Joshua and Judges: The doctrine of leadership part 50 - Essential qualities of leadership: The filling of the Spirit; Eph 5:18.

Title: Joshua and Judges: The doctrine of leadership part 50 - Essential qualities of leadership: The filling of the Spirit; EPH 5:18.

 

Announcements / opening prayer:  

 

 

There is one direct New Testament command given.

 

EPH 5:15 Therefore be [take heed or discern] careful [carefully, accurately] how you walk [how you conduct yourself, how you order your behavior], not as unwise men, but as wise,

 

EPH 5:16 making the most of your time [buy up the time for yourself], because the days are evil [poneros: evil in active opposition to good].

 

Be constantly taking heed therefore how accurately you are conducting yourselves, not as unwise ones but as wise ones, buying up for yourselves the opportune time, because the days are in active opposition to good. [expanded translation]

 

This is one of the many commands in the NT that demands a lifestyle of daily and constantly being in submission or yielding to the ministry of God the Holy Spirit.

 

EPH 5:17 So then do not be foolish [without reason, senseless, or rash], but understand [bring together] what the will of the Lord is.

 

Don't be senseless is the negative command corresponding to the positive command to be constantly taking heed how accurately you are conducting yourself.

 

MAT 13:23

"And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit, and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty."

 

"understand" - suni,hmi [suniemi] = to bring together in the mind. Taking all the doctrines and bringing them together in relational understanding.

 

EPH 5:18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,

 

"dissipation" - a,swti,a [asotia - a (negative) + sozo (to save)] = having so saving quality, destructive, debauched, profligate, depraved.

 

The absorption of excess alcohol has a great influence over the mind and it has no saving or redeeming quality, but rather destructiveness. This lies in contrast to the absorption of the influence of God the Holy Spirit.

 

"be filled" - plhro,w [pleroo] = to fill, to fully influence, to fill up a deficiency, to control. This is done by the Spirit to the believer who is yielded to Him.

 

This means to be possessed, but it is nothing like demon possession in which the normal faculties of the person are revoked. In His supernatural way, God the Holy Spirit controls the believer and He can, because He is God, fully influence our normal human faculties without annulling them.

 

Another place that this verb is used:

 

JOH 16:6

"But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.

 

Here the meaning would be "to pervade, take possession of." Sorrow had come to control the hearts of the disciples. What has controlled them is the idea of going on after Christ has gone away.

 

In the same way, but in a supernatural way, the Holy Spirit, as a person, will control the heart of the believer who is yielded to Him. The control of the soul by erroneous thoughts produce fear, worry, anxiety, sorrow, arrogance, and any of the other mental attitude sins, but the control of the Spirit produces the fruit of the Spirit.  

 

Since our verb in EPH 5:18 is in the passive voice, the believer is being taken possession of by the Spirit, yet the believer must allow Him to by not grieving or quenching Him and recovering when he does.

 

We must not think of the Holy Spirit filling our hearts as water fills a bottle. The heart of a Christian is not a receptacle to be emptied in order that the Holy Spirit might fill it. The Holy Spirit is not a substance but a person. He is a person to control another person, the believer, while the believer maintains his own consciousness and his own faculties. The conscience, consciousness, faculties, and normal functions of the believer's soul and spirit are influenced and empowered by the Holy Spirit in a supernatural way.

 

The empowering work of the Holy Spirit does not set aside the normal functions of the human soul and spirit. He works through them unto fullness of power which realizes the blessed will of God.

 

In fact, it is through this process that the believer finds his personality, intellect, sensibility, and will as a new creature and as God desired you to be. The real you is yet to be fully discovered.

 

We are to see ourselves as the new creatures we are, and count ourselves dead to the sin nature and alive to God in Christ Jesus. We are to present ourselves as alive to God in subject obedience and we are to understand that God the Holy Spirit was given to us to indwell us so that He might teach us these things, increase our faith in these things, lead us in the will of the Father, and empower us in the execution of these things. There is to be an ever present, conscious understanding of these truths and an ever present conscious dependence and yielding to the Holy Spirit and His ministry of guidance and power. This daily mindset and faith is what the New Testament calls the believer's sobriety and alertness.

 

JOH 7:38-39

"He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.'" But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

 

This not only believing in Him as Savior but also believing in His will and plan for the believer. He said that the Spirit would lead us into all truth; that He would take of Christ's own things and reveal them to us. Faith in this is a continual dependence upon the ministry of the Spirit. It is of the same diligence as being occupied with Christ.

 

Perhaps this constant dependence can be best seen in the application of the justified life of the royal code of honor.

 

Passages that demand a constant, alert, daily dependence upon God the Holy Spirit.

 

ROM 12:9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.

 

ROM 12:10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor;

 

ROM 12:11 not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;

 

ROM 12:12 rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer,

 

ROM 12:13 contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.

 

All participles in ROM 12:9-19 are present independent verbal participles, meaning they function as commands. Present tense = continuous action.

 

ROM 12:14 Bless [present active imperative] those who persecute you; bless [present imperative] and curse not [present imperative].

 

ROM 12:15 Rejoice [present infinitive] with those who rejoice, and weep [present infinitive] with those who weep.

 

ROM 12:16 Be of the same mind toward one another [present participle]; do not be haughty in mind [present participle], but associate with the lowly [present participle]. Do not be wise [present imperative] in your own estimation.

 

ROM 12:17 Never pay back evil for evil to anyone [present participle]. Respect what is right in the sight of all men [present participle].

 

ROM 12:18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men [present participle].

 

ROM 12:19 Never take [present participle] your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God [aorist imperative], for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord.

 

ROM 12:20 "But if your enemy is hungry, feed him [present imperative], and if he is thirsty, give him a drink [present imperative]; for in so doing [present participle] you will heap burning coals upon his head." [make his conscience burn]

 

ROM 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil [present imperative], but overcome evil with good [present imperative].

 

That is eight present imperatives, which are direct commands for daily living and eighteen present participles, along with the two present infinitives, "Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep," which are descriptions of daily purposes in the lifestyle of the justified life in Christ, and all this in just a few verses. These are all divine in origin and will only exist in the Spirit filled believer.