Studies
in
Ephesians
Presentation 14
The Structure of the Book
Be what you are in Christ
Chap 4-6
Application
See what you are in Christ
Chap 1-3
Doctrine
Truth
Fullness
of the
Spirit
Chap 5.18-21
Introduction
In these verses Paul says some things are inseparable. We cannot
separate praise, thanksgiving and a warm Christian fellowship
from the possession of the fullness of God's Spirit.
The fullness of God's Spirit is vital, if God is to be praised, if his
people are to be overflowing with gratitude and if the church
fellowship is to experience the warmth and harmony that
encourages growth.
But what is meant by being filled with the Spirit?
There is certainly a minefield of confusing
teaching about on the subject today.
“Be filled with the Spirit”
Paul purposefully contrasts the fullness of the Spirit with
drunkenness; "do not get drunk with wine which leads to
debauchery but be filled with the Spirit“ v18. One of the
reasons people get drunk is that they are looking for an
emotional uplift, a happy time.
Any book on pharmacology will tell you that alcohol
is not a stimulant but a depressant. It depresses the
brain; the part of man, which gives himself control,
wisdom, understanding, discrimination, judgement,
and balance.
Drunkenness robs a person of all of that!
“Be filled with the Spirit”
Being filled with the Holy Spirit produces quite different results.
There is no loss of control. Unfortunately many who claim to be
filled with the Spirit blame the Holy Spirit for much of their
bizarre and outlandish behaviour – “I couldn’t help it, it was the
Spirit of God that made me behave that way”.
Paul teaches that self-control is one of the fruits of the
Spirit. cf Gal 5.22-24
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and
self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the
sinful nature with its passions and desires.
“Be filled with the Spirit”
It is impossible to have a rational conversation with someone
who is drunk. They do not think clearly, their understanding is
dulled.
In contrast the Holy Spirit stimulates the thought process.
Instead of a loss of understanding there is a
heightened understanding. cf Paul's
argument in 1 Cor. 2.
The presence of the Spirit sharpens one’s
mental powers. cf. the apostles’ defence
before the Sanhedrin: "when they realised
that they were unschooled, ordinary men,
they were astonished." Acts 4.13.
“Be filled with the Spirit”
But what does it mean to be FILLED with the Spirit? The word "filled“
Paul uses here means, "to be controlled by." To fill oneself with
alcohol is to be controlled by alcohol. We read of the Pharisees being
‘filled’ with ‘anger, madness, and jealousy’. they were controlled by
these things. Luke 4.28, 6.11
To be filled with the Spirit is therefore to place oneself
under the CONTROL of the Holy Spirit. Being under the
control of alcohol has a destructive and dehumanising
effect but being under the control of the Holy Spirit
has a constructive and creative effect in.
The Spirit does not make man a puppet unable to
determine his own actions but makes man more human:
man as God intends him to be.
The Result of the Spirit’s filling
Paul describes the results of this filling in v19ff... First we see that the
quality of the Christian’s worship is improved. Paul speaks of "making
music in your heart to the Lord". There is a big difference between
mouthing hymns and singing from our heart.
To sing from the heart is to be stirred in
the depth of our being. The ‘heart’ in the
Bible is used to describe the seat of our
personality, emotion and will.
It is the inwardness of our praise that God
is primarily interested in.
The Result of the Spirit’s filling
Paul says, "address one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs".
He's not saying ‘stop speaking to one-another and start singing
instead’! The context is public worship. What is the result of such
praise? Mutual encouragement. Praise is a great tonic for the
downcast Christian because it turns our thoughts to God and his
greatness and to Christ and his glory.
And it is as we see something of the complete adequacy of
Christ’s grace, love, mercy and power that our troubles
are reduced. We may come to church asking,
“why are you cast down my soul?" Psalm 42.5.
But as a result of being caught up in
praise, our spirits are lifted. One of the
derivative effects of praise is the
encouragement of God's people.
The Result of the Spirit’s filling
The second result is ‘thankfulness’ v20. When the Spirit controls our
lives, he brings a heightened understanding of what God has done as
he unveils the riches of God’s grace. cf. The role of Interpreter in
Bunyan's ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’. He helped Pilgrim to see the rich
provision that has been made available to him. Result, praise!
Paul wants God to be honoured in the hearts of the
Ephesians, and for this reason has prayed for
the eyes of their understanding to be opened
by the Spirit to see what God has done for
them. There is something seriously wrong,
if our hearts are not bursting with gratitude
to God for all he has done.
The Result of the Spirit’s filling
Some today teach that the secret of Christian victory is ‘unconditional
praise’. The husband is encouraged to praise God for his wife's
adultery and the wife for her husband’s drunkenness. We are urged to
praise God for every disaster, for floods, famine and earthquakes and
for those who died in them. What a perversion of Paul’s meaning,
when he says “give thanks for everything”.
Of course the child of God learns in their suffering
and can thank him for his ability to bring good
out of evil. Cf. Joseph’s words to his brothers
concerning their harsh treatment of him.
“You meant it for evil but God meant it for
good”. Gen 50.20. But that is praising God
for being God, it is not praising him for evil.
The Result of the Spirit’s filling
The third practical result of the Spirit’s filling is described in v21 as
“submission to one another out of reverence for Christ”.
What kind of submission does Paul have in mind here? Is it a
submission that accepts peace at any price and which is prepared to
compromise the truth and is never prepared to disagree? No!
One only has to think of Paul’s refusal to submit
to Peter when Peter sought to compromise the
gospel. cf. Galatians 2. 11-14
What then is the submission in view?
The Result of the Spirit’s filling
The Holy Spirit is a humble Spirit and those who are
filled with him will display the meekness and
gentleness of Christ. The Spirit controlled Christian
is neither a rampaging bull nor a flashing light
that draws attention to himself.
Self-interest must not to be the controlling drive
in the Christian’s decision making. It is so easy to suppress the
claims of Christ's kingdom in favour of selfish self-interest as the
church at Philippi discovered.
“For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus
Christ”. Phil 2.21
The Spirit of God helps us to submit one to the other as we yield
ourselves to his control and are filled by Him.
An Exhortation to Filling
Being filled with the Spirit is not presented as
suggestion but as a command! A command,
we are to take seriously. It is good to ask,
“Is there more evidence of what God has
accomplished in my life than there was
1,5,10 years ago?”
The fullness or control of the Spirit is something which every
Christian must actively pursue.
Sadly some have viewed this as a once in a lifetime experience.
BUT and this is extremely important: the apostle purposefully
uses a continuous tense, we are to, “go on being filled”.
An exhortation to filling?
But how are we to be filled with the Spirit? First, we need to
recognise that if we are Christians then he already lives within our
hearts. He can’t control us unless he is present to take the control
.Secondly, we must want him to exercise control. He will never seize
the controls of our lives but waits for us to hand them over.
Illustration: Monopoly is a popular board game in the West. Its goal
is to purchase and develop as much property
as possible.
Similarly the Spirit wants to control
more and more of the board of our
lives. The more control he is given,
the more able is he to develop and
build something beautiful for God.
An exhortation to filling?
Thirdly, we must guard against grieving him [4.30].
He is grieved whenever lusts and passions break out of the
cellars of our lives because we have failed on a daily basis
to put them to death.
Finally, we must be prepared to obey the word of God.
Note, the parallel passage in Colossians does not read,
“let the Spirit fill you” but “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly”.
We must not separate the Spirit from Scripture, he is its author.
To obey the Word and to surrender to the Spirit are virtually identical.
Note the connection between the Spirit’s fullness and
obedience in Acts 5.32 we read: “We are witnesses
of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit,
whom God has given to those who obey him."
Conclusion
In this block of scripture Paul has been telling us how to live a life,
which will please God. We should not be surprised that he
concludes this subject with an appeal to be filled with the Spirit.
For only then will we begin to praise God as we ought, only then
will we begin to appreciate God as we ought and only then will we
be able to serve him as we ought.
Be filled with the Spirit also ensures the
freshness of the fruit of the Spirit in our
lives:
love, joy peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, meekness, and
self control.