Trinity Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

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Sermons

August 2003 (click here to return to "August 2003 Sermons" page)

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time (August 17, 2003)

“Spirits, or the Spirit?” Dr. Julie Adkins

Text: Ephesians 5:15-20

SERMON

Today’s Ephesians text intrigues me greatly,

particularly verse 18.

“Do not get drunk with wine,” Paul says,

“but be filled with the Spirit.”

The way that sentence is constructed,

it’s clear that, in Paul’s mind,

there is some kind of similarity, between the two.

Of course, there is also a difference,

or he wouldn’t have said “but…”

Perhaps if he wanted to really make it obvious,

he might have said,

“Do not get filled up with wine,

but be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

Or if he were trying to be a bit clever,

he could have said, in English anyway,

“Do not get drunk on spirits,

but be drunk with the Spirit.”

As if there were enough in common between the two

that it might be easy to confuse them.

In fact, we know that that is the case,

from the story of Pentecost.

Remember?

Fifty days after Jesus’ resurrection,

all the disciples are together in one place,

and the Holy Spirit comes to them.

With a sound like a west Texas wind,

the Spirit filled the room where they were,

and they began to speak in many different languages.

And some who heard them just laughed and said,

“Would you listen to all that gibberish!

Those fellows are drunk with new wine.”

And Peter has to stop long enough to say to them,

in the language they can understand,

“Hold on just a minute!

We are not drunk;

it’s only nine o’clock in the morning.

What you see happening is a fulfillment of prophecy.”

And then he gives his great Pentecost sermon.

The Holy Spirit gives him the words to say,

and he tells them about Jesus,

about his life, and his ministry,

about his death and resurrection.

And the book of Acts tells us

that about three thousand people

believed that day, and received baptism.

All because twelve disciples

suddenly got drunk with the Spirit

and shared the good news,

regardless of how foolish it might have looked or sounded

to the rest of the world passing by.

Now this vision of Christianity

is a stumbling block for many of us.

We Presbyterians especially

like to do things “decently and in order,”

thoughtfully and carefully.

And there is a lot of good to be said for that;

humans need structure;

we can’t live with total chaos,

either individually or collectively.

But sometimes we let ourselves become too “ordered,”

too structured …

When everything has been planned down to the last detail,

and it all fits together perfectly

with every moment accounted for,

then it is much harder for us

to allow the Spirit to come breaking in

and possibly wreak havoc on our best-laid plans.

Somehow we have to allow ourselves to be a little less orderly,

even a little less “decent,” if you will,

and allow some room for the Spirit

to come into our lives, and do whatever needs doing …

Or tell us what we need to be told,

or show us what we need to see.

Now, I will grant you,

it may seem, especially at first,

that the coming of the Holy Spirit

is a vast intrusion into our lives.

That when the Spirit comes

there may be upheaval, and change,

and some things will get stirred up

that we didn’t want stirred up.

That’s absolutely right; it can get quite uncomfortable.

our instincts are entirely correct.

So let’s just acknowledge that, and know that it’s true,

because what I really want to talk about today

is the good things that can happen

when we become filled with the Holy Spirit.

I think that one of the first indications

that the Spirit has come to you

is a deep-seated sense of joy.

Not outward happiness, necessarily,

but something inward, joy.

Sometimes we don’t even recognize this gift

until the outward circumstances of our lives

turn unhappy.

Joy tends to show itself most clearly

when things have gone wrong,

and it’s terrible, and you feel sad –

as well you should –

and yet, there’s something at the core,

at the very center of your being,

that knows that this sadness is not all there is,

and that it will pass.

Something in you that knows

that God is in control,

and will somehow bring you through this time,

and bring about something good.

Something that allows you and even inspires you

to rejoice and give thanks

even through your tears.

Now, when you have the joy of the Spirit,

and when circumstances in your life are good,

sometimes that joy just comes bubbling out, and overflowing,

and it’s times like that when

people may see you and think,

you couldn’t possible be that happy

unless you were drunk, or high on something.

Let them think so.

It’s all the more effective a witness

when they find out

you were nothing of the sort.

Now very closely related to this

is a feeling which the Spirit brings of peace.

Again, the outward circumstances of your life aren’t the issue:

they may not be peaceful at all,

yet you will find yourself with

an inner sense of calm, and quiet, and focus,

that will enable you to handle whatever the mess or conflict is

that’s going on around you.

The peace which comes from the Spirit

also includes a sense of acceptance

of whatever situation you find yourself in.

Again, this can be mistaken for

the kind of denial that alcoholic spirits can lead us to …

in which we refuse to acknowledge that there are

problems of any kind,

much less, that we might be responsible,

or have power to do anything about them.

Denial says, “there is no problem.”

The Spirit’s peace says, “there is a problem,

and God will help me cope with it.”

The Spirit also will give us strength

to change a situation if it needs changing,

or to endure if it can’t be changed;

but in either case, and most important,

there is peace and comfort,

and a sure sense of God’s presence

whatever the outcome of our struggles.

Now, piggybacking on that,

is the gift that the Spirit brings, of hope.

I don’t mean the kind of naïve and unthinking hope

that causes people to buy lottery tickets

thinking that surely, sooner, or later, they will win …

I mean, a realistic hope

that is grounded in God, and God alone.

I once heard a wise person say

that true hope is what comes

when hope has died.

When our human hopes and dreams have been exhausted,

have not panned out;

then it is that the Spirit comes

and gives us a hope beyond hope.

A hope that is based in God’s promise,

not human words,

and which relies on God’s goodness,

not human skill.

A hope which comes only as a gift

to those who are filled with the Spirit.

And then, all tied up with joy and peace and hope,

is the gift of love.

I mention this one last

because it’s really the acid test of a Spirit-filled Christian.

Sometimes we may want joy and hope and peace

just for ourselves,

to make our own lives better.

But when it comes to love,

now you’re bringing other people into the picture.

Sometimes, we would rather do without the gift of love,

because the truth is,

there are lots of unlovable people around,

and we’re a teeny bit afraid

that God would make us love even them.

And that does happen.

It also happens that we start to feel love for strangers,

and for people we’ve never even met.

Which then makes us begin to feel responsible

for helping them out in any way we can.

This business of love is definitely tricky.

It starts out by being a warm fuzzy feeling,

and ends up making some demands on us.

Which is why some of us can get stuck at this point

on the journey of being Spirit-filled Christians.

Up until now, the Spirit has been giving us things:

joy, peace, hope, faith …

Now, in addition to being given love,

we are to give it back.

Something to work on for us all.

Now, just very quickly …

How do you recognize a Spirit-filled Christian?

Unlike what some of our brothers and sisters in the faith believe,

it’s not by whether or not they can speak in tongues …

some do, but it’s not required.

Nor can you open someone up

and see whether they have joy, or peace, or hope,

somewhere on the inside.

Paul tells us two things to look for:

One is that they are always and forever giving thanks.

The other is that they are always

singing and making melody to God with a joyful heart.

It doesn’t say,

“with a well-trained voice,” or even,

“with every note perfectly on pitch.”

A joyful heart is all that’s required.

Coming up next on the program is a hymn!

See if you can convince the people around you

that you are a Spirit-filled Christian.

You will start to convince yourself in the process.

Amen.