Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Ephesians 5:18-21 | Date: April 26, 2015 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

Very much regretted that I couldn’t be here with you last evening. The way things are at our house, one of us has to be gone at a time. And since Kim couldn’t come and preach for me this morning, I stayed home last evening as she came. Heard wonderful reports. In fact, I saw several videos of it all. Looked like a wonderful time. So much to say. One thing I’ve just got to say, I’ve always taken great refuge in the fact that I was the youngest of all of the pastors. And then last night I get publicly ridiculed for being so old. But at least you don’t have me on video like they have Pastor Boyd acting in such a distinctly unreformed way. Oh my. That’s one for posterity.

Take your Bibles please and turn to Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5. Really good to have Steve Daniel back with us. He’s been out for a month. It’s great to have you back, brother. We love having you with us. We’re thankful God has brought you back. Ephesians chapter 5, and I’ll begin reading with verse 15. The title of the message this morning is “The Spirit-Filled Church.” We’ll be focusing especially on verses 18 through 21.

Beginning our reading with verse 15: “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore, 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, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart, giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

Let’s bow for prayer. Our Father, we pray that you would open our eyes, that we may behold wondrous things out of your wonderful word. We pray in Jesus’ name.

The Spirit-Filled Church

Last evening, or yesterday afternoon, I guess it was, many of you noticed I posted on Facebook the title of today’s message, “The Spirit-Filled Church,” Ephesians 5:18 through 21. And then I put the little question after it: “Can a Reformed Baptist church be filled with the Spirit too?” And you might have noticed that the first response was from a friend of mine out west, and he said, “Yes, Reformed Baptists can be filled with the Spirit too, but they probably wouldn’t show it.”

Which raises an interesting question. What comes to your mind when you hear the expression “spirit-filled” or “spirit-filled church”? What is a spirit-filled church? What does a spirit-filled congregation look like? You think immediately in terms of perhaps the entire congregation speaking in an unknown tongue? Or do you think perhaps in some other kind of commotion in the congregation—slayings in the Spirit? Barking—that was one manifestation of the Spirit we’re told in one area of the continent a few years ago. Laughter.

The term today, “spirit-filled,” has been taken up—it’s a biblical expression—but it’s been taken up almost entirely by that segment of the professing church that emphasizes, almost to the exclusion of other things sometimes, those kinds of spectacular manifestations of the Spirit, like we see in Acts, like speaking in tongues and healings and things like that. The question I want to take up this morning is: what comes to the mind of the Apostle Paul? Or what is in his mind when he says, “be filled with the Spirit”? What does, according to the Apostle Paul, a spirit-filled congregation look like?

Now in the larger context—and we saw some of this last week—but in the larger, both theological and biblical and redemptive-historical context of all of this, we’re dealing now with an assumption, and that is that this is the age of the Spirit. That was a big promise in the Old Covenant, that the day would come when the Spirit of God would come in such full measure that it would be displayed in the hearts of God’s people everywhere. We find it reflected even in the New Testament, in the Gospels, and then early in the Book of Acts. John the Baptist proclaimed, “He is coming after me, who will not baptize you with water, but He’ll baptize you with the Spirit.” We come to the book of Acts, and Jesus says to His disciples just before His ascension, “You wait here until the promise of the Spirit comes.” And then of course we come to Acts chapter 2, the day of Pentecost, and there’s an explosion of the work of the Spirit. And all through the book of Acts, and then through the epistles as well, we’re reading about the Holy Spirit and His work everywhere.

So in the Old Covenant, they’re looking forward to this time of this great outpouring of the Spirit. And in the New Covenant, we have this age of the Spirit which has come. Now, as we find, it’s not come in its fullest measure yet; it is the down payment of a full measure of the Spirit that will come in the eschaton. But here we are in this age of the Spirit, and of course, groups of interpreters have divided over this question. This is, to me, one of the most difficult questions in all of theology: How do you state precisely the difference of the work of the Spirit in the Old Covenant and the work of the Spirit in the New Covenant? Volumes and volumes have been written over that question. As I say, it’s a very difficult question. On the one side, you’ll have people saying that the difference is almost nil. It’s such a flat reading of the scripture that by the time you’re done, you’re wondering, “What is the difference again?” And the other is so stark—the difference is so stark of the work of the Spirit in this covenant—that you wonder how in the world anyone ever believed or served the Lord in the Old Covenant.

As I say, it is a difficult question, I grant that, but what we have to at least recognize is that this is a day of great advance. It was promised that the Spirit would come, and the Spirit now has come in full measure for us to serve in many different kinds of ways. Paul can state, for example, in Romans chapter 8, that part of the definition of being a believer is that we have the Spirit of God. Some groups will ask you, “Have you received the Spirit yet?” The answer ought to be, “Well, yes, I’m a believer. I’ve received the Spirit.” That’s what a believer is in part. He’s one who has the Spirit. And so Paul can say that a Christian is one who is led by the Spirit.

And there again, we have another expression that is often taken in other kinds of ways. It’s taken to mean the leading of the Spirit is some mystical experience and God tells me to take this job or not, to buy this car or not. And it’s not at all what the leading of the Spirit is in Paul’s vocabulary. He’s speaking of this new age of the outpouring of the Spirit, when the Spirit has come to dominate in the lives and the experience of the new covenant people of God. And community-wide, we experience this working of the Spirit, working in us in many different kinds of ways—assuring us that we are God’s sons, gifting us for service to the body, and leading us into righteousness.

And I think all of that is necessary to keep in the background when we come to Ephesians 5 verse 18: “Be filled with the Spirit.” At the very least, what Paul is saying here is that we are to live and we are responsible to live in keeping with this new provision of the Spirit that has been given to us. Are we people, by definition, who are led by the Spirit? Yes, we are. Paul says, “Well then live that way. Live in keeping with this marvelous privilege of this great work of the Spirit in us.” And in fact, we saw last time this language of being filled with something, or specifically being filled with the Spirit, consistently has this connotation of being characterized by, or governed by, or controlled by—and in this case, live under the controlling influence of the Spirit of God.

And all of that, of course, points up the supernaturalness of the Christian life from the new birth onwards. The Christian life is one of supernatural empowerment. God the Spirit has come and brought us out of spiritual death into spiritual life. We now see Christ as we have never seen him before. We see ourselves as we had never seen ourselves. We come running to Christ in faith, and the whole bent and direction of our heart and life now is Godward. Incompletely yet, yes, but the direction and the bent of our life now is Godward because the Spirit of God has come with great transforming, life-shaping power. So we love to speak—I love to speak—of the supernaturalness of the Christian life. What God requires of us, he provides for us. He commands; he provides for the command to be fulfilled.

So, the supernaturalness of the Christian life. But—but—although there is supernatural provision and supernatural empowerment, living the Christian life is not something that is done without our participation and effort. And in fact, we know that by this command itself. It is a command; it’s an imperative mood. “Be filled with the Spirit.” The responsibility is yours. Be filled with the Spirit.

In fact, we should look again—turn over a few pages to Colossians chapter three. You’ll see the parallel passage to this. In fact, you might want to keep a marker here; I think we’ll come back again. Verse 16: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” Now here he doesn’t say, “be filled with the Spirit,” but he has a parallel kind of expression: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” And then you see the parallel continuing: “teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your heart.” And there we remember last time we saw that the parallel was such that I think it’s right to say that in Colossians we have not only a parallel kind of expression, “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly,” but we have here an expression of the means by which we can fulfill the command of Ephesians 5, “be filled with the Spirit.” How can we be governed by the Spirit more consistently? Answer: by letting the Word of Christ dwell in us richly. And so it’s a familiar theme in the Bible of the Word of God having its cleansing and sanctifying effect in our lives. And by saturating our minds with the Word of God, we become increasingly influenced by it and increasingly under the influence and government of the Holy Spirit who has come.

Now back to Ephesians here, chapter 5 and verse 18. We have described for us in the following verses just how the Spirit shapes—the Spirit of God shapes—both individual and corporate experience for the Christian. And I want you to notice here—I hope this isn’t too technical—but notice the five (I don’t like to talk grammar in church) but there they are, the five participles that are here in the following passage. Notice them. Verse 18: “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 all your heart, giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

So: be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another (or speaking to one another) in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody, giving thanks, and submitting. Be filled with the Spirit, speaking, singing and making melody, giving thanks, and submitting. And what these five participles do is fill in or fill out for us the command. They explain to us the results of the command, the specifics as to how we can show that we are filled with the Spirit of God. So that’s what we’ll be doing this morning is unpacking that, hopefully in its significance for us as a congregation.

Just another quick note regarding the paragraph division here. You’ll notice probably in your Bible, as it is in mine, the paragraph division comes next at verse 22. Chapter five, verse 22, all the way through chapter six and verse nine has to do with these household codes. That’s a word, an expression that Martin Luther, the reformer, coined when he was studying this passage—the Haustafel, the household codes or the house table. So you have commands here for wives, for husbands, for children, for masters and slaves—household codes. And we have then the beginning of that next paragraph in verse 22. But it is clear that the idea of submitting in verse 21 is carried over in verse 22. And in fact, the word—the command “submit”—is not there in verse 22 in the original. It’s carried over from verse 21 in English for translation’s sake. So it’s clear that verse 22 still goes along with verse 21. So it’s part of that paragraph of thought. They belong together. It’s also clear that this submitting business belongs with verse 18 and following: “Be filled with the Spirit… submitting.” And it’s also clear that verse 18, “be filled with the Spirit,” is still an unpacking of what we found in verse 15: “Walk in wisdom.” And so we have, I think, chapter 5, verse 15, all the way through chapter 6 and verse 9, one long cohesive thought brought together in this matter of walking in wisdom, walking or living the transformed life. In other words, Paul is still unpacking this idea that he began in chapter 4 of the great change that comes about in the Christian experience; having come to Christ, transformation begins and continues throughout life. And now he is outlining some important ways in which we should see that.

Now then, chapter 5, verse 18. Again: “Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.” Pretty clear here that this “do not get drunk”—or I think we could even translate it, “never get drunk with wine”—is the idea, is the foil against which we are to read the positive command, “be filled with the Spirit.” Don’t get drunk with wine; that’s debauchery. Drunkenness is associated with debauchery. On the other side, the positive: be filled with the Spirit. And what is that marked by? Answer: it’s marked by the way we speak, the way we sing and make melody, the way we give thanks, and the way we submit to one another. So Paul’s concern again is the transformed Christian life.

Now while much of verses 19 through 22 can be individualized—of course, in a sense, all of this refers to us as individuals—I think it’s pretty clear that the emphasis is rather on the corporate experience of the church, the congregation itself and how we relate to one another. There’s a relational dimension to it. So the command is plural: all of you be filled with the Spirit and notice, “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.” And once we speak of psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, well, immediately we think in terms of the congregational life. And in fact, Colossians chapter 3, which we’ve just read, the parallel passage expresses it: “teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.” I think “giving thanks” then here as well is probably to be understood with respect to the corporate worship of the church. And again, the “submitting” in verse 21 again has to do with church life and structures of authority and so on. And then of course it’s applied to the home in verses 22 and following as well.

Now on one level, we might say that the marks of a spirit-filled congregation are endless. You could back up to chapter 4 and verse 1 and start working your way forward to see all the commands that the Apostle has given to us in how we are to relate to one another, how we are to serve one another, how we are to put off this sin and put on this virtue, put off that vice, put on this virtue, and all the way through. So in a sense, the marks of a spirit-filled congregation are almost endless. But Paul’s emphasis here is relational—the people of God ministering to one another. So the Spirit’s filling has to do with a transformed heart and life. But here are the ideas of the heart turned Godward in worship. And because it is turned Godward, it is also turned outward to one another in service and mutual edification.

Now, let’s work our way through these five participles.

Speaking, Singing, Making Melody

The first three, I think, can be taken together to be understood somewhat together: “addressing one another (or speaking to one another) in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart.” Speaking, singing, making melody. Now singing and making melody, that’s obvious enough what that’s referring to. Speaking—this phrase is interesting: “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.” How many of you, when you get together, speak to each other in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs? Well, it wouldn’t be a bad idea, would it? Quote a hymn, quote a psalm. Talk about it together? I think Paul is, at the very least, talking about the content of our fellowship. What marks our conversation, what marks our fellowship with one another are these topics. And not only does it mark it generally, but it’s a deliberate kind of thing. We do this as a function of our ministry to one another. And so we may memorize scripture together. We may talk about the sermon together. We may talk about what we’ve read in the scriptures together.

But he does speak of singing and making melody, and that’s what we normally associate with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Now these expressions that he gives here—psalms, hymns, spiritual songs—I think they are distinct somewhat, but they are loose equivalents, speaking of the variety of kinds of songs we sing. Maybe a couple of quick notes on these expressions.

The word “psalms” should be easy enough. It originally came from a word that meant to sing to the accompaniment of a musical instrument. The original word had to do with plucking strings. It might be a harp or some ancient kind of guitar, something like that. Singing a melody to a stringed instrument is the idea. By the way, a little trivia note here: the Psalms, of course, were the hymn book of the early church. They would sing the Psalms like we did this morning, only we did them in translation—in loose translation as well. When you turn to the book of Psalms and say, for example, we just sang a little bit ago, we sang from Psalm 46. We don’t say, “turn to hymn number,” I mean to “chapter, Psalm chapter 46.” It’s Psalm 46. We don’t say, “turn in your hymn book to chapter 10, chapter 46,” or whatever. It’s hymn number. It’s not even page number. It’s hymn number such and such. And that’s what the Psalms are as well. Psalms are the psalms, the songs that were sung by the early church.

“Hymns” he speaks of as well. Typically a hymn is a song which expresses some idea of worship, praise, honor, thanksgiving to God, honor to God. Typically a hymn is a song that is addressed to God that expresses in successive stanzas an idea and develops the thought in successive stanzas sung to God. That’s at least our understanding of a hymn today.

“Spiritual songs.” I think that’s probably a more generic term descriptive of songs used in the worship of God, expressing either our worship of God, our testimony to one another, or something like that. Now we have some subcategories of what we might call spiritual songs. In our own lingo, we have the gospel song, for example. The gospel song is a genre that came to life in the 19th century, and it typically is a song of testimony about what God has done for us. It again develops the idea in successive stanzas, but it has a common refrain to all of the stanzas at the end. We also have the chorus, which is just that—it’s a chorus. It’s a refrain. It doesn’t have successive stanzas, but it’s a chorus that is sung to the praise of God, or expressing some kind of testimony of God’s work with us. Or there’s the praise chorus, which is more specific—it’s a chorus, not a hymn developing it in successive stanzas, but an expression of refrain to God, expressing praise to Him.

Now there’s some distinction that’s going on here, but I don’t think it’s absolute. Notice verse 19: “addressing one another (speaking to one another) in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord.” So to whom do we sing? Do we sing to one another or do we sing to God? And the answer is yes, it’s both. We sing to one another and we sing to God. The content of our song is expressive of worship and is expressive of testimony to God. And we sing to one another for edification. And that is just one dimension of our worship of God, in fact. And of course, some of our hymns are addressed specifically to God and not to one another. So the two dimensions of song, praise and testimony—these are not entirely separate. Singing with testimony to others, but singing with testimony to others of God’s work is in fact, in a sense, singing to the Lord.

Now let’s look back one more time quickly at Colossians chapter 3 verse 16. I want you to see the significance of this expression here: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” and again, the participles, “teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms with your hearts, psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, and when it does, it will give vent to this kind of singing and talking.

Now, let’s look at that expression again. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” First question: what is the Word of Christ? Well, pretty clearly, it’s the new revelation that came in Christ, right? It’s the gospel. It’s the Christ-centered message of the apostles—new revelation that came in Christ and his apostles. So we’re not interested, first of all, we’re not interested in just wordless music. It’s not to say we can’t have an instrumental solo or something, because behind that is the words we’re listening to and so on. But we’re not interested in just wordless music. We’re not interested in just secular music for that matter. What we’re interested in is music that expresses the gospel. Music that expresses for us and reminds us of the Word of Christ.

What does it mean then for the Word of Christ to dwell in us? Well, I think pretty clearly it means that this understanding of the gospel—the understanding of this Christ-centered message from the apostles—has not only been understood, but it has been understood in a life-shaping kind of way. It dwells in us, controls us, shapes our thinking, shapes our behavior. So we have the word of Christ dwelling in us.

What does it mean then, “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly”? Well, pretty clearly, the idea is that not only has the word of Christ been understood in a life- and mind-shaping kind of way, but it’s done that in the superlative, right? In a big way, it has shaped the way I think, the way I behave, the way I talk, and so on. So, it is the word of Christ, richly, well-learned, understood, sunk in deep, that it shapes our affections. There’s a sense of appreciation, and so there’s a sense of exuberance, a sense of joy, a sense of celebration. And I think when we put all that together, we’re left with something like: Paul is saying our participation and our enjoyment in Christ just must find expression in the way we talk and in the way we sing. Paul is here speaking of a joyful Christian so absorbed with gospel truth that it just very naturally gives vent in song.

Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever thought about it this way: you’re wired to give praise. It’s the way we’re wired. Now, because of sin and the fall and all of that, we give praise to the wrong things. We try to find satisfaction and enjoyment in the things that can’t give it, but it’s just the way we’re wired. We have to give praise. And in fact, our enjoyment of something is not complete until we have given praise. You guys, when you fell in love with that girl who’s now your wife, you didn’t keep it secret. You couldn’t but talk about her. When you stand in front of the Rocky Mountains out West, you catch a glimpse of the grandeur of it. You don’t sit there quietly. You go, “Wow!” And in fact, you don’t want to be there alone. You want to share it with somebody so you can talk to them about it, right? It’s just the way we’re wired. We don’t just express praise, but our praise is completed in expressing it. And that’s what Paul is talking about here. The word of Christ has come to dwell in us so richly. We just gotta talk about it, we gotta sing. Or to put it in the language of Ephesians 5, the Spirit of God has so conquered our souls with such delight and such joy and satisfaction that we just have to sing about it. It’s got to give vent in song.

Now, I don’t know how to measure this exactly, but you can often tell—you can often tell the difference between someone in whom the Word of Christ dwells and another one in whom the Word of Christ dwells richly. And the difference is the one really, really loves to talk about it. It’s the topic of conversation all the time, and you see it when they sing. They love to sing of Christ. I have a very close friend in ministry, he’s one of my best friends. I don’t say this to be mean, it’s just a fact: he can’t carry a note in a bucket. I’ve been with him many times in song services, and when we come to sing, he stands and he sings loudly. He can’t carry a note in a bucket. And on one level, you listen to it and you think, “Oh, that is awful.” But you know, I love—I love being in song service with him. The word of Christ dwells in him so richly. It’s just got to come out. And you see it in the way he sings. My dad always used to say, “God made both the crow and the canary.” You take the one that you are and you praise God accordingly. He’s the crow. And you gotta love it. You just gotta love it. You can’t listen to that man sing and not be blessed by it.

Did you ever consider that there might be such a thing as a ministry of congregational singing? There is just little to compare with the joy of hearing a congregation of pardoned sinners, uniting with one voice in affirmation of the gospel and an enjoyment of it. Those of you who help lead, you know what it’s like to look at the congregation and we get to see that. It’s a wonderful experience. Looking ahead last week already when we were standing up here during the song service, it was wonderful. And it’s just the kind of thing that we get weekly here. You just love to see the united voices of the people of God giving praise to Christ. There’s a mark, there’s a measure of exuberance. We use the word “exultation.” We don’t use that word much anymore, except in church. Exulting—not “exalting,” but “exulting.” There’s a jubilation, a triumphant jubilation involved, rejoicing in the things that we sing. And not only, of course, in the things that we sing, but the things that we talk about as well.

A spirit-filled church is a singing church. We are saved to worship. And worship is not just singing. Singing is not the only—and it’s not even, I won’t even say it’s not even the highest form of worship. That’s another itch I’d like to scratch. This matter of music and church and everything, I could rant on this for hours. Singing is not the only aspect of worship, but it is an important aspect of it. The Word of Christ, then, Paul says, ought to dwell in us with such richness, or the Spirit of God ought to dominate in our lives in such a way that we’re so gripped by the gospel that we just love to sing about it. Our grasp of the gospel has so reached our hearts that we love to vent in song.

Now, I want to stress in this the importance of truth. There’s an emotional element in singing. And what I don’t want, and what the Apostle Paul surely is not after, is just what probably we have all seen in some churches where the emphasis is on cranking up a “feel.” Worship has come to mean that feel, that atmosphere that you feel that makes you want to float or something during the music. And so we crank it up and we repeat it over, and we do it 15 times, and maybe 16 times we’ll all be floating. And that’s worship. No, that’s not worship. It’s emotion being cranked up, and I really resent that kind of thing. But there is something about singing that inevitably engages the emotions. And when truth—gospel truth—can be attached to emotions, it’s a powerful thing. In fact, that’s one of the points that Jonathan Edwards made a couple centuries ago, emphasizing the importance of congregational singing together, that the importance, the value of it is that it so tightly attaches truth to emotion. And here we have gotten this wonderful gospel message put to song, put to poetry, put to music, and it engages the heart inevitably. Inevitably, we find our hearts being realigned and moved in keeping with this truth we have professed. And it has a powerful shaping influence in the congregation. And so I say, if it’s truth that is driving it, push the emotions all you like. And this is one of the values and the important part of singing. We’re not afraid of the emotions. What we want is truth pushing the song and driving our emotions and shaping our heart, even realigning our heart accordingly.

Now, of course, that has all kinds of implications. This is a very important topic. In fact, at a recent elders meeting, we decided that we should begin to address this matter of congregational singing and songs and what’s a good hymn and a good song and all that. We’re going to be doing that on occasion on Sunday evenings sometime to come. I look forward to that together. I will try my best not to stray off into personal opinion. We’ve all got so many opinions when it comes to music. I’m guilty of that as well. We all are authorities on music; whether we know music or not, we all are authorities on what ought to be sung and all of that. What we want to do is look at the scriptures, try not to give too many personal opinions, but how can we shape our congregational singing in a way that is most fruitful? We have wonderful singing experience here. You know what that’s like.

Let me give an exhortation to you parents here. You do not—you parents that have children with you—you do not do your children any favor by being disinterested in whether or not they sing in the congregational music. It’s a powerful influence. It is very helpful, a great ministry to them to have them reading that hymn book and to have them singing with you. And it’s an enormous influence on them to see dad and mom singing from the heart.

This whole matter of emotion, I think, is involved here when Paul says in verse 19, “singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart.” All of your being is caught up into this. In Colossians chapter 3, it’s “singing with grace in your heart,” or as it’s translated in the NIV, “singing with gratitude in your heart.” I’m not as happy with that translation, but you know, if you’re gonna talk about a grace-affected heart, it’s not long before you’re talking about gratitude, and that’s what he’s talking about as well. But singing with all of your heart to the Lord, a heart and a mind gripped by gospel truth. Parents, it’s very important. Include your children in the singing and let them see your interest in it as well.

And let me just point out here quickly as well, notice the emphasis is on congregational singing—singing to one another. “Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” This is regularly the emphasis: congregational singing. There’s something particularly valuable about congregations joining together in song, uniting their voices and affirming and enjoying the gospel together. That’s not to say that we can’t make good use of a choir or solos. I don’t think the Bible forbids that at all. Recently we had the choir sing for us around Easter time. They got through and I thought, “Oh my, I wish they could sing that for us next week.” But the emphasis is congregational singing—singing, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Jonathan Lehman in his book Reverberation has a great line: “Far better than the sweet harmonies of a few trained singers is the rough and hale sound of pardoned criminals delighting with one voice in their Savior.” Of course, to do that, we have to pick songs worth singing—and then we’re talking about the style of music and contemporary music. Is it sinful or good or acceptable? We’ll do that another time. Meanwhile, Cayman, turn up the drums. Congregational singing is not—it is not an unimportant detail of the corporate worship service. And these people who have said, “I wish we could just skip the singing and get onto the preaching”—they may think they’re complimenting the preacher, but they’re missing something very important, very important.

All right, be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart. And then next:

Giving Thanks Always For Everything

“Giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Now notice the structure of all this, phrase by phrase. “Giving thanks”—that’s the controlling idea—”giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Let’s look at it just quickly phrase by phrase.

“Giving thanks”—that’s the basic thought. “Always”—that is continuously. A continuous frame of mind, an awareness of grace always. It speaks of a Christian mind that is shaped by awareness of grace and so it’s thankful. Recognize that on our best day we have far better than we deserve. Giving thanks always.

Next, “for everything.” Now, I don’t think that has to be taken absolutely. I don’t think we are required to thank God when the tsunami blows in or whatever. But he is speaking comprehensively of all the innumerable benefits that we have in Christ. If a Christian is anything, he is one who recognizes that he’s a ward of divine charity. All we have, we have by a gift of divine grace. And so there’s this constant awareness of Christ, constant awareness of the freeness of the gospel, constant awareness of divine providence and divine provision. And so we’re always giving thanks. A spirit-filled congregation is a thankful congregation, giving thanks always for everything, to God the Father, the giver of all good things.

And then notice: “giving thanks always, for everything, to God the Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.” That is with a firm recognition of divine grace through the person and work of Jesus Christ. Praying and giving thanks with a firm recognition that we have this right to pray and we are able to give thanks only because Jesus Christ has stood in our place and through him we have access and privilege before God.

Now it has become common in the last 10 or 20 years in churches—and it happens here as well, and please don’t take this as a rebuke, but as a quiet instructive—it has become common in churches many times now to pray, “And our dear Heavenly Father,” or something like that, and we get to the end of the prayer, we say, “in your name, amen.” Now at worst—at worst—that’s a lapse back into Unitarianism. I’m sure it’s not that in the evangelical churches, but at the very least it is a failure to recognize this very important truth that Jesus commanded praying in his name. That I have this right to pray and I have this right to ask—and in this context we can even give thanks—only because of what Jesus has done in our place. And it is right—it is not just a formula to be tacked on the end of the prayer. It is very right to express, to remind ourselves, and to express before God: we come in the name of Jesus Christ.

You may not have considered how essential thanksgiving is to personal or corporate worship. One mark of a spirit-filled church is that it is animated by a sense of divine rescue, animated by a sense of divine grace, recognizing that we are, as I say, just wards of divine charity. And so there’s always this sense of thrill, this lively sense that we have been unimaginably blessed in Jesus. And so we are people who are marked by gratitude.

Be filled with the Spirit addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart, giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 21, finally:

Submitting To One Another Out Of Reverence For Christ

“Submitting yourselves to one another out of reverence for Christ.” A spirit-filled congregation is marked by submission within divinely ordered relationships. Submission within divinely ordered relationships.

Now there was one take on this verse that became very popular 30 years ago or so, that the idea here is that each of us is to submit to the other. I think that just ends up in nonsense here. It’s not what he’s speaking of. There’s a germ of truth in that, of course, and that is we are to serve one another, and in that sense be submissive. But the command here that’s used always is in reference to structures of authority. So the way the word is consistently used throughout the scriptures: submitting yourselves within divinely ordered structures of authority and divinely ordered relationships. Not everyone trying to submit to everyone else, but rather submitting to leadership structures.

But more than that, or along with that, also it has the idea maybe then of serving one another, exercising your gifts for one another, loving one another, helping one another. At the very least, it means not jockeying for position, not working for self-advancement, not fussing over turf wars in the church—”This is my ministry”—not with some entitlement mentality looking for self-advancement, but a happy, well-related, respectful, serving congregation. I don’t know if you’ve thought of it, but to have that kind of church, to have that kind of relationship with one another, requires the powerful working of the Spirit of God because of what we are.

So, what does a congregation of redeemed sinners filled with the Spirit look like? You know, it’s really far more spectacular than any kind of chaotic commotion you’ve ever heard of. A spirit-filled congregation is a congregation of men and women so deeply appreciative of the gospel, so gripped by gospel truth that it spontaneously overflows in the way we talk to one another—the topics that mark our conversation, the topics that mark our fellowship with one another. It spontaneously overflows not only in the way we talk, but in the way we sing from hearts deeply moved by divine grace, hearts turned upward. It shows itself in the way we think. We are people then who are marked by exuberant gratitude and a sense of grace.

A spirit-filled congregation not only shows itself in the way we talk and the way we sing and the way we think, but it shows itself in the way we relate to one another with an obvious heart of love to help and to serve one another and to edify. You may have heard in church services an expression by the leader say something like this: “We want in this service to see Jesus only.” And I take it what they mean by that is something like a Mount of Transfiguration experience where you pay attention to Jesus only. And there’s something about that when you hear it—you want to say, “Yes, yes, amen and amen. Absolutely.”

But we must remember what Paul is saying here is that we see Jesus in a congregation of redeemed sinners shaped by the gospel in evident ways, both inside and out. That’s how Jesus has displayed himself. This is the church that Jesus died to create—a new humanity shaped after his image, or if you will, to come closer to the idea here, a new temple. A new temple, the glory of which is that it is indwelt by the Spirit of God himself, who shows his presence and displays his power in life-transforming ways.

Be filled with the Spirit: the way you sing, the way you talk, the way you think, and the way you relate to one another. Amen.

Let’s pray. Our Father, our hearts have been turned to you. Our hearts have been turned to one another. And that we recognize is nothing less than the Spirit of God working powerfully in us. And yet that work is not yet complete. And for its perfecting, we need the powerful working of your Spirit in us. Father, fill us with your Spirit. Change us, transform us into the image of Christ. For your glory, in his name we ask.

Let’s conclude our service this morning by singing psalms to one another and thanksgiving to God. Let’s sing number 53, “Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah.” Number 53 out of the Trinity Hymnal. Let’s stand as we sing from Psalm 146.

Alleluia, praise Jehovah, all my soul Jehovah praise.
I will sing the glorious praises of my God through all my days.
Put no confidence in princes, nor for help on men depend.
He shall die to dust returning, and his purposes shall end.

Happy is the man that chooses Israel’s God to be his aid.
He is blessed whose hope of blessing on the Lord his God is stayed.
Heaven and earth the Lord created, seas and all that they contain.
He delivers from oppression, righteousness he will maintain.

Food he daily gives the hungry, sets the mourning prisoner free.
Raises those bowed down with anguish, makes the sightless eyes to see.
While Jehovah loves the righteous, and the stranger he befriends,
Helps the fatherless and widow, judgment on the wicked sends.

Alleluia, praise Jehovah, O my soul, Jehovah, praise.
I will sing the glorious praises of my God through all my days.
Over all, God reigns forever. Through all ages, he is king.
Unto him, thy God, O Zion, joyful hallelujah sing.

Amen. You are dismissed. Bye!