GOD’S ETERNAL PURPOSE FOR US IN HIM
Eph. 3:14-21
Good Advice
Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully. Don’t believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want. When you say, "I love you," mean it. When you say, "I’m sorry," look the person in the eye. Never laugh at anyone’s dreams. People who don’t have dreams don’t have much.
Don’t judge people by their relatives. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson. Smile when picking up the phone, the caller will hear it in your voice. Cited on Andy chaps The Funnies
1. For this cause, I bow my knees. That you may not faint, but persevere. Paul is saying I frequently pray to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus. The apostle prays to God the Father that they may not faint; and he bows his knees in this praying. What can any man think of himself, who, in his addresses to God, can either sit on his seat or stand in the presence of the Maker and Judge of all men? Would they sit while addressing any person of ordinary respectability? If they did so, they would be considered very bad mannered indeed. Would they sit in the presence of the king of their own land? They would not be permitted so to do. Is God then to be treated with less respect than a fellow human is? Paul kneeled in praying, Acts 20:36: “he knelt and prayed with them.” 21:5: “There we knelt, prayed.” Stephen kneeled when he was stoned, Acts 7:60: “he fell to his knees.” Peter kneeled when he raised Tabitha, Acts 9:40: “Peter knelt and prayed”. Many parts of this prayer bear a strict likeness to that offered up by Solomon, 2 Chronicles 6:1, 13 He kneeled down upon his knees before all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands towards heaven . The apostle was now dedicating the Christian Church to God. He is praying for those blessings, which should ever rest on it; and he kneels down after the example of Solomon, and calls upon him to whom the first temple was dedicated, and who had made it a type of the Gospel Church.
2. Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ on earth, the spirits of just men made perfect in a separate state, and all the holy angels in heaven, make but one family, of which God is the Father and Head. Paul does not say, of whom the families, as if each order formed a distinct household; but he says family, because they are all one. All this family obtains its origin and being from God. Children derive their name from him who is the father of the family. So holy persons in heaven and earth obtain their being and their holiness from God, and therefore bear his name. Christ gives the name of Christians to all the real members of his Church upon earth. They are all the sons and daughters of God Almighty.
3. That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man.
This prayer of the apostle is one of the most grand and uplifting in the whole revelation of God. The riches of the grace of the Gospel, and the extent to which the soul of man may be saved here below, are most definitely pointed out here. Every word seems to have come immediately from heaven. No paraphrase can do it justice, and few commentators seem to have entered into its spirit; perhaps prevented by its unequaled wonder. Let us look at the phrases and let His word speak to us.
a. That he would grant you. You can expect nothing from him but as a free gift through Christ Jesus. May this be the passion of your heart when you pray to God?
b. According to the riches of his glory. According to the measure of God’s own eternal fullness. God’s infinite mercy and goodness being the gauge according to which we are to be saved and be blessed. In giving to God, it is a blessing that every one should give according to his ability. We are to give as God has given to us no matter if we are very poor or very rich. God acts up to who He is and gives out of His vast absoluteness according to the riches of his glory and grace.
c. To be strengthened with might. You may have many enemies who are sly and strong.
You may have many trials, too great for your natural strength.
You may have many temptations, which no human power is able successfully to resist.
You may have many duties to perform, which cannot be accomplished by the strength of man.
You have need of Divine strength. You need to be strengthened by a Divine power if you are to make it.
d. By his Spirit In the inner man. The supreme power of the Holy Ghost is yours because of Christ in you. This is fountain of spiritual energy that flows abundantly to give you the spiritual strength, which is necessary for your spiritual work and conflict. Every man is a combination of a body and a soul. The outward man is seen by men. The inward man stands first and foremost in reference to God and eternity. The outward man is strengthened by earthly food. The Word of God, the Holy Spirit and heavenly influences, strengthens the inward man. Knowledge, love, peace, and holiness, are the food of the inward man. Jesus Christ is that bread of life, which came down from heaven: he that eats this bread shall live and have strength by it. The soul has to be fed and cared for by Divine food as the body by natural food.
4. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love. The Church at Ephesus has been formed to an external purpose. Paul prays that God may come down and dwell in it. There is no indwelling of God but by Christ, and no indwelling of Christ but by faith, he prays that they may have faith in Christ. He prays that they shall be kept in constant control of his love and presence. God, at the beginning, formed man to be his temple, and while in a state of purity he inhabited this temple; when the temple became defiled, God left it. In the order of his eternal mercy, Christ came to purify the temple that it may again become a fit for blessed God. This is what the apostle points out in praying that Christ might strongly dwell in their hearts by faith. For the man’s heart that is not God’s house, will be a hold of every unclean and impure spirit as Satan and his angels will endeavor to fill what God does not.
5. That you, being rooted and grounded in love. Here is a double symbol, one taken from agriculture, the other, from architecture. As trees, we are to be rooted in love; this is the soil in which our souls are to grow. We are to grow in the unlimited love of God. From this love, we receive all that provision which is vital for their full growth, until we have the mind in us that was in Jesus, or until we are filled with all the fullness of God. As a building, our foundation is to be set in this love. This is a foundation will not be shaken; and from it alone is where we find the doctrine of redemption that flows to man.
6. That you May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height. These words are so full of meaning, that it is almost impossible to translate them. The first word is to be strong and signifies that we might be thoroughly able. It can only happen by being strengthened with might, by God’s power. The second word to take, catch, or seize on, may be translated, that you may fully catch, take in, and comprehend this wonderful mystery of God. The mind must be submitted and the soul recharged, to take in and understand these mysteries. The apostle compares the Church of God to a building. In order to rear a proper building a ground plan must be made, according to which the building is to be constructed. We are to be built as a heavenly house, a habitation of God through the Holy Spirit. This must have its latitude or breadth, its longitude or length, its altitude or height, and its profundity or depth. The famous temple of Diana at Ephesus, was presumed one of the wonders of the world, being in length 425 feet, in breadth 220; it was supported by 127 pillars, each 60 feet high; was built at the expense of all Asia; and was 220 years in being completed. The temple at Jerusalem was what he had in view. For the temple was built to be a habitation of God, that was his house and that the place of his rest. Our bodies, the Christian temple, and the believing heart, is to be the constant, the endless habitation of God; and how wonderful must that structure be in which the eternal Trinity dwells! What can the apostle mean by the breadth, length, depth, and height, of the love of God? Imagination can scarcely describe any fitting answer to this question. It takes in the eternity of God. GOD is LOVE; and in that, infinity of breadth, length, depth, and height, is included; or rather all breadth, length, depth, and height, are lost in this immensity. It comprehends all that is above, all that is below, all that is past, and all that is to come. The love of God, in its BREADTH, takes in the entire world. Its LENGTH reaches from the eternal purpose of the mission of Christ, to the eternity of blessedness. Its DEPTH reaches to the lowest fallen of the sons of Adam, and to the deepest wickedness of the human heart. Its HEIGHT reaches to the infinite riches of the throne of Christ. “He that overcomes will I give to sit dawn with me upon my throne, as I have overcome and sat down with the Father upon his throne.” We see here that the Father, the Son, and all true believers in him, are to be seated on the same throne! This is the height of the love of God, and the heights to which that love raise the souls that believe in Christ Jesus!
The cross-pointed in four ways, essentially in every direction, because God’s love is wide enough to include every person. God’s love is long enough to last through all eternity. God’s love is deep enough to reach the worst sinner. God’s love is high enough to take us to heaven.
7. And to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God.
It is only by the unconditional love of Christ that we can know the love of God. The love of God to man made him give Christ for his redemption. Christ’s love to man showed in his giving his life’s blood for his salvation. The gift of Christ to man is the measure of God’s love; the death of Christ for man is the measure of Christ’s love. How can the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, be known? We cannot comprehend GOD; yet we can know that he is; approve of, love, adore, and serve him. In like manner, though we cannot comprehend, the enormity of the love of Christ, yet we know that he has loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood; and we approve of, and acknowledge, him as our only Lord and Savior. In this sense, we can know the love of Christ that passes knowledge. To know the love of Christ, infinitely surpasses all other knowing.
To be FILLED with God is a great thing; to be filled with the FULNESS of God is still greater; but to be filled with ALL the fullness of God, utterly surprises the senses and bewilders the understanding of our heart. The apostle means by the fullness of God, we are to understand all those gifts and graces which he has promised to bestow on man, and in which he dispenses to the Church. To be filled with all the fullness of God, is to have the whole soul filled with meekness, gentleness, goodness, love, justice, holiness, mercy, and truth. As what God fills, neither sin nor Satan can fill; consequently, it implies that the soul shall be emptied of sin, that sin shall neither have dominion over it, nor a being in it. There is no end to the qualities of Christ, no bounds to the mercy and love of God, no limits to the progress of the human soul, so there can be no bounds set to the saving influence, which God will bestow to the heart of every believer. We may ask, and we shall receive, and our joy shall be full.
8. Now unto him.
Having finished his short, but most wonderfully comprehensive and energetic prayer, the apostle brings in his doxology, giving praise to Him from whom all blessings come, and to whom all thanks are due.
9. That is able to do exceeding abundantly
It is impossible to express the full meaning of these words, God is omnipotent, therefore he is able to do all things, and able to do superabundantly above the greatest abundance. Who can doubt this?
above All that we ask or THINK.
We can ask every good of which we have heard. We can ask every good which God has promised in his word; and we can think of. We can ask beyond our imagination. We can ask for goods and blessings beyond all that we have either read of or seen. We can imagine good things to which it is impossible for us to give a name; we can go beyond the limits of all human descriptions. God is able to do more for us than we can ask or think. He has ability connected with his willingness.
10. According to the power that works in us.
All that he can do, and all that he has promised to do, will be done according to what he has done, by that power of the Holy Ghost, which works strongly in us, acts with energy in our hearts, expelling evil, purifying and refining the affections and desires, and implanting good.
11. Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
When we are possessed of power and goodness there will be glory in the Church. God cannot only do more than we ask; not only is more than we think; but exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think - your God too small? God is able to do this not beginning with heaven, but beginning right now - because it is according to the power that works in us at the present time.
When the church understands and walks in God’s eternal purpose, God will be glorified and the church will fulfill its important duty of simply glorifying God.
