Power, Love & Fullness

Ephesians  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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Paul asked for Ephesians to be filled with all the fullness of God.

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All religion are not the same

In a place like Epping, where we see many people from different ethnic background and religion, living and working together, it’s quite common to hear someone say: “All religion are basically the same.”
Sometimes, that’s what the person really believe in but more often than not, people say this to make polite conversations. Deep down, there is a fear if we tell people what we really believe in, they might criticise us, we might get into an argument, and things get ugly.
Now, I don’t believe that all religion are the same. But sometimes we don’t have the time or the relationship to explain fully why we believe that. We just want to get our coffee for the day or get our tax done. We don’t want to get into a religious argument. This happened to me twice this month.
I introduced myself as a minister of a church and you could almost see the awkwardness in their body language. Danger! Danger! Don’t go there! And of course, I’ll often go there. “What about you, do you believe in any religion?” And that’s when if the person don’t really want to have that conversation, they’ll say something like “It’s all the same. All religion tells you basically to be a good person, be decent about how you treat other people”.
That may be a polite way of saying “I don’t want to talk about this now”. You have to decide if this is the case. But sometimes that’s what they really believe in. I met a Christian this month, who really believe in this.
It’s very hard to disagree with a statement like that without coming across as being disagreeable. What can you say? And so, here’s what you can say.
Address the fear. “I believe that everyone should be able to discuss and share what they know and believe about God without any shaming or fighting. I personally don’t believe that all religion are the same. I think God wants a personal relationship with us but we don’t want that because we are afraid that we will lose our freedom to decide our lives if we believe in God.”
I’m not a religious person but...
Or someone might say to shut things down, “I’m not a religious person, I don’t go to church but sometimes I do some meditation”. What can we say without coming across as argumentative?”
“When things get hard, I pray too. God wants a relationship with us that is based on trust and love. He loves and cares for us even when we are not religious. Jesus often criticise people who are hypocrites. They are religious on the outside but they don’t really love God or trust in him. I don’t believe that going to church alone makes us Christians. God can tell if we really trust him or not inside our hearts. ”
The point to make is this: The Christian faith is about a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
State it: Paul prayed for the Ephesians to be strengthened with power so that Christ might dwell in their hearts through faith. And this is the work of the God’s Spirit.
Read it:
Ephesians 3:16–17 NIV
16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,
Explain it:
No other religion has this idea of companionship.
Power because God is retro-fitting our hearts for him to dwell with us.
There is an assumption here. Paul is referring to people who already are accepted and forgiven by God.
Read it:
Ephesians 3:14–15 NIV
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.
Explain/Illustrate it:
I was talking to a lady this month who believes that Islam and Christians are the same. I think she really believes this, and there are some reasons for believing in this.
Both the bible and the Koran mentions Abraham and his descendants. The Koran mentions Jesus as one of the prophets.
I believe that there are similarities between Islam and Christianity. But there are also important differences.
Christians believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and came back alive three days later.
As a result Christians call God “Father” in a really intimate way because Jesus’ death and resurrection has taken away the barrier separating us from God.
Paul prays to the Father. Christians everywhere in the world, in every period of time, prays to the one and same Father, who is the Father of Jesus Christ, the Father of all Christians dead (in heaven now with Jesus) and alive, now still living on earth.
Paul kneels before this Father because it represents a relationship of dependence, just like a child is dependent. Kneeling is not compulsory but it does help to remind us that God is greater and more powerful than us and we are dependant on him.
God the Father is delighted when we ask him for strength, for power so that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith. God’s power is needed to renovate our hearts.
Ephesians 3:16–17 NIV
16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,
Explain it:
The word faith here, does not just mean a set of doctrines we believe in, but a relationship of ongoing trust in God the Father.
Christ dwells within us by his Spirit. This is meant to be permanent, not temporarily.
Word Study: Katoikew
To reside, make a home.
From the root oikonos. Same root as the “stewardship”.
Administration of God’s grace. The purpose of God’s grace is so that we can belong to the same household, same family.
Make a home:
Illustrate this: Marlee Ledai’s Book.
Book on spirituality of space.
Sometimes we need a physical reminder on an inward spiritual reality.
Physical space is important.
The author uses physical space to enact the divine mercy.
Apply this:
If it helps, create that space that is your space between you and God.
Where is your garden of prayer with God? Where is that space of communion with your lover and maker?
Where is the physical space? Pray. God is the greatest landowner in this world. Ask him.
How can our church be that space that welcomes the broken, the hurting and the seeking?
He has come to make a home. He is not a guest. He is here to stay.
It’s all about having a relationship with a personal God. Not just coming to perform a religious duty.
Paul continues the same imagery - but flips it upside down. We become rooted and established in love,
Ephesians 3:17–19 NIV
17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Explain it:
This is the Psalm 1 image.
Planted like a tree with deep roots
Nourished by how much God loves us.
You get to know and experience how wide, long, high and deep is God’s love. And this is a corporate experience (together with God’s family)
Wide - No sin can separate us from God’s love.
Long or far - No matter how far you think you have travelled away from God’s love....even there God can reach you.
Deep - no low you have sunk in your sins....Christ has been to hell and back.
High - that’s where Christ is leading us towards.
It’s a love that surpasses knowledge. Can’t be quantify.
Therefore, being rooted in Christ’s love. God is making his home with you.
Illustrate this:
Not a migrant anymore. You have a place you can call home. In Christ.
Guess who’s coming for lunch? You are having lunch or dinner with God the Father tonight, with Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
God is inviting you home tonight to his place in your heart. I know it sounds funny when we say this. But it’s his place to begin with. when you give it back to him, it becomes a safe space. It becomes a home. It becomes a hot meal and warm conversations.
It’s only because of God’s hospitality in our lives that we are able to extend that hospitality to the strangers, the seekers and the lost.
(3) Fullness in God. There is more to say next sunday.
Spiritual fullness not a material fullness.
Explain it:
God’s goal for us is not our happiness or comfort. But our maturity and perfection to become like him.
God is our Father.
Just like our heavenly, if we are parents, our goal in life is not the happiness of our children. The thinking goes like this.
We want to give them the opportunity to be well-educated so that they can be self-sufficient in life. And then they can do whatever God wants them to do and be happy.
Not a material fullness, but a spiritual fullness. Don’t forget the soul of our children. They are spiritual beings too. They need time to experience God’s love and God’s truth lived out in community.
On the night of the 11th Dec, the youth are inviting us to join their community.
Ephesians 3:20–21 NIV
20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
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