who are more grateful tend to get better sleep, suffer from fatigue less frequently, and experience depression at a lower rate. Essentially, gratitude has the opposite effect of stress on your mental health. The studies found that people who practice gratitude also have lower levels of cortisol, a significant stress hormone, which can greatly impact mental wellbeing.

Gratitude focuses you on the one to whom you are grateful.

Psalm 75:1 (NKJV) 1  We give thanks to You, O God, we give thanks! For Your wondrous works declare that Your name is near.

Setting your mind on the wondrous works of God with thanksgiving brings His name near.

Colossians 2:7 (NKJV) 7  rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving roots us and builds us up in Him and establishes our faith!

At any given time, in any given place, you can practice gratitude. You don’t have to stop what you’re doing. It doesn’t have to be elaborate, or ritualistic. You can simply give thanks in the moment. Always…for all things.

This would seem to align with the present tense of being filled with the HS. That is an ongoing process that the ongoing practice of gratitude would seem to facilitate.

Always for all things appears to be a pretty challenging statement in itself. To be thankful for some our more negative experiences would be all but impossible except in the knowing that God is involved in everything. Every negative situation is just another opportunity for God to show Himself faithful and able to address every situation in life.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NKJV) — 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

What’s really frustrating, this guy really practiced this! He exulted in his trials, knowing that God was using them to produce perseverance, proven character, and hope.

Romans 5:3–4 (NKJV) — 3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope.

When he was illegally beaten, imprisoned, and put in the stocks, he sang praises to God Acts 16:25 (NKJV) — 25 But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

When he was imprisoned in Rome with the local believers slandering him, he wrote to the Philippians, repeatedly mentioning his own thankfulness and joy and exhorting them to joy. It was from that same prison that he wrote our text, “always giving thanks for all things.”

It is self-evident that we don’t thank God for sin or its consequences. That would be like thanking Trump for nice weather or Joe Biden for your paycheck. He has nothing to do with it. You don’t thank someone for something they didn’t do. But God can be thanked for all things that He works together for our good, even trials and challenges. he can be thanked for every good and perfect gift. He can be thanked for all things in our lives because our lives are wholly in His hands.

So the daily practice of gratitude, like the daily habit of singing, will be a means of filling up on the HS and a means of concentrating on God rather than self, because gratitude is independent of how we feel about our circumstances. At center is the will of God, not our own will.

SUBMISSION

There is a final element of spiritual infilling that probably will be less appreciated but it is just as essential. We can all smile about singing and nod knowingly about being grateful but submitting to one another in the fear of God…well that’s another story.

But it certainly flows with Paul’s overarching thoughts about the church that we have already considered.

All of the lifestyle characteristics that Paul calls us to, how we speak, how we live, walking in unity…all these dynamics carry a certain accountability, don’t they? There is an un-selfing going on here too, isn’t there?

The idea of allowing someone to speak into our lives, especially in the sense of constructive criticism, is challenging. Our egos are assaulted. Our sense of self is diminished if I allow you to rule over me, or put your will and your needs before my own, which is the basic idea of submission.

But Paul uses that idea in a number of ways from this point of departure. He goes into marital roles, wives submit to your husbands. Parental roles: children obey your parents. Work roles: Bondservants obey your masters. In today’s economy that would be employees obey your employers.

Peter walks through a similar line of reasoning starting in 1 Pet 2: obedience to government, servants submit to masters, Chpt 3: wives likewise be submissive to your husbands, 1 Peter 3:8 (NKJV) 8  Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous;

1 Peter 5:5 (NKJV) 5  Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for "God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble."

Hebrews 13:17 (NKJV) 17  Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.

This is a consistent train of thought throughout the NT that contributes to the definition of the church, how we relate to each other, how the body serves one another and is served by one another.

Jesus himself said this is how the KGDM would function.

Luke 22:25-26 (NKJV) 25  And He said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called 'benefactors.' 26 But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves.

Most people think of submission as a power struggle. How many kids have you heard say: You’re not the boss of me!! That is the assertion of self. It starts at an early age.

On the contrary, the Kingdom functions on the willful submission one to another. your interests before my own. The welfare of all before the welfare of the individual. The rule of love. The rule of relationship.

Where love rules, the Spirit rules. This is the unique nature of the church, a willing surrender of our lives to the service of one another. That may seem like a frightening proposition but it really is the only way we can grow together into the fullness of Christ. And that is what he goes on to say in the passage in Luke: Luke 22:27 (NKJV) 27 For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves.

If that is Christ, then who must we become? John 13:13-15 (NKJV) 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.

Pastor Looney preached a whammer jammer a few weeks back on doulos…slave. This is a hard sell…but not if we are all slaves of one another as slaves of the most High God! It may not be the American way…but it is the Kingdom way. It is what we are…if we are the church of Jesus Christ!