Right Living in a World Gone Wrong

POWER! POWER! POWER!

Ephesians 3:14-21

When my brother Ed and I were students at St. Paul Bible College in Minneapolis, the trips home to visit our parents, extended family, friends and church home were a 16-hour ordeal – when the weather was favorable.  Because of the distance, those trips home were few and far between - usually just twice a year between August and May.  I can remember so many times the long nights of driving after a long week of finals to make it home for the Christmas holidays.  When we would pull in, inevitably it would be in the wee hours of the morning – my mom would always be up waiting for us.  She couldn’t sleep on those nights – she would be up praying for us – for our safety, mechanical operations, weather concerns and alertness.  There were many nights I know her prayers got us home – or back to school.

Now, with my daughter finishing her senior year at that same college, I know what my mom went through.  When she’s driving home, I am in an almost constant state of prayer for her safety, the car, the weather and to be aware of other drivers on the road.

I would imagine that there have been times when we’ve all faced situations that caused us to go to our knees in prayer.  Maybe it’s a sick child, a job situation that is about to overwhelm us, a son or daughter serving overseas, or a personal relationship that is strained almost to the breaking point.  Whatever it is, many, if not most of us, have had those times when we went to God to ask for His blessing, intervention, protection and care.

In our study of the letter Paul wrote to the Ephesian Christians, we looked at a prayer that Paul prayed for them in chapter 1, verses 15-23.  In that first prayer, Paul prays that we might come to know God's power. In this second prayer, Paul prays that we might use that power. As we listen in on Paul’s prayer, notice that the word “power” appears three times.  We can do nothing outside of God’s power – to even attempt to is sin.

J David Hoke wrote,

We not only need to know God's power, we need to use it. It is possible to know a great deal about automobiles --- to know how all of the mechanical parts interact, to know about the electrical system, to know about the transmission, engine, suspension, and the like --- and never use the automobile to go anywhere. On the other hand, it is entirely possible to know almost nothing about how an automobile is engineered, and to use it every day to travel thousands of miles. We must use what we know, or what we know does no good. The same is true spiritually. It is possible to know a great deal about the truths of God contained in the Bible, and yet never live by those truths. So the focus of this second prayer is on how to know and live by the power of God. [i]

Warren Wiersbe wrote, “It is through prayer that we lay hold of God’s riches that enable us to behave like Christians and battle like Christians.

Follow along as we listen in on Paul’s prayer:

For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man; so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:14-21)

Before we get into the prayer, notice that Paul says that he “kneels.”  This would have been unusual for a couple of reasons.  Paul was chained to a Roman guard during this time – imagine him kneeling with the guard to his side!  The other reason this would have been unusual is because Jewish people usually stood when they prayed – they still do – but Paul kneels before God – humbling himself.  I don’t know about you, but there are those times when I simply must kneel when I am in prayer – not out of some rule or expectation of the people around me – but because I am so humbled before God – so desperate for His intervention…this is just such a prayer from Paul.

In this prayer we have four requests from Paul for the Ephesian believers:[ii]

Ø      Strength

Ø      Depth

Ø      Comprehension

Ø      Fullness

Strength

The first thing Paul prays for is strength.  He prays to God “that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man.”  Paul wants us to be strengthened, in the inner man, with power, through the Holy Spirit.

Every Christian must operate in the power of the Holy Spirit or their actions are ineffective, and even sinful.  When I step out in my flesh, under my own power, I am not relying on God, and that is a lack of faith, and without faith it is impossible to please Him.  In Luke chapter 4, we read twice in 14 verses that Jesus needed the power of the Spirit in His life and ministry – how can I ever hope to do anything without that same power? 

Being filled with and empowered by the Holy Spirit is an on going, day by day, moment-by-moment discipline.  Whenever I find myself working under my own power, I need to stop and place the Holy Spirit back in control – there are days when that has to be practiced many times.  I need to yield control over my entire life – the “inner man” – my thoughts, my motives, my actions, my reactions – to the Holy Spirit.  I do that by reading the Word of God, praying, worshiping, obeying and serving.[iii]

Depth

Paul prays in, verse 17, “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” There are three words that Paul uses to get across his desire for them.  They are dwell, rooted and grounded.   The word dwell means that Christ wants to settle down in our house.  Literally it means to “settle down and feel at home.”  Does Christ feel at home in your heart?  Could the Son of God really be comfortable with some of the stuff we allow into our lives.  If we have believed on Jesus, then He is in our hearts, but Paul wants us to have Christ as more than a visitor who never feels comfortable – Paul wants us to have a relationship with Christ that will be intimate and deep.  Christ can only dwell in our hearts if our hearts dwell in Him.  Our very foundations – our roots and our grounding – must be in Christ.  He becomes the source of our nourishment and our security

I read about a young man named Ray Hoo, who had just graduated from Iowa State University. He returned to his native Jamaica where he tried to find a job. His brother arranged for him to have an interview with the chairman of the Jamaican banana industry. Things went well during the interview and the chairman decided to make an opening for Hoo, even though there wasn't one. Then the chairman asked Hoo how he would like to spend his spare time. Ray said that he liked reading and sports, particularly soccer and basketball, and added, “I also spend a lot of time in Christian activities because I hope to someday give my life to Christian missions.” Upon hearing that, the chairman decided that he could not spend money to train a new man only to have him leave for the mission field. He said, “Young man, your ambitions are noble; but we want men who will give their lives to bananas.”[iv]

Whatever you give your life to is what your heart dwells on. Is your goal to give your life to bananas? All around you, people dedicate themselves to bananas, or oil, or technology, or whatever you do. Life is too short to give your life to bananas. You need to give it to Christ. We need to grow deep in Him.  It is only when we have that depth that we can move on to Paul’s fourth request.

Comprehension

Paul continues in verse 17, “that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breath and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge.”  God desires that our roots run deep. He desires that our foundation be strong. The result of that rooting and grounding in love is the power of the Holy Spirit to be able to comprehend the love of Christ.

It takes the power of the Holy Spirit to comprehend God’s love – to understand how wide and long, and high and deep is His love is something that takes a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  In fact, without the Holy Spirit, we sell His love short.  People who have never experienced the love of God will describe His love flippantly – “Yeah, God is love – sure He loves me - He loves everybody – Yada, yada, yada!”

It’s only when we see ourselves as we really are - unworthy, unlovable sinners - that we are able to begin to understand the amazing love of God.  Do you see the oxymoron in that request?  That we might know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.”  How can we know something that is unknowable?  By experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit re-creating from a child of death into a child of God!

It is only when we have experienced His love that we can begin to comprehend it.

The love of God is greater far / Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star, And reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care, God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled, And pardoned from his sin.

Could we with ink the ocean fill, And were the skies of parchment made;
Were every stalk on earth a quill, And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above, Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole, Though stretched from sky to sky.

Fullness

Paul prays finally, in verse 19, “that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.” God wants us to experience His fullness.  He wants us to be “filled to the measure of the fullness of God.”  There is no greater fullness than the measure of the fullness of God.

When you go to your knees for those you love – what do you ask for?  When Paul went to his knees for those he loved, he prayed for the amazing – the incredible, the impossible.  He wanted them to know the unknowable, to contain the immeasurable, and to be filled with the fullness of God Himself.  It is impossible for us – but it is made possible through Christ.  Perhaps we should be praying these things for our kids – and for our church – and for ourselves.

Paul ends this prayer with a glorious benediction – recognizing that what he has just described is more than we can possibly accomplish on our own.  We cannot – but He is able.  He is able to do “exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.”  It is according to His power that is at work – not ours - and the glory belongs to Him alone.

Please stand, as we close with this great affirmation of the glory and power and sufficiency of our Lord!

“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. AMEN.”