The Well Governed Soul

Introduction:

Tuesday we celebrate America’s 247th birthday, and we’re thankful for the freedom and liberty that we have as American’s. I realized this week that America is only 57 years older than our church. Pretty amazing.

If you were to visit the Smithsonian Museum of American History, you could see the flag that flew over Fort McHenry when Francis Scott Key wrote "The Star Spangled Banner" in 1814. The original flag measured 42 by 30 feet. It was the immense size of the flag that allowed Key to see it from his position 10 miles out to sea, following a night of gunfire.

The means by which a flag that large could fly on a pole 189 feet in the air is on display at Fort McHenry on Baltimore's inner harbor. There, in one of the barracks, are two oak timbers, 8 foot by 8 foot, joined as a cross. National Park Service personnel discovered this cross-shaped support near the entrance to Fort McHenry in 1958, buried nine feet below ground. Not only did the cross help rangers locate the original site from which the star spangled banner flew, but it answered the mystery of how such a large flag could fly in stormy weather without snapping the pole. This unseen wooden device provided a firm foundation for the symbol of our national freedom.

Similarly, the cross of Christ provides the foundation by which our faith is rooted and supported.

I want to talk this morning about government but not the government that you might be thinking of right now.

Our prayer should be that we have a well-managed nation, a well governed nation, something I believe is lacking immensely in our current state of government.

But there is something else we need and that is a well-governed soul.

Isaiah tells us that governing is among the responsibilities of our Lord:

Isaiah 9:6 “For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”

In any well governed nation, there are numerous departments that contribute to its strength and greatness.

Likewise, I think we can see in this text this morning some departments that the well governed soul has. Let me share several of them with you.

The well-governed soul has a...

I. A Commander-in-Chief

Ephesians 3:14-15 “For this reason I kneel before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.”

In heaven and on earth means those who are alive and those who have departed to be with Jesus.

Matthew 22:32 “I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.””

God is the father of His family, the church (the subject of Eph. 3), as it exists both in heaven and on earth. He is head over all, Prime Minister, Potentate, Sovereign, King of Kings, and Ruler of our lives.

Abraham Lincoln was the first President to use the phrase, "This nation under God." It inspired President Eisenhower, in 1954, to add the words "one nation under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance.

2005 was a year in which nature demonstrated its fury. Hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and thunderstorms tore their way across the country from one end to the other. There were 31 storms, 27 of them named that year. You may remember some of them, Dennis, Katrina, Rita, and Wilma all devastating storms. In the midst of all that turbulence, Jay Leno asked the question: "Are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?"

God is our Commander in Chief and as such, He makes available to us His resources.

II. A Treasury Department

Ephesians 3:16 “I pray that he may grant you, according to the riches of his glory, … ,”

God always gives grace and glory according to His riches, never out of or from His riches. There is a difference.

I had a Bible College professor who likened many christian’s lives regarding appropriating God’s riches to that of floating lazily down the Itchnetuckee river on an inner tube passing all the riches that lie within reach on the bank and thereby missing out on all that God intends for us to have.

The book of Ephesians details our wealth in Christ. His resources are infinite, His repositories are overflowing, His vaults are bottomless.

Ephesians 1:7 “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace”

Ephesians 3:8 “This grace was given to me—the least of all the saints—to proclaim to the Gentiles the incalculable riches of Christ,”

Philippians 4:19 “And my God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

The old gospel hymn titled: “My Father is rich in houses and lands”, / He holdeth the wealth of the world in His hands! / Of rubies and diamonds, of silver and gold, / His coffers are full, He has riches untold.” I’m a child of the King, A child of the King: / With Jesus my Savior, I’m a child of the King.

III. An Energy Department

Ephesians 3:16 “… , to be strengthened with power … through his Spirit,”

Out of His infinite resources, God wants to impart strength to you. When do we need strength?

“When the dog bites, when the bee stings.” On those occasions when we get a jolt of bad news;

“When the roof caves in.” During times of disaster and tragedy;

“When the days are dreary, the long nights weary.” When we endure a period of depression or discouragement, a prolonged trial or tribulation.”

This inner strength will only come by power through the Holy Spirit when we are totally submissive and yielded to His power, control and guidance. We need the power of the Spirit because we all face problems that are beyond our power to resolve. It’s the only way we can conquer: temptation and sin, trouble and trials, grief and death, disease and suffering, problems and difficult circumstances.

We can’t make it alone, we need Jesus!

John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.”

Turn to 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

Hudson Taylor said, “When God decided to open inland China to the gospel, He looked around to find a man weak enough for the task.”

Warren Wiersbe said, “All God’s giants have been weak men, who did great things for God because they reckoned on His being with them.”

God has promised strength for His people.

IV. An Interior Department

Ephesians 3:16 “... in your inner being … ,”

Old-time Christian’s used to talk about the “interior life,” the life of the soul.

We spend a fortune on our “outer being” or “outer life,” on cosmetics, clothes, houses, cars, and externals of life. But most people neglect the cultivation of the inner life. God wants to strengthen us in our interior, to pump His strength into our hearts and souls. He does this by His Holy Spirit who very often uses the Scriptures. How often has a verse of Scripture, previously memorized but long forgotten, flashed to our minds in a moment of need?

There is a rule of life that goes something like this: “If you put bad stuff in, you will get bad stuff out”. The opposite is also true: “If you put good stuff in, you will get good stuff out.”

Philippians 4:8 “Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy—dwell on these things.”

V. A Housing Department

Ephesians 3:17 “and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. … ,”

The Greek verb means “to settle down and be at home.” When our hearts are strong in the Lord, Christ is at home in our hearts. He settles down and serves as host. The idea is to be perfectly comfortable at home.

Now read it that way: "That Christ may settle down and be totally at home in your hearts." Would you say that Christ could be in a heart and not necessarily be totally comfortable there? Yes, I would say He has experienced that in my case many times.

There are Christians who get Christ into places that He would never choose to be. There are Christians' lives where Christ can never settle down and be at home; he's got to be up cleaning the place up all the time because it's such a mess. That's the idea.

When you're strengthened by the Spirit in the inner man, then the Spirit will do the purifying, then Christ will be at home there, and He can settle down and enjoy your life, instead of always up trying to clean it up. That's what it means. And the tense is an Arorist tense, showing a finality that Christ may finally ... finally settle down and feel comfortable in your heart.

There's an interesting little book that helps develop the thought. It's called “My Heart...Christ's Home” by Robert Munger. It's a very helpful book. And he pictures the heart like a house. And here comes Christ, and He comes into the life. The guy is saved, and Christ is in the house, but He's got a mess in there. You know, when you become a Christian, that wasn't the end; that was the beginning, right? Then He starts cleaning up the mess. The Lord gets to work on you, and it's painful sometimes...because the bad stuff has to go.

Paul is simply saying, "Christ can't settle down and be at home in your life until the garbage is cleaned out of it, and that will only happen when the Spirit of God has strengthened you in the inner man to give you victory over sin." Victory over sin means a pure life, and it is in a pure life that Christ can settle down and be at home, do you see? Now there's the process...there's the sequence.

If you're yielding to the Spirit, not walking in the flesh, but walking in the Spirit, filled with the Spirit, as a result you'll be strengthened by His Spirit in the inner man. And that strength will translate into Spiritual vigor, and you will conquer sin and temptation. And the result will be that Christ will settle down in that clean life and be at home. And your fellowship will be rich and sweet.

Someone has said, “If Christ has taken up residence in our hearts, he is at the center of our lives and exercises his rule over all that we are and do. That indwelling is through faith—that is, as we trust him, he makes our hearts his home. The implication of the apostle's prayer is that the more the Spirit empowers our lives, the greater will be our transformation into the likeness of Christ because of his lordship in our hearts.

VI. A Department of Education

Ephesians 3:17-19 “… . I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

Love is a byproduct of Jesus Christ settling down and being at home and filling your life, and He can only do that when your inner man is being strengthened and purified by the power of the Holy Spirit as we submit and yield ourselves to Him.

The opening expression, “that you, being rooted and grounded in love …”, is a prayer for a lifestyle of love.

Paul mixes up his metaphors. “Rooted” is agricultural, and “established” (literally, founded) is architectural, but their significance is perfectly parallel.

Like trees, our lives are to send down roots deep and wide into the soil of love. Like buildings, the edifices of our lives here on earth are to have deep, solid foundations of love. If we are properly rooted and properly constructed on a foundation of love, nothing will be able to shake us.

The world can’t understand it, because they haven’t experienced it. “Comprehend” means to seize and make it your own. It is love experienced, “with all the saints” we’re not in this alone.

A. T. Pierson observed that Paul “treats the love of God as a cube, having breadth and length, depth and height. The reason is that the cube in the Bible is treated as a perfection of form. Every side of a cube is a perfect square, and from every angle it presents the same appearance. Turn it over, and it is still a cube—just as high, deep, and broad as it was before.”

A. A love which is wide enough to embrace the world.

John 3:16 “For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

B. A love which is long enough to last forever.

1 Corinthians 13:8 “Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.”

As Spurgeon said, “It is so long that your old age cannot wear it out, so long your continual tribulation cannot exhaust it, your successive temptations shall not drain it dry; like eternity itself it knows no bounds.”

C. A love which is high enough to take sinners to Heaven

1 John 3:1-2 “See what great love the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children—and we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it didn’t know him. Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him as he is.”

D. A love which is deep enough to take Christ to the very depths to reach the lowest sinner.

Philippians 2:8 “he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross.”

Conclusion:

Is your soul well governed this morning?

Pray Paul's prayer for spiritual power.