What Does it Look Like? (Ephesians 5:18)

Let's pray. We'll begin together. Father, thank you for your sustaining grace. It is just amazing to recognize the reality that we are dependent upon you for everything, including the very next breath that we will draw.

And you are so very good to us, to provide for us in many, many, many ways, certainly first and foremost, through the redemption that you have provided through your

Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so that is why we gather here. We pray now,

Father, for your enablement, that your spirit would enable the accurate teaching of the Word of God, and that you would help us to be good listeners to what we hear and then apply it as needed.

We ask it for Jesus' sake. Amen. Open your Bibles up to the fifth chapter of the book of Ephesians.

We are back again to Ephesians chapter five. We are looking this morning at verses 18 through 21.

So 518 to 21, we are actually making some forward progress. You would be amazed.

So Ephesians 5, 18 to 21, where Paul writes, beginning in verse 18,

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled by the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the

Lord, always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, who

God even the Father, and being subject to one another in the fear of Christ.

So we're back again to this important study, and we are looking at these verses together under a series of questions.

You'll remember we're asking and answering a series of questions, and they're designed to help us to understand what it means to live by the

Spirit and to live under His influence in our lives. So we have looked at why is this study important?

Secondly, we asked why warn about wine? Third, we said what is the filling of the

Spirit? Fourth, how is the filling different from the Spirit's other ministries to the believer?

Fifth, we've looked at who does the filling? Sixth, what is the content of the filling?

Seven, how do I fulfill this command? And eight, can the filling leak out?

That was last week. So we're back again for question number nine, and this morning we're going to examine the outward manifestations of a life that is regularly being filled by the

Spirit. What does it look like? And the question that we're asking is, is the filling of the

Spirit visible? That's the question we have before the house this morning. Is the filling of the

Spirit visible? Is it visible? The answer to the question is yes and no.

Yes and no. The actual work of the Spirit in conforming us to the image of God's own

Son is invisible. It is invisible, but the manifestations of that reality are very much visible and are to be very much visible.

To be reminded, Jesus says in John chapter 3 and verse 8, the wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going.

So is everyone who is born of the Spirit. There is that invisible aspect of the work of the

Spirit in our lives, for sure. So in that sense, yes, it is invisible. However, however, it is the outward manifestations of that inward reality that are very much visible, very much.

So taking a look here at the beginning in verse 18, a little bit of grammar again, just to kind of set the stage.

So grammatically, the main verb, we've said this more than once, the main verb in this section of 18 to 21 is in verse 18, where Paul commands to be filled.

Plerao is the verb to be filled. And that is followed in verses 19 through 21 by five present participles, five present participles, and they describe the filling of the

Spirit, but they are not the means of achieving it. So they are descriptors of what it means to be filled by the

Spirit. So here they are. They're in verse 19. Speaking is the first one. 19 again, singing is another one.

Making melody is your third. Giving thanks in verse 20 is the fourth, and being subject in verse 21 is the fifth.

So those are the five present participles that derive their force from the main verb in verse 18.

So as I say, they are the result of being filled by the Spirit. They are not the means to achieve being filled by the

Spirit. They're the manifestation of it when it's occurring. So the first four, notice, of these participles have to do with singing and prayer.

Singing and prayer. So again, speaking, singing, making melody, giving thanks.

Those first four have to do with singing and prayer, and they have to do with the singing and prayer, again, notice this, in the public gathering of the church.

In the public gathering of the church, and we see that by the use of one another in verse 19. One another, or perhaps even more literally, among yourselves.

Among yourselves. So we are talking about a public manifestation of the filling by the

Spirit. What does it look like? Can it be observed? Yes, it can. Where? In the public setting of the church.

Okay, the public setting. So the public gathering, as we'd say.

The fifth and final participle here in verse 21, being subject to, that serves as the bridge.

So that's the bridge to the topic of the Spirit -filled home that begins in verse 22 of chapter 5 and runs all the way through chapter 6 and verse 9.

So that's our bridge that takes us into what our future studies will be here. Okay, so in all of this, the emphasis is not upon individual or private experience.

That is not the emphasis here, individual or private experience, but the expression of a life filled by the

Spirit in regard to relationship with one another. So it's about being filled by the

Spirit, and how does it play itself out in relationships, and the relationships of the church.

So in that sense, yes, the Spirit's filling is very visible, very visible, because it results in, among other things, worship, gratitude, and humble submission.

Worship, gratitude, humble submission. That is the outcome of a life filled by the

Spirit. Now, since Paul describes the Spirit -filled life in terms of these five participles, it would be profitable for us to spend some time and peek into these a little bit, don't you think?

So that's what I want to do with you in the time remaining, is I want to look at being filled by the

Spirit under these three headings, the headings of worship, gratitude, and submission.

So worship, gratitude, submission. If you're looking for an outline, there's your outline. Worship, gratitude, submission.

So first, worship. Let's talk about worship. In addressing the result of obeying the command to be continually filled by the

Spirit and its resultant growth in the likeness of Christ, Paul speaks first about the role of congregational singing.

He speaks about congregational singing, verse 19. See it? Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the

Lord. So this is the congregational singing. And again, there's a further division here in that he's viewing congregational singing both horizontally and vertically.

So he's looking at it horizontally and vertically. First horizontally and then vertically.

This is super instructive for us. So he begins with the horizontal aspect of congregational singing.

Notice he says, speaking to one another. And then he says in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.

Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Now, psalms.

Psalms. The word is psalmos. That's the noun, psalmos. And it means fundamentally to touch the chords of a stringed instrument.

So to touch the chords of a stringed instrument. And when used in the New Testament, when this word is used in the

New Testament, it's a reference to the Old Testament Psalms. The Psalter of the Old Testament Psalter was the songbook of the early church and is still the songbook of the church today to a certain extent.

So, psalms. The word to touch the chords of a stringed instrument. It's speaking about Old Testament Psalms being sung.

They were designed to be sung. Beyond that, he talks about hymns, hymnos.

And that means a song of praise to God. That's what that word means. A song of praise to God. The word hymnos.

Notice how they're coming over right into the English. They're being translated and coming right over into the English. And it's generally universal in scope.

It's generally universal in scope and they focus on the attributes of God rather than the personal experience of the believer.

So these are songs that are spoken horizontally focused on the attributes of God.

God's attributes. Rather than our personal experience with God. Spiritual songs speaks more of our personal experience with God.

So Oda Domatikai is the Greek and it comes from the word ode in the

Greek, which means a song. And it flows over to us in English again.

We know what about an ode is, right? We've heard of an ode. So that's speaking of a song.

And these are the kinds of songs that are composed in response here to the

Holy Spirit's work. So these are songs composed in response to the Holy Spirit's work in the lives of the believers.

And probably in contrast to what one writer writes, says as the crude singing typical of Greco -Roman feasting.

All cultures sing. All cultures sing. And it is not uncommon at all for them to make up songs to express their culture.

And so when a culture is degraded, its music is degraded. When a culture is lifted up to the presence of God, its music is lifted up to the presence of God.

So these are the spiritual songs. These are the songs composed to celebrate the individual believer's work or the spirit's work in the life of the believer.

Okay. Now, the three words themselves are used here. It's hard to make great differentiation.

So they kind of all Paul combines three together and it's hard to make hard and fast differences between them.

I've given you some general idea of the differences, but they can't be sharply differentiated in scripture.

Okay. However, however, their role, their role in the congregational instruction is quite clear.

Their role in the congregational instruction here is quite clear. We're talking about singing to each other and that provides an instructional role.

Notice where Paul says, speaking to one another, we're speaking to one another and we are speaking of the attributes of God.

We are, we are speaking back his word to him through the old Testament Psalms and we are speaking to, not to him,

I'm sorry, to one another of the, through the Psalms, through the Psalter. And we are speaking to one another about God's great work of redemption in our lives.

Okay. Now, I think if we were to slip over to Colossians chapter three, we could find there in what

I've called the sister book, some clarity in this area. So let's go ahead and do that.

So slip over to the, to the left and go to Colossians, the book of Colossians. I said to the left,

I meant to the right. Yeah. Hold up your left hand. The other one.

Sorry about that. Anyway, Colossians is our sister letter.

And so it can, and often does lend some additional clarity to what's being talked about here.

But I want you to see first though, in Colossians is how Paul identifies in chapter one, his ministry.

Okay. So look at chapter one, verse 28, chapter one, 28, Paul says, we proclaim him.

That is Christ. We proclaim him admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom so that we may present every man complete in Christ for this purpose.

Also, I labor striving according to his power, which mightily works within me. So Paul defines his ministry as that of admonishing and teaching with all wisdom for the purpose of presenting everyone complete in Christ.

That's what drove the apostle Paul. Now slide over your eyes to chapter three and pick up verse 16 and notice this, where Paul says there, let the word of Christ richly dwell within you.

We've talked about that a few weeks ago. Notice with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Now, doesn't that sound familiar? It should. We just read essentially an identical exhortation in the fifth chapter of Ephesians.

But what I want you to catch here is the repetition of Paul's ministry model in his statement here in verse 16 of chapter three, right?

He says in chapter 128 that for him it's admonishing and teaching with all wisdom.

That is his ministry. That's what drove him. Now he moves to chapter three in verse 16 and he's speaking to the church at large and by extension to you and I, and notice he's using the same kind of terminology.

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, we could say be filled by the spirit with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another.

So in other words, Paul wants us to pick up his ministry and carry it forward, carry forward his ministry model and one place and way we do it is through Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in our hearts to God, Ephesians or Colossians 3 .16.

So Paul worked hard, he says, 129 to teach and admonish so that people might grow to maturity in Christ and he wants the

Christian community to continue with that work. And how? By speaking the truth of scripture to one another in song.

Back to Ephesians chapter five. How does Paul want the

Christian community to continue his work of building the body of Christ? Well, in one way he wants it done is by singing.

It is by singing to each other, to one another.

And notice again, I just kind of briefly mentioned it, notice though in verse 19 of Ephesians chapter five, speaking.

Notice the emphasis on speaking. It is because when we speak truth, that's how we grow in the likeness of Christ.

We respond to truth, right? The spirit works when it comes in through the mind and down to the heart and then out through the hands.

That's how transformation occurs. And so there is an emphasis here on the singing that it be speaking.

And I think what we could say is then the lyrics are important. I think we can deduce that, that the lyrics are important here, very important.

So I think we can rightly say that congregational singing is part of disciple making.

Say it again. I think we can rightly say that congregational singing is part of the disciple making process.

It's part of the disciple making process. But it doesn't stop there. It doesn't stop there.

It doesn't just end with the horizontal, important as that is, and it is. But notice that besides the horizontal, there is a vertical element as well.

There's a vertical element. And Paul picks that up in Ephesians five in the next two participles where he speaks about a vertical expression of worship and praise to God.

So there we see it in the second half of verse 19, singing and making melody with your heart to the

Lord. So singing and making melody.

That's that word there, making melody, salantes. It carries the idea of to sing along with music or even to play with a stringed instrument.

So that's kind of running in the background of that. So we sing to God. We offer our praise in music to God.

Why? Because it is a reflection of what he has done in us.

I think we could rightly say we can't hold it back. We can't hold it back. It's going to come out of our hearts.

So notice where he says, with your heart to the Lord, and the

Lord here is Christ, with your heart to Christ. So the heart, the heart is the inner human being, the inner human being where Christ dwells.

Ephesians chapter three, verse 17. Paul says, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

So Christ dwells within the heart. It is the inner human being.

It is the real you. It is the real you. And it's the aspect of our existence that Paul prays that the

Spirit would strengthen. Again, look at chapter three, verse, he begins there in verse 14, for this reason

I bow my knees before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth derive its name that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his

Spirit in the inner man so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and that you may be being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge and that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

So Paul is praying there that the Spirit would strengthen them in the inner man, in the inner man.

And that is the heart, that which offers our expressions of praise to God.

The heart's also the faculty of the mind that Paul prays that God would enlighten with his

Spirit. So look at his other great prayer in Ephesians here in chapter one and the beginning here in, well, we'll pick it up in verse 15.

There Paul is praying that the Ephesian believers might understand the vastness of their blessings in Christ, the vastness of their blessings in Christ.

For this reason I too having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints do not cease giving thanks for you while making mention of you in my prayers that the

God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation and the knowledge of him.