Inward Strengthening

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.

Ephe

Man, why don’t we just put our hands together and thank TMB for leading us to lift our voices to our King! Wow, those guys are so talented, yet insanely humble. Thanks guys.

Introduce Text: if you have a Bible this morning go ahead and turn to Ephesians 3:14-19.

Personal Introduction: Now, you guys don’t know me and honestly, there is no real good reason for you to know me. My name is Josh Fields and I’m a student pastor in Iowa Park at a small baptist church. God has been incredibly good to me - I’ve got a beautiful wife (both outwardly and inwardly beautiful), and three awesome kids - all 5 and under.

I also recently started teaching ESL to Chinese children online! Crazy, huh? So, if you were to visit my office - you would see theology tones, commentaries, bible studies (probably upward of 1000 books) and then, puppets, children pictures pasted onto popsicle sticks - it’s like two worlds that have collided! Another thing that you need to know - I love the Cowboys, I’ve never played Fortnight, I’m a Padawan in my learning of the ways of Star Wars, and I dig a good cup of coffee. So - there you have more about me than you probably ever needed.

Personal Testimony: Do I have any 13 year olds in the room this morning? Maybe entering 8th grade or even going into 9th?

Awesome! When I was your age - I recognized that I had a huge gap in my life. That my family, I was living in a divorced home, was broken. That my identity in sports was failing me - I mean look at me I’m 5’8” (and a half) and my friends from time to time would let me down or even betray me.

In the midst of being a confused and sad (but good at hiding it) 13 year old - I heard the best news possible! That I was broken, that I was separated from the God of the Bible because of my sinful condition, and that Christ had come to this world and lived the life I couldn’t, died the death I deserved and rose from the grave in victory - vindicating His name - in my place. I heard that at a small church, my church, in Iowa Park 18 years ago. That message resonated within my heart and God brought me to life through the gospel of Jesus Christ! I repented of my sin and trusted the work of Christ for me! God saved me from me! 13 years old - just like many of you!

Anyone in here have a story like that? Really, come on! Anyone in here been saved by the power of Jesus?

That’s right! But you know what I found out a few months after I was saved? Well, I started looking and acting a lot like I was before salvation. That I had a hard time saying no to sin, myself and the devil. That living for Jesus was hard. Easy to sing “I surrender all” but way hard to live “I surrender all”.

Transition: so this morning, here at Re:Charge, my hope is that God would use this short message to act like a splash of cold water to your spiritual face. That it would awaken, challenge, and Re:Charge your spiritual hunger and living. So that we could both

1. God

The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Letter to the Ephesians F. Paul’s Intercession for Power, Love, and Spiritual Maturity, 3:14–21

It contains two central petitions (vv. 16–17a, 17b–19a) together with a climactic summarizing request that the readers might be filled with all the fulness of God (v. 19b). The first petition (vv. 16–17a) is for inner strengthening through God’s Spirit. This request consists of two parallel infinitival clauses in which the second elaborates or explains the meaning of the first: to be strengthened by the Spirit in the inner being (v. 16b) corresponds to Christ’s dwelling in their hearts by faith (v. 17a). The second petition (vv. 17b–19a), which builds upon the first, is essentially a prayer for knowledge of (1) the four dimensions (v. 18b), and (2) the love of Christ (v.19a). Finally, v.19b concludes Paul’s intercessory prayer: it has been viewed as the third and climactic request, or the summarizing request in which the contents of the two preceding petitions are realized. The apostle desires that they might ‘be filled up to all the fulness of God’.

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The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Letter to the Ephesians 1. Prayer for Power, Love, and Maturity, 3:14–19

Paul desires that, as his readers are strengthened by God’s Spirit and indwelt by Christ so that they are rooted and grounded in love, ‘they might be empowered to grasp with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge’.

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The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Letter to the Ephesians 1. Prayer for Power, Love, and Maturity, 3:14–19

Rather, to speak of Christ’s love as surpassing knowledge means that it is so great that one can never know it fully. We can never plumb its depths or comprehend its magnitude. No matter how much we know of the love of Christ, how fully we enter into his love for us, there is always more to know and experience.179 And the implication, in the light of the following words, is that we cannot be as spiritually mature as we should be unless we are empowered by God to ‘grasp the limitless dimensions of the love of Christ’.180

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The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Letter to the Ephesians 1. Prayer for Power, Love, and Maturity, 3:14–19

They are to become what they already are. Divine enabling is essential for them (3:19) in the midst of the tension as they live between the two ages,184 and being filled by the Spirit is an important means in the process (5:18). When the apostle desires that his readers may be strengthened through the Spirit and experience the effects of Christ’s indwelling so that they may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God, he is praying that they may ‘be all that God wants them to be’, that is, spiritually mature. Since God himself, Christ himself, is the standard, then this means being perfect as he is perfect, being holy as he is holy.185