The Presence of Christ: What would be the best thing for you? How about for the people you love? To have the spiritual power that comes from a growing knowledge and experience of the love of Christ. To be rooted and established in his love. And that his presence would be real to you in your inner being. Recorded on Jun 2, 2024, on Ephesians 3:14-21 by Pastor David Parks.
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Our series, Ephesians: The Gospel in Life, serves as an epilogue to Finding Life in Jesus’ Name from John’s gospel. The Apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians reveals much about how the life found by faith in Jesus actually works. This series will touch on themes of grace, identity, purpose, family, the church, spiritual warfare, and more. If you’re considering the life of Jesus or if you’re ready to follow him today, this series is for you.
Sermon Transcript
For a little over a month now, we’ve been working through Paul’s letter to the Ephesians in a sermon series called The Gospel in Life. And today, as we finish chapter 3, we’re going to consider the second prayer of Paul in this letter, which is really one of the most expansive and powerful prayers in all of the Scriptures. The reason it’s so powerful is because Paul prays for what would be the absolute best thing for his friends there in Ephesus. Have you ever wondered what would be the best thing for you? Or what would be the best thing for someone you love? A parent or spouse or child or friend? A few years ago, I found myself thinking about that question a lot. We’d just moved our oldest son, Tyler, into his dorm room for his freshmen year at college. And Holly and I drove home with a bunch of empty bins in the back and a lot of feelings swirling around in our hearts — healthy pride in who he was and in his accomplishments, fears of what he might encounter, and everything in between. We realized that our relationship and our role as parents had seemingly changed overnight. Holly and I found ourselves feeling driven to pray for Tyler a lot that year. But what should we have prayed for? Should we have prayed that God would protect our son from negative influences? Should we have prayed that God would help him get good grades? or make friends? or that he would just be happy? What would be the best thing for him? What would be the best thing to ask God for? Well, today, we’re going to discover what would be the very best thing for all of us. Grab your Bibles/apps and open to Eph 3:14.
Ephesians 3:14–17a (NIV), “14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” Paul starts this section with “For this reason…” which is the same way he started the text we looked at last week. It almost seems as if Paul interrupted the flow of his letter with an aside about his story and his suffering. But after considering how Paul’s story was changed in every way by the story of who God is and what God has done and is doing through his Son and Spirit — in other words, the story of the gospel — it doesn’t seem like that much of a tangent. In fact, his story as a Jewish man who became a Christian and then was commissioned by Jesus to be his apostle to the Gentiles fits the great theme of this letter of our union with Christ and, therefore, our unity with one another in him, Jew and Gentile. But after a brief stop in connecting his story to this theme of unity, Paul comes back to where he left off in Chapter 2 with another prayer. But what does he pray for? He says that he’s kneeling before God the Father in heaven, “from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.” Now, this doesn’t translate well into English, but the Greek word for Father is the root of the word for family. So, Paul starts this prayer with a reminder of who he is praying to. Paul is praying directly to the source of every person, family, tribe, and nation — to the creator of the heavens and the earth. Is there anyone higher than our heavenly Father? Is anyone greater or more capable of answering our prayers? No. When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, he told them to pray like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” (Mt 6:9). God is not some shapeless being or divine spark. He’s revealed himself to be our Father. And he’s not bound by space and time or limited in any way as we are. He’s transcendent; he’s above all; he is our Father in heaven. And everything about him is holy, set apart, and perfect. Hallowed be your name. In prayer, we’re approaching the burning bush, and we better take our sandals off because the place we are standing is holy ground. Never approach God in prayer flippantly or without reverence and awe. Of course, we don’t have to wonder if God will accept us or our prayers in Christ. As we’ve seen already in Ephesians, the doors have been thrown open to the throne room of God because of his great love for us! But we must never forget who we are praying to. Paul goes on to tell us his first request in v. 16. “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,” So far, in Ephesians, Paul has been emphasizing the cosmic scope of the gospel: That from eternity to eternity, God has been working to bring redemption and renewal to all things in heaven and earth so that everything might be brought to unity in and under the lordship of Christ. And that it is out of the glorious/boundless/incalculable riches of his love/grace/mercy that God has been doing his saving work. And it is out of that abundance that Paul prays that God would give his friends power. But notice he doesn’t pray for physical power or political power or power that comes from being rich or famous — but that they might be strengthened with power through the Holy Spirit in their inner person, their inner being. In other words, that they would have spiritual power within their hearts and minds, in their thoughts, emotions, and will. But the outcome of this strengthening is unexpected. Paul asks that God would strengthen them in their inner being “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” Now, remember, he’s writing here to Christians. So, they had already believed the gospel and received Christ by faith. The Spirit of Christ was already dwelling in their hearts. As he writes to the Romans, “…if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.” (Ro 8:9b). You can’t be a Christian and not have the Holy Spirit. So, Paul must not be praying that they would become Christians. But if that’s not the case, then what exactly is he praying for? Well, having talked with hundreds of people about their faith over the years as a pastor, I can tell you that many Christians have trusted Christ for salvation but have experienced little else from him in their lives. They are Christians, but they struggle to connect their faith or the story of the gospel to their work/relationships/money, or some other aspect of life. They believe in Jesus, but do they experience the presence and power of Christ dwelling in their hearts? Has the gospel shaped and transformed their entire inner person/world? Maybe a little? Can you resonate with that? But just imagine if it did! Imagine if your union with Christ was so real to you that you had the sense of walking through all of life with him, that his presence was leading and guiding you moment by moment and day by day, that he was giving you daily bread, that his word was becoming not just another option for you when it was convenient or obviously beneficial to you but his word was the first thing that came to mind and shaped the very desires of your heart. So, Paul isn’t praying the Ephesians would start believing in Jesus, like flipping on a light switch and going from darkness to light. He’s praying that these believers would have a growing sense/experience of the power/presence of Christ in their inner being, like turning up the dimmer switch of a light that’s already on, so that Christ would shine more and more brilliantly from within their lives. But what exactly does Paul want them to experience more of? What aspect of the person and work of Jesus would be best for them?
Ephesians 3:17b-19 (NIV), “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Paul prays that his friends would have a growing sense/experience of the love of Christ. This is what he’s praying that God would turn up in their lives. And Paul uses two different metaphors here. First, he prays that like a mighty oak tree whose roots run deep to provide nourishment but also stability and strength to stand against any wind/storm that might come, Paul prays that the Ephesians would be rooted in the love of Christ. Second, the word established here is an architectural word for foundation. So he prays that, as a building with a firm foundation can stand strong for hundreds of years, sometimes even thousands of years (Remember, some of the buildings that stood in Ephesus during the time of the Apostle Paul are still standing to this day!), so in the same way, Paul prays that his friends would be built on the love of Christ. You might recall the image from Chapter 2 of God building us, his people, Jew and Gentile, into a new temple, which he dwells by his Spirit, with Christ as the chief cornerstone. We, as God’s people, a holy and living temple, are to be rooted and established not in guilt or shame or fear, but in love. And this love provides the nourishment we need and the stability that allows us to stand firm, no matter what we might face in this broken world. But from this place of strength/health/life, Paul prays that we might have power, together with all the saints, all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp/comprehend “how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.” This is what Paul wants to dial up in their lives. These dear brothers and sisters in Christ know the love of Christ, but they haven’t yet grasped the extent of his love. They haven’t reached the end. There are still dimensions and vistas they’ve yet to see. This is certainly true for us as well. One of the beautiful aspects of the gospel is that a young child can understand and believe, “Jesus loves me; this I know.” But they won’t be able to grasp the depth of his love or fully comprehend what it cost him on the cross to love or all that his love means for every aspect of life — at least not all at once. Even for those of us who are more mature in our faith, the love of God comes pouring out to us in a flood we can barely contain. It’s lavished on us from one who wants to share his boundless riches with us! So, we all can/need to grow in our knowledge/experience of the love of Christ. To pursue a growing knowledge/experience of this love as Paul says, that surpasses knowledge. But what does that mean? Is Paul praying for the impossible? To know something that is unknowable? Possibly. God is personal and wants a personal relationship with us so he can be known to a degree. But there are aspects of God that are difficult, if not impossible, for us to fully understand. How is God three and one? How did God create everything from nothing? I’m not sure that as finite human creatures, we’re able to comprehend all of God’s nature. And maybe that’s what God’s love is like. It’s so deep and wide, even though we can grow in our understanding, it’s still beyond our ability to fully comprehend. Or maybe, in saying that his love surpasses knowledge, Paul is referring to the fact that the love of God must go beyond a purely intellectual basis. It’s not just a fact, it’s meant to be an experience. It needs to saturate our whole inner person. The love of Christ must be something we learn about and meditate on, something that comes quickly to mind and shapes our identity/motives/expectations/goals. The love of Christ must be a source of spiritual power, and that flows out into every aspect of our lives and to the people around us every day. I think both meanings might be true. But if this happens, if Paul’s prayer is answered and God strengthens his people with power in their inner being to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, then they will be…what? They will be “filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” And Paul can’t take it anymore. The possibility that his friends might experience the loving presence of Christ to this height and depth and the whole cosmic sweep of the gospel of God’s grace, lifts Paul from the chains of his prison where he writes, all the way up into the heavens in a doxology or a call to glorify God.
Ephesians 3:20-21 (NIV), “20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” This is God’s word. Well, if you take notes in your Bibles, vv. 20-21 would be a good passage to circle or underline. Who is it we are praying to? Is he able to answer our prayers? Of course. He is our Father in heaven. He is our Creator, the Maker of heaven and earth. And he is able to do so much more (immeasurably more) than we could even imagine. He’s not even limited to what we pray for. We might be praying too small of prayers compared to what he really wants to do in our lives or in the lives of those we love. But this reality of who God is and what he’s done and doing through his Son and Spirit, and all he has promised to do for us in Christ, lifts Paul up into glory. To him be glory. To God be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! What a triumphant end to this first half of his letter!
As we close today, we usually shift to application. How might we apply this text to our lives today? Well, I’d like to ask you, what normally fills your mind today? What occupies your heart? What lives in your inner world, your imagination? For most people, even Christians, their inner world is a scary place. They’re full of anxiety, self-loathing, shame, and regret. We might know about the love of Christ, but it might not be this bright, shining light and source of power, stability, and nourishment in our lives. So, what would be the best thing for us? This is it! What Paul is praying for them is what would be the very best thing in life for the ones that we love. Of course, we can pray for protection and provision and for God to help us with the day-to-day stuff of life. But the best thing would be if we had a growing knowledge/experience of the love of Christ, if we had the spiritual power that comes from being rooted and established in this love, and if we were filled with all the fullness of God. But you know what? One day, we will have been Christians for ten thousand years. Can you believe that? But even then, I’m not sure we’ll have gotten to the end of the love of Christ. And this, my friends, is why the Christian life is first and foremost a life of worship. When the love of Christ is real to you, all of life becomes a doxology that includes every believer who has ever lived. “to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” Let us pray.