The Ephesian church was planted in a culture that loved sensuality and spiritualism. This is why the worship of sexuality was so prevalent in Ephesus. And this needed to be confronted as we saw in earlier verses.
Ephesians 5:15 – 21…
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.
The Introduction…
I’ve entitled this message “A Spirit Filled Person”. The topic of this passage really is the Holy Spirit. And the doctrine of the Holy Spirit is a doctrine that has had its fair share of controversy. And this passage especially, has had its fair share of mishandling throughout some so-called Christian movements in recent years. The concept that Paul deals with here in relation to not being drunk with wine but instead being filled with the Spirit of God has lead some people down some very dangerous and destructive paths.
I’ve personally witnessed some freakishly horrific things in this regard. I’ve experienced so-called Holy Ghost bartenders who stand at the pulpit and mock God’s Word while crowing like roosters under the so-called intoxication of the Holy Spirit. I’ve experienced people supposedly being slain in the Spirit like drunken people as the preacher serves up another round of Holy Ghost brew while punching people in the stomach.
I’ve witnessed preachers trying to manipulate people into speaking in tongues as the evidence of the infilling of the Holy Spirit by actually engaging in what they called “Dueling Tongues” where two people apparently speak in unknown languages to each other under the influence of the Holy Spirit without any interpretation. And I’ve also witnessed some of these Holy Ghost bartenders claiming to be able to teach other people how to speak in tongues.
The problem with all of this is that it teaches people to desire an experience that is contrary to what Paul is teaching here. And it leads people into all sorts of what I would call demonically induced behavior that mocks God by elevating the supposed use of a spiritual gift above the pursuit of an authentic experience of the presence of the Holy Spirit which actually produces holiness in the life of a believer.
Now the reason I begin this sermon this way is not because I’m opposed to the doctrine of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. And it’s not because I’m opposed to the use of the gifts that the Holy gives to the church. The reason that I begin this way is because I want you to understand how easy it is to be lead astray. How easy it is to mishandle God’s Word in such a way that we lift a text out of its context and apply it in ways that the author never intended.
When this happens we call this false teaching. And the Scriptures warn us everywhere to be on guard against false teaching. Why should we be on guard? Why does it matter so much? Can’t we all just read the passage and take away what we want to take away from it? The answer is a resounding “NO” which brings me back to the text in front of us.
The Text In Context…
God’s Word is meant to say something specific. And it cannot say two different things that are in opposition to each other. And the biggest threat in all of this is that when we mishandle God’s Word we lead people astray from what God wants for them. Now to be fair, Paul wasn’t dealing necessarily with heresy in the Ephesian church here. But he was contending or arguing against things in the culture that would lead people astray from what God wanted for them.
The Ephesian church was planted in a culture that loved sensuality and spiritualism. This is why the worship of sexuality was so prevalent in Ephesus. And this needed to be confronted as we saw in earlier verses. And all Paul does here is continue his instruction to the Ephesians to walk in a manner that is worthy of their calling, to no longer walk like unbelievers, to put on the new clothing of Christlikeness, to be renewed in their words, their thoughts and their actions, to live in sexual purity as sons and daughters of God and to walk as children of the light.
And as he continues this instruction he tells the Ephesians to walk in wisdom and to walk in sobriety and to walk in the fullness of the Spirit.
#1: A Spirit Filled Person Walks In Wisdom… (15-16)
Paul says, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” When I am in a hurry I sometimes don’t pay attention to my footsteps. The result of this of course is that I often stub my toe on something or I stumble and fall down. What I need to do is I need to walk wisely. And it’s the same in the life of a believer. We need to walk in wisdom. But how do we do this?
First of all, Paul says to look carefully then how you walk. We must be constantly and diligently examining our walk to see if it is characterized by the faith we claim to have. We must always be testing our thoughts, testing our desires and testing our behaviors by the truth that if we are believers then Christ himself lives within us. And if Christ actually lives within us then we will live in him and he will live through us. (2 Cor. 13:5)
We must make every effort to watch our walk carefully. And we must examine the fruit of the faith we claim to have. We should be constantly measuring our thoughts and measuring our desires and measuring our behaviors through the filter of Godly fruit. As we relate to God, our friends, our family members, our children, our coworkers, our girlfriends, our boyfriends or our spouses we must examine our lives by the filter of Godly fruit.
Our claim to faith should be proven by constant and steady growth in virtue and knowledge and self-control and steadfastness and godliness and brotherly affection and love. Our claim to faith should be proven by the constant and steady growth of the fruit of the Spirit in our life, which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These lists of spiritual fruit are the outward results of a person who is looking carefully at how he or she walks as they crucify their flesh with its passions and its desires to the cross of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. (2 Pet. 1:5-10; Gal. 5:22-24) So walk in wisdom by looking carefully how you walk.
Second of all, Paul says that we need to make the best use of the time because the days are evil. It’s sobering to think about the evil days we live in. Just this last week I heard of a pastor who took his own life because of depression and I heard of another pastor who resigned from public ministry for a season because his wife who was a schoolteacher was caught in multiple affairs with middle school boys. The days are evil and no one is immune to the affects of this evil world we live in.
If we sleepwalk through life then we will use our time carelessly to gratify our selfish and sinful desires. We need to hear this warning. The days are evil. Therefore we must redeem the time that has been given to us and use it in redemptive and life-giving and God-honoring ways.
So watch carefully how you walk so you do not stumble and fall. Scrutinize your walk. Test the fruit of your walk. Examine yourself to see if you are in the faith that you claim to have. Don’t waste this moment. Seize every moment as a redemptive moment to walk in wisdom.
#2: A Spirit Filled Person Walks In Sobriety… (17-18)
Paul says, “Therefore do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.” (17-18) Think about the contrast of what Paul is saying here. He contrasts human foolishness with Godly understanding. He also contrasts drunkenness with being filled with the Spirit. Drunkenness is being intoxicated or saturated or controlled by an external substance or experience. And Paul wants the Ephesians to be intoxicated and saturated and controlled not by an external substance or experience but by the internal work of the Holy Spirit.
Another way of saying this would be to say that drunkenness is foolishness that results in debauchery or destruction. And being filled with the Spirit results in understanding the will of God, which leads to life-giving growth. This portion of our text has sobriety written all over it. We are called to walk soberly, understanding the will of God instead of being intoxicated with foolishness. We are literally called to be saturated with and controlled by the life-giving Spirit of God instead of being saturated and controlled by a mind numbing, heart deadening, life-destroying substance or experience.
I’ve personally experienced the destructive results of being intoxicated. And over the years I’ve also noticed the glaring similarities between intoxication with substances and intoxication with experiences. Pop culture television programs and pop culture music are like prophets in our time. They all speak of the intoxicating and saturating and life-controlling effects of substances, sex, romantic relationships, wealth, the corporate climb and infatuation with status, individualism, food addictions, self harm, isolation, identity pursuit.
All of these things that I’ve just mentioned here can all produce the same euphoric intoxication as any drug or alcoholic beverage. And people will go to great lengths to pursue the pleasure or the sense of escape that these things promise to provide. But the problem, as we can easily see in the culture around us, is that the pursuit of these things does not produce the lasting effects of escape or pleasure that they promise to produce.
All of these things can only produce momentary highs that leave the user thirsting for more. So if you think this text doesn’t apply to you because you don’t have a problem with a substance like alcohol or drugs, then think again. There are many ways to become intoxicated or saturated or controlled by something that is destructive.
Consider for a moment how far you’ve seen people go to get what they want. Sometimes it’s such a frantic scramble to get what they want that nothing can stop them. It’s almost as though their minds are made up about what they will give anything to get. And if they come to you for counsel it’s almost as though they don’t really want counsel they just want you to baptize their preconceived decisions with your approval. Nothing seems to be too high a cost to get what we want. The only thing that matters is satisfying that deep thirst. Relationships, money, reputation, entire families, entire organizations, all these things and more are the currency that people are willing to squander on their pursuit of intoxication.
Nothing is sacred today except the foolishness of pursuing the promise of a better life at any cost. If I can just have what I want I’ll spend it. Maybe you’ve experienced this. Maybe you are stuck in that cycle now. Maybe you’ve been wounded by someone who is blindly and foolishly giving themselves over to the intoxication of a substance or the pursuit of an inner desire. And Paul speaks clearly to this when he says, “Don’t be foolish. Understand the will of the Lord. Don’t be intoxicated with wine or anything else this world offers because it will lead to destruction. Instead, be filled with the Spirit of God because in the fullness of the Spirit there is new life.” So walk in sobriety.
#3: A Spirit Filled Person Walks In The Fullness Of The Spirit… (18-21)
Paul says, “be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” (18-21) There is an inner condition of the heart that Paul is pressing in on here when he focuses on the external performance of a believer’s life. In other words, the internal condition of a believer’s heart will dictate the behavior of their life. Another way of saying this would be to say that the behavior of my life only serves as an indicator of the inner condition of my heart. Just like gauges on the dashboard of your car. If you focus on the external behavior you’ll never change the heart.
If my heart is full of myself then the way I behave as I relate to God and his people will be full of self-serving, self-worshipping, self-gratifying behavior. The question in my heart in these moments is “What’s in it for me?” But if my heart is full of the Spirit of God then I will relate to God and his people in ways that are pleasing to him and helpful to others. The question in my heart in these moments is “What is pleasing to the Lord?” We are called to walk in the fullness of the Spirit. But what does this look like? How can we know when we are walking in the fullness of the Spirit?
First of all, Paul says that a person who is filled with the Spirit is full of praise. Notice what Paul says, he says that we are to be addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart. I don’t think this is a literal command. But I do think that the way we address each other should be full of praise towards God. A Spirit filled person should be full of praise. The words that come out of our mouths should be saturated with the themes of the Psalms and worship hymns and spiritual songs. And all of this praise language bubbles up out of a heart that is full of praise to the Lord for his work in the cross of Christ.
Second of all, Paul says that a person who is filled with the Spirit is full of thankfulness. Paul says that we are to be giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We should be filled with thankfulness. Always and in every situation. We don’t praise God for things that are contrary to His good will. But we do praise God in the midst of the tough circumstances and the disappointing things we experience. We praise God in the midst of the storms for his goodness and his faithfulness despite the momentary circumstances.
The Psalms are often a great example of this kind of heart disposition of praise because the Psalmists would often lament the pain and the hardship and the disappointment of this broken life while praising God amidst those storms.
So, a person who is filled with the Spirit is full of thankfulness rather than bitterness and complaining because this kind of heart is focused on the cross of Christ where the most horrific event in all of history married the most redemptive event in all of history. Think of Jesus on that cross. He didn’t check out or freak out and he certainly wasn’t filled with bitterness or complaining. He was overjoyed to suffer for our sake. You could say he was thankful for enduring the cross for us.
Third of all, Paul says that a person who is filled with the Spirit is full of submission. Paul says that we are to be submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. I can’t tell you how many times I have defended the doctrine of submission to some male chauvinistic pig who believes his wife should just buck up and shut up and submit to his every whim and desire. I’ve met more men then I can count (if its appropriate to actually call them men instead of boys with facial hair) who believe it’s their right to criticize, manipulate, humiliate, belittle and control their wives and children under the banner of “I’m the leader and you must submit to me.” I say this knowing that I have been this kind of little boy.
I can assure you that the man who believes this way and continues to behave like this is not following Christ. Because Jesus is the ultimate representative of what true submission looks like. This is why Paul calls us to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Any other kind of so-called submission is actually irreverence for Christ and it spits in the face of our Savior.
The picture we have in Christ’s submission is simply the picture of the cross. Jesus submitted to the plan of the Godhead (the Father, the Son and the Spirit) to provide a way of escape from the penalty of our sin through his death on a cross. This kind of submission (a submission that constantly puts to death one’s own momentary desires for the betterment of another) is the ultimate picture of sacrificial authority. It’s the picture of a leader stooping to wash the dirty feet of someone lesser than him in terms of authority (not lesser in terms of value).
Think of your boss stooping down to help you get your work done with a big smile on his face. Or a parent helping their child to get their room clean. Or a husband helping his wife to get the laundry done. Or a wife helping her husband to get the yard work done. Or a sibling helping another sibling to get their chores done around the house.
Joy-filled mutual submission for the Glory of God and the good of others is the picture of what it means to carry our crosses in this area of discipleship. And cross carrying is the dominant picture of what it means to be a follower of Christ. Can I just ask you… how’s your cross-carrying going lately? Or have you gone astray believing that following Jesus is all about getting what you want right here and right now?
Paul’s call to us here is to walk in the fullness of the Spirit. And that means that if we are walking in the fullness of the Spirit then our hearts will be overflowing with praise, overflowing with thankfulness and overflowing with submission. And all of these things aren’t just measuring rods for how full we are, they are also the means for being filled.
The more you focus your heart on praising God even in the tough times, the more you focus your heart on being thankful especially when it’s really hard to be thankful and the more you focus your heart on submitting and surrendering your rights for the glory of God and the good of others, you will actually grow up in these areas.
Think of these topics of praise and thankfulness and submission like muscles that you need to exercise. If you don’t exercise them you’ll be weak. If you do exercise them you’ll become stronger. So walk in the fullness of the Spirit by being full of praise and full of thankfulness and full of submission.
The Conclusion…
So a Spirit filled person walks in wisdom and walks in sobriety and walks in the fullness of the Spirit. And the reality is that there has only been one person who could do this perfectly and his name is Jesus. You and I will not be able to do this perfectly. So what does it look like for you and I to do this imperfectly while clinging to Christ authentically?
I would like to offer up Paul as an example. Before Paul met Jesus he was a legalist. He studied and practiced the law rigorously. If the law said to live wisely he gave every effort to living wisely and when he broke that law he practiced the law of giving sacrifices to pay for his sin. If the law said that he should be sober and not be intoxicated then he paid careful attention to staying sober. And if he gave in and broke that law then he would again practice the law by offering up a sacrificial lamb to atone for his sin. If the law said that he needed to be under the control of the Spirit of God then he made every effort to obey that law. And if he was found to be guilty of breaking that law then again he would practice the law by offering up a sacrificial lamb to pay for his sin.
In all of this, Paul’s zeal, his excitement, was for the law of God, not for God. This is what caused Paul to be lead astray and to become a persecutor or a user of God’s people. And the day that Jesus confronted him as he was running headlong off the cliff of his own desires for self-gratification and self-promotion was the day that Paul came face-to-face with grace.
The cross of Christ and an encounter with the risen Christ radically transformed this man who was full of legalistic pride into a man who was broken and full of the Spirit. This is why Paul was able to pen the words of Romans 8:1 – 14. Let the words of that passage wash over you now:
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.”
A Spirit filled person walks in wisdom and walks in sobriety and walks in the fullness of the Spirit. The question is are you walking as a Spirit filled person?