There is More (Power, Love, Fullness)

[Internal Notes]

TARGET AUDIENCE: DISCOURAGED, DISCONNECTED HEART / MIND, DISAPPOINTED

Questions to Answer

What makes people want to listen to me emotionally

What makes people want to listen to me emotionally?What makes this good news?Why should someone care?What is the emotional stream you’re trying to pull on?What keeps us from the power?Why would I want to get there?How do I get there?Rooted is past tenseIt’s something they can miss otherwise he won’t be praying itWays you can quench the spiritLicentiousness, WorksI’d love to see a side of Mike I don’t see when he leads worshipChildrenWifeGod givingGrantGiftFullnessThread throughout EphesiansIn Jesus we have the fullness of GodWhat’s the big ideas? What emotion? What behavior is going to be strengthened or changed?I have the knowledge of ChristHow do I move to be controlled by the love of Jesus?

What makes this good news?

Why should someone care?

What is the emotional stream you’re trying to pull on?

What keeps us from the power?

Why would I want to get there?

How do I get there?

Head > Heart > Hand

What’s the big idea?

There is more to God’s love than we are currently experiencing personally and together

There is more to God’s love than we are currently experiencing

What’s the emotion I want them to feel / leave with?

Encouragement

Encouragement / Hope in their story / personal change

Hope for their own change

Excitement about the potential of the church

“Venture more on his power and love than our moderate calculations” -Piper

“God will overcome all obstacles through prayer” - Piper

Faith comes from hearing and hearing from the Word of God

Gift of faith - not just saving but expanded faith in possibilities for ministry

What’s the behavior I want to strengthen / change?

Prayer for the church

Expecting more

Prayer

Thoughts

Narnia

In Aslan’s kingdom further up and further in

Discouragement / Encouragement have the same root: courage

Discouragement = taking courage from someone

Encouragement = giving courage to someone

My goal in the sermon is to give courage to the church to more forward

Give courage to Caitlyn

Give courage to Caleb

Give courage to Brian

“Rooted / grounded” are past tense

1:3 = “Has blessed”

1:4 = “chose”

1:5 = “predestined”

1:8 = “lavished”

1:13 = “were sealed”

It’s something they can miss otherwise he won’t be praying it

Ways you can quench the spirit

Licentiousness

Works

“grant them

Idea of it being a gift

1:2 = “from God”

1:17 = “may give you”

1:22 = “gave him”

2:8 = “the gift of God”

“Fullness”

Theme throught Ephesians

1:10 = fullness of time

1:23 = fullness of him

Move someone from “I have the knowledge of Jesus” to “I experience the power of God’s love in me, through me, and around me”

Looking back to Chapter 2, if we still see evidence of our deadness, there is still something we aren’t getting about the power of God’s love

Deadness

Trespasses

Sins

Following the air

Passions of our flesh

Desires of the body and mind

Children of wrath

Piper

“Venture more on his power and love than our moderate calculations” -Piper

“God will overcome all obstacles through prayer” - Piper

Faith comes from hearing and hearing from the Word of God

Gift of faith - not just saving but expanded faith in possibilities for ministry

Excitement / sense of hope and expectancy about the potential of the church / what God might do through us for his glory and the good of this city

Not just hope in the church but about what’s going on in their own life

We all have an inner longing for doxology

The church exists as a mirror to reflect God’s glory and character to everyone

Jesus should be the center of the whole story, the whole act, God made Jesus the only physician / surgeon (glory in the hospital and in the surgeon)

Glory to God for all generations (comparison to the greatest of men and how the don’t get glory for very long)

People are like meteors and God is like the sun

There are a lot of people who know about God’s sovereignty or theology of God’s love or God’s power but they don’t soar in response

Singing because he sees God’s power over the church is beyond what we think and he sees that the love of God for the church is beyond what we can think

Where do we get confidence for?

I believe with all my heart that God loves me and love this church with an infinite distinguishing covenant love

Do you have trouble feeling loved

If you only conceive of the love God has for you as the same as those who haven’t believed

God says “I can do MORE”

Goals

Show a side of Mike the church doesn’t see when I lead worship

GrantGiftFullnessThread throughout EphesiansIn Jesus we have the fullness of GodWhat’s the big ideas? What emotion? What behavior is going to be strengthened or changed?I have the knowledge of ChristHow do I move to be controlled by the love of Jesus?

Intro

Good morning, church!

Intro

My name is Mike and one of the Pastors here at One Hope

Especially if your new here, I just want to say welcome

If you need a Bible, please raise your hand and one of our Ushers will bring one to you. The text today is found on page ###

If you don’t own a Bible, that is our gift to you

We believe that the church isn’t a building, it’s not an event, but people of all races, backgrounds, stories, and AGES coming together as a body, as a family centered on Jesus

It’s a body of all different parts connecting, serving, forming deep relationships, being known and accepted even in our differences, and growing together in Jesus

I’d like to encourage everyone to fill out a Next Steps Card

And if you haven’t noticed, we’ve got some special family members in the room with us today

Our kids our with us today

We call this a family service because it’s a great chance to be reminded that the church is made up of people of all ages

Questions

What do you know about plants?

Tell me the parts of a plant

What do you know about buildings?

What’s the first thing you need when building a building?

[To the kids]

Hey kids! How are you?

I hear you all have been learning about Ephesians just like us

Now I’m supposed to preach this sermon today and I’m really having a hard time remembering

Do you guys know that verse?

You do?! Oh great.

Do you have any hand motions maybe that could help us all remember it today?

Would you come up here and help me out?

Now before you start, do you think all of these people should copy you and do the motions to?

“How wide, how long, how high, how deep is the love of Christ… ”

Let’s give these kids a round of applause as they go back to their seats

I’d like to encourage everyone to fill out a Next Steps Card before the end of our time today and place it in the offering basket

I’d like to encourage everyone to fill out a Next Steps Card

That card helps us connect with you, helps us walk beside you if you make decisions about faith, baptism, or Partnership, and helps us get you moving toward serving at One Hope

Tension

Have you ever asked someone for more of something? Or been asked?

My son asked Katie and I for more Mac N Cheese

More “Mighty Machines” this amazing YouTube channel

More time to play

More TV / screen time

Students

More time

More value

More money

More food

Culture

More screens

More options

More toppings

More speed

Church

More serving

More giving

More going

More DOING

Exponential MADE FOR MORE

Be the platform not the show

My fruit grows on other peoples trees

Have you ever asked God for more of something?

When was the last time you asked God for something? What was it?

Have you ever asked God for more of something?

More money, more friends, more dating prospects

More healing, more recovery, more results

Maybe you haven’t received the answer or what even feels like an answer to your prayer

Maybe you’ve prayed and received a different answer that you translated as less than you wanted or less than you deserved

Maybe you haven’t asked because you feel like you’re the one always giving and when you’ve asked other people for something they don’t respond

In our text today, we’re going to see Paul asking God on our behalf for more

Historical

Context

Historical

Series / Within the Book

The subtitle of our Ephesians series is “Gospel > Church > Kingdom” because of the progression

Justin Part 1

How do we grasp the fullness of this blessing?

Praise and prayer

That God would give spiritual sight to see the reality that God sees

Three things

Know the hope of His calling

Riches of His glorious inheritance is the church

Know His power

Resurrection Power

Authoritative Power

Ruling Power

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Reminder of the Gospel and new identity

Begins a prayer for the church

The Message of Ephesians 2. A Prayer for Knowledge (1:15–23)

First, he blesses God for having blessed us in Christ; then he prays that God will open our eyes to grasp the fullness of this blessing

The Message of Ephesians 2. A Prayer for Knowledge (1:15–23)

First, he blesses God for having blessed us in Christ; then he prays that God will open our eyes to grasp the fullness of this blessing

The Message of Ephesians 2. A Prayer for Knowledge (1:15–23)

For a healthy Christian life today it is of the utmost importance to follow Paul’s example and keep Christian praise and Christian prayer together

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Reminder of the Gospel

Dead made alive in Christ

“But God”

Call for an expanded vision of unity

Call for inclusion based only on the blood of Jesus

Chapter 3

Continued call for inclusion but by sending us out as people privileged with sharing

Return to this prayer for the church that Paul started in chapter 1

A Prayer in 2 Parts

What prompts the prayer

Paul heard of their faith in Jesus and love toward the saints

Faith in Christ + love toward His people

Part 1 of the prayer is about knowledge

The hope of God’s call

Prayer for wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ

The glory of God’s inheritance

Eyes of hearts enlightened

The greatness of God’s power

Know hope of His calling

The Message of Ephesians 3. The Greatness of God’s Power

If God’s ‘call’ looks back to the beginning, and God’s ‘inheritance’ looks on to the end, then surely God’s ‘power’ spans the interim period in between

Riches of glorious inheritance in the saints

The Message of Ephesians a. Enlightenment and Thought

The whole thrust of Paul’s prayer is that his readers may have a thorough knowledge of God’s call, inheritance and power, especially the latter.

Immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe

According the working of His might centered on the resurrection of Jesus

Jesus being above all things, ruling, reigning and center of the church

The Heart

Trinity

The Message of Ephesians 2. A Prayer for Knowledge (1:15–23)

both are addressed to God the Father, the benediction to ‘the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (verse 3) and the intercession to ‘the God of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (verse 17), who is also called ‘the Father of glory’ or (NEB) ‘the all-glorious Father’. Next, both refer specifically to God’s work in and through Christ, for on the one hand he ‘has blessed us in Christ’ (verse 3) and on the other he ‘accomplished in Christ’ a mighty act of power when he resurrected and enthroned him (verse 20). And thirdly both sections of the chapter allude—even if obliquely—to the work of the Holy Spirit, since the blessings God bestows on us in Christ are ‘spiritual’ blessings (verse 3), and it is only ‘by a spirit (or Spirit) of wisdom and of revelation’ that we can come to know them (verse 17). I do not think it is far-fetched to discern this trinitarian structure. Christian faith and Christian life are both fundamentally trinitarian. And the one is a response to the other. It is because the Father has approached us in blessing through the Son and by the Spirit that we approach him in prayer through the Son and by the Spirit also (cf. 2:18).

The mind represents knowledge

The heart represents emotion

Paul will remind us of the Trinity in the beginning of our text today

THE UNIQUE ROLE OF THE HEART J. I. Marais, a theology professor at Stellenbosch in South Africa, wrote, “In the ‘heart’ God’s Spirit dwells with might (, eis ton eso anthropon); in the ‘heart’ God’s love is poured forth (). The Spirit of his Son has been ‘sent forth into the heart’ (); the ‘earnest of the Spirit’ has been given ‘in the heart’ (). In the work of grace, therefore, the heart occupies a position almost unique.”12

What prompts the prayer

Purpose / motivation of the prayer

Paul heard of their faith in Jesus and love toward the saints

Reconciling work of Christ + Paul’s personal revelation

Keller, Timothy. Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City (p. 57). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

Knowledge of God’s purpose / clarity Paul has of God’s intention

Faith in Christ + love toward His people

The Message of Ephesians 2. A Prayer for Knowledge (1:15–23)

It is impossible to be in Christ and not to find oneself drawn both to him in trust and to his people in love (to all of them too, in this case Jews and Gentiles without distinction)

Tension

Intro of Text

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.

Intro of Text

“For this reason”

the motivation for Paul’s prayer

Ephesians: An Introduction and Commentary d. Renewed Prayer (3:14–21)

Not only is he led to prayer by the thought of the greatness of the grace of Christ raising to life those who were dead in sin, and by the realization of the unity into which Jew and Gentile have been brought in the one household, but also by the contemplation of the whole wonderful purpose of God which he has been led now to express more deeply and more personally

Reconciling work of Christ + Paul’s personal revelation

Knowledge of God’s purpose / clarity Paul has of God’s intention

“I bow my knees”

Sign of earnestness as the normal posture for Jewish prayer was standing

“before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named”

Different commentators have approached this with various interpretations

The clearest is to see the context of the rest of Ephesians and take this to mean “a family descended from the same Father”

A reminder that in Christ, people from all nations, tribes, and tongues are one

All human fatherhood is based on the fatherhood of God, derives its existence and its concept / experience of fatherhood

(giving good things to those who ask like a good father)

“According to the riches of his glory”

same pairing of riches and glory from

Riches are of his very nature

Gives without limit

Text

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.

Fallen Conditions

Discouragement (Inner Weakness)

Discouragement

Depression

Emptiness / Identity Confusion

Disconnect (Knowledge Without Emotion)

Disappointment (Low Expectations of God)

Intro of Text

“For this reason”

the motivation for Paul’s prayer

Ephesians: An Introduction and Commentary d. Renewed Prayer (3:14–21)

Not only is he led to prayer by the thought of the greatness of the grace of Christ raising to life those who were dead in sin, and by the realization of the unity into which Jew and Gentile have been brought in the one household, but also by the contemplation of the whole wonderful purpose of God which he has been led now to express more deeply and more personally

Reconciling work of Christ + Paul’s personal revelation

Knowledge of God’s purpose / clarity Paul has of God’s intention

Parallel to “For this reason” back in 1:15

Before this he’s been reminding them about the Holy Spirit who seals and guarantees our inheritance

“For this reason”

Journey from prayer to the gospel message to the inclusion of the gospel / new society with no walls and now back to finish the prayer

“I bow my knees”

Sign of earnestness as the normal posture for Jewish prayer was standing

“before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named”

Different commentators have approached this with various interpretations

The clearest is to see the context of the rest of Ephesians and take this to mean “a family descended from the same Father”

A reminder that in Christ, people from all nations, tribes, and tongues are one

All human fatherhood is based on the fatherhood of God, derives its existence and its concept / experience of fatherhood

(giving good things to those who ask like a good father)

“According to the riches of his glory”

same pairing of riches and glory from

Riches are of his very nature

Gives without limit

Breaking Down the Text

Strength of the Spirit / ruling presence of Christ

Let’s play a short game called “Strong or Weak.” I’m going to show you a picture and you shout out whether you think it’s something or someone strong or weak. Make sense?StrongSuperheroRockWeakMouse Now, the problem with this game is that we are only looking at a picture. And maybe we have some outside context or experience with these things - maybe you’ve stood on a rock or chased away a mouse - but for the most part we are making a judgement completely by what we see.Let’s get real personal for a moment and I just want you to think about this and not answer.If you put up my picture or your picture on that screen, what would we say? I think we’d all like to believe that the answer would be a resounding “strong” from everyone in here. But I know I’d fear that the surface version is telling the wrong part of my story. I fear that the weakness that I feel, that I carry with me deep inside, might actually shine out more than I can control and the answer suddenly becomes a lot harder to hear.You see in the world around us there is a lot of work done to make things APPEAR strong and even more work done to try to cover up what is weak.I am convinced that God wants to go beneath this idea of surface strength today with each of us. We have to remember he looks at our hearts and that’s where I believe he wants to work today through this text and through His Spirit. He wants to help us tap into deep, lasting, fear-reducing, identity confirming, power.He wants to help us grasp beyond just some practical understanding the love that He actually has for you and me and for the church.He wants to help us continue on a path of growth personally and together that ends in the fullness, the total experience of Christ.And he doesn’t just want to eliminate discouragement and disappointment but he wants to replace it with a beautiful, hopeful, supernatural excitement for what He is doing in His church.

Strength of the Spirit / ruling presence of Christ

Power to stand firm in Christ and live and work for Him

Indwelling of Christ + strengthening of His Spirit

Christ / Holy Spirit already dwell in us

The Message of Ephesians a. Strengthened with Might

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’ (JBP), and may lay hold ever more firmly ‘by faith’ of this divine strength, this divine indwelling

Not a temporary dwelling but a permanent residence

The Message of Ephesians a. Strengthened with Might

paroikō and katoikeō

The Message of Ephesians a. Strengthened with Might

Thus Paul prays to the Father that Christ by his Spirit will be allowed to settle down in their hearts, and from his throne there both control and strengthen them.

Have you allowed God to take up residence in your life?

Is God only given outsider status in your daily life?

Have you welcomed Jesus as the rightful owner of your heart or are you making him pay rent?

If you examine the hours in your day, the weeks of your month, the months of your year, is God the ruler of the house or a guest?

Is God only given outsider status in your daily life?

Maybe you’ve given his own room but that’s not enough

He is the one who planned the house, built the house, bought the house, cleans the house, and is doing daily improvements on the house

Have you welcomed Jesus as the rightful owner of your heart or are you making him pay rent?

Doesn’t he deserve access to the whole thing?

If you examine the hours in your day, the weeks of your month, the months of your year, is God the ruler of the house or a guest?

Maybe you’ve given his own room but that’s not enough

He is the one who planned the house, built the house, bought the house, cleans the house, and is doing daily improvements on the house

Doesn’t he deserve access to the whole thing?

Ephesians 1:19 ESV

and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might

It’s HIS power, not our own

that word “power” can be translated “ability” or “supernatural ability”

His ability

Word “strength” means “be able to” or “the ability”

Rooted / Grounded in Love

The Message of Ephesians b. Rooted and Grounded in Love

The new humanity is God’s family, whose members are brothers and sisters, who love their Father and love each other

The Message of Ephesians b. Rooted and Grounded in Love

They need the power of the Spirit’s might and of Christ’s indwelling to enable them to love each other, especially across the deep racial and cultural divide which previously had separated them.

Rooted & Grounded or have deep roots and firm foundations

Well rooted tree and a well built house

The Message of Ephesians b. Rooted and Grounded in Love

Love is to be the soil in which their life is to be rooted; love is to be the foundation on which their life is built

How do we love / what is love

Walls being brought down

Putting others ahead of ourselves

Serving

Knowing Christ’s Love

Move from our love to Christ’s love (that we would know)

Strength to love and power to comprehend

Ephesians: An Introduction and Commentary d. Renewed Prayer (3:14–21)

He realized that ‘true knowledge’, the knowledge of God, ‘is unattainable without love’ (Scott). If there is no love, the Spirit of Christ is not present, and there can be no understanding.

By loving others we learn the meaning of Christ’s love

Ephesians: An Introduction and Commentary d. Renewed Prayer (3:14–21)

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 (1 Cor. 8:1), even to spiritual knowledge (1 Cor. 13:2). 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.

Power to comprehend in it’s full dimensions

Breadth, length, height, depth

The Message of Ephesians c. Knowing Christ’s Love

Yet it seems to me legitimate to say that the love of Christ is ‘broad’ enough to encompass all mankind (especially Jews and Gentiles, the theme of these chapters), ‘long’ enough to last for eternity, ‘deep’ enough to reach the most degraded sinner, and ‘high’ enough to exalt him to heaven

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 8

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Illustrated on the cross

Upright pole reached down to earth and up to heaven

Crossbar carried the arms of Jesus to invite and welcome the whole world

With all the saints

Alone we cannot fully comprehend or experience the love of God

The Message of Ephesians c. Knowing Christ’s Love

The isolated Christian can indeed know something of the love of Jesus. But his grasp of it is bound to be limited by his limited experience. It needs the whole people of God to understand the whole love of God, all the saints together, Jews and Gentiles, men and women, young and old, black and white, with all their varied backgrounds and experiences

The isolated Christian can indeed know something of the love of Jesus. But his grasp of it is bound to be limited by his limited experience. It needs the whole people of God to understand the whole love of God, all the saints together, Jews and Gentiles, men and women, young and old, black and white, with all their varied backgrounds and experiences

The isolated Christian can indeed know something of the love of Jesus. But his grasp of it is bound to be limited by his limited experience. It needs the whole people of God to understand the whole love of God, all the saints together, Jews and Gentiles, men and women, young and old, black and white, with all their varied backgrounds and experiences

Stott, J. R. W. (1979). God’s new society: the message of Ephesians (p. 137). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

Surpassing knowledge

Stott, J. R. W. (1979). God’s new society: the message of Ephesians (p. 137). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

It’s impossible to fully know God’s love

The Message of Ephesians c. Knowing Christ’s Love

Christ’s love is as unknowable as his riches are unsearchable (verse 8). Doubtless we shall spend eternity exploring his inexhaustible riches of grace and love.

What is God’s love?

Ephesians 2:4–7 ESV

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Word for love is “agape” or unconditional love

The love of Christ

Not the conditional love of man

Word “comprehend” means grasp, seize, or lay hold of

Breadth (width, broad plain)

Length (distance)

Height (high place)

Depth (through and through)

Filled up to God’s Fullness

“Filled” means “made full” or “completed”

“Fullness” means “full measure”

We have the fullness of Christ dwelling in us

Not yet complete in the Church

Growth into fullness

The word ‘with’ could be understood as ‘unto’

The Message of Ephesians d. Filled up to God’s Fullness

God’s fullness or perfection becomes the standard or level up to which we pray to be filled. The aspiration is the same in principle as that implied by the commands to be holy as God is holy, and to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect.

God’s fullness is the standard or level to which we pray to be filled

We shall become like Christ, who is himself the fullness of God

Similarity to “be holy as God is holy”

Talking about sanctification

Gradual daily growth toward the final fullness by the power of the Holy Spirit into Christ’s image (one degree or glory to another)

Conclusion of the Prayer

Petitions are sandwiched between 14-16 (God is Father of whole family and possesses infinite riches in glory) and 20-21 (God works powerfully within us)

Able to do or work

God is not idle, inactive or dead

What we ask

Hears and answers prayers

What we think

Even what we dare not say out loud, he knows

All

Knows it all and can do it all

More

His expectations are higher than ours

Abundantly

Far More Abundantly

Far More Abunduntly

God doesn’t give in calculated measure but his grace is given generously

Can move beyond our expectations

God of super abundance

hyperekperissou = there are no limits to what God can do

By the power at work within us

Individually (Christ in our hearts by faith)

People (dwelling place of the Spirit)

The Message of Ephesians 3. The Conclusion of His Prayer (Verses 20–21)

It is the power of the resurrection, the power which raised Christ from the dead, enthroned him in the heavenlies, and then raised and enthroned us there with him. That is the power which is at work within the Christian and the church

Ephesians: An Introduction and Commentary d. Renewed Prayer (3:14–21)

There is no limit to his power; only human words and thoughts about it are limited. This power, moreover, Paul will repeat, is the power ‘according to’ which (NIV and see on v. 16) God acts, and that not as an external force, but as that which is at work within us

Power of the resurrection, the power that raised Jesus from the dead,

The vision of the church

The Message of Ephesians 3. The Conclusion of His Prayer (Verses 20–21)

only divine power can generate divine love in the divine society.

Benediction

To him be glory

Power comes from God

Glory is therefore due to him

in the church and in Jesus (the body and the head, the bride and bridegroom, community of peace and the Peacemaker, redeemed and Redeemer)

Ephesians: An Introduction and Commentary d. Renewed Prayer (3:14–21)

The church is the sphere of the outworking of God’s purpose on earth, and even in heaven it will have the task of proclaiming the manifold wisdom of God (3:10

Ephesians: An Introduction and Commentary d. Renewed Prayer (3:14–21)

Christ the beginning, Christ the saviour, Christ the source of unity

Ephesians: An Introduction and Commentary d. Renewed Prayer (3:14–21)

Christ and His own are seen together rendering to God unceasing glory’ (Findlay). They are coupled in the infinitely wonderful purpose of God—perhaps already there is a hint of the imagery of chapter 5 and of Revelation 21—bride and bridegroom, redeemed and redeemer. The glory of God is most gloriously seen in the grace of his uniting his sinful creatures to his eternal, sinless Son.

to all generations (history)

forever and ever (eternity)

Personalization

Discouragement about the church

Control of my kids

Sickness

Knowing the gospel but not knowing it

Low Expectations of God

Fallen Conditions

Losing Heart / Discouragement

Discouragement

Depression

Emptiness / Identity Confusion

Not Loving One Another

Self centeredness

Arrogant independence

Not Knowing the Love of Christ

Unbelief

Belief without emotion or life change

Apathy / Stagnation / Lack of Growth

Personal

Corporate

Low Expectations of God

Low Image of the Church

Seeing the church as a means to your end

Joining the world and rolling your eyes

Criticism rather than defense

Potential Applications

Prayer

We want to pray more

Are you passionate for your brothers and sisters to know the Gospel?

Do you pray with thankfulness for your brothers and sisters and for them to fully understand the beauty of the Gospel and to live in God’s power?

The Message of Ephesians 6. Confidence in God’s Power (3:14–21)

One of the best ways to discover a Christian’s chief anxieties and ambitions is to study the content of his prayers and the intensity with which he prays them

Feed Yourself the Gospel

Preach the Gospel to yourself

Hebrews 12:3 ESV

Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.

In Adam now in Christ

Discover Your Gospel Motivation

Allow the Gospel to stir your emotions

the Spirit can make the love of God so spiritually real and affecting that it changes how we live. He wants us not just to know the fact of Christ’s love but to have power to grasp the infinity and wonder of it (). This is what happens when the fullness of the Spirit is mentioned. The truth begins to shine out to us. We hear in our hearts, “You are my child” (see ; cf. ), and it makes us effective ambassadors of his kingdom.

Keller, Timothy. Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City (p. 58). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

Write down this question

What stirs my emotions the most about what Jesus did for me?

What details of my personal story make me the most excited

What have I experienced that I would never want someone else to experience without Jesus?

As someone who knows Jesus, what would I say

The Message of Ephesians 2. A Prayer for Knowledge (1:15–23)

Growth in knowledge is indispensable to growth in holiness

The Message of Ephesians 2. A Prayer for Knowledge (1:15–23)

In biblical usage the heart is the whole inward self, comprising mind as well as emotion. So ‘the eyes of the heart’ are simply our ‘inner eyes’, which need to be opened or ‘enlightened’ before we can grasp God’s truth.

The Message of Ephesians a. Enlightenment and Thought

God has revealed his power objectively in Jesus Christ, and now illumines our minds by his Spirit to grasp this revelation. Divine illumination and human thought belong together. All our thinking is unproductive without the Spirit of truth; yet his enlightenment is not intended to save us the trouble of using our minds. It is precisely as we ponder what God has done in Christ that the Spirit will open our eyes to grasp its implications.

Expect More

The Heart

The mind represents knowledge

The heart represents emotion

THE UNIQUE ROLE OF THE HEART J. I. Marais, a theology professor at Stellenbosch in South Africa, wrote, “In the ‘heart’ God’s Spirit dwells with might (, eis ton eso anthropon); in the ‘heart’ God’s love is poured forth (). The Spirit of his Son has been ‘sent forth into the heart’ (); the ‘earnest of the Spirit’ has been given ‘in the heart’ (). In the work of grace, therefore, the heart occupies a position almost unique.”12

Keller, Timothy. Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City (p. 57). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

Gospel

How do we find encouragement in the face of deep discouragement?

How do we mend the broken connection between our head knowledge of God’s love and the impact any experience of feeling loving by God?

How do we become people who open our hands to expect more from God?

Here’s the clincher: we don’t.

The Message of Ephesians 3. The Greatness of God’s Power

It is on this that the apostle concentrates, for only God’s power can fulfil the expectation which belongs to his call and bring us safely to the riches of the glory of the final inheritance he will give us in heaven

That’s the essence of the Gospel itself

We couldn’t do it

So God did it for us

Raised Jesus from the dead

Seated him at his right hand far above any competitor with all at his feet

Made head over the church which is his body

And then He gave His Spirit to anyone who believes for the sole purpose of helping us to not forget that He did it

Does this mean we have no responsibility? Does this mean this sermon and the points I’ve given you is pointless? Does this mean we sit back in apathy? No.

But it does change how we receive all of this.

Instead of a burden that we have to carry, the Spirit points us to see Jesus carrying a cross up to Calvary

Instead of a list of things we fear will be incomplete, the Spirit points us to see Jesus, the fullness of all things

Instead of

We receive all of this through the lens of our new life and new identity and it becomes joy and freedom to follow

Jesus isn’t pointing down from heaven telling you more rules to follow

Jesus is hanging on a cross asking God to forgive you

He’s beside you in your discouragement, beside you in your hollow belief, beside you in the disappointment of expectations you feel He hasn’t met

Closing

Jesus isn’t pointing down from heaven telling you more rules to follow

Jesus is hanging on a cross saying look at me

Look how much you were worth to me even in your most broken place

Look how much I love you

Look up from your discouragement, your hollow belief, your disappointment of expectations you feel He hasn’t met

He’s beside you in your discouragement, beside you in your hollow belief, beside you in the disappointment of expectations you feel He hasn’t met

Believe his love

Receive his love

To the discouraged: Jesus says I see you

I see you have been hurt

I see you’ve been struggling

Now see me

To the disconnected: Jesus says I love you

To the disappointed: Jesus says there is more to come than you could ever imagine

I love

It’s better than all of the disappointment you could ever experience

Better than all of the unmet expectations ever could amount to