Infinitely More
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46 years ago, on November 7, 1972 Faith Baptist Church officially became recognized as a church. For those initial days of ministry the church met at 220A Silver Lake Street, at the intersection of Summit Ave and Silver Lake St, in Oconomowoc. In 1974 the church was able to move to 36107 Genesee Lake Rd and constructed the building we are currently sitting in. Although, at that time there was considerably more orange carpet and wood paneling on the walls (picture). In 1986 the church voted to construct the parsonage which my family currently enjoys. 13 years ago Pastor Stevens came to this church as the interim pastor- with a handful of adults and one baby (guess who?). Almost immediately the people began to pray that God would grow His church and He did- and we soon realized that we needed to a new space to meet and worship and grow. For almost 13 years we have prayed and waited patiently on the Lord asking Him to allow us to build. Sometime around 2012 or 2013 we became ministry partners with Continental Baptist Missions and they gave us the first glimmer of hope that a new building could be a reality. In 2015, we thought that God had opened the door for us to build and we moved forward with the initial steps of beginning that process, but God closed those doors and asked us to be patient. But now, today, after much careful prayer and patience in seeking God’s will for our church, we are breaking ground on our new building (picture)!
I am new at this. There was no ground breaking dedication class in seminary. I am sure I am doing things improperly. How do you know what sermon to preach? I looked in my topical bible and ground breaking wasn’t in there. I began to pray and ask God what He would have me to preach and He lead me to a prayer in Ephesians 3.
This is one of those magnificient prayers of Paul in the NT. It is incredible. It is powerful. And it is exactly what we as a church need to hear as we begin this new building adventure.
Now I am tempted to go into the background of Ephesians, and the preceeding context, and the main theme of this book- but I promised that I would preach a short message. So, just understand that the context of this prayer is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Go back and study chapter 3 on your own and fit this prayer into the context of the gospel.
Paul prays a pray for the Ephesian church and he begins in v. 14
14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,
15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name,
A proper posture- bow my knees
A proper address- before the Father
What Paul is about to pray for is so grand, is so lofty, is so overwhelming- He knows he can’t do it on his own. So he gets on his knees and he pleads with the Father of all creation!
Paul asks three things for these Ephesian believers- three hina clauses, purpose clauses, I pray that or in order that- What does he pray for?
Request #1
16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man,
17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
God grant to these Ephesian believers in this church- grant them, not just a little bit, but grant them according to the riches of your glory
To be strengthened with power through the Holy Spirit in the inner man- God strengthen and mature these believers deep down inside their hearts- make them men and woman of conviction!
To be lived in by Christ- in their hearts through faith- that is being rooted and grounded in Christ’s love! Make them men and woman of maturity- rooted and grounded- unmoveable unshakable in the love of Christ!
God grant them this according to the riches of your glory!
Request #2-
18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.
God I bow my knee and ask you Father of heaven and earth-
That these believers may be able to / might be strong enough to lay hold of with all the saints what is the breadth and the length and the height and the depth
And that they might be strong enough to know that which surpasses knowledge- THE LOVE OF CHRIST!
God work the gospel so powerfully in their lives that they become mature believers who their whole life long become captivated by the grand scope of Christ’s love for them. Cause them to be people who are enamored only by Christ and His love!
Request #3-
19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.
Father of every family on heaven and on earth, I bow my knee before you and ask-
That these believers might be filled up to all the fullness of God.
What does that mean? To be filled up to all the fullness of God?
9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,
10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority;
It means to be filled up to the full stature the full measure of Christ- it is Christ-likeness in every way possible. It is fully being like Christ both in the character of his heart, and the content of His life. God grant them to be mature Christ-like believers in the fullest way imaginable!
Those are quite the three prayer requests! By the way I prayed them for every single on of you this week. Try it sometime. Pray these requests for yourself and for the people in your church- it was one of the most rewarding rich hours of prayer ever!
But Paul isn’t done! It gets even better! How is that possible you ask? These requests are pretty grandiose, how do you top those?
20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,
Now to Him who is able to do infinitely more than that which we ask or think- mind blown!
How is God going to do that? According to the brand new church building that you are dedicating today?
No what does the text say? According to the power that works within us- what is that power? Remember what the context of this prayer is? It’s the gospel! This whole prayer is the gospel- it’s the good news of the gospel that transforms us into the fullest measure possible of Christ-likeness! Only the good news can do that! Look what else the gospel/ not the new church building can do-
21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.
To Him, to the Father be what? GLORY! how? in the new church building? No in the church- who is the church? It is you! The church is not the building its the people! God is going to do infinitely more than you can ask or think through the power of the gospel and for his glory in you people of Faith Baptist Church. In you alone? No and in Christ Jesus. For what purpose? That God might be glorified unto all generations.
Think about that word generations. What does that mean? It means not only in this generation of people, but in the next generation of people and in the next and in the next until Jesus comes, and then- forever and ever more!
Do you realize what Paul is saying? God did something wonderful- He gave us a new building. But that is not what gets me excited! That is not the hope of this church. We are not a field of dreams kind of church- if you build it they will come. Find that in your bible. How will the church be to the glory of God for generation after generation? Through the power that works within you Faith Baptist Church. How? What we need is a team of mature Christ-like people- who are strengthened in their inner man and who have the love of Christ richly dwelling in their hearts through faith so that they are throughly rooted and grounded. We need a team of people who are overwhelmed with the grand scope of Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge and we need a team of people who are filled up the fullest measure of Christ-likeness- and that team of people needs to go out of these walls and win the next generation to Christ! And they need to replicate themselves in those peoples lives and labor to make them mature Christians and then they will go out and win the next generation and the next and the next- and Faith Baptist Church will keep on glorifying God in this church in Christ Jesus and forever more. How is all that possible? Through the power that works in us- God will do infinitely more than we ask of think.
Today is a day of excitement! And we should be excited! God has done something marvelous in our eyes in this building. But folks- there is something infinitely more glorious, beyond what you can ask or think and it is this- the power of the gospel. It is doing the Great Commission in our Jerusalem- its making mature Christlike disciples of Jesus so we can bring God glory in the church for generations to come and then- forever and ever! Be excited about that! Praise God for this building- but that is all it is- a tool to better do the real work of the church. Be excited- and the possibility of the gospel is infinite- be infinitely excited about reaching generations for the gospel- the power that is at work in us.