Filled with the Spirit
by Christian House
“Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Ephesians 5:17-20
I have been studying through the book of Ephesians recently. What a power-packed book! I have been especially considering this passage in chapter five. It strikes me that Paul contrasts being drunk with wine (worldly pleasure) with being filled with the Spirit (Godly pleasure). We are called to be continually and consistently allowing the Holy Spirit to control and fill every aspect of our lives. How often do we think things like, “Well God, You can have my Sunday morning, but please don’t intrude into my Friday night” or “God You can have control of this area in my heart, but I’m going to go ahead and do what I want over here.” That’s the thing about true surrender and repentance: it cannot be halfhearted. God isn’t satisfied with having a portion of your heart or a part of your life, He wants it all. He wants to fill your life entirely. Imagine what our lives could look like if we truly surrendered, whole-heartedly to God’s ways. I don’t know about you, but I struggle at times truly surrendering to God’s ways especially when I am frustrated, when that driver pulls out right in front of me, when a decision doesn’t go my way, when someone is really pushing my buttons. It isn’t in the easy times that we find out whether we are truly filled with the Spirit. It’s in the dark, lonely, or angry times we find out whether we are relying on our own strength or God’s. Think about it: in what ways could you be more “full of the Spirit” in your thoughts and words in the situation you’re facing right now? What does an authentically, Spirit-filled Christian walk look like?
Interestingly, Paul follows up this thought about being filled with the Spirit with a section on singing. If I was the writer of Ephesians, I probably would not have made the connection between being filled with the Spirit and singing, of all things, but he does. That’s exactly where Paul takes this passage. So maybe what Paul is saying is that the fruit of our lips, the songs we sing and the way we speak to one another, is a great sign about the condition of our heart. Paul directly connects a Spirit-filled life with “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.” I think I have an idea what Paul had in mind as far as Psalms, but I honestly don’t know what the first-century church’s hymns and spiritual songs were like. I’m sure they sounded much different than our hymns and likely had a much more Hebraic sound to their melodies (I’m just guessing). Paul doesn’t just mention one genre of spiritual music, but three. John MacArthur comments that Psalms were likely the Old Testament put to music, hymns were probably songs that specifically glorified Christ, and spiritual songs were perhaps songs of personal testimony containing truths of grace and salvation in Christ. I couldn’t help but note that Paul doesn’t tell us only to sing these lyrics but to “speak” these songs to one another as well…interesting.
Paul then tells us to sing and make melody in our hearts to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things. We are called…yes even instructed to sing. Singing, as Pastor Allan has said, is what we do. As Christians, singing is part of our DNA in Christ. We sing. We also “make melody” in our hearts. Have you ever had a melody get stuck in your memory and it just goes over and over in your head? What if that melody contained Biblical truth? I think this may be what Paul is getting at here.
Finally, Paul tells us to give God thanks always for all things. Really Paul? ALL THINGS? “All” is a fairly inclusive word. You mean everything? The good things, AND the things that aren’t going my way? My health issues, my struggles, my problems? I believe that thankfulness is not merely a way of looking at a specific situation, but can also be a way of looking at life. When you look at life through the lens of thankfulness, it can transform your attitude into a Christ-like outlook on everything, the good and the bad. So Paul has instructed us to live a Spirit-filled life, to sing and speak to one another the truths of Scripture, and to do all this with a heart-attitude of thankfulness for all things. Paul begins this passage by essentially saying, “This is God’s will for you.”
This is my prayer for us all, that we would indeed understand what the will of the Lord is, and that we would go and walk in it.