Filled Up or Filled Out?

Ephesians 5:15-20

Two common symbols for the Spirit are wine (or water) and wind. You can fill a cup with wine (or water), and we can fill a balloon with air. Which better describes to you what it means to be filled with the Spirit?

The liquid in the cup is a picture of the Spirit permeating every aspect of our being (sanctifying us in spirit, soul, and body, 1 Thess. 5:22-23). On the other hand, the balloon gives us a picture of growth in the Spirit--becoming capable of more. As far as which symbol I like more, read on.

If you had two cups—one large and one small—or two balloons—one large and one small—would you consider the larger container to be more filled? Does it make sense to describe a Christian as being more filled with the Spirit?

Obviously, the smaller cup should not ask, "Why didn't God make me a bigger cup so I could be more filled?" For the smaller cup, the filling is what counts, not the volume. For the balloons, volume is an aspect of being filled--can I blow a little more air into this balloon without popping it?

The NT never talks about being more filled with the Spirit, but just being filled. How often do we as Christians err by seeking after more filling instead of simply seeking after the one doing the filling?

What common misconceptions do you think Christians have about being filled with the Spirit? Based on tonight’s lesson, what would you want to say to counter these misconceptions?

The verses tonight speak about a filling by the Spirit that seeks to edify others: v19 "Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord." I think well-intentioned Christians stumble by viewing the filling of the Spirit as something that edifies them when in fact the filling of the Spirit is for the edification of others. "Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, 'If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.'" (John 7:37b-38) That overflow is for the work of God's kingdom in the world, not the kingdom within the individual.

What will you do with what you have learned tonight?

I wonder if the whole metaphor of filling a cup or a balloon is too simple. I think the filling by the Spirit of Christ is transformational; it would be as if the Spirit filled our cups with water and then turned the water into wine. Part of the filling is the sweetness, the change of heart and perspective, that comes through life in the Spirit. Paul Eluard wrote, "There is another world, and it is in this one." Nothing in this world may have changed, our circumstances are still the same, but everything by the Spirit has changed: that is the kingdom being born.