Enclave Community Church Podcast

Well, I’m gonna begin this morning just with, an assumption. It’s not always safe to begin with assumptions at Enclave, but I think that most of you know, or maybe, maybe I’ll ask this as a question. Did you guys know that, driving while under the influence of alcohol is against the law. Did you, did you guys know that? And even, lawmakers are even concerned about, people walking, under the influence of alcohol? Did you guys know that? Like, so you can be cited for public intoxication and depending on where you live, the state you live in, that might come with a variety. You know, the severity scale goes up and down depending on what state you live in.

But the question that I want to ask you guys is, okay, so a lot of people, maybe not everybody, but a lot of people think that that’s a good idea, it’s, it’s good to try to stop people from, drinking while under the influence of alcohol and maybe even walking under the, so why would that be true? Like you guys, what do you guys think? Feel free to. Why would, why would that be a good idea not to drive while under the influence of alcohol? Impaired judgment. Slow response. Anybody else? It it kills people and it does, it does. So these are all reasons, when you come under the influence of alcohol, your vision is blurry, your response time slows down, your ability to make wise good choices is impaired. Cuz actually what happens in drunkenness is the part of your brain responsible for reasoning and judgment, the nerves in that area of your brain are deadened, and so that becomes like, like a problem.

Now, this impaired judgment that produces unwise choices, unwise behavior, I think that’s kind of what Paul has in mind when he says this in Ephesians 5:18. “And do not get drunk with wine for that is debauchery.” Okay. How many times did you use the word debauchery this past week? Like zero times probably. So it means, that means like kind of has the idea of being excessive sort of in the wrong direction. Unwise. It’s foolish. It’s actually wasting your life away. So the way that the New Living Translation translates this as “don’t be drunk with wine because that will ruin your life.” Now, this is not where Paul stops, and it’s actually not the main point that Paul is trying to make because he goes on to say what? “But be filled with the Spirit.”

Now we are sort of pushing the pause button on our series, going through the book of of Acts in a way, I mean, in the sense that we, we’ve been going through systematically through the passages in the Book of Acts. Different sections. We’re pushing the pause button just for a minute to talk about the work of the Spirit in the Book of Acts. So last week we talked about Holy Spirit baptism, and we talked about how that’s performed by King Jesus the Messiah. It falls on all people groups to make them one. So Holy Spirit baptism is about incorporation. So both Paul, like in First Corinthians 12:13 and Luke, throughout the Book of Acts, they tell us that, okay, Jews and Greeks, slave and free, all people come under, are incorporated into the kingdom of Jesus through Spirit baptism. So we talked about that last week.

Today we’re gonna talk about Spirit filling, and that’s not so much about incorporation as it is about empowerment. And we’ll kind of see how that, sort of plays out. And then next week we’ll talk a little bit about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And we’ll give some special attention to speaking in tongues cuz there’s lots of questions about that. And I have my own questions about that. But we’ll, we’ll get to that, next week.

But today we’re gonna talk about Holy Spirit filling, and we’re gonna kind of come at it from two angles. We’re gonna look at how Paul talks about Spirit filling in Ephesians chapter five, as was read to us by Elan. And then that’s gonna kind of inform or give a fuller picture of what Holy Spirit baptism looks like as it is presented by Luke, both in the Gospel of Luke but also in the book of of Acts. So we’re gonna first look at Paul, and then we’re gonna look at Luke. So let’s think about Paul here at the beginning. What does Paul say about Spirit filling?

So I’m gonna read part of what was already read to us from Ephesians chapter five beginning in verse 15, Paul says, “look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” So don’t be unwise, don’t be foolish. Make wise decisions about how you use your time, and then also live, walk in the will of God. So there’s kind of like he’s setting up this scenario, and that’s the context in which he says, and do not get drunk with wine for that is debauchery, basically you’re saying like this, that’s an example of foolishness, but be filled with the Spirit.

So let’s kind of hone in on that last statement: be filled with the Spirit. Let’s talk first about the verbal part of that: be filled. The first thing to know about be filled is that it is a command. So Paul, does he have authority? He has authority as an apostle, and so he’s giving this command to the the church. And as is the case with all the New Testament commands, they’re not arbitrary. They are meant for human flourishing. So he gives this command, the second thing to know about it is that it’s in the present tense. So what that means is it’s a command to be continually and repeatedly to seek out the feeling, be totally filled with the Holy Spirit to be constantly pursuing that in a repeated kind of way.

So that’s part of the I idea. So he is not saying like, “Hey, take a sip of the spear every, every so often.” No, he’s like, you’re continually after this. So, and that feels kind of active, but then what’s kind of interesting is that this is a passive verb, meaning like, he’s not saying fill yourself.

He’s saying be filled. Isn’t that interesting? And so what, we’re gonna come to that a little bit. The last thing I just wanna know about this verb is that it’s in the plural, so it’s, “you guys be filled.” So he is not like… he’s addressing the entirety of the body of Christ at Ephesus. He’s not talking to some special class of super Christian or something like that.

This is for everybody. So what are you filled with? With the Spirit. Now some people say like, okay, so like the Spirit is sort of like the content that’s being poured in, and I can understand where that’s coming from and that is like, maybe like partially correct, but it seems like the way that the grammar is, and especially when you look at this and with reference to Ephesians chapter three, it seems like the Spirit is more like he’s already in there and he is facilitating, he is the means by which the love of God, the life of God, the power of God comes into the life of the believer so that they are filled, they are influenced by the Holy Spirit. So that’s what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit. But the big question is how? Like, how are we supposed to obey this command?

I say, I said earlier, it’s a passive verb, so that’s kind of strange. It’s like actively do this passive thing. Like a command. When you hear the word command, it makes you feel like, okay, yeah, I need to go do something. But then it’s a passive command. It’s like, okay, I need to receive something. Like how does that exactly work? So I actually think that drunkenness is a pretty good analogy to talk about this type of thing. Now this past week on the side of the building, I’ve been hiding this in here, it’s empty, but on the side of the building, and this is not so unusual for here, but I found this bottle.

I’ve never seen a bottle like this before. This is a special edition. Oh, it actually says collector’s edition. NBA made a collector’s edition of Hennessy Cognac, 40% alcohol. Now, what cognac has to do with basketball, like I just have no idea. So knowing personally, the likely candidates of who might have left this, this is not a situation where somebody pulled this out of their liquor cabinet. Like poured a shot and then poured a shot for their, you know, a couple of their friends after a meal. They had it and then they put it back in the liquor cabinet. That’s likely not what happened, what probably happened is that this was consumed by probably one person in the course of a day may be shared with another, but not too much, like there’s probably one person.

So think about what that would involve it would, it would begin, and I’m not gonna go into all the qualifications with sin nature and how that relates to free will and like all that, but just this, you know, it began with the choice, so whoever drank this, they opened themselves up to be influenced by the contents of this bottle. Now, lemme tell you something. There is no one in the room. Like, I don’t care what kind of tolerance you have, there’s no one in the room that could drink this whole bottle and stay the same person. Like when you’re filled with alcohol, especially with 40% alcohol, you know, this kind of alcohol like you’re going to change.

It’s gonna change the way you talk. It’s gonna change the way that you walk, the decisions that you make. It’s also gonna change the way that you see and relate to other people. And there’s different kinds of drunks. We know this. Like some of them are fighting, some of ‘em are doing some other stuff. And then we’ve all heard the stories of like, I, I’m waking up beside a person I don’t even know, like, so these kinds of things, like they happen. When you fill yourself up, you open yourself up to the influence of alcohol alright? So I’m gonna, I’m gonna put this away. Put it, hide it back there for later. It’s empty.

Okay, so the, alright, now what Paul is inviting us to do is to make the connection between what it means to be filled with alcohol to what? It’s analogous to being filled with the Holy Spirit. When you are seeking to be filled with the Holy Spirit, one of the things that you’re doing is you are opening yourself up to be influenced by him, he is a person. If you notice, like in the, in the analogy with the alcohol, it’s like you make the choice at the beginning but then pretty soon, like the alcohol starts to kind of take over and then it’s kind of like, okay, who’s doing this? And it, and you can’t say, well, I didn’t do it because you were, you did it.

But it’s like, but there’s a lot involved in that, and the same thing when you open up your influence, your heart up to the influence of the Holy Spirit, then it’s hard to sometimes say like, well, who is doing this? It’s cuz the Spirit is starting to take over. Now, how do you open yourself up to the influence of the Holy Spirit? Well, one of the ways in which that happens is when you actually… like the old evangelical answer to this is actually a good one if you qualify it. The old evangelical answer to this kind of thing is to say, “Well, pray and read your Bible,” and it’s kinda like, correct, but we need to think about that because it’s not like check, check, filled with the Holy Spirit. Now that’s not, no.

When you open yourself up to the Holy Spirit in prayer, you’re actually communing with God, and you’re saying, I want to be influenced by you and I want to give me ears to like how you are guiding me. Okay. Then you are opening yourself up to the influence of the Holy Spirit, and you’re being filled. Or how about like when you bathe, like you just immerse yourself in the word of God to commune with God and we’re not talking about like, “Hey, I’m, I’m making sure I understand what everything means,” and like that might be a aspect of it, but you’re actually communing and listening to God as you’re in the word and you’re just kind of bathing in the gospel.

What’s interesting in Colossians, so Colossians, when you compare it to Ephesians, it’s kind of interesting because there are these parallel passages. It’s sort of like the gospel in stereo from the perspective of Paul is coming at you, and he has a very close parallel to Ephesians chapter five that happens in Colossians chapter three. But in Colossians chapter three, that little, the rest of it is kind of the same, but the little, the statement about be filled with the Holy Spirit is said in a different way in Colossians 3:15. There he says, “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” So as you are communing with God in prayer, you’re opening yourself up to his influence and you’re communing with God in the scriptures, bathing in his gospel, which all the scriptures point to then you are opening yourself up to the influence of the Holy Spirit.

Now, here’s the thing about the Spirit. Nobody can be filled with the Holy Spirit and stay the same person but you, you will be changed as his life and his love, and his power comes in. Paul says, “and do not get drunk with wine for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,” and then he qualifies this with five participles. So that’s a fancy word for in. In English that would be verbs with i-n-g at the end. And as he uses these participles, it fleshes out; okay, so you’re filled, you open yourself up to the influence of the Holy Spirit, what does that actually like look like as a, as I, you know, as a result? What’s the result of all of that?

And then Paul, he tells you, when you’re filled with the Holy Spirit, it changes the way that you talk. Like what comes out of your mouth? The first three participles are about this. Addressing, singing, making melody. So Ephesians is all within the context of unity within the body of Christ. And he says this in verse 19, so be filled with the Spirit. What’s that look like? Addressing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody where? To the Lord. So the praise is in the direction to the Lord with your heart. So this is praise to the Lord from your heart. Like, so This is not like, “Hey, this is what I ought to do, so I better,” you know? No, this is, once you’re filled with the Holy Spirit, what comes out of your mouth is praise to God. So that’s one way in which he qualifies it.

Now the fourth participle is about how when the Holy Spirit comes in, it changes your attitude. In verse 20, it says, giving thanks, that’s the fourth, “giving thanks always and for everything to God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” So changes what comes outta your mouth, changes your attitude, and it also changes how you relate to other people. The fifth participle comes in verse 21, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. The Holy Spirit comes in, we begin to submit to one another. We begin to regard others as more valuable than ourselves. And, and desire. Again, this is not, I’m not talking about “oughts” right now.

Like I am seeing it happen where you guys are like, “oh, man, I need to go take care of this, person. Ah, man, what’s the best way in which to take care of this person with this.” Like, you’re, you’re coming to me and asking me these questions. It’s very, very exciting for me, because that’s what happens, when the Spirit fills people, they start, “oh man, oh, my friend over here.” And, and they start to be concerned for one another, and they even make sacrifices, and they don’t even really recognize the fact that they’re making sacrifices. It’s so compelling, it’s so beautiful, and so when the Spirit comes in, it changes all your relationships. And then what’s interesting, and I, I don’t think I’ve ever seen this before, is if you keep reading in Ephesians chapter, Ephesians chapter six. What are those about? They’re about relationships. And so the way your family life changes, your work life changes, everything changes as a consequence of being filled by the Holy Spirit.

So when you open yourself up, your life to the Spirit’s influence his love, his life is power. It changes your posture towards God and other people. And one of the things that changes is how you talk about God and how you talk about Jesus with others. And, and said, this is where Luke, like, you know, Paul ran the race this far hands the baton off to Luke. And now we’re gonna look at how Luke talks about Spirit filling.

Luke uses the same specific word eight times in his writings to talk about the, we translated filling every single time, three times in the book of Luke, five times in the book of Acts. And, and then what I hope to do now is very briefly, so don’t get scared, very briefly, we’re gonna look at each of the eight occasions so we can get like a better sense of, okay, what does Luke mean when he talks about Spirit filling, and then from that posture, like from that place, we’ll be able to say, okay, what’s the difference between Spirit filling and Spirit baptism? And then we’ll talk about what the implications are.

So let’s first look at the three occasions of Spirit filling and the gospel of Luke. The first place that it happens is in Luke 1:15. So there, if you remember, the angel Gabriel comes to Zachariah who is a priest and lets him know, “Hey, you’re gonna have a son, his name is gonna be John, and then he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb, and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.” And then it talks about how he’s like, what he’s gonna do is he’s gonna be an effective witness for the coming of the Messiah. So that’s the first occasion.

The second occasion, these are all in Luke, one actually is in Luke 1:41. And there the situation is Mary is pregnant with Jesus. She goes up into the hill country and she goes to visit her relative Elizabeth, who is pregnant with who? John The Baptist. John The Baptist does what in the womb of Elizabeth? Leaps. He leaps and then we read this beginning in the latter part of verse 41:

[A]nd Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and she exclaimed with a loud cry, blessed argue among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me for behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped with joy.

So like both mom now and baby, they recognize the Messiah and they give bold testimony to the coming of the Messiah filled by the Holy Spirit.

The third occasion in Luke comes in Luke chapter 1:67. There we read “and his father Zachariah,” whose father is that? John the Baptist, “was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied saying,” And then in verse, 68 or 79, he prophesied about the coming of the Messiah, and the role that his own son will play in preparing the way of the Lord. Bold testimony; he prophesies. So in Luke one, John the Baptist, and each of the parents of John the Baptist, when they are filled with the Holy Spirit, they testify to the reality of the coming of the Messiah, okay? Now fast forward to Acts, the sequel to Luke.

I said there were five times where Spirit fillings happen in the Book of Luke. Now, in the first three occasions where this happens, it involves Peter. So just remember that. And it involves more than Peter, but it involves Peter all the first three times. So the first time happens in Acts chapter two. We’re familiar with this because that’s Pentecost, and there in verse four it says, “and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” What were they talking about? Verse 11, the mighty works of God, when and when you see that through the lens of Joel two, which Peter says to do, it’s about prophecy regarding what culminates in the person and work of Jesus Christ. So they give bold testimony to Jesus at Pentecost.

The second occurrence happens in Acts chapter four verse eight. There in that occasion, John and Peter are dragged before the Sanhedrin. And they had just healed who? This guy at the beautiful gate. He had been crippled for how long? It was like 40 years. I now, I’m forgetting now, but a long time. Okay. So he’d been crippled a long time. They’re like, okay, you need to tell us about this. You know, we’re concerned about this because they were also preaching about the resurrection of Jesus. And then it says, okay, so now just think of this. The Sanhedrin are the very same people who put Jesus on the cross. When Peter was in proximity of them, and a little girl asked him a question about Jesus, he said, “I don’t know him.” But now it says, “filled with the Spirit,” then he begins to explain to the Jewish leaders how this person was healed because of the power of the risen Christ, who you, he says to them, you wrongfully crucified. So bold witness, even in the face of opposition.

The third occurrence happens in Acts chapter four, verse 31. So John and Peter are then released from, you know, the presence of the Jewish, leaders and the Jewish leaders, what did they tell them? Don’t talk about Jesus anymore. And so they go with their church family, and they all pray about what? God, would you continue to give us boldness in speaking about Jesus?You know what they didn’t say? They didn’t say like, “I don’t care. We’re gonna continue to speak boldly for Jesus.” They were like, “ah, well, you know,” they did say like, should we obey you or obey God? But, but they knew like, “Hey, if I’m gonna continue in this way, in the face of this kind of opposition, we’re going to need some outside power.” And so they pray and then in verse 31, we read, “and when they had prayed the place in which they gathered was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.” So in each of these three occurrences where Peter is involved, he’s filled with the Holy Spirit, he gives bold testimony regarding Christ, even in the face of opposition, and it is a repeated experience for him. So just take note of that. In the last two occurrences, they involve the Apostle Paul.

So the first of the last happens in Acts chapter nine. And if you remember that story, he’s going up where? To Damascus. What are his hopes? Like, okay, if I can just capture these christians, bound them, bring them back to Jerusalem, I can put an end to this whole mess. On the way there, he encounters the risen Jesus; changes everything. So that you read in verse 17, A disciple of Jesus named an Ananias comes, puts his hands on Paul, then Paul is filled with the Holy Spirit, scales drop from his eyes, he’s baptized, he spends a couple of days with the disciples in Damascus, and then we read this in verse 20, “and immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogue saying he is the son of God.” Bold testimony regarding Jesus.

And then in the last occurrence, Acts chapter 13 verse nine. This is an interesting one. So Paul confronts a magician named Elymas and so what the magician is trying to do, he’s trying to get in the way of a government official from coming to Jesus. Paul then, “filled with the Spirit,” confronts the magician, and then God blinds him. And the government official goes “What?” And says, “I believe in Jesus.” So now we have a bold witness to Jesus with a demonstration of power. So in all these cases, when you put it all together, you think about, okay, this is a repeated happening for Peter. This is a repeated thing that happens to Paul at least two times.

It’s like when the Spirit comes into… he fills a believer of Jesus, a disciple of Jesus what happens is bold testimony regarding Jesus, for the glory of God, for the benefit of people and in opposition, you know, even in the face of opposition. So, okay, so now, alright, knowing that (what Paul says, what Luke says) like how do we think about the distinction between Holy Spirit baptism, Holy Spirit filling? Well, we said Holy Spirit baptism is about incorporation like coming into the body of Christ. It is a one time occurrence at conversion. It’s not meant to be repeated. You are united to Jesus and the family of God forever. And there’s implications about that that we’ll get to in a second. Spirit filling is different. It’s about empowerment. Whereas Spirit baptism happens once, Spirit filling can happen at the same time as Spirit baptism, as was the case in Pentecost. Actually, if you look at Acts one and Acts chapter two, there both baptism and filling are mentioned, and I think it happens in my personal opinion, I think it happens every time.

Like you got the baptism of Holy Spirit, you’re gonna be filled at the same time. Why? Because people confess that Jesus is Lord. What does Paul say Is the only way that that’s possible for anybody to do? By the Spirit. But then the difference is Holy Spirit baptism is a one time occurrence. Holy Spirit filling, it repeats. Like we saw it repeated for Peter. It repeated for Paul. It’s implied in the command that Paul gives in Ephesians chapter five, “be filled.” The implication is is that, well, you can get low, like and how this works like ontologically or metaphysically I have no idea. But I mean, I’m just saying you, the influence can get low and like our, we were meant as image bearers of God to run on God.

Like, so as gas is to a car like God is to us, like we run on God, like we a actually, the way to be, the fullest expression of who you are is to be connected to God. That’s part of what it means to be a human being actually. There is, there’s no such thing as a human being without God. And we were meant to be connected to him intimately and to be completely open to his influence. Now, sin got in the way of that, but what God is inviting us to do, because Jesus died on the cross for us, what that opens up for us is this: now, hey, we can become more human again.

We we’re all made in the image of God. Everybody. Those in here, those outside of here. But that image has been like, it’s been distorted and defaced and all these things, and God’s like, no, I’m gonna, man, I’m gonna, I’m gonna clean things up. But the only way to do that is for me to come in for me to, I, I’m the one who saves. So, and now think now the distinction that we’re making. It’s not just about being like accurate or something like that. And please don’t take this as ammunition to like use against somebody who has, like, they articulated it in a different way. That’s not the point. But see the way to think about it this way, it shapes the way that we think about our Christian life. To know, isn’t it comforting to know that when you are joined to the people of God, the body of Christ, through Holy Spirit baptism, it’s a once and for all deal.

For those of us who maybe came in and out of a home because of foster care or something like that, or like you just have a hard family life. You don’t know where you stand in the family, type of thing. Like God the father says, “I don’t run my family like that.” Like it’s a once and for all type of thing. You’re in the family. It brings assurance and comfort. But then on the other side, when you think about, okay, that was Holy Spirit baptism, Holy Spirit filling, what it tells us is like, but you have to understand like the way to live and flourish in the father’s household is to open yourself up to a loving father’s influence.

That’s the way to flourish and so you need that to be on on repeat. And that does a couple of, that shapes how you think about your life. We at Enclave, one of the things that we cherish is that, look, we’re all, you come together, like I am one minister among all the other ministers, and actually, you come to be equipped for ministry. And so you need to know like, well, how can I have an effective ministry? Do I need to read commentaries? Do I need to, like memorize apologetic arguments? Do I need to work on rhetoric? Do I need to, ah, there’s lots of things you could do and they might be helpful, but the main thing is open up your life to the influence of God.

And then you’ll see, and what that does for you is it keeps you humble. Because as you go out into the world, you’re not gonna lean into your rhetoric, lean into the arguments you’ve memorized, leaned into all these things as if anything’s gonna happen. It’s gonna happen as a result of me being filled by the Holy Spirit. And that the battle is the Lords and that keeps us humble. But it also in this, like in this strange other way, it makes us bold. Because it means like, I, yeah, I, I’m, I’m gonna go to this person’s house. I know what their opinion is gonna be. I know what it’s likely, what they’re likely gonna say. And like, I, you know, but if I, if I just fill, if I just open myself up to the influence of the Holy Spirit, he’ll tell me what to say, what not to say. Tell me what to do, not what to do.

Like he will just guide me in this situation, even in the face of opposition. And if God wants, a situation to change (man, I can testify to this this week, it’s so crazy) but if he wants a situation to change, he can because he’s powerful. He is more powerful than any kind of opposition. And, and so, man, what that invites us into is a, is a, it’s an exciting life where, where you can take what, from our perspective, feels like risk. And see, like, man, I’m filled with Holy Spirit and I just wanna pour out. And guess what? Just pouring out if it’s not received by anyone, is like a life full of joy. But man, when it is received it is so exciting. And so that I just, I don’t know how to say it. You know, like, I can’t make this happen. Yeah, Andrew, listen to your own sermon. You can’t make this happen. Like, but man, what I want for you guys, what I’m praying for you guys, is that you would be, you’d experience it, you’d be filled with the Holy Spirit yourself, and you could see what that kind of life feels like. So let me pray now for that.

Father, with your With your Holy Spirit comes supernatural power that can break the chain of any addiction, past hurts, obstacles, opposition. Nothing can stand in the way of your will, God. And, and so Lord, we, we want to come to you now and ask you, God, would you fill us with your Holy Spirit? We don’t wanna just take a little sip. We wanna be filled. And Lord, we don’t, we’re not even sure exactly of what all that means, but Lord, we wanna trust you with that. And please, please come and do your work now. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.