Experiential Theology

Introduction:

Please turn with me in your Bibles to .

Pray.

Illustration:

How do you know that God loves you? How do you know that he desires a relationship with you?

These are complex questions and they require thoughtful and nuanced answers.

How do you know that he desires a relationship with you?

Of course, on one hand, we could simply say, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so” and, while that’s simple, it is true. We know that God loves us because the Bible tell us that he does.

Lily: “Why do you keep telling me that you love me?”

Me: “Because I want to be sure that you remember.”

Lily” If I ever forget, I’ll let you know. You can stop saying it now.”

Me: “But if you ever forget it will be too late. So I’m going to keep on telling you.”

In relationships, continual affirmation of love, and continual experiences of love is what makes all the difference.

And the same is true, perhaps even to a greater degree, with us and our invisible God who dwells in unapproachable light. Yes, we have been shown love in and through the gospel. Yes God has inited a relationship with us, but what means has God given to us in order to maintain the health of that relationship? I think that all of us here can agree that we desire continual reminders of God’s love and affection towards us in our daily experiences.

But is it right to feel that longing inside for specific experiences of God’s love and nearness to us? How should we think about the times we don’t feel those things? How is it possible to continue on in faith when it feels impossible to try again and again?

Oftentimes, the greatest enemy of our faith is our own forgetfulness. This was true of Israel, and it is true of us today. And so it is vitally important that we hear over and over again that God loves us and that he desires to be near to us.

I think we all have experience that, oftentimes, the greatest enemy of our faith is our own forgetfulness. Forgetfulness of who God claims to be in the pages of Scripture. And while it is foundational to our faith that the Bible be our center of gravity, isn’t it also vitally important that we hear over and over again that God loves us and that he desires to be near to us through our experience of him as well?

These are the kinds of ideas and questions our text addresses. In , following what is perhaps the grandest picture of the gospel ever painted in Scripture, Paul concludes chapter 3 of his letter to the Ephesians with a prayer.

And in this prayer....

Big Idea: Paul prays that the theological realities of chapters 1-3 would become the experiential reality of the Ephesian believers. (repeat).

Scripture Reading: Ephesians 3:14-21.

Proposition: Experiential theology both compliment and complete propositional theology. (repeat)

In Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian believers, he makes three requests as he bows the knee before the Father.

Request 1: For an increasing intimacy with Jesus (16-17)

Request 2: For an overwhelming awareness of Jesus’ love (18-19a)

Request 3: For a growing, ongling fellowship with God (19b)

:

The Prelude To The Prayer

“For This Reason”

What is “the reason?”

See 3:1

The glorious depths of the gospel of grace.

Chosen before God even made the world (1:4)

Adopted to become children of God (1:5)

Redeemed out of slavery to sin and the devil (1:7)

Forgiven for every one of our sins (1:7)

Sealed with the Holy Spirit (1:13)

Promised an inheritance in the New Heaven and New Earth (1:14)

Resurrected from spiritual death (2:5)

Brought near to God by the blood of Christ (2:13)

Made into God’s New Covenant Temple, the dwelling place of God on earth (2:22).

“For this reason” .... because of this … because of what God has done in Christ … because of the gospel...Paul prays.

“Rooted and grounded in love.” — causal prepositions.

The importance of this phrase:

It is important because it teaches us the relationship between truth and experience, between theological realities and experiential realities.

The truthfulness of the gospel precedes our experience of the gospel.

Illustration: Friends don’t let friends skip leg day.

The gospel reaches its intended affect in our lives, not when we have mastered it, but when it has mastered us.

God is glorified in his children indulging in the goodness of the gospel.

The gospel doesn’t become true because we experience it, it is true despite our experience.

There’s a “that-ness” to the gospel. It’s true on my best days. It’s true on my worst days. It’s true when I believe it and it’s true when I doubt it.

It is not enough for the gospel to intrigue out intellect, it must also grip our emotions and infiltrate our experiences.

The gospel reaches its intended affect in our lives, not when we have mastered it, but when it has mastered us.

We must never be satisfied with with theological astuteness if it is not joined with experiential intimacy with our Lord. Not because experience of truth is better than knowledge of truth, but because experience of truth brings knowledge of truth to completion.

We must never be satisfied with with theological astuteness if it is not joined with experiential intimacy. Not because experience is better than _____, but because completes ______.

The gospel reaches its intended affect in our lives, not when we have mastered it, but when it has mastered us.

What God has joined together, let not men put asunder.

Fully formed, full orbed theology is not only learned in the mind, but is

Illustration: Friends don’t let friends skip leg day.

Friends don’t let friends build up their theological knowledge of the gospel while starving to death for an experiential relationship with the God of the gospel.

The gospel reaches its intended affect in our lives, not when we have mastered it, but when it has mastered us.

“with all the saints” (v. 18) Exploring the Love Christ has for his church is intended to be a group effort. Our communion with Christ is best strengthened in the context of community with one another. We grow in experiencing and knowing Christ’s love to greater degrees together.

God is glorified in his children indulging in the goodness of the gospel.

It is important because it teaches us not to seek experiences of nearness to God outside of the gospel, but always in and through the gospel.

He has shown us that relationship and intimacy with God is always and only found in the gospel.

We pursue God the same way he pursued us: through the gospel.

Especially important for us to remember as reformed-continuationists, most of us especially unfamiliar with the “continuationist” part of “reformed-continuationist.”

Illustration: I heard a pod cast once where the host described an experience where they felt like they had met God.

I heard a pod cast once where the host described an experience where they felt like they had met God

Not though substances abuse

Not through

Especially important for us to remember as continuationists.

A cocktail of the right place at the right time with the right drugs in my bloodstream.

We pursue God the same way he pursued us: through the gospel.

This serves to protect us from seeking God

Location

This is a kind gift from God to direct us as we pursue deeper intimacy with him.

God hasn’t left us blind. He hasn’t left us directionless.

This is a kind gift from God to direct us as we pursue deeper intimacy with him.

Illustration: Waking up in the morning and needing a flashlight. If I reach around long enough, maybe I’ll find the coffee pot.

“Here is the way, walk in it.”

This serves to comfort us that as we pursue God, it is only because he has first pursued us.

God hasn’t left us blind. He hasn’t left us directionless.

Illustration: Waking up in the morning and needing a flashlight. If I reach around long enough, maybe I’ll find the coffee pot.

“Here is the way, walk in it.”

He has shown us that relationship and intimacy with God is always and only found in the gospel.

This serves to comfort us that as we pursue God, it is only because he has first pursued us.

Especially important for us to remember as continuationists.

We pursue God the same way he pursued us: through the gospel.

Request 1: For an increasing intimacy with Jesus (16-17)

Means: Spiritual Strengthening

If we are going to experience this

Content: For Christ to Further Indwell them

Paul uses the illustration of a house. Jesus taking up residence within our inner being.

But aren’t we already united with Christ?

Communion with the Christ with whom we are already united. Deepening the relationship. Deepening our relational connection with one another.

Request 2: For an overwhelming awareness of Jesus’ love (18-19a)

A prayer for

Request 3: For a growing fellowship with God (19b)

The enjoy more and more the goodness of the presence of Christ.

When was the last time you found yourself overwhelmed at the idea of the great love of Jesus?

“Among the many marks that we are on the journey towards heaven, this is one, when the love of God so fills our hearts that we forget to love and to care too much for the wanting or having of other things. As one extreme heat burns out another.” Samuel Rutherford

Samuel Ruthorfod”

It is not enough for the gospel to intrigue out intellect, it must also grip our emotions and infiltrate our experiences.

Illustration: Friends don’t let friends skip leg day.

The gospel reaches its intended affect in our lives, not when we have mastered it, but when it has mastered us.

Christ is not a doctrine to be mastered; he is a person to be known.

God is glorified in his children indulging in the goodness of the gospel.

We must never be satisfied with with theological astuteness if it is not joined with experiential intimacy. Not because experience is better than _____, but because completes ______.

What God has joined together, let not men put asunder.

Christ is not a doctrine to be mastered; he is a person to be known.

God is glorified in his children indulging in the goodness of the gospel.

Growth in the gospel is not measured solely in depth in knowledge, but in depth of experience.

Illustration: Brownie and ice cream. Studying vs. indulging.

The gospel reaches its intended affect in our lives, not when we have mastered it, but when it has mastered us.

It is not enough for the gospel to intrigue out intellect, it must also grip our emotions and infiltrate our experiences.

It is not enough for the gospel to intrigue out intellect, it must also grip our emotions and infiltrate our experiences.

The gospel isn’t a museum full of of dusty relics from the past for us to admire and remember. The gospel is a never ending fountain, springs of living waters. As Andrew Peterson wrote in his song, “All The Way Home,”

By the grace of God They walked in the rain of His mercy Let it soak them down to the bone And they splashed in its puddles And danced in its streams as they'd go And, oh, they walked in the rain of His mercy All the way home

The gospel is not a two-dimensional painting of a countryside that we simply gaze at and remark that it’s lovely. The gospel, like Aslain’s Country in C.S. Lewis’s The Last Battle, offers boundless pleasures that will, for all of eternity, summon us to come “further up! and further in!”

English Standard Version Chapter 2

“Arise, my love, my beautiful one,

and come away,

11 for behold, the winter is past;

the rain is over and gone.

12 The flowers appear on the earth,

the time of singing has come,

English Standard Version Chapter 2

Arise, my love, my beautiful one,

and come away,

11 for behold, the winter is past;

the rain is over and gone.

12 The flowers appear on the earth,

the time of singing has come,

and the voice of the turtledove

is heard in our land.

13 The fig tree ripens its figs,

and the vines are in blossom;

they give forth fragrance.

Arise, my love, my beautiful one,

and come away.

English Standard Version Chapter 2

“Arise, my love, my beautiful one,

and come away,

11 for behold, the winter is past;

the rain is over and gone.

English Standard Version Chapter 2

Arise, my love, my beautiful one,

and come away.

Or perhaps you’re here and you’ve experienced a lengthy season of spiritual coldness, spiritual winter.

As the Groom calls to his beloved in the Song of Songs, so Christ calls to you,

Arise, my love, my beautiful one,

and come away,

for behold, the winter is past;

the rain is over and gone.

Arise, my love, my beautiful one,

Arise, my love, my beautiful one,

and come away.

English Standard Version Psalm 126

4 Restore our fortunes, O Lord,

like streams in the Negeb!

5 Those who sow in tears

shall reap with shouts of joy!

6 He who goes out weeping,

bearing the seed for sowing,

shall come home with shouts of joy,

bringing his sheaves with him.

English Standard Version Psalm 126

5 Those who sow in tears

shall reap with shouts of joy!

6 He who goes out weeping,

bearing the seed for sowing,

shall come home with shouts of joy,

bringing his sheaves with him.

The seeds you are so faithfully planting will grow, they will flourish. What you are sowing you will reap.

English Standard Version Chapter 32

“I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

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

O love of God, how rich and pure! How measureless and strong! It shall forevermore endure The saints' and angels' song