Knowing Him
Text: Ephesians 3:14-21
By: Ken McKinley
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Before we get started I want you all to stop for a moment and think of a film that you truly enjoy… Did you think of one? I did, I thought of the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark. I really like that movie. But I was thinking about this the other day, and you know what, Raiders of the Lost Ark just wouldn’t be the same without the musical score. I would even go on to say that most memorable films also have a memorable score. What would the movie Jaws be without the menacing “ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum, dum, dum, dum?” Or the Wizard of Oz without its musical score? What the score does for a film is create a sensation, a feeling, or an expectation. I once heard how a theater manager in South Korea felt that The Sound of Music was too long, so he shortened it by cutting out all the songs. The point of the movie was still there, and all the needed information was given, but without the musical score it was missing that special something.
In kind of the same way, we sometimes do the same thing in our Christian lives. We learn the truth of the Gospel and we get all the right information, but none of the sensation.
What I mean by that is that we might know the Bible from cover to cover, but if we’re not living it, then how much good is it doing us? Paul’s prayer here is kind of a turning point in the book of Ephesians. He makes the transition from the foundation of doctrine to the idea and structure of Christian ethics, he moves from what we should believe to how we should live. So the first half of the letter tells us who we are in Christ, and we need to know that or else we would be hopelessly lost, but the next step is: Knowing what we now know, how are we to live this out? So this prayer that Paul prays is a prayer for us; that we would move from knowledge to practice.
This is Paul’s 2nd prayer in Ephesians. The first one was in chapter 1 verses 15-23 and it was for enlightenment, the emphasis here in this 2nd prayer is for enablement. The first prayer was for our understanding; this prayer is for our applying that understanding. So it’s Paul’s prayer that we would master the truth, but then the truth would also master us.
I recently looked at a list of the top ten largest churches in the United States. Out of those 10, only one was listed as a Baptist Church, Pastor Ed Young’s 2nd Baptist in Houston Texas, several of the top 10 were Charismatic Churches, and most of the top ten used contemporary praise and worship in the service. One of the top ten wasn’t even what I would call a real church, but was online church – LifeChurch out of Edmond Oklahoma. If you were to attend most of these churches it would be more like attending a rock concert than what most of us think church is. And when I looked at these churches websites I had to really search them to find their doctrinal statements or statements of faith. In other words they didn’t post what they believed right out in the open. Now I don’t know about you all, but this makes me uneasy. But as a pastor I had to ask myself why these churches were so successful when it came to drawing in the crowds. What were they doing in order to get 20 to 40 thousand people attending their churches? And what I believe is the answer is that they touch an emotional chord with their congregations.
Let’s face it, Southern Baptists are not always the most emotional people when it comes to a church service. I mean our youth services are pretty emotional, we have things like Falls Creek where there is an emotional fervor, but here at home, in our services, we just don’t get that emotional. And what I see is that we tend to split theology from experience. We tend to stifle our feelings in favor of memorizing facts. I’m probably one of the worst when it comes to this, having been in certain churches where congregations are worked up to an emotional frenzy and sound doctrine is tossed aside. And so we are cautious, but Scripture tells us that we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. We should use our intellect; in-fact, historically Christians have been some of the most brilliant thinkers of the western world. If you don’t believe me try reading John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion sometime. And yes, we shouldn’t be so open minded our brains fall out, but on the other hand we should also realize that Christianity is a relationship with the living God, and therefore we must not only know Him, and about Him, but also respond to Him with God – given emotions.
Here in our text we see that Paul, (who by the way was a man of incredible intellect) is a man who understands that emotion is half of the coin of worship. First of all he kneels. To the 1st Century Jew, kneeling was not common. In the Gospels we hear Jesus talking of people standing on the street corners to pray, He also tells us the Pharisee and the tax collector standing in the temple to pray. To the 1st Century Jew, standing was a sign of respect, and it was the more common form of worship. That’s not to say that sometimes kneeling to pray didn’t happen. Jesus knelt in the garden to pray, but falling on your knees was a sign of submission and absolute dependence. It was a sign of emotion. And so when we see that Paul kneels to pray, it is a pray that is not only driven by his mind, but also by his heart.
In verse 19 Paul even says that he is praying that we would know the love of Christ that passes even knowledge. In-other-words, the love of Christ is beyond the common understanding.
The Bible never teaches that religion is pure emotionalism, but it also never teaches that religion is purely about knowing a bunch of facts without any form of emotion. Christ dwells in the heart. We know who He is, but do we know Him? We know that He dwells in our hearts, but do we know His indwelling?
You all know me from the times I’ve visited you in your homes, you know me as your pastor, you know me from speaking with me during our fellowship dinners and such, but MariJo really knows me. She sees both the good and the bad, she knows my favorite movies, my sense of humor, the things I like and don’t like. She knows what makes me happy, what makes me sad, and what makes me mad. Well; the Bible says that we are the bride of Christ, but how well do we know Him? We know a lot about Him, but how well do we know Him?
In the 1st chapter of Ephesians Paul prayed that “the eyes of our hearts may be enlightened in order that we may know the hope to which He has called us, and the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints.” Now; in our text, he prays that God would take these truths and firmly implant them in our lives. His prayer is that not only would we know these truths, but that by these truths our lives would be radically changed.
But here’s the thing – we can’t do this on our own. That’s why in verse 16 Paul says, “That He would grant you…”
You and I can’t get Christian experience by going after the experience itself. That’s what happens in so many of those emotional type gatherings; people get an emotional charge, but they get no substance, and they seek after those emotional charges, but there is nothing to sustain them during the dry times. We can’t get the gift by going after the gift, we must look to the gift Giver, the Source of the gift.
Think about it like this: if you were to date someone, or you were married, and your bf/gf, husband/wife liked to go out to eat at a fancy restaurant, you don’t want to believe that they are only with you because of that reason. You want them to want you, not what you can give to them. So if all we do is go after the gifts and not the gift Giver, in the end we loose everything.
Unfortunately there are some who want the gifts, they want the blessings, the joy, the peace, of being a Christian, but they want nothing to do with the God who gives those gifts. Sometimes there are people in church, who only want what God, or maybe even the church can give them, but they don’t want God Himself. But in our text Paul prays that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith. The Greek word used here speaks of a permanent place of residence. So Paul is not only talking about our salvation, he’s talking about a life-long fellowship with Jesus Christ.
It’s one thing to know that God is love; it’s another to see it, feel it, and live it.
When I was a child, my parents used to tell me that I could do anything I set my mind to, they never discouraged me. That’s not some fact I’ve memorized, it’s etched on my heart. So when the United States Marine Corps said I couldn’t join the Marines in 1990 because I have asthma, I said “ok.” Instead I ended up joining the Army and served with one of the most elite unites in military history. When someone told me that I would not do very well in college because of my learning style I said, “ok,” and ended up making almost straight A’s in college and graduate school. Unfortunately there are some people who have experienced the exact opposite, they’ve been told that they will never amount to anything, and it too is etched on their hearts.
You see, it’s a fact that my parents told me I could do anything, but it’s also a sensation. It is a controlling factor, it greatly influences the way I live. And it’s a fact that some peoples parents told them other things, hurtful things, and that is also a sensation, it controls them.
But then we come to Scripture and we read that God says He will never leave you or forsake you. We read that when the Father in heaven looks upon you He sees His own Son. We read that He loved us in eternity past and sees us as righteous, and as His own beautiful creation. Did you know that? Do you know that? I hope so. But lets take it beyond that, you may know the facts, but do you consider them to be true for you? Do you just know the information, or do you also have the sensation?
To move from information from sensation you’ve got to spend time in God’s word. You’ve got to spend time at the Cross. It’s at the Cross where God demonstrated His love for us. Our minds could spend all eternity considering this fact, but never exhaust its meaning.
For those who have never experienced God’s love in Christ, I can’t adequately explain it; for those who have experienced it, no words will do, they will always fall short.
INVITAITON AND CLOSING
