SERMON MANUSCRIPT
Today we’re considering the filling ministry of the Holy Spirit and, to do so, we’re going to look mainly at the passage that was just read for us—Ephesians 5—so, if you haven’t already, please turn there now.
It’s fitting that we come to this topic at the mid-point of our series because the filling of the Holy Spirit could rightly be considered the centre of his work; the hub to which his other ministries connect and by which his other ministries are rightly experienced.
As we’ve seen in past weeks, the Spirit has regenerated, indwelled, and sealed every believer. But it’s the filling of the Spirit that helps us understand and celebrate those realities. The Spirit teaches. But it’s his filling that empowers our recognition and reception of that education. The Spirit unifies. But it’s when we’re filled that we’re able to appreciate and preserve that oneness.
To say it another way, the filling ministry of the Holy Spirit does not cause his other ministries but it highlights them, uncovers them, and empowers God’s people to experience them.
And we need that for maturity. If we want to grow in godliness we must have his power and we must experience of his work. We must be filled with the Spirit. In fact, it’s a command from God to his people.
THE CONTEXT
And that command is explicit in Ephesians 5:18 but, before we get there, let’s begin with the context of the command. Why should we be filled? This chapter gives a clear answer: because of the darkness.
It’s a darkness that’s behind us. [5:8a] We used to be of darkness. [2:1–3] It’s one of the many things we have in common: we all have hopelessness in the rearview, death in our past, and sin in our wake. We were all rebels against God and separate from his goodness, blessing, and pleasure. We all have darkness behind us.
But we’ve all been rescued from it. [5:8b] What made the difference? The Lord! Jesus! “For he rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Col 1:13–14).
Thanks to Jesus, the darkness is behind us. But it’s also all around us. [5:3–5] We’ve been rescued from evil but evil remains. [4:17–19; 6:12]
And Paul’s a realist. Even though darkness is behind us, the thickness of it around us is concerning because it can creep in among us. [5:6–7] Believers may not belong to darkness anymore but we can still dabble in it. [5:11–12]
Don’t you feel today what Paul was describing then? Of course you do. We’re all very aware of the darkness from which we were delivered, the hopelessness and idolatry. We all see the darkness around us in this world, gathering like storm clouds and consuming like cancer. And we all feel the relentless pressure to let that darkness back in among us—into our homes, our churches, and our lives.
That’s our context: darkness behind us, around us, and and potentially among us. It’s no surprise then that Paul calls for careful living. [5:15–17] Be wise, not foolish; careful, not thoughtless. Know God’s will and walk in it. To flesh this out we may bounce back to [5:1–2].
THE COMMAND
In a world marked by immorality, greed, deception, pride, and idolatry, believers are to live godly, wise, loving, pure, and sober lives. How!? Well, that brings us from the context of the command to the command itself. [5:18]
If you want to live wisely among fools, morally among the immoral; if you want victory over your sin and guidance for your life; if you want to be productive, making the most of your time, rather than wasting your life, then, Paul says, be filled with the Spirit. It’s a prerequisite to beating the darkness. It’s a necessity to living in light. It’s the command.
But what does it mean? Well, let’s start with what it doesn’t mean. Being filled with the Spirit doesn’t mean that we need more of him. We don’t leak Spirit like an old car. We don’t need to be topped-up. No, we have the whole Holy Spirit. [1 Cor 3:16] Remember, the Spirit’s not a force we progressively collect but a person with whom we interact.
Believers have the Holy Spirit. We can’t have more of him but, hear this, he can have more of us. And that’s what it means to be filled.
Though believers are born again and indwelled by the Spirit, that old self still muscles its way back in, stifling and quenching the Spirit, relegating him to the corner of our hearts and minds and scorning his powerful help.
Paul says, “don’t let that happen. Be filled with the Spirit.” Allow he who lives in you, who longs to help you, overpower your flesh with his holy character.
Ultimately, to be filled with the Spirit means to be controlled by the Spirit. This is made clear by the negative parallel Paul uses to open the verse: “Do not get drunk with wine.” Wine, an external substance, when taken inside in large amounts, alters the thoughts, words, and actions of the host. Someone intoxicated has voluntarily given over control to another agent that powerfully exerts influence from within.
In the same way, a believer in Jesus Christ is to voluntarily relinquish control to the God who has indwelled them, a powerful Agent who desires to alter our thoughts, words, and actions, conforming them not to the darkness of our context, but to the Light of his character.
Now, the the verb “be filled” is interesting and instructive. First, it’s in the imperative mood, meaning, as we’ve already said, it’s a command. It’s not merely suggestive or descriptive—it is exhortative. It deserves an exclamation mark. Be filled!
Believers are never told to be regenerated, to be sealed, or to be baptized by the Holy Spirit. We enjoy those realities without pursuit. But we are commanded to be filled, to chase it as though the quality of our walk with the Lord depended upon it, because it does.
Second, the verb is in the present tense, meaning it’s something that’s continuing to happen. When we say, “the sun is rising,” we mean it’s in the process of happening right now. It’s the same with this command to be filled. It’s not that we have been filled or that we will be filled, it’s that we are to continually be being filled.
The filling of the Spirit is an ongoing, continuous process more than a series of epic happenings to be sought. We’re to “live by the Spirit … [and] walk in the Spirit” (Gal 5:25). It’s non-stop.
It’s not healthy to eat once a month as much as you can eat. It’s far better to have a steady supply of healthy calories providing constant energy for life’s activities.
Likewise, it’s not healthy to jump from one spiritual buffet to another, gluttonously consuming an event, conference, or experience that will hopefully provide enough sustenance to get us to the next mountaintop. Instead, we’re to be filled with the Spirit continuously, taking in the spiritual calories he gives that energize godly living.
Finally, the verb is in the passive voice, meaning that, ultimately, this isn’t something we do but something done to us. We are recipients.
This doesn’t mean that the believer loses consciousness or inhibition. It’s not a sanctified demon possession in which the host is entranced, barely aware of what the occupying power is doing in and through them. Believers are not unwilling participants to God’s work, “drunk in the Spirit” and losing control of what they say, see, or do.
This is actually the opposite of what it means to be filled. When the Spirit takes control he brings clarity not confusion. Believers are called to be sober-minded, self-controlled, and always-alert. While wine leads to dissipation, the Spirit leads to wisdom and godliness. And believers are to receive that work of God.
So, let’s put all of that together. Believers must constantly and continuously allow God to fill us with his Spirit. Let me say that again: Believers must (imperative mood) constantly and continually (present tense) allow God (passive voice) to fill us with his Spirit.
THE CONSEQUENCES
In the context of darkness, this is the command given: be filled with the Holy Spirit. Let the Spirit of God have his way in your heart. And what happens when we do that? What are the consequences of obeying the command?
First, we become joyful. [5:18–19] When the Spirit of God is actively allowed to control the believer, pushing aside the flesh and manifesting the Light to which we belong, he joyfully bubbles out! We overflow with the beauty of his goodness and we can’t keep it to ourselves.
We share with one another the joy of what we’re now understanding. While we were of darkness, the Spirit drew us to himself, regenerated us, indwells us, sealed us, testifies to us, teaches us, and unifies us. We’ve been made new. We’re kept, empowered, assured, and loved.
Do see now why the filling of the Spirit is the hub of his work? It enlivens all his other ministries! When the Spirit takes control he reminds us of who we are in Christ, of the riches we have in him, of our secured inheritance, and our kept destiny. You think I’m going to keep that to myself? No way! I want to talk about it, sing about it to anyone who will listen!
And when I run out of people, I’m going to tell God, singing and making melody in my heart to the Lord! I’m going to brag about him to him. “With all creation I sing, praise to the King of kings; you are my ev’rything and I will adore you.” When we’re filled with the Spirit we become joyful.
We also become thankful. [5:20] Gratitude spills out of us: always giving thanks for all things. Even in the midst of darkness behind, around, and among us, we’re thankful. Someone filled with God the Spirit, hidden in God the Son, belonging to God the Father knows one thing for certain: the Light wins. How can I not be filled with gratitude?
Finally, we become humble. [5:21] Pride ruins everything—friendships, marriages, families, and churches. We think too much of ourselves and too little of God and of others.
But when the Spirit fills the believer, it brings an unnatural humility. How could I not submit myself when my Lord submitted to incarnation? How could I not endure injustice when Jesus endured the cross? How could I not serve my enemies when it was while I was yet a sinner that Christ died for me? Why justify myself when I have already been justified? The Spirit helps us see ourselves rightly. He brings humility.
Here we’re given a sample of the consequences of obeying the command to be filled with the Spirit. Adding the rest of this passage we find that we become imitators of God (5:1), we sacrificially love (5:2), our tongues are controlled (5:4), we’re not deceived (5:6), we don’t join evil (5:7), we walk in light (5:8), we please the Lord (5:10), we expose darkness (5:11), and we are productive and wise (5:15–16).
Ultimately, what is the consequence of being filled with the Spirit? It’s godliness, Christlikeness, holiness. And that makes sense because he is the Holy Spirit, isn’t he? When he’s in charge he produces holiness. When we’re in charge, he doesn’t.
Do we want this, Oakridge? Do you want this? Do we want to be a people that, while living surrounded by darkness, our light shines majestically and unignorably bright?
Then we must be a church family composed of members—a body comprised of parts—filled with the Spirit of God; actively pursuing his control as though our spiritual lives depend on it. Because they do. As we close, let me give you four ways we can make that happen.
Some here need to receive. For some of you here today, you don’t even belong to the Lord. You don’t have the Spirit living in you. For you, receive him. Trust him. Pass from darkness to light.
Others of us need to repent. A reason you’re not filled with the Spirit is that you are harbouring sin in your life. You know it. You’ve tried to justify it away, but it is stopping you from growing. [1 John 1:9]
Some of us need to obey. [Gal 5:16] Part of living in a dark world is that we are inundated by suggestion that God’s word doesn’t mean what it says or that he’s not as serious as he seems or that most of it is suggestive. A lack of obedience grieves the Spirit.
Finally, all of us need to ask. [Luke 11:13] Let’s do that now.
Josiah has served the Oakridge Bible Chapel family as one of its elders and one of its pastoral staff members since September 2018, before which he ministered as an associate pastor to a local congregation in the Canadian prairies. Josiah's desire is to be used by God to help equip the church for ministry, both while gathered (edification) and while scattered (evangelization). He is married to Patricia, and together they have five children—Jonah, Henry, Nathaniel, Josephine, and Benjamin.
