This past week I had the privilege of going up to New York City on a work trip. I spent the week there attending a conference, eating at restaurants, and walking the streets. During that time, I saw a lot of people. There are over eight million people in New York City, and if you ever go there, you will believe it, because it feels like you see a good share of them everywhere you go. The city is full of people.
I talked to a lot of people while I was up there. If you don’t know, I like to talk, and I enjoy meeting people. I had a great time getting to carry on conversations. But there were a lot of people I did not get to talk to or meet. And I’ll tell you, as you walk down those streets (and I don’t say this in a judging way, but as someone who likes to pay attention and observe), a lot of times it wasn’t hard to tell what somebody was filled with.
Our presentation says a lot. That’s not a superficial thing; it’s simply psychologically true. Within the first seven seconds of meeting somebody, whether you want to or not, you are going to draw a conclusion about that person. That’s brain science, and you can’t stop it from happening. The way we carry ourselves and present ourselves is not secondary stuff, and it’s not superficial, because what we show communicates who we actually are on the inside.
I’ll be honest with you: there were some people I passed who were very put together, very professional, with a smile on their face. I didn’t know them as people, but I could get a sense of what was filling them and guiding them that particular day.
Sadly, I also saw a lot of people who were simply full of the wrong things. As I walked down one street, I passed two men tying bands around their arms, getting ready to inject what was most likely heroin. Almost every building I passed had top-shelf alcohol on display, and people were flocking to these things. You could tell who was filled with what.
The fact is, what fills us will ultimately find its way out of us. Whether we want it to or not, we will eventually show ourselves to the people around us. Whatever is going in is eventually going to come out, and you will not be able to hide it.
That’s easy to see somewhere like New York City, but it’s even more true in the church. This past week, sitting on the train and going different places, I met a lot of people who proudly wore the title of Christian. But I’m going to be honest with you: the things that were coming out didn’t match what they claimed was going in. Because what goes in is ultimately going to come out.
Be Not Drunk with Wine, but Be Filled with the Spirit
That’s why Paul says here in Ephesians 5:18:
And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit. (Ephesians 5:18)
We talked a little about this last week, and I pointed out that Paul’s primary focus here was not necessarily the alcohol itself. Now, the Ephesians did have an alcohol issue. It was part of their rituals to get drunk and go to lavish parties, and this was actually a form of worship to their pagan gods. But alcohol was not Paul’s primary focus. He was using the most prevalent issue of the day to contrast getting filled with the world and getting filled with the things of God.
He tells us not to fill ourselves with the things of this world, because the more of that goes in, the more of it is going to come out of you. The more you fill yourself with the things of this world, the more that excess and sensuality is going to flow back out of you, and that will become the stamp of your life.
Instead, he says, we as believers are called to be filled with something much greater, something much more wonderful than anything you can find in this world: “Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.”
Why does he want us filled with the Spirit? Because what goes into you will eventually come out of you.
God created us to be His image bearers. He created humanity to be pictures of His glory and stewards of His creation, so that we might show the world the glory of the God who created us. Because of the sin that entered in, we no longer bear a perfect image of God. But by His grace, through Jesus Christ, He has given us access to His Spirit, who is now redeeming us, sanctifying us, and restoring us to the image of Jesus Christ. He is turning us back into the image bearers we have always been called to be. But we will only be able to do that effectively when the Spirit is the driving force in our lives.
I’ve told you week after week, and we’ve touched on this a lot: we may think we have all this free will. We may think we can make the best decisions for our lives on our own. But what the Bible consistently tells us is that we are going to be led by something. We are going to be controlled and influenced by something. So the question is not whether you can rise above influence. The question is, what are you going to allow yourself to be influenced by?
Paul says that, as believers, it must not be the world. Because if the world is going in, eventually the world is going to come out. Instead, fill yourself with the Spirit who moved upon the face of the waters when God created all things. Fill yourself with the Spirit who has been working and moving in creation, doing the will of God. Fill yourself with the Spirit who is going to mold you and make you into the image of Christ.
What Comes Out When the Spirit Goes In
Last week we talked about this filling, and I got into more of the grammar and details. But what Paul shows us in the next verses is the evidence we will find in our lives when we are filled with the Spirit. Notice that he says, “Be filled with the Spirit,” and then immediately says, “speaking to yourselves.” If we look at the original grammar, this is not a new thought beginning. It is a continuation of what he has just said. In other words: when you get filled with the Spirit, here are the things that are going to be present in your life.
We all know Galatians tells us about the fruit of the Spirit, and we could go there and talk about all of those things today. But here, Paul doesn’t focus on that list of nine fruits that flow out of a Spirit-filled life. Instead, he focuses on some external results that come when we are being filled with God’s Spirit.
This morning, I want to show you some things you ought to see in your life if you are being filled with the Spirit of God: some things that should be coming out if the Spirit is indeed going in. When we get to the end, I’m going to ask you to rate yourself from one to five on the quality and quantity of these things in your life. I hope you’ll be honest with yourself, because nobody trusts it when something only has five-star reviews. At the end of the day, we know we’re not all that perfect. But be honest as you look at the evidence of your life, because it will help us see where we need the Spirit to move in and help us.
The First Evidence: A Song in Your Heart
The first evidence Paul gives us of being filled with the Spirit comes in verse 19:
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:19)
God created mankind to be a singing people. He created music. He wrote music theory. He gave us the wonderful gift of song as a way to express what is on the inside that words sometimes cannot accomplish alone. We all have songs that reach into the deepest parts of who we are. They touch us, help us, comfort us, and move us.
The truth is, even the world sings, because God created us all the same. We were created to be a singing people. The question is what song is being sung.
In fact, William Shakespeare, a man who was not writing as a Christian, penned this in one of his famous plays:
The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils;
The motions of his spirit are dull as night
And his affections dark as Erebus:
Let no such man be trusted.
This is coming from a very secular man, and he says that if you meet a man who doesn’t have a song in his heart, don’t trust him. Isn’t that interesting? He’s acknowledging what we see in the world: we are designed to be a singing people. We are designed to have a song in our hearts.
But the question lies in which song we choose to sing. The world sings, and the church sings. But who are we singing to? What are we singing about? Paul seems to say here that the more we are filled with the Spirit, the more song we are going to have in our hearts. And not just any song.
Psalms
He says, “speaking to yourselves in psalms.” That word comes from the Greek psalmos, which refers directly to the Book of Psalms. If you didn’t know, the Psalms were actually the hymnbook of ancient Israel. They were the inspired songs God gave the children of Israel to sing, and every one of those psalms had a melody that went with it. They sang these songs in different seasons of their lives. So Paul is saying: sing the words of Scripture. Sing the inspired songs.
Hymns
Then he says you will sing hymns. Now, this is not talking about “Victory in Jesus.” That one was written in the twentieth century. He’s talking about songs written to lift up spiritual truth and be sung in praise to God. They may not be the exact words of Scripture, but they are inspired by Scripture and used to teach spiritual truths. If you look at the hymns of the ages, that’s what they always do. “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” teaches us truth about who God is. These hymns present Scripture to us in our own words, set to melody, so that we might understand the truths of God’s Word.
Spiritual Songs
Then he says spiritual songs. What is this referring to? These are the songs that speak to our human experience and our Christian testimony. These are the songs that move us to pray and sing to God. “Draw Me Nearer” is a spiritual song. It is a prayer put to words, flowing out of the heart to God. It is a conversation with God.
So Paul is saying that as we are filled with the Spirit, these songs are going to begin to flow out of us. We will sing them as an expression of what is already inside of us, because what goes in will come out.
Singing to the Lord, and to One Another
We are to be a singing people. But notice something about this song: “singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.”
As we are filled with the Spirit, we have God Himself living inside of us. We have the Holy One of heaven, the third Person of the Trinity, coming and dwelling within us. The Persons of the Trinity have been in perfect fellowship with one another throughout all eternity. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit have always worked together, always communicated with one another, always been in perfect fellowship. As the Spirit moves in, fills our lives, and takes control of our lives, do you not think He is going to guide us into God-focused, God-directed, God-centered singing and praise? Paul’s point is that the more of the Spirit that comes in, the more of God’s praise is going to flow out.
And this song is not only directed to God. It is also for the benefit of others. He says, “speaking to yourselves,” that is, speaking among yourselves, in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Our conversation with one another is going to be spiritual in nature. It’s going to have a heavenly melody to it that blesses, encourages, and uplifts the people around us.
This is probably a good point to stop and ask: What is the song that flows out of your life? What is the song you sing from day to day? I’m not asking for a specific song title. I’m asking, what song does your heart sing when it’s in its default position?
Do you find the melody of your heart being lifted up to God in praise? Do the words that flow from your lips make a beautiful sound to those around you, encouraging them, strengthening them, and lifting them up? Or do we often find that the song we sing is bringing us down, bringing others down, distracting us, and blinding us to the goodness and glory of God? What is the song that flows from your heart day by day? Paul says that as we are filled with the Spirit, the Spirit is going to overflow and flow out of us as a beautiful melody.
Before I move on, I want to make this clear: not all songs are happy songs. Go read the Book of Psalms. Read about breaking the arm of the wicked and breaking the teeth of the ungodly. There are some really wild things in the Psalms. Not every psalm God gave us to sing is a happy, upbeat song. But all of them point us to Him. All of them guide us through the experiences of this life to the One who can lift us up, strengthen us, and guide us.
So the question is: Are your songs leading you closer to God? Are your songs leading others closer to Him? What is the song you sing?
The Second Evidence: Gratitude in Your Heart
The second evidence is gratitude in your heart:
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 5:19–20)
Giving thanks most of the time? Let’s try that again. Giving thanks always, for all things. Not just good things. All things.
So there’s the evidence of our song: the melody that flows out of us will give us away and tell others what’s on the inside. But the words of our mouth, the gratitude we display, will give us away too. Paul says that when we are filled with the Spirit, there’s going to be a tendency toward thanksgiving and gratitude that is not characteristic of the rest of the world.
We are now entering the Thanksgiving season. Reformation Day is behind us, and we’re heading toward Thanksgiving. I guarantee you, if you get on Facebook this afternoon, somebody is going to start the trend: “Day one, I am thankful for…” Tomorrow it’ll be, “Day two, I am thankful for…” And I say, that’s great. Do it. People will have “grateful,” “thankful,” and “blessed” scattered all over their homes on pumpkins and pretty mums. Everybody suddenly starts talking about gratitude this time of year.
But I’m telling you, when we get to November 27th, you will see the same people posting on Facebook, complaining about traffic, complaining about the holiday season coming, complaining about the water bill and the power bill. We spend twenty-six days in November practicing gratitude, and then we spend the rest of the year complaining about the things that aren’t going right.
Paul says that for God’s Spirit-filled children, this should not be so. We are to be a thankful people all the time, for all things.
“But Some Days I Don’t Feel Thankful”
Now you say, “Stop right there, Justin. Some days I don’t feel very thankful. There are some things I have to go through that I don’t feel very thankful for.”
When you don’t know how you’re going to pay your bills, you don’t feel very thankful. When you’re up at two o’clock in the morning because the pain is so bad you can’t go back to sleep, you don’t feel very thankful. When the people you were supposed to be able to trust have left you flat on your face and slandered your name behind your back, you don’t feel very thankful.
So isn’t it a little cold for Paul to expect us to always thank God for everything?
If we approached it from a worldly perspective, the answer would be yes. But when we are filled with God’s Spirit, we have a perspective we do not share with this world. That perspective is that our God is a good God.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. (James 1:17)
If you have enjoyed any good thing in your life, it came from Him. If you have breath in your lungs today, it’s because of Him. Anything you enjoy, anything that blesses you, anything that is pleasurable to you has come to you from Him, and He deserves the gratitude for it. As we were talking about in Sunday school this morning, the Bible tells us you did not make your blessings happen. God gave you your blessings as a gift, because He loves you and cares for you.
What About the Bad Things?
You say, “Well, Justin, that accounts for the good things. But what about the bad things? What about the suffering I go through?”
The Bible tells us, in what may be one of the most quoted verses in all of Scripture, the one we love to hand out to other people but get mad about when someone says it to us:
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)
When you see someone having a bad day, it excites you to be able to tell them, “But all things work together for good!” But be honest with me. When you were down in the dumps and somebody said, “Don’t worry, all things work together for good,” did that actually make you feel any better?
But the Spirit is there to remind us that this verse is not a platitude. This verse is true. On your worst days, God is in as much control as He was on your best days. When you are having the worst day of your life, God is still God. He is still on the throne. He is still in control. He has not forgotten you. He has not forsaken you. He has not turned His back on you. And He is using what you are going through to bring you to a place of blessing, a place of wisdom, and a place of strength.
James said we are to be joyful when we fall into all kinds of trials:
My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. (James 1:2–3)
God is working something into you that is far better than what you would have gotten if your life were plush and easy. As we begin to look at things not from a worldly or physical perspective, not merely with the eyes we see with, but through the Spirit and the Word of God, we begin to understand that God truly is working all things for our good.
What would have happened to Joseph’s family had he never been sold into slavery? How many of them would have starved and perished? How many Egyptians would have died in the famine had God not put Joseph exactly where he was supposed to be?
Where would you and I be if Jesus had not stepped out of heaven, hung on a cross, and died in our place? Don’t tell me Jesus was having a good day that day. And yet it was the best day that has ever been, because on that day He won the ultimate victory over death, hell, and sin. In Jesus’s greatest hour of suffering, the world’s greatest blessing was extended.
I want to tell you this morning: it does not matter what you’re going through. It doesn’t matter how bad the day is. It doesn’t matter how frustrated you are with the circumstances of your life. You can still be thankful, because God is using it to accomplish something you cannot see today.
That’s not the way the world sees it, and if you get full of the world, that’s not the way you’re going to see it either. But as the Spirit begins to fill us, move in us, and transform us by the renewing of our minds, we begin to see things not from an ant’s view, but from God’s view. We begin to see things for what they truly are.
But you’re not going to get there by pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. You’re not going to get there by turning over a new leaf. You’re not going to get there by building yourself up with positive affirmations every morning: “I am special, I am strong, I can do it today.” You can get there by being filled with the Holy Spirit.
Audit Your Life
We’re not going to make it to the third evidence today, but that’s okay, because it ties together with what’s to come.
I wonder this morning: if you made a pie chart of your gratitude and your grumbling, which one would get the bigger half? If you took account of every thankful word that came out of your mouth and every word of frustration, anger, and bitterness, what would that chart look like?
I wonder, if we were to really audit our lives, what we would find. How is my song? How is my praise? How is my thanksgiving? What mentality do I bring to my life? If these truly are measures of the Spirit’s filling, how much of God’s Spirit is filling you?
Rate yourself honestly, one to five. I’ll be honest with you: I don’t like my own answer. But I don’t tell you this to shame you. I tell you this because there is a better way. There is an opportunity to be filled with the Spirit and to experience that Spirit-filled song, that melody of life, and that gratitude in your heart, and for it to become the way you live day by day.
It’s not going to come from better circumstances, more money, less pain, or better friends. It’s going to come from getting filled with the right thing.
So I want to challenge you this morning. If you’ve done the audit and you say, “Justin, my song is a sad song. My words are full of bitterness. My heart is not directed toward Him; it’s pretty much fixed on me,” then this would be a great week to get on your knees and say:
“God, You died so I could have this Spirit. Thank You, Lord. Would You fill me with Your Spirit? Would You give me the gift You promised to Your children? God, this is not just a hope. This is a promise You made, and I am claiming it today: if I ask, I will receive.”
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. (Matthew 7:7)
This is a prayer God has promised to answer. And I promise you, if you will be filled with the Holy Spirit, it’s going to change the way you live your life. It’s going to change the song that comes out of you.
So pray that prayer, and then get this Book and open it up. I don’t care where you turn or what reading plan you adopt. Just read this Book, and He will give you what you need, day by day, every time.
But here’s the starting point: the honesty to assess your life, to look at the evidence and say, “God, is Your Spirit filling me? God, would You fill me with Your Spirit, and let that melody flow out of my life today?”
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