INTRODUCTION
It has been an interesting month. Just in the last month we have had multiple natural disasters and other national and world related issues/events:
Earthquake – hit Mexico City
Hurricane Harvey – Hit Texas
Hurricane Irma – Hit Florida
Hurricane Maria – Hit Puerto Rico
Escalating tensions with N. KOREA
NFL – civil rights, free speech, respect for national symbols, disrespect for military and their sacrifice, protest President Trump, etc.
What do each of these situations have in common? Each situation has a group of people that have a need whether real or perceived that requires an expected response by someone else. When the expected response is not received then we have an unmet expectation which fosters hurt and greater division. If the need is great enough then the person with the need pursues it with greater passion and when the expectation continues to be unmet then the hurt and division increases.
We have division in the church that we have decided to live with. It is called denominations. We have debated over issues within the church and when we cannot come to agreement we separate from one another and gather with people that look like us and think like us. That is not how the church ought to be. That is one of the reasons I love the Chaplain Corps. We have chaplains from various denominational backgrounds but instead of focusing on our denominational differences we focus on what we have in common, Jesus Christ. Instead of having a congregation that looks like us and has generally the same shared life experiences we have congregations that represent various ethnic groups.
This morning we are going to learn from Paul “a way” to meet one another’s needs within the church and foster unity rather than division.
To do this we will look at Ephesians 3:14-19 but we need a little context before we do.
Context of Ephesians
Author: Paul
Date: 60 ADish
Location: written in Rome while in prison
To: Church at Ephesus
Social Context:
Purpose:
• To teach about the church as the body of Christ, composed of both Jewish and Gentile believers
• To exhort believers to conduct themselves properly toward one another because of their oneness in Christ
• To equip them for spiritual warfare
H. L. Willmington, Willmington’s Bible Handbook (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1997), 704.
SCRIPTURE READING
A Prayer for the Ephesians
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 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, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, 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.
The Holy Bible: New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1984), Eph 3:14–19.
This is Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians. It applies to the church today, to you and to me.
1. PAUL’S POSITION
First, let’s start with Paul’s position.
a. I Kneel
Paul says “I kneel”. Right now everyone on the side of those kneeling during the national anthem are saying to themselves, and some out loud, “See! That’s right! Preach it to ‘em!” Hold on. Paul is not prescribing a physical position for prayer. He is prescribing a heart attitude. An attitude of humility. Paul is humbling himself in his heart. Many times this may also then translate to a physical position of kneeling, bowing the head, lying prostrate, etc. This type of “kneeling” is not “kneeling in protest” but rather “kneeling in submission.” And right now those that are on the side of “Stand for the Anthem or else” are saying “See! That’s right! Preach it to ‘em!” Notice I’m not telling you which side I am on. Because it is not about a “side”. As soon as we identify a “side” to be on we are wrong because we are supposed to be in a position of humility submitting ourselves to the needs of others as EPH 4:12 says,
“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”
b. Before the Father from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.
The second aspect of Paul’s position is that he is kneeling or humbling himself before the Father. He says in ROM 12:3,
“Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgement, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to you.”
Paul says in EPH 2:
you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
The Holy Bible: New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1984), Eph 2:1–3.
That was our spiritual condition, dead in our sin; objects of wrath.
Praise be to God Scripture does not leave us there because Paul goes on to say:
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
The Holy Bible: New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1984), Eph 2:4–10.
Because of God’s love, each of us that have received by faith God’s gift of Jesus Christ and the forgiveness of sin that he offers are now adopted into the family of God, making him our Father, and now have a seat in heaven which we cannot earn and can never deserve. That is why Paul and every Christian should kneel before the Father, humbling ourselves for what he has done. When we do that, all of us are on the same playing field with the same status; Servant of God saved out of my sin to be a servant of God. There is no race, gender, ethnic, or any other distinction.
Paul’s position is one of humble submission before his Heavenly Father.
2. PAUL’S PRAYER
How does Paul pray for the Ephesians?
a. Strength
Paul prays for strength. This isn’t your everyday strength that you get from lifting weights or drinking protein shakes. He prays for spiritual strength. And he doesn’t just ask for a little, he asks according to what God is capable of not what you or I are capable of. You and I might pray, “Lord, help me get up this morning.” That’s not a bad prayer, it’s actually very practical. Paul prays, “out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being”
His glorious riches can be viewed as the sum total of all his attributes. There is no limit to God’s strength, power, ability, knowledge, or love. It is infinite. It cannot be measured and can never run out.
He asks that you be strengthened with God’s power through the Spirit in your inner being.
The Holy Spirit is the vehicle that dwells within us and keeps us in relationship with and in tune with the Father. Through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit we have a steady supply of strength and power for today as well as the hope of Heaven when our mortal bodies pass away.
Paul prays for God’s supernatural strength.
b. Love
But secondly, he prays for love. Every attribute of God finds its origin in God’s attribute of Love. 1 John 4:16 tells us that “God is love.”
First, he prays that the Ephesians would be rooted and established in love. That they would be well grounded in the love of Christ for them. God offers us love through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice. It is a love that humanity did not want or ask for because we did not recognize the need but God provided for our need before we realized it and he did it for our own good. It is in this love that we become rooted and established into the family of God.
Next, He prays that they would know and understand this love more fully. He prays that we would more fully know and understand the love Christ has for us that would move him from Heaven to take on flesh as an innocent and helpless baby, to walk physically among us, basically plummeting himself from heaven where there is no sin into the daily sin each of us wallows in and become accustomed to. A love that would motivate him to walk, talk and live with those who despised him to include one who would betray him. A love that would give him the strength to walk steadfastly into brutal and humiliating beatings and ultimately to the cross where he would face the humiliating shame of God turning his face away as Jesus, the King of Glory who was without sin, no not one, absorbed your sin, my sin, and the sin of the entire world past, present, and future. It is Jesus’ love of the Father that provided the strength and power to endure these supernatural trials and overcome them. Paul prays that we would begin to understand and fathom how high, and deep, and long, and wide is the love of Christ for each one of us. How immeasurable that love is. To love Christ is to know him more fully. 1 Cor 8:3 says “If one loves God, one is known by God.”
Lastly, he prays that we would be filled to the measure of the fullness of God. The more we know God and his love for us the more we love him. His love motivates us to love him more and we become more and more filled with love for God and his Son Jesus Christ. We can never out love God. We become filled to overflowing and are able to love and see others the way God loves them and sees them. When we choose to love people for their good then we will be able to understand their need and be able to meet it.
POINT 3: WHAT SHOULD WE PRAY FOR?
If we ask anything according to His name He hears us. Pray God’s Truth into their lives. Praying Scripture for someone is always appropriate and powerful.
A way to pray Scripture into someone’s life is to personalize it. You do that by replacing the pronouns with the person’s name. Here is how I pray this prayer for my family:
I pray that out of your glorious riches you may strengthen Margaret, Stephen and Grace with power through your Spirit in their inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in their hearts through faith. And I pray that Margaret, Stephen and Grace, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, 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 they may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
CONCLUSION
We live in a sinful world where there is division, hurt, physical needs and emotional needs. We, the people of God can be positive agents of change as we love God more fully humbling ourselves before him. The power of love for other people, motivated and empowered by our love for God will allow us to be supernatural agents of change as we trust him and choose to see others and love others as God does.
BENEDICTION
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.
The Holy Bible: New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1984), Eph 3:20–21.
