May you be Strenghtened and filled Eph 3:14-21

Introduction

Paul is in prison. But yet his concern is for the churches he helped to establish. He was praying for other people. What kind of things did he pray for?

He didn’t simply pray for their safety or their health. But he prayed they would be spiritually mature. Paul wants the believers to be enabled by God to grasp the love of Christ for them and all that they have in him.

Give the context-

As Paul introduces the prayer in V.14 he says; for this reason I kneel before the Father-

The for this reason is referring back to v.1. where Paul gets diverted for a moment.

In v.14 he returns to his point, and he is referring back to what he said in Ch2- Jew’s and gentiles are fellow heirs of Christ and are both being built up by the Spirit into a dwelling place for God. As a result of this trust Paul wants the believers to be enabled by God to grasp the love of Christ for them, both Jews and Gentiles, and that they would know all that they have in him. So this is what he prays for them.

3 main requests in his prayer.

Here we learn how to pray for each other and ourselves. What kind of things should we pray for?

We also learn what we should expect and desire God to know for us.

I. May you be strengthened by God’s Spirit v.16-17

a) May you be strengthened inwardly v.16

i) The source of this strength is infinite-

v.I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power

A better translation would be according to the riches of his glory.

Illustrate out of and according to.

According to God’s inexhaustible storehouse of power and grace

God is infinite in all his attributes, it is according to God’s infinity that Paul is praying the believers will be strengthened with power

God’s power is infinite he is all-powerful or omnipotent.

ii) The one who strengthens

Through his Spirit- God the Holy Spirit

Who indwells believers

iii) The place

The inner being- the soul- the seat of the affections and will.

The spiritual part of you.

The place where you make decisions, the place where you desire God.

b) That Christ will dwell in you v.17

so that- continuing on from what was just said.

Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith-

Not conversion

That Christ may be at home in you.

He would be in control of your desires and affections.

By faith-

Why does Paul Pray this?

Our inner person can become weary as we battle temptation, as we are constantly face with a world that does not love God.

Application-

An example of prayer for us.

Do we pray this for others?

Do we pray this for ourselves?

Paul is praying for Christians- before Christ can dwell in your heart like this first you must be born again.

Are we desiring that Christ would dwell in our hearts by faith?

II. May you be able to grasp the love of Christ v.18-19a

a)Rooted and established in love

V.17b And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love

So that you would be rooted and grounded in love.

The words and I pray that you are not in the original. But translators have added them to show you it is a second request being made.

If Christ dwells in your heart by faith, then you will be rooted and grounded in love.

Rooted and grounded- firm foundations

Roots provide a solid base- A tree growing near out front room window, its only skinny but its roots are strong. Its still there.

Paul desires that the believers are rooted in love. Love is the soil we are to be rooted to and established in.

As they are he prays they may be given the power to grasp the love of Christ.

b) To grasp the dimensions of Christ’s love

v.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,

John Stott- the love of Christ is ‘broad’ enough to encompass all mankind ... ‘long’ enough to last for eternity, ‘deep’ enough to reach the most degraded sinner, and ‘high’ enough to exalt him to heaven.

To grasp the love of Christ you need God to reveal it to you by his Spirit-

You can see it- His life, his words, his cross, his tender care of believers.

This is not something we can do on our own. Notice its with all the Lord’s holy people.

But to understand it you need God’s grace. This is because v.19...

c) To know this knowledge surpassing love

v.19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge

This must surely mean more than know with the mind. It must mean to experience it as well.

Why does Paul pray this?

We are so quick to doubt the love of Christ, to forget or minimise his love.

Application

Do we pray these things for others?

Do we desire them for ourselves?

When we grasp the love of Christ it has a God glorifying effect in our lives. Paul could say in 2 Cor 5 If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

III. May you may be filled with God’s fullness v.19b

v.19b —that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

His fullness- His perfection

His power, His love, His grace

Another way of saying this is that you will be made like Jesus.

Colossians 1:19 “For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell,”

Colossians 2:9 “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;”

We know we will never experience this in its fullness until we get to heaven, but we should desire it and aim for it now.

Why does Paul pray this?

He wants believers to experience all that God wants to give them. God is not stingey. Often the reason Christians are lacking spiritually is we expect too little from God.

Application

Do we pray this for our Christian friends and family?

Do we desire this and pray for this ourselves?

Or are we willing to settle for less than this? Sometimes if we are honest we have to admit we are content to settle for the bare minimum of Christian experience. This is why we must pray this for one another.

Conclusion

Recap points

Encouragement- Paul assures us in v.20-21 that God is able to much more than what we can imagine.

Perhaps as you have been listening you have wondered if God could really do these things in your life? Listen to the end of the prayer.

I finish with his words

Ephesians 3:20–21 “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.”