Ephesians 5: BE BEING FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT

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1 LIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE PART 2 Ephesians 5:18-19 Ephesians 5: BE BEING FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT COMMAND The continuous aspect of being filled ("be being kept filled") involves day-by-day, moment-by-moment submission to the Spirit's control. TENSES! PRESENT PASSIVE IMPER. PASSIVE - indicates that it is not something we do but that we allow to be done in us. The filling is entirely the work of the Spirit Himself, but He works only through our willing submission. PRESENT - command indicates that we cannot rely on a past filling nor live in expectation of future filling. We can rejoice in past fillings and hope for future fillings, but we can live only in present filling. EXAMPLE: A GOOD MARRIAGE Not the love in the PAST, OR THE FUTURE relationship. The strength of their marriage is in the love and devotion they have for each other in the present. LAST WEEK pleroo connotes more than filling something up, as when someone pours water in a glass up the rim. 1. First, it was often used of the wind filling a sail and thereby carrying the ship along. To be filled with the Spirit is to be moved along in our Christian life by God Himself by the Holy Spirit 2.Second, pleroo carries the idea of permeation, and was used of salt's permeating meat in order to flavor and preserve it. God

2 LIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE Part 2 Page 2 of 7 wants His Holy Spirit to so permeate the lives of His children in all we do. 3. Third, being filled has the connotation of total control. The person who is filled with sorrow (see John 16:6), with fear (Luke 5:26), or anger (Luke 6:11), faith (Acts 6:5). To be filled in this sense is to be under His total domination and control. This is in direct contrast to the uncontrolled drunkenness and dissipation in the worship of Dionysius that was alluded to in the first half of the verse. ILLUS: a glove. Until it is filled by a hand, a glove is powerless and useless. It is designed to do work, but it can do no work by itself. It works only as the hand controls and uses it. The glove's only work is the hand's work. It does not ask the hand to give it an assignment and then try to complete the assignment without the hand. Nor does it gloat or brag about what it is used to do, because it knows the hand deserves all the credit. A Christian can accomplish no more without being filled with the Holy Spirit than a glove can accomplish without being filled with a hand. 1 Corinthians 3: Anything he manages to do is but wood, hay, and straw that amounts to nothing and will eventually be burned up. SPEAKING TO ONE ANOTHER IN PSALMS AND HYMNS AND SPIRITUAL SONGS Ephesians 5:19 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,

3 LIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE Part 2 Page 3 of 7 ONE COMMENTATOR To be filled with the Spirit involves confession of sin, surrender of will, intellect, body, time, talent, possessions, and desires. It requires the death of selfishness and the slaying of self-will. When we die to self, the Lord fills with His Spirit. (MacArthur, p. 251) Colossians 3: 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. 17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. To be filled with the Spirit is to live in the consciousness of the personal presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. To be Spirit filled is to fill ourselves with God's Word, so that His thoughts will be our thoughts, His standards our standards, His work our work, and His will our will. As we yield to the truth of Christ, the Holy Spirit will lead us to say, do, and be what God wants us to say, do, and be. JOHN THE BAPTIST John 3:30 30 He must increase, but I must decrease. NOTE: TO BE FILLED WITH GOD S SPIRIT INVOLVES 3 DIRECTIONS: FIRST INWARD, NEXT UPWARDS, THEN OUTWARD The first consequence of the Spirit-filled life that Paul mentioned was not mountain-moving faith, an ecstatic spiritual

4 LIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE Part 2 Page 4 of 7 experience, dynamic speaking ability, or any other such thing. It was simply a heart that sings. The Spirit-filled life produces music. Whether he has a good voice or cannot carry a tune, the Spirit-filled Christian is a singing Christian. the music God gives is not the music the world gives, but should be one of th greatest distinctions of Christianity. Psalms 96:1-2 Oh, sing to the Lord a new song! Sing to the Lord, all the earth. 2 Sing to the Lord, bless His name; Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day. EXAMPLES: Moses and the Children of Israel left Egypt Exodus 15:1-18 THE SONG OF MOSES SING AT THE DEDICATION OF THE TEMPLE WITH A 4,000 MEMBER CHOIR At the dedication of the wall in Nehemiah the two massive choirs the fanned out in different direction. STERIO! Here in Ephesians 5:19 Paul says that, as a sign of being Spirit filled, we should be singing to the Lord. 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs speaking laleœ to utter words is an onomatopoeic word Bird chirping Bell ring Bee buzz

5 LIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE Part 2 Page 5 of 7 Speaking is any sound that is offered to God from a Spirit filled heart. psalms - refers primarily to the Old Testament psalms put to music,. The psalms primarily speak about the nature and work of God, especially in the lives of believers. Above everything else, they magnify and glorify God. hymns is properly a song or ode in honor of God. For us now it denotes a short poem, composed for religious service, and sung in praise to God. Spiritual songs - were probably songs of testimony that covered a broad category that included any music expressing spiritual truth. singing - which simply means to sing with the voice. In the New Testament it is always used in relation to praising God making melody - (to rub or touch the surface) to twitch or twang, i.e. to play on a stringed instrument Our music should be music that truly honors God and blesses those who hear it. Whether it is a psalm about God's greatness, hymn of Christ's redemption, or a spiritual song of testimony of God's power, help, or comfort, such music is to be an expression of the Spirit-filled church. Whether given through the voice in singing or through instruments in making melody, that is the music that honors, glorifies, and pleases God.

6 LIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE Part 2 Page 6 of 7 WHERE DOES THIS COME FROM? in your heart, The idea is that our hearts cause us to sing and make melody to God. Our hearts are the channels through which we sing praises. A person who does not have a song in his heart cannot sing from his heart or with his heart. He can only sing with his lips, and neither his music nor his message will be a blessing to God or others. Even as Christians we will not have a true song in our hearts unless we are under the Spirit's control. When peoples' hearts are not right with God, their singing means nothing to God. The prophet Amos declairs the Word from God when God is telling the people to repent and turn back to Him. Amos 5: Take away from Me the noise of your songs, For I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments. 24 But let justice run down like water, And righteousness like a mighty stream. When God does bring judgment on the earth at the END TIMES, He says, Revelation 18: The sound of harpists, musicians, flutists, and trumpeters shall not be heard in you anymore. No craftsman of any craft shall be found in you anymore, and the sound of a millstone shall not be heard in you anymore. 23 The light of a lamp shall not shine in you anymore,

7 LIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE Part 2 Page 7 of 7 TO WHOM ARE WE SINGING? to the Lord God is the audience to whom we sing. Our songs are to be directed to the Lord. Not to call attention to ourselves, and not for entertainment. Whether we are singing a solo, singing with a choir, or singing with the congregation, our focus should be on the Lord. He is the audience to whom we sing. At the dedication of the first Temple, 2 Chronicles 5: and the Levites who were the singers, (the priest) with their sons and their brethren, stood at the east end of the altar, clothed in white linen, having cymbals, stringed instruments and harps, and with them one hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets 13 indeed it came to pass, when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the Lord, saying: "For He is good, For His mercy endures forever," that the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, 14 so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God. Because the Lord was pleased with their heart-felt and harmonious worship, God showed up! We too should be "in unison" and "make ourselves heard with one voice to praise and glorify the Lord" because that is the only way God's people can acceptably praise and glorify Him.