How to be Filled with the Spirit

“And be not drunken with wine… but be filled with the Spirit, speaking one to another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs making melody with your heart to the Lord...” (Eph. 5:18-21)

This verse contains a spiritual imperative… we are to be filled with the Spirit. That filling is our responsibility not Gods. We are filled with the Spirit when we sing, when we give thanks and when we subject ourselves to one another.

These verses and the preceding verses are instructions given to individual Christians, i.e., not assembly instructions. The singing instructions then are not primarily regulating congregational (assembly) singing but are primarily about an individual being “filled with the Spirit” by singing. That can be done as an individual, a group of individuals or the assembly. If we say that these verses concerning singing only regulate congregational singing then by the same reasoning “giving thanks” and “subjecting ourselves one to another” would also have to be exclusively congregational (assembly) related. Simply… not true.

Be filled with the Spirit by actively following the instructions listed in Ephesians 5; Sing, give thanks, and place the needs of others before your own needs. It is your spiritual responsibility.

Work for Salvation

“So then… work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12)

Here’s an interesting scripture… we’re supposed to work out our own salvation. Wait a minute, I thought the work was God’s and salvation was given as a free gift (grace) with no strings attached?

First of all the free gift of grace is Jesus Christ (Titus 2:11). We have the spiritual responsibility of becoming Jesus Christ (Eph. 4:13). That responsibility requires some work on our part.

So specifically what work is described in Phil. 2? We are to imitate the servitude of Jesus. Jesus served the world and we must be like him. We must serve each other. It starts by developing the attitude that everyone else is better than we are. It’s easy to do things for people that we respect and admire. When we have the attitude that we’re better than everyone else and our things are more important than the things of others, then we tend to just serve ourselves. We’ve got to work out of that kind of selfish living.

“… not looking each of you to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others” (Phil.2:4)

So then we accept the free gift of Jesus Christ who pays the price for our sins and we work to become like him. We work to become servants. We work for our salvation because Heaven will only be populated with servants.

Motivations of False teachers from Galatians

The letter to the churches in Galatia was written to correct a particular false teaching. Namely, that non-Jewish Christians would have to be circumcised to be acceptable to Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul identifies their motivations for teaching this soul- damning doctrine.

Galatians 6: 12-13. “Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13 Not even those who are circumcised obey the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your flesh”

Here it is… first they wanted to escape persecution. The persecutors were Jews who rejected the teachings of Jesus Christ. These false teachers were trying to escape persecution by circumcising Greek Christians so they could make the claim that Christianity was just a type of Judaism. After all, Jews were intensely interested in converting the Greeks to Judaism. Jesus said to the Jews…

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.” (Mt. 23:15)

If these false teachers could convince the Jews that these new Christians were *just* hybrid Jews then they would not only escape persecution but also achieve their second motivation… making a “good impression outwardly” with the Jews and “Boasting about their flesh” to the Jews.

False teachers are no different today. They want to be accepted… not rejected or persecuted and they love the lime-light. A false teaching can be dressed up and made to look good. Examine the teaching to see if there is consistency with the scriptures and look at the teacher’s motivation… otherwise it could cost you your soul.

Galatians 5 describes something called “the work of the flesh”. Really it should probably be called “the work of those who are led by Satan”. Work implies that a wage will be received and those who are led by Satan will indeed be paid a wage.

Those who are working for Satan do things like having sex with whoever might be available... homosexuality, drunkenness, wild partying, animosity, bickering and fighting are all activities associated with Satan. Those engaged in such activities have wages that are paid on earth and in life after earth.

On earth you can expect your life to be characterized by; Isolation, unhappiness, turmoil, impatience, arrogance, etc. (6:22-23). In the afterlife you can expect eternal suffering (5:21).

Choose to “work” for God and experience blessings on earth and in Heaven (5:22-23 & 6:8).