09.02.2021
IBC Admin
"Do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit."
(Eph 5:17–18)
Let us begin here by asking a simple question: what is the person or circumstance or thing that is primarily influencing our lives? Depending on what that influence is, will determine how our attitudes, actions and thoughts are shaped.
When a person allows alcohol to be an influence in their lives, they lose control of their emotions, their thoughts, their actions. In fact when a person is driving and drinking, a police officer will issue a summons DUI, which means “driving under the Influence.” The Apostle Paul in Ephesians 5:18 is outlining a principle here, rather than alcohol or some other "thing" influencing us on a daily basis, he is encouraging us to let God's Holy Spirit influence us. That is what it means to be "filled with the Spirit."
Some mistakenly see the "filling of the Holy Spirit" as primarily a one-time experience that they may get during a worship service or a time of prayer. Theologically this confuses with what Paul taught in I Corinthians 12:13 and here in Ephesians 5:18. In I Corinthians 12:13, when Paul writes, "in One Spirit we were baptized into the body," this "baptism of the Spirit" is a one-time occurrence that happens at the time we believe in Jesus, where we are taken from the world and "immersed" or "baptized" into the church or body. The verbal tense here for "baptized” in Corinthians is aorist past, which is a one-time past occurrence.
In Ephesians 5:18, "be filled with the Spirit," is a day to day or regular occurrence as the believer makes himself available to God in prayer, the reading of God's word, fellowship and choices that allow God into our lives on a moment by moment basis. If we drink unto drunkenness, than alcohol becomes our primary influencer. But if we give ourselves to the things of God, God Himself becomes our primary influencer and then the believer’s life is filled with Him.
May we understand and choose a life that is pleasing to the Lord, "not foolishness, but knowing what the Lord's will is." May we choose the things of God so that our hearts may be transformed to be like Jesus and we are continually filled with Him!