Text: Ephesians 3:14-21
By: Ezekiel, Oghenekaro
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Apostle Paul in writing to the Ephesians church expressed what God has done for us, His desire for the church and what He has done through the church. These chapter do not tell us how to live as much as they tell us what God has done for us. Last week our bishop spoke about the revealed mystery about the church. That which was hidden was revealed through the church. A relationship that never existed between two opposite groups now exists because of the church. There is neither Jews nor Greek for we are now one in Christ.
In verse 14, Paul understood that this found relationship was not the work of man neither can it be retained or sustained by strength. He switches the tone from explaining the mystery to praying for spiritual insight for the church. Praying for the church to grow in the spirit so as to understand the power that works within us.
The inadequacy of mankind has been described in this way: “It is with us as with the tiny babe learning to walk, who can stand up only as he is held by the hand; or those who are learning to swim, who sink as soon as they are left alone. If God does not hold us up, we will faint and utterly fail.” We are not all-powerful. We are not self-sufficient. Until we admit this fact, we can never see the need for the Almighty God. We must realize, as did Paul, that in the face of extreme weakness God’s ability is matchless. In 2 Corinthians 12:10, he said, “‘Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong”.
Paul’s Prayer – Vs 14 – 15
For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.
This is the foundation of the messages in verse 14 – 21. Paul understood that all God has made and done for the church can only be comprehended when the church grows spiritually. This applies to us today. We sometimes do not know what we have because we fail to pray. Paul wants them to understand the important of love and unity among the saints which can only come through the help of God. Imagine one who is a Jew to love a gentile who they before now have no relationship. This is truly going to be difficult to understand but with the help of God through our new relationship, this is possible.
God Supply Strength to Love Others – Vs 14 – 16
The body of Christ was on Paul’s mind. He wished to see the body of Christ become all that God desires. He dreamed about a strong, united, loving local church. What would it take for this to happen? It would require God’s power, so that was Paul’s prayer. Verse 16 says, “That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man; so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; . . .” (3:16, 17).
What is the greatest need for a local church? What does a congregation need more than anything else? Someone might answer, “What we need is a new building.” Another might say, “What we need is more people involved in our ministries (in evangelism, in visitation etc).” Still another might suggest, “We need less grumbling and complaining.” Paul wanted Christians to see what we need above all else—an infusion of the power, the might, the strength of God.
This power in our lives begins with prayer. For any local church to please the Lord, it needs divine power, which comes through prayer. Paul knew this, so he prayed for it with an intensity that literally brought him to his knees. Power begins with prayer, but where does this power operate? Verse 16 says that the place where God’s power operates is the “inner man.” The “inner man” amounts to the control room of a Christian’s thoughts, actions, motives, and feelings. It takes divine energy to run this control room properly.
I have a laptop computer. It runs on a battery, at least for a while. At one point, however, after sometime without an AC adapter connected it beeps that the battery is low. That means the energy is almost gone. If I intend to keep using the computer, I have no choice but to supply it with more energy from somewhere.
Similarly, you may be doing well as you read this; the green light may be shining brightly in your life. You may have an ample supply of internal power. On the other hand, you may be at a low point, almost out of spiritual energy. You may find that you hardly have the energy to take care of yourself, much less give any thought to the needs or concerns of others.
The place in which we need God’s strength is the “inner man.” Notice something else from Paul’s prayer. The purpose for God to give us His strength is found in verse 17: “So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith…” Two Greek words can be translated as the verb “dwell.” One means “to stay at a place on a temporary basis”. The other Greek word means “to settle down.” It is the difference between a motel room and a home. We may stay in one place temporarily; but the other is where we really live.
Paul used the second word in this passage (Gk.: katoikeo). He had in mind permanent residency. Paul prayed for God to pour His power into congregations of the Lord’s church so that Jesus might make His home in our hearts. Jesus does not want to be a guest in our hearts. He does not want to be listed on the guest registers of our lives. He has in mind permanent residency. How do we know that Jesus is resident in our lives? What test indicates that He dwells within us and inhabits the local congregation? Paul said that when God’s power is really present in a congregation, deep love will exist between the Christians there. We will be “rooted and grounded in love.” Love in a church indicates the presence of the Lord. That principle deserves repeating: Love in a church indicates the presence of the Lord. God supplies the strength for Christians in a local church to love one another.
God Supply the Strength to Comprehend the Love of Christ – Vs 17b – 19a
Paul wanted Christians to comprehend the great dimensions of Christ’s love:
“… and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, . . . (3:17b–19a).
Have you ever stood on the shoreline of an ocean? Imagine how long it would take to use a plastic ruler—the kind children use in school—to measure the dimensions of the Pacific Ocean. How long would it take to measure every inch of the ocean? As long as that would take, it would not even be a good start to illustrate the time and effort it would take to measure the love that Jesus has for us.
I remember this children’s song, “Jesus loves me! This I know.” We cannot really know how much Jesus loves us unless God gives us the strength to grasp it. It takes strength from God to grasp the breadth of the love of Christ. His love embraces the whole human race—every man, woman, boy, and girl in all the world. He knows you by name. He always has. He knows your face. Jesus would recognize the sound of your laughter. He would immediately recognize your voice. He knows those hurts that you keep hidden from others. You do not have to worry about impressing Him. You need not lose any sleep over whether or not He likes you. Jesus loves you. It takes strength from God to grasp the length of the love of Christ.
His love reaches from eternity to eternity. He loved you before you were born. He loves us right now more than anyone else can, and He will keep on loving us forever. Even when we choose to act as if we have no love for Him, He still loves you and me. Nothing could cause Jesus to stop loving us. Our world makes it hard for us to understand never-ending, no-strings-attached love. We get used to “if” love—conditional love. We know all about “as long as” love: People will generally love us only as long as we meet their expectations. Jesus, however, loves us with unconditional, “never-stop-loving” love. It takes strength from God to grasp the height of the love of Christ.
He is in heaven with the Father, and that is where He wants us to be. His love reaches so high that He does not want us to settle for less. Satan on the other hand, seeks to get us so involved in clothes, cars, jobs, games, and self that we miss what Jesus wants to give us. Jesus wants to give us heaven, eternal life, complete joy, peace, and a home-made just for us, along with the privilege of being with our heavenly Father forever.
It takes strength from God to grasp the depth of the love of Christ. It is so deep that Jesus said good-bye to heaven to come to the earth and be born in a barn, so deep that Jesus willingly died on the cross, so deep that Jesus bore all our sins in His body on that cross, so deep that Jesus came out of the tomb— alive—to be our Saviour, Lord, and Friend. We cannot comprehend the love of Christ and keep on mistreating people. We cannot comprehend the love of Christ and keep it bottled up inside. It has to flow out to others. We cannot comprehend the love of Christ and be unkind to someone or tear someone down, because we know how much Jesus loves that person. We cannot comprehend the love of Christ without wanting to worship Him and praise Him. We cannot comprehend the love of Christ without wanting to serve Him and honour Him in every way we can.
We need to remember that the strength to comprehend the love of Christ does not come from within us. We must get down on our knees and pray for it. God alone gives us the strength to comprehend it. Pray for God’s power to flow into this congregation. Pray that our brothers and sisters in Christ will have the power to love one another as God desires for us to love. Pray for yourself and for this congregation to have the power to understand as you never have before the wonderful love of Jesus. Take a moment and pray specifically for one person in the church.
God Gives the Strength to be Filled with the Fullness of God
Paul prayed for a local church to “know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge.” Why? Verse 19 gives the reason: that it “may be filled up to all the fulness of God.” J. Wilbur Chapman tells the story of a man who spent years of self-imposed separation from his family. The life he chose ruined him. He went around in tattered clothes, begging in order to survive. One day, the man was asking for handouts near a train depot. As a passenger got off the train, the beggar tapped him on the back. “Mister, could you give me a dime? Just a dime?” The passenger turned around, and the beggar held out his hand. The beggar looked into the passenger’s face . . . and when he saw it, his face turned white with shock. That passenger was his father. He had not seen him in years. “Father, do you know who I am?” he said. The father threw his arms around his son. Tears rolled down his cheeks. “Son, I’ve finally found you. After all these years, I’ve found you. You want a dime? All that I have is yours.”
How many of us are like that man who was a beggar? We beg for dimes, when our heavenly Father wants to pour the riches of heaven upon us. We think that we have found life when we go to a movie on Friday night, when we go to the store and buy new clothes for school, or when we finally get that promotion at work. We think that a night out with friends at a restaurant or a party is as good as life gets. We work for forty years so that we can retire and do what we want for a few years. We settle for the dimes, while our Father wants us to “be filled up to all the fulness of God.” What does it mean to be “filled up to all the fulness of God”? It means to be like Jesus—to have His mind; to have His thoughts; to act as He acts; to have His kindness, His love, His commitment to God’s will. It means to have His trust in the Father, His zest for life, His joy, and His goodness. It means having Jesus’ own capacity to praise and honour the Father. That is life!
God’s Power Is Available – Vs. 20 – 21
Ephesians 3:20, 21 records a wonderful truth for all who have been confronted with the limitations of mortality. “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.” These words follow the series of requests made in verses 16 through 19. The requests are far-reaching and humanly impossible. But Paul wanted to underscore the reality of those requests when viewed with God’s ability. God could grant those requests. He not only could do those great things, but He could do exceedingly abundantly above those things!
Such divine power is too marvellous to grasp. So many have this resource at their call and leave it untapped. Many refuse to seek this great help because they are struggling with mortality’s power to solve the problem, and they only become more burdened. Within reach is God’s ability, but we fail to utilize that resource in life’s struggles. God urges us to expect more than we normally expect in prayer and faith.
He is waiting to answer our prayers requesting the “impossible” from His ability (Matthew 19:26; Luke 6:38). Here is a great challenge to our faith. Will we believe in this exceeding abundant ability of Jehovah God? (Cf. Matthew 9:28.)
Conclusion
The exceeding abundant abilities of God are marvellous. This is especially true when compared with man’s weakness (Mark 10:37). Our God is able regardless of the situation we face. Yet we often demonstrate a weakness in practicing this assurance of faith. Like Moses, weary with trials, we question God’s ability (cf. Numbers 11:21-23). The greatest encouragement is gained by remembering the confidence of all who trusted God’s ability.
A woman once gave a prophet a little cake; it was the very last food she had in a time of famine. In return, though, she received ample food until the famine passed (I Kings 17:8- 16). A widow put in two mites as an offering to God and won immortal fame (Luke 21:1-4). Emulate these saints who placed confidence in God’s ability as you nurture a similar trust in your life. Do you believe anything is too hard for God? His ability extends to all a promise of hope and strength (Psalms 81:10). He is able to supply the answers for all our needs.
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