Meshing the Word and the Spirit

What does it look like for a church to be filled with the Spirit?

Wouldn’t you want to be part of a congregation that is full of the Holy Spirit? A church filled with the Spirit will be a glorious thing, right? But, what does a church filled with the Holy Spirit look like?

The passage I’ve chosen for this discussion is Ephesians 5:18-21 ESV. It doesn’t give us a description of an historic church as the snapshot in Acts 2:42-48 does. Instead, it gives us some building blocks that, if implemented, will create the possibility of a winsome Spirit-infused church. I wanted to focus on this passage because it gives us hope that, by the grace of God, we can develop such a faith community.

“And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

In the original language, there are two verbs of command and five present participles. What that means grammatically is that the command verbs give us instructions to obey; the present participles give us the fruit of following the commands.

Commands and Present Participles

The Commands

• Do not get drunk with wine
• Be filled with the Holy Spirit

The Present Participles

• Addressing one another in psalms and hymns and songs from the Spirit
• Singing and making melody to the Lord from the heart
• Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father
• Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ

Reflections

The church collective: Here’s an important reminder: Paul is writing to the church collective, not to individuals. This is what a congregation filled with the Spirit looks like. This is important to point out because otherwise, with our Western mindset, we would think that this instruction is for us in our “God-and-me” relationship. If we think that way, we miss the profound vision Paul is giving for life together as a family of believers.

Vertical and Horizonal relationships: Notice the objects of the verbs. Two are “one another” and two are God. Our horizontal life with each other will be rich with encouragement, affirmation and mutual submission. Our vertical life with God will be brimming with hearts full of adoration and thanksgiving. The bottom-line is that our relationship with God is more intimate, and our relationship with each other is richer by far, when we make it a goal to be filled with the Spirit whenever we gather to be the church! 

When we gather, be filled: How does a body of believers get filled with the Holy Spirit?  One way is when we get together, we collectively pray, “Come Holy Spirit!” When there is hunger in our hearts and faith that he will respond, he does come. Sometimes there might be physical manifestations. Some people laugh, others cry, some shake or fall. Ultimately, we are asking the Spirit of God to influence our thoughts, our emotions, our choices – every part of who we are. The Spirit is the one who fills us and he fills us with himself.

The ultimate fruit: Paul is saying when a congregation gathers, invites the Holy Spirit to shape not just our meetings but our lives, here is what will happen. We will:

• speak to each other with words of life from both the Word and the Spirit,
• engage in heart-felt worship to God
• live with hearts overflowing with thankfulness to God, and
• submit to one another, because we honour Jesus.

THIS is the ultimate outcome of being filled with God’s Spirit.

Here is my main point: If we:

• teach this to our congregations,
• regularly pray into it, and
• choose to live with these goals in mind,

then I believe the Church, and Jesus, will become irrepressibly attractive to the world around us!

Our longing: This is what we are longing for in our local church. We dream of the day when someone looking in will say, “Behold, how they love one another!”, echoing what was said of the early Church.

Simple but not easy: While it is a noble goal to which we aspire, we must be honest that none of these elements of the Spirit-filled life are easy or straightforward. The instruction is simple to understand, but not that easy to implement. As human beings in relationship, it is inevitable that we will hurt each other. When that occurs, our instinct is to react with critical words, judgmental attitudes and closed spirits. In those moments, empowering each other with affirming words and mutual submission feels about as natural as the east is from the west.

The relentless attack of daily living: Similarly, it is not automatic, in the midst of daily living, for our hearts to be overflowing with adoration, praise and thanksgiving to God. The pressures of life – family concerns, financial strain and health issues – bombard our minds and often steal our peace. The constant swirl of fear, anxiety and confusion in the world can easily stifle any authentic gratitude and heart-felt worship, if we allow it to do so.

My testimony: I am part of a movement that was birthed in an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that began in 1994. During that season there were many dramatic and intriguing manifestations among those who attended these meetings. At the heart of it though, we tasted what Paul describes in this passage. As the Spirit moved, worship of God became deep, intimate and joyful. Many new songs of intimate worship were written. Relationships in the church, in general, became marked by love, grace and honour. Out of that time, new ministries of evangelism and social care were launched in many parts of the world.

Be filled: This is why we need to make it our steady goal to be filled with the Spirit every time we gather as a church family! Make room for the Holy Spirit, everybody! Let him influence our hearts, minds and behaviour. The transformation will be glorious and attractive! Come Holy Spirit!!!

How about you? How would you say your congregation is doing with these four marks of a Spirit-filled church? Where would you like to see improvement?

Come Holy Spirit! Influence our thoughts, our emotions, our wills and our actions. We want to be the kind of church that is being transformed and reflecting the beauty of Jesus in increasing measure so that all may know that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Amen!