Ephesians 3:14-21: What's In You?

Introduction

Two unholy sites in Holy Land: Ikea… Alabama store… Big questions… Is Ikea God’s favorite store? Is God an Alabama fan? Not what you would expect in the Holy Land.

What we should expect inside of you… love, kindness, etc. But, what’s more likely inside of you is bitterness, unforgiveness, etc.

Ephesians 3:14-21 is Paul’s second recorded prayer in this epistle. In Ephesians 1:15-21, after Paul explains to the Ephesians that they are adopted by the Father, redeemed by the Son, and sealed by the Spirit, Paul prays that the glorious truths of salvation would take root in their hearts.

Ephesians 2 - saved by grace and made one in Christ because of God’s great love. The mystery: two very distinct people - enemies - brought together through God’s love.

Ephesians 2 - Here’s what God has done INSIDE of you. He’s has brought you from death to life. He has made you ONE with others who have also embraced Jesus as Lord and Savior.

God has done a work inside of you, yet you resist the internal work. It seems like what is inside of you are things like bitterness, hatred, envy, etc. instead of love, forgiveness, mercy, and grace.

Paul: “I’m praying that you’ll embrace the work that God wants to do inside of you...”

This morning, two desires God has for you:

God wants His Spirit to dwell in you.

“For this reason...” Where Paul started in 3:1 before he digressed into a discussion about the mystery of God…

“For this reason I kneel before the Father...” You kneel when you’re overwhelmed. First 2.5 chapters of Ephesians are overwhelming.

Paul overwhelmed with the work of God in his own life - a persecutor of Christians to a missionary!

Paul overwhelmed with the work he’s seen in the hearts of believers in Ephesus: brought near… wall of hostility brought down… vs. 22 - built together with believing Jews into a holy temple… In ancient world, used to seeing temples everywhere - where the gods dwell. But now, God dwelt in them. AND… they were ONE with believing Jews. God has made enemies into family.

“I kneel before the Father...”

Every family in heaven and on earth owes its existence to God… He has “fathered” everything, but not every family on heaven and earth can call God “Father.” Only the redeemed have the privilege of calling God “Father.”

Paul prays that the heavenly Father would strengthen the inner man of the believer… (Prayed for strength in 1:19)

You spend a lot of time on the outward. Think about it: the outward is what you want people to see. We exercise, diet, wear certain clothes, etc. because we want to have a certain appearance on the outside. Think about the way you present yourself: as a respectable, polite person, or as a self-confident person, an intelligent person, an accomplished person, etc. because you want people to see you in a certain away.

We often care more about what people see than what God sees: the heart. People know what’s on the outside, but God knows what’s on the inside. He knows the real you, and He knows what He wants to change about you to make you into the person He wants you to be.

Fact: you can invest a lot of time and effort on the outward and be impressive in the eyes of people while on the inside be eaten up with sin, bitterness, anger, lust, etc.

Paul: “I’m praying for God’s power to strengthen your inner man and that Christ may dwell in your hearts.” Paul is praying that God would strengthen us to want something other than bitterness, hatred, and sin dwelling in us - instead, the dwelling of Christ.

Theological truth: Christ dwells within you. When you gave your life to Jesus, you were sealed by the Spirit. (Eph. 1) The Holy Spirit takes up residence in your life when you give your life to Jesus.

Practical truth: While the Spirit lives inside of us, we don’t often cooperate with the Spirit who lives inside of us. We resist the change He wants to make in our lives. Two questions:

Is Jesus an unwelcomed resident of your heart?

You want Jesus as a visitor but not as a resident.

You want Jesus like a good neighbor…

You want Him to show up when life is hard, when you need a helping hand, when you’re in trouble, etc.

You want the benefits of salvation without the life-change.

How do I know if He’s an unwelcomed resident? You don’t listen to Him. You don’t repent of sins. You don’t spend time with Him.

Is Jesus the welcomed resident of your heart?

You allow Jesus to make His home in you.

Jesus making His home in you means he rearranges your life to reflect His character - Fruit of the Spirit.

Think about when you move into a house - all the work you do to make it characteristically yours. Pictures of your family, etc, paint the walls, etc.

Following Jesus - “You take up residence - you rearrange my life so that your character can be clearly seen through me.”

What do you need to allow Jesus to remove? What do you need to allow Jesus to build within you?

Ill. - Church of Holy Sepulchre - Trey pushed… Access blocked to the empty tomb! The ONE PLACE where you should be welcomed in… You are a welcomed resident in the Kingdom of God. Why isn’t Jesus a welcomed resident in your heart?

God wants His love to take root in you.

A second petition: be rooted and established in love. Reality: the more you know the limitless love of God the more you want Jesus to make His home in you.

You have a loving Father who wants the best for you.

Pray to be rooted and grounded in love so you can comprehend the limitlessness of God’s love. You will always be hesitant to allow Jesus be a welcomed resident in your heart when you fail to understand how much you are loved by God.

Length - Lasting love. God’s love for you is eternal and based on what Christ has done, not what you have done or will do. However badly you disappoint God, He will not let you go.

Width - God’s love is wide and accepting - Jew and Gentile in Eph. No one is rejected by God who comes to Him in faith. If Putin confessed His sins and turned to Christ by faith, God would forgive Putin and bring him into his family.

Height - Eph. 2 - His love lifts us up to heaven so that in ages to come He might continue to shower the riches of His grace on us. (Eph. 2:6-7) Old hymn: “Love lifted me...”

Deep - Sacrificial love. “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us.” The Son of God stepped into our broken world, lived the life we could not live, died in our place… Experienced the depths of the wrath of God. Defeated sin and death by rising again.

God’s love is a love you can cling to when life gets hard. God’s love assures you when you feel unloved by others.

Know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge - Comprehend a love that is beyond comprehension. Know that God loves you, but also know that you will never know just how much you are loved by God.

vs. 19 - Knowing God’s love matures you - “so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” When you begin to comprehend God’s love, you will long for Jesus to be a welcomed resident in your heart - to rule over you. You will say, “Your will be done” because you are convinced that because of His love for you, God wants what is best for you.

vs. 20-21 - A doxology - a word of praise as Paul closes this section. Paul KNOWS that God is able to help the Ephesians understand God’s love and when they do, it will change everything.

The whole Bible proclaims that God is able...

Our God is able.   He came to Abraham in his old age and told him that he was going to have a child.  Abraham said no way, but God is able to do far more abundantly, and this old man and his wife had a baby.  Abraham became the father of a multitude of nations. 

God came to Moses on the backside of a mountain and told him to go and deliver the Hebrews.  Moses said no way, I can’t talk.  God is able to do far more abundantly than we can ask or think.  He took a humble man of few words and made him a great leader who marched the Hebrews through the Red Sea as it swallowed up their enemies. 

God is able.  He came to a man named Gideon and told him to take his army and defeat the Midianites.  Gideon said no way.  His clan was to small to defeat the Midianites. God took Gideon’s small army and shrunk it to 300 men. When Gideon and his men approached the Midianites and sounded the trumpet for battle, the Midianites began to turn on one another and killed themselves.  God is able to do far more abundantly than we ask or think. 

God is able.  He came to a young girl named Mary and told her that she was going to have a baby by the Holy Spirit.  Mary said no way, I'm a virgin.  God said, "For nothing will be impossible with God."  God is able to do far more abundantly than we can ask or think. 

God is able to be born in a manger who grew into a man who never sinned and went to a cross to die and rise again to redeem humanity. God is able to do more than we can ask or think.

God is able to do a work inside of you. God is more than able to fill you with Himself. Why does God want to fill you with Himself?

What you are full of will control you. Full of pride - it’s going to lead to a downfall. Full of bitterness - going to lead to hurting others. Full of hurt that you can’t forgive - shapes every decision you make. Full of God? Hope, purpose, etc. What are you full of?

What you are full of will spill out of you. What does God want to spill out of you? Hurt? Sinful actions? Gossip? No… the Fruit of the Spirit. When you are full of Him - when you allow Him to take up residence - His love begins to spill out of you.

You know it… you are controlled by the wrong things, and you are miserable. The wrong things spilling out of you, and you are making others miserable.

Unbeliever: God loves you. Turn to Him by believing the Gospel.

The solution: pray. That’s THE application from this passage. 1. Pray that God will empty you of you and fill you with Himself. 2. Pray that God would help you comprehend His love for you. Pray daily.