The Fullness of God

Read Ephesians 3:14-21.

Little Jonny was in Sunday school class intently listening to his teacher teach the kids about sin and how we can avoid sin. She could see he seemed confused, and so she stopped and asked him, what was troubling him… He simply said, dealing with sin is easy… oh the teacher asked… yes, see when sin comes knocking at my door, I just send Jesus to go answer the door.

You see, Johnny’s solution was simple, and yet there is an incredible amount of truth and maturity behind his statement.

How is it that you and I can mature in our Faith? Let’s explore in more depth this prayer from Paul and we might get some answers…

Ephesians 3:14–15 (NASB95)

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name,

Paul says he bows his knees before the Father.

The act of bowing one’s knee is to show full submission…

Think of a knight bowing before a king, it is recognizing the king for who he is and submitting to his authority.

Most religions in the world practice the act of bowing when they are in prayer.

Does this mean then, that if we are to pray we are to bow our knees in prayer?

No… we see in scripture people praying to God in many postures, in fact the normal posture in the Jewish culture was to stand 1 Kings 8:22 - Solomon stood before the Lord, 2 Samuel 7:18 - we see that David sat in prayer, Genesis 17 we see that Abraham fell on his face in prayer, etc.

Why then does Paul kneel before the Lord in prayer and make a point of saying so?

The theologian and author, Benjamin Merkle suggest “The posture of kneeling communicated humble submission and worship and was often used in prayers of utter desperation”

Have you ever had something so heavy on your heart that the natural thing was to just fall on your knees before the Lord?

It would seem this may have been the attitude of Paul… he cared for the believers in Ephesus to the point of praying for them in earnest.

Again while the position in which you choose to pray is not paramount, may I suggest that every time you pray you heart must be in total submission to God to which you may not be physically kneeling but your heart is.

The verses continues with “the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.”

Paul uses the word Father here instead that of God. It is important to note the intimacy we have with our Father in heaven to were we can in deed call Him Abba Father.

There is an interesting dichotomy here, Paul refers to God as Father, but also says from whom every family on earth derives its name.

Every Family derives its name is in reference to ownership… in other words… God has the right to name because he created us.

After the initial introduction, Paul gets into the meat of the prayer.

He provides us with and action plan or 3 Steps to achieve this.

Lets look at Step 1 to realizing the Fullness of God in our lives

Step 1

Ephesians 3:16 (NASB95)

that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man,

How do we strengthen the Holy Spirit within us?

Think of working out a muscle in your body… the more you work that muscle the stronger it gets.

When we obey the leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives or display the fruits of the Spirit Galatians 5:22-23 I believe we strengthen the Holy Spirits control on our lives.

Galatians 5:22–23 (NASB95)

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

However, when we do not heed the leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives, that muscle of listening to the Holy Spirit’s prompting gets weaker.

Ephesians 4:30 (NASB95)

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

1 Thessalonians 5:19 (NASB95)

Do not quench the Spirit;

As we grow the strength of the Holy Spirit in our lives we get closer to what Paul refers to as the “Fullness of God”.

Step 2

Ephesians 3:17a (NASB95)

so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith;

What does this mean? Isn’t Christ already in our hearts if we are saved?

Yes! If you are a believer, you are saved… Lets look at 2 Cor. 13:5

2 Corinthians 13:5 (NASB95)

Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?

Then page over to Col. 3:16

Colossians 3:16 (NASB95)

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Then page over to Psalms 119:11

Psalm 119:11 (NASB95)

Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You.

The Christ dwelling in our hearts is more than just being saved, but it is the act of following His commands. Taking His word and as the Psalmist says, “hiding it in our hearts so that we may not sin”

So we see a progression here…

Listening to the Holy Spirit to strengthen Him in our lives

Obey/Memorizing God’s Word in faith, which according to John 1:1-14, is Jesus Christ

This brings us to Step 3 of realizing the “Fullness of God”

Step 3

Ephesians 3:17b (NASB95)

and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

The analogy that Paul uses here is that of a tree.

Earlier this spring when we had all those winds and rain, when I was traveling back in forth from Midland to here, there were stretches of trees that had been blown over. The issue was those trees looked big but their roots were shallow.

Jesus gave a parable in Matthew 7 about a house built on rock and then one on sand… when rain and floods came the on on the solid rock stood while the one on the sand fell.

This is what Paul is saying when he says we are to be rooted and grounded… meaning our roots are to go deep so when we are tested we won’t fall over.

As we strengthen the Holy Spirits influence over our lives and as we follow Christ through faith, those roots grow deeper and deeper.

Interestingly, Paul uses the prepositional phrase “in love” here.

How is it that we can be rooted and grounded in an emotion? Or is this more than an emotion?

I believe Paul is not necessarily talking about an emotion but God.

1 John 4:8 (NASB95)

The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

1 John 4:16b (NASB95)

God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

If you look closely Paul is summing everything up, by stating we are to be rooted and grounded in the Trinity!

The Trinity

Father mentioned in verse 14

We have the His Spirit in verse 16

Christ in verse 17a

We combine the three and we have the Trinity in the second half of verse 17 as one of God’s attributes is Love!

A wonderful thing happens when we allow the power of God to work within us and to control our lives

We Begin to Understand God

… Verses 18-19a

Ephesians 3:18–19a (NASB95)

may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge,

We start to have a Real relationship with Him… we start grasp some of His greatness.

This reminds me of a marriage relationship… when you are dating you think you know the person. But as the years pass by, the depth of knowledge increases… why? Because we are spending more and more time with them… we are experiencing life’s ups and downs… It’s the same way with God, the more we enjoy Him and spend time with Him the more we begin to understand Him.

But catch the paradox given to us in verse 19… “to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge.”

The process of getting to know Christ is inexhaustible!

We can study and learn from God’s word, and it is a gift that keeps on giving… His word can never be fully understood this side of heaven.

The more we learn of who God is and the more we allow allow Him to control our lives, what happens is we begin to experience the Fullness of God!

The End Result

Ephesians 3:19b (NASB95)

that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

In other parts of scripture we we generally see the word “fullness” used for Christ.

Colossians 1:19 (NASB95)

For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him,

The word “Fullness” In the Greek New Testament, plērōma or “fullness,” indicated “plenitude” and “totality.”

You might think of fullness as simply totally complete or mature.

Colossians 2:10a (NASB95)

and in Him you have been made complete,

Philippians 1:6 (NASB95)

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

The Fullness of God is becoming mature in our faith.

Just like little boy who showed spiritual maturity by sending Jesus to go answer the door when sin came knocking…, Paul in his prayer for the believers prayed that they would not rely on then selves but the complete Trinity to grow up spiritually.

Paul’s prayer for maturity is a daily prayer I pray for myself and all of you. That we would have an insatiable apatite for God’s word, longing to grow in areas of weakness and to strengthen even more the areas of strength.

Paul then ends with a beautiful benediction

The Benediction

Ephesians 3:20–21 (NASB95)

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,

to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

I love this, because sometimes I look at myself and ask, “am I ever going to learn? or grow up in this area?” But we serve a mighty God and He can “Do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think”

Praise God! Amen!

Prayer