The Fullness of God

The Fullness of God- Ephesians 3:14-21 May 12, 2024 I think most of us would agree that prayer is important, right? Here's a joke about prayer that I heard this week that illustrates this nicely. Two men died on the same day. One was a minister of a large church for many decades, the other was a rough around the edges taxi driver in New York City. They both arrive at the pearly gates, and Peter collects their information to check the book. The minister observes the rough looking taxi driver, and watches as Peter welcomes him with a silk robe and a golden staff. When the minister comes up, Peter welcomes him and gives him a cotton robe and a wooden staff. The minister is bothered by this and asks Peter why this other man got a better robe and staff. Peter responded, "well, it's all about results. While you're preaching, many of your congregation are falling asleep or distracted by something else. But the taxi driver, when he's driving all over the city, his passengers are constantly praying." You see, praying is important. Paul will also illustrate this in our passage this morning, but in a different way, of course. Paul will also help us this morning to understand why we pray. Let's read Ephesians 3:14-21: 14 FOR THIS REASON I BOW MY KNEES BEFORE THE FATHER, 15 FROM WHOM EVERY FAMILY IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH IS NAMED, 16 THAT ACCORDING TO THE RICHES OF HIS GLORY HE MAY GRANT YOU TO BE STRENGTHENED WITH POWER THROUGH HIS SPIRIT IN YOUR INNER BEING, 17 SO THAT CHRIST MAY DWELL IN YOUR HEARTS THROUGH FAITH -THAT YOU, BEING ROOTED AND GROUNDED IN LOVE, 18 MAY HAVE STRENGTH TO COMPREHEND WITH ALL THE SAINTS WHAT IS THE BREADTH AND LENGTH AND HEIGHT AND DEPTH, 19 AND TO KNOW THE LOVE OF CHRIST THAT SURPASSES KNOWLEDGE, THAT YOU MAY BE FILLED WITH ALL THE FULLNESS OF GOD. 20 NOW TO HIM WHO IS ABLE TO DO FAR MORE ABUNDANTLY THAN ALL THAT WE ASK OR THINK, ACCORDING TO THE POWER AT WORK WITHIN US, 21 TO HIM BE GLORY IN THE CHURCH AND IN CHRIST JESUS THROUGHOUT ALL GENERATIONS, FOREVER AND EVER. AMEN. Evidently, there is a lot of disagreement on this passage, and how to break it down. First, it is evident that this is another prayer from Paul, his second in the letter. We saw this last week, as he began the same way in verse 1 as he does here in verse 14. If you weren't here last week, Pat informed us here that Paul goes on a rabbit trail in verses 2-13. Like Paul's previous prayer from 1:15-23, Paul concerns himself with the congregation in Ephesus again. Recall from chapter 1 that Paul desired that the church experiences the spiritual blessings that God had freely given to them, which includes salvation by grace, through faith as seen in chapter 2. Later in chapter 2, Paul encourages the Gentile believers by reminding them that they were now united with the Jewish believers in Christ. Most believe that this section is a response to chapter 2. So, where is this disagreement I spoke of earlier? Some take Paul's prayer as 2-4 different prayers. I actually like the way John RW Stott interprets it. He states that the prayer is more like stairs that builds upon one another. This implies that they are related, not separate. So, while, we will look at them separately this morning, they are to be looked upon as a singular prayer. I also think it is worth returning to verses 14-15, before we get into the details of the prayer. Why? I think the posture of prayer is important to speak about here. Notice how Paul is on his knees. Now, this is not meant to be instructive to teach us that this is the way we are to pray, rather it shows where Paul's heart was as he prayed. Kneeling is a sign of humility, submission, and reverence. This should be our heart attitude as well when we come before God in prayer. Finally, verse 15 speaks about the Father and the family. Both of these words in the Greek are related, and assuming that the "FOR THIS REASON" in verse 1 and verse 14 are connected to chapter 2, verses 11-22, then Paul is likely referring to God as the Father of both the Jew and the Greek believers. It is also plausible that Paul is grouping together all of the saints, past, present and future. The context of the letter lends more to the former. But I think most importantly, is it emphasizes God the Father as Lord of all. It speaks of His authority over creation. That's made evident in the ancient practice of "naming." Today, naming is simply a way to identify one another, but during those days, the name was given as a definition of one's identity. So, there's sort of the introduction to the prayer from Paul in verses 16-19. Earlier, I said that these are sort of a set of stairs that build upon one another, so let's take a look at the prayer and see what we can learn from it. Let's begin with the main idea: I experience the fullness of God's power by developing the inner man. The key idea of Paul's prayer is experiential. Back in chapter one when we looked at his first prayer, Paul wanted us to receive and take hold of God's spiritual blessings. Here, he takes it a bit further, and prays that we experience it. So, Paul prays for this experience with, as noted previously, this staircase focusing on the development of the inner man. So, what was PAUL'S PRAYER FOR THE SAINTS? First is to ... * Be strengthened with His power through the Holy Spirit (v.16) o Many believe that this is really the central part of Paul's prayer in this chapter. o This is the verse where that "inner man" or "inner being" comes into play, so what does that actually mean? o Simply put, it speaks to control. What is it that controls our hearts? What is it that controls our actions? o Are we growing in our faith? Are we growing in our understanding of God's will for us? Are we drawing close to God through our actions or practices? Are we growing with others that are in the household of God? o What are those practices? Well, later in chapter 5, Paul will address this. If you were here when we taught through Galatians, you may remember this idea of the works of the flesh versus the fruit of the Spirit. But we don't really have to go too far to see what this looked like for the people in Ephesus. o Let's go back to chapter 2:1-3, where Paul reminded them of this: 1 AND YOU WERE DEAD IN THE TRESPASSES AND SINS 2 IN WHICH YOU ONCE WALKED, FOLLOWING THE COURSE OF THIS WORLD, FOLLOWING THE PRINCE OF THE POWER OF THE AIR, THE SPIRIT THAT IS NOW AT WORK IN THE SONS OF DISOBEDIENCE- 3 AMONG WHOM WE ALL ONCE LIVED IN THE PASSIONS OF OUR FLESH, CARRYING OUT THE DESIRES OF THE BODY AND THE MIND, AND WERE BY NATURE CHILDREN OF WRATH, LIKE THE REST OF MANKIND o Paul is saying, "look, if you're alive in Christ, you should be growing." o The author of Hebrews compares it from graduating from drinking from the baby bottle to eating solid food. o The way this is accomplished is not by anything we can do on our own, rather in Christ. Which is why in verse 17, we see the next step in Paul's prayer, which is: * That Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith (v.17) o This could be a little confusing. o In John, chapters 14-16, Jesus spends a lot of time speaking about the ministry of the Holy Spirit and comforts His disciples that the Holy Spirit will dwell in the believer when Christ is no longer on earth. o So, if are a follower of Jesus, the Holy Spirit dwells within you. o So, why would Paul pray for the dwelling of the Holy Spirit if He already dwells within the believer? o Didn't we talk about this last week? It's about experiencing all that we have in Christ. Finding a deeper connection with Christ. o The example Pat used in the In the Bag message last week with having a ton of memberships and not using them is exactly what this means. o This is what Paul talked about in chapter 1, and he continues to remind the Ephesian believers, and now us, that God has given us so much more than we're using. o Jon Settlemyer joked about the Microsoft Program, Excel. Most of us don't use probably 95% of the program's capabilities, even though it's readily available to many of us. o We'll come back to this a bit later as we close, but until then, Paul reminds us in second part of verse 17 into verse 18 what powers these spiritual blessings, as he prays for us that we ... * May we comprehend the measure of Christ's love (vv.17-18) o I love how Paul sets this up in verse 17 with being rooted and grounded in love. o This is what drives us to experience Christ's love. o But verse 18 actually causes some disagreements. o Primarily over the subject of these measurements. Is it love, or something else? o I decided to apply it to "love" as verse 17 closes with love, and verse 19 begins with love. o It lends to the understanding that Christ's love is so vast, it cannot be measured, but all the while, we should strive for that understanding. o One commentator put it this way: * God's love is wide enough to include every person. * God's love is long enough to last through all eternity. * God's love is deep enough to reach the worst sinner. * God's love is high enough to take us to heaven. o Like we've seen the last two weeks, the blood of Christ has taken down all and every barrier so all can have an experiential relationship with God. o While Paul is praying for us to comprehend Christ's love for us, he's also reminding us that it's not really possible for us to fully comprehend. o This next verse, some have concluded that it acts like a summary statement to Paul's prayer. o It could very well be the case. Here's the final step of Paul's prayer for us ... * To be filled with all the fullness of God (v.19) o Paul's desire is that we receive and experience all of God's spiritual blessings. o To be filled portrays that we've received it all, there is no more room. o This means that we've only scratched the surface of what God has in store for us. o Here's how one source defined the fullness of God: The fullness of God is the totality of everything God is-His attributes, His character, His perfection, His holiness, His power, His love, et cetera. The fullness of God is His complete nature; it is who He is. o They go on to say: Christians find their completeness in Christ and no one else. Jesus, who is the fullness of God in bodily form, makes us whole by His grace ... The goal of every Christian is to be filled completely with God, so that His character, His attributes, and His love define our existence. o So, the question is: HOW TO DEVELOP THE INNER MAN Remember our main idea from earlier: I experience the fullness of God's power by developing the inner man. I think the text provides us at least three ways to develop the inner man. First. * Prayer. o This section, just like 1:15-23 is a prayer from Paul for the saints in Ephesus, so by his example, we know that prayer is critical. o Not only is Paul reminding us that prayer is important, in his closing part of the passage, he tells us: * Do not limit God. o This is directly related to prayer, and very important. o I think for us it is very easy to not pray for all the things that our hearts desire. o Let's take a look at verse 20 again: NOW TO HIM WHO IS ABLE TO DO FAR MORE ABUNDANTLY THAN ALL THAT WE ASK OR THINK, ACCORDING TO THE POWER AT WORK WITHIN US, o The key phrase in verse 20 is "FAR MORE ABUNDANTLY" o Here's how Spurgeon describes this phrase: "He has constructed here in the Greek an expression which is altogether his own. No language was powerful enough for the apostle, - I mean for the Holy Ghost speaking through the apostle, - for very often Paul has to coin words and phrases to shadow forth his meaning, and here is one, 'He is able to do exceeding abundantly,' so abundantly that it exceeds measure and description." o In three words, here is why we do not limit God in our prayers: He is able. Here is how Stott built on this statement: * He is able to do or to work, for He is neither idle, nor inactive, nor dead. * He is able to do what we ask, for He hears and answers prayer. * He is able to do what we ask or think, for He reads our thoughts, and sometimes we imagine things for which we dare not and therefore do not ask. * He is able to do all that we ask or think, for He knows it all and can perform it all. * He is able to do more ... than all that we ask or think, for his expectations are higher than ours. * He is able to do much more, or more abundantly, than all that we ask or think, for He does not give His grace by calculated measure. * He is able to do very much more, far more abundantly, than all that we ask or think, for He is a God of super-abundance. o Jesus said that if we ask the Father for anything in His name, He will give it to us. o James told us that we don't "have" because we don't ask. o Sometimes, I think, we don't give God our full request because we are afraid of the answer. This verse, this closing section of praise reminds us not to limit God, because it is clear that we are not experiencing all of God's spiritual blessings for us. o Now, to be clear. I am not teaching monetary prosperity, we're still talking about spiritual blessings. o The kind of spiritual blessings that caused prisoners like Paul and John to write letters encouraging obedience, praise, loving one another, and of being joyful in all circumstances. o So, when we read verses like Psalm 37:4 which says: DELIGHT YOURSELF IN THE LORD, AND HE WILL GIVE YOU THE DESIRES OF YOUR HEART - he's talking about our hearts being aligned with God's will. o Some of you may have heard this quote before: "prayer is aligning ourselves with the purposes of God." Not the other way around! o So, when we pray, do not limit what God can do. o But don't forget how Paul opened his prayer back in verse 14 ... humbly, in full submission, and reverent through the posture of kneeling. o Finally, we can develop our inner man this way: * Be a part of church community. o We've spent a lot of time on this topic the last couple of weeks, but isn't it neat how Paul closes with the church in verse 21? o What Paul is saying there is that the church is there to glorify God. o But what does it have to with the inner man? Isn't the inner man personal? Yes. o But, here's what Paul says in Colossians 3:12-17: 12 PUT ON THEN, AS GOD'S CHOSEN ONES, HOLY AND BELOVED, COMPASSIONATE HEARTS, KINDNESS, HUMILITY, MEEKNESS, AND PATIENCE, 13 BEARING WITH ONE ANOTHER AND, IF ONE HAS A COMPLAINT AGAINST ANOTHER, FORGIVING EACH OTHER; AS THE LORD HAS FORGIVEN YOU, SO YOU ALSO MUST FORGIVE. 14 AND ABOVE ALL THESE PUT ON LOVE, WHICH BINDS EVERYTHING TOGETHER IN PERFECT HARMONY. 15 AND LET THE PEACE OF CHRIST RULE IN YOUR HEARTS, TO WHICH INDEED YOU WERE CALLED IN ONE BODY. AND BE THANKFUL. 16 LET THE WORD OF CHRIST DWELL IN YOU RICHLY, TEACHING AND ADMONISHING ONE ANOTHER IN ALL WISDOM, SINGING PSALMS AND HYMNS AND SPIRITUAL SONGS, WITH THANKFULNESS IN YOUR HEARTS TO GOD. 17 AND WHATEVER YOU DO, IN WORD OR DEED, DO EVERYTHING IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS, GIVING THANKS TO GOD THE FATHER THROUGH HIM. o The church is to glorify God through serving one another and jointly worshipping Him. o A pastor acquaintance of mine recently posted a story about a member of his who was in a bad car accident, that happened early Sunday morning. Their church meets in the late afternoon, and the pastor and many others were shocked that he and the family had all gone to church that day. When asked why, he simply responded, where else would I go? Paul's desire was that the Ephesian saints, and even us today, are to be filled with all the fullness of God. That we develop the inner man with the strength that dwells within us. That we are empowered and driven by the love of Christ that is beyond measure. All for the glory of God. Imagine if we asked God for that fullness. Imagine the work that He can do. That's a bold prayer. Let's be bold. Let's pray. 2