The Power of Christ's Love
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
How many of you recognize these names?
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle author of Sherlock Holmes novels
Agatha Christie who wrote the Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple novels
John Grisham who has written many legal thrillers like the Pelican Brief
Edgar Allan Poe who wrote suspense thrillers mixed in with some terror
Dorothy L. Sayers who wrote detective fiction novels
Pd James wrote detective fiction novels
Thomas Harris writes psychological thrillers
Ian Fleming the author of the James Bond series
They all have one thing in common. They write mystery novels, many of them are about murder. They weave together tales of intrigue wrapped around the idea of a crime being committed and the need to solve that crime. All of them take bits and pieces of real life, the dark side of real life, to find their ideas and inspiration for their novels.
Our passage for today tells about a mystery. A mystery that was hidden in the beginning of the world and stayed hidden for thousands of years. But Paul is claiming to know the answer to that mystery. As a steward of the answer to this mystery he is revealing this truth to the church so that those who believe will know the power that works within them.
1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—
2 if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace which was given to me for you;
3 that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief.
4 By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,
5 which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit;
6 to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel,
7 of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God’s grace which was given to me according to the working of His power.
8 To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ,
9 and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things;
10 so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.
11 This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord,
12 in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.
13 Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations on your behalf, for they are your glory.
14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,
15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name,
16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man,
17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.
20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,
21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.
Transitional Sentence: Because He loves you, He lives in you; because He lives in you, you are strengthened by His power.
Paul’s Stewardship and ministry
In this passage Paul tells two things about himself. The first is that he is the steward of God’s grace.
So what is stewardship?
Stewardship
The careful use, control and management of the possessions of another that have been entrusted to one.
So, Paul has use of this thing called God’s grace. But he also has authority to freely give it away. Usually a person is a steward of another person’s stuff. The leadership of the church stewards over what is given and what is already here; this thing called grace which is unmerited favor.
But when he reveals the answer to this mystery that he knows he is freely giving away God’s grace.
The second thing he tells is that he was made a minister according to this grace.
Here’s the story of this happening... Acts 26:16 says:
16 ‘But get up and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you;
This happened during his conversion from persecutor of Christ Jesus to believer.
So, what’s a minister?
MINISTER—one who serves, as distinguished from the master.
How many of you believe you are a minister? Generally ministers are thought of as those who are clergy within the church. But that isn’t so. We are all ministers. If you believe in Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior and you serve him then you are a minister. You are also a steward of God’s grace.
Part of the mystery is how He poured out His grace on all those who believe. That’s the key to the mystery - belief. How many things do you believe in? When you sat down did you believe the pew would hold you up? .........
So what is the great mystery? Christ Jesus is the mystery.
The fact that He is for all those who believe in Him. He’s not just for the Jews or special people He’s for everyone.
Romans 3:21-23 says:
21 But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction;
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
That’s the great mystery - the righteousness of God has been manifested. It is manifested through faith in Christ Jesus.
This passage goes on to say that you are justified as a gift of His grace, through redemption. Each and every one of you that believes has received this righteousness by grace through faith in Christ Jesus.
This righteousness is manifested for all, even the Gentiles who were far off. That’s the really big scandal of the mystery - Gentiles are included in the family.
Remember last week we saw that the Gentiles were far off. They weren’t a part of God’s people and they were separated from God by the law and a dividing wall. But now the Gentiles, in other words you, are an heir of God’s kingdom through faith. Galatians 3:29 says:
29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.
If you are an heir you have everything. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem that way. We don’t often see or realize just what that means. That’s what Paul is trying to tell you in this letter, just how much power you have.
This mystery has been a secret for a long time it has been hidden in God. But now God has given it to Paul to bring it out into the light. The answer to the mystery came about in God’s time and in God’s way.
It’s through those who believe, the church, that the truth of the mystery has unfolded. Those who believe in Christ Jesus have become the church. It’s through the church that the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places now know God’s plan for redeeming fallen humanity. The plan of redemption was completed through the blood of Christ Jesus on the cross for the forgiveness of sins. Grace through faith makes you a child of God.
Your position as a child of God co-heir of His kingdom should give you boldness and confident access to the Father. The veil was torn in half allowing access to the Father for all those who believe. Are you bold in your access to the Father. Just how bold are you when you talk to your earthly father? Did you feel free to ask for anything? You should be bold in your asking. God answers prayer especially those prayers which glorify Him and are according to His will.
Matthew 7:7-8 says:
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
8 “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
2. Paul’s prayer for you!
Moving forward from verse 14 Paul changes from an explanation of his stewardship to a prayer for the Ephesians and for you. The things he asks for he asks in accordance with the riches of His glory. There is nothing greater to ask in accordance with than God’s riches. They are far greater than anything else.
With verse 16 he asks that the Father would grant that you would be strengthened with power through the Spirit in the inner man. There is a lot of stuff we can do in our own strength. Stuff that we are trained to do and stuff we like to do. But there is a lot of stuff that people can’t do in their own strength. The kind of stuff that Christ Jesus wants us to do to show His love to others. Stuff like forgive people for the things they do to you, reach out in tough times and help someone else and things here in the church, like get up and preach or lead worship. Sometimes the hardest thing you could do is to be a witness to others to help them see Christ Jesus and know Him. Acts 1:8 says:
8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
That’s the power Paul is praying that you would have in your inner man. But not just for short little bits of time to be a witness, but for all of your life that your entire life would be a witness. That everything you do would help others see Christ Jesus in you.
This strengthening power is available to you when you allow Christ Jesus to dwell in your heart through faith. If you believe you are sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise. But the filling of the Spirit comes with complete surrender when you turn everything over to Him that your life might be a living sacrifice.
And Paul also prays that as the Holy Spirit dwells in you that might be Rooted and Grounded in Love. Rooted and Grounded in His love.
How many of you have seen the roots of trees and how far they spread. the roots draw nourishment and water up for the tree and they ground the tree to the soil, sometimes rocks. Well Christ Jesus is the rock of our salvation 1 Corinthians 10:4 .
4 and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ.
We need roots to ground us to Him. It is His love that roots us and grounds us to Him. My love isn’t strong enough.
Show pictures of trees growing in the rocks or one cliffs.
So another part of Paul’s prayer is that you may be able to comprehend the breadth and length and height and depth of the love of Christ Jesus. The idea behind the comprehension of how big the love of Christ Jesus is, is that you can grab a hold of it. You will be able to understand just how big His love is.
Have you ever tried to comprehend just how big the Love of Christ Jesus is? Have some boxes - small, medium, large, ex-large - this big or this big?
Anybody want to try and put the love of Christ Jesus in a box?
Paul wants you to comprehend the size of His love because it is so big that you really can’t.
3. Far more abundantly Ephesians 3:20-21
20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,
21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.
To Him who can do far more abundantly!
The meaning of Abundantly is rather simple, it just means - in large quantities or plentiful.
So, what in your experience is abundant? Have you had abundance in your life? Maybe money, or stuff. How big can your imagination go about what would be abundance? Would it fill up a box or would it be even bigger than that? Put that abundance to work in the church and in your spiritual life. How much of an impact in this town can you see the church having? What would be an abundant impact in your mind?
Now that you have that in your mind think about the abundance that is in Christ Jesus. Psalm 50:10 says:
10 “For every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills.
This isn’t a literal number. It’s a bit of hyperbole, like forgiving someone seven times seventy times. His abundance is bigger than we can fathom. The verse shows that everything belongs to Him. After all it was all created for Him and by Him.
Verse 20 goes on to say that He can take your imagination based on what you ask for or even what you think about and make it so much bigger. So, Paul is telling us to pray. When you ask for something from God you are praying and when you think about something, God through the Spirit living in you knows what you are thinking about and can accept that as prayer. Romans 8:26 Then it becomes up to Him and His will. How will He answer?
26 In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;
Through the power of the Spirit dwelling in you, He can do so much more than you think He can. Both in you and through you. Do you remember the good works that God planned for you before the creation of the foundation of the world. Those are just some of the things that He can do so much more abundantly than you think. But you have to believe, dream big dreams and be willing to allow Him to work in you and through you.
Don’t skimp on your dreams, don’t hold Him back. In other words don’t quench the Spirit.
Exit: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, John Grisham, Edgar Allan Poe,
Dorothy L. Sayers, Pd James, Thomas Harris all wrote big mystery books. But God wrote the biggest mystery novel of all. That story is still being written. It is being written it your life, each and every day. The mystery Christ Jesus dwells in all those who believe through faith. You can have bold and confident access to the Father, if you want.
Just remember to be rooted and grounded in His love and try to comprehend what is the breadth and length and height and depth of His love. Because you steward over and are a minister of God’s love and grace to a hurting and broken world. It’s time to start acting like you have access to the most powerful thing on earth - the love of God in Christ Jesus. So go out and give God’s love away, He has far more than you can imagine.
Pray!
