EPHESIANS OUTLINE # 30 of 35

EPHESIANS 5

I. Introduction

A. The result of our previous study

1. The fullness of the Spirit (5:18)

(a) The meaning of being filled.

(b) The imperative of being filled.

2. The consequence of His fullness.

(a) A joyful Christian (5:19)

(b) A thankful Christian (5:20)

3. The hindrance to His fullness

(a) Grieving the Spirit (4:30-31)

(b) Resisting the Spirit (Acts 7:51)

II. The place of submission in the home.

A. The home is the first divine institution.

I. It is from the home that human society is replenished

(a) Society is the home and family projected and amplified.

(b) It is in the home the individual is prepared and disciplined to fulfill his responsibilities in

human affairs.

2. The entire fellowship of believers are to submit to one another (Phil. 2:3,4).

(a) All believers are to reflect a submissive spirit

(b) This spirit is not only to be evident in church but in the home.

B. The evidence of submission in the woman.

1. The Jews had a low view of women, this is evidenced by their morning prayer.

(a) Thank God I am not a Gentile, slave or a woman.

(b) A woman in Jewish law was not a person but a thing.

(d) She had no legal rights, she was her husbands possession.

2. The position was even worse in the Greek world.

(a) A respectable woman never appeared at meals or on social occasions. She had her own apartment which only her husband could enter.

(b) Socrates - Is there anyone to whom you entrust more serious matters than to your wife, and is

there anyone to whom you talk less.

I. Three Tenses Revealing the Spirit's Fullness

A. We have all heard preachers speak from this text.

1. The messages are challenging but oft times they cause us to be unrealistic in our expectations.

(a) If I am to be filled with the Spirit, I conjure up an image of the type of person I should be.

(b) What I should be and what I am are often poles apart.

state feeling that fullness is for spiritual super-stars.

2. Let's consider the meaning of Eph. 5:18.

B. First the words "be filled" are in the imperative mood.

1. This ne ans that it is a command.

(a) It is as much a command of God to be filled with the Spirit as it is not to be drunk with wine.

(b) To be filled with the Spirit is not optional, it is the spiritual obligation of every Christi

2. It is not to be complied with in the future but now.

C. It is the Passive Voice.

1. This tells us that you cannot fill yourself, but the action must come from an outside force.

(a) This is something done for us not something we can do for ourselves.

(b) This implies that all we have to offer is emptiness.

2. Remember being filled with the Spirit is not an attainment, but an obtainment.

(a) It becomes ours as we come to Jesus empty, needy, confessing what we really are.

(b) If we were saved apart from works than I expect we can be filled on the same principle.

3. Roy Hession's personal testimony.

(a) Oppressed with a sense of failure, Roy was in a state of personal and spiritual defeat.

(b) Turned in a notebook idly, words stood out - Be filled.

(d) But Lord, can I be filled so soon after this defeat? He replied, Be filled and be filled now.

(e) That was the last message I expected from Him that day.

(f) To go from the lowest to the highest so quickly seemed impossible.

(g) But when I saw the power of Jesus blood, I could only say Amen, Lord, both to His command and his promise.

(h) That very moment I received his cleansing and his filling

4. A beautiful truth to remember.

(a) The Holy Spirit is not for super saints who by their dedication to God seem to be more qualified for blessing.

(b) The Holy Spirit is for sinners who have failed, who have become cold but are willing to admit it, repent and claim the cleansing and the filling.

D. Two requirements for the fullness - John 7:37,38.

1.Thirst for His control.

2.Trust Him that He will take control

E. It is in the present continuous tense.

1.English language does not use this tense at all.

(A) It is literally - Be being filled.

(b) It is not a command to be filled once or even occasionally, but to be filled continually.

empty, defeated and dry.

(d) The command of yesterday is the command of today.

(e) The blood that cleansed us yesterday comes to us again today, if we will repent today.

2. I John 1:7 is also one of those verses in continuous tense.

(a) If we walk in the light, blood goes on cleansing us from sin.

(b) "A lady missionary from East Africa told me how she was greeted once by one of the African

Christian leaders who asked her, 'Are you praising the Lord this morning, sister?''If you want

to know the truth I'm not,' she replied,'not this morning'. 'Why is that?' he asked. After a mo-

ments hesitation she replied softly, 'I lost my temper in the bungalow this morning.' All he

answered was, 'Has the Blood of Jesus lost its power?' and quietly passed on. That was the

message she needed. She saw it had indeed not lost its power and it was not long before she

had come to the Lord in repentance and been cleansed and filled afresh, with a consequent

new testimony of praise to Him."

(d) We are kept clean by a continual walking in the light. We are only as clean as the blood can

make us.

II. Three attitudes in opposition to His filling.

A. We can grieve the Spirit (Eph. 4:30,31).

B. We can resist the Spirit (Acts 7:51).

1. We can refuse to call sin, sin; seek to alibi ourselves.

C. We can quench the Spirit (I Thess. 5:19,20).

1. "..taking part in a ministers' conference in Brazil, a young American missionary flew in from his station in the mission aircraft. A great hunger of heart had brought him. In conversation he told us of the barrenness on their station and the defeat in his own life. There had been only one professed conversion in their area in the whole year. The missionaries had got so cold that if one of them would seek to talk seriously about the Lord, the others would jokingly say, "He's talking like a missionary." He told us how recently the Lord had begun to work in his heart again and had shown him things of which he must repent to get right with God. In some matters it meant putting things right with his fellow missionaries . He told us how as a result a new fellowship had begun to grow up between the missionaries.

III. Consequences of the Spirit's fullness.

A. A singing heart.

1. The early church had joy that caused them to sing.

(a) All the great spirit awakenings were characterized by joyous and enthusiastic singing.

(b) The reformation had as its theme song "A mighty fortress is our God'

2. Spiritual singing is evidenced by songs that magnify Jesus Christ.

B. A thankful heart. (5:20)

1. the Attitude of a spiritual person is to give thanks for all things at all times.

2. The Christian can do this because he is not looking at things but through things.

3. Since all things are working for his good, the believer can praise God for all things.

4. Only a spirit controlled person can do this because it is not natural to the flash to do such things. Only the eyes of faith sees God in control.

C. A submissive spirit (5:21)

1. Subjecting oneself to one another is the opposite of self assertion. (Matt 20: 20 - 28)