Ephesians 5: 15-20
Being filled with the Holy Spirit
Picture the scene: the disciples had spent three years with Jesus, learning from Him, being challenged by him, being comforted by Him- He had given them a purpose, and they had seen many amazing things while they were with Him. And now He tells them He’s going to leave them? How would they manage without Him? How could they possibly follow the teachings of Jesus, and all the important principles they had learnt from Him if He wasn’t there to guide them and encourage them? “It’s okay,” says Jesus in John 14. “God is going to send you His Holy Spirit. He will teach you, and He will remind you of all the things I’ve spoken to you about.” What an encouragement for the disciples, and what an encouragement for us today to know that God has given us His Holy Spirit to help us live our lives day by day!
What does that mean for us today? As Christians we all have the presence of God’s Holy Spirit in our lives. Let’s look today at Paul’s words in Ephesians: “Be filled with the Spirit.”
We’ll begin with a little English lesson. Let’s note the tense this is written in: it is the present continuous. So that means that we are to be filled, and to keep on being filled.
The Holy Spirit has been given to us to help us live out the words of Jesus in our lives.
The Christian life is not about me trying really hard to do my best to keep the commandments and live a godly life. It is God pouring His Holy Spirit into my life to enable me to live a life pleasing to Him.
What difference does it make if we have the Spirit of God in our lives?
Point number 1. The Holy Spirit enriches our lives. We are rich!!
The Holy Spirit enriches our relationships in the home. He can enrich marriage. A husband and wife who have the Holy Spirit in their lives have a rich marriage, and this overflows into the lives of the children. Remember when we looked at the fruits of the Holy Spirit? A husband and wife who have the “Holy Spirit fruits” of patience and long suffering and self-control in their lives are not going to raise their voices at each other. The result of that is another fruit of the Holy Spirit- peace. There is peace in the home. This rubs off on the children, as they see a Dad who lives peaceably with Mum. They hear him say things like, “Yes Darling, of course I’ll help with the dishes!’ or “What did you say? You’ve put the wrong petrol in the car?” And even though he’s feeling like saying, “I TOLD you not to put that cheap petrol in the car. What a ridiculous thing to do. Now you’ve wrecked the engine- it’ll overheat!” He says, “Remember, Darling, I said that that car takes premium, not 91? Oh dear, oh well, it’s okay honey. These things happen!” The children experience peace in the home and it helps them cope with the everyday pressures of life.
Secondly, the Holy Spirit enriches our relationships in the workplace.
A workmate who has the fruits of the Holy Spirit in his or her life is more patient with the fellow worker who is a bit of a moaner, or has annoying habits. The Holy Spirit can enable us to have a “longer fuse,” so that we don’t fly off the handle when things go wrong at work. With God’s Holy Spirit in our lives helping us day by day we are rich!
Thirdly, we are rich spiritually when the Holy Spirit fills our lives.
We are rich beyond measure. 2 Corinthians 8:9 “For You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that you-through His poverty- might become rich.” What an amazing gift- God, the Creator of the universe, emptying Himself of all His riches and becoming poor- giving His life for us on the Cross and bearing our sin, so that we can become rich and know life in all its fullness. Live in your riches through the Spirit of God in your life! The riches of the assurance of Jesus being with you day by day whatever you are going through. The riches of the assurance that you need have no fear of death.
Number 4. The Holy Spirit enlivens you.
2 Corinthians 4:16 “Inwardly we are being renewed day by day,” and Romans 8:11 “He will give life to your mortal bodies because of His Spirit who lives in you.” We’ve spoken before about this verse. Here we are with all our aches and pains as we get older, but inwardly we are experiencing a daily renewal. You can have a person who is physically fit but who does not acknowledge God in their lives, and they may have no joy and no fulfilment and no hope. But on the other hand, you can have a person who is filled with the Spirit of God in their lives, and outwardly they are physically weak and frail, but inwardly they are strong and full of faith, and have confidence in their future. I regularly ring a 91-year-old friend of my mother’s, and it is refreshing and encouraging talking to her. She is living in the power of the Holy Spirit.
The other day I read a story about two elderly nuns who were getting very frail physically, but who still had a vitality about them because of their Christian faith and their life of service. In their retirement they volunteered at a rest home. One day they were taking a delivery of new bedpans to the rest home. They ran out of petrol, but they could see a garage just down the road. One old nun suggested to the other that they could use one of the bedpans as a container for the petrol, so they set off to the garage with the bedpan. Meanwhile, two guys who worked at the factory across the road went outside to eat their lunch in the sun. They saw the two old nuns arriving back at the car carrying the bedpan. One nun took off the petrol cap and the other nun poured the contents of the bedpan into the petrol tank. One of the men said to the other, “If that car starts, I’m turning Catholic!”
These dear old nuns still served the Lord, despite their age.
Number 5. The Holy Spirit produces fellowship.
As verse 19 of Ephesians 5 that we read tells us, we are “speaking to one another with psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit.” The Holy Spirit draws us together and we can experience a real sense of fellowship- we see that each Sunday morning here at Drury as people fellowship with each other in the service and over a cup of tea after the service. And how well you have done that over the past couple of months with your Queen’s birthday morning tea, and the special lunch of soup and rolls after church, and the pre-service breakfast you had. People meet together, and there is a real bond, and the Holy Spirit draws us together.
Number 6. We need to see this as an invitation. It is God in all His fullness inviting you, and inviting me, saying, “I’ve got something precious for you. I’ve got something wonderful for you. I want your life to be filled with Myself, and filled to overflowing in blessing to other people. Come on Bob, come on Emma, be filled again.” Thank You Lord that today, again, You are inviting us to be filled with Yourself!”
What are the conditions of being filled?
The Holy Spirit wants to fill us so that we can experience His peace and His joy, but there are some things that can hinder this. Let’s look at the conditions of being filled.
Number 1. Repentance.
If we are harbouring known sin in our lives we need to come to the Cross and say, “I’m sorry Lord. And I’m sorry enough to quit.” I love Acts 3:19 which promises us that when we repent, we will have “times of refreshing” from the Lord.
Number 2. Reconciliation with others. Have we fallen out with someone? Are we holding grudges and unforgiveness? “Lord, do You expect me to forgive him? You don’t know what he’s done to me!” But Jesus says, “I know how hurtful it is when people have done wrong against you, but I’m asking you to forgive them.” Proverbs 17:9 tells us that “Love prospers when a fault is forgiven, but dwelling on it separates close friends.” It’s not worth holding grudges. They only fester and become out of proportion. We need to forgive!
Number 3. We need to acknowledge our weakness,
“Lord, I’m not strong in myself. I come in humility. I confess my own weakness. I need Your strength and the infilling of Your Spirit.”
Number 4. Obedience to God’s Word.
Let’s not be like the man in James 1. He looks in the mirror and sees a bit of egg on his shirt. “Oh dear, I’ve got egg on my shirt. I’d better get that off before I go to work!” Then he walks away and forgets all about it. That is like a person who reads the Bible and then immediately forgets everything he has read, and doesn’t pay any attention to what God is saying through His Word. The author of the Bible is the Holy Spirit, and so we say, “Lord, I want to be filled with your Holy Spirit, and therefore I will read Your Word and obey it.”
And finally, number 5, we need total surrender to Jesus.
When He has given His life for us, what else can there be but total surrender? We should pray, “Take my life and let it be consecrated Lord to Thee.”
So this week let’s begin each day with a prayer;
“Lord, here I am, I want to be filled with You. I empty myself of all that is negative and all that grieves You. Here is my life- I want You to fill my life. Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me. Break me, melt me, mould me, fill me. Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.”
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