Paul the apostle wrote to the believers in Ephesus:
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with 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 to God, even the Father (Ephesians 5:18-20).
Once I was on a plane flying from Denver to Dallas. A man sat in the seat next to me and we talked some about who we were, where we lived, what kind of work we did – you know the drill. All of a sudden the entire plane lurched and dropped. We all panicked. An engine had quit. A few minutes went by then another engine failed. The man next to me screamed at me: “You’re a preacher! Do something religious!” So I did. I took up an offering. (Just in case my writing is compellingly convincing – that’s not a true story.)
These verses in Ephesians have a do-something-religious sound. Paul has been writing about how to live, about our daily attitudes and behaviors: no immorality, no greed, be loving, be wise. Coming up soon, he writes about marriage and family. But right here, he says to be filled with Spirit, singing hymns and giving thanks to God. This kind of sounds like you should interrupt daily living with something religious – stop what you’re doing and go to church on Sunday. Have two separate lives – try to be bi-polar: swing from practical living to religious rituals – develop multi-personality disorder: this is the normal, practical Margaret, now on Sunday here’s the religious Margaret.
Yet you don’t find that anywhere in the New Testament. Jesus never taught us to split life into parts. Following Christ includes everything about you. His Kingdom entails all there is. Abundant life covers your entire life.
So Paul is not interrupting himself to say do something religious. He is teaching Spirit-filled living. He’s trying to get us to see that daily living needs to be under the influence of God’s Spirit. He’s telling us, “You need to get drunk on God.”
There are two instructions here: 1. Do not get drunk on wine; 2. Be filled with the Spirit. Those two commands are put together, not because they are so different but because they are so much alike. Do you remember the day of Pentecost described by Luke in Acts 2? I’m not implying that you are old enough to have been there (although I do wonder about a couple of people I know). Do you remember reading Acts 2? When all the disciples of Jesus were filled with the Holy Spirit they talked about “the mighty deeds of God” done through Jesus. Each person in the crowd, even though they had come from various nations, heard what the disciples were saying in their own language. Because of this strange behavior – speaking in everyone’s native language – some in the crowd assumed the believers were “full of new wine” – they’ve been hittin’ the wineskins too early and gotten drunk! Being filled with the Spirit is somehow similar to being drunk.
The issue is influence. The Holy Spirit is not a force that you get more of until you’re full. The Spirit is a Person who gets more of you until you are fully under his influence. When a person is drunk, alcohol influences everything – their thinking, emotions, inhibitions, reflexes, muscle control. When a person is filled with the Spirit, he influences everything – their thinking, emotions, will, morals, home life, work, play…
But there will be different results and consequences. Getting drunk with wine results in “dissipation.” Paul did not write “don’t drink any alcohol.” It’s not the mere drinking of alcohol that is a problem. If you don’t drink, that’s fine; abstinence may be a wise choice for you. But it’s not drinking that results in dissipation. It’s getting drunk. Getting totally controlled by alcohol brings about dissipation.
“Dissipation” means “prodigal” or “wasteful.”
It’s quite accurate when we call someone who is drunk “wasted.” Getting drunk is wasting yourself. We’ve all known someone who possessed skills and talents but because of alcoholism (or drug addiction) they rarely if ever reached their potential. Their skills were wasted. Also probably their marriage, family, friendships, education, and innocence. Don’t get drunk – it’s a waste.
Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit doesn’t lead us into actions that resemble drunkenness for Scripture teaches us: Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:13). Think about what the Spirit brings about – his purposes and goals for us. Just in this letter to the Ephesians, we’re told these things about the Spirit’s work:
- Guarantees our inheritance from God (1:13-14)
- Gives wisdom and revelation that helps us know God better (1:17)
- Provides access to our Father (2:18)
- God lives in his people by the Spirit (2:22)
- God strengthens you with power through his Spirit in your inner being (3:16)
- Enables unity of the church (4:3)
- Makes praying effective (6:18)
Just in Ephesians! The Holy Spirit reveals and provides all that God has for us. When you are filled with the Spirit, under the influence of God’s Spirit, drunk on God, you’ll live life that is abundant; you’ll live in Christ’s Kingdom every day.
Something specific goes with being Spirit filled. This is what may seem “religious,” but there’s more to it than that. “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 to God, even the Father.” When the Spirit fills you, he puts song in your heart, and you let it out in praise to God. Music does something that nothing else does. Singing expresses feelings and changes feelings. Music happens when the Spirit is in control.
This singing not for performance. Paul is not promoting “Christianity’s Got Talent” or “Kingdom Idol.” See what he says: speaking to one another and singing to the Lord. Spirit-induced singing is a conversation among the family of God. It is interacting with other worshipers and with the Trinity. It’s not just entertainment. It’s powerful communication with the whole family including the Father. Singing provides teaching, comfort, challenge, hope, direction, encouragement, inspiration, and bonding for people. And Paul says it’s part of “always giving thanks…to God.” Spirit-filled singing gives praise. It expresses our need for God and our appreciation for his love, mercy, and truth.
Nik Ripken was a missionary involved in relief ministry in Somaliland, Africa, in the 1990’s. That nation was devastated by a long and brutal civil war. Violence and chaos were everywhere. One morning, Nik and his partners walked along a bomb-cratered street in Mogadishu, looking for needs in the neighborhood which they might help. They saw so many huge needs that they felt overwhelmed. Nik felt the presence of evil so strongly squeezing out any sense of hope that their ministry could actually help anything. He felt deeply discouraged. Suddenly he heard a sound – like angels singing – and first thought he was hallucinating. He set out to find where the music was coming from. Soon they found a small orphanage with about 30 children singing Christian songs. They were being led by a woman named Sophia. She had lost her husband, two daughters, her home, and job in the war. Sophia had gathered these homeless orphans to try to care for them. Part of that care was teaching them to sing songs of faith. Singing strengthened her own faith and instilled some happiness and hope in the orphans. That day their singing encouraged and strengthened Nik to not give up and keep doing the ministry God had put him in.
Singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs is more than something religious to do. Spirit-filled singing – worship by whatever form – makes a difference in people’s lives. It even makes a difference to God.
There is something else Paul says which is very powerful: be filled with the Spirit, sing, and give thanks “in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” That was a wildly radical statement to make in 60 A.D. The city of Ephesus was an outpost of the Roman empire. The Romans proclaimed that Caesar was Lord. They didn’t really care if you actuslly believed it or not as long as you said you believed it. One New Testament dictionary states: “the first attacks of the Roman state were directed not so much against the holding of Christian belief as against the liturgy… Christian worship, from the standpoint of the state, was deliberate treason…” If they kept their beliefs to themselves, Christians in the Roman empire would have suffered no persecution. They didn’t. Instead, they gathered in homes and public places and sang “at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10-11). They sang “the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and His Christ; and he will reign forever… We give you thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign” (Revelation 11:15, 17). Filled with the Spirit, the believers declared with their worship, “Caesar is not lord; Rome is not the ruling empire; Jesus is Lord; his Kingdom is here, and he will reign over all forever and ever, and we are his people!”
When you actively worship – with your heart, mind, and spirit – with your voice, eyes, hands, and feet – with singing and other expressions – you are taking your stand with Jesus. You are pledging your allegiance to Christ the Lord. You are bringing his Kingdom deeper into your heart and releasing its truth and power into the world.
This is so much more than doing something religious. Worship forges a powerful connection with your God. It builds a spiritual bond with other worshipers. You undergo a transformation of priorities and values. You understand and contribute to the purpose and mission of the Kingdom. You receive healing and empowering to live as a follower of Jesus. You glorify and exalt our God who deserves all the honor and praise we can come up with.
The apostle actually wrote, “keep on being filled with the Spirit.” Keep on presenting yourself to Christ by faith and trust, by surrender and commitment. The Spirit takes his place as the influencer, the shaper of your heart, as you get drunk on God.