The drunk staggered around the half-filled bar room, a slurred version of “Love Me Tender” pouring from his slobbering mouth.  He lurched toward a table where two women sat.  They didn’t know whether to ignore him or run for their lives.  But the show suddenly ended as he mumbled, “Thank you very much” and wobbled out the door announcing, “Elvis has left the building!”

It’s shocking that the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to connect getting drunk with being filled with the Spirit.  It’s a contrast, of course (“do not get drunk with wine . . . but be filled with the Spirit”).  But it’s  a comparison too, because in both getting drunk and being Spirit-filled an entity outside ourselves enters and alters our behavior. Unlike alcohol which can control us, God the Holy Spirit empowers us–to worship.  Here’s how.

 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery,
but be filled with the Spirit,
addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart,
giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ
submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
–Ephesians 5:18-21

The Spirit empowers us to address one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.  Precisely what Paul meant by hymns and spiritual songs is unclear.  What’s interesting, though, is that we are to address one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.  I take this to mean, at least in part, that when we gather to worship God we are to be aware that we are singing in the hearing of others.  When we sing “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”, we should realize that we are encouraging those who hear us that God is our mighty fortress.  When we sing “Be Thou My Vision”, we should realize that we are praying in music side-by-side for the Lord to be our vision together.  By singing like this we serve hope and faith and love and God-centeredness to one another.

The Spirit empowers us to sing and make melody to the Lord with our heart.  Here Paul directs us to sing to the Lord.  Does the Lord actually listen?  If he listens to our prayers, he certainly listens to our praise!  Sometimes I imagine Jesus sitting there in front of us.  Other times I imagine we are joined with heaven’s angels’ singing to the Lamb on the throne in heaven.  We are to sing to him with out heart. What a difference between mouthing “How great is our God” and singing with passion and zeal and whole-heartedness!  This is how the Spirit leads us to worship the Lord in song.  It doesn’t honor him if we praise him with our lips while our hearts are far from him.  Off-key singers who sing to the Lord with their heart bring greater delight to the Lord than professionals who sing skillfully only from their lips.

The Spirit empowers us to give thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Sometimes worship singing springs from a broken heart.  Even then Paul urges us to “give thanks always and for everything to God”.  Give thanks that God is sovereign over that thing that grieves us. That God is working for ultimate good in it.  That God’s grace is sufficient for it.  Weeping times can be the most blessed worship times for us, as giving thanks to our Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ focuses our eyes to see our hurt through the One whose grace is available to us in it.  To give thanks “in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” is to remember that God is our Father through his mercies to us in Christ, and to remember that he has already come to us and is with us in Christ.

The Spirit empowers us to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Paul sends worship into daily living here.  Wives, submit to husbands (5:22).  Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church–a submitting to their needs as Christ did for us (5:25).  Children, submit in obedience to parents (6:1).  Fathers, submit to your children by bringing them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (6:4).  Servants, submit to your masters (6:5) and masters, submit to the well being of your servants (6:9).  Nowhere are we to do anything from selfish ambition; everywhere we are to humbly count others more significant than ourselves (Philippians 2:3).  And we are to do this  out of reverence for Christ who submitted himself for our sake.  Then, when we gather for worship, we gather in the humble unity of selfless love.

Sunday’s coming.  We won’t stagger around the sanctuary.  Won’t slur our songs.  Won’t lurch threateningly toward one another or wobble out the door when we’re done.  But hopefully like spiritual “drunks” we’ll come filled with the Spirit and with one voice we’ll glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  That’s how spiritual “drunks” behave in worship.