Paul's Prayer for Strengthened Love

Introduction

OUR PASSAGE TODAY IS THE 2ND OF 2 PRAYERS IN THE BOOK OF EPHESIANS

Paul’s 1st prayer for the Ephesians was in chapter 1 : 15-23.

Paul prayed that the church would have enlightenment to the things of God so that they could know the hope of his calling.

and now we come to Paul’s 2nd prayer for the church.

Read: 3:14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 3:15 from whom every family in heaven and on the earth is named. 3:16 I pray that according to the wealth of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person, 3:17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, so that, because you have been rooted and grounded in love, 3:18 you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 3:19 and thus to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. NET

Paul’s 1st prayer in chapter 1 was for enlightenment towards the things of God -and this 2nd prayer is all about enablement- How we can make all of these spiritual truths a vital part of our Christian lives.

Paul is praying that the Christian believers would be able to experience all of the theological truths He just talked about in chapters 1- 2

He Prays that they would experience God the father’s great love for them as sinners, and Christ Power that now flows through them.

BACK UP THE TEXT TO 3:1

In verse 1 of of Chapter 3, Paul begins his thought of praying for the Ephesian Church but then he digresses back to how amazingly blessed the Ephesian believers are to be part of this new mystery called the church.

A mystery that -up until now- had been foreign thinking for any of God’s creation.

This new idea of a church was the culmination of the gentile believers equally IN CHRIST with the Jewish believers who were for the past 3,000 years- Gods chosen nation.

and then in verse 3:11 we see that the church, both Jews and Gentiles equally serving and glorifying Christ together was God’s sovereign plan before he even created anything.

and it all came to fruition through the work of Christ Jesus our Lord .

and now Paul is back on track and he repeats his same original thought

3:14 For this reason I kneel before the Father,

Paul is saying that because of all that we are, and all that we possess"in Christ”, I kneel before the Father in Prayer.

Paul is in an attitude of Supplication to God the Father for His church.

Paul says, I kneel before the father,

Paul is Begging earnestly for God to work in and through the church.

Paul wasn’t praying to Jesus or the H.S -He was praying to the father- the one who knows all things, the one who in eternity past planned for the church. The author of Salvation, the one who sent His only son to redeem us ands make us His church.

description of the Father

Look at How He describes The Father

3:15 from whom every family in heaven and on the earth is named.

Paul is emphasizing the idea that our human lives have a bigger purpose that stretches all the way back to eternity past before the foundations of the World When God planned for His church.

So now Paul, on his knees, prays for the church!

Paul in this 2nd Prayer for the the Ephesian church is praying for the Church to experience the Fullness of God’s Power and Love.

3:16 I pray that according to the wealth of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person, 3:17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, so that, because you have been rooted and grounded in love, 3:18 you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 3:19 and thus to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

Paul’s prayer is structured like a ladder . Each request is built on top of the previous request.

Notice in the text the use of the word “That” a transition word that builds upon the previous statement

Let’s look at our passage as a whole again so that we can see the building blocks of Pauls prayer.

 I pray that according to the wealth of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person, 3:17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, so that, because you have been rooted and grounded in love, 3:18 you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 3:19 and thus to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

Paul’s Prayer for the church

Prayer 1- That the church would be strengthened with H. S Power through the H.S.

3:16 I pray that according to the wealth of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person,

Notice Paul prays for inner power and not physical strength

This is where we need our power. - on the inside.

The world may say that strength is a physical attribute but God’s Word tells us that true strength is a spiritual gift.

Romans 8:9 tells us that when we are “IN CHRIST’" - When we are born again into God’s family,-the H.S. indwells us - which literally means - He lives in our heart- our eternal soul.

RM 8:9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, this person does not belong to him.”

If you are a believer - The Holy Spirit is always with you, you can not loose his presence in your life.

he will not and can not leave you.

All true believers have the indwelling of the H.S. which was a gift from Christ at the moment of salvation.

Understand that when you believed in Jesus as your savior. At that moment you were completely indwelt with the Holy Spirit,

Remember Eph. 1:13 - which tells us that our Salvation is SEALED with the H.S.

He is the proof that God did everything to save us and we did nothing on our own.

The Holy Spirit is not something we have to ask God for because He has already given Him to us forever as the guarantee of our Salvation.

and what Paul is communicating here is that its the “THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT “ that enables the believer to Live for God.

THINK ABOUT IT

the Power of the H.S. is how we fight sin in our lives

...how we grow in our knowledge of Jesus as He illuminates our hearts

... his what give us courage to proclaim the gospel to the world

… how we truly can love people the way Christ loved us.

Physical strength may be able to do a lot of amazing things but H.S. power working in us can do so much more.

When we understand the magnitude of God’s great love for us it should cause us to want to bring Him glory

it is only when we give up our own human strength and Let God have control of our inner hearts that we learn to lean on the strength that only comes through the H.S. living in our lives

This means that we must yield our spirit to God’s spirit...

by diligently be in His word letting His scriptures change our lives so that we are more like Him.

by fervently worship God with our voices,

by spending much time in prayer,

By fellowship with His church.

Paul Builds upon this foundation of strength- look at our text.

16 “I Pray, that according to the wealth of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person, 3:17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith,

Prayer 2- That the Christ would dwell in the believer’s Hearts

We know that Christ already indwells all believers hearts.

The idea here is that Christ doesn’t just live in your heart but that He feels at home in your life.

Illustration: How many of you have moved homes?

I hate moving-

Amy and I just moved from camp into a different house.

We brought all of our stuff with us. every possession that is ours and we put it in our new house.

This is now where we reside- its our house, but just because we moved does make it our home.

it takes time to put all the pieces together - to figure out how everything is going to fit in this new place.

and the more time we spend there the more the pieces of lives start t to fit together into their new dwelling place and the more the pieces of our lives fit together in our house the more the house looks like us.

it takes on our personality, it takes on our interest and our loves.

When you walk into someones home who has lived their along time there should be no question about who lives there. Because the longer someone dwells in a home the longer the home looks like the inhabitant.

And what Paul means when He prays that Christ will dwell in the believers heart through Faith is that He is praying that the believer will through faith, let Christ settle down and change them to reflect who he is and not who they were when the previous tenant lived there. He yearns for Christ to get rid of the old sinful wallpaper of their heart, and the shag carpet that is filled rottenness and to be changed into the image of God.

3:17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, so that, because you have been rooted and grounded in love, 3:18 you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 3:19 and thus to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge,

Point 3 - That the church would Comprehend the Love of God

Paul uses 2 words to describe our foundation as believers

Rooted and Grounded in the Love of God

to be Rooted is an agricultural term-

trees and plants that are healthy are always rooted deep into the soil.

this is the source of their nutrients and their great stability.

Have you ever wondered how a How much a big oak tree weights?

Out at camp we have trees that are well over 100 years old. these trees can weigh over 20,000 Pounds.

Think about how deep and how wide the roots of these majestic trees must be in order for them to stay alive.

Psalms 1 describes a man that is rooted in God

Psalm 1:1-3”Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; 2  but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3  He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.”

And In Colossians 2:6-7 Paul writes this same idea to the church in Colossae

Col 2:6-7 “6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”

Just as mighty oak tree finds its nutrients and stability rooted deep into the ground so we as believers must be deeply rooted in God’s truths.

The Psalmist gives us the remedy to have this kind of deep roots in our christian lives-

vs- But HIS delight is in the Lord and in God’s Word he meditates day and night.”

In order for you as a believer to experience this kind of power that Paul is describing here in your life your faith must be rooted deep into God’s love.

As you grow in your faith your roots will grow deeper into God’s love

2nd word - Built up or ” Grounded”

This is an architectural word- meaning having a solid foundation to build on.

Our foundation is Christ, its our faith believing that He is all we need for salvation.

Our life as Christians begins with our Belief in Jesus, and is built upon this foundation of Jesus, and will grow in the name of Jesus, and will be resurrected to an eternity with God by Jesus.

What Paul is saying is that because we are rooted and Grounded in Christ we are now able to mentally grasp the breadth and length and heights and depth of God’s Love for us

God’s love is not a 1 dimensional love, or 2 or even 3 dimensional but it is 4 dimensional!

This means it is vastly beyond all that we could possibly comprehend

This is the same idea Paul had in verse 8when he described the riches of God as being UNFATHOMABLE

The Love of Christ is as vast as the riches of God, We are so rich in Christ that it would be impossible for us to ever come close to calculating its value

Transition

Paul prays that the Holy Spirit would fill us with His power so much so that it roots out the sin in our lives, and draws closer to Jesus so that Christ will dwell in us changing our sinful hearts to look more like him, So much so that we will be able to comprehend the unfathomable love of Christ in Us. so much so that we will not just be “in Christ” but that we will KNOW CHRIST.

Do you understand what it means to Know Christ.

vs19a “and thus to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge,

When I think about know someone- I know a lot of People

I know Donald Trump

He was the 45th President of the US

He is a real estate guru

He loves to Golf

I know a lot about DT but I don’t really have a relationship with him

I also Know Justin Marrow- I know his hobbies I know his spiritual strength and weakness,

Juston is my and I do know a-lot about him but I guarantee you there is a lot about Justin that I don’t know.

But do you know Who I really know- My wife

I love being with my wife, I spend most of my time with my wife, I miss my wife when she goes to work for the day, because I love being with her. I know what she loves, I know what She hates, and I really don’t like ever being apart from her..

We have an intimate close relationship.

I share everything with her.

She shares everything with me.

She is my best friend. Without her I don’t feel complete Because we are one.

But what is so amazing about our relationship is that the more we spend time together the more we truly know one another.

It’s this kind of intimate relationship that Paul is describing in this passage.

When it comes to God’s Love it is limitless.

Paul is praying that the believers would build on the foundation of their faith so that they could experience all the love of Christ.

And all of this builds up to the climax of Pauls prayer for the church.

“ I pray that according to the wealth of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person, 3:17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, so that, because you have been rooted and grounded in love, 3:18 you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 3:19 and thus to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

READ THE STEPS “SO THATS” of the Prayer the screen

I pray that you will be strengthened w/ Power

So that Christ may dwell in your Heart

So that you can comprehend the love of CHrist

So that you will truly know the love of Chirst

So that You can be filled up to all the fullness of God.\

so that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

The Climax of Pauls Prayer is for the church to be complete in God- This means he is praying that they will become spiritually mature in Christ.

The point is this - You cannot be mature in Christ unless you know and experience the power and Love of God which only comes through Christ.

And this only happens when we

when we Humble ourselves and let the power of the H.S root out the sin in our lives, and cteach us the truths of God’s word and because this change is happening the dwelling place of Christ in our hearts begins to look more and more like Him. and as we become more and more like Christ we are able to comprehend the love of Christ even more.

and as we truly come to understand the unfathomable love of Christ more and more. it causes us to intimately begin to know the the love Christ has for us.

and as our love for Christ grows deeper and deeper over time We become mature in Christ and we begin to understand the fullness of what God’s love truly is towards us as His redeemed Church.

So lets bring this passage Home-

If you want to be a mature Christian than you have to desire a relationship with Christ. and this means you fervently read and meditate on His word, You humbly live a life of prayer on your knees, and you faithfully serve, minister, and support your local church.

How about we say it like this- IF YOU WANT TO KNOW IF YOU ARE SPIRITUALLY MATURE ask yourself these question

How much time do I really spend in Gods word?

How much time do I really spend on my knees in prayer

Am I edifying my brothers and sisters in Christ or am I just taring them down to get my way.

Spiritual maturity is not marked by your age. It is not marked by how long you have been a Christian, It is not marked by your church attendance chart, our how long you have been a deacon or pastor or a Sunday school teacher.

Spiritually mature people

Don’t have to get their own way

aren’t grumpy

aren’t critical of others

aren’t selfish or self-serving

spend much time in Gods word, they spend much time in Prayer, and they come to church not as a consumer but as a servant ready to humbly minister to the needs of others.

As I close Ask yourself what do I need to change in my life to be more mature in Christ?