The answer is in the context.

How Do I Fill Myself With the Holy Spirit?; and Am I Doing It?

Ephesians 5:18

Pastor Kerry Kinchen, Bridgeway Bible Church

Turn to Ephesians 5:18. Ephesians 5:18 will be our text this morning. While you are finding Ephesians 5:18, let me remind you that each of us here has our own life drama that we have lived. The drama I am talking about has to do with our spiritual journey that has brought us to where we are today. Whether we consider it copyrighted, or whether we consider it public domain, it is our dramatic tale of our life, because we actually have lived it, and we are living it right now. Each of us were saved from sin, and death, but some of us can identify certain manifestations of sin that were hugely pronounced in our past lives. It was dramatic stuff of epic proportions. Some of us were saved out of horrible addictions. Alcoholism is one such addiction. I personally know of some of us here that used to be alcoholics. Chemical addiction, particularly to alcohol, is a devastatingly horrible state to live in. There are very few dramas that are as gut wrenching as alcoholism. Some of us have had alcoholic relatives, spouses, parents, and even alcoholic children. We are very associated with how bad it is. Many of us may have not been addicted to alcohol, (as alcoholism is defined) but we were drinkers in our past according to the old man of the futility of the Gentile mind. We partied, or we sometimes would drink until we got a buzz. Sometimes some of us would drink to the point that we were virtually incoherent in a drunken stupor. Sometimes we thought it was fun. Sometimes we didn't care if it was fun or not. We just wanted to drink, and so we got drunk. But now, when you look at each of our dramas, you see that God has delivered most, if not all of us, out of such bondage, and it is part of our epic life biography. Of course there are other parts of our biography that have to do with our spiritual journey. I know of some of us here who have gone from Lutheran, to Pentecostal, to Charismatic, and then on to where God has us now. As a boy, I was raised in a Southern Baptist background. At one point, as a boy, I attended a Pentecostal church with my mother. Later, when I was on my own, I joined a Baptist church of my choosing. I was there for several years. Eventually, I ended up in a hyper bizarre Charismatic Church for several more years. It seemed like every novel doctrine that came down the pike, this church would try it out, so to speak. The leadership experimented with every wind and wave of doctrine that washed in with the tide. The weirdness of it all, wearied me, and the doctrinal mayhem shocked me, so I left. From there, I was a member of an odd, Brethren styled, open pulpit, type church for several years. The group was strong on international missions work according to an exclusive isolationist type method of church planting. The church folded when the founders moved back to Oregon. From there, I joined a Mennonite church, and was active in it for several more years. I learned a lot about the legalism and Arminianism of the anabaptists. Anabaptists are people like Mennonites, Amish, Hutterites, Quakers, Shakers, and so forth. Then I joined, and taught at, a non-denominational styled mega-seeker church for a few years, where I met my wife. It held to the misnomer philosophy of seeker sensitivity. From there, I joined a Presbyterian church, and became a ruling elder. When the teaching elder left that church, I also left. I had been mulling over many of the theoretical dogmas of the creeds of men that I was required to assert as if they were biblical truth. I began analyzing each point of the creeds to the point that is frowned upon by creedal traditionalists. I found that some of the views simply were not supported from a consistent, and proper exegetical hermeneutic from the Bible. So I left--freed from the group-think-duress so prevalent in the system. From there, I attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. There was group-think there too, but I think I overcame it pretty well. Now I am a Pastor with Bridgeway Bible Church, which is a church that is sometimes described as somewhat being like a Reformed Baptist styled fellowship. Our church is conservative. Our Theology is called, New Covenant. It is biblical. All of my experiences comprise my journey to where I am now.

For a lot of us, our past experiences dictate to us what we think about certain things at this particular point of our lives. Our beliefs, and convictions concerning drinking alcohol is one area. What we have experienced, or what we have learned in our spiritual journey concerning things that have to do with the person of the Holy Spirit is another area. Paul is going to touch upon both of those subjects in his flow of thought. We are going to study what he has to say to us by inspiration of God's Spirit, and as we do, we need to be coming at this with caution. We need to approach this with reverence for God, and further, we need to be coming at this with caution, and reverence for each other. We need to be analytical, mixed with humility. If we are not humble in our analytical approaches, then we can easily become critical, and divisive. We need to be careful, reverent, and analytical, mixed with humility, because many of us have come from such diverse and experiential backgrounds that we have already developed views of alcohol, and of the person of the Holy Spirit in relation to us. We have already begun to solidify our opinions about those things. Knowing this, we need to be wise concerning our differences, and we need to be wise concerning our commonality. We also need to be open to learn. After all, today, as all of our past, is part of our biographical drama of life. It is more than cliche' to say that today is the first day of the rest of our Christian lives. Therefore, I urge you to be flexible, open, and seeking to stay in the bond of unity concerning these things, as we approach this sermon teaching this morning. Let's read our passage now, starting back in verse 15,

"Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, 16 making the most of your time, because the days are evil. 17 So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; 20 always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; 21 and be subject to one another in the awe and reverence of Christ." Ephesians 5:15-21

The theme of the sermon this morning is,

How Do I Fill Myself With the Holy Spirit?; and Am I Doing It?

Our primary passage that we are looking into this morning is verse 18,

"18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,"

Immediately, when we look at this command, we notice that it is really two commands. It is in the pattern of;

a) don't do this

b) rather, be doing this

It is, don't get drunk, and then do be being filled with the Holy Spirit. Before we explore the personal question: How Do I Fill Myself With the Holy Spirit?; and Am I Doing It?, the first thing we need to get out of the way is the command to not get drunk with wine. Concerning this, we need to ask ourselves another very important question. It has to do with the command itself.

Did Paul say don't drink wine?

No, that is not what Paul said. What did Paul say? He said don't get drunk. Nowhere in the New Testament, are we commanded to completely abstain from, as in, always avoid, drinking any grape juice that contains fermentation that has become alcohol. We do not find the command to completely abstain from drinking wine in the Bible, but we do find some interesting practices of Jesus concerning wine. We also know that whatever Jesus did, and said, concerning wine is important. For example, it is important for us to recognize that Jesus miraculously created pure wine from pure water at a wedding reception. It was His first recorded miracle. When the head waiter tasted the wine, He called it,

"... the good wine ..." John 2:10

In Luke 5:39, Jesus refers to aged wine as the good wine,

"39 And no one after drinking aged wine desires new, for he says, 'The aged is good.'" Luke 5:39

Jesus recognized what the head waiter recognized--that the aged wine, which is alcohol containing wine, is good. We also recognize that when Jesus performs a miracle, He performs the best miracle possible. So, not only was the wine good, but it was the best wine. If you bottled it and put a label on it, you could write on the Label;

The Best Fine Wine--Handmade by God Himself in a Mystical Process Called a Miracle

The good wine that Jesus created is important, and it provides us with some very pertinent information, but some of us are not so satisfied with such exegetical studies. We want more. We want to know whether Jesus actually drank alcoholic wine into His own mouth, down His own throat, and into His own body. In other words;

Did God manifested in bodily form, drink wine?

The biblical record states that Jesus drank wine in the passover communion. Using aged, fermented, alcohol containing wine, has always been known to be the typical Israelite practice in the passover meal, so we surmise that Jesus practiced the typical ritual in like manner. But, something we must recognize is that Jesus drank alcoholic wine elsewhere. He did not simply drink it exclusively in the Passover celebration, and Jesus is the one who points it out in one of His own teachings, as we read in Luke 7,

"33 For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, 'He has a demon!' 34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, 'Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, ..." Luke 7:33-34

The reason Jesus was accused of being a drunkard is because, as Jesus said, John the baptist came and drank no wine, but He, Jesus, came drinking, and because He came drinking wine that contained alcohol, Jesus was accused of drinking it to the point of being a drunkard.

There are other places in the New Testament that show usage of alcoholic wine. Celebrating the fellowship worship practice of the post resurrection communion meal of the New Covenant was something that alcoholic wine was used in, as we find in 1 Corinthians 11. Like our Ephesians text under study, Paul urges the Corinthians not to get drunk at communion feasts. Paul rebuked the Corinthians for their gluttonous partying at a time that was meant to worship the Lord together as the body of Christ by pointing out the outcome of the Corinthian's lack of restraint, where Paul said,

"... one is hungry and another is drunk. What! Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing?" 1 Corinthians 11:20-25

We deduce that since they were getting drunk, the intoxication logically means that alcoholic wine was being used in the communion celebrations of the early church. But, I want you to notice something else; Paul never condemns the Corinthians for drinking alcoholic wine itself. Do you notice that? Selfish unrestrained over indulgence is Paul's concern. Selfish unrestrained over indulgence in bread and wine, with the result being that drunkenness occurred, is the point. The point is that though Paul rebukes the Corinthians for their excess, he never tells them to quit drinking alcoholic wine. What does Paul do instead? Instead of telling the Corinthian Christians to quit drinking the alcoholic wine, Paul asks them a rhetorical question,

"don't you have houses in which to eat and drink?"

Paul's point is that if you are going to over-eat food, and if you are going to over-drink wine that can make you drunk, why aren't you doing it at home instead of a sacred love feast situation of communion of the saints in worship? The point is that drinking fermented grape juice is not prohibited for Christians because it has alcoholic content. Getting drunk is prohibited for Christians. In our Ephesians contextual flow of thought, getting drunk is on par with walking as a foolish person. Paul is telling us that getting drunk is the opposite of what a wise person does, who knows what the will of the Lord is. So if your practice is to drink alcohol to the point of getting drunk, then you need to be convicted that what you are doing is direct rebellion against the will of God. You need to repent and change your foolish ways so that you do not grieve the Holy Spirit 4:30; walking in the futility of the Gentile mind, 4:17, which is to walk as a fool, 5:17. OK, with all that out of the way, we need to get to that very important second command in our passage;

"... be filled with the Spirit,"

For us to get at what Paul is getting at, we need to analyze this according to two primary views concerning what Paul is getting at. And then hopefully, by God's grace, we will also get what Paul is getting at.

Before we go into those two views, let me quickly mention three others that I will not cover in depth because of their novelty, and the larger fact that they do not consider all the data sufficiently. Don't get me wrong; they are scholarly views, but they simply do not make as much contextual sense as they are purported to suggest. One is a view by such commentators as Peter O'brien, in his work titled, "The Letter to the Ephesians," and also Dr. Wallace of the NET Bible team. What they say that Paul means is that he is commanding Christians to be filled by the Holy Spirit. Their reasoning is based upon a doctrinal presupposition that is coupled with the fact that they can find no other place in the Bible that a command to be being filled followed by the dative, indicates content. Therefor they choose to translate Paul's command to mean that the Ephesian Christians are to be filled by means of the Spirit, rather than be being filled with the Spirit. Most scholars do not agree with that view, and neither do I. The second view is by a man named Bill Arp. His work is also scholarly. Arp suggests that Paul means that the command is to be filled with the human spirit, or the spirit of the believer. Though Arp makes a good case for the weakness of the view of O'brien, and Wallace concerning the suggestion of being filled by means of the Holy Spirit, Arp runs into many of the same problems where his conclusions are strongly influenced by a doctrinal bias, and a lack of contextual relevance concerning why and how such a command makes sense. I, along with most scholars, do not take his view either. The last view is one that John MacArthur suggests, which is that Paul is talking about being filled with the word of God, and manifesting the word of God out of one's life. This suggestion is based upon doctrinal presuppositions coupled with the fact that Paul makes a similar urging in His Colossian epistle. Though plausible, and having some merit, the view is not entirely correct.

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This leads me to go into the fourth view I will cover this morning, which is one of the two main views we will look at in somewhat more detail. Let me start out by saying that this passage would typically be relatively easy to understand if it were not for the events that occurred on the festival days of Pentecost. It was at that time, weeks after Christ was crucified and had resurrected, that Israel was evangelized according to the New Covenant by the primary apostles. It is because of the similarity in language used to describe the Pentecost event, and the things that were said about the event, that for some, this verse means that we are to be seeking a second blessing of quantity of the Person of the Holy Spirit that comes after salvation. So, with this in mind, we will look at the first major view which has emerged in our contemporary age, of what this passage is supposed to mean for the Ephesian Christians, for Christians all throughout history to the present, for you, and also for me. This view is the modern Pentecostal view that has emerged, and developed over the last century. When we go to Acts 2, where Luke records the first sermon preached by the primary apostles, we see Luke explaining that the apostles were all filled with the Holy Spirit as they preached in foreign languages,

"4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit was giving them utterance." Acts 2:4

Peter immediately told all that were present, that this event, which was happening right there and then, was an event that was the fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel concerning the last days for Jerusalem, the temple system, and any apostate Israelites, where God foretold that He was going to pour forth His Spirit on all mankind in "those days," as we read Peter saying next, in Acts 2:18;

"16 ... this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel: 17 'And it shall be in the last days,' God says, 'that I will pour forth of my Spirit on all mankind ...18 ... I will in those days pour forth of My Spirit and they shall prophesy ... before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come. 21 'And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'"

People who hold to the double prophecy interpretation of eschatology, and also those with other partial fulfillment views, and also those who hold to fully fulfilled views, will more readily understand this passage. What I mean is that as we read this, we notice that Luke says that the apostolic band was filled with the Holy Spirit as a specific fulfillment of a specific prophecy "in those days" of the first generation of the emerging church, (the generation finding its end at the destruction of Jerusalem by the sovereign hand of God forty years after Jesus started His pre-cross Messianic ministry at age 30. A generation is 40 years in the Bible.) This same kind of language of being filled with the Spirit, from the outside--from God--is used in other places in about the first 20 chapters, or so, of Acts. So, immediately we recognize that this is where the terminology is similar to what Paul is telling us to be doing in Ephesians. The question before us is:

Are both the Acts experiences that we see recorded, and the Ephesians command, referring to the same thing?

Let's look at both Acts 2:4, and Ephesian 5:18 together: First Ephesians;

"18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be [being] filled with the Spirit," Ephesians 5:18

The reason why I say be being, is because the verb in the Greek is in what is called the present tense, imperative mode, and passive voice. So it is be being filled. Now let's read Acts 2:4;

"4 ... they were all filled with the Holy Spirit ..." Acts 2:4

Certainly we see that the terminology is similar, but we need to recognize that something is missing from the Ephesians command that we find in the Acts record of reception. Remember that Peter said that Joel's prophecy was being fulfilled "in those days," starting with the feast day celebration of Pentecost.

What else did Peter say about this particular filling with the Spirit?

We must remember that Peter said that God is the one who did this pouring forth of His Spirit. This is an important point because in Ephesians 5:18, the Ephesian Christians are being told to be being filled with the Holy Spirit, according to their own volitional efforts. In other words, the command to the Ephesian Christians has to do with something that comes about from their own endeavors. It is their own undertaking, in obedience to the command, that accomplishes this filling. It is not something that happens spontaneously from God in His outpouring. It is not something that happens from the outside, where someone comes up to to you and touches you, and then because of their outside action, the Person of the Holy Spirit fills you. What Paul is telling us, is that to be filled with the Spirit, in the context of this particular letter right here, is something that is a part of your wisdom walk, where you purposely do the will of God yourself, because you know the will of God, and so you are obedient to it. With this in mind, the Pentecostal view does not fit well here at all. To make it fit, one must come to the text with a pretext, which creates a proof text that is out of context. We can not do that, and at the same time, be doing justice to sound biblical interpretational practice. So, the Pentecostal view of Ephesians 5, (where you make yourself experience the same thing as the Acts history accounts of the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy concerning the last days of the Old Covenant Israel system before the glorious day of the Lord where He wiped away the apostate Jews, and the defunct trappings of the obsolete covenant), may seem plausible according to presuppositions of modern Pentecostals, but it is not correct.

One thing that modern pentecostal theology is correct about, is that we do find that the apostles, in those very same days of that age that was passing away that were prophesied by Joel, went out and preached the gospel, and they laid hands on people. In doing so, people would receive the Holy Spirit through the ministry of the apostles according to the Joel prophecy. People were also healed in this way--daily. But, as the years clicked by, getting closer to AD 70, shortly after Paul was inducted into service to be an apostle, the biblical record shows that instantaneous healings started to wane. Yes, the record clearly reveals that such immediate miracles began fading from the scene, as we see demonstrated in Paul's last letter he wrote before being executed in 2 Timothy 4:20, where instead of healing Trophimus, Paul had to leave him behind because he was sick. We also see it in the letter Paul wrote previous to that one, in 1 Timothy 5:23, where instead of healing, Paul instructs Timothy to take some wine as medicine for his ailments. Neither of these things are fulfillments of Joel's prophecy; neither of them are miracles, but this is what started happening toward the end of that age. And then earlier in 2 Corinthians 12:8-10, were Paul entreated the Lord three times to take away his affliction, but, by this time, God's answer was not a prolonged extension to Joel's prophecy, but rather it was,

"My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness" 2 Corinthians 12:8-10

You see, that part is not in Joel's prophecy. Apparently, Christ's commission to the apostles to lay hands on people and they would be healed, to fulfill Joel's prophecy, had already found most, if not all, of its contemporary fulfillment by the time Paul entered into those days of sick people that would not get healed by the Holy Spirit through his ministry--including Paul himself. Healings became absent in the biblical texts, and so did imparting the Holy Spirit to people. The point is that at some point toward the end of that first generation; the gospel spread among the Gentiles, and people were getting saved, and in the process, people were immediately receiving the Holy Spirit directly from God as a pledge at conversion, and it no longer involved laying on of the hands of the apostles. Subsequently, we find no teachings in any epistles written for instruction in the basics of Christianity, of laying hands on people so that they will receive the person of the Holy Spirit, or, be filled with the person of the Holy Spirit. Instead, we find that the doctrine of the Holy Spirit is revealed in scripture in progressive revelation, as being given to people by the invisible hand of God, at conversion, as Paul states in our Ephesians epistle under study in Ephesians 1:13-14; 2:13 & 18, and 2:20-22.

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This leads us to look into the next view of Ephesians 5 that we must consider to get at what Paul is getting at. After all, we need to know how to be being filled with the Holy Spirit, don't we?; and we need to know whether we are doing it, don't we? As we consider this last view, which is the view that I believe is the correct one, we must understand that God has given revelation to the New Testament apostles and prophets concerning whether Christians have the Holy Spirit already. In other words, if you are saved, which means that you are in the body of Christ, Ephesians 1:23, 2:16, 3:6, 4:4, 4:12, and 4:16, which means you are a child of God according to His New Covenant in Christ's blood and resurrection, Ephesians 1:5, 5:1, and 5:8, which means that you are the temple of God's Spirit Ephesians 2:21-22, then the question is,

Do you have the Holy Spirit right now?

Listen very carefully, because this is vitally important. According to the Bible, your answer better be yes, folks. Your answer better be yes, because if you do not have the Holy Spirit, then you are not saved, and we find this explained quite well in what all Paul has said coming into our Ephesians 5 chapter,

"13 In Him [Christ], you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation--having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory" Ephesians 1:13-14

"13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ... 18 for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father." Ephesians 2:13 & 18

"20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit." Ephesians 2:20-22

You and I must have the Holy Spirit given to us as a pledge of our inheritance to be saved. It is through Him, Who is our promise, that we are sealed in Christ. So, if this be the case, then we really need to understand what Paul means by commanding us to be filled with the person of the Holy Spirit. As we dig deeper into this, we need to first recognize that same Greek construction of the sentence that Paul is making that I mentioned earlier. Remember, Paul is using the present tense, imperative mode, and passive voice in the Greek. And so we recognize that this is simply technical terminology that means that Paul is literally saying, that in submission, we are to,

keep on being filled with the Spirit;

or, as we have seen already,

be being filled with the Spirit

At this point it is important for us to realize that Paul has not left us in the middle of a desert lying at the edge of a dried up watering hole where we are abandoned there thinking,

Okay, now what do I do?

In other words, Paul has not suddenly arrived at this point in his writing, and then dropped a mystical bomb on us, so that we must grope around in shell shock wondering how we are supposed to do this to ourselves on a moment to moment basis, or how this relates to anything he has said already, or how this relates to what he is about to say. In fact, the exact opposite is the case. You see, Paul expects us to read this letter the way it was meant to be read, expecting that it will make sense to us. All the verses in this letter were meant to be read together. Paul did not mean for the Ephesian Christians to pick up his mail, and then put their finger on 5:18, and then say,

Uh, I wonder what Paul means by that?

When Paul wrote this, he expected his audience to understand what he meant. By inspiration of the Spirit, if Paul thought that they would not understand, then he would have given them more details. But there is no need, because the details are already there. Yes, they are already there in the contextual flow, and so just like those Ephesians who originally got this letter, we can also understand what Paul is getting at in relation to the contextual flow. What I mean, is that all throughout this Epistle, up to this point, Paul uses similar language for Christian living. In other words, Paul says some corresponding things concerning the designation of Christ and of God. For example, in chapter 3 Paul has a specific prayer that he prays for these Ephesian Christians. I am going to read it, but before I do, I want you to remember that all the Ephesian Christians are already sealed in Christ with the Holy Spirit according to 1:13. It is the great doctrine that Paul loves and preaches almost more than any other. I am talking about, you being in Christ, and, Christ being in you, as your hope of glory. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 13:5, that if Jesus Christ is not in you, then you are not in the faith. So, knowing that all saved people are already sealed in Christ, and that Christ is in all saved people, and all saved people are in the faith, we read Paul's prayer in Ephesians 3,

"16 that He [God] would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; [Remember, he's talking to Christians] and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the set apart ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God." Ephesians 3:16-19

I want to bring your attention to two important points in Paul's prayer request:

"17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith;"

and

"19 ... that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.";

OK, we must remember that Christ already dwells in the hearts of these saved Ephesians through faith in salvation. In fact Christ fills all saved people, in all saved people according to Ephesians 1:22-23. Further, the church, which is His body, is the fullness of Him,

"22 And He [God] put all things in subjection under His [Christ's] feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all." Ephesians 1:22-23

But Paul is wanting Christ to fillingly dwell in the hearts of the Ephesian Christians in another way. Contextually, Paul is indicating that he means that he wants Christ to fill up His place of residence to the point that Christlikeness overflows out of you. You see, Christ should be overflowing from out of each member of the body of Christ. In other words, there is an indwelling of Christ, which is paramount to New Covenant salvation in Him, but (and this is important) there is also another sense that Paul is getting at, of conscious Christlikeness of the mature stature of manifesting Christ in your walk where His indwelling is best described as, full. It has to do with Christ's person hood being manifested out of your life from His place of central residence in you as a maturing Christian, in love, holiness, humbleness, theological growth, faithfulness, and proper fellowship with other Christians in your Christian walk. But that is not all. There is more of this. Paul says this again in similar, but slightly different, terms, yet terms that relate to be being filled with the Spirit, where Paul says in Ephesians 4, that we are equipped to be a built up body of Christ,

"until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ." Ephesians 4:13

The fullness of Christ, in His full dwelling in us, is what Paul is getting at. Again, we must understand this. We must understand that Paul is directing all of these things to saved people who already have God; who already have the Holy Spirit, and already have Christ. This particular dwelling of Christ, that Paul is talking about in Ephesians 3, occurs through our faith that is worked out in focused evidential Christianity. With this, we must also take a closer look at that other sentence in 3:19 where Paul prayed that these Ephesians would be filled up to all the fullness of God. Immediately, we notice how similar this is to being told to be being filled with the Holy Spirit, don't we?:

"19 ... be filled up to all the fullness of God.";" Ephesians 3:19

"18 ... be filled with the Spirit," Ephesians 5:18

You see, there is a way to understand how to be filled to all the fullness of God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit. We also recognize that Paul is praying for saved people when he uses this terminology. They are already saved, so what he means in his prayer is that they will experience all the fullness of Christianity in every respect of learning it in, and living it out. And just as Christ already fills all in all in the sense that we are eternally spiritually saved, God is also referenced to already be filling all of us in our salvation too. Paul says it in 4:6,

"6 one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all." Ephesians 4:6

This is interesting, because just as Christ, (Who is God) who is already over us all, and through us all, and in us all in salvation, and yet, also must fill all in all through us when we have Him dwell in His primary place of manifestation in the mature Christian life, we know that when Paul references God, that God is also there in us already, but is also to be there, filling us, in that same respect, where we manifest more of Him than we do of us. This is why Paul goes on to pray that those who are already filled with God,

"19 ... may be filled up to all the fullness of God.";

Again, we really need to understand this. We absolutely must see that Paul says these things, yet the God and Father of all of us, is already over all of us, and is already through all of us, and is already in all of us who are saved. Paul is not confused, and we need not be confused either. All of these things are Paul's special terminology for making a specific kind of point. With this understanding, then, we start to get at what Paul is getting at with telling us to not fill ourselves with wine to the point that the alcohol gets manifested out of our lives as drunkenness, and ultimately dissipation, with the result of debauchery. But rather we are to be being continuously filled with the Spirit where the eternal, beautiful fruits of the Spirit are manifested out of our lives. It is amazing how all of this makes sense, when we see that this is all still part of Paul's point that he has been making all along about the Christian walk. We are not to grieve the Holy Spirit, as He says back in Ephesians 4:30, (which is like not quenching the Holy Spirit, 1 Thessalonians 5:19). We are not to be walking according to the futility of the Gentile mind of the sinful culture of the lost, that we were delivered out of, where there is a different evil spirit filling the sons of disobedience. Ephesians 2:2, and 5:6. We are to be imitators of God, Ephesians 5:1, and walk just as Christ, Ephesians 5:2, putting away immorality, impurity, and greed Ephesians 5:3 and not participating in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, 5:11, but walking as wise men, understanding what the will of the Lord is, 5:17. Rather than letting unwholesome words proceed from our mouths, like slandering other Christians, and clamoring in the church, we are to be letting only such words come forth, as build each other up--giving grace to those who hear, Ephesians 4:29-31. And rather than filthiness, and silly talk, and foul language, coarse jesting, lying, and all that vitriol that Paul just warned about not filling you, and overflowing out of you in 5:4, Paul goes on to say that we are to be being filled with the Spirit, and overflowing the opposite traits from that foul spirit that is working in the sons of disobedience, which is our Holy Spirit fullness that is wonderfully expressed in speaking in another way; in,

"19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; 20 always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father;" Ephesians 5:19-20

When we do these things, we are manifesting out of our mouths, what is filling our hearts. We are showing that

1) the seal of the Holy Spirit means that we belong to the body of Christ.

and

2) the filling of the Spirit means that my body belongs to Christ.

We are manifesting that we are continuing to be being filled with the Spirit, and what is interesting is that in the parallel epistle of Colossians, God has provided us with more examples of this kind of language that Paul uses for this specific type of point. How many of you realize that in Colossians, Paul makes basically the same point?; but instead of speaking of continuing to be being filled with the Spirit, or of being filled with God, or of letting Christ dwell in your hearts, Paul says to be letting the word of Christ dwell in our hearts. Listen to the parallel, and with it, notice how mirror-like the wording is--even to the point of what the manifestation is of speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks, where Paul says in Colossians 3;

15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God." Colossians 3:15-17

To have the peace of God rule in your heart is to have it dwell there, as the governor where you are continuously filled with it. To have the word of Christ richly dwell within you, is to have the word of Christ become effectually manifest in you, and out of you, in all wisdom, teaching, and admonishing. Richness is fullness. Do you see how Paul consistently uses this same kind of special terminology to teach us to act like spiritually minded Christians? Paul talks about filling, and fullness, and dwelling, and richness, and ruling in your hearts, and He is getting at the same thing each time. Basically, you are to act more like the fullness of Christ, than you are to act like the fullness of the old you that you were delivered from. God has already given you His Holy Spirit in salvation. Now, this filling, and dwelling, is something that you must do as a disciple of Christ, and so that is why it is a command, and that is why it is a doable command. Getting drunk is something you can also do. You do it by filling yourself with alcohol. But getting drunk, is to sow to the flesh. When you sow to the flesh, you will reap to the flesh. Drunkenness leads to debauchery, and dissipation. On the other hand, the Spirit filled life leads to all the things that Paul has been urging the Ephesians to manifest, which are the eternal spiritual fruits of virtue, wisdom, edification, and the eternal glory of God. We read in Galatians,

"22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control;" Galatians 5:22-23

People, we need to be full of these things. These are all the things that are the opposite of the fruits of the sinful flesh. When we sow to the Spirit, we always reap these eternal life kinds of things, Galatians 6.

I urge you to cease getting drunk, if that is your practice. Rather, be being filled with the Spirit so that you are sober mindedly walking the fullness of the Christian walk that you have been called to. Make it your ambition to be known as a spirit filled Christian. Make it your ambition to be manifesting more of God in your thinking, and in your actions, so that you are manifesting less of yourself. Do this, and you can be assured that you really do know how to fill yourself with the Holy Spirit, and you can be assured that you can do it, and you will know whether you are being obedient and doing it.