Filling of the Spirit Part 5

This series highlights the radio teaching of 

Dr. Donald R. Hubbard  on Ephesians 5:18

If it’s not about Jesus, it’s not about anything

Motto of the Fountain of Life

 Dear Reader Please Scroll Down 
 for preceding installments 
of 
Rev.Relic's series on the Filling of the Spirit

 Part 5 of 6

SPS:  1^st) to examine the filling of the spirit from the vantage of its Essence, our Experience, and the Evidence; 2^nd) to demonstrate it as orthodox teaching; 3^rd) to demonstrate that doctrines about the Holy Spirit and Jesus are interrelated.

Text:  Ephesians 5:18:  And be not drunk with wine, which is excess, but be filled with the Spirit.           

As we go into the Scriptures we pray to the Lord for fairness, humility and respect.

3.     Evidence of Filling of the Spirit

Orthopraxy

Today we look at the Evidence of the filling of the Spirit as taught by Saint Paul.  It is a very controversial area.  It is also an emotional area.  Therefore let us spend some time in preparation before proceeding deeper into Chapters 5 and 6.  Those chapters involve the apparent use of spiritual gifts; and that use is debated.  Included in the chapters are controversial words such as submission, obedience, masters and servants.  The relationships between and among men, women, children and employers is also a debated subject. 

Just look at different books in Christian Book Stores written about the Holy Spirit.  Many of the writers are not in agreement.  Particularly this is true about the evidence of the filling of the Spirit.  I have attended charismatic services and have interviewed Christians about speaking in tongues and being slain in the spirit.  They assure me that these experiences are real.  And they attribute it to the Holy Spirit.  And I have read many books by Pentecostal authors about the working of the Spirit.  “Azusa Street” an eyewitness account by Frank Bartleman and “Good Morning Holy Spirit” by Benny Hinn, for example indicate strong movements of the Holy Spirit during congregational worship. 

And do we remember Mary?  She was sorry for those who lacked charisms and thought them to be immature Christians.  Since I lack them, again I ask, is she right?  Therefore studying the differences, asking these hard questions of friends or making honest observations about those differences is not improper.  Nor need it be disrespectful.

Just look at different books in Christian Book Stores written about the relationship of men and women in society and in the Church. Many of the writers are not in agreement.  Two excellent examples of this division are Gilbert Bilezikian’s Eternity’s Book of the Year “Beyond Sex Roles.”  In it he scholarly and eloquently advocates the ordination of women using the authority of Scripture.  At the opposite pole is John Piper and Wayne Grudem’s Christianity Today’s Book of The Year, “Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.”  In it they scholarly and eloquently advocate not ordaining women using the authority of Scripture.  Clearly, relationships have changed in the United States.  

 Here in the coal region of Southwestern Pennsylvania life for a miner was dangerous.  My Jedo, grandpa Sokol, had a finger blown off in a mine explosion.  Before World War II, dad once cleaned some rock-salt fired from a shotgun out of Joe S’s backside after a confrontation with coal company guards.  The miners called the guards “Yellow Dogs.”  I don’t know what the guards called the miners.  No one called each other Children of God.  And there was alcohol.  It was a brutal hopeless life, working for the coal barons.  The old European masters were changed for the new America masters.  Some of you may remember Tennessee Ernie Ford’s very popular song, “I Owe My Soul to the Company Store.”  All this made home life brutal for wives and children too.  Submission and obedience took on an ugly hue in this under-society, and many vowed “never again.”  And here is Paul talking about submission and obedience to husbands, wives and masters.  For some, these chapters of Ephesians are a hard pill to swallow.   We shall explore submission and obedience further in part 6 of 6.

Nevertheless, walking with God by faith and growing in grace and truth is so essential and a basic part of the Christian life that Satan wants to confuse and divide us.  Satan would have us looking for the Spirit in all the wrong places and not seeing Him where He is working.  Brethren, let us all try to look beyond emotion and ego attachment and re-read what Paul says about the Spirit and about us in the Spirit.  We accept as an a priori that the ministry of the Holy Spirit is good.  We confess that our understanding may be suspect. 

We are so divided today.  Some say “the” evidence of the filling of the Spirit is speaking in tongues.  Others say that the speaking in tongues is some unusual or bizarre behavior.  One group says say that when one is filled one becomes uncontrollable with moaning and groaning and perhaps rolling on the ground.  They happily believe that they are drunk with the Holy Spirit.  One Word of Faith preacher believes it so deeply that he refers to himself as the “Holy Ghost Bartender.”  Some are handling poisonous reptiles.  I saw a PBS documentary on Snake Handlers.  The emotional experience is intense.  Many become trance-like when reaching into a container to grasp a reptile.  Others demonstrate different aspects of behavior.  But what are the examples from the Bible concerning those who are filled and are being filled with the Spirit of God?  We want to explore those scriptural evidences today.  Let us review the book of Acts and notice the number of times the believers were filled with the Spirit of God and notice what the behavior patterns were. 

A related side study for background:

Adam Clarke circa 1810, on Ephesians 5:17:  Page 1183:  Wherefore be ye not unwise.  “‘Do not become madmen.’  Here is a most evident allusion to the orgies of Bacchus, in which his votaries acted like madmen; running about, tossing their heads from shoulder to shoulder, appearing to be in every sense completely frantic.”  

Jamieson, Fausset and Brown circa 1860 on Ephesians 5:18:  Page 1295:  “So also in ordinary Christians the Spirit dwells not in the mind that seeks the disturbing influences of excitement, but in the well-balanced prayerful mind.  Such a one expresses his joy, not in drunken or worldly songs, but in Christian hymns of thankfulness.”

Dr. J. Vernon McGee, 1983, Thru The Bible Vol. 5, on Ephesians 5:18, page 265:  “The man who is drinking is possessed by the wine.  You can tell that a man is drunk.  In contrast, it is the Holy Spirit who should be the One to possess the believer.  It is a divine intoxication that is to fill that need.  This is not an excessive emotionalism but that which furnishes the dynamic for living and for accomplishing something for God.  When we are filled by the Holy Spirit, it means that we are controlled by the Holy Spirit.”

Ephesians 5:18:  “Be not drunk on wine…but be drunk on the Spirit.”  Where does this misstatement lead?   
 I have an observation.  It is not meant as a judgment because I know charismatic ministers and lay persons and they are Christian and sincere about their practices.  Nonetheless the observation is that some believers assume this verse teaches how to identify being filled with the Spirit because they see it as comparing being drunk on wine with being drunk on the spirit. 

 If that is true, the comparison really says this:  just as to become falling down drunk, yelling and screaming or singing bawdy songs is the evidence of physical drunkenness which is bad, to become falling down drunk, yelling and screaming or singing unintelligible songs is the evidence of spiritual drunkenness which is good.     

However, Paul was contrasting behaviors not comparing them.  In the above understanding we are not contrasting anything.  In a comparison we are projecting the manifestations of the spirit of alcohol upon the Spirit of God in order to identify what being filled with the Spirit of God looks like.  This is a false comparison and it is not what Paul teaches.

THE EVIDENCE FROM THE PAGES OF THE BIBLE:

In Ephesians 5:18 Paul contrasts two behaviors patterns using the literary device, “Be not this, but be this.”   Be not drunk, but be filled.  So is this only an admonition to be sober?  No.  He would have written be not drunk but be ye sober. 

Paul councils us to be sober in 2 Cor. 5:13; 1 Thessalonians 5:6, 8: I Timothy 3:2, 11; Titus 1:8; 2:2, 4, 6; 1 Peter 1:13; 4:7 and 5:8.  Therefore Ephesians 5:18 is more than an exhortation against drunkenness or a command of sobriety.   

Let’s go to the Scripture and determine if we can find manifestations of the Spirit of God.  First lets go back to Ephesians 5:18 and include vs. 19.  “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord.”  We will return to verse 19 in a short while.

Remember John 4:14:  “…but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”  The Lord is obviously referring to the Holy Spirit.  The water shall be in him a well.  When we talk about the Spirit of God in association with water, we also refer to the Word of God.

John 7:38:  “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.’”  Do we see that in Him shall be a well and out from Him shall be rivers? 

This seems to be God’s characteristic of those filled with the Spirit of God.  The overflowing well goes in all directions, (RIVERS) all times.  When the Spirit of God fills the believer there is a sense of overflowing water in many different directions touching all the aspects of our lives.  It is not that we isolate one behavior pattern or one experience as the evidence of the filing of the Spirit.  Because Jesus taught us that the Spirit of God shall be within us, but it will be rivers – rivers – overflowing, affecting everything we touch.  This is a basic working principle that Jesus gives to us in John 7. 

When one is filled with Holy Spirit it will be reproduced in his character and it will be reflective in his conduct.  The Bible indicates that when we are filled with the Holy Spirit the quality of life will be affected in its entirety.  This means the manifestations will be constant and not limited to a weekly experience.  Our activity will be effected to reflect New Testament people.  My character should become more Christ-like all day long. 

Galatians 5:19-21 and 22-23:  Fruit of the Holy Spirit is contrasted with fruit of the flesh.  The fruit of the Spirit consists of nine behaviors.  It is the fruit not fruits.  The Spirit affects all 9 behaviors if we are filled with Spirit.  It begins with love and extends through temperance.  If the Spirit is filling me, it is logical that the fruit of the spirit would be open, seen and understood by others.

 

Not one person in New Testament ever made the claim to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  That claim was made by the people who saw them and who wrote about them.  “Stephen filled with the Holy Spirit” or “Peter being filled with the Spirit stood and said...”  But Acts says many believers were filled with Spirit of God. 

If you have a critical or manipulative nature it is an indication you are not filled with the Holy Spirit.  An overflow of love, joy, meekness, etc. is the filling.  This list is the character of Christ Himself, Christ in you.  As others see Christ in us, we see others as Christ did.  And in ourselves, slowly, there will be that gradual growth.  I should love you more today than I did last year.  This has to do with character.

We will now talk, not about the quality of life but the activity of life. (Orthopraxis)

Ephesians 5:18:  activity of life.  The Holy Spirit always gives a context in which to understand the teaching of the Word of God.  Back in Ephesians 5:18 to the end of the book, there is given to us an example of how my life, my activities should reflect Jesus to the World.  There are seven characteristics in this passage that indicate how the Spirit filling will guide my conduct.  These are evidences of the Spirit.  We will discuss them in detail.

Colossians 3:16:  The same pattern of behaviors recorded in Ephesians is noted Colossians in relationship to the word of God.   “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.  17) Whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.  18) Wives submit, 19) husbands love, 20) children obey, 21) fathers provoke not, 22) servants obey."  .

What is known in Ephesians chapter 5 is noted as a response to the filling of the Spirit of God.  In Colossians chapter 3 it is noted as a response the Word of God operative in your life.  

Those two facts bring us to this logical conclusion.  The Spirit of God takes the Word of God and penetrates our life with it so that the living of our lives shall be in full accord with the teaching of the New Testament on consistent Christian behavior. 

Seven Scriptures of the Evidence of Filling of the Spirit

First evidence:  Back to Eph. 5:17:  If filled with the Spirit of God I will have an understanding filled with the will of God.  The will of God is primarily associated with the kind of person I am to be.  And I am to be like Jesus Christ.  Therefore my choices will be in that direction. 

Second evidence:  Eph. 5:19:  I will have a heart filled with praise, with songs, psalms, making melody etc.  I think this means that I should focus more on Jesus and less on my future 401k problems.  In other words my negative attitude should become positive.  Cries of despair should give way to songs of joy.  Now I don’t walk the streets of Washington or Masontown crying about my 401k and wearing sackcloth.  Usually I stew in my own juices at home.  Conversely, I don’t have to sing or jump about in joy on the streets of town to express the joy in my heart.

This change of heart does not guarantee that bad things will not happen to good people.  But it does mean that when bad things happen, God gives grace which provokes praise instead of curses.  Some call it strength.  And you can meet life with a smile and mean it.  We will talk about this in much greater detail in part 6 of 6. 

Third evidence:  Eph. 5:20:  Giving thanks always to God our Father in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ.  That means an attitudes filled with gratitude.  Don’t give in to anger or depression in order to cope or to get by.  At the time of trial, we may not want to, but we can still say, Lord I want to thank you, because I know that somewhere in this trial I will learn more about myself or about you or both.  (Romans 8:28 in a different way).  We will talk about this in more detail in part 6 of 6.  For now let us look to Paul and Silas as an example of what this gratitude looks like.  Paul and Silas were illegally arrested, savagely beaten, jailed and thrown into stocks in Philippi.  In response to all of this brutality they sang psalms (Acts 16).   

Recap of part 5:  Three results or evidence of being filled with Spirit of God:

First:  Eph. 5:17:  We will have an understanding filled with the will of God.

            Second:  Eph. 5:19:  heart filled with praise.

            Third:  Eph. 5:20:  an attitude filled with a sense of gratitude. 

The Holy Spirit in us flows like a river into all areas of our lives at all times and is seen by others as the fruit of the Spirit operating in our behavior. 

The next session will complete evidences 4 thru 7 of the filling of the Spirit and give a final review of the essence, the experience, and the evidence.

Rev. George Relic, Assistant Pastor

Fountain of Life Church

2021 Old National Pike  

Washington, Pa 15301

A congregation of Grace Communion International