Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20130526.htm

THE PRISON EPISTLES: NURTURE FOR OPPRESSED BELIEVERS
I. Ephesians: Nurture In Living Focused On God's Eternal Purpose For Christians
C. Nurture In Applying The Believer's Positional Truth To Life And Ministry
5. Nurture In God's Personal Spiritual Empowering
(Ephesians 5:18-21)
  1. Introduction
    1. When Paul wrote the "Prison Epistles" of Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians and Philemon, the fact that he was in prison troubled believers, Philippians 1:12-13; Colossians 2:1-2; 4:7-8 and Philemon 22; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, p. 1672, "Introduction to the Letter of Paul to the Ephesians."
    2. To nurture his readers, and for them to nurture others, Paul urged them in Ephesians 5:18-21 to apply their positional truths in Christ to a godly personal walk in God's personal spiritual empowering as follows:
  2. Nurture In God's Personal Spiritual Empowering, Ephesians 5:18-21.
    1. The Ephesians 5:18 command of not being drunk with wine, which state is termed "incorrigibility, unruliness" (asotia, Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 640) by Paul, is strongly contrasted with his call to be filled with the Holy Spirit: the word rendered "but" (KJV) is alla, a strong adversative that means "but rather," Abbott-Smith, A Manual Lex. of the Grk. N. T., 1968, p. 21.
    2. By the "filling" of the Holy Spirit, Paul did NOT mean that believers were to acquire the baptism "in" the Holy Spirit accompanied by speaking in tongues as taught by Charismatics, for 1 Corinthians 12:13, 30 reveals all believers are baptized "in" ( en, U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 606) the Spirit though not all spoke in tongues: the question, "do all speak with tongues?" in 1 Corinthians 12:30 is a rhetorical one that expects a negative answer [indicative mood with the subjunctive negative adverb, me], revealing that not all of the Corinthian believers spoke in tongues though all of them were baptized "in" the Holy Spirit, U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 607; J. Gresham Machen, N. T. Grk. For Beginners, 1951, p. 197.
    3. Rather, the context shows that by the "filling" of the Spirit in Ephesians 5:18, Paul meant his readers were to be controlled by the Spirit in contrast to being controlled by wine, incidentally providing the Biblical solution to substance abuse today: in place of escaping a sense of powerlessness to face life's humanly insurmountably negative trials by means of substance abuse, the believer is to rely upon the Holy Spirit for His empowering control! [The world's substance abuse problems are solvable by the filling of the Spirit!]
    4. Paul then gave four effective behaviors that were to rise from the Spirit's control, behaviors that strikingly contrast with behaviors produced by drunkenness (as follows), Ephesians 5:19-21:
      1. First, opposite speaking slurred vulgarities as in drunkenness, believers controlled by the Holy Spirit were to speak to one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, Ephesians 5:18a, 19a.
      2. Second, opposite profanity spoken in drunkenness with wine, believers controlled by the Holy Spirit were to sing (ado, Ibid., Abbott-Smith, p. 10) and sing praises (psallo , Ibid., p. 487) to the Lord in their hearts, Ephesians 5:18a, 19b.
      3. Third, opposite ungrateful, angry outbursts as in drunkenness, believers controlled by the Spirit were to give thanks always for all things in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ unto the Father, Eph. 5:18a, 20.
      4. Fourth, opposite insubordination and hostility toward overseers as in drunkenness, believers controlled by the Spirit were to submit to one another in their Biblical roles that Paul later explained in Ephesians 5:22-6:9 [wives with husbands, children with parents, servants with masters], Ephesians 5:18a, 21.
Lesson: To handle the temptation to feel vulnerably powerless before humanly unmanageable trials where one tries vainly to escape them by substance abuse and its unedifying, sinful behaviors, God calls us believers in Christ to rely on so as to be controlled by the indwelling Holy Spirit. In doing so, we are to speak to one another in edifying music versus fomenting verbal vulgarities as in substance abuse, we are to sing unto and praise the Lord from the heart versus using profanity as in substance abuse, we are to give thanks to God through Christ in all things at all times versus expressing angry outbursts of ungratefulness as in substance abuse and we are to submit to one another in our Biblical roles versus being improperly insubordinate and hostile toward our proper overseers as in substance abuse.

Application: May we be "filled," or controlled by the Holy Spirit for personal empowerment for living.