And our sermon text this evening is from the book of Ephesians, chapter 3, verses 14 to 21. Again, that's Ephesians, chapter 3, verses 14 to 21. We will consider this wonderful prayer that Paul gives us. And let's pray that God would make both the reading and the preaching of His Word effectual. Let's pray.
Father, as we come now to your word, we pray, oh God, that as your Spirit works, you would speak not my good ideas or the good thoughts we've had this past week but your word for your people. And father, as we consider this wonderful prayer that you inspired Paul to write, strengthen us, we pray. Direct our eyes once again to the great love that you have that love that empowers our life as your people, the church. And so we ask, O God, that you would make this reading and preaching of your Word effectual, that it would accomplish your purpose in each of our lives. And so we pray, O God, speak, for your servants are listening. Amen.
Hear now God's Word, Ephesians chapter 3, verses 14 to 21. This is God's holy and inerrant word.
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, 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, 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.
Let me ask you a question as we work our way into this text tonight. What is that situation in your life or in the life of the church? As we'll see, this prayer is really a prayer for the church. What is that situation that seems impossible? What is that situation where maybe you've even grown a little bit hopeless, doubting that it will ever change? Or maybe it's fear about what may happen that is crept in. Whatever it is, Paul gives us this wonderful prayer tonight because those moments, however you answered that question, whatever it is for you and for us as a church, at times can be quite overwhelming.
There's a phenomenon that happened a few years ago, and I ask our teenager at home, it still exists apparently, where when these situations happen and you're overwhelmed, people will just say, "I just can't even." Apparently it's been shortened to now, "I just can't." And really what that is, an expression is is that I just don't think I can even deal with what's going on. I'm so overwhelmed. And in a sense, that's what Paul does as he turns to pray. He's overwhelmed, but more than overwhelmed, he's also amazed by the love of God. He's overwhelmed because he sees that he is unable in and of himself to live out this prayer, to live out the reality of what's going on here in Ephesians. But he's also amazed because it's in that very acknowledgement that he is unable that God's divine power is at work, not just through Paul, but even through us, through his church.
And so tonight, through this prayer, quite simply what God, I think, wants us to see is that as we look to Christ again in faith, he invites us into nothing less than the love of God that very love of God that empowers us to do what we are not able to do. It empowers us because we are not able, but God is. And so let's walk through this prayer and see how Paul teaches us this tonight.
First, we want to look at praying to the Father. It's really important to know who we're praying to. And then second, we'll think about being strengthened with power. And then thirdly, we'll think about knowing God's love.
So, praying to the Father. Well, Paul begins his prayer in verse 14 with these words: "For this reason." But if you back up and you look with me, we have the same exact phrase in verse 1 of chapter 3: "For this reason." And now I think what's going on is that Paul's reason in both places is the same. But after verse 1, he breaks off to fill in some details or to speak to the Ephesian church, remind them that he is the apostle to the Gentiles, that he is suffering on their behalf, that his suffering and his trials, his persecution, don't mean that God's plan of redemption is somehow not coming true. Because if we back up to the end of Ephesians chapter 2, he just wrote of this great plan of redemption. the mystery of the gospel being revealed, the mystery of the gospel being made known, the mystery of the Lord Jesus Christ who, through his cross and through his resurrection, is making into one man all the nations of the earth.
And so we have this language of the Jews who were far off, I'm sorry, the Gentiles who were far off, the Jews who were near, but now they all are coming together and they're one in Christ. And back up again to the first half of Ephesians 2, and all of that amazing good news flows out of the gospel. We were dead in our sin and trespasses. Verse 4: "But God, according to his great mercy, out of the great love that he has for his people, has made us alive again together with Christ."
And so, see, it's really chapter 2 that brings Paul to pray. So, "For this reason, the great, amazing, astonishing reality that God in Christ is reconciling us to himself. People from all walks of life, from all kinds of background, with all kinds of real sin, are being made new and brought into this one body, the church. And see, so Paul is overwhelmed, but he doesn't binge on Netflix or eat a pint of Ben and Jerry's. He said, no, he gets down and he prays. "For this reason, oh God, if this is true and this is going to happen, I am not able. I can't even, but God, you can." And so he's going to pray.
And he breaks off to remind them, don't be overwhelmed by my suffering. That doesn't mean it's not true. And then finally in verse 14, he begins this prayer this prayer that is motivated by that great revelation of Christ, that prayer we might want to say that is informed by God's revelation in God's will. Paul wants to pray that what he's just described in chapter 2 becomes a reality, that the church of Christ, you and me, really do begin to live as this one new person, this one new body in Christ.
And so what does Paul do, verse 14 and 15? He gets on his knees. A posture for prayer, yes, but often in Scripture, prayer happens when someone is standing. So when Paul kneels here before the Father, he's earnestly praying. He's saying, "We really need your help, O God. If this is going to happen, we really need you to work in us."
So he's on his knees, but notice with me who he is praying to. "The Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named." See, remember what just happened at the end of Ephesians 2. People from every nation will become Christians. Oh God, you are the Father. You are the creator of all things in heaven and on earth, and you are the Father of your people from all the nations. So in this sense, God is the Father of all the families on the face of the earth. But I think what Paul also is doing here is he's alerting us to the fact that that is true, but he's reminding us that God is this loving Father. And as we come into this new reality, the church, in and through faith in Christ, that there's no hierarchy.
Verses 18 and 19 of chapter 2: everyone has equal access to God the Father. And see, Paul is beginning here because this idea of Father tells us that yes, God is the Creator, yes, God is the Father of all Christians, families on the earth, yes, but he's also saying, this is what God is like. He is a loving, heavenly Father who longs and stands ready to help his children. Why pray? Because this is who God is, a loving Father, ready to help His children.
I am originally from Texas, and one of our great poets named George Strait has a song that reminds us of this. It's called "A Love Without End, Amen." And he tells the story of the man singing is a son, a young child, as the song begins, and he's messed up. He got into a fight at school, and he went home with a shiner on his eye, and fighting was against the rules, and it didn't matter why. And so he's fearing that moment when Dad gets home and he gets his punishment. But what does the Dad do? He walks in and he says, "Son, let me tell you a secret about a father's love. It's a love that never ends."
See, if you want to pray, what better place to start than reminding ourselves that God is a loving Heavenly Father? And I think it's important to dwell in this for just a second longer, because I know that we know better, but I think oftentimes our default way of living is to forget that God's love is a love without end. But we think that God is kind of a distant Father upstairs. Or we think that God loves us, but He has to love us because of what Jesus has done. But see, that's really to get John 3:16 backwards.
See, we often think that God has to love us because of the cross. But John 3:16 says that God so loved the world that He sent His Son. See, love leads to the cross, not the cross to love. And practically, this is how I like to bring it down to daily life. You know what that means? God doesn't love you because he has to, and he just puts up with you. God actually likes you. God is a loving Father who wants to be with you and stands ready to help. That's why Paul starts here. He is the Father. Yes, he's the Father of all nations, but what is this Father like? Well, he's full of love, and that means he's full of strength and he's full of power. So who else are you going to pray to?
And so rest and trust in God's love and let it lead us to prayer. That's what it does for Paul.
Go on with me to verse 16, where we now think about strengthened being strengthened with power. This is where Paul really gets into the meat of his prayer, and he's asking here that according to the riches of God's glory, that we might be strengthened with power through the Holy Spirit in our inner being. And what Paul is doing is what I've already mentioned. He's saying, "If this new reality called the church, if we're to live together in this new kind of body, in this new kind of way, then, oh God, we need your help." And God is ready to help because what does Paul appeal to? The riches of his glory. He has an infinite supply of strength and help. He will never run out of help. He'll never not answer your prayer for strength and for help.
But why do we need strength? Well, just like Paul, we are weak left to ourselves. There's trial and temptations of all kinds. Paul's even going through persecution. Some of our brothers and sisters around the world are being persecuted for their faith. At school and in work, it's not always easy to take a stand for the gospel. There might be consequences in our day and age. Not even to mention the own sin that we still wrestle with that we are constantly still struggling with sin and being sinned against because we all live with sinners. And so how are we going to live as God's church here on Sundays, but also as we go out in the world to live for Him in all the ways that He's called us to?
Well, it's only if the Lord is constantly at work to strengthen us with the power that only He can give. And so why do we need strength? Well, simply because we are too weak. But also, how does God strengthen us? Look with me at verse 17. He strengthens us by giving us the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit unites us to Christ by faith. And as that happens, as we're united to Christ by faith, the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts and strengthens us on the inside, in our inner man.
Now this idea here that Christ strengthens us and might dwell in our hearts through faith, Paul is not saying that Christ comes and goes. The idea for "dwell" has a permanence to it. But I think what he's saying is that we keep praying this not because Christ comes and goes and we need him to come back, but for that very simple reason that we never outgrow our dependence upon the Lord, that we constantly need his strength and his help. And so we pray, "O God, send your Spirit. O God, send Christ to dwell in our hearts. Strengthen us in the way that only you can."
And see, what Paul is really saying here is that we are constantly need that external help that only he can give for that internal strengthening that is the only hope we have to make it. Perhaps eating is a great illustration. Maybe one reason we have to eat is because it's outside help that, without it, we are weak and we'll eventually perish and die if we didn't eat. And I heard that you took the Lord's Supper this morning and think about that. the bread and wine, the sign and the seal of the new covenant, the pointer to the Lord Jesus Christ. But what is it? It's something outside of us that we literally put into our bodies as a reminder that we need to be strengthened by the Lord Jesus Christ, and as His Spirit works.
And so God strengthens us with a power that only He can give. And so really, let these few verses, 16 and 17, just remind us to constantly pray for God's strength, and that by faith, as the Holy Spirit works in us, he strengthens us with nothing less than the very power of God the power in chapter 1 he tells us that will even raise the dead, the divine power that enables us to live as his people in the world. So we pray to the Father. We ask for strength and power. But finally, we also ask that we might know God's love.
In verses 17 and through 19, this is what Paul prays. Paul prays that we would comprehend, that we would know the love of Christ. And as he prays that prayer, he lays it on a secure and firm foundation. Look with me there verse 17. the second half of verse 17 He says that we are "rooted and grounded in love." And that language there is really, we are firmly rooted. We are firmly established. It's something that has happened in the past, and the effect of it continues today. And it's a passive idea. It's something that God has done. It's a foundation that comes when we become Christians. It's the foundation that God lays in our lives, you might say, when he first gives us that converting and forgiving love.
And so Paul continues his prayer from that firm foundation, giving us these two images one from the farm and one from the building site that we would be rooted. What our roots do? They sink down into the soil and they make the tree firm and secure. What does the foundation do? The foundation makes sure that the house stands up. And so the stability that we need as Christians, that we need to be rooted and grounded in, is God's love.
John Stott says it like this: "Love is to be the soil in which their life is to be rooted. Love is to be the foundation on which their life is built." One might say their love is both a radical as the Latin word for root and a fundamental nature in their experience, for these English words refer to our roots and our foundation. So what Paul is saying as he prays is that this foundation of love has been laid and that's what we draw upon. That's what we come secure in Christ, asking that we might know and comprehend his love.
And now you might be wondering, "Okay, if it's a foundation, why are we praying that we might know and comprehend it?" This is what Paul gets to in verse 18 these wonderful, well-known words. We have this foundation. We're secure in Christ. But we can always know more of the love of God because God's love is infinite, just as God is infinite. And so Paul prays that we would know and comprehend with all the saints. We do this together, not as individuals, but we need the church to help us know just how great God's love is.
And we pray that we know the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. That fourfold repetition that says this love the love that you're praying, the love. that will empower you is complete because It's the perfect divine love. And we read in Scripture that God is love, It's one of His divine attributes or perfections. And think about this for a moment. God is completely love. perfectly love. He doesn't need us to increase His love. He's not lacking in anything, but out of His goodness, He decides to love us in and through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And you know, that's really good, astoundingly good news, because what it means is that God's love is not coercive or transactional. You know, I try to do the dishes out of pure motives, but I kind of hope my wife notices that I did the dishes for next time. God's love is not like that. He doesn't get the dishes done the next night when He loves us. He loves us simply out of the great overflow that He Himself is. And that's why God's love is so perfect, complete, and is the only thing in all of creation that will actually satisfy our hearts.
You see, God is love. And Paul is praying that we would know that. And God is so big, and his love is so great, that he has to use this paradox. "I want you to know the love of Christ, but it's a love that surpasses all knowledge." You can never plumb the depths of God's love. And not only can you never plumb the depths one reason it surpasses knowledge is because it's not just knowing things about God, but but knowing and loving in Scripture is relational. So Paul is saying that he wants us to tap in more and more, and that God wants us to pray so that we will tap in more and more to this relational love that God waits and longs to shower upon us, his people.
And that's why Paul prays the last petition that he prays in verse 19. That you might know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, there's our paradox, but also that you might be filled with all the fullness of God. Theologians like to use a big word that's God's plentitude. He's completely full. But we don't need to worry about the big words tonight, because in Ephesians chapter 3, what is God full of, and what is Paul praying that we will be filled with? was the love of God that we've been talking about all evening. And that's why I mentioned: God is love, and God is complete and perfect in himself. He He doesn't lack anything he just simply is love so he has it to give and to fill us over and over and over again.
It's really asking for God to strengthen us in a slightly different way. And what Paul is getting at here, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God, is that you would pray this prayer because it is the love of God that empowers us to live as his people. It's about the grace and the love of God that changes us and motivates us to live as his people. And thankfully, it's not simply just to "stop it and get your act together" kind of message.
It's a prayer that we would know this love of God. And now, maybe some of you have seen a video by the late Bob Newhart, where he plays a counselor, and he says, "I will solve all of your problems in about two minutes." And everyone comes in with their problems, and the only answer that he has is, "Stop it." No matter what the problem is, all he says is, "Just stop it." And it's a funny video, but we know in life that doesn't work. Someone has a trouble, someone is in sin, "just stop it." And it works with your kids every time, right? No, it doesn't work. And see, what Paul is getting at, being filled with the love of God, why do I say that's the power for the Christian life?
Well, it's only when God's love is bigger than anything else we love in our hearts that we'll begin to live as his people. And that's what changes us. That's what leads us on. That's what empowers us. That's what the old Puritan Thomas Chalmers called "the exclusive power of a new affection." And see, we run after these lowercase loves all the time, seeking to be filled, thinking they will satisfy. But it's only the capital L love of God that will strengthen us and fulfill us.
And I've become my own in ministry, But also just in my own heart, I come back to this principle time and time and time again: God, let your love be bigger than anything. God, fill me with your love that we might be strengthened to live as your people. That's what Paul is praying. And so quite simply tonight, just ask God to dislodge all those little L loves that our hearts gravitate towards, and let his love sink down deeper and be bigger from having prayed this prayer together tonight.
And that really is Paul's prayer. It's this exuberant prayer. He's pouring out his heart for this strength, for this power, that he would know the love of God. And so fittingly in verse 20, he leads us in ending with this doxology. Paul is, as if Paul has gone through his prayer, but he still remembers the great ending of chapter 2 and this great new work that God is doing in the new covenant. And Paul is almost like, "I can't even, oh God, but I know that you can. You are able." And that's what his doxology really says.
"Now to him, to God, 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 the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen."
And see, Paul is agreeing that he doesn't have it in himself, that he's not able, but he knows a God whose love strengthens and is able. And go back with me to that beginning question I asked you. What is it in your life, or what is it that you think in the life of the church whether that's here locally or just the church, generally speaking, what is it that you think is impossible? What are those areas that we maybe have grown a little hopeless in?
Paul's saying, don't give up. Don't grow cynical. We are weak, but we have a God who is able. We have a God who is able to form us as his people. We have a God who has promised to build his church, and nothing, not even the gates of hell, will prevail against it. So surely our God is powerful enough for whatever it is that we might be facing.
And every time I come to this doxology, I'm reminded of a friend who is from Iran who came to study in the United States because he had heard of Jesus and Christianity, but he couldn't study in his country, at least not freely. And so he came and he read the Bible and studied, and and God's providence, over time, became a Christian. And I admit several Christians from Iran, and this new friend confirmed for me that in Iran, a situation that looks completely impossible to the human on the human perspective that the church is growing in Iran faster than anywhere in the world, not in terms of pure numbers, but by percentage.
See, what looks impossible to us, God is able to do His plan. God is able to work even in the hardest of situations. And so, whatever it is that troubles you tonight, know that God is able.
John Calvin so helpfully says this: "Whatever expectations we form of divine blessings, the infinite goodness of God will exceed all our wishes and all our thoughts."
We might not know how God will work in those impossible moments. We might not know what lies ahead in the trials that await us individually and as a church, but Ephesians chapter 3, in this beautiful prayer, tells us that God is able and that God will continue to lavish his love upon us and that he will strengthen us and empower us to be his people. And we know this is true when we look to the cross. We know this is true because the Lord Jesus Christ is the eternally begotten Son of God who, in the fullness of time, out of the great love of God, comes and out of his great love lives, obeys in our place, dies upon the cross, rising again that third day, revealing to us without a doubt and climatically the love of God that surpasses knowledge.
And so tonight, quite simply, by faith, look again to the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God incarnate, and ask him to give you the strength and the power that only he can give as he fills us over and over again with nothing less than his great love.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, amen.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you, and we're overwhelmed by the great love that you have for us. Would you help us this week to more and more live in your love, running to you and your capital L love and not that little love? Because it's only in you that we find the strength we need to be your people. So fill us again, we pray, and be with us this week. Help us to trust you, even in those situations that seem impossible. Because we confess we are not able, but, O God, you are.
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.