Be Filled with the Spirit[1]
Ephesians 5:18 – Pentecost Sunday – Daniel J. Baker – May 26, 2024

Introduction

Officially Pentecost Sunday was last Sunday. We’re celebrating Pentecost today.

“If you’re able, please stand.” Reading Ephesians 5:15–21. “Thanks be to God.”

There are wrong ways to think about “the Christian life”: (1) Political party; (2) A dresscode; (3) in some parts of the world they assume if you’re an American you’re a Christian, it’s a cultural background. 

But in the New Testament we get God’s definition. “The Christian life” starts with (1) believing in Christ and (2) following Christ. BELIEVE: Believe the right facts, what the NT says about Jesus. FOLLOW him: Claim Jesus as your King, Master, Lord. Believing the right facts about Jesus but also entrusting yourself to him. 

But in the New Testament the Christian life includes something more: (3) experiencing Christ. It’s to believe, follow, and experience Christ. 

Experiencing Christ is what we’re talking about today from Ephesians 5:18.

Paul is writing to these Christians about thirty years after Christ poured out the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2). So he’s writing when a new life in Christ and a new life in the Spirit had been experienced by many.

This life in the Spirit began at Pentecost but it was promised long before.

In passages like Isaiah 32 and Joel 2:

14 For the palace is forsaken, the populous city deserted; the hill and the watchtower will become dens forever, a joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks; 15 until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is deemed a forest. (Isa 32:14-15)

 “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.” (Joel 2:28)

On the Day of Pentecost, these prophecies came to pass. God’s people were never the same again.

Paul writes Ephesians to help these Christians—and us!—experience something of that life in the Spirit.

The letter itself:

• Written from house arrest in Rome, where he would spend 2 years.
• Luke is with him. Luke is writing his gospel and Acts—while Paul is writing Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon.
• The book of Ephesians divides neatly into chapters 1–3 and 4–6. Chaps 1–3 is an explanation of our eternal calling as Christians. Chaps 4–6 is an exhortation to “walk worthy of that eternal calling as Christians.”

Andrew Murray on Ephesians says,

The epistle has been called The Alps of the New Testament. As one peak rises above another, so the Apostle delights to lead us through the heavenly truths of election and redemption, of the mystery of God’s will and His purpose in Christ, of our resurrection and ascension with Christ, our new creation and all our glory as the Body of Christ. And as the light of the Holy Spirit shines upon one truth after another, we learn how truly divine and heavenly our life on earth can be.
Andrew Murray, Aids to Devotion[2]

Sermon: (1) The Context of the Command, (2) The Specifics of the Command, and (3) The Glory of the Command.

Prayer – Memorial Day and vocations.

I. The Context of the Command

Ephesians 5:18 falls in the middle of the second half of Paul’s letter. The second half is a long reflection on Eph 4💯

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. (Eph 4:1)

There is a lot involved in walking “worthy of the calling” we’ve received. Includes:

• Humility and unity (Eph 4:1–3);
• Using our spiritual gifts to build up the church (Eph 4:7–16);
• Holiness and integrity (Eph 4:17–32)
• Love and purity (Eph 5:1–14)
• Walking in wisdom (Eph 5:15–21).
• Households and workplaces that glorify Christ (Eph 5:22–6:9);
• Putting on our spiritual armor of righteousness and faith (Eph 6:10–18).

In Ephesians 5:15–21 Paul is calling us to “walk” in wisdom (Eph 5:15).

• This relates to how we use our time (Eph 5:16–17).
• And it means pursuing the filling of the Spirit (Eph 5:18).
• That filling of the Spirit has effects in our lives listed out in Eph. 5:19–21.
• These aren’t the only ones, but they are important ones.

The results of being filled with the Spirit:

• “Addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Eph 5:19);
• “Singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart” (Eph 5:19);
• “Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph 5:20);
• “Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Eph 5:21).

A life of WORSHIP, JOY, THANKSGIVING, and RIGHT RELATIONSHIPS is the overflow of the filling with the Spirit.

One thing about these results of being filled is that they are evident to others. It affects our words, hearts, minds, attitudes. Being filled with the Spirit means there’s an overflow in our behavior and words and relationships.

Looking at these results of thankfulness and worship, we know being FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT can’t be separated from the FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT. They are different, but they aren’t to be separated.

And in the book of Acts we see that being FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT can’t be separated from walking in the GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT. They are different, but they aren’t to be separated.

Application: First thing, see the filling of the Spirit as part of the whole dynamic of the Christian life—the fruit of the Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit, the filling of the Spirit.

II. The Specifics of the Command

Now we want to look more closely at Ephesians 5:18. Re-Read.

First, look at what we are NOT to do. In Paul’s commandments, he will sometimes join something we are NOT TO DO with a related action we are TO DO. In Eph. 4:25 we are NOT TO lie but instead we are to “SPEAK THE TRUTH.” We talk about this as a PUT OFF and a PUT ON. PUT OFF the sin, PUT ON the righteous behavior.

Here in Eph. 5:18 we are NOT to “get drunk,” which is “debauchery” or to drink so much that you’re in a state of recklessness, a lack of self-control, which ultimately is self-destructive and destructive to others.

Alcohol in itself is a neutral thing. But alcohol (or any other recreational drug) is like a gun. A gun can be a useful and powerful tool for good. But it can also do the greatest harm when it’s misused. Alcohol is like that. A blessing in moderation but deadly when it’s misused by someone out of control.

Paul talks about drunkenness here for a reason. It’s because of how drunkenness occurs. The wine starts outside my body. Then it’s poured into my body. And when it’s poured into my body, my body responds. If it’s too much wine, eventually my body responds in all kinds of ways—my thinking, my actions, my reactions, my emotions. They’re all affected.

That’s also true with being filled with the Holy Spirit. In a sense it’s outside of you and then poured into you by God himself. And it affects you. It affects what you do and say, maybe even how you think and react. But it affects you only for good.

Second, look at the verb “be filled.” The PUT OFF in the passage is drunkenness. The PUT ON in the passage is being filled with the Spirit.

The verb “be filled” is from the Greek plēroō, one of several words the New Testament uses to communicate a similar idea.[3]

The verb is an imperative: a command. It’s a present imperative: it’s something we need to keep doing. Paul is really calling us to a way of living life.

BUT—it’s a passive command. “Be filled” is different than “fill.” If I tell you, “Fill the glass with water!”, you take the pitcher of water and fill the glass.

But if I tell you to “BE FILLED,” that means SOMEONE ELSE is doing the filling. You’re in a passive position. You’re in the position of the glass. It’s like talking to the glass and saying, “Be filled with water!”

[PROP—PITCHER AND GLASS]

We’re that glass—urgently dependent on God to do his work! We pray and ask, and then wait. Trust. But wait.

We’re the glass. He’s the pitcher, the Person pouring, and the Living Water itself!

Third, Paul is talking about a work of the Spirit not every Christian has experienced.

Since he’s giving such an emphatic command to experience this, it can’t be something all Christians have experienced. It’s not the saving work of the Spirit ALL have experience.

When God saves us, the Spirit comes into us to bring our hearts from death to life, from stone to flesh. This work of making us alive by the Spirit is called REGENERATION.

God regenerates our hearts, and then we are able to respond with faith and repentance. Then we’re justified and begin to grow in being sanctified (holy, obedient).

None of this is possible without the Holy Spirit. So, there’s no Christian who does not have the Spirit. If you do not have the Spirit, you are not a Christian.

But the NT verbs like “filled with the Spirit,” “baptized with the Spirit,” “pour out the Spirit,” “the Spirit coming upon” a person, “the Spirit falling on” a person—these verbs are describing something different.

These are describing a work of God in addition to his initial saving work of regeneration.

It can happen at the same time, but it doesn’t have to. Typically it doesn’t. Not in the New Testament and not in our lives.

In the New Testament, the “filling” verbs connected to the Holy Spirit can refer to (1) an initial dramatic “filling” of the Spirit with long-term effects so that the person is never really the same again; or (2) “filling” can refer to something momentary for a more immediate work of the Spirit.

See this in Acts:

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:4)
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them... (Acts 4:8)

That same thing happens in the life of Paul. He is “filled” with the Spirit in a dramatic, initial manner in Acts 9:17, and then in Acts 13:9 it says that, “filled with the Spirit,” he spoke to Elymas the magician and he was struck blind.

That initial powerful filling we can call the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

A definition:

A Definition of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit
The baptism in the Holy Spirit is a special giving of the Spirit by Jesus to the Christian either at conversion or afterwards. It is separate from regeneration and sanctification, though it’s the same Holy Spirit at work. It is an encounter with God that is undeniable and evident to others and accompanied by such things as new boldness, new assurance of God’s love, new fruitfulness, new displays of spiritual gifts, a new awareness of God, or even new joy. It is like a personal revival that enables someone to fulfill their callings with much greater spiritual power.

But being “filled with the Spirit” can also happen after this initial time.

So when Paul says to “be filled with the Spirit” in Eph. 5:18 that can mean either to be filled in that initial, dramatic manner that permanently changes us—or to be filled in a way that we need for a ministry moment.

III. The Glory of the Command

Now we want to think about the glory of the command. First in Ephesians.

This idea of the Spirit filling us connects to another idea in Ephesians. Chapter 2 ends with an encouragement about what God is doing in us as his people. He is making us into “a dwelling place” for him. He is doing that “by the Spirit.”

Paul writes,

In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. (Eph 2:22)

Being a “dwelling place” of God’s Spirit connects to Old Testament events. When the tabernacle was completed, God’s glory came and “filled the tabernacle.” It’s called his Shekinah glory from the Hebrew for “to dwell” (shākan).[4] The tabernacle became “a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”

Moses in Exodus 40:

34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 35 And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled [shākan] on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. (Exod 40:34-35)

And that happens again when Solomon completed his great temple:

10 And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the LORD, 11 so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD. (1 Kgs 8:10-11)

What’s amazing about being a Christian is that in some way we are also to become like the tabernacle and temple, “filled with the glory of God.” It won’t be a glory cloud that others will see. But it is nonetheless being filled with God’s Spirit as if we were a literal temple.

Paul refers to us as “temples of the Holy Spirit” in 1 Corinthians 6:19. This is true of us individually and not just corporately as a church. Paul says that our “body is a temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 6:19).

And Ephesians 5:18 is an invitation to be a temple filled with the Holy Spirit.

But the glory of the command is also in other results it can bring.

First, joy:

And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. (Acts 13:52)

Sometimes to go from depression to joy takes years of battling. But then sometimes the Spirit comes and gives us a new source of joy in a moment.

Second, a greater demonstration of the gifts of the Spirit:

And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. (Acts 19:6)

“Tongues and prophesying” are just two. God might give other ministry gifts—power for evangelism, power for answered prayer.

Third, a new assurance of God’s Love:

Charles Simeon (1759–1836, A Calvinist Anglican minister, educated at Cambridge) from his commentary on Romans 5.

Reflecting on Romans 5:5 that talks about God’s love being poured out on us through his Spirit, he writes,

This is a blessing which, though not to be appreciated or understood by those who have never received it, is yet most assuredly enjoyed by many of God’s chosen people. We scarcely know how to describe it, because it consists chiefly in an impression on the mind occasioned by manifestations of God’s love to the soul....This is in reality a foretaste of heaven itself; and, where this is, a man, if he had a thousand lives, would be ready to lay them all down for his Lord and Saviour, accounting nothing dear to him, so that “Christ might but be magnified in him, whether by life or death.” 
Charles Simeon, “Benefits Arising from a Justifying Faith”[5]

Fourth, greater power for ministry—ministry of all types:

R.A. Torrey (1856–1928, evangelist and first “superintendent” of what became Moody Bible College). Stressing the need for Spirit baptism, he writes:

There are many who know they are not called to the work of preaching. For example, a mother with a large family of children, knows this. If then, they think that the baptism with the Holy Spirit simply imparts power to preach, it is a matter of no personal concern to them. But when we come to see the truth that, while the baptism with the Spirit imparts power, the way in which that power will be manifested depends upon the work to which God has called us and that no efficient work can be done without it, then the mother will see that she equally with the preacher needs this baptism—needs it for that most important and hallowed of all work, to bring up her children “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” I have recently met a very happy mother. A few months ago she heard of the baptism with the Holy Spirit, sought it and received it. “Oh,” she joyfully exclaimed as she told me the story, “Since I received it, I have been able to get into the hearts of my children what I was never able to do before.”
A. Torrey, The Baptism with the Holy Spirit[6]

We can’t predict how God the gift giver will give his gifts. But these are works of the Spirit found in the New Testament.

We’re just the GLASS. He’s the one who must pour out his Spirit on us.

Conclusion

See in Ephesians 5:18 a call to an initial powerful filling. If you’ve already received it, then it’s also a call to additional fillings for what he has for you.

Let the diversity of results we looked at keep us from putting God in a box with this work of the Spirit. Let him decide what timing and what results to give.

In just a minute we’ll close our sermon. We’ll sing a song of response and the prayer team will come up. Then if you want us to pray for you to be filled with the Spirit, come forward and we’ll do that.

There’s no pressure here. If you’re more comfortable staying in your seat and praying alone to God, do that. If you’re more comfortable waiting till you go home, do that.

But having others pray for you is a means of grace. It’s a way to humble yourself and step out in faith, and God responds to that. It’s modelled for us in the NT. Prayer with laying on of hands is a common way for the Spirit to fill a person.

I’ll end with the invitation of Jesus,

“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13)

Prayer and Song

[1] For more on the topic, see my sermons on Spirit baptism, Part 1 and Part 2, from our Acts series, and a related blog post. See also John Piper’s message, “You Shall Receive Power Till Jesus Comes” and his biography of Martyn Lloyd-Jones. An older work that gives a great overview of Spirit baptism is R.A. Torrey’s, The Baptism with the Holy Spirit.

[2] Andrew Murray, Aids to Devotion (1960 repr., 1910 orig.), 81.

[3] Adjectives for “full of” are found. Another significant verb is pimplēmi, a favorite of Luke’s and used in Acts 2:4; 4:8, 31; 9:17; 13:9 among other places. See also baptizō, which has a different meaning but is used in similar contexts: cf. Luke 3:16; Acts 1:5; 11:16; Acts 8:15–17; 19:1–7.

[4] From Eerdmans Dictionary (1203): ‏שְׁכִינָה‎, “that which dwells,” from the verb ‏שָׁכֵן‎, or ‏שָׁכַן, “to dwell,” “reside.” Word is not in the OT but found in Rabbinic literature.

[5] Taken from Charles Simeon’s commentary on the whole Bible, Horae Homileticae, on Rom 5. Available at https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/shh/romans-5.html.

[6] Torrey, The Baptism with the Holy Spirit (Fleming H. Revell, 1895), 19.