Sunday
Morning Bible Study
July 23, 2006
Introduction
Last week we talked about understanding the will of God for our lives. Paul wrote,
(Eph 5:17
NKJV) Therefore do not be unwise, but
understand what the will of the Lord is.
Now we will look at one of the things that is clearly God’s will for our
lives.
:18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled
with the Spirit,
dissipation – the word speaks of a wasted life.
Illustration
One Drunken Night
A fellow decides to take off
early from work and go drinking. He stays until the bar closes at 2am at which time he is extremely drunk.
When he enters his house, he doesn’t want to wake anyone up so he takes off his
shoes and starts to tip toe up the stairs. Halfway up the stairs, he falls over
backwards and lands flat on his rear end. That wouldn’t have been so bad except
that he had a couple of empty pint bottle in his back pockets that broke and
the broken glass carved up his rear end terribly. But, he was so drunk that he
didn’t know he was hurt. A few minutes later as he was undressing, he noticed
blood, so he checked himself out in the mirror and sure enough, his behind was
cut up something terrible. He repaired the damage as best he could under the
circumstances and went to bed. The next morning, his head was hurting, his rear
was hurting and he was hunkering under the covers, trying to think of a good
story, when his wife came into the bedroom. “Well, you really tied one on last
night, “ she said, “where did you go?” “I worked late,” he said, “and I stopped
off for a couple of beers.” “A couple of beers? That’s a laugh. You were
plastered last night, so where did you go?” she inquired. “What makes you so
sure that I got drunk last night anyway?” “Well, she replied, “My first big
clue was when I got up this morning and found a bunch of band aids stuck to the
mirror!”
This all sounds funny, until
it’s you lying in that bed …
be filled – pleroo –
the Greek could be translated, “be continually filled”
Lesson
Filled with the Spirit.
Why are these two things paired together?
Why does a person drink?
Sometimes a person drinks to get courage or boldness to face some
situation.
Yet that’s exactly what the Holy Spirit does.
(Acts 4:31 NKJV) And when they
had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they
were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with
boldness.
Sometimes a person drinks out of pain, to try and feel better, to escape
from a problem.
The Holy Spirit brings true comfort.
(John 14:16 KJV) And I will pray the Father, and he
shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
A person who is drunk with wine is “filled” with the wine, but Paul says we
are to be “filled” with the Spirit.
A person who is drunk with wine is often seen as “controlled” by the wine.
People will say that a little drink just “loosens” them up, but those of us
who watch a person that’s drunk will say that “it’s the wine that’s speaking”,
they are considered “under the influence”.
A person who is filled with the Spirit is one who is “controlled” by the
Spirit, under the “influence” of the Spirit.
There is another Scriptural reference that pairs these two together.
On the day of Pentecost (Acts 2), the Holy Spirit was poured out on the
church for the first time. The believers began to speak with tongues. They were
speaking in foreign languages and the things they were saying were giving
praise to God.
The crowd that began to gather thought the disciples were all drunk.
Peter got up and explained to the people,
(Acts
2:15-17 NKJV) "For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is
only the third hour of the day. {16} "But this is what was spoken by the
prophet Joel: {17} 'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That
I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall
prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.
What does it mean to be “filled with the Holy Spirit”?
With, In, Upon
In the Greek language there are three different words, three “prepositions”
that are used to describe the different relationships that the Holy Spirit has
with people. These three kinds of relationships can be described by the words, “with”
(Greek para), “in” (en), and “upon” (epi).
1. With
There is a sense in which the Holy Spirit is “with” everyone in the world,
both believers and unbelievers.
When the Holy Spirit is “with” us, He is along side of us to encourage us,
comfort us, and to convict us.
Jesus talks about this when He said,
(John 14:16-17 NKJV) "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you
another Helper, that He may abide with you forever; {17} "the Spirit of
truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows
Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with
you and will be in you.
2. In
Jesus said that the Spirit would one day be “in” the disciples.
When we receive Jesus in our heart, the Holy Spirit comes to live “in” us.
A person who does not have the Holy Spirit living “in” their heart cannot
be a Christian.
(Rom 8:9 NKJV) …Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ,
he is not His.
3. Upon
Luke connects the “upon” word with being “baptized with the Holy Spirit”
and “being filled” with the Holy Spirit.
First Jesus let His disciples know what was going to happen …
(Acts 1:5 NKJV) "for John truly baptized with water, but
you shall be baptized with the Holy
Spirit not many days from now."
(Acts 1:8 NKJV) "But
you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the
earth."
Then when the event does happen, Luke calls this being “filled” with the
Holy Spirit.
(Acts 2:1-4 NKJV) When
the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one
place. {2} And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty
wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. {3} Then there
appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.
{4} And they were all filled with
the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them
utterance.
We believe that the Bible makes it clear that though this might happen at
the same time that a person gets saved, it is often something that happens
after a person gets saved.
The disciples received the Holy Spirit after the resurrection when Jesus
“breathed” on them (John 20:22). But
they were filled with the Holy Spirit after Jesus ascended into heaven and they
were praying on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2).
When Philip went to Samaria, he
preached the gospel, miracles were performed, and the people believed and were
baptized. But there was something missing.
(Acts 8:14-16 NKJV) Now when the apostles who
were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent
Peter and John to them, {15} who, when they had come down, prayed for them that
they might receive the Holy Spirit. {16} For as yet He had fallen upon none of
them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
We see the same thing happening in Acts 19, where Paul comes across a group
of disciples in Ephesus.
There are some churches that are very strong in teaching that every believer has been “baptized” with
the Holy Spirit.
I think that some of this is a reaction to the idea that
those in Pentecostal or Charismatic churches talk about those who “have it” and
those who “don’t”.
But this is not a matter of salvation. You are saved and
going to heaven if you’ve invited Jesus into your heart.
The filling of the Holy Spirit has to do with having God’s
power in your life, not salvation.
This is a matter of whether or not God is in control of
your life.
How do I receive the filling of the Holy Spirit?
I’ve heard all kinds of explanations of this over the years and I’ve come
to the conclusion that we make it all much too complicated.
It is not a difficult thing to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
(John 7:37-39 NKJV) On
the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If
anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. {38} "He who believes in Me,
as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living
water." {39} But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing
in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was
not yet glorified.
It all boils down to this – are you thirsty? Do you realize your need for
the Holy Spirit to fill you?
Illustration
Three students are leaving their last classes of the day. The law student
is thinking, “I’m tired and thirsty. I must have coffee.” The engineering
student is thinking, “I’m tired and thirsty. I must have a coke.” The medical
student is thinking, “I’m tired and thirsty. I must have diabetes.”
Are you tired and thirsty? What are
you thinking?
If you are thirsty, then come to Jesus, drink, and believe.
Illustration
One way of thinking of about the difference between the Holy Spirit being
“in” you and “upon” you is by thinking about a pitcher, a glass, a bowl, and
water.
You are the glass. The pitcher is Jesus. The water is the Holy Spirit. And
the bowl is the world around you.
If I set the pitcher next to the glass, the water is “with” the glass.
If I pour water from the pitcher and fill the glass in front of you, the
water is “in” the glass.
But if I pour water into the glass until it overflows, the bowl gets wet. This
is the picture of the Holy Spirit being “upon” you, of the Holy Spirit filling
you.
Will the Holy Spirit make me do “weird” things if I am filled with the
Spirit?
Some people do respond to the work of the Holy Spirit with an emotional
response.
But the evidence of a person being filled with the Spirit is not a loss of
control, doing strange things, or even speaking with tongues.
Jesus said in Acts 1:8 that the result of being filled with the Spirit
would be the power to be His
witnesses.
We’ll talk in a minute about some other things that come as a result of
being filled with the Spirit in the rest of this passage.
Can a person be filled with the Holy Spirit more than once?
Yes. He wants to continually fill you. The same disciples in the book of
Acts are filled with the Holy Spirit over and over again.
The way Paul writes Eph. 5:18 in the Greek, he commands us to be
continually filled with the Holy Spirit.
The problem is that we leak. We need to be filled over and over and over
again.
Are you thirsty this morning?
It can start with a simple little prayer … Let’s do it now …
:19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
If you track the Greek grammar that Paul is using, Paul used a command, an
imperative, back in verse 18, “be filled”. The rest of the verbs throughout the
end of the chapter are “participles”, meaning that they are the things that
result from the command. If you are
“filled”, then these things will happen…
speaking – laleo –
to speak –
I find it interesting that Paul doesn’t say “sing” here. But then some of us
aren’t so comfortable in “singing” to one another, but it might not be so hard
to just “speak”.
psalms – psalmos –
a striking,
twanging; the word might be speaking of songs based on the Old Testament
Psalms, or simply music that has an instrumental accompaniment.
hymns – humnos –
This isn’t
talking just about those old songs found in the Baptist Hymnal. The main
idea of this word is a song of praise.
spiritual – pneumatikos –
“related to the spirit”; it might refer to songs from a human spirit, but it probably
refers to songs that come from the Holy Spirit. I think it’s possible that this
might also refer to a phenomena called “singing in the Spirit” where a person
may sing to the Lord with the gift of tongues. Paul talks about “singing in the
Spirit” in 1Cor. 14:15 and seems to
be talking about singing with tongues.
Lesson
Public worship
One of the things that come from being filled with the Holy Spirit is a
pouring out of worship to God before other believers.
Here the emphasis is on the fact that when we worship together, we affect
each other, we are to speak “to one another”.
It’s important that we take time to worship together. Sometimes it’s easy
to think that it’s not that important if you miss the “music” as long as you
make it for the message.
Yet the “music” is one of the times that God may use you to speak to
others.
And it’s an opportunity where the Holy Spirit wants to work through you.
Paul and Silas were in prison along with the other prisoners, but they
acted differently:
(Acts 16:25 NKJV) But at midnight Paul and Silas were
praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
The other prisoners were affected by what they heard from
Paul and Silas.
From time to time I will look around the room while we’re worshipping and I
become encouraged in my own worship when I see how some of you are so in love
with the Lord when you sing to Him.
You don’t have to be up on stage to be used in worship.
:19 singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,
Lesson
Private worship
Whereas the first phrase was about how our worship ought to be public, here
the emphasis is on what happens in our heart.
I think this is the heart of what I call “worship”. It’s your heart
reaching out to touch God’s heart.
One of the ways that our heart touches God’s heart is through music, the
music in your heart.
When we are gathered together as a church, the music ought to be something
that comes from your heart.
When you are alone with God, there ought to be time when you are singing to
the Lord.
You may be uncomfortable with this idea, but part of the design that went
into the creation of a human being was the idea to be a God worshipper. And I
believe that you cannot find your full potential as a person until you learn to
bow your knee before your Creator and offer to Him praise and worship.
(Rev 5:11-13 NKJV) Then
I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living
creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten
thousand, and thousands of thousands, {12} saying with a loud voice:
"Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom,
And strength and honor and glory and blessing!" {13} And every creature
which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the
sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: "Blessing and honor and
glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne, And to the Lamb, forever and
ever!"
I believe we find our highest purpose in life when we
learn to worship God from our heart.
This all comes as a result of being filled with the Holy Spirit.
One of the Holy Spirit’s jobs is to bring glory to Jesus (John 16:14)
(John 16:14 NKJV) "He will glorify Me…
I’m not sure you’re even going to understand the joy and glory involved in
worship until you allow God to fill you with His Holy Spirit.
:20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ,
giving thanks – eucharisteo (“well” + “grace”) – to be grateful,
feel thankful; give thanks
Lesson
Thankful heart
The Holy Spirit produces a heart of thanks.
It seems that even though we live in the most blessed country in the world,
we are a nation of complainers. It seems that complaining must be our greatest
national pastime after Baseball that is …
Illustration
The San Francisco Zoo had an elephant, named Calle. It seems that Calle had
a chronic illness which requires daily medication. The zoo people couldn’t get
Calle to take her dose orally, so a pharmacologist developed a suppository for
her. The 10-inch-long, four-pound, cocoa-butter bullets are crafted by the good
folks at Guittard Chocolates in Burlingame, California.
Administering the DAILY medication took five zoo workers, including one person
to distract Calle with treats and one person who wore a full-arm glove.
DO YOU KNOW WHAT ALL THIS MEANS?
It means that if you have a job, there are five people who have jobs worse
than yours! So stop complaining about your job.
I think that sometimes we have more in common with the Israelites wandering
in the wilderness than we care to admit. Even though they were constantly
surrounded by God’s miracles, the thing they were best at was complaining.
Illustration
Would you know who is the greatest saint in the world? It is not he who
prays most or fasts most; it is not he who gives most alms, or is more eminent
for temperance, chastity, or justice; but it is he who is always thankful to God
who wills everything that God willeth, who receives everything as an instance
of God's goodness, and has a heart always ready to praise God for it.
William Law (1686 -
1761), A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life
Illustration
Corrie Ten Boom in The Hiding Place relates an incident which taught her
this principle. She and her sister, Betsy, had just been transferred to the
worst German prison camp they had seen yet, Ravensbruck. Upon entering the
barracks, they found them extremely overcrowded and flea-infested. Their
Scripture reading that morning in 1 Thessalonians had reminded them to rejoice
always, pray constantly, and give thanks in all circumstances. Betsy told
Corrie to stop and thank the Lord for every detail of their new living
quarters. Corrie at first flatly refused to give thanks for the fleas, but
Betsy persisted. She finally succumbed. During the months spent at that camp,
they were surprised to find how openly they could hold Bible study and prayer
meetings without guard interference. It was several months later when they
learned that the guards would not enter the barracks because of the fleas.
Complaining or thankfulness? The
Holy Spirit produces a heart of thankfulness.