Ephesians 3x17-21 Part 2
Thomas S. Myers
Plugging INTO THE POWER OF GOD
Part 2
Ephesians 3:17-21
This passage of Scripture is a very powerful section of Scripture. It is very rich and abundant in spiritual truth. It is a prayer of Paul that must not be avoided.
Ephesians 3:14-21
14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 (in order) That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 (in order that you) May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, (in order) that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, 21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. (KJV)
As I read Paul's prayer I added the phrase "in order that." Because in the Greek language there is a key word that is repeated 3 different times. You find it at the beginning of verse 16, at the beginning of verse 18, and in the middle of verse 19.
That should tell you something about Paul's prayer. Paul's prayer is a sequence of progression. That is something is being built which leads to something else being built, which leads to something else being built. There is a sequence, a progression that is being built.
I like to think of Paul's prayer like electricity. In order to use electricity the electricity must be flowing. But also in order to use electricity you must plug into the electricity. But in order to use electricity you must turn on the appliance. There are a series of steps to using electricity.
Paul's prayer is like that. There are a series of steps to utilizing the power of God. Actually there are 5 steps.
You might be thinking, "Pastor are there any other places in Scripture that have a sequence to them?" Yes there are. There is another sequence that the Apostle Paul gives. You find it in Ephesians 4:31.
SECOND -- CHRIST IS AT HOME IN YOUR LIFE.
"so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith...; (3:17a)
The result of our being "strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man" is that Christ may dwell in [our] hearts through faith.
The Greek word for "dwell" is a compound Greek word, formed from kata (down) and oikeo (to dwell in a house). The point is this. Jesus Christ is not just to be a guest in our heart. He is to be at home in our hearts.
What Paul is saying then is that when your inner man is strengthened the result is that Jesus Christ is going to be a home in your heart. Now if you know Jesus Christ as your Savior, Jesus Christ is in your heart. But just because Jesus Christ in your life, that does not mean that Jesus is at home in your heart.
The question for the Christian is not is Jesus Christ in our hearts, the question for the Christian is Jesus Christ at home in our hearts.
Jesus Christ cannot be "at home" in our hearts until our inner man is strengthened. Unless the Spirit controls our lives, Jesus Christ will not be comfortable there.
Let me illustrate this way. If you spend a weekend in someone's else home, you will not feel totally at home. There are some rooms that you can not enter. There are some things that you can not do because it is not your home. Well imagine Jesus Christ being in your life but being treated like a visitor. Jesus Christ will not be at home. He will be there, but He will not be a home there.
And that is exactly what Paul is talking about. Jesus Christ is to be at home in our life not treated like a visitor.
If you want to plug into the power of God, Jesus Christ must be a home in our life. In some believers life Jesus Christ is treated like a visitor.
Remember in Genesis 18, when the Lord came with two angels to visit Abraham. Sarah immediately began to prepare a meal. From the rest of the passage it is evident that Abraham and Sarah knew they were hosting the Lord Himself. And it is also evident that the Lord felt at home with Abraham and Sarah. Otherwise God would not have been comfortable thee.
Then, a short time later, the Lord wanted to warn Lot to flee Sodom and Gomorrah. But does God go to Lot's house? No. So what is interesting God did not go Himself to Lot's house, so instead God sent the two angels (19:1). The whole point is this; God did not feel at home in Lot's house as He did in Abraham's house. Even though God had a relationship with Abraham and Lot.
Now the same thing is true for you and me. You and I, we have a relationship with Jesus Christ but that does not mean that Jesus Christ is at comfortable in our lives. But when you are strengthened by in the inner man, then God feels like he is at home in our life.
Jesus enters the house of our hearts the moment He saves us, but He cannot live there in comfort and satisfaction until it is cleansed of sin and filled with His will. God is gracious beyond comprehension and infinitely patient. He continues to love those of His children who insist on spurning His will. But He cannot be happy or satisfied in a home that is full of garbage and sin. He cannot be fully at home until He is allowed to dwell in our hearts through the continuing faith that trusts Him to exercise His lordship over every aspect of our lives. We practice as well as receive His presence by faith.
Image that your best friend spent an entire day with you. All 24 hours of the day. And during that entire day your best friend encouraged you and helped you. But all day long you never even acknowledge their presence. You don't every say hello, you just go about your own business. You completely ignore them. How long do you think your best friend will be your friend?
Jesus is the same kind of friend but only in a greater way. And Jesus was with you every day and not once have you even acknowledged Him. Not one time. And yet He is your best friend.
How awesome and wonderful that the almighty and holy God wants to live in our hearts, be at home there, and rule there! Yet Jesus said,
John 14:23
"If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him"
As long as your inner man is not strengthened, Jesus Christ will never be at home in your life.
There is also a third step to plug into the power of God. First, you strengthen your inner man, that results in Christ dwelling in your heart.
Ephesians 3:17-19
17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that (with the result that) ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
There is a way to be rooted and grounded in love. Most people wants to know love, to give love and receive love and joy love. And here Paul tells how. How do you display and give love. By having a strong inner man, that leads to Christ being at home which leads to being rooted and grounded in love.
THIRD -- Overflowing Love
Ephesians 3:17-19
17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge... (KJV)
When Jesus freely indwells our hearts, we become rooted and grounded in love, that is, settled on a strong foundation of love.
If Jesus controls our though life, if Jesus controls our appetites, if Jesus controls our fellowship , if Jesus controls what we do, then the love of Jesus Chris will dominate. That's when you will be "rooted and grounded in love."
That's when verse 18 and verse 19 will be a reality in your life.
Ephesians 3:18-19
18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge... (KJV)
You will never know that kind of love until your inner man is strengthened and that Jesus Christ is at home in your heart. Only then will God's love be rooted and grounded into your life.
Jesus said, "A new commandment I give to you," "that you love one another, even as I have loved you" (John 13:34).
Peter wrote,
1 Peter 1:22
22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: (KJV)
It is God's supreme desire that His children sincerely and fully love each other, just as He loves us.
Galatians 5:22-23
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. (KJV)
The principle applies to everyone with whom the Christian has contact, especially his fellow Christians. Loving others is an act of obedience, and not loving them is an act of disobedience.
1 John 4:20–21
If someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also"
If you are a Christian and you have a problem with people around you, you need to know that the problem is not the people around you. The problem is back in verse 16. Your life is not grounded in the Word of God and as a result Jesus Christ is not at home in your life. Because if Jesus was at home in your heart you will produce love. If you have a difficult time getting along with people, it may well be not a personality conflict, it the fact that you are not displaying the love of Christ.
Someone may well say, "I have been treated so badly by such and such I just can't love them." Really. Well, Jesus Christ was treated in the hashish way and yet he still loved and His very first words on the cross were, "Father forgive them."
Did you know that if you not love others you are absolutely nothing.
1 Corinthians 13:1-2
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
If you can sum up the Bible in a sentence, what would it say?
Matthew 22:37 & 39
37 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 39 And 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'
So if you will strengthen the inner man resulting in Jesus Christ being at home in your heart, you will exhibit the love of God.
But Paul also says you will comprehend the love of God.
Ephesians 3:18-19
18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge... KJV)
Then we are able to comprehend the breadth and length and height and depth of love.
Love is available to every Christian because Christ is available to every Christian. Paul prays that we will become able to comprehend with all the saints. Love is not simply for the even tempered Christian or the naturally pleasant and agreeable Christian. Nor is it for some supposed special class of Christians who have an inside spiritual track. It is for, and commanded of, every Christian—all the saints.
To comprehend … what is the breadth and length and height and depth of love is to understand it in its fullness. Love goes in every direction and to the greatest distance. It goes wherever it is needed for as long as it is needed.
I do not think that breadth and length and height and depth represent four specific types or categories of love but simply suggest its vastness and completeness.
FOURTH -- FILLED WITH THE God's Fullness
Ephesians 3:19
...that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (KJV)
The strengthening inner man leads to the indwelling of Christ, which leads to overflowing love, which leads to God's fullness in us. Now think we me for a minute. To be filled up to all the fullness of God, what does that mean? It is incomprehensible. There is no way, this side of heaven, we can fathom that truth. We can only believe it and praise God for it.
J. Wilbur Chapman often told of the testimony given by a certain man in one of his meetings: I got off at the Pennsylvania depot as a tramp, and for a year I begged on the streets for a living. One day I touched a man on the shoulder and said, "Hey, mister, can you give me a dime?" As soon as I saw his face I was shocked to see that it was my own father. I said, "Father, Father, do you know me?" Throwing his arms around me and with tears in his eyes, he said, "Oh my son, at last I've found you! I've found you. You want a dime? Everything I have is yours." Think of it. I was a tramp. I stood begging my own father for ten cents, when for 18 years he had been looking for me to give me all that he had.
That is a small picture of what God wants to do for His children.
The Greek word for "FULLNESS" is Pleµrooµ means to make full, or fill to the full, and is used many times in the New Testament. It speaks of total dominance. A person filled with rage is totally dominated by hatred. A person filled with happiness is totally dominated by joy. To be filled up to all the fullness of God therefore means to be totally dominated by Him, with nothing left of self or any part of the old man. By definition, then, to be filled with God is to be emptied of self. It is not to have much of God and little of self, but all of God and none of self.
FIFTH -- THE RESULT.
Ephesians 3:20-21
20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, 21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. (KJV)
In culmination of all he has been declaring about God's limitless provision for His children, Paul gives this great doxology.
When we have strengthened our inner man, that results in Christ being at home in us. That results in displaying the love of God, that results in the fullness of God, then God is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think. Until those conditions are met, God's working in us is limited. When they are met, His working in us is unlimited.
There is no situation in which the Lord cannot use us, provided we are submitted to Him. As is frequently pointed out, verse 20 is a pyramid progression of God's enablement:
He is able
He is able to do
He is able to do exceeding abundantly
He is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask
He is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think
There is no question in the minds of believers that God is able to do more than we can conceive, but too few Christians enjoy the privilege of seeing Him do that in their lives, because they fail to follow the pattern of enablement presented in these verses.
Tom Myers