The Love of Christ

Good morning, welcome to NHCC, please open your Bibles to Ephesians 3.

Baptism after service.

Apologize for language used last week.

Have looked out why Paul prayed for the Ephesians, how Paul prayed, and to Whom Paul prayed.

We now turn our attention to the content of Paul’s prayers- What does Paul pray for concerning the Ephesian Christians.

Read Ephesians 3:16–19- “…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.”

Pray.

Journey through our text, but let’s begin with the end in mind and then work our way backwards.

What is the chief end for which Paul prays when he prays on behalf of the Ephesian Christians?

1. You may be filled with the fullness of God.

Consider for a moment your prayer life.

Paul is giving us an explanation of the content of his prayers for the Ephesian Christians.

What does your prayer list look like?

The end goal for Paul in his prayers for others. Everything prayed prior to this is meant to bring about this end.

Paul prays that God would increase within these Ephesian Christians.

Imagine if this was our aim in praying for others, both those who know and love Jesus AND those who don’t.

What do we need in times of greatest blessing and in times of greatest hardship?

Blessing- Transfiguration.

Matthew 17:3–4- “And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. And Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.’”

Hardship- Job.

How would our prayer lives change if THIS was our chief prayer for every Christian on our list?

Not for an increase of self, but instead for an increase of God.

How I often pray for my children- they would be better, more focused, more patient, etc.

What I need to pray for is God’s presence ever increasing in their lives.

What allows for one to be filled with the fullness of God?

2. You may know the love of Christ.

Here is one of the best prayers, in my opinion, that we can pray for another human being.

God, would you open this person’s eyes so that they might better understand how much you love them?

Uses dimensional language. Height, depth, length and breadth.

Paul wants the Ephesian Christian’s knowledge to grow in every direction, expanding outwards, as they consider the love of Jesus.

Breadth

Width- God’s accepting love.

Ephesians 2:17- “And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.”

For many, we feel we are too far from God to be saved, or maybe forgiven.

Length

God’s lasting love.

Remember 1:3-14- God has loved through predestination from eternities past (v. 4-5) and sealed with the Spirit for an inheritance (v. 11-14).

Many of us have felt abandonment in our past.

Greatest of news- God’s love is long and enduring.

Height

God’s exalting love.

Ephesians 2:6–7- “…and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

God exalts those whom He loves.

Many feel as though we are constantly at the bottom of society, especially in comparison to others.

We lack any sort of value in our own eyes.

From the lowest of lows to the highest of heights. Truly a story of rags to riches.

Depth.

God’s sacrificial love.

How do we know that God loves us, and how do we know how MUCH God loves us?

Ephesians 1:7–8- “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight…”

The depths of God’s love has been proven in the cross.

As these dimensions are expanded and better understood, we live differently.

Neglected children do not live the life of childhood that we think they should.

There is a freedom for a child to live as a child when they rightly understand their love.

Why Paul says that his desire is that these Ephesian Christians should be rooted and grounded in love.

Both in knowing themselves as loved but as truly loving as a result as well.

What is going to allow for us to rightly understand the love of Christ? It must first be communicated to us, and that is what Paul says we need.

3. Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

Not merely that Christ would enter into their hearts. Or that Christ would BE in their hearts.

Difference between someone staying briefly somewhere and someone moving in and taking up residence.

For many, we have little problem with welcoming Jesus as a houseguest.

He will enter, keep His stuff in His bags, live according to the rules of our house.

This isn’t what Paul prays for the Ephesian Christians.

Christ would dwell, or settle, in their hearts.

What happens when a person settles into a new home? They begin to make it their own.

New decorations, new interior and exterior design.

The person who enters the home begins to make it reflect their own character, preferences and desires.

Galatians 2:20- “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Notice the implications of this truth.

Christ lives in me, and as a result, I live by faith in Jesus.

Jesus has entered and made necessary changes. No longer faith in self, faith in money, faith in status, faith in strength, faith in society, faith in leaders, faith in government. Only faith in Jesus.

And faith in Jesus drastically changes the nature of our lives. Our preferences, our desires, our habits, our longings.

Living the beatitudes- How is it possible? Only possible when Jesus takes residence in our hearts.

One more quick note- The desire of Paul here is that Christ would settle into our hearts, and the destination of Jesus’ settling down is of the utmost importance.

Remember that the Greek and Hebrew worldviews saw the heart much differently than we do today.

The heart is the seat of your life, so to speak. Every aspect of life stems from the work of the heart.

Decisions are made from the heart, the will is exerted from the heart, emotions and passions are born in the heart.

John Calvin- “He points to that part in which Christ peculiarly dwells, in your hearts, to show that it is not enough if the knowledge of Christ dwell on the tongue or flutter in the brain.”

Jesus takes up residence at the very core of our being, in that place which drives all of who we are.

And it is that realm that Jesus begins to renovate and redecorate. He destroys what is there to replace with something better. And it affects every aspect of our lives.

Where is the starting point for all of this?

4. You may be strengthened through the Spirit.

It always seems to come back to this- What is happening here is not through our own efforts apart from the work of God- namely the work of God’s Spirit.

“According to the riches of His glory…”

“He may grant you”

“To be strengthened”

“Through His Spirit”

“That you may have strength to comprehend”

“That you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

Paul’s prayer highlights grace. And why shouldn’t it? All prayer, at it’s root, is a highlighting of grace.

We come and talk to God because He welcomes us to do so.

We ask from God because we lack what He has.

Paul’s prayer, as a great example for our prayers, drives us back to our knees.

When we pray for one another, or our spouses, or our children, or our coworkers, or our enemies, what is the content of our prayer for them?

This is Paul’s prayer. For many, I think our prayer lives would be transformed if we prayed in this manner. And I think our eyes would be opened to seeing the character and work of God if we prayed in this manner for those whom we love.