True Fathers In The Faith

You have hear me say this before: I am really bad at favorites. I have a hard time picking favorites. Kids love to ask what your favorite things are. They are always asking “what is your favorite color, animal, favorite food,” or something like that. I get asked about my favorites all the time, and I am really not trying to be difficult, the truth is I just have a hard time picking favorites. It is probably because I am a sort of absolutist. I want to really be sure of what I am saying.

So if I were asked, as I often have been, what is my favorite bird, well, maybe depending on my mood I may mention a songbird, because they are pleasant to listen to, or an exotic and colorful bird, because they are beautiful to look at. I may pick the eagle, because it soars so high and inspires people. I may pick an owl because I have always been impressed with how they are completely silent as they swoop in and grab their prey.

And so it sometimes happens that as a pastor, someone will ask what my favorite scripture is, either a single verse, or what is your favorite book of the Bible, and I am always hesitant to answer, because depending on what I am studying that particular day or week, the Lord may have powerfully spoken to me through a particular passage. Or I heard one of my favorite preachers on a passage that I have been chewing on.

I’m not a big fan of having a favorite verse, since a single can be taken out of context, and particularly it seems that sometimes the verses people say are their favorites, are are understood by someone out of context; a verse plucked out of its context often can have a meaning entirely different when seen in context than what the person actually thinks it means.

However, I do think I may have a favorite book of the Bible, and although it is subject to change, Ephesians is one book I really love. It contains doxologies, where Paul writes as though he were singing a hymn. It has beautiful and colorful language such as in chapter 1 verse 7-8, where it tells of the riches of God’s grace, which he lavished upon us. It has parts that make the heart soar like an eagle, and it has parts where, like an owl, the words swoop in and grab your attention.

This morning, we are going to focus on Ephesians 3:14-21, which serves as a sort of bridge between what has already been said in the first half of the letter, and what Paul is calling the church to actually do. To give an overview of Ephesians, in the first 2 chapters, Paul is marveling at the blessings of being one who has been called into God’s family through faith in Jesus Christ. The following applies to those in Christ, not those who aren’t; if you aren’t sure if you are one of those, you need to look into that and listen carefully and ask for God to reveal himself to you. But for those who are in Christ, here is what Paul tells us:

God has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing, he chose us in him before the foundation of the world. He predestined us for adoption to himself through Jesus according to his will. We have redemption, forgiveness, and grace; he unites all things.

We have an inheritance. We heard the word of truth, we believed, and we were sealed with the Holy Spirit. Because of all of this, Paul says, he does not cease to give thanks for the church he is writing to. So he prays that the eyes of hearts would be enlightened, that those in Christ would know the riches they have come into in their inheritance, and that Christ is head over the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

He then reminds believers who they once were. Dead in our sins, following the course of the world, children of wrath. But God made us alive together with Christ. He then writes of how the church is one, whether believers come from Jewish or gentile background. Those who were far off have been brought near. He has reconciled both to God in one body. he preached peace to both. He has broken down the dividing wall of hostility between them and created one man in place of the two.

This is the church. This is the mystery. Paul prays for spiritual strength for believers, which we will look at in a moment, and then he continues on the themes of unity in the body of Christ, and then outlines some of the practical applications of how believers are to live in community, in peace and harmony. We must walk in love; he applies this to the church, to families, and to work relationships. Then of course, is the famous armor of God passage, and he closes the letter. That is a very short summary of Ephesians.

There are several themes to be found in Ephesians, but one that is striking and repeated and clear is the unity of the body of Christ. We are told how things should be and we are commanded to live up to that. And between all of that is our passage this morning, which we will now look at together:

Ephesians 3:14–21 ESV

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 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. 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, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Big Idea: We need spiritual strength to fully understand God’s Love

The Strength to comprehend

The Strength to know

The Strength to do

Now, we start right out knowing there is something before this passage, since Paul says “for this reason”. What reason? Well, it Paul began this prayer in 3:1. There he starts with “for this reason”, but then he digresses a bit, which is not unusual in Paul’s writing. You may think of it as parenthetical, that is, something in the English language we may place in parenthesis. It is a thought within a thought, so to speak.

So what was he referring to, then, in 3:1 and again in 14, when he said “for this reason”? Well, he has just written, as I briefly summarized, about how Jewish and gentile believers are all brought together into the same family.They are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. So because they are now unified in Christ, for this reason, Paul says, I bow my knees.

Bowing the knees as Paul says he does is a sign of supplication. Humility. Acknowledgement of a need. If you remember the parable Jesus gave of the Pharisee and the tax collector, you would understand what was typical for Jewish men in those times for prayer. It was usually standing, sometimes with arms raised. But this isn’t how Paul approached God in this particular prayer; he is on his knees.

And he is on his knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. You will find that there are some differences of opinion among bible teachers about what this part means “from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named”. Some say it simply means that God is father over all people, all of mankind, and also over all angelic beings and spiritual beings. Others believe he is speaking of the mystery he has been talking about, that is, the church. I think this is the correct understanding.

If it is speaking of the church, that means Paul includes in his understanding of God as Father over the church those saints who have already died. This is a wonderful view if you think of it, particularly when you consider those we have loved who were of the faith and have died. In Paul’s theology, all believers are united with Christ, those alive today, and those who have died, who are are actually more alive now than they were. That unity with Christ and each believer naturally brings a unity for all of those in Christ. The church, the body of Christ, includes those who have died in Christ.

So Paul bows his knees before the Father, from whom all believers, those in heaven and on earth, are named.

And what does he pray for them? 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

Big Idea: We need spiritual strength to fully understand God’s Love

The Strength to comprehend

The Strength to know

The Strength to do

Let’s look at the first two points, the Strength to comprehend and the strength to know. These two strengths both are in reference to the love of Christ.

Now, Paul has also said we need strength so that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith. That could be a sermon in itself, but I am going to leave that for this morning and focus on the strength to comprehend and the strength to know.

We must not forget a continuing theme in Ephesians about the church. It is crystal clear that this is a group effort. In one sense, we need to get this as individuals, but Paul is writing here clearly that this has to do with us, the church. This is why he says we need the strength to comprehend with all the saints. So we, the saints; we, with all the saints. Paul is praying that we, together with all the saints would have strength.

The strength he has in mind, when I first studied this passage in earnest some years ago, is fascinating. We don’t usually consider that someone needs strength to receive love, or strength to understand love, or strength to know love, but here is Paul praying for just that. We need spiritual strength to receive the love of Christ. We need strength to comprehend the vastness of His love, and we need strength to know His love; that is, to actually grasp it for ourselves.

So what kind of love is this that we need strength just to comprehend it, strength to know it? You know, I have heard many people share their stories of how they fell in love, or when a man proposed to his bride to be. Have you ever heard someone say that said to their fiancé “I have been praying for you that they would have the strength to comprehend and know the love how much I love you”? Maybe it would be a pretty good line.

It is hard to think of a human analogy that we can use to somehow get this across, because human love falls so short of God’s love. In fact, Paul seems to acknowledge this in the very same sentence, because he says God’s love, the love he is praying that the saints may have the strength to comprehend and know, surpasses knowledge. It is really unknowable. We are not in a position to really get it.

Klyne Snodgrass said the first half of 3:19 is a good example of an oxymoron (a combination of words that appears contradictory): Paul prays that they may know the love that is beyond knowing. This is language from someone who has been surprised and overwhelmed with Christ’s love.

Kent Hughes referred to what he calls The Four Magnitudes — width, length, height, and depth — as poetic expressions for the infinitude of God’s love... these dimensions can be said to suggest:

1) A love which is wide enough to embrace the world. John 3:16

John 3:16 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

2) A love which is long enough to last forever. Spurgeon said, “It is so long that your old age cannot wear it out, so long your continual tribulation cannot exhaust it, your successive temptations shall not drain it dry; like eternity itself it knows no bounds.”

3) A love which is high enough to take sinners to Heaven.

4) A love which is deep enough to take Christ to the very depths to reach the lowest sinner.

The Four Magnitudes describe an infinite, incomprehensible love. In A. W. Tozer’s words,

… because God is self-existent, His love had no beginning; because he is eternal, his love can have no end; because he is infinite it has no limit; because he is holy it is the quintessence of all spotless purity; because he is immense, his love is an incomprehensibly vast, bottomless, shoreless sea.

Francis Foulkes said the definite goal to which the Christian life must move, and for which therefore the apostle prays, is for his readers to know the love of Christ, to know how he loved and loves, and to experience his love in loving him and loving others for his sake. Yet even here Paul cannot escape the paradox. In the Greek between the verb and its object there is this qualification that apparently contradicts the verb—the love surpasses knowledge. The love of Christ is infinitely greater than anyone can fully know or imagine, and it is also much more than any object of knowledge; it is superior to knowledge, even to spiritual knowledge. It must find expression in experience, in sorrows and joys, trials and sufferings, in ways too deep for the human mind to fathom, or for human language to express.

Paul then connects this strength to comprehend and know the love of God to being full of God: “That you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

Similarly he wrote:

Colossians 2:9–10 ESV

For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.

We have been filled in him, and Paul prays that we would be filled with all the fullness of God. Charles Hodge comments, ‘The indwelling of Christ is a thing of degrees’ So also is the inward strengthening of the Holy Spirit. What Paul asks for his readers is that they may be ‘fortified, braced, invigorated’, that they may ‘know the strength of the Spirit’s inner reinforcement’ , and may lay hold ever more firmly ‘by faith’ of this divine strength, this divine indwelling.

So Paul has prayed, on his knees, for the Chuch, that they may be rooted and grounded in love, and may have strength to comprehend with all the saints; the Lexham English Bible translates it, that “you may be strong enough to grasp together what is the breadth and length and heigh and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Big Idea: We (together) need spiritual strength to fully understand God’s Love

The Strength to comprehend

The Strength to know

The Strength to do

So we have covered the first two, we will now look at the third, which is actually our application. And after we discuss this application, we will look at verses 20-21 so that we do not feel discouraged that it is too much to do; instead, we can leave challenged by this difficult work we are called to do with the encouragement that we have One who can supply us with the very strength Paul believes we need to live out this life. And not only can he supply the needs we see, but even beyond what we are even able to consider.

The Strength to do the work. What work? Well, there is a lot of work to do in this letter Paul wrote. The work of unity in the church. Is this an easy thing? You know, some science fiction over the years has romantically predicted a future where all of the things that divide people no longer do, and everyone gets along. Usually, the thought is that as technology improves, and less people are in physical need, then people will become more equal, there will be no jealousy, we will teach kids not judge others, and so on. Well, I’m not sure the world is really closer to this than it was in the past. Even as the world makes progress in some areas of division, new sources of division arise.

The church is not immune to the forces of pride and selfishness that threaten our unity. In James 4, he writes about this, the causes of murder, and fights, and quarrels. It is your passions at war within you. Paul knows the potential in all of us to find ways to be divided, and so he dedicates a good portion of Ephesians to the theme of unity in the church. Right after our passage he gives part of the application, that we are to walk in a manner worthy of our calling; that is, we are to live as though God has called us, not as though we have nothing to so with Him.

Unity is so important to Jesus that when he prayed to the Father right before being arrested, he prayed for unity in the church.

John 17:20–23 ESV

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

Do you realize what Jesus is saying here? He wants those who believe, that is those of us with saving faith, to be unified just as the Father is in Jesus and Jesus in the Father. That is a pretty high bar! He continues in this prayer and states that a result of this unity would be that the world may believe that you have sent me. So an evidence of the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ is a unified church!

This what Jesus prayed for. It is what Paul prayed for, and yet it seems impossible at times. How could we have this kind of unity? Only if we experience the love of Christ. Only if we, being rooted and grounded in love, have the 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, and are filled with all the fullness of God.

You see, every genuine act of Christian charity comes from this. Every sincere evangelist, every motivated Missionary, every Christian in the marketplace who lives their life as a testimony and witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ, can only have the effectiveness in their life’s ministry if their motivation is love for others that they are compelled to because of the love of Jesus that they have experienced themselves!

And this love cannot be quantified, it can’t be numbered, or measured, or even properly described. I think there is a hymn that says something to the effect that if all the ocean were ink, and all the skies a scroll, the love of God could not be described in all the writings that could be contained. Paul knows this, so he prays that we have the strength to understand what cannot be fathomed. This is hyperbole in a sense, may you know what you can’t know. May God’s love, though it is infinite, be somehow grasped by the believers. And let us not forget that this is in community. Paul isn’t saying, on your deck when you look at the stars all alone, or when you walk at sunrise all by yourself, I hope you have a bit more understanding of God’s love for you.

No, he wants you to have this understanding with all the saints. Together he wants us to strive to know this love. It is in community. It cannot be done on your own. God’s love is so great that we need his empowerment to comprehend it, to know it. His love surpasses knowledge. Paul’s desire is that the church would, together, with all the saints, experience this, because only when we experience the love of Christ can we do the work of Christ. INnfact, we could say that it is the love of God that gives us the strength to do the work he calls us to. The work of unity, the work of making disciples, the work of being witnesses. None of these things can rightly happen if love is not part of the equation.

The love of God requires that we be strengthened to grasp it. And yet, Paul finishes this section with a confidence that the one he prays will strengthen us certainly has the ability to do so.

Ephesians 3:20–21 ESV

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, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

A lot has been written and said about abundant life. Unfortunately, many people today believe that abundant life in Christ has something to do with easy living. When they read that he is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, they think it has to do with material things, or physical things only. And yet, the greatest blessings, the ones we ought to be asking or thinking about, are spiritual, eternal blessings. It isn’t that if we ask for a Chevy he will give us a Cadillac. Or if we ask for a Toyota he will give us a Lexus. No, he does far more abundantly than we ask or think in these ways: When we repent of the sins we remember, he forgives the ones we forgot about. When we ask forgiveness, he gives it, and even more, he gives us the righteousness of Christ! When we ask for wisdom, he gives generously without reproach. When we ask for increased love of neighbor, he gives us that capacity. When we ask for his help to forgive, he not only helps us forgive, but to love the one who offended us. This is the abundant life!

Ray Comfort wrote about Paul’s understanding of abundant life:

How was it then, that the apostle Paul knew God loved him? As we have seen, he faced countless trials and tribulations, was mocked and hated, imprisoned for years, and finally martyred. What did he look to for assurance of God’s love for him?

He didn’t look at his lifestyle because, to the untrained eye, it didn’t exactly speak of God’s caring hand for him. His “abundant” life was certainly full, but it wasn’t full of what we think it should have been, if God loved him. Picture Paul, lying half-naked on a cold dungeon floor, chained to hardened Roman guards. Look at his bloody back and his bruised, swollen face. “Paul, you’ve been beaten again. Where are your friends? Demas and the others have forsaken you. Where is the evidence of God’s blessing, Paul?” You taunt. “What’s that? What did you say? Did I hear you mumble through swollen lips that God loves you?”

Paul slowly lifts his head. His blackened, bruised eyes look deeply into yours. They sparkle as he says two words: “...the cross!” He painfully reaches into his blood-soaked tunic and carefully pulls out a large letter he has been writing in his own hand. His trembling and bloodstained finger points to one sentence in particular. You strain your eyes in the dim light and read, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

That was the source of Paul’s joy and thus his strength.

How could Paul then, with all of his trials and difficulties, write with such power about the love of God? Why did he write that his prayer is that believers would have the strength to comprehend and to know it? Could it be that he wanted others to have the strength of faith and confidence in the love of God in view of all of the trials of life, because Paul himself needed that very strength, and had received and benefitted from that strength? How does Paul’s prayer compare to ours? We pray about matters of comfort, Paul prays for strength to believe and comprehend the love of God even in situations where there is no comfort. But Paul believed that the God he prayed to could surely do it.

When we ask for the strength to comprehend and know his love, he can answer this prayer as well, and even more than we can imagine. He is the one Paul is praying to, He is the one Paul believes can do it. Finally, Paul says, it is for his glory through the church. to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

And let us never forget, in this world that speaks of rugged individualism and making it on your own, that the Christian life is a community effort, and so it is that Paul, when he prayed for this strength to comprehend and know the love of God, prayed it for a community, that together with all the saints, we would know. So let us each decide to obey God’s word today and take up this challenge of scripture, to take this prayer of Paul’s for the church and make it our prayer, that God would grant us to be strengthened with power in our inner beings, so that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith, and that along with all the saints, we would be able to comprehend those 4 magnitudes of God’s love, the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ.

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