I invite you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Ephesians. If you're using the Pew Bible, it should be found on page 1160, Ephesians chapter 3. We're going to consider from verses 14 through 21 of Ephesians chapter 3. Hear now the very word of God. may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen. Charles Spurgeon, the 19th century Baptist preacher, understood the significance of prayer well when he said once, I would rather teach one man to pray than ten men to preach. I would rather teach one man to pray than ten men to preach. That's a pretty telling statement given that that comes from the lips of a man who was called the prince of preachers. Prayer is a vital part of our Christian lives, isn't it? Through prayer, the Lord ordains to supply us with what we need. And through prayer, the Lord ordains to shape and fashion our hearts and our minds according to His will. As our catechism says, prayer is the most important part of our thankfulness. And so it's a great privilege to consider at times the prayers of Scripture. Tonight we have the privilege of peeking into the heart and mind of the Apostle Paul as he prays for this church and these Christians at Ephesus. And so I want to consider with you tonight this text by looking at three things. why paul prays what paul prays and to whom paul prays why paul prays what paul prays and to whom paul prays paul begins this chapter chapter three with the same words that he begins here in the text before us in verse 14 he begins this chapter in verse one by saying for this reason for this reason i paul a prisoner of christ on behalf of you gentiles and then paul goes off in uh those that section before where we at where we're at in the beginning of chapter three he he goes off on what many call a beautiful tangent a tangent about how he is a prisoner uh for the sake of the gospel but that these christians don't have to fear for him because the lord is using his imprisonment for the sake of the ministry of the gospel. But now here in our section before us, he is back to his first intention. For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father. Paul here is praying for these Christians. And what's the reason that he prays? What's the reason that he speaks of here? Well, the reason is really what Paul has said in chapters 1 and 2. for those reasons, for that reason, all that he has described there. And what has Paul described there? Well, if you remember chapter 1, that famous passage where Paul speaks of God predestining us unto adoption as sons and daughters. In love, he predestined us to be his children through the Lord Jesus Christ. And then Paul goes on to describe how God is bringing two people, Jews and Gentiles, together forming a new humanity, a new people, sanctified in Christ. And he's removing or has removed by Christ the enmity that existed between those people, constituting them together as one, one new humanity. And then Paul goes on to talk about how this new humanity is becoming a temple for God, where the Holy Spirit dwells in these people. Paul himself and the other apostles and prophets are foundation-laying builders of this temple. Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone. It's for this reason. This reason of the work that God is doing with people. God is at work, isn't He? God is doing a beautiful work with feeble and weak people who were never really his people in the first place, right? Calling them out of the world, calling them into a new people, his people. Church at Ephesus, it's a mixed group. A group of both Jews and Gentiles, probably mostly Gentiles. And so this is an important point for Paul to make here. He's telling these Christians that the Lord God is at work constituting them together. Now, this work that Paul was a foundational part of starting, this work continues today, doesn't it? It continues today. For 2,000 years, the work that the Lord has been doing with people continues. And it's really gone from Judea to Samaria to the ends of the earth. The gospel ministry has crossed over distant lands and oceans and has even made its way to a small town, Escondido, California. Right here. We've been shaped by this work that the Lord is doing, right? We are representative of that work. We are products of that work. We are beneficiaries of that work. You see, it's really true what God had promised in the Old Testament that He would call a people to Himself, a people who were not His people. He would call his people, each of us here, maybe mostly Dutch, but nevertheless Gentile, right? And aren't you glad? Aren't you thankful? Thankful for those who came before us. Thankful for those who prayed as Paul prayed here for that gospel ministry, for that work, For this reason I bow my knee before the Father. For the reason of the work of the gospel. Aren't you thankful for those who prayed that the gospel would have an impact upon the European people? Aren't you thankful for those who prayed that the gospel would have an impact across the Americas? I definitely am. I think back to the man who shared the gospel with my parents. And I'm sure somebody was praying for that man. Praying for his evangelicalism. Praying for the way that he witnessed the people. I'm a product of that. It's beautiful, right? The way the Lord works. And the truth is, as I said, that work is still continuing. It's still ongoing today. And so we are called to pray. To pray for the ministry. To pray for a work and ministry that has been entrusted to us as a church here in Escondido, California to continue to take that gospel to the ends of the world. Ministry of the gospel has been handed down to us to call people out of the world and to call them to faith and trust in Jesus Christ to be a part of the people of God. We too, like Paul, we have a great reason to pray, don't we? We certainly do. If Paul had a great reason to pray, we too have a great reason to pray. We know the work of Paul. We read of it. We're familiar with it. It was a foundation-laying work. We're not doing that work any longer, but we're still a part of that work, praying that it continues, that our Heavenly Father builds His church, adds people to His church, that the gospel might impact people to save them from a dying world. And it's noteworthy that Paul here calls God His Heavenly Father in verse 14. for this reason i bow my knee before the father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named now just a note about the text here where where paul says that he bows his knees before the father from whom every family in heaven on earth is named paul's not saying that god is the father of each and every family or each and every person the word every here can also be translated as the whole so that it might read for this reason i bow my knees before the father from whom the whole family in heaven on earth is named paul is speaking here of the family of god see it would be really out of place for paul to speak of adoption in chapter one to to speak of the household of god in chapter two and then to call as so many people do today to call god the father of every person truth of the matter is God is not the father of each and every person he's the father of those that he has graciously brought in to his people he's the father of those who trust in Jesus Christ by faith he's the father of the whole family of God the family in Ephesus the family in Colossae the family in Rome the family in Escondido and what a beautiful truth this is really that God is our heavenly father I think what Paul is really saying here is that God is our father who loves to hear the prayers of his children and what a beautiful truth that is that the god of all creation that holy mighty awesome god desires to listen to the prayers and the concerns of his children see god is never too busy for us he's never too preoccupied he doesn't come home at the end of the day and he's just burdened with the day that he he dealt with and doesn't want to hear his children god is always willing to hear us and listen to this if we ask him according to his will we can be sure that the lord will give us exactly what we ask for now that doesn't mean we always get what we want, right? Notice I said if we ask according to His will. See, the will of God must always be the controlling factor in our prayers. The will of God must always be the controlling factor of our prayers. We must always pray, Thy will be done. And when we do that, what begins happen in prayer is that our hearts begin to be shaped by what it is we pray yes we bring our our cares yes we bring our concerns yes we begin we we we bring the things that we need and want and yet we at the end of praying and asking for those things we must always say thy will be done like christ in the garden right lord if this cup can pass but not my will your will spurgeon once said about prayer true prayer is the trading of the heart with god the trading of the heart with god i thought that was a beautiful way of of putting it through prayer god as we pray according to his will he begins to mold us and shape us and fashion us as we pray. I think we really see the heart of Paul having been shaped and formed and molded here through what it is that he prays. And that takes us to our second point, what Paul prays. The Bible tells us in the eighth chapter of the book of Romans that we often don't know what to pray for. We don't know how to pray. We don't know what to pray. Well, Paul gives us some great examples of things to pray for here see paul knows these christians at ephesus and he knows what they need and so paul really prays for one thing for these christians he prays for strength notice verse 16 that according to the riches of his glory that he may grant you to be strengthened strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being and then again in the second half of verse 17 that you being rooted and grounded in love may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of christ that surpasses knowledge you see the christians at ephesus were under tremendous pressure because of their pagan past their past was full of magic and witchcraft occult practices if you remember back in Acts 20, it's recorded there that how the gospel was having such an effect upon the community there at Ephesus, it was affecting the economy there because of the witchcraft and the occult practices. Well, you see, it was strongly believed that these practices were necessary parts of life. Without them, these people believed that they were vulnerable to the spirits that exercise power over every area of life. And so for this reason, it's important that Paul prays for these Christians, that they would be strengthened. He first prays that they would be strengthened with power from the Holy Spirit. He says that in verse 16. Paul prays for strength, but notice the source of that strength is the third person of the trinity god himself the holy spirit there's no greater source of strength and power for a christian than the comforter himself paul's emphasis upon the holy spirit here in his prayer would have stood in stark contrast to what these people would have been familiar with see they thought of power as being something that could be manipulated controlled harnessed by their magic and witchcraft but the power and strength of god comes to us personally comes to us through god granting to us his holy spirit the comforter the one who god has gifted each and every one of his people with the greek word for holy spirit is the word parakletos and depending on where it's used the context in which it's used it's often translated as comforter or counselor advocate but in a really wooden literal sense parakletos can be translated as one who is sent to help one who is sent to help the holy spirit is the help of god's people he's our helper he's the one who comes alongside of us. He's the one who supports us. He's the one who preserves us. He's the one who empowers us. He's the one, as Paul prays here, who strengthens us. And just like these Christians at Ephesus, we too need the Spirit, don't we? We need the strength, the power of the Spirit. Now, I think we know that we need to pray for the ministry and work of the Spirit in our lives but i think as reformed people we're oftentimes hesitant to pray about the holy spirit right in light of all that has been done recently and said in in uh in the name of the holy spirit we're a bit apprehensive but you see paul knew and understood that these christians at ephesus needed the work and the ministry and the power and the strength of the spirit and so do we. Brothers and sisters, we have something great to pray for. We need to pray for the work and the ministry of the Spirit in our lives. We need to pray for the work and the ministry of the Spirit in the lives of our family. We need to pray for the work of the Spirit in the lives of our children. We need to pray for the work and the ministry of the Spirit here among us at escondido united reformed church pray for that work spirit's been given for that very reason to strengthen us to empower us to equip us now it's important also to realize what it is that the the holy spirit uses to strengthen god's people paul says here in verse 16 that the spirit works according to the riches of God's glory. What is that? What exactly is the riches of God's glory? Well, they're none other than all that God has promised to us in Jesus Christ. Notice, if you will, back at chapter 1, verse 18. There Paul prays as well for this church. And he says there in chapter 1, verse 18, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what is the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints? He uses a similar phrase in Philippians 4 as well, where he says, My God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. The riches of God's glory is all that He's promised to us in Jesus Christ. It's really what Paul has listed out in chapter 1. It's our election, our adoption, our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins, the inheritance that we have. We can summarize all of that as the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's what the Spirit uses to strengthen God's people. It's the good news that gives us a proper perspective on life and given any situation that we find ourselves in. And notice what the purpose of Paul praying here is. He says in verse 17, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. The point, the purpose, the aim of Paul's prayer is that Christ would dwell in the hearts of God's people through faith. Now, we might say, well, wait a minute, weren't these Christians that Paul is writing to? Aren't these already Christians? Why would Paul pray that Christ would dwell in their hearts through faith? And it's true, they are Christians. But you see, the key to what Paul is praying for these Christians, what's key is the word dwelling. The word dwelling means to reside somewhere, to reside somewhere permanently. Think of our homes. Me and my wife just bought a new home. We just purchased a new home, right? We come into a new home, and it's really not our home, right? We need to dwell in it. We need to put pictures on the wall. We need to decorate it according to the way we see fit, right? Maybe we paint some walls. We put out some furniture. We take a house, and we make it into a home. Well, the same could be true of Christ dwelling in us. As the Lord through the Spirit dwells in His children, He forms us after His image. He shapes us. He fashions us after His image. What Paul is speaking of here is Christian growth. Speaking of maturing in Christ. Growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. That's the purpose of Paul's prayer. That these Christians would grow and mature and be shaped by Him. Conformed to Him. Paul will say this again. He'll say it again in the next few verses. He'll say it in a different way, but he goes on to say the exact same thing. Now isn't this the desire of every Christian? To grow in Christ? If we're a Christian, it should be natural to us to desire to grow. To grow, to know Him more. To grow in our knowledge, our understanding. To grow in the grace and the work of Jesus Christ. prayer is that first step right that first step to that maturity paul continues this prayer in the second half of verse 17 when he says that you being rooted and grounded in love may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. This is, again, a petition that these Christians would be strengthened, but now strengthened to understand the unlimited love of Jesus Christ. This part of the prayer, again, presupposes what Paul has already said in chapter 1. In love, God predestined us. In love, he predestined us. See, Paul is not calling for these Christians to be rooted and grounded in love. He knows that they are. He's praying and asking that they would more fully grasp that limitless love of Jesus Christ. When you think about it, this is pretty astounding. You see, we live in a day where we would be much more inclined to pray that our love for Christ would increase. A good prayer, a necessary prayer. But it's not what Paul prays for here, is it? What Paul prays for is that these Christians would more fully grasp or better comprehend, understand the love of Christ. See, I think Paul realizes that as the Christian grows to appreciate, to know the love of Christ, their love for Christ will necessarily grow. It is as the scripture says, we love because he first loved us. Our love is based on his love for us. And so as we grow in understanding the love of Christ, our love for Christ will grow. We at times can so focus on our love for Christ that we neglect the love of Christ for us and we don't achieve either one. But you see, our love for Christ depends upon our understanding of how wide, how long, how high how deep the love of Christ is for us. That's why Paul prays here. It says, Jesus said, to those who are forgiven much, they love much. See, do you know? Do you know this love? Do you know how wide, how long, how deep and high you have been forgiven? Do you know how wide, how long, how high and how deep the love of christ is for you i'll tell you it's wider than you can know it's longer than you can grasp it's higher than the highest star it's deeper than the deepest depths of the ocean christ's love as paul says here surpasses understanding surpasses understanding and that's why paul isn't praying that these christians would have a better understanding but he's praying that these Christians would be strengthened to better grasp that love of Christ. See, Christ's love is something of a paradox for us, isn't it? It's not something that we can quantify. It's not something that we can measure or weigh. It's not something that we can fully know. Just think about the love of Christ. Think about the love that God has for you. how do we understand that how do we how do we capture it right any illustration any analogy only begins to scratch the surface of the love of god to us as romans 5 says few would die for a righteous man right maybe a good man someone might die but god shows his love for us in this when we were sinners christ died for us god almighty holy high and lifted up ruling and reigning supreme that god condescends to us in his son and dies for wretched sinners who have turned from Him, who continue to turn from Him. He loves us. He loves us, right? He loves us with an everlasting love. He loves us with an eternal love. His love for us will never end because it never stopped. It never started. He's always loved us. Chew on that. Chew upon that love of God for you. It's beautiful. It's beautiful. There's nothing that we can say to fully grasp it. God loves us. Christ loves us. Condescended to this earth. Lived here among sinful people. We can complain about this world, right? We complain regularly about this world. About the sinful things going on in this world. Christ lived in this world and died for it. For us. An expression of his love. That's love that surpasses knowledge. That's love that surpasses understanding. Do you know this love? Do you know this love? Do you have a beginning understanding of this love? I pray that you do. The love of God is so, so sweet. I pray that you, like Paul prayed, would be strengthened to better grasp this love. I pray that this love would overwhelm you. I pray that this love would transform you. See, I think Paul is praying this for these Christians because he's not thinking of the love of Christ as something that can be captured intellectually. He's not thinking of the love of Christ as something that can be doctrinally explained. The love of Christ stirs our souls, doesn't it? It should. It should. Again, in our Reformed tradition, we tend to be more stoic than emotional. Not that the love of God or the love of Christ should just be, our grasp of it should just be expressed emotionally. It should be expressed in all facets of who we are. We know that love intellectually, emotionally, spiritually. I pray we grow too, to be strengthened to know it all the more. Here again, Paul has a purpose for what he prays, why he prays this. He says in the second half of verse 19, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Better grasping the love of God amounts to more Christian maturity. That's what Paul refers to when he says being filled with the fullness of God. He says in chapter 4 of this book, in verse 13, after speaking of gifts given to men, he says that those gifts are given so that Christians would mature. He says in verse 13, Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to mature manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Fullness of Christ there in chapter 4, fullness of God here in chapter 3, both of which refer to Christian maturity again. Paul's praying that these Christians be strengthened to grow. Strengthened to grow by the Spirit, working in them, bringing them, giving them strength to fully grasp the love of Christ, the benefits of Christ, all that God has done for His people. Christian, you want to grow? Do you want to grow tonight? Are you interested in maturing in your Christian walk? Meditate upon the love of Christ for you. Meditate upon the gospel. Meditate upon the benefits that he has promised for you. That's what the Spirit uses. Well, our last point tonight is to whom Paul prays. To whom? These last two verses make up a doxology. But in this doxology, Paul reveals to us the one to whom he prays. This is a great prayer, right? This is a great prayer, a prayer that we would all love to see fulfilled in our lives. This is something of a summary of the Christian life, is what Paul is praying here. Summary of the process by which God applies the benefits of Christ to the heart and soul of a person for the sake of growing them and building them and maturing them in Christ. This is really God's will for His children. It's God's will. This is God's desire for us. Is it our desire? Is this our prayer for ourselves? And maybe you say, yes, this would be my prayer. But you say so with a bit of doubt. Because the fact of the matter is, maybe you don't see yourself here in what Paul is describing. You don't see the Spirit working in you in such a way that you are maturing and growing. Well, to that I say, that's okay. Because this doesn't solely fall upon your shoulders. See, this is God who works in us, isn't it? What can we do? Well, we can do what Paul is doing here. We can pray. We can pray. We can ask the Lord. We can cry out to Him for these wonderful blessings. We can pray and ask Him to work in our hearts, to form and shape us, to fashion us after Christ. And the fact is, our good and gracious God, our almighty, powerful God, is able to do so. He is our confidence. He is our trust. He is our hope. As Paul says in verse 20, He is the one who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think. Listen to those words. Listen to those words. He is the one who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think. Who is this God that Paul prays to? Who is this God that we pray to? He's the God who is able to do far more abundantly all that we ask or think. Notice how Paul in this text here piles word upon word in order to impress his point upon his Christian listeners. You see, Paul could have said that God is the one who is able to do what we ask or think. He doesn't say that. Paul could have said that God is the one who is able to do all that we ask or think. He doesn't say that either. Paul could have said that he is the one who can do far more than all that we ask or think. He doesn't say that either. He says God is the one who can do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think. Christian, your God is able. He is able. He can do all of His holy will. There is nothing that God cannot do. This is our God. He's the God of the impossible. The God who does the impossible. The God who speaks things into existence. The God who turns things that are not into things that are. Nothing, nothing can hinder our God. Bring your prayers to Him. Bring them to Him. Lift them up to this God who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think. See, nothing, no power, no sin, not even death itself can stop God from accomplishing that which He sets out to accomplish. Hasn't He proven that to us already? Think about the history of redemption. Think about how many times in Scripture we might say, well, that is it. Looks like God, His plan is pretty much over. Jesus Christ hanging upon a cross, dead, beaten, bloody. It's no wonder the disciples said, it's over. That's over. There's no hope. That's it. And yet what does God do? Through that death upon a cross, He's redeeming a people for Himself. His task is accomplished. Nothing, nothing can stop God. Nothing. Be encouraged tonight, Christian. Be encouraged. He who began a good work in you will bring that work to completion. It's His will. It's His desire. Maybe it's not ours. He'll bring it to completion. That's the good news for us tonight. If He began that good work in you, he will bring that work to completion. He will accomplish all that he sets out to do. So we can be encouraged. Encouraged like Paul was trying to encourage these Christians in Ephesus. Yeah, they didn't see, as we heard this morning, they didn't see power in the church. They saw power out in the world. They didn't see Christ victorious. They didn't see him, as Hebrews says, reigning and ruling. And yet He is, He was, He always has. He is God of all glory, God of all power, God of all things. To Him, as Paul says, will be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever and ever. There's one more reason that we should pray. We should pray and be confident in our prayer because the work of the Lord brings Him glory, as Paul says here. It brings Him glory. See, we don't pray just for ourselves. Prayer isn't an end unto itself. We pray so that God might be glorified. Our Christian maturity isn't an end unto itself. We pray that we would be mature so that we might bring glory to the Lord. And He will be glorified. He will glorify Himself. So Christian, we have great reason to pray tonight, don't we? If Paul had great reason to pray, we too have great reason to pray. We have great things to pray for as Paul prays for. The work and the ministry of the Spirit in the church, in the hearts and minds of His people. And we have a great God who can do all of His holy will. So let's pray to Him now. Let's bow together. Lord, You are God. You are the one who knows what we need before we even think of bringing our prayers before You. Lord, You're the one who delights to hear the prayers of Your people. And You delight, Lord, to provide us with all that we need. Lord, we trust You. We trust that You know what is best for us, Lord. We don't often know what is best for us. We pray for things that we desire. We pray for things that we think we need. And yet, Lord, in your fatherly care, in your providence and in your sovereignty, Lord, you provide us with exactly what we need when we need it. We thank you, Lord, that you have loved us with an everlasting love. We thank You that we can bow before You, Father of the whole family of God. We thank You that You delight to hear our prayers, and we thank You, Lord, that You are able to answer them fully. Lord, You've done marvelous and wonderful things for us in Jesus Christ. Help us to trust You all the more, Lord, with our lives, with our days, with our moments. We pray this all in Christ's name, amen.