Ephesians 5:18-21 The Filling of the Spirit

BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT

 

I have often shared with you my constant prayer for this church: That we would be filled with the Spirit. From the day I arrived in Rosenort, I have persistently prayed that the Spirit would fill each of us individually and all of us corporately. This is a good and biblical thing to pray. 

            But what does it mean to be filled with the Spirit?

            Jesus promised his disciples that he would send another Paraclete to be with them, someone to take his place and be with them. Jesus further explained the work that the Spirit would do in their lives. At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came upon the believers in dramatic fashion. From that point on, when someone put their faith in Jesus, they were baptized with water and with the Holy Spirit. 

            Someone has said there is one baptism and many fillings. When you believe in Jesus, you have the Spirit. And yet Paul commands the church in Ephesians to “be filled with the Spirit.” If we have the Spirit, why ask for his filling?

            Suppose someone asked you, “Are you filled with the Spirit?” What would you say? Do I even know what that means? 

            It is a tragic reality that many believers and many churches are skeptical about and even afraid of the presence of the Holy Spirit. We talked last week about the bizarre experiences of some movements associated with the Spirit. And yet without the presence of the Holy Spirit, we cannot know the renewing power of God that moves us to go beyond the status quo of “doing church.” 

            Dr. J. Vernon McGee, when in his 80s, told a gathering at Dallas Theological Seminary, that if he were to start his ministry all over again, he would give much more attention to the person and work of the Holy Spirit. He would preach the Spirit more frequently. Charles Spurgeon said, “The grand thing the church wants in this time is God’s Holy Spirit.” We need him desperately. 

            In this study, we are going to unpack the command to “be filled with the Spirit” in Ephesians 5:18-21. And we will invite the Spirit to teach us what it means to be filled with him.

 

The Contrast Between Wine and Spirit (5:18)

 

It is not a surprise that abstainers will focus on the alcohol prohibition in this text. The NLT has an interesting way of translating this verse, “Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.”

            If we run over this verse too quickly, the takeaway is that alcohol ruins lives. Don’t drink! And let’s add, don’t smoke, don’t dance, don’t chew, or hang with those who do! In this way the verse becomes a prohibition of vices. I believe there is something more going on here, though. 

            Slow down. What is Paul saying? The word “drunk” can mean soaked, saturated with, or dominated by. Being drunk is to be controlled by the alcohol. This is what is contrasted with being filled with the Spirit. To be filled is to be controlled by the Spirit. The focus is “control.” 

            What controls you? In the movies and on TV, there is inevitably some drama, some tension. And either during the tension or at the resolution of it, someone says, “I need a drink.” Whenever you need something so badly to ease your tension, it controls you. It controls your mood and your demeanor. It doesn’t have to be alcohol. It could be shopping. I have to be careful with Amazon. Endorphins are released when we have something to anticipate. Our mood changes when we shop. 

            We are motivated in our actions, influenced in our thoughts, moved by our passions, to conduct our lives in a certain way. In short, we are controlled people. A man filled with anger is controlled by anger and acts accordingly. A woman filled with greed is always after more. People filled with love will be influenced by love. Something controls us in some shape or form. 

            I love this saying: “Being filled with the Holy Spirit doesn’t mean I have more of the Spirit, it means the Spirit has more of me.” Being filled with the Spirit is like getting drunk…It doesn’t happen all at once. It happens as you continually choose to let him fill you stage by stage. The similarities break down in that being filled with the Spirit doesn’t mean being so inebriated that we can’t walk or talk. The parallel is that like drinking a glass of spirits, we succumb stage by stage to the effects. In submitting to the Spirit, we open ourselves up to him step by step. That’s the similarity.

 

What it Means to be Filled by the Spirit (5:18b) 

 

Let’s look at the command itself. “…be filled with the Spirit.”

            This is what is called in Greek an imperative. That means it is a command. Paul is commanding the church at Ephesus to be filled with the Spirit. And as you know, a command is meant to be obeyed. 

            Secondly, this command is in the present tense but with the notion of an ongoing or continual action. Paul’s command is then, “Keep on being filled.” 

            A continual action is what happens when you tell your children to go and shovel the snow. They go outside and return in a few minutes. You look outside and see that they shoveled about two feet worth of snow. And you say, “Why didn’t you shovel the snow?” They say, “We did.” You reply, “Go and shovel ALL the snow until the sidewalk and driveway are cleared of snow.” That’s the tense of this verse. Keep on doing something. It’s ongoing. It’s not a one-off event.

            However, the command is also in the passive voice. The task you gave your children to shovel is in the active voice – something they were “to do.” A passive voice calls for receptivity. It is not a command to do something but to be. Paul is not saying, “Fill yourself with the Holy Spirit” but “be filled with the Spirit.” It is something that is done TO you. You open yourself up to what he is going to do in you.

            Jesus gave us a cool image of what it means to have the Holy Spirit dwell in you. He shouted this to a crowd at the temple on the Feast of Tents, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart,” (John 7:37-38). John explained that “living water” referred to the Spirit given to everyone who believes. “Living water” is like a rushing stream as opposed to a stagnant pond. Imagine then having your vessel, bucket, jar, or whatever, filled by a rushing flow of water. 

            Your life is not meant to be a stagnant pond, but a life of inflow and outflow, refreshed and refreshing others.

 

What Being Filled Looks Like (5:19-21)

 

The command to “be filled” carries both an individual and a corporate tone. You could read Paul saying, “Let each and every one of you be filled with the Spirit.” 

            Individuals can experience the Spirit’s filling them with power. God wants to fill each of us with more of Jesus through the Spirit. But there is a sense in which the command is for the church. While I may be personally edified (enriched with a word, a revelation, a moment of praise), the intention of this filling is for the whole church. The Spirit imparts life-giving power to transform the church from a social gathering to a dynamic change-agent for the world. Through the Spirit, we become influencers. 

            When we as a church are filled with the Spirit, we are yielding to God’s purposes for his glory. Our yieldedness is evidence will be evidenced by these signs:

“…singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves…” [the sign of genuine community]

“…and making music to the Lord in your hearts…” [the sign of God-honoring worship]

“And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” [the sign of gratitude in every circumstance]

“And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” [the sign of loving one another through mutual submission]

            The picture developing is of a church at worship. The singing of songs, making music, getting along. This is harmony. This is the church controlled by the Spirit. That’s a good picture, but it’s incomplete. If you have your Bibles, look at what comes next. Paul starts talking about Spirit-guided relationships: Husbands and Wives – how they are to love each other (22-33); Children and Parents – honoring and discipling (6:1-5); Workplace relationships (6:5-9). 

            The Spirit wants to transform all your relationships. He wants to fill you with a new way of relating to your spouse, to your family, to your employer and employees. No aspect of life is left out of his transforming influence. And what is the outcome of this Spirit work? Christlikeness!

            This chapter began with these words, “Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life of love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God,” (5:1-2). This the goal! Jesus Christ in all you are and all you do by the power of the Spirit!

 

What Being Filled Does to You (2 Cor. 3:17-18)

 

Who are we to limit the Spirit? Who are we to say to God, give me this but not that? The Lord wants to fill you with so much of himself that you overflow with Jesus. 

            CS Lewis gives us an image of the transforming effects of being filled with the Spirit in his book Mere Christianity. He wrote:

Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what he is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is he up to? The explanation is that he is building quite a different house from the one you thought of—throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but he is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it himself.

            We have moved Sharon’s mother from independent living arrangements to full care. In the process, we had to clean up her now vacant apartment. It is an amazing and heart wrenching process as we had to throw out bags of garbage, sort out items for self-help, and designate items for family members. To see how one’s prized possessions become so quickly devalued and given away is painful. But in the end, it is good.

            As Lewis describes, our life is being filled with the Spirit. There are things that need to be thrown out, even things we call “good,” to make room for what is even better. Jesus moves in and works to make our lives a place where he can live and direct our lives. 

              We fight the Lord because we want to do things our own way. We resist the change because it is uncomfortable. That’s why it is not an instant change. That’s why we are commanded to keep on being filled. For some of us it means losing our freedom. But it really isn’t. “For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom…And the Lord - who is the Spirit – makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image,” (2 Cor. 3:17-18). 

 

To be filled with the Spirit means that we are allowing him to occupy and be Lord over every area of our lives. All of us who believe in Jesus Christ have the Holy Spirit. The question is: Are you ready and willing to be filled with his fullness right now? Are you ready for what’s next?

            We have two glasses of water and two packets of Alka-Seltzer. Notice how you can have the Holy Spirit but resist his filling. Only by opening yourself up to the Spirit can he begin to fill you. 

            Many people ask, “How can I be filled with the Holy Spirit?” The filling begins with submission. We need to yield to the Holy Spirit. 

            Some Christians are so full of themselves they have no room for the Holy Spirit. Some Christians have simply closed their hearts to the work of the Holy Spirit. We need emptiness and openness. I need to allow Jesus to throw out the garbage of my life and open myself up to the changes and challenges he wants to work in me. 

            For this to happen in me and in you there needs to be a sense of need. Are you willing to say, “Lord, I’m empty and I need to be filled with your Spirit”? Are you willing to say, “Lord, I’m open to you. Let your Spirit fill me now”? 

            In Acts 4:31, the followers of Jesus were desperately praying to the Lord for his hand of deliverance. The place where they were praying was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. This was such a powerful experience that they spoke about Jesus with unreal boldness. Wouldn’t that be awesome?

            Are you willing to say, “Lord, whatever you want to give me, I’m ready,”? 

 

                                                            AMEN

 

Father God, I need your life-giving Spirit to fill me. I don’t ask this like Simon Magus who just wanted to have an experience. I ask Lord, because I want my life to bring glory to Jesus Christ, your Son. I am empty and I need your filling. I know that you have promised your Spirit to your people, and I know you will answer this prayer according to your good plans. So, I pray in faith believing that what you have for me is so, so good. Fill my cup Lord, let it overflow.

In Jesus name, Amen.