Many are waiting for the next stimulus check. As coronavirus pandemic lasts longer than expected, US economy struggles to sustain a recovery. So the government is pursuing a third round of the stimulus package. Likewise, when life gets hard, we need stimulus to sustain. So many people turn to alcohol or things sort of. But the point of today’s scripture is clear: “Don’t turn to alcohol; turn to the Spirit.” Medical doctor and pastor, Martyn Lloyd-Jones rightly expounds today’s passage this way:[1]
“Wine—alcohol—… pharmacologically speaking is not a stimulant—it is a depressant. Take up any book on pharmacology and look up ‘alcohol’, and you will find, always, that it is classified among the depressants. It is not a stimulant’. Further, ‘it depresses first and foremost the highest centers of all in the brain … They control everything that gives a man self-control, wisdom, understanding, discrimination, judgment, balance, the power to assess everything; in other words everything that makes a man behave at his very best and highest’. What the Holy Spirit does, however, is the exact opposite. ‘If it were possible to put the Holy Spirit into a textbook of Pharmacology, I would put him under the stimulants, for that is where he belongs. He really does stimulate… He stimulates our every faculty… the mind and the intellect … the heart … and the will …”
The apostle Paul was well aware of what Ephesian Christians were going through and how challenging it could be. They were facing social ostracism, persecution, economic hardships, sexual temptations. Their life was hard. But Paul exhorts them not to just give in to their old stimulants, former ways of life, turning into alcohol, sexual sin, or loving money (cf. Eph 5:3). Instead, he commends them to be filled, encouraged, empowered by the new stimulant, that is the Holy Spirit. In verse 18 Paul says, “Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit.” He uses a “present imperative,” which means we are to be continually filled with the Spirit. The question is “How do we stay filled with the Spirit?” We can find the clue to that question in today’s text. After the commandment of “being filled with the Spirit,” there follows five participles in verses 19-21: (1) speaking, (2) singing, (3) making music, (4) giving thanks, (5) submitting. These participles indicate the means by which we are filled with the Spirit. We will explore them one by one.
Worship
The context of the first three participles – speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord (v. 19 NKJV) – is public worship. In other words, we are filled with the Spirit and keep on being filled with the Spirit in worship. The Book of Haggai tells us how important it is to restore our worship more than anything else. At that time the Israelites were exiled to Babylon because of their sins, especially idol worship, and about 50 years later some of them began to return to their homeland. When they returned, they determined to restore the worship of God at the center of their lives. So, as soon as they came back, the first thing they did was to lay the foundation for a new temple (Ezra 1). But, the enemies launched a fierce counterattack, and the work on the temple was stopped for the time being. Then, the people began to lose their early passion for the worship of God. They got involved in many other commitments. Then, they totally forgot about the temple that still remained a ruin, and before they knew it, about 16 years had gone by. They always said, “We’ll get around to it. It’s not the right time to rebuild it yet. We are too busy now” (1:2). They worked hard for a living. They worked hard for the decoration of their homes. But for some reason, although they worked very hard from morning till night, they always seemed to have one problem after another. They wondered why. Then, the Lord exhorted them to examine their spiritual life first. The Lord Almighty said to them:
Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored… You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?... Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house. (1:7-9, NIV)
Here God was saying “First things first! Restore your worship first!” In church history we hear numerous stories of how our spiritual ancestors were converted, transformed, filled with the Holy Spirit while worshiping God. For example, one Sunday morning Charles Spurgeon had to attend a small Methodist church nearby his house because of a snowstorm. He heard a fill-in lay speaker preaching Isaiah 45:22, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else.” By faith Spurgeon did look to Jesus, and he felt the cloud was gone, the darkness had rolled away, and that moment he saw the sun. He was filled with the Spirit. John Wesley is another good example. While he was “unwillingly” attending a worship gathering on Aldersgate Street in London, he heard the preacher reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. He felt his heart strangely warmed. He was filled with the Spirit. Have you felt the Holy Spirit while worshiping? Indeed, now is the time to worship, and this is the place to be filled with the Spirit.
Thanksgiving
Secondly, Paul exhorts us to give thanks to God always and for everything in Jesus’ name (v. 20) to be filled with the Spirit. In fact, this exhortation is from Paul’s own experience. One time Paul and Silas were put into jail in Philippi. About midnight they were praying, singing hymns, giving thanks to God. Suddenly there was an earthquake, and all the prison doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened. The jailor was about to kill himself because he thought that the prisoners had escaped. Then, Paul shouted, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” The jailer fell down and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Filled with the Holy Spirit, Paul said to him, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, and you and your household” (Acts 16:31). Thankfulness is a soil where the Holy Spirit can fill us and grow us.
Giving thanks always and for everything doesn’t mean we ought to give thanks for evil or tragedy. Instead, we are asked to trust God in our suffering, and indeed to thank him for his loving providence and sovereignty, knowing that he is in control and that he can turn even evil to his good purposes (cf. Rom 8:28). When the five thousand were coming toward Jesus, his disciples were overwhelmed by their great needs. But Jesus took five loaves and two fish, gave thanks to God for his provision, broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples. And all were satisfied. On another occasion when his close friend, Lazarus, died, Jesus wept. But then he went to his tomb and said before the crowd, “Father, I thank you for having heard me” (John 11:42). Thank and think come from the same root word. The more we would think about God – who he is and what he has done for us, the more we would thank him. And the more we would thank him, the more we would be filled with his Holy Spirit.
Submission
Thirdly, we are filled with the Spirit when we submit to one another out of reverence for Christ (v. 21). Here what Paul has in mind is that when we arrange ourselves for service to other people, our humble Savior shines through us and we are filled with his Spirit. Martyn Lloyd Jones rightly says, “The Spirit-filled life is not to be measured merely by one's private morality or even by one's private spiritual experience but by how one conducts himself or herself with other persons.” In this very context, Paul says in Philippians 2, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.” Then, Paul continues, “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who emptied himself, and humbled himself, and became obedient to the point of death.” In a word, biblical submission is to arrange ourselves under others out of love and respect for Christ.
The other day I heard news about the family going through very difficult time – their job situation, health issues, etc. They needed some encouragement. The next morning I received the parcel, containing a new necktie, some clothes, ramens, and some other Korean nonperishable foodstuff, from my parents. As soon as Joyce and I opened the parcel, we were thinking of that family. We felt that the Holy Spirit wanted us to encourage that family by sharing our gifts with them. For a moment, I was hesitant because I really liked the new tie. But when I finally obeyed the promptings of the Spirit, sharing some of the gifts with them, I can tell you I could feel the Holy Spirit rejoicing in me. It was my high of the entire week. We are filled with the Spirit when we humble ourselves and work for the good of others.
Love God, Love Others
The third round of the stimulus check would be helpful for many of us to sustain. But there is a far better, greater stimulant for our souls, the Holy Spirit. And the even better news is we don’t have to wait for him. We can be filled with the Spirit now as we restore our worship, give thanks to God, and serve others. Filling of the Spirit is about relationships – vertical and horizontal. We are filled with the Spirit, and we stay filled with the Spirit when we love God (worship and give thanks to God) and love others (submit or serve others). Jesus said, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ And ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” May we hear the Word and do the Word. Amen.
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[1] John Stott, The Message of Ephesians (The Bible Speaks Today Series) (p. 205). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.
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