There is More (Manuscript)

Good morning, church!

My name is Mike and I have the privilege of being one of the Pastors here at One Hope. Especially if you’re new here today but to everyone: 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 634. If you don’t own a Bible, that is our gift to you.

I’d like to also encourage everyone to fill out a Next Steps Card [HOLD UP CARD]- they should be on your seats - before the end of our time today and place it in the offering basket.

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We believe that the church isn’t a building or an event, but people of all races, backgrounds, stories, and ages coming together as a family centered on Jesus. And if you haven’t noticed, we’ve got some special family members in the room with us today. This is what we call a Family Service because we’ve invited our kids into the room so we can all experience this time as one big family.

Good morning, church!

[To the kids]

Hey kids! How are you today? I hear you all have been learning about Ephesians just like us. [PAUSE] Now I’m supposed to preach this sermon today and I’ve heard you’re experts on . Do you guys know that verse? [PAUSE] You do?! Oh great. Now this verse can be easy for us to forget so do you have something that can help us remember it today? Maybe some hand motions? [PAUSE] Great. Why don’t you come up here and help me out. [TIME FOR THEM TO COME UP]. Now before you start, do you think all of these people should say it with you and do the motions too? [PAUSE] Yeah I agree. [TO CONGREGATION] So you heard them this is for us to. We’re going to let the kids go first then we’ll do it again with them. [KIDS] Ok go for it:

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

Ok new let’s do it again with them:

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

Wow! Thank you SO much, kids! Let’s give them a HUGE round of applause as they go back to their seats.

We live in a world of “more.”

My name is Mike and I have the privilege of being one of the Pastors here at One Hope. If you’re new, if you’re not new, if you’re super unfamiliar with church, if you’re super familiar with church, and if you’re anywhere in between all of that, let me say this: you are welcome here. This is a gathering for all of us because it’s not really about any of us. It’s about God and we believe he can speak to us all and does speak to us all when we are gathered together.

We live in a world of “more.”

More data. More options. More value. More money. More square feet. More screens. More screen time. More speed. More space. More food.

Even the push toward minimalism is actually about more: we want more focus, less distraction for more productivity. See it’s a clever trick to believe that we’re ever moving the other direction. It’s always about more.

And maybe you’re sitting there saying but what about minimalism? What about streamlined interfaces and the growth of “less?” What about Apple or Tesla?

Well I’d argue that we still want more…from less. We want more focus, less distraction for more productivity. See it’s a clever trick to believe that we’re ever moving the other direction. It’s always about more.

Why is that? The craving for MORE is hard wired into us. It’s what drives us to succeed, create and innovate. But it’s also what drives us to fail, destroy, and to self destruct.

We can’t stop wanting more because when we get more of anything all it does is show us what we still don’t have.

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. Take it home, read it, study it, it will change your life.

Running after more often leaves us with less.

And when we aren’t the one’s asking for more it feels like we are the one’s being asked for more. Right?

More meetings. More attention. More results.

Let’s be honest, some of you might feel this way about the church.

More serving. More giving. More going. More DOING.

In pursuit of more control I often find that I have it less. In pursuit of more attention on me I often find I have less people who want to give it to me. In pursuit of more comfort I often find less rest.

I’d like to also encourage everyone to fill out a Next Steps Card [HOLD UP CARD]- they should be on your seats - before the end of our time today and place it in the offering basket. This card helps us connect with you and walk beside you as you make decisions about your next step today.

Where are you looking for more?

Where can we find more to keep going? Where can we find more that will leave us feeling full, focused, and fearless?

There must be something that will satisfy us. Something that will leave us feeling full and fearless. Something that will help us to grow and break free and see our vision of hope come to life in us and in the people around us.

I’ve titled this message: There is More because I believe that’s the heart of what Paul is trying to say to us.

There’s a hopeful tone to He wants us to be encouraged and to raise our expectations of what God is doing and can do.

If you are feeling discouraged today, feeling defeated on the inside, my hope is that you’ll here that hopeful message: there is more.

If you are feeling unloved, marginally loved, conditionally loved, or even fully loved by God, my hope is that you’ll here that hopeful message: there is more.

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And if you are sitting here right now, not expecting much from God in this moment or even any moment ahead, my hope is that you’ll here that hopeful message: there is more.

Paul w

We’re continuing our Ephesians series and again we’ve chosen this subtitle of Gospel > Church > Kingdom because this is the progression that Paul wants us to see as the church, from grasping the good news of what God’s done, to knowing what it means to live as His people, for the ultimate ushering in of His new kingdom.

Today we’ll be in starting in verse 14.

starting in verse 14.

This text is the conclusion of a prayer for the church that Paul begins in Chapter 1.

For the sake of time, I won’t be reading that part of the prayer today but Justin did a phenomenal job unpacking it for us a few weeks ago so I’d encourage you to read it in your own and go listen to his sermon.

In his sermon, Justin helped us to see that Paul prayed that we know 3 things: the hope of His calling, the riches of His inheritance, and his power.

With that in mind we come to our text today:

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.

Please be

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.

Let’s pray

God, would you stir our hearts and fill our minds by the power of Your Spirit so that we may experience together the magnitude of your love. Let us leave here changed, encouraged, and hopeful. Speak through me and in my weakness show Your strength. For your glory in the church and in Jesus we pray, amen.

Today we’re going to be looking at starting in verse 14.

This text is the conclusion of a prayer for the church that Paul begins in Chapter 1.

Justin unpacked that text for us a few weeks ago and for the sake of time I won’t read it to you but would encourage you to read it and go listen to his sermon.

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. And if you haven’t noticed, we’ve got some special family members in the room with us today. This is what we call a Family Service because we’ve invited our kids into the room so we can all experience this time as one big family.

Paul’s prayer started with him asking God to help us know 3 things: the hope of His calling, the riches of His inheritance, and his power.

As we’ve seen a few times in this series our text begins with an important phrase “for this reason.” And one thing we value here at One Hope is reading the Bible in context and not ignoring these important markers mainly because there is so much richness left behind when we do.

“For this reason” speaks to what is motivating Paul to share what he’s about to share. And as I studied this text, I came to believe that there are two places we need to go for this answer.

There is the obvious connection to part 1 of the prayer.

But I also think we need to examine what Paul paused in the middle of the prayer to share with us. What did Paul feel we needed to understand before he could finish his prayer?

In Chapter 2, Paul reminds us that every one of us - no matter if we were raised in America or in Albania, no matter if we had parents who took us to church or a parent who told us never to go to church, no matter if we worked our whole life to earn God’s love or lived to prove we didn’t need it - every one of us was dead. There were no “kind-of-alive” or “mostly-good” people. BUT GOD, because of His great LOVE - and we’ll come back to this today - with which he loved us made us ALIVE in Christ. So remember that: God’s love made us alive.

Then in the second half of Chapter 2 and first half of Chapter 3 leading into this text, Paul basically goes all out making sure we understanding the word “us.” He assaults the pairing of “us” and “them,” the idea of “insider” and “outsider” that still pervades the church and makes “good news” into “good news for only us.”

So what is the “for this reason”?

With that as a starting point, would you stand for the reading of God’s Word:

There is more to God’s love than we are experiencing or expecting individually and as the church.

So how do you experience more and expect more? Let’s start at the beginning.

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.

starting in verse 14 says:

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,

[To the kids]

In the intro to prayer Paul says:

English Standard Version Chapter 3

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

As we’ve seen a few times in this series our text begins with an important phrase “for this reason.” And one thing we value here at One Hope is reading the Bible in context and not ignoring these important markers mainly because there is so much richness left behind when we do.

“For this reason” speaks to what is motivating Paul to share what he’s about to share. So what comes before this text? What was worth interrupting the prayer he started earlier?

The first reason

For the sake of time this is the condensed version of what Paul’s been saying since Chapter 2: there is good news for all people - every race, tribe, and tongue - that even when we were dead in our sin God made us alive through His Son.

But I also think we need to examine what Paul paused in the middle of the prayer to share with us. What did Paul feel we needed to understand before he could finish his prayer?

In Chapter 2, Paul reminds us that every one of us - no matter if we were raised in America or in Albania, no matter if we had parents who took us to church or a parent who told us never to go to church, no matter if we worked our whole life to earn God’s love or lived to prove we didn’t need it - every one of us was dead. There were no “kind-of-alive” or “mostly-good” people. BUT GOD, because of His great LOVE - and we’ll come back to this today - with which he loved us made us ALIVE in Christ. So remember that: God’s love made us alive.

Then in the second half of Chapter 2 and first half of Chapter 3 leading into this text, Paul basically goes all out making sure we understanding the word “us.” He assaults the pairing of “us” and “them,” the idea of “insider” and “outsider” that still pervades the church and makes “good news” into “good news for only us.”

In Chapter 2, Paul starts by reminding us that every one of us was dead. There were no “kind-of-alive” or “mostly-good” people. All of us were hopeless. BUT GOD, because of His great LOVE - and we’ll come back to this today - with which he loved us made us ALIVE in Christ. So the first motivator was this: we were dead but God’s made us alive. This is the gospel message.

So what is the “for this reason”?

In summary: there is good news for all people - every race, tribe, and tongue - that even when we were dead in our sin God made us alive through His Son. for this reason, Paul says, “I bow my knees before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named” or “I pray for a family descended from the same Father,” “I pray for the church”

Then in the second half of Chapter 2 and first half of Chapter 3 leading into this text, Paul clarifies who this good news is actually meant for. It’s not meant for a single race or people group but for all people. It’s hope for the world.

Hey kids! How are you today? I hear you all have been learning about Ephesians just like us. [PAUSE] Now I’m supposed to preach this sermon today and I’ve heard you’re experts on . Do you guys know that verse? [PAUSE] You do?! Oh great. Now this verse can be easy for us to forget so do you have something that can help us remember it today? Maybe some hand motions? [PAUSE] Great. Why don’t you come up here and help me out. [TIME FOR THEM TO COME UP]. Now before you start, do you think all of these people should say it with you and do the motions to? [PAUSE] Yeah I agree. [TO CONGREGATION] So you heard them this is for us to. [KIDS] Ok you go and we’ll follow along.

So for this reason, Paul says, “I bow my knees before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named” or “I pray for a family descended from the same Father”

So what is the “for this reason”?

English Standard Version Chapter 3

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

Because we were dead and are now alive and because there is nothing but the blood of Jesus that makes us part of the family. Paul then continues”

English Standard Version Chapter 3

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

Here we see two quick thoughts:

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Eph 3:14–15). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

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

“I bow my knees”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Eph 3:14–15). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

The normal posture of Jewish prayer was standing so this is an indicator that Paul is passionate, he’s desperate about this prayer for us

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

“From whom every family in heaven and on earth is named”

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.

[SLOW DOWN AND DON’T MINIMIZE THIS]

And so he begins his prayer

This just means “families descended from the same Father.” Paul’s clarifying one more time that this prayer is for everyone in the church.

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

And now what does he pray for us? What does he pray for the people of the church? Here’s he is praying and asking God for:

English Standard Version Chapter 3

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,

English Standard Version Chapter 3

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.

The first thing we notice is that he prays we’d be “strengthened with power.”

There is More Power

So the first thing Paul is praying is that God out of His abundance, His generosity, and through His Spirit working in us, would give to us inner strength, some ability inside ourselves.

English Standard Version Chapter 3

17 so that

This is not something to be overlooked.

We saw in the first part of this prayer that this is the power, the ability of the resurrection. This is sin destroying power, life giving power, enemy commanding power. And God wants to bring it to bear inside of us and inside of our church.

This

English Standard Version Chapter 3

17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith

Or as some translations say “and”

Let’s put a pin in this first just a minute and keep going...

English Standard Version Chapter 3

Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith

This strengthening within us will lead to a more permanent inhabitance of Jesus in our hearts or in the entirety of who we are through our faith.

The overarching idea is this

This strengthening within us will lead to a more permanent inhabitance of Jesus in our hearts or in the entirety of who we are through our faith.

Remembering Our Roots

English Standard Version Chapter 3

that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

Paul reminds us that love is in our DNA.

We have been rooted and grounded in love. These are past tense verbs. They have been completed for us not done by us. The love of God is part of our secured identity. At the cross, when Jesus died, when that curtain tore from the top down - if you don’t know what I’m talking about listen to Rick’s sermon from two weeks ago - God in that moment uprooted us from the soil of death and decay and planted us, grounded us in His love. And just like a plant, we get our strength from where our roots now grow.

Think about this image. Everything that happens above the surface in a plant or flower is made possible by what’s happening beneath the surface. All the beauty of a flower owes itself to the roots. All of the beauty that we see in our lives and in the church is owed to the love of God.

All of the beauty that we see in our lives and in the church is owed to the love of God.

So love is where our roots grow, it’s our foundation. But it’s also our focus. It’s not something we move on from. It’s not something found in another place. It’s in remembering where we’re rooted and grounded, remembering what God did for us at the cross, that we continuously discover more of the love of God. It’s an endless circling around the love of God particularly in the finished work of the cross. The place where, as Tim Keller says, we see that we are so sinful that Jesus HAD to die for us and so loved that Jesus was GLAD to die for us.

There is More to God’s Love

English Standard Version Chapter 3

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

English Standard Version Chapter 3

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

English Standard Version Chapter 3

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

This is the heart of Paul’s request for us: that we, the church, the people of God, would be able to somehow wrap not just our minds but our lives around the vastness of God’s love for us.

So the first thing Paul is asking is that God would grant is to be strengthened with power

This is the heart of Paul’s request for us: that we, the church, the people of God, would be able to somehow wrap not just our minds but our lives around the vastness of God’s love for us.

That we would realize that God’s love isn’t just something we think about or have knowledge about but it’s something that we experience.

And the result of this will be?

We have been rooted and grounded in love. These are past tense verbs. They have been completed for us not done by us. The love of God is part of our secured identity. At the cross, when Jesus died, when that curtain tore from the top down - if you don’t know what I’m talking about listen to Rick’s sermon from two weeks ago - God in that moment uprooted us from the soil of death and decay and planted us, grounded us in His love. And just like a plant, we get our strength from where our roots now grow.

Think about this image. Everything that happens above the surface in a plant or flower is made possible by what’s happening beneath the surface. All the beauty of a flower owes itself to the roots.

All of the beauty that we see in our lives and in the church is owed to the love of God.

So love is where our roots grow, it’s our foundation. But it’s also our focus. It’s not something we move on from. It’s not something found in another place. It’s in remembering where we’re rooted and grounded, remembering what God did for us at the cross, that we continuously discover more of the love of God. It’s an endless circling around the love of God particularly in the finished work of the cross. The place where, as Tim Keller says, we see that we are so sinful that Jesus HAD to die for us and so loved that Jesus was GLAD to die for us.

And this

our ability to understand the limitlessness of God’s love actually comes from His love. It’s not something we move on from. It’s not something found in another place. It’s in remembering where we’re rooted and grounded, remembering what God did for us at the cross, that we continuously discover more of the love of God. It’s an endless circling around the love of God particularly in the finished work of the cross. The place where, as Tim Keller says, we see that we are so sinful that Jesus HAD to die for us and so loved that Jesus was GLAD to die for us.

There is More than We’re Expecting

English Standard Version Chapter 3

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

This parallels what we read in verse 17

English Standard Version Chapter 3

so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith

Jesus is the fullness of God. He is the exact imprint of His nature. And he wants to make himself a permanent home within our hearts to a greater and greater measure. What Paul is saying is that the result of us being able to grasp the love of God more and more will be our sanctification, or will make us more and more like Jesus.

This is an indicator that there is more that God wants to do in us.

In endlessly gazing into the limitless beauty of God’s love shown at the cross of Christ, we will experience more of the fullness of God. The presence of Christ in our hearts becomes more and more permanent- ruling, reigning, changing, sin overpowering, healing. Christ - the fullness of God - in us.

And as we’ll see in his closing, Paul believes our expectations are too low. We may acknowledge that God wants us to grow and fill us but whatever it is we’re asking for, whatever it is we’re thinking is too little. God wants to do more.

Paul is praying that we would be able in God’s power to understand and experience God’s love more fully which results in us becoming more like Christ and God getting all the glory.

So how do we experience the more Paul is praying for. Three things:

The first thing I think we need to see is Paul’s example.

He bows his knees in prayer.

The only way that we can grasp the “more” that Paul is talking about, the “more” that I’m convinced that God wants to give to us is by kneeling in prayer.

Our outward strength isn’t enough and will never be enough. We need to ask the Spirit to stir in us and to work in us the same way that Paul is praying for us. We need to pray for it personally and we need to pray for it in the church. The ability to wrap our minds around more of God’s love for us.

When the last time you’ve prayed for God’s strength in your life or in the church? When

The other thing is this: no matter how many times we’ve heard this we need to be reminded: God’s power and God’s love are not earned because of who we are or what we’ve done. They are received because of who God is.

That’s the second thing. The posture of our prayer should be that we expect to receive.

First, no matter how many times we’ve heard this we need to be reminded: God’s love is not something we earn because of who we are or what we’ve done. It’s something we receive because of who God is.

Paul prays that “according to the riches of His glory” God would “grant” or give us the inner ability.

This fits with so many parts of this letter where he reminds us that everything we have ever received in Christ has been given to us so that none of us can boast. It’s not something we do, it’s something we receive.

This is something I really struggle with because I’m a to-do list person. Any to-do list people in the house?

Why do we love to-do lists? Ok yes they help us stay organized and stay productive but it’s really all about one thing: the joy of getting things done.

Right?

It doesn’t even matter if something has been finished, if there’s still an empty box next to that task, it’s useless. The satisfaction comes when we get to see what we’ve done.

Here’s the problem: there isn’t a checkbox for us when it comes to receiving this strength Paul is talking about.

Personalization

Any to-do list people in the house? This is my never-ending struggle.

I love to-do lists because they set me up as the hero of my own time and day. Do you do this?

The gospel flies in the face of to-dos.

“Where can I find it” or “how can I get it” are the same questions we ask when we pursue the “more” of the world. These questions are subtle indicators that we are looking for something that we can do, that we can control, that we can leverage.

If all you hear is more serving, more going, more doing then you’re ears are hearing religion.

Remember that the kingdom of God is upside down. The way to being first is being last. The way to be lifted up is to be brought low. And the way to be strengthened is to adopt a posture of weakness. To open our hands and allow the Spirit of God to move in us.

So what are some practical ways we can combat this drift toward trying to earn God’s love that we all battle?

This is what Paul models for us in sharing this prayer. Instead of striving or making lists or thinking of 3 new ways to tap into our potential we need to bow our knees as a sign of desperation and humility to acknowledge that we can’t do it by ourselves. We need God’s help which He graciously offers in His Spirit within us to stay on course, to stay focused not on our own attempts for earning but on Christ’s completed act of giving.

First is to pray. Like Paul, we need to bow our knees as a sign of desperation and humility to acknowledge that we can’t do it by ourselves. We need God’s help which He graciously offers in His Spirit within us to stay on course, to stay focused not on our own attempts for earning but on Christ’s completed act of giving.

When the last time you’ve prayed for God’s strength in your life or in the church?

Like Paul, we need to pray, we need to bow our knees as a sign of desperation and humility to acknowledge that we can’t do it by ourselves. We need God’s help which He graciously offers in His Spirit within us to stay on course, to stay focused not on our own attempts for earning but on Christ’s completed act of giving.

This just means continuously reminding yourself of what God did for you and acknowledging why You needed him to do it. Not being afraid to think and talk about your weaknesses and sinful tendencies because then you can

Pray that God would give you and give us the ability and then prepare to receive it.

The second

Part of our time in prayer should be replaying the gospel and then replaying it again and again. Another way we’ve said this before is “preach the gospel to yourself.” But I’d encourage us to go further than just reciting the big idea of you being dead and made alive in Christ. Stir yourself up with the gospel. Find your gospel motivation. Recall what death meant and means in your story. And then recall with your emotions how it feels to be alive. What it means to have hope in Christ.

At the heart of Paul’s prayer is this

English Standard Version Chapter 3

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

Paul reminds us that love is in our DNA.

We have been rooted and grounded in love. These are past tense verbs. They have been completed for us not done by us. The love of God is part of our secured identity. At the cross, when Jesus died, when that curtain tore from the top down - if you don’t know what I’m talking about listen to Rick’s sermon from two weeks ago - God in that moment uprooted us from the soil of death and decay and planted us, grounded us in His love. And just like a plant, we get our strength from where our roots now grow.

Think about this image. Everything that happens above the surface in a plant or flower is made possible by what’s happening beneath the surface. All the beauty of a flower owes itself to the roots. All of the beauty that we see in our lives and in the church is owed to the love of God.

And what is the love of God? How can we explain it? How can we understand it?

The next thing is this: there is more of God’s love for you & for us.

In the entirety of our individual lives and from generation to generation in the church, we have only scratched the surface of the sheer magnitude of God’s love. It is not something that we can figure out. It’s not something we can approach solely with our minds as if it’s a concept in a textbook or a some kind of elementary checkmark of our faith.

One commentator said:

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. The Message of Ephesians, John Stott

We try with song lyrics:

The love of God is greater far Than tongue or pen can ever tell It goes beyond the highest star And reaches to the lowest hell

People have tried for generations to

-The Love of God is Greater Far, Frederick Lehman (1868)

But even these best attempts don’t do it justice.

In the old hymn “The Love of God is Greater Far” Frederick Lehman wrote these words:

Could we with ink the ocean fill, And were the skies of parchment made; Were every stalk on earth a quill, And every man a scribe by trade; To write the love of God above Would drain the ocean dry; Nor could the scroll contain the whole, Though stretched from sky to sky.

We have been rooted and grounded in love. These are past tense verbs. They have been completed for us not done by us. The love of God is part of our secured identity. At the cross, when Jesus died, when that curtain tore from the top down - if you don’t know what I’m talking about listen to Rick’s sermon from two weeks ago - God in that moment uprooted us from the soil of death and decay and planted us, grounded us in His love. And just like a plant, we get our strength from where our roots now grow.

The love of God can’t be captured in a singular lyric, song, album, sentence, paragraph, story, book, tweet, post, or paragraph. No mountain, no ocean, no sunset, no expanse in all of nature can contain it. And no human heart can fully understand it.

The love of God is great beyond the furthest reaches of our imagination.

But that shouldn’t deter us from trying to understand. In trying we allow our hearts to expand in awe of this great love. In trying we allow our minds to be humbled under the sheer magnitude of ways to explore this great love.

The love of God is something beyond human understanding. It’s not something we can know with our intellect. It’s something we have to experience emotionally, something that should stir us to respond.

Think about this image. Everything that happens above the surface in a plant or flower is made possible by what’s happening beneath the surface. All the beauty of a flower owes itself to the roots.

The last point of application is this: if you think you already know all there is to know about God’s love, there is more. If you’ve been trying to comprehend God’s love with just your mind, you’ll never get there. Give your heart to this endeavor. Allow Him to stir your emotions and challenge your greatest fears. Allow Him to work beneath the surface on pain that you have never let anyone touch.

All of the beauty that we see in our lives and in the church is owed to the love of God.

He wants to show you the fullness of His love if you’ll let him in.

So love is where our roots grow, it’s our foundation. But it’s also our focus. It’s not something we move on from. It’s not something found in another place. It’s in remembering where we’re rooted and grounded, remembering what God did for us at the cross, that we continuously discover more of the love of God. It’s an endless circling around the love of God particularly in the finished work of the cross. The place where, as Tim Keller says, we see that we are so sinful that Jesus HAD to die for us and so loved that Jesus was GLAD to die for us.

Next, God’s love is experienced in community.

Paul says in verse 18

English Standard Version Chapter 3

18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints

English Standard Version Chapter 3

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

Our comprehension of God’s love is not possible without all of us.

John Stott in his commentary on Ephesians said this:

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 Message of Ephesians, John Stott

says this

Most people trying to reinforce or remedy the decline of church attendance go to but because I know I am always drifting toward doing that part that sticks with me is “not neglecting to meet together.” And I’m guilty of using this empty command to try to motivate myself to come on Sundays. But there is more to this and here it is:

English Standard Version Chapter 10

24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

So often we make meeting together into a chore or a responsibility. But that’s not what this says and not what should motivate us:

We come together to stir one another up to love and good works. To see more of the beauty of God’s love and then respond the only way that makes sense.

How do we stir and encourage? What’s the most effective and compelling way to do that?

By coming back again and again to our roots. By returning to the foundation. By combining all of our experiences, all of our stories, all of our abilities together to try to grasp the love of Jesus. By singing about His love. By talking about His love. By praying for His love. By commemorating his love by taking Communion. By being sent out in his love.

So what if we were motivated to make Sunday or Monday or Thursday or any other day that we can possibly come together with other brothers and sisters in the church a huge priority not because of responsibility but because of opportunity?

If you’ve been trying to figure out God’s love by yourself, there is more. We want you here. We need you here. Let us all come and explore the riches of God’s love together.

There is more to God’s love for you & for us.

At the heart of Paul’s prayer is this

Paul prays that we may grasp

English Standard Version Chapter 3

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

English Standard Version Chapter 3

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.

n the entirety of our individual lives and from generation to generation in the church, we have only scratched the surface of the sheer magnitude of God’s love. It is not something that we can figure out. It’s not something we can approach solely with our minds as if it’s a concept in a textbook or a some kind of elementary checkmark of our faith.

Paul reminds us that love is in our DNA.

We have been rooted and grounded in love. These are past tense verbs. They have been completed for us not done by us. The love of God is part of our secured identity. At the cross, when Jesus died, when that curtain tore from the top down - if you don’t know what I’m talking about listen to Rick’s sermon from two weeks ago - God in that moment uprooted us from the soil of death and decay and planted us, grounded us in His love. And just like a plant, we get our strength from where our roots now grow.

Think about this image. Everything that happens above the surface in a plant or flower is made possible by what’s happening beneath the surface. All the beauty of a flower owes itself to the roots. All of the beauty that we see in our lives and in the church is owed to the love of God.

And what is the love of God? How can we explain it? How can we understand it?

In the entirety of our individual lives and from generation to generation in the church, we have only scratched the surface of the sheer magnitude of God’s love. It is not something that we can figure out. It’s not something we can approach solely with our minds as if it’s a concept in a textbook or a some kind of elementary checkmark of our faith.

One commentator said

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. The Message of Ephesians, John Stott

We try with song lyrics:

The love of God is greater far Than tongue or pen can ever tell It goes beyond the highest star And reaches to the lowest hell

I’m running to your arms

The riches of your love will always be enough

-The Love of God is Greater Far, Frederick Lehman (1868)

But even these best attempts don’t do it justice.

The love of God is something beyond human understanding. It’s not something we can know with our intellect. It’s something we have to experience emotionally, something that should stir us to respond.

The love of God is

The last point of application is this: if you think you already know all there is to know about God’s love, there is more. If you’ve been trying to comprehend God’s love with just your mind, you’ll never get there. Give your heart to this endeavor. Allow Him to stir your emotions and challenge your greatest fears. Allow Him to work beneath the surface on pain that you have never let anyone touch.

He wants to show you the fullness of His love if you’ll let him in.

So let’s review:

Paul prays that we would know there is more power at work within us to be able to see that there is more to God’s love and that we’d frame that in the idea that there is more than we can expect to it all.

And for us to be able to experience this I think we’re challenged to pray and receive God’s power, replay the good news over and over, and move toward community.

But now we come to the conclusion of our text.

I’m going to ask the band to come now and ask you to stand.

But, I wanted to save the last few verses until the end so we could see how Paul wraps up such a beautiful prayer. Where does he point our attention? Let’s see

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.

Here Paul telling you today: there is more! There is more of God’s strength inside of you. He gave it to you so you could know that there is more to God’s love than you’re experiencing. The result of this will be that there is more growth than you ever thought possible.

And here is the clincher, the climax, the culmination of all that Paul is praying for the church:

There is more glory that God alone deserves.

As we gaze more and more and the endless beauty of God’s love we will grow, we will mature to look more like Christ. But the greater goal, the greater reality to the whole thing, the greater outcome is that God would be praised by people from every generation, from every race, from every tribe, from every language, story, background.

When God who has all of the strength and all of the power to do not just a little more than we expect but abundantly, overwhelmingly more than we could put into words or even begin to think. When God works within His people, the church, we shine as a testament to His glory. And it’s all because of one name: Jesus.

Here Paul telling you today: there is more! There is more of God’s strength inside of you. He gave it to you so you could know that there is more to God’s love than you’re experiencing. The result of this will be that there is more growth than you ever thought possible. And beyond it all there is more glory that God deserves!

So the last thing God has for us today is this: worship. John Piper in his sermon on this text says that all of what Paul has been praying causes him to break into song. To break out in awe of who God is and what he is doing. For us - all generations of the family of God - to remember and pursue a greater understanding, a greater experience of God’s incomprehensible love and sing about His glory. Sing His name and proclaim His greatness forever and ever!

Here Paul telling you today: there is more! There is more of God’s strength inside of you. He gave it to you so you could know that there is more to God’s love than you’re experiencing. The result of this will be that there is more growth than you ever thought possible. And beyond it all there is more glory that God deserves!

What does that mean?

Wow! Thank you SO much, kids! Let’s give them a HUGE round of applause as they go back to their seats.

This is better understood as “enabled.” He wants us to be enabled to what?

Jump for a moment to verse 18

“to comprehend with all the saints” - to understand together - “what is the breadth and length and height and depth” - the vastness of God’s love - “and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge” - that goes beyond human understanding.

To understand together the vastness of God’s love that goes beyond human understanding.

So if Paul’s prayer is that we’d be enabled to comprehend the vastness of God’s love

In endlessly gazing into the limitless of beauty of God’s love shown at the cross of Christ, we will experience more of the fullness of God. The presence of Christ in our hearts becomes more and more permanent- ruling, reigning, changing, sin overpowering, healing. Christ - the fullness of God - in us.

English Standard Version Chapter 3

that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith

English Standard Version Chapter 3

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

How will we be enabled to experience God’s love so that we grow to be more like Jesus?

First, no matter how many times we’ve heard this we need to be reminded: God’s love is not something we earn because of who we are or what we’ve done. It’s something we receive because of who God is.

Paul prays that “according to the riches of His glory” God would “grant” or give us the inner ability.

This fits with so many parts of this letter where he reminds us that everything we have ever received in Christ has been given to us so that none of us can boast. It’s not something we do, it’s something we receive. That’s the heart of the gospel and the heart of us discovering more power in the church.

What is something you want more of? Come on you can say it. [INTERACTION] Kids, what is something you want more of? [INTERACTION]

It’s also something we receive because it’s already been done. It’s finished. It’s not pending. It’s not loading. It’s not calibrating.

In Verse 17 he says “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith- that you being rooted and grounded in love”

We have been rooted and grounded in love. These are past tense verbs. They have been completed for us not done by us. The love of God is part of our secured identity. At the cross, when Jesus died, when that curtain tore from the top down - if you don’t know what I’m talking about listen to Rick’s sermon from two weeks ago - God in that moment uprooted us from the soil of death and decay and planted us, grounded us in His love. And just like a plant, we get our strength from where our roots now grow.

Think about this image. Everything that happens above the surface in a plant or flower is made possible by what’s happening beneath the surface. All the beauty of a flower owes itself to the roots.

Rooted & Grounded or have deep roots and firm foundationsWell rooted tree and a well built house

All of the beauty that we see in our lives and in the church is owed to the love of God. It’s again a gift so that none of us could boast. It’s the BUT GOD after the long list of our depravities.

Our strength, our ability to understand the limitlessness of God’s love actually comes from His love. It’s not something we move on from. It’s not something found in another place. It’s in remembering where we’re rooted and grounded, remembering what God did for us at the cross, that we continuously discover more of the love of God. It’s an endless circling around the love of God particularly in the finished work of the cross. The place where, as Tim Keller says, we see that we are so sinful that Jesus HAD to die for us and so loved that Jesus was GLAD to die for us.

The Message of Ephesians b. Rooted and Grounded in LoveLove 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

Personalization

How do we love / what is loveWalls being brought downPutting others ahead of ourselvesServing

Any to-do list people in the house? This is my never-ending struggle.

I love to-do lists because they set me up as the hero of my own time and day. Do you do this?

We live in a world of “more.”

The gospel flies in the face of to-dos.

This fits with so many parts of this letter where he reminds us that everything we have ever received in Christ has been given to us so that none of us can boast. It’s not something we do, it’s something we receive. That’s the heart of the gospel and the heart of us discovering more power in the church.

“Where can I find it” or “how can I get it” are the same questions we ask when we pursue the “more” of the world. These questions are subtle indicators that we are looking for something that we can do, that we can control, that we can leverage.

If all you hear is more serving, more going, more doing then you’re ears are hearing religion.

Remember that the kingdom of God is upside down. The way to being first is being last. The way to be lifted up is to be brought low. And the way to be strengthened is to adopt a posture of weakness. To open our hands and allow the Spirit of God to move in us.

More data. More options. More value. More money. More square feet. More screens. Kids maybe more screen time. More speed. More space. More food.

So what are some practical ways we can combat this drift toward trying to earn God’s love that we all battle?

Fallen Condition = Do It

Application

First is to pray. Like Paul, we need to bow our knees as a sign of desperation and humility to acknowledge that we can’t do it by ourselves. We need God’s help which He graciously offers in His Spirit within us to stay on course, to stay focused not on our own attempts for earning but on Christ’s completed act of giving.

Pray

The second is to replay the gospel and then replay it again and again. Another way we’ve said this before is “preach the gospel to yourself.” There’s a difference between watching the movie and reading the script. Stir yourself up with the gospel. Find your gospel motivation.

Maybe the whole answer can be find in this: pray.

This just means continuously reminding yourself of what God did for you and acknowledging why You needed him to do it. Not being afraid to think and talk about your weaknesses and sinful tendencies because then you can

Paul is talking about something spiritual, something we may not be able to see with our eyes. And so he goes about it the only way he knows: he prays for us. He prays for the church.

When was the last time you prayed earnestly, down on your knees, for the power of God in your own life? When was the last time you prayed earnestly, down on your knees, for the power of God in the church?

And maybe you’re sitting there saying but what about minimalism? What about streamlined interfaces and the growth of “less?” What about Apple or Tesla?

It seems maybe too simple to start here but this is critical for us to adopt the posture.

Preach the Gospel to Yourself

At the start of our text Paul says

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

While there are multiple ways to translate this text, the one that fits the context of the rest of Ephesians and everything Paul has been saying is we are “families descended from the same Father.” The church might be full of different stories, expressions but we have one Father. Paul’s clarifying one more time that this prayer is for everyone in the church.

This just means “families descended from the same Father.” Paul’s clarifying one more time that this prayer is for everyone in the church.

In verse 18 he says

English Standard Version Chapter 3

that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints

The next thing is this: there is more of God’s love for you & for us.

Gospel = Together

English Standard Version Chapter 3

according to the power at work within us

The next thing is this: there is more of God’s love for you & for us.

Our comprehension of God’s love is not possible without all of us.

John Stott in his commentary on Ephesians said this:

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 Message of Ephesians, John Stott

Well I’d argue that we still want more…from less. We want more focus, less distraction for more productivity. See it’s a clever trick to believe that we’re ever moving the other direction. It’s always about more.

Over the last few years there has been a strong decline in Sunday morning church attendance. There are many reasons for this and not all of them are bad. Technology has made it possible for us to reinforce the idea that the church isn’t a time or a space but a people living every day for Jesus and so we can connect, we can learn, we can worship outside of this limited hour or hour and a half.

“I’m free not to” and “why do I need to”

Most people trying to reinforce or remedy the decline of church attendance go to but because I know I am always drifting toward doing that part that sticks with me is “not neglecting to meet together.” And I’m guilty of using this empty command to try to motivate myself to come on Sunday as if the .

English Standard Version Chapter 10

24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

There are two parts to this text. The clear speaking to us individually

Fallen Condition = Alone

Application

It’s not the meeting that should draw us here. It’s not just a commitment or a legalism to never miss a Sunday. It’s the why that should draw us here. That we gather to stir one another toward love and good works and encourage one another.

How do we stir and encourage? What’s the most effective and compelling way to do that?

Gather

By coming back again and again to our roots. By returning to the foundation. By combining all of our experiences, all of our stories, all of our abilities together to try to grasp the love of Jesus. By singing about His love. By talking about His love. By praying for His love. By commemorating his love by taking Communion. By being sent out in his love.

So shouldn’t the “why” motivate us to make Sunday or Monday or Thursday or any other day that we can possibly come together with other brothers and sisters in the church a huge priority not because of responsibility but because of opportunity?

There is more to God’s love for you & for us.

Finally the big idea of this whole text I believe is that There is More to God’s Love Beyond what You Think You Know

Paul prays that we may grasp

English Standard Version Chapter 3

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

English Standard Version Chapter 3

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.

Gospel = God Confidence

In the entirety of our individual lives and from generation to generation in the church, we have only scratched the surface of the sheer magnitude of God’s love. It is not something that we can figure out. It’s not something we can approach solely with our minds as if it’s a concept in a textbook or a some kind of elementary checkmark of our faith.

Why is that? The craving for MORE is hard wired into us. It’s what drives us to succeed, create and innovate. But it’s also what drives us to fail, destroy, and to self destruct.

We try in commentaries:

John Stott had this to say in his commentary on Ephesians:

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. The Message of Ephesians, John Stott

We try with song lyrics:

The Love of God by Frederick Lehman (1868)

The love of God is greater far Than tongue or pen can ever tell It goes beyond the highest star And reaches to the lowest hell

We can’t stop wanting more because the things we get more of leave us and will always leave us wanting more. Many of these things leave us not just wanting more but feeling less or even less than.

Reckless Love by Cory Asbury (2017)

There’s no shadow you won’t light up

Mountain You won’t climb up coming after me

There’s no wall You won’t kick down

Lie You won’t tear down coming after me

-The Love of God is Greater Far, Frederick Lehman (1868)

Deep & Wide

In pursuit of more control I often find that I have it less. In pursuit of more attention on me I often find I have less people who want to give it to me. In pursuit of more comfort I often find less rest.

Deep and wide

There’s a fountain flowing deep and wide

But even these best attempts don’t do it justice.

The love of God is something beyond human understanding. It’s not something we can know with our intellect. It’s something we have to experience emotionally, something that should stir us to respond.

The purpose I believe and value in attempting to comprehend God’s limitless, uncontainable love is this: it stirs our emotions.

I think this is some of what Paul is praying for. He wants us to not just relinquish God’s love to thought but to fully experience the love of God with our hearts, our souls, the whole of our beings.

Fallen Condition = Self Confidence

And when we aren’t the one’s asking for more it feels like we are the one’s being asked for more. Right?

Or maybe today you are sitting here thinking I’ve heard about God’s love, I get it, Mike, but tell me something I can really take home.

Application

Raise your expectations

How do we know this is true?

Would any of us - not knowing what we know now - after watching the mess Adam and Eve made in the garden have expected God to put clothes on them? Have you thought about how caring that was of Him to do that? How much understanding of our human struggle is engrained in that one act?

Would any of us - not knowing what we know now - have expected God to blow apart a humongous sea as a plan to rescue thousands of his people from an Egyptian army?

Would any of us - not knowing what we know now - have expected a 33 year, humble carpenter named Jesus to march up Calvary being spit on, mocked, jeered at for being a king - which he actually was - only to make his dying request to His Father “forgive them!”?

Would any of us - not knowing what we know now - after watching Jesus go to the cross and enter the grave have expected him to rise again?

More meetings. More attention. More results.

All of this was beyond what we could ask because it’s so much more than we know we deserve. And all of this was beyond what we could think because it defies any logic, any reason, any angle with which we examine it.

How do we know this is true?

Would any of us - not knowing what we know now - after watching the mess Adam and Eve made in the garden have expected God to put clothes on them? Have you thought about how caring that was of Him to do that? How much understanding of our human struggle is engrained in that one act?

Would any of us - not knowing what we know now - have expected God to blow apart a humongous sea as a plan to rescue thousands of his people from an Egyptian army?

Would any of us - not knowing what we know now - have expected a 33 year, humble carpenter named Jesus to march up Calvary being spit on, mocked, jeered at for being a king - which he actually was - only to make his dying request to His Father “forgive them!”?

Would any of us - not knowing what we know now - after watching Jesus go to the cross and enter the grave have expected him to rise again?

All of this was beyond what we could ask because it’s so much more than we know we deserve. And all of this was beyond what we could think because it defies any logic, any reason, any angle with which we examine it.

Action Steps

Pray

Move toward Community

Praise

This is a prayer filled with hope and encouragement. It’s

Don’t move on from the love of God. Circle back to it. Center your whole life on trying to see it more fully and experience it more deeply.

Let’s be honest, some of you might feel this way about the church.

Maybe today you’ve been asking God for something that took all the courage you have to ask it because deep inside you know you don’t deserve it.

Or maybe today you are sitting here thinking I’ve heard about God’s love, I get it, Mike, but tell me something I can really take home.

Set your expectations higher because

More serving. More giving. More going. More DOING.

Good morning, church!

Where are you looking for more?

Where can we find more to keep going? Where can we find more that will leave us feeling full, focused, and fearless?

Here is what I hope God reveals to you today: THERE IS MORE

In each of us individually and in the church there is more power to see chains break that have never broken, there is more of God’s love than we could ever grasp, and there is more on the horizon than we ever thought possible.

If you are feeling discouraged today, feeling defeated on the inside, there is more for you today.

If you are feeling unloved, marginally loved, conditionally loved, or even fully loved by God, there is more for you today.

And if you are sitting here right now, not expecting much from God in this moment or even any moment ahead, there is more for you today.

English Standard Version Chapter 3

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

Let’s

God, would you stir our hearts and fill our minds by the power of Your Spirit so that we may experience together the magnitude of your love. Let us leave here changed, encouraged, and hopeful. Speak through me and in my weakness show Your strength. For your glory in the church and in Jesus we pray, amen.

Good morning, church!

Today’s text is the conclusion of a prayer that Paul begins in Chapter 1 of his letter to the Ephesian church.

Justin unpacked that text for us a few weeks ago and for the sake of time I won’t read it to you but would encourage you to read it and go listen to his sermon.

Paul’s prayer started with him asking God to help us know 3 things: the hope of His calling, the riches of His inheritance, and his power.

With that as a starting point, today in the conclusion, Paul turns his attention to this big idea:

There is more to God’s love than we are experiencing or expecting individually and as the church.

So how do you experience more and expect more? Let’s start at the beginning.

starting in verse 14 says:

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,

As we’ve seen a few times in this series our text begins with an important phrase “for this reason.” And one thing we value here at One Hope is reading the Bible in context and not ignoring these important markers mainly because there is so much richness left behind when we do.

“For this reason” speaks to what is motivating Paul to share what he’s about to share. And as I studied this text, I came to believe that there are two places we need to go back to for this answer.

There is the obvious connection to part 1 of the prayer.

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

My name is Mike and I have the privilege of being one of the Pastors here at One Hope. If you’re new, if you’re not new, if you’re super unfamiliar with church, if you’re super familiar with church, and if you’re anywhere in between all of that, let me say this: you are welcome here. This is a gathering for all of us because it’s not really about any of us. It’s about God and we believe he can speak to us all and does speak to us all when we are gathered together.

But I also think we need to examine what Paul paused in the middle of the prayer to share with us. What did Paul feel we needed to understand before he could finish his prayer?

In Chapter 2, Paul reminds us that every one of us - no matter if we were raised in America or in Albania, no matter if we had parents who took us to church or a parent who told us never to go to church, no matter if we worked our whole life to earn God’s love or lived to prove we didn’t need it - every one of us was dead. There were no “kind-of-alive” or “mostly-good” people. BUT GOD, because of His great LOVE - and we’ll come back to this today - with which he loved us made us ALIVE in Christ. So remember that: God’s love made us alive.

Then in the second half of Chapter 2 and first half of Chapter 3 leading into this text, Paul basically goes all out making sure we understanding the word “us.” He assaults the pairing of “us” and “them,” the idea of “insider” and “outsider” that still pervades the church and makes “good news” into “good news for only us.”

So what is the “for this reason”?

Because we were dead and are now alive and because there is nothing but the blood of Jesus that makes us part of the family. Paul then continues”

English Standard Version Chapter 3

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

Here we see two quick thoughts:

“I bow my knees”

The normal posture of Jewish prayer was standing so this is an indicator that Paul is passionate, he’s desperate about this prayer for us

For us - all generations of the family of God - to remember and pursue a greater understanding, a greater experience of God’s incomprehensible love and sing about His glory. Sing His name and proclaim His greatness forever and ever!

“From whom every family in heaven and on earth is named”

This just means “families descended from the same Father.” Paul’s clarifying one more time that this prayer is for everyone in the church.

And now what does he pray for us? What does he pray for the people of the church? Here’s he is praying and asking God for:

English Standard Version Chapter 3

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.

The first thing we notice is that he prays we’d be “strengthened with power.”

What does that mean?

This is better understood as “enabled.” He wants us to be enabled to what?

Jump for a moment to verse 18

“to comprehend with all the saints” - to understand together - “what is the breadth and length and height and depth” - the vastness of God’s love - “and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge” - that goes beyond human understanding.

To understand together the vastness of God’s love that goes beyond human understanding.

So if Paul’s prayer is that we’d be enabled to comprehend the vastness of God’s love

In endlessly gazing into the limitless of beauty of God’s love shown at the cross of Christ, we will experience more of the fullness of God. The presence of Christ in our hearts becomes more and more permanent- ruling, reigning, changing, sin overpowering, healing. Christ - the fullness of God - in us.

English Standard Version Chapter 3

that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith

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

English Standard Version Chapter 3

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

How will we be enabled to experience God’s love so that we grow to be more like Jesus?

First, no matter how many times we’ve heard this we need to be reminded: God’s love is not something we earn because of who we are or what we’ve done. It’s something we receive because of who God is.

Paul prays that “according to the riches of His glory” God would “grant” or give us the inner ability.

It’s also something we receive because it’s already been done. It’s finished. It’s not pending. It’s not loading. It’s not calibrating.

In Verse 17 he says “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith- that you being rooted and grounded in love”

Rooted and grounded

Rooted & Grounded or have deep roots and firm foundationsWell rooted tree and a well built house

The Message of Ephesians b. Rooted and Grounded in LoveLove 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 loveWalls being brought downPutting others ahead of ourselvesServing

This fits with so many parts of this letter where he reminds us that everything we have ever received in Christ has been given to us so that none of us can boast. It’s not something we do, it’s something we receive. That’s the heart of the gospel and the heart of us discovering more power in the church.

“Where can I find it” or “how can I get it” are the same questions we ask when we pursue the “more” of the world. These questions are subtle indicators that we are looking for something that we can do, that we can control, that we can leverage.

If all you hear is more serving, more going, more doing then you’re ears are hearing religion.

Remember that the kingdom of God is upside down. The way to being first is being last. The way to be lifted up is to be brought low. And the way to be strengthened is to adopt a posture of weakness. To open our hands and allow the Spirit of God to move in us.

Fallen Condition = Do It

Application

Pray

Maybe the whole answer can be find in this: pray.

Paul is talking about something spiritual, something we may not be able to see with our eyes. And so he goes about it the only way he knows: he prays for us. He prays for the church.

When was the last time you prayed earnestly, down on your knees, for the power of God in your own life? When was the last time you prayed earnestly, down on your knees, for the power of God in the church?

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. Take it home, read it, study it, it will change your life.

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 ###

It seems maybe too simple to start here but this is critical for us to adopt the posture.

Preach the Gospel to Yourself

Gospel = Together

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 Message of Ephesians, John Stott

There are two parts to this text. The clear speaking to us individually

I’d like to also encourage everyone to fill out a Next Steps Card [HOLD UP CARD]- they should be on your seats - before the end of our time today and place it in the offering basket. This card helps us connect with you and walk beside you as you make decisions about your next step today.

Fallen Condition = Alone

Application

Gather

Gospel = God Confidence

In the entirety of our individual lives and from generation to generation in the church, we have only scratched the surface of the sheer magnitude of God’s love. It is not something that we can figure out. It’s not something we can approach solely with our minds as if it’s a concept in a textbook or a some kind of elementary checkmark of our faith.

Many have tried and are continually trying to explain this text”

John Stott had this to say in his commentary on Ephesians:

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

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. The Message of Ephesians, John Stott

We try all the time with song lyrics:

The Love of God by Frederick Lehman (1868)

The love of God is greater far Than tongue or pen can ever tell It goes beyond the highest star And reaches to the lowest hell

Reckless Love by Cory Asbury (2017)

There’s no shadow you won’t light up

Mountain You won’t climb up coming after me

There’s no wall You won’t kick down

-

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

Lie You won’t tear down coming after me

Deep & Wide

Deep and wide

There’s a fountain flowing deep and wide

The purpose I believe and value in attempting to comprehend God’s limitless, uncontainable love is this: it stirs our emotions.

I think this is some of what Paul is praying for. He wants us to not just relinquish God’s love to thought but to fully experience the love of God with our hearts, our souls, the whole of our beings.

Fallen Condition = Self Confidence

Application

Raise your expectations

How do we know this is true?

Would any of us - not knowing what we know now - after watching the mess Adam and Eve made in the garden have expected God to put clothes on them? Have you thought about how caring that was of Him to do that? How much understanding of our human struggle is engrained in that one act?

Would any of us - not knowing what we know now - have expected God to blow apart a humongous sea as a plan to rescue thousands of his people from an Egyptian army?

Would any of us - not knowing what we know now - have expected a 33 year, humble carpenter named Jesus to march up Calvary being spit on, mocked, jeered at for being a king - which he actually was - only to make his dying request to His Father “forgive them!”?

Would any of us - not knowing what we know now - after watching Jesus go to the cross and enter the grave have expected him to rise again?

All of this was beyond what we could ask because it’s so much more than we know we deserve. And all of this was beyond what we could think because it defies any logic, any reason, any angle with which we examine it.

This is a prayer filled with hope and encouragement. It’s

Don’t move on from the love of God. Circle back to it. Center your whole life on trying to see it more fully and experience it more deeply.

Set your expectations higher because

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

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. And if you haven’t noticed, we’ve got some special family members in the room with us today. This is what we call a Family Service because we’ve invited our kids into the room so we can all experience this time as one big family.

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

[To the kids]

Hey kids! How are you today? I hear you all have been learning about Ephesians just like us. [PAUSE] Now I’m supposed to preach this sermon today and I’ve heard you’re experts on . Do you guys know that verse? [PAUSE] You do?! Oh great. Now this verse can be easy for us to forget so do you have something that can help us remember it today? Maybe some hand motions? [PAUSE] Great. Why don’t you come up here and help me out. [TIME FOR THEM TO COME UP]. Now before you start, do you think all of these people should say it with you and do the motions to? [PAUSE] Yeah I agree. [TO CONGREGATION] So you heard them this is for us to. [KIDS] Ok you go and we’ll follow along.

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 Ephesians 3:18

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… ”

“How wide, how long, how high, how deep is the love of Christ… Ephesians 3:18 ”

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

Wow! Thank you SO much, kids! Let’s give them a HUGE 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

What is something you want more of? Come on you can say it. [INTERACTION] Kids, what is something you want more of? [INTERACTION]

Now

Strong

Superhero

Rock

Weak

Mouse

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.

We live in a world of “more.”

More data. More options. More value. More money. More square feet. More screens. Kids maybe more screen time. More speed. More space. More food.

Do

And maybe you’re sitting there saying but what about minimalism? What about streamlined interfaces and the growth of “less?” What about Apple or Tesla?

Well I’d argue that we still want more…from less. We want more focus, less distraction for more productivity. See it’s a clever trick to believe that we’re ever moving the other direction. It’s always about more.

Why is that? The craving for MORE is hard wired into us. It’s what drives us to succeed, create and innovate. But it’s also what drives us to fail, destroy, and to self destruct.

We can’t stop wanting more because the things we get more of leave us and will always leave us wanting more. Many of these things leave us not just wanting more but feeling less or even less than.

In pursuit of more control I often find that I have it less. In pursuit of more attention on me I often find I have less people who want to give it to me. In pursuit of more comfort I often find less rest.

And when we aren’t the one’s asking for more it feels like we are the one’s being asked for more. Right?

More meetings. More attention. More results.

Let’s be honest, some of you might feel this way about the church.

More serving. More giving. More going. More DOING.

Where are you looking for more?

Where can we find more to keep going? Where can we find more that will leave us feeling full, focused, and fearless?

Don’t you want more of something…deeper? Something of substance? Something that leaves you feeling full, focused, and fearless? Something that gives you encouragement, excitement, and energy?

Here is what I hope God reveals to you today: THERE IS MORE

In each of us individually and in the church there is more power to see chains break that have never broken, there is more of God’s love than we could ever grasp, and there is more on the horizon than we ever thought possible.

If you are feeling discouraged today, feeling defeated on the inside, there is more for you today.

If you are feeling unloved, marginally loved, conditionally loved, or even fully loved by God, there is more for you today.

And if you are sitting here right now, not expecting much from God in this moment or even any moment ahead, there is more for you today.

RELIGION = there is more to DO

GOSPEL = there is more to RECEIVE

Don’t you long for not just the appearance of strength but lasting, beneath the surface, can handle hard situations, and even hear difficult comments without being shaken?

Is there something in your life that even after you’ve surrendered to Jesus you just can’t overcome?

Do you find yourself understanding God’s love mentally but often struggling to FEEL loved by God?

Are you discouraged?

Does it feel like there’s a disconnect between your head and your heart?

Do you come in here disappointed with God? Or disappointed with the church?

More meetings. More attention. More results.

Let’s be honest, some of you might feel this way about the church.

More serving. More giving. More going. More DOING.

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?

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

God, would you stir our hearts and fill our minds by the power of Your Spirit so that we may experience together the magnitude of your love. Let us leave here changed, encouraged, and hopeful. Speak through me and in my weakness show Your strength. For your glory in the church and in Jesus we pray, amen.

Today’s text is the conclusion of a prayer that Paul begins in Chapter 1 of his letter to the Ephesian church.

Justin unpacked that text for us a few weeks ago and for the sake of time I won’t read it to you but would encourage you to read it and go listen to his sermon.

Paul’s prayer started with him asking God to help us know 3 things: the hope of His calling, the riches of His inheritance, and his power.

With that as a starting point, today in the conclusion, Paul turns his attention to this big idea:

There is more to God’s love than we are experiencing or expecting individually and as the church.

So how do you experience more and expect more? Let’s start at the beginning.

starting in verse 14 says:

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

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,

As we’ve seen a few times in this series our text begins with an important phrase “for this reason.” And one thing we value here at One Hope is reading the Bible in context and not ignoring these important markers mainly because there is so much richness left behind when we do.

“For this reason” speaks to what is motivating Paul to share what he’s about to share. And as I studied this text, I came to believe that there are two places we need to go back to for this answer.

As I studied this text, I came to believe that there are two places we need to go as we look back for this idea of

The first is what is part 1 of this prayer. You see he begins praying for the church back in chapter 1 starting in verse 15. Justin unpacked this text for us a few weeks ago and for the sake of time I won’t read it to you but would encourage you to read it and go listen to his sermon.

There is the obvious connection to part 1 of the prayer.

But I also think we need to examine what Paul paused in the middle of the prayer to share with us. What did Paul feel we needed to understand before he could finish his prayer?

In Chapter 2, Paul reminds us that every one of us - no matter if we were raised in America or in Albania, no matter if we had parents who took us to church or a parent who told us never to go to church, no matter if we worked our whole life to earn God’s love or lived to prove we didn’t need it - every one of us was dead. There were no “kind-of-alive” or “mostly-good” people. BUT GOD, because of His great LOVE - and we’ll come back to this today - with which he loved us made us ALIVE in Christ. So remember that: God’s love made us alive.

Then in the second half of Chapter 2 and first half of Chapter 3 leading into this text, Paul basically goes all out making sure we understanding the word “us.” He assaults the pairing of “us” and “them,” the idea of “insider” and “outsider” that still pervades the church and makes “good news” into “good news for only us.”

So what is the “for this reason”?

Because we were dead and are now alive and because there is nothing but the blood of Jesus that makes us part of the family. Paul then continues”

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,

English Standard Version Chapter 3

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

Here we see two quick thoughts:

“I bow my knees” - most Jews in his day prayed standing up so this is an indicator that Paul is passionate about this prayer. “From whom every family in heaven and on earth is named” - families descended from the same Father. Paul one last time reinforcing that this is for everyone in the church. And now what does he pray for us? What does he pray for the people of the church? Let’s walk through this:

“I bow my knees”

The normal posture of Jewish prayer was standing so this is an indicator that Paul is passionate, he’s desperate about this prayer for us

“From whom every family in heaven and on earth is named”

This just means “families descended from the same Father.” Paul’s clarifying one more time that this prayer is for everyone in the church.

And now what does he pray for us? What does he pray for the people of the church? Here’s he is praying and asking God for:

English Standard Version Chapter 3

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.

The first thing we notice is that he prays we’d be “strengthened with power.”

What does that mean?

This is better understood as “enabled.” He wants us to be enabled to what?

Jump for a moment to verse 18

“to comprehend with all the saints” - to understand together - “what is the breadth and length and height and depth” - the vastness of God’s love - “and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge” - that goes beyond human understanding.

To understand together the vastness of God’s love that goes beyond human understanding.

And what will happen as a result is the last part:

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

So if Paul’s prayer is that we’d be enabled to comprehend the vastness of God’s love

In endlessly gazing into the limitless of beauty of God’s love shown at the cross of Christ, we will experience more of the fullness of God. The presence of Christ in our hearts becomes more and more permanent- ruling, reigning, changing, sin overpowering, healing. Christ - the fullness of God - in us.

English Standard Version Chapter 3

that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith

Vs 17

English Standard Version Chapter 3

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

How will we be enabled to experience God’s love so that we grow to be more like Jesus?

Gospel = Receive It

G

First, this inner strength, this ability to understand is something given by God and received by us.

Paul prays that “according to the riches of His glory” God would “grant” or give us the inner ability. This fits with so many parts of this letter where he reminds us that everything we have ever received in Christ has been given to us so that none of us can boast. It’s not something we do, it’s something we receive. That’s the heart of the gospel and the heart of us discovering more power in the church.

It’s also something we receive because it’s already been done. It’s finished. It’s not pending. It’s not loading. It’s not calibrating.

In Verse 17 he says “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith- that you being rooted and grounded in love”

Rooted and grounded

Rooted & Grounded or have deep roots and firm foundationsWell rooted tree and a well built house

The Message of Ephesians b. Rooted and Grounded in LoveLove 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 loveWalls being brought downPutting others ahead of ourselvesServing

This fits with so many parts of this letter where he reminds us that everything we have ever received in Christ has been given to us so that none of us can boast. It’s not something we do, it’s something we receive. That’s the heart of the gospel and the heart of us discovering more power in the church.

“Where can I find it” or “how can I get it” are the same questions we ask when we pursue the more of the world. These questions are subtle indicators that we are looking for something that we can do, that we can control, that we can leverage.

Remember that the kingdom of God is upside down. The way to being first is being last. The way to be lifted up is to be brought low. And the way to be strengthened is to adopt a posture of weakness. To open our hands and allow the Spirit of God to move in us.

Paul prays that God would “grant” or give us this power. This fits with so many parts of this letter where he reminds us that everything we have ever received in Christ has been given to us so that none of us can boast. It’s not something we do, it’s something we receive. That’s the heart of the gospel and the heart of us discovering more power here in the church.

Fallen Condition = Do It

Application

Pray

Maybe the whole answer can be find in this: pray.

Paul is talking about something spiritual, something we may not be able to see with our eyes. And so he goes about it the only way he knows: he prays for us. He prays for the church.

When was the last time you prayed earnestly, down on your knees, for the power of God in your own life? When was the last time you prayed earnestly, down on your knees, for the power of God in the church?

It seems maybe too simple to start here but this is critical for us to adopt the posture.

Preach the Gospel to Yourself

Gospel = Together

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 Message of Ephesians, John Stott

There are two parts to this text. The clear speaking to us individually

Fallen Condition = Alone

Application

Gather

Gospel = God Confidence

In the entirety of our individual lives and from generation to generation in the church, we have only scratched the surface of the sheer magnitude of God’s love. It is not something that we can figure out. It’s not something we can approach solely with our minds as if it’s a concept in a textbook or a some kind of elementary checkmark of our faith.

Many have tried and are continually trying to explain this text”

John Stott had this to say in his commentary on Ephesians:

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. The Message of Ephesians, John Stott

We try all the time with song lyrics:

The Love of God by Frederick Lehman (1868)

The love of God is greater far Than tongue or pen can ever tell It goes beyond the highest star And reaches to the lowest hell

Reckless Love by Cory Asbury (2017)

There’s no shadow you won’t light up

Mountain You won’t climb up coming after me

There’s no wall You won’t kick down

Lie You won’t tear down coming after me

Deep & Wide

Deep and wide

There’s a fountain flowing deep and wide

The purpose I believe and value in attempting to comprehend God’s limitless, uncontainable love is this: it stirs our emotions.

I think this is some of what Paul is praying for. He wants us to not just relinquish God’s love to thought but to fully experience the love of God with our hearts, our souls, the whole of our beings.

Fallen Condition = Self Confidence

Application

Raise your expectations

Would any of us - not knowing what we know now - after watching the mess Adam and Eve made in the garden have expected God to put clothes on them? Have you thought about how caring that was of Him to do that? How much understanding of our human struggle is engrained in that one act?

Would any of us - not knowing what we know now - have expected God to blow apart a humongous sea as a plan to rescue thousands of his people from an Egyptian army?

Would any of us - not knowing what we know now - have expected a 33 year, humble carpenter named Jesus to march up Calvary being spit on, mocked, jeered at for being a king - which he actually was - only to make his dying request to His Father “forgive them!”?

Would any of us - not knowing what we know now - after watching Jesus go to the cross and enter the grave have expected him to rise again?

All of this was beyond what we could ask because it’s so much more than we know we deserve. And all of this was beyond what we could think because it defies any logic, any reason, any angle with which we examine it.

This is a prayer filled with hope and encouragement. It’s

Don’t move on from the love of God. Circle back to it. Center your whole life on trying to see it more fully and experience it more deeply.

Set your expectations higher because

It’s a good thing that God doesn’t change but it’s a good thing that we do because that enables our sanctification

Where it comes from vs how you get it

Struggle to write this and clarify that power isn’t the cause it’s the effect

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,

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,

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,

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Eph 3:16). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

In Part 1 of Paul’s prayer back in Chapter 1, he asks that we would know the hope of God’s calling on our lives, the glory of God’s inheritance and the greatness of God’s power. That word “power” can be translated “ability” or “supernatural ability.”

The hope of God’s call

The glory of God’s inheritance

What kind of supernatural ability are we talking about? As Justin said when he preached on this text, it’s the power, the ability to raise dead things back to life. Like it says in the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives in us. This means there is power to see deep, unhealable wounds healed. Repeatedly betrayed trust rebuilt. Long traveled paths of familiar sin forgotten. And as he’s getting at directly, the weakest and feeblest parts of our inner selves that we want no one to know about turned to areas of strength and power all for God’s glory.

It’s life-giving and dead-restoring power. It’s the authoritative power of Jesus to command all things and do all things. And it’s the ruling power of Christ for all time, the power of God’s sovereignty and control of all of history.

Now again Paul is praying that this isn’t just a power we acknowledge or become aware of but a power that is unleashed deep in our inner being.

How do we gain power? We RECEIVE it. It’s not something we muster because our mustering will only bring out more of us.

So how do we obtain more of this power?

We RECEIVE it. It’s not something we muster because our mustering will only bring out more of us.

Maybe the whole answer can be find in this: pray.

Paul is talking about something spiritual, something we may not be able to see with our eyes. And so he goes about it the only way he knows: he prays for us. He prays for the church.

When was the last time you prayed earnestly, down on your knees, for the power of God in your own life? When was the last time you prayed earnestly, down on your knees, for the power of God in the church?

It seems maybe too simple to start here but this is critical for us to adopt the posture.

The second aspect of obtaining this power goes with the first: receive it.

Remember that the kingdom of God is upside down. The way to being first is being last. The way to be lifted up is to be brought low. And the way to be strengthened is to adopt a posture of weakness. To open our hands and allow the Spirit of God to move in us.

We RECEIVE it.

Paul prays that God would “grant” or give us this power. This fits with so many parts of this letter where he reminds us that everything we have ever received in Christ has been given to us so that none of us can boast. It’s not something we do, it’s something we receive. That’s the heart of the gospel and the heart of us discovering more power here in the church.

So what could be holding us back?

Let’s continue reading

English Standard Version Chapter 3

17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith

Talk about your weakness. In doing so and not being the hero of your own story, you set the stage for the real hero to shine.

Let’s focus in on this word dwell for a moment. There are two Greek words for dwelling one being a temporary, hotel guest-like residence and the other being a permanent, homeowner residence.

Paul uses the word for the latter, the idea of a Christ being a permanent, governing, owning occupant of our hearts through faith.

...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. - The Message of Ephesians, John Stott

For us to see more power in our lives and in the church, we have to embrace that God is the rightful owner of your house and this house [motion to the congregation], the church.

We can’t expect power with giving him control.

So the last step toward more power in our lives and in the church is this: surrender control.

So that’s the last step: surrender control.

We can’t expect power with giving him full control.

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.

If we leave him locked in a closet or give him single rooms, we are locking the power to see real transformation in there with him.

Let me ask you some questions: have you allowed God to move into your life? Or does he still have a checkout date?

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?

He wants to give us more of His power and presence but we have to surrender and give him access to the whole of who we are and the whole of the church.

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?

And what about in the church?

Are we allowing him access to only parts of what we’re doing

English Standard Version Chapter 12

9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

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?

Strong

Superhero

Rock

Weak

Mouse

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.

Wrap the dwell in your hearts through faith into the section above

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.

The second thing Paul wants us to grasp in his prayer is this: there is more to God’s love than what we already know.

English Standard Version Chapter 3

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

God’s Love is the Source of our Strength

First, we have been rooted and grounded in love. These are past tense verbs. They have been completed. The love of God is part of our secured identity. At the cross, when Jesus died for us, when that curtain tore from the top down - if you don’t know what I’m talking about listen to Rick’s sermon from two weeks ago - God in that moment uprooted us from the soil of death and decay and planted us, grounded us in His love. And just like a plant, we get our strength from where our roots now grow.

Think about this image. Everything that happens above the surface in a plant or flower is made possible by what’s happening beneath the surface. All the beauty of a flower owes itself to the roots.

All of the beauty that we see in our lives and in the church is owed to the love of God. It’s again a gift so that none of us could boast. It’s the BUT GOD after the long list of our depravities.

God’s Love Is Fully Experienced With Others

English Standard Version Chapter 3

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

English Standard Version Chapter 3

may have strength to comprehend with all the saints

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 Message of Ephesians, John Stott

God’s Love Can’t Be Contained

Lastly, there is more to God’s love than can ever be contained especially by our limited human knowledge.

We read this in 3:18 and our kids helped us remember it:

English Standard Version Chapter 3

what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge

In the entirety of our individual lives and from generation to generation in the church, we have only scratched the surface of the sheer magnitude of God’s love. It is not something that we can figure out. It’s not something we can approach solely with our minds as if it’s a concept in a textbook or a some kind of elementary checkmark of our faith.

Many have tried and are continually trying to explain this text”

John Stott had this to say in his commentary on Ephesians:

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. The Message of Ephesians, John Stott

We try all the time with song lyrics:

The Love of God by Frederick Lehman (1868)

The love of God is greater far Than tongue or pen can ever tell It goes beyond the highest star And reaches to the lowest hell

Reckless Love by Cory Asbury (2017)

There’s no shadow you won’t light up

Mountain You won’t climb up coming after me

There’s no wall You won’t kick down

Lie You won’t tear down coming after me

Deep & Wide

Deep and wide

There’s a fountain flowing deep and wide

The purpose I believe and value in attempting to comprehend God’s limitless, uncontainable love is this: it stirs our emotions.

I think this is some of what Paul is praying for. He wants us to not just relinquish God’s love to thought but to fully experience the love of God with our hearts, our souls, the whole of our beings.

English Standard Version Chapter 3

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

How do we know this is true?

Would any of us - not knowing what we know now - after watching the mess Adam and Eve made in the garden have expected God to put clothes on them? Have you thought about how caring that was of Him to do that? How much understanding of our human struggle is engrained in that one act?

Would any of us - not knowing what we know now - have expected God to blow apart a humongous sea as a plan to rescue thousands of his people from an Egyptian army?

Would any of us - not knowing what we know now - have expected a 33 year, humble carpenter named Jesus to march up Calvary being spit on, mocked, jeered at for being a king - which he actually was - only to make his dying request to His Father “forgive them!”?

Would any of us

Would any of us - not knowing what we know now - after watching Jesus go to the cross and enter the grave have expected him to rise again?

All of this was beyond what we could ask because it’s so much more than we know we deserve. And all of this was beyond what we could think because it defies any logic, any reason, any angle with which we examine it.

This is a prayer filled with hope and encouragement. It’s

Don’t move on from the love of God. Circle back to it. Center your whole life on trying to see it more fully and experience it more deeply.

Set your expectations higher because

There is More (Manuscript)

Intro

Tension / Fallen Condition

Context

Text

Prayer

Intro to the Prayer

Text

For This Reason

Prayer

For His Glory

Gospel Application

1. Pray & Receive

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2. Replay the Gospel

God’s love is experienced in community.

3. Move Toward Community

Replay the Gospel

Conclusion

Tension

God’s Love: Received Not Earned

God’s Love: For You & For Us

God’s Love: Beyond What You Think You Know

The Gospel

Closing / There is More Glory God Deserves

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Intro

Prayer

Context

For This Reason

God’s Love: Received Not Earned

God’s Love: For You & For Us

God’s Love: Beyond What You Think You Know

The Gospel

Closing / There is More Glory God Deserves

Tension

Prayer

Context

For This Reason

RECEIVE IT VS DO IT

TOGETHER VS ALONE

GOD CONFIDENCE VS SELF CONFIDENCE

The Gospel

Closing / There is More Glory God Deserves

Hope / Transformative Power

More to God’s Love / More Love

More to God’s Love

More Than We Are Expecting / More Than That

Closing