«And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit» (Ephesians, 5:18).
Paul wrote these words because he had experienced what being filled with the Holy Spirit meant for him. It is absolutely necessary to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
1) Jesus gave some commandments to the Apostles BY THE HOLY SPIRIT (verse 2).
Jesus Himself relied on the Holy Spirit in everything He did during His days in flesh. When He took on flesh, He was limited by it and He needed the Holy Spirit. As people we live in flesh and we also are limited by it. The only way for us to overcome these limitations is to rely on the Holy Spirit. We must be aware of the necessity and our dependency on the Holy Spirit. We must seek Him daily.
Paul is saying that many people hear the Gospel but still are not enlightened by that. These people had made their choice to continue living in sin, therefore, satan, the god of this world had blinded their minds so that the light of Gospel remains unveiled to them, regardless of how hard somebody tries to share the gospel with them. Nevertheless, Paul and his partners presented to others the brightest light of the Gospel, – that is Christ Himself, who is the image of God. Paul was convinced that people should be able to see God in Christ, so he preached Christ and instead of preaching about himself.
Based on 2nd Corinthians 4:1-5 we have already underlined the following principles:
1) We all already have a ministry – to reveal or manifest God to this world.
2) We must understand the ministry we received is by mercy and not by personal merits. It is by the grace of God.
«You have loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows». (Hebrews 1:9).
My way of life is directly related to the presence of God in my life. Therefore, obtaining the nature of Christ is our first ministry and then doing His works.
The bible said we are the light of the world, so each of us is a light bearer. And as you know, light is intended to enlighten and drive away any form of darkness. We have to realize though, that we do not have light on our own. The light we radiate is the reflection of the light we have received from God. If we have a distorted perception of God, and His ways, then the light we radiate will also be distorted. Quite often so many Christian radiate distorted light because their lamp is not clean.
· We are called to behold the glory of the Lord. In other words, this is a call to focus our attention on Jesus as the only standard and model for our life. We can do that by focusing our attention on His word, His life and His examples.
· The word “beholding” in the passage above means a continuous action. In other words we should keep beholding the glory of God all the time.
«Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marvelled» (Acts, 4:13).
The first disciples of Jesus had spent time with Jesus and that reflected in their attitude to life,- they manifested God’s character through their lives. They were brave and bold for God; they boldly spoke of God, and testify of Him because they had spent time in the Father’s bosom.
The word “Father’s bosom” means very close to the Father’s heart, to be by the Father’s side or on the Father’s breast. That word was used in John to describe John leaning on Jesus: «Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved» (John, 13:23).
So Jesus was close to Father’s heart, and that is why He was able to manifest God to us. The true knowledge of God only come through the One Who is ‘ in the bosom of the Father’ – from Jesus.
Now Jesus calls every believer to follow His example and to manifest God to the people through our lives.
Jesus manifested God in two main ways:
· Through His lifestyle (character) and
· Through His deeds (gifts).
