The Fulness of God
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 1 viewNotes
Transcript
I told yall to be careful who you hang out with because of all the sickness going around..
and to quote Fred G. Sanford…
“I got it”
..
so I’m feeling better now.. but im going to keep my distance this morning..
Turn to Ephesians 3:14-21
We have been in this same passage of scripture for a few weeks now..
..walking step by step through them…
and as I was preparing this final message before we move on to chapter 4…
I had a few initial thoughts come to mind…
one thought was…
“can I stretch this out any longer?”
and another thought was
“of course I can, but should I?”
and then after I got over that…
another thought came to mind about WHY it is so vital that we understand this particular passage of scripture in such great detail…
why it is, that we have spent weeks here, looking over the same text.. breaking it down little by little…
and I started thinking about the Christian life here in America …
I started trying to observe the church at large …
…and immediately all these different categories started flowing through my head…
just think about it for a minute…
Paul here.. before and after his prayer, is calling for unity within the church..
He is calling for a “one mind” in a sense so that the church would be glorifying to the Lord… and on mission…
but also so that the church would be uniquely set apart from the world…
And as I was trying to think about the church in America…
my mind started splintering into a billion different directions as to the different “types” of “christians” we see today…
When you look around…
you can usually point out the different “types” of Christians out there..
..which is actually a statement that would be contrary to scripture..
and more specifically what I mean by that is that so many people will try to make the Christian life about :
just attending church services…
..as in.. that is the extent of their Christian walk…
Sunday morning, dust off your Bible… get in the car.. sit in your pew… go home.. wait till next Sunday..
or some really dedicated church goers will even come on wednesday nights too..
so their Bibles get dusted off twice a week instead of just once…
others see the Christian life as their commitment to sharing a facebook post of some inspirational message, or maybe even sometimes a Bible verse , as long as it isn’t too controversial…
they get on..
they see something that someone put up with a nice nature backdrop…
…. it sounds Christianese enough…
they read it..
they even reflect on it…
take it in for a minute..
say.. “yeah… thats right”…
and then repost it…
and then move on until the next time they can share another quote next week…
some people see the Christian life as nothing more than their ticket to heaven.. or their escape from hell..
they don’t want to go to the bad place,… so they are a Christian because Jesus saves….
some see it as having access to their on-star genie in a bottle god…
they don’t really need him unless they are in trouble…
as a matter of fact.. sometimes they even forget he is there..
and sometimes even… he is just a button that gets in the way because they would rather have that space for another button…
but as soon as an accident happens…
they are looking for that button to push
they are looking for that genie to summon…
all so they can get the help that they need because that’s all that god is really good for right?
… thats all that god cares about .. is our physical and emotional well being…. right?
some see the christian life as something they need to have because their spouse has it..
usually its the husband following the wife…
you have a faithful wife, and an unregenerate husband who is just dragged along to make her happy…
some think it will give them a better political standing…
…so they march around with the label of “Christian” …
…meanwhile bending to every wind and wave of doctrine just to keep the votes coming in…
they are baptist one week..
then pentecostal the next…
catholic after that..
..maybe they need to be mormon for a while…
some people just think that they are naturally grafted in because their parents or grandparents claimed to be Christians
..
and along similar lines…
those are usually the ones that will claim christ all throughout the year…
…and only show up to gather with the body on easter and Christmas because…
…thats what makes the “big man upstairs” happy…
some use the Christian life as a crutch to try to find a worldly result
and some people do truly get saved…
..and are ill equipped by a lack of discipleship and have no idea what it really looks like to be a Christian…
..so they find themselves in a constant struggle between the flesh and the spirit..
they wonder why it is that their life doesn’t seem to ever have any joy or peace in it…
and they stay on the milk (spiritually speaking) until they die….
And so I say all of that to say that it is important …
… that we understand the significance and the impact of Paul’s prayer here…
this is a foundational remark that would serve in a way to define the Christian in the faith..
this is a reality in which every Christian.. not just a select dew…
…but EVERY CHRISTIAN should be striving for…
this prayer should meet us at the core of our desire in how we are to live in this world…
this prayer should kickstart our heart to a life that is pleasing and honoring to God..
so with that being said by way of introduction..
lets stand together and read
Ephesians 3:14-21
pray
So as we finish walking through this..
I think it is important that we recall here the steps that Paul has outlined in his prayer for the believer..
and if you haven’t been with us for the past few weeks… or maybe you just forgot …
Paul’s prayer here is two-fold..
on one hand..
we see a humble, desire that Paul has for the people of God … all people of God… including us…
…to see these things become a reality in our life..
and at the same time..
He is giving a sequential list of steps that would enable the believer to walk in a manner in which we would see the effect being the prayer come true in our life…
and the assumption here is that the people hearing about this prayer… are already those who have been made new in Christ…
the assumption is that these people he is praying for are already believers..
as a matter of fact..
..the only possible way for this prayer TO be a reality in a person’s life is if they were a believer..
so he starts by praying that the believer would have a strong inner man..
that a life dedicated to studying the Word of God, and being obedient to the leading of the Spirit..
would result in the core of the person being strong..
..not weak..
steady ….. not unstable
this would be the person that knows how to fight the temptation of the world with scripture..
this would be the person that knows what God desires out of the life of His children
this would be the person that has his mind set on eternity and not the temporary…
and that would naturally lead to the person having a home in which Christ can feel settled in..
I’ve used it as a house analogy to say that, if Christ were to come home at the end of the day..
He could feel comfortable, and at home.. in the house that is set up the way that He designed it..
..that you didn’t go and throw a bunch of garbage in a closet for Him to have to go clean up…
and when Christ is settled in your heart and doesn’t have to keep fixing your messes .. that would lead to
you being rooted and grounded in love…
that the very core of who you are flows out from love..
that your actions give EVIDENCE to a love within you that is nothing like the world…
and if you feel like you can never get to that point…
.. just remember, that paul is outlining this in a process..
there is a little greek word there “henna” which means “in order that”…
so the first one leads to the next.. and the next to the next..
so if at the core , you don’t have love…
…then that must mean that Christ isn’t settled…
…and if Christi isn’t settled….
then you need to ask yourself if you are being a true student of the Word…
..and if you are obedient to the Spirits lead in your life…
because then.. and only then…
…you will find your life is outpouring with love…
supernatural love….
not just some worldly infatuation …
..not some fleeting sympathetic kind of love..
but a love that doesn’t make sense…
..its a love that is incomprehensible to the human mind…
and the reason for this is because it is the very love the belongs to the infinite God Almighty
As He is infinite, so is His love..
and in Pauls prayer he says that you would have the strength to “COMPREHEND”…
now why would strength be needed to comprehend?
it’s because of what the word comprehend really means here…
it is not just to “perceive” ..
but it is a military term that would mean to capture and take as your own…
so Paul prays that you would have the strength to capture and take on God’s infinite love as your own…
and that you would KNOW IT..
now the word know here also goes beyond comprehension..
the word in the greek.. I’ve actually mentioned it before when it is tied to the word “pro - or pre”
but the word know here is just simply the word ginosko ..
which does mean to perceive.. it doesn mean to be acquainted with ..
but it actually goes deeper than that..
just like the word comprehend means to take it as your own..
the word ginosko means to understand it intimately ..
that might sound a little weird but follow me for a second..
the same word in the hebrew is the word “yada”..
I want to read you two passages in Genesis that use the word “yada” and see if you start to pick up what I’m putting down here
Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.”
And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.”
Now…
we all know it takes a little more than knowledge to have a child right?
and without getting weird here..
if we are to apply this type of “knowing” to the love of Christ…
it simply means that we have experienced it on a deeper level..
that we are VERY familiar with it..
its not some foreign concept or some hopeful wish to us..
it is something that we understand..
it is something that we KNOW
it is something that we are COMFORTABLE with…
it is something that we take GREAT PLEASURE IN…
and taking it a step further..
the Love of Christ is something that we are now connected to at the most invasive level in our life that there is nothing that could hide from it…
and that is how we can comprehend the incomprehensible love of God…
it is something we should all want DEEPLY…
it should be the desire, the craving, even the impulse we have above anything else we do..
it should be the first thing to flow out of us..
it should be evident in how we respond to conflict
it should be evident in how we respond to everything
and Christians…
I’m telling you…
I don’t think we see this enough…
I would bet that if we were to examine ourselves…
just a day…
..take the best day you had this past week,,
and weigh it out…
“did love flow more naturally from me in any given circumstance?”
“or did worldliness”…
I would bet that the majority of us… if we were really honest with ourselves..
would not be able to say that love was the most evident characteristic we displayed…
and remember…
..that all stems back to the other things we talked about…
but lets say we get the love down..
lets say we are able to comprehend the breadth, and the length and the height, and depth…
well what is the breadth of His love?
how “broad” is it?
Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
it would seem like it is broad enough to take those who were far off… and bring them near by the blood of Christ…
its broad enough to take a Jew and a Gentile and make them one, destroying the enmity between them, and reconciling them both unto God…
It’s broad enough to grab a hold of the Jew and the Gentile who were at opposite ends of the world and bring them together…
what is the length of it?
Well as Paul also said earlier in
even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love
so it stretches from eternity past…
so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
so how long?
from eternity past to eternity future…
how deep? ( i know im switching the two up, but you’ll get why in a second)
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 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— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
its deep enough to reach us when we were dead in sin…
..when we were slaves to satan..
when our way of life was hostile to God and guided by the lust of the flesh…
while we were by nature children who rightfully deserved wrath…
it was deep enough to reach down to the lowest pit and pull us out…
How high is it?
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
its high enough to take us and bless us with all the spiritual blessings in the the heavenly places..
and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
it’s high enough to raise us up together and make us sit in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus...
thats high..
so just to recap
its breadth ? - it can reach anyone
its length? - it runs from eternity to eternity
its depth? - to the deepest pit of our sinful depraved state of being..
its height? - to take us to the presence of God and sit us with Christ Jesus in the heavenly places…
If you don’t see the weight that is associated with that love, then you need to open your eyes!
Because there is nothing like it..
no imitation can rival it..
and the crazy thing is … once again.. this is what we are called to SEIZE and take as our own!
This is the kind of love that we are called to build our life on!
This is the kind of love that we are to know and that we are to be known by!
and I know that there is a reality..
in the struggle we have against the flesh…
we fight this don’t we…
and the reason is because we think of love on too low a level..
I mean how many times have you found yourself saying something like:
“I can’t STAND that person, .. but I love them in Jesus name” …
or we go around and decide that everyone is against us.. and we are just a victim..
…and because I’m such a victim, I can react in a non-loving way to them because, well.. they offended me…
but if you are in Christ, you are not the victim, you are the victor…
and if we examine what Christ wants for us..
He wants us to love with HIS love…
but that only comes from us when we are controlled by the Holy Spirit..
This love that passes knowledge…
its a love, once again, that is so different than what we see in the world..
The world loves for what it can get..
we are to love for what we can give..
because we don’t need anything ..
because we have this intimate relationship with the infinite love of Christ
so you see… I added a bit to last weeks message..
but look in the second half of v19 with me now
“that”…
..its that word (henna)
“that you may be finned with all the fulness of God”…
well this is a tough one…
you know..
we see this kind of language in scripture from time to time that kinda causes us to scratch our heads…
and what I mean by that is a good example is in James 1:4
And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
..
well we know that nobody is PERFECT…
at least not on this side of eternity…
so we read here that we would be filled with all the fullness of God..
and for some radical heretics..
they would take this to mean that they can practically “be” god…
but we know that thats ridiculous to even consider…
we also know that God is infinite in all His attributes..
so therefore, our capacity to be filled with HIS fullness would explode us..
whether that is that we are filled with the infinite knowledge of who He is.. or whatever..
so what can this mean here?
I don’t know…
… I’m serious..
the greek didn’t help me with this one…
but what I could imagine..
just based off what I know is NOT possible..
and what I see Paul calling for here…
is that I would imagine that being filled with all the fullness of God would be speaking more toward OUR capacity, than His…
and what I mean by that ..
..is that if we could be at a point in our lives..
where we are so absorbed in the Word of God..
where our heart beats for obedience to the Spirit…
where supernatural love is deeply attained, known, and flows though every fiber of our being…
If we could be at that point, then what that must mean…
…is that the man is so dominated by the Lord, that there is no room left in the body for “self”..
..that as Christ feels at home in your heart..
its because it IS HIS HOME…
He’s got everything set where He wants it…
so what am I saying?
well…
if we look forward just a bit to
until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
and then in chapter 5 v 18, He says to the fullness of the Spirit
So we see to be filled with the Fullness of God, of Christ, and the Spirit, all in the same letter..
to put it simply, Paul’s prayer is that believers would become as Godlike as possible…
and before you think, but WAIT! , I CANT ! …
well… scripture calls us to this
You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
and this is the moment where someone quotes to me 1 John chapter 1 ..
there is a clear and obvious fact that we are NOT perfect…
we DO sin..
if we say we don’t sin.. we lie and don’t practice the truth…
but nevertheless..
the call to Christlikeness is here…
we are not to look like the world..
and that is the summation of Pauls prayer..
that the CHRISTIANS would look LIKE CHRISTIANS!
and THIS IS WHAT CHRISTIANS LOOK LIKE!
students of the word
obediently submissive to the Spirit
tossing out all the dirty baggage from their life…
FLOWING WITH SUPERNATURAL LOVE that is only found in Christ…
SELFLESS…
and you know what comes next…
when we find ourselves at a point of submission to the Lord…
when LOVE is flowing out of your life with POWER…
we will see what Paul says next in v 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,
if you think that God can accomplish “this” in your life…
watch what happens from a life sold out to Him…
If you think that you are asking God for is too “big” a task for Him…
you just wait and see your faith increase as He does exceedingly abundantly more….
but here is the deal…
when you see that…
if you are at the point outlined by the steps Paul gives here and you see that happen…
your response is only going to be one thing…
its not going to be..
“look what I did because of my obedience in the Lord”..
its not going to be
“yep, God can only do something like that through ME!”
no..
your life will be so humbled and submitted to Him .. that it will only result in one thing
to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
let me say something about this…
we “attempt” to give Christ glory every day… right?
we say “thank you God for this”…
“Christ you are so good because of that”…
but I am telling you…
that unless we are at this place where Paul’s prayer leads us…
our praise falls short…
I’m not saying it is unheard…
I’m just saying its not as adequate as He deserves..
But I think, that if we could find ourselves here …
..at this point…
when the Christians that make up the church are all together…
…and unified…
and faithful to this level of God’s fullness being within them,…
..then Christ will be more greatly glorified with the honor that He deserves…
You see, God wants to be glorified in the Church,
and Christ made it possible for God to be glorified in the Church.
Christ came and redeemed His people.. the CHURCH
And so, by Christ Jesus, God CAN be glorified in the Church.
God gives us access to everything we need to see that happen…
let us be a church, that strives for Christ to be more greatly glorified…
pray…
