A Strong and Loving Church

Ephesians 3:14–21 NIV

14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 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, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Introduction

Prayer as an admission of inability

Prayer to the generously wealthy father

A Church Strengthened with Power

Ephesians 3:16–17 (NIV)

16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

Request: Strengthened with Power  

What do we mean by power?

Control

What does Paul mean by power?

Acts 19 (The demon’s response to Paul vs. the seven sons of Sceva resulted in the conversion of sorcerers and increase in the spread and power of the Word of the Lord)

Power shown in the transformed hearts rather than the miracle itself (also Acts 6:7; 12:24

Eph 1:19

Power that raised Christ

Source: Out of his glorious riches

When Paul refers to the glorious riches of Christ he is emphasizing Christ’s gospel generosity

Ephesians 3:8 “8 Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ,”

Means: Through his Spirit

This strengthening comes through the work of the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit’s power is most often displayed in his illumination of what God has already revealed in the Bible, where he connects God’s truth to the heart of God’s people.

Object: In the inner being

The strengthening power of the Holy Spirit does its work in our inner man.

We often want Jesus power to be demonstrated in our situations rather than in our hearts.

The power here is internal to us apart from our circumstances

2 Corinthians 4:16–18 “16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

This is inward renewal in spite of outward wasting away. It is not the end of outward wasting away.

Old age/middle age

This happens through an eternal mindset – eternity accessed by Faith in Christ and his work for us

Purpose: So that Christ may dwell through faith

The goal of the powerful work of the Spirit in our hearts is strengthened faith

Summed Up

Paul prays that the church at Ephesus would have an ever increasing faith in Christ that is enabled by the gracious work of God in the hearts of believers through the Spirit

This goal for the church must be one of dependence on God’s work rather than ours

Because it’s prayer

Trinitarian in nature

Kneel before the Father

Strengthened through the Spirit

So that Christ dwells in me

Because it’s through the Spirit’s power

These verses call us as a church to be focused on seeing God’s people strengthened at the heart level in their faith in him.

Specifically, faith here emphasizes faith in the gospel message of Jesus

A Church Grasping Christ’s Love

Ephesians 3:17–19 (NIV)

[…] And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 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, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Note on translations

The Request: Grasp the greatness of Christ’s Love

Look at the irony – know the thing that you cannot know

Utterly dependent on God’

The foundation of knowing God’s love is love

Love is the root of this prayer

Gardening metaphor - it grows

Building metaphor - it is built upon

Our understanding of the love of God is self-replicating and growing

The preceding chapters make it absolutely clear Paul is talking to Christians who are aware of God’s love, but that knowledge is not complete but continually growing

With all the Lord’s holy people

Understanding the depths of God’s love is not a job for me alone; it is for me along with the saints

As we celebrated communion together today we experienced this

As we encourage each other in the love of God we experience this

Yes, if I am in Christ, he has saved me, but more than that, he has saved us.

Filled to the measure of all the fullness of God

This process ends with the church filled with the fullness of God

This is perfection – something the church will not attain in this life so we press on and pray on

A Church Glorifying God

A strong church will have faith in Christ entrenched into it’s heart

A strong church will be growing in it’s appreciation of Christ’s love

Ephesians 3:20–21 NIV

20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

A strong church is a church that praises God.