Rooted And Grounded In Love Series

Sermon Text: “History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

This quote has haunted me – perhaps for years – but especially since George Floyd’s death led to a cascading series of cries for racial justice. The church is called to provide people with the means through which they can have communion and fellowship with God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Prayer is an Action word! We are rooted in the love of Christ!

In Ephesians 3:14-15, the writer rises above culture and tradition in order to show us that God is a parent to all humanity. The author is spiritually aware that God is inclusive of all people, nations, genders, and ethnicities. In other words, the language of the family is in the author’s heart, mind, and soul. We are family or even everybody has a right to live.

Being aware of God, the author prays that Ephesian believers will be indwelled by the Holy Spirit whose office is to form faith in the hearts of all God’s children.

The Holy Spirit is meaningful when it offers people what they need in times of hardships, instead of what they want. Hence, this prayer for the Ephesians, knowing that only prayer would strengthen their hearts and open new possibilities in their congregations.

Prayer is what the soul requires, and God seeks to communicate with us through prayer.

“I pray that you may be strengthened,” writes the author of the letter. “You” being the church, or us. Paul is praying that we might come to understand something of what is going on here. He prays that we might know the love of Christ that is beyond knowledge!

Our prayers and our songs should be full of the experience of being loved into wholeness, being “rooted and grounded” in Christ love, so that we can begin to see that all our actions, all our doing in the world is motivated or in response to the love that defines us.

Wesley, We in the church, like the Ephesian Church, need to rediscover prayer and learn as well as grow in the art of prayer.

In the Gospels, Jesus is portrayed as a prayerful leader. In the Gospels, the disciples requested Jesus to teach them about prayer and praying.

Summoning the Holy Spirit’s power, this passage prays that disciples in Ephesians be given power and strength to build up each other and also build the kingdom of God.

Move 1) We need a Doxology:

The Church today needs to revive the art of prayer, fasting, and believing. In essence, the entire Ephesians letter can be called a prayer book. Hence, this section introduces us to a prayerful apostle, who summons all believers to carve out time for prayer. Ephesians 3:14–21 is not just an intercession prayer but it is also a doxology in which the author acknowledges the power of Christ Love. A doxology is a short hymn of praises to God in Christian worship, often added to the end of canticles, psalms, and hymns. It is what I would call a prayer sealer after you pray the doxology is praise that seals the prayer.

With doxology comes also an expression of the faith in Jesus Christ, the one whose spirit draws humanity into one faith community. When we cry out praise God from whom all power comes praise father son and holy ghost we are demanding of the universe that it feels the presence and power of God.

This doxology prayer for the Ephesian church calls on the power and substance of the Holy Spirit so that the church will continue to grow as a multicultural faith community. That the Church praises God for all the children all Gods delivers. Faith is like an orphanage or a hospital the church can’t pick and choose race, class, or gender when God is blessing it with followers. For God, everyone is welcome God does not divide us into rich and poor black or white, educated or hood God VALS’s us all family.

As pastors, leaders, parents, and siblings in Christ, we are called to prioritize prayer in all that we do on behalf of God.

We are also called to seal that prayer with the type of faith a type of Doxology that believes God is making us family.

Move 2) Kneel and Pray to the Father

Strangely enough, most Christians have lost the art of kneeling in prayer, and instead, prayer is taken as a ritual if not an item on a to-do list.

It is important to see the message embedded in this passage: the author is praying to God as a father figure with words revealing an intimate and life-giving relationship.