Sermon Cloud

Filled with the Spirit. Ephesians 5:15-21.  Root/fruit. New People, renewed lives in communion with God and with one another. Key for this new people living in a new ways is the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.
What does it mean to be Filled with the Spirit? In Acts it speaks of an experience, momentary enabling with divinely given power and courage to do something very significant for God. Text: not an experience. Present Tense continual state. Word signifies to be controlled, influenced. Notice the contrast, do not be under the influence of wine but…The Holy Spirit is a Person, the 3rd person of the Trinity. To be filled with this person means to be under his influence, direction, control. We have all been influenced by a person; grew up imitating people and still do – influence our attitudes, perspectives, decisions, mannerisms, goals; our heart, mind, will. Let the HS be the dominant influence of how you think, feel and act. Be utterly affected by the presence and influence of this Divine Person. Be mastered by Him. ***We will all be mastered by something. Something will control you. Something will hold greatest sway in your life because you think that something will bring you the greatest joy, meaning, and flourishing. Xn Spirituality teaches that only when we are controlled, mastered by the Holy Spirit do we really experience abundant, joyful, meaningful, flourishing life. Point of command not to be drunk with wine. The reason people get drunk is to get boldness, joy, to find warmth and open up, to get rid of self-consciousness and insecurity. But the text says it does not ultimately lead to these things, but to Debauchery, reckless living, loss of control. Word also translated, wastefulness, throwing away your resources, to dissipate or deplete by recklessly use. Illus: Prodigal Son. So, drunkenness depletes you, wastes away your life, and exhausts you. Illus: Lloyd-Jones – Any pharmacology book tells you alcohol is a depressant. Alcohol gives you boldness, joy, warmth, loss of insecurity by depressing your senses, dulling your mind’s ability to see reality and maintain control (example). So the momentary boldness and happiness and freedom is because your reality is being dulled. But reality comes back, so you have to find a way to escape it again with even more and the cycle will deplete you, ruin you, exhaust you. Those of you have had or have a drinking problem, understand this. Everything that masters you does the same thing. It promises joy, boldness, freedom, meaning by helping you escape reality. Whether it is money, good looks, promotion, status, porn, sex, all these things that master us, control us, that we pursue simply to help us escape reality. But they lose their ability so we have to have more and more. When you are mastered by anything other than the Spirit it will deplete you, exhaust you, leave you empty and impoverished. But the Spirit is not a depressant, but a stimulant. He gives you joy, boldness, warmth, freedom by heightening reality, taking you deeper into reality, not escaping reality. The Spirit shows you the truth about yourself and about God. He reveals to you this Great God who loves you in spite of all your failures and sins, and has come to you in Jesus Christ and has paid for all the wrongs you have done. And by putting your faith and trust in this One you can be forgiven, having your conscience cleansed, and can be adopted by God who will never leave you nor forsake you or withdraw his love from you, and you now belong to his family so that now instead of seeing life as a meaningless string of random events you can now see it as the arrangement and orchestration of a loving and powerful heavenly Father. You now have a new heart with a new desires, motivations, affections and a new capacity for joyful obedience to this loving heavenly Father. You now have a new identity and belong to a new community who have also have new hearts with new capacities to be all that God envisions and dreams them to be. New purpose. When you are mastered by the Holy Spirit, he presses these realities on you that do not leave you exhausted but realities that explode in your heart with joy, purpose, meaning, identity, boldness, and security. Here is the key: Everything that masters us eventually exhausts us (work, wealth, weight), but the Spirit puts power into us. They drain life from us; He gives life to us. They impoverish; the Spirit enriches.

What are the specific results of being filled by the Spirit? Participles of 19-21. Renewed Relationships. Vertical: There is a growing love for and delight in the Triune God – singing and making melody to the Lord, giving thanks in all things. Romans 8:16 – confirms God’s Fatherly affections for us and fills us with the affections of sons and daughters. This produces a life of glad obedience. Spirit expands your affection for God, AND deepens your allegiance to God. The Spirit subdues your natural impulse to resist God and his will, and produces new desires in you to love and follow Him. Without His influencing presence in our lives, this will not happen. Galatians 5:16. Horizontal: v. 21. A renewal of human relationships. Sin has shattered human relationships so that the world is marked by divisions, rivalries; sin has left everyone wanting to be first and trying to get their way. Illus: Why is it difficult to get along with others? “the other person;” they say the same thing and you’re both right. When the Spirit masters us, he brings forth the fruit of love in our lives, the character of Jesus. Subdues our sinful and selfish tendencies and works love in us. Galatians 5:16 all relational.  Effects the most important human relationships: Husband and wives; children and parents; servants and masters. 

How can we be filled with the Holy Spirit? Command. Something we are to do, we are responsible. Acknowledge His Presence in You. Those who have Christ have his Spirit. 1Cor 6:19 you bodies are a temple of the HS. Start your day acknowledging his presence and his intentions. Illus: reminding children of a house guest. If you are not mindful of him, you will not be influenced by Him. To acknowledge him is to fellowship with Him.  Resist any other influence that would seek to master you. You will be mastered by something. Something will control you. You cannot be mastered by two things. You must not yield to any lust, sin, person, or dream but to the Holy Spirit. This is where fasting can become helpful. Fasting will put to death competing masters. Respond to His Promptings with obedience. 1Thess 5:19. The Spirit is within prodding us, prompting us, directing us. To quench him is to resist him, to ignore, to reject him, to disobey those promptings. Gives us desires (Phil 2:13) that we can act upon or quench. Primarily he prompts us by the Scripture. Illus: memorizing John 13:34-35. I have never regretted responding in obedience to the Holy Spirit.