Ephesians 5:19-21

Additional reading: Colossians 3:12-17

Three Marks of a Healthy Church

Introduction

Paul exhorted the Ephesians to be continually filled with the Spirit, to be ruled and controlled, not by self, but by the Holy Spirit. This instruction is for all Christians, not an option, not a luxury but a necessity. Only then can the Christian function and live as he ought, and grow into maturity. There will be very practical and down to earth results. It is not in order that they will feel good, but in order that they will live well - in their church life, marriage, home life and working life.

Not to be taken for granted that people will be filled. Different levels and degrees of the Holy Spirit’s work in a believer. Some show minimal evidence, others are obviously experiencing the abundant life. Filling of the Spirit is dependent on the response and obedience to the Lord. It is conditional.

Now Paul discusses the effect on the Christian fellowship in the Church. He describes a (1) singing, (2) thankful and (3) harmonious church.

Singing Church

Speak to one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, sing and make music in your heart to the Lord (Ephesians 5:19). Clearly the Apostle is referring to public worship. Difficult to differentiate between psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Possibly by “psalms” yalmois it means Old Testament psalms accompanied by musical instrument like a harp; “hymns” umnois may refer to the specific worship of God and Christ (N.B. New Testament scholars find several such hymns in the New Testament, because of their rhythm in the original Greek – Ephesians 5:14; Philippians 2:5ff; 1 Timothy 3:16); spiritual songs wdais pneumaitikais may be a reference to sacred lyrics on other Christian themes. This is only a suggestion, there probably is an overlapping of ideas.

Speak to one another tells us that when we gather together and sing, we are speaking both to God and to one another. One of the purposes of singing in a service is mutual exhortation. Come let us sing for joy to the Lord (Psalm 95:1), Come and listen, all you who fear God, let me tell you what he has done for me (Psalm 66:16). So in Christian worship there is an element in which we speak to one another, testifying to one another, encouraging one another. Not just speaking words.

Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord – now Paul is talking about singing, not to one another, but to the Lord. th kardia umwn can be translated “with your heart” or “in your heart”. Thoughtfully and sincerely. Worship is not just a matter for lips and tongues, but its source is the heart.

There is no doubt that the New Testament church was a singing church. Besides references to Paul and Silas singing hymns at midnight in jail at Philippi (Acts 16:25), there are several references to singing and use of psalms elsewhere in the epistles (1 Corinthians 14:26; Colossians 3:16; James 5:13). Also in the early church after New Testament times, the Roman procurator of Bithynia, in a letter to the Emperor in 112AD, refers to early Christians “meeting before daybreak to sing hymns antiphonally to Christ as to a god”.

Outbursts of song always accompany every new outpouring of the Spirit of God. At the time of the Reformation, the 18^th Century Revival (especially hymns of the Wesley’s and Toplady), and Revivals ever since. The practice of singing hymns around the piano in the home has its origin in Revival. The Christian, especially the revived Christian, can truly sing:

“This is my story, This is my Song,

Praising my Saviour all the day long”

Worship and singing is always to be encouraged. But there are three conditions.

(1) Content – must be scriptural, and really saying something, not a few empty words endlessly repeated.

(2) From the heart – not merely community hymn singing, but lips expressing what is in the heart.

(3) Must not curtail or lead to reduction of time spent in preaching the Word.

Thankful Church

Always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 5:20). This is linked with the previous point, because when we are grateful and thankful, we express our feelings in praise and song. God’s people are called to be grateful and thankful and appreciative. God is the giver and source of every good and perfect gift is from above (James 1:17). Not meant to be moaners and grumblers.

Grumbling was one of the besetting sins of the Children of Israel – they murmured against the Lord and against Moses many times (Exodus 16:27; Numbers 14:2; 16:11,41). People controlled by the Spirit are full, not of complaining, but of thanksgiving. The context here is vital. Must not imagine this means unconditional thankfulness – we cannot give thanks for blatant evil. “Everything” is to be seen in context, i.e. everything which reveals the loving fatherhood of God and His control over our lives and circumstances. Praise for blessings – spiritual and physical, ordinary and extraordinary, past and present and future, things received and things withheld. Praise for the way in which, when sickness or sorrow or troubles come, these things can be turned into good by God, who in His sovereign wisdom permitted them (Romans 8:28). In all these things He can bring us out on top, He causes us to be more than conquerors.

N.B. the man who wrote these words to the Romans was a prisoner in a Roman jail, facing the possibility that his imprisonment would end in death and execution. And yet, not just in his letter to the Romans, but in many other epistles written from prison, the note of praise is always on his lips. I have not stopped giving thanks for you (Ephesians 1:16), I thank my God every time I remember you (Philippians 1:3), Giving thanks to the father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light (Colossians 1:12). Earlier when writing to the Corinthians, he said Christ’s grace was sufficient even when he had a thorn in his flesh – he gladly boasted of his infirmities so that the power of Christ would rest on him. That is why, for Christ’s sake I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, than I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).

When Augustine recalled the early Christians who suffered persecution, even those who were devoured by beasts, he always ended his discussions with “Deo Gratias” – “Thanks be to God”.

In our daily experience, how often we who have health and sufficient to live on are put to shame when we complain by Christians who can rejoice in the Lord in poverty, physical pain, and one blow after another. A thankful and praising attitude brings so many blessings – it defeats the devil, our worries disappear, we find the courage to face the future, resolutions are formed, peace is experienced, God is glorified, and like Mary’s gift to Jesus in John 12, gratitude fills the house with fragrance. God calls us to be grateful, and He blesses us when we are grateful.

Harmonious Church

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ (Ephesians 5:21). There must be harmony among the singers. Meekness and gentleness, so that they continuously subject themselves to one another. No longer individuals, but part of a group. Concerned not to domineer and assert selves, or be aggressive. Honour and respect one another. Being fair and even-tempered. Being charitable. Thinking before we speak. Being filled with the fruits of the Spirit, Love, …patience,… gentleness,.. self-control (Galatians 5:22). In humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others (Philippians 2:3-4).

This is for all of us. Submitting to one another. Not a one-sided subjection by which the unselfish retiring Christian is prey to the one who is selfish and domineering. Mutual submission. Both parties to be selfless. Both parties to be yielded to the will of God in matters relating to both parties. When correction or rebuke is needed, it is done in a spirit of meekness. The Lord’ servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct (2 Timothy 2:24,25). This is an injunction we must never forget. The most mature Christians and those in leadership are never above being reminded. To the elders among you…. be shepherds of God’s flock…. because you are willing….not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock (1 Peter 5:1-3).

Such a spirit is essential for purity and fellowship to be maintained and harmony ensured. The Corinthian church, and many others since, were a picture of what happens then mutual submission is forgotten. Pride and self-importance and bickering devastated the Corinthian church and it was an appalling witness to the outside world. The attitude of submission is so contrary to the old nature still within, and so different from the world around about, where self-assertion and self-indulgence is applauded and expected.

How can it be practiced? The key is in the end of the verse “Out of reverence for Christ”. Do it because of your relationship to Him. This is what He taught – that the greatest must become the least. This is what He practiced – did He not wash His disciples feet, even though He was their Lord and Master (John 13:1ff)? The Son of Man came to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). The Christian should be anxious to please Him and to do His will, so as not to disappoint Him.

When as Christians we consider how totally unworthy we are, when we see how wretched and sinful our own hearts are, and remember we are saved by grace alone, when we remember that even our gifts and abilities were given to us by the Lord (1 Corinthians 4:7), then we are surely humbled. Who are we that we should assert ourselves, consider ourselves better than anyone else, cause others to think how wonderful and clever we are? When we know the truth about ourselves, problems of relationships with others are soon solved.

But this way of reasoning is only possible when we are under the control of the Holy Spirit. He puts us in our place. He deflates us, cuts us down to size, deals with pride and self. Then we can look at others with the eyes of Christ.

Conclusion

Be continually filled with the Spirit. Be a singing church, a thankful church, a harmonious church. These are wholesome results. All concerned with relationship to God and to other people. But church is made up of individuals. When each individual is filled with the Spirit, then the whole church is. The filling of the Spirit is the key to loving God and loving our neighbour.