Bulletin Articles
Furnishing an Empty House & Be Filled with the Spirit
Furnishing an Empty House
“When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.” (Matt. 12:43-45)
Starting in Matthew 12:22, we read that Jesus casted a demon out of a man. After addressing the accusations of serving Beelzebub, Jesus transitions to describe the failed cleansing of a different demon-possessed man.
He describes a man who had an evil spirit, and when forced out, the spirit returned to the man with ease. In some translations, verse 44 even says, “I will return to my house,” noting that the spirit felt ownership over the man’s body even though it was not the spirit’s to take.
These homes are our bodies. They are temples. And as God’s creation, we are to steward our eternal souls in these temples by protecting them from evil. But we cannot do it alone.
As Jesus continues in verse 44, He notes that the home is clean but unoccupied. While emptied of evil, it remains empty, making it so easy to fill with the familiar. The empty home looks so perfect, but as the illustration goes, it becomes far worse when the spirit brings seven more spirits even more wicked than itself.
If we are not careful, evil can get replaced by more evil in our lives. We can learn how to break habits, stack habits, and start new routines. But if all of it is to furnish an empty home—our temple—we only invite a greater disservice to our souls and God. Nothing but wickedness awaits us if we do not prepare for something better to fill ourselves.
But God has given us a Spirit that we can prepare for. A Spirit that can dwell in our temple that is pure, good, and deserving of our devotion because He will lead us to a place that is prepared for us.
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own.” 1 Corinthians 6:19
Be Filled with the Spirit
“And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18).
When we first became Christians, God sealed us with His Spirit. This Spirit was given as a down payment, guaranteeing our future heavenly inheritance (Eph. 1:14; 2 Cor. 1:22; 5:5). But we must be good stewards of this gift, lest we “grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Eph. 4:30). Since it’s possible to lose our salvation, Paul in the following chapter of Ephesians instructs us to be “filled with the Spirit” in contrast to “getting drunk with wine” (Eph. 5:18). Being filled with the Spirit is a command that we must continually obey.
How do we obey this command? Paul gives three specific ways in the next few verses:
Sing and make melody in your heart to the Lord (Eph. 5:19)
Singing “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” is one way to “let the word of Christ richly dwell within you” (Col. 3:16). The word of God is the “sword of the Spirit” (Eph. 6:17). Filling our minds with God’s written word is how the Spirit communicates to us today. And the Spirit of God is a much better comforter than a bottle of alcohol.
Give thanks for all things (Eph. 5:20)
Rather than trying to drown our sorrows with alcohol, we should fill our hearts with gratitude for what God has given us. If you are having trouble coming up with a list of a blessings to thank God for, start with the list of spiritual blessings found in Ephesians 1.
Submit to one another (Eph. 5:21)
One way we can know that we are being led by the Spirit is when we sacrifice our fleshly desires for the needs of others. Fleshly thinking says, “My interests and my desires come first.” But the Spirit says, “Through love serve one another” (Gal. 5:13).
-Lauren and Brandon Hawk
