“Fill ‘er Up!”

(Ephesians 5:6-21)

Series: Christ and the Church [on screen]

Rev. Matthew C. McCraw, EdD

First Baptist Church, Bartow, Florida

March 7, 2021

The Passage

Ephesians 5:6-21

6 Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for God’s wrath is coming on the disobedient because of these things. 7 Therefore, do not become their partners. 8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light— 9 for the fruit of the light consists of all goodness, righteousness, and truth— 10 testing what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Don’t participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to mention what is done by them in secret. 13 Everything exposed by the light is made visible, 14 for what makes everything visible is light. Therefore it is said:

Get up, sleeper, and rise up from the dead,

and Christ will shine on you.

15 Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk—not as unwise people but as wise— 16 making the most of the time, because the days are evil. 17 So don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 And don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless living, but be filled by the Spirit: 19 speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music with your heart to the Lord, 20 giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another in the fear of Christ.

Introductory Comments:

Many of you know that in my former life I was a Minister of Missions and Evangelism. I’ve been to a lot of places in the world, but none more frequent than Jamaica. One of the things they still do in Jamaica (at least they did the last time that I went) is they have a gas station attendant to pump gas for you. When you want a full tank, you say to the attendant, “Full up.” I learned this because I was often getting gas in order to drive around a van full of people. Well, in past years in the United States, we had full-service gas stations and we had a saying here as well to indicate that we wanted the gas tank filled up all the way. Do you remember what it was? It was, “Fill ‘er up!” This morning, we’re going to be talking about what it means to “Fill ‘er up” spiritually. Today, we will discover three gifts of God with which we must be filled. 

Before we go any further, let’s go to the Lord in prayer and ask Him to speak to us. 

(prayer)

Last week, we learned about the battle of the selfs: we learned about the old self and the new self, and how we should desire to be more like the new self that God created after His own likeness. Today, Paul is continuing that same train of thought; he is continuing to show us how to be more like Jesus and less like the sinful pasts from which we were saved. 

So, let us discover now these three gifts from God with which we should be filled. 

First, . . .

I. Be filled with light (vv. 6-14) [on screen]

In literature, films, artwork, and most religions, darkness is often viewed as an evil element and light is viewed as a positive element. Well, it was the same in ancient Judaism and early Christianity. 

Paul is encouraging the Ephesian Christians to be filled with light. Let’s look at the passage. Look at verses 6-14:

6 Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for God’s wrath is coming on the disobedient because of these things. 7 Therefore, do not become their partners. 8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light— 9 for the fruit of the light consists of all goodness, righteousness, and truth— 10 testing what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Don’t participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to mention what is done by them in secret. 13 Everything exposed by the light is made visible, 14 for what makes everything visible is light. Therefore it is said:

Get up, s