Get Your Wealth

English Standard Version Chapter 3

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.

Introduction

This passage is the second prayer recorded in Ephesians

The first prayer is

English Standard Version Chapter 1

15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

In this prayer, the emphasis is on enlightenment

In the second prayer, the one we are studying tonight, the emphasis is on enablement

In this section Paul is saying “I want you to get your hands on your wealth, realize how vast it is, and start to use it.”

Notice first the posture Paul is in…I bow my knees

It is worth noting that in these prayers Paul is praying more for the Spiritual condition of the inner man, rather than the material needs

ie. Getting out of prison

Safety

Etc.

I believe too many of our prayers are for physical needs rather than spiritual.

I believe it would be good if we used these prison prayers in our own lives

SO that we can better develop the inner man of God

That is where our greatest needs are

Let’s take a look at this prayer, so that we can duplicate it in our own lives!

The Invocation (Eph 3:14-15)

English Standard Version Chapter 3

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,

The first thing we see is the invocation

We should be struck by Paul’s posture (I bow my knees)

This must have been quite an experience for the Roman soldier chained to Paul

The Bible does not command any special posture for prayer

Abraham stood before the Lord when he prayed for sodom ()

Solomon stood when he prayed to dedicate the temple ()

David sat before the Lord ()

Jesus fell on his face in Gethsemane ()

Hopefully through this series you have realized the emphasis of spiritual posture in Eph

We were buried in the graveyard as lost sinners ()

We were raised with Christ and seated in heavenlies with Him ()

Our walk can please God (,;,,)

We can stand against the devil ()

But there is one posture that links “sitting”, “walking”, and “standing”

That is bowing the knee

It is through prayer that we lay hold of God’s riches that enable us to behave like Christians and Battle like christians

Whether we actually bow our knees is not the important thing; that we bow our hearts and will to the Lord and ask Him for what we need is the vital matter.

The net important thing is how we address our prayers

In the Bible they are usually addressed to the father, through the son, and in the Spirit

We pray to God as our father

We have unlimited access to Him as our good father

Because we have unlimited acces and he wants the best for us, that leads us to the next part of this prayer in

The Petition (16-19)

English Standard Version Chapter 3

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.

There are 4 requests in this prayer, but they are not isolated requests

Rather they are like 4 parts to a teslescope

One requests leads into the next one, and so on

He prayers for inner strength

Which will lead into a deeper experience with Christ

This deeper experience will enable them to “know (Get hold of) God’s great love

Which will result in their being filled unto all fullness of God

So Paul is praying for strength, depth, apprehension, and fullness

Strength

The presence of the HS evidences salvation

The power of the HS is enablement for Christian living

“Ye shall receive power when the HS comes upon you” ()

The riches that we get is the strength from the HS

Jesus performed His work with the power of the HS

This is the only resource we have for Christian living today

The power of the SPirit is given to us “According to the riches of His glory”

Christ returned and sent the Spirit from heaven to indwell and empower His people.

When He sent the spirit, we received the full HS!

How marvelous that He didn’t give out of HIs riches, but “according to” His riches

If I had a billion dollars and I gave you $10 that would be out of my riches

If I gave you a million that would be according to my riches

The first is portion

The second is proportion

This power is available for the “inner man”

This means the spiritual part of a man where God dwells and works

The inner man of the lost sinner is dead

It comes alive when Christ is invited in

The outer man is perishing, but the inner man can be renewed spiritually in spite of outward physical decay

When the HS empowers the inner man all of his spiritual faculties are controlled by God

We receive this power by accepting His free gift of salvation, reading His word every day, strengthening our prayer life. and by loving obedience

Depth (v.17)

We see the idea of spiritual depth hidden in 3 verbs: Dwell, rooted, and grounded

Dwell literally means to settle down and feel at home

Because Paul addressed the eph believers as “saints” Christ must have been dwelling in their hearts

Illustration of going home and how i feel at home at mom and dad’s

Rooted moves us into the the plant world

The trees roots must go deep to have nourishment and stability

Christians roots must go deep into the love of God

One question each Christian must ask himself is “from what do I draw my nourishment and my stability?”

Grounded is an architectural term

It refers to the foundations on which we build

I once heard an architect say “the foundation is the most important part of the building, if you don’t go deep, you can’t go high”

The trials of life test the depth of our experience

If two roommates have a falling out they may seek new roommates—having a roommate is a passing expereince

If a married couple has a falling out hopefully they take the time to work through it.

The trial deepens their love as they seek to solve the problem

The storm that blows reveals the strength of the roots

Paul prayed that believers might have a deeper experience with Christ, because only a deep experience could sustain them during severe trials of life.

Apprehension (18-19a)

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,

Comprehend and apprehend come from the Latin word prehendere which means “to grasp”

We say a monkey has a prehensile tail— a tail that is able to grasp limbs

Comprehend means to mentally grasp something

Apprehend suggests really make it your own

Paul is telling us lay hold of the vast expanses of God’s love

If I were to walk into a sports car lot and ask how much one was, they’d probably tell me “if you have to ask they are too expensive for you”

No Chrisitan ever has to worry about having inadequate spiritual resources to meet the demands of life

If he prays for spriitaul strength and spirtual depth, he will be able to apprehend—Get his hands on—all the resources of God’s love and grace.

Fullness (19b)

English Standard Version Chapter 3

that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Sometimes as Christians we use the wrong measurements in examining their spiritual life

So many times we compare ourselves to the weakest Christians we know

The measure of our fullness is God himself

We may say “well i’m better than they are.”

Paul tells us that the measure is Christ and that we cannot boast about anything

When we have reached His fullness then we have reached the limit

Some of you may be thinking “We are already filled with the HS.

Positionally we are complete or full

practically we enjoy only the grace that we apprehend by faith.

The resources to become full are there, we need only accept them

The Benediction (20-21)

English Standard Version Chapter 3

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.

Looking at this doxology or benediction, it seems as if paul is trying to use every word possible to convey the vastness of God’s power as found in Jesus.

We’ve seen a lot of ways that God’s power is incredible

It is even above all that we can ask or think!

The power of Christ is like the love of Christ—it transcends human understanding

Some power is dormant—like power stored in a battery

God’s enery is effectual power—power at work in our lives

This power works in us

IT is the HS who releases the resurrection power of Christ in our lives

Plugging my phone in, but my charger wasn’t plugged into the wall illustration

A lot of Christians are like this—they have this power accessible to them, but they have been cut off from this power by things like

Unbelief

Unconfessed sin

careless living

worldliness in action or attitude

All of these rob us of power

Why is this power available to us?

The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Seven: Get Your Hands on Your Wealth (Ephesians 3:14–21)

But the amazing thing is that what we do in His power today will glorify Christ “throughout all ages, world without end” (Eph. 3:21). The church’s greatest ministry is yet to come. What we do here and now is preparing us for the eternal ages, when we shall glorify Christ forever.

says ye have not because ye ask not

Have we asked for this power?