Starting this week and going into next month - there will be hundreds of thousands of students graduating from schools all around our country. High schools – colleges – post graduate – grade schools, nursery schools – you name it. We are officially full swing into graduation season. Sometimes sitting through a graduation ceremony can be a laborious trial. If you’re a student you have to listen to all the dignitaries that come to give speeches. If you’re a parent or relative you have to listen to that long, long, long, long list of names that have be called as each student walks across the stage to receive their diploma. Over the years I imagine that I’ve sat through at least a couple dozen graduation ceremonies and have the privilege at speaking a few. One the things that just about every graduation ceremony has in common is the “full potential speech.” Whether it is given by the valedictorian or the person receiving an honorary degree which they didn’t work for from a Catholic University – the speech is almost always the same. “You have worked hard to get to this point- you’ve been given something of great value, a great education – now go do something with it. Make sure you use it to reach your full potential. Don’t think small as you leave these hallowed halls – think big – continue to grow –make sure you strive to become all that you are dreaming about today.” How many people have heard that speech before? Of course you have.
That’s kind of what Paul is saying to each one of us today. As he comes to the end of the third chapter in Eph., his prayer is that the believers in Ephesus would get a grasp of who they are and what they’ve been given. But it’s more than just that you see, because he wants them to put what they know to work. This is the second prayer in the book of Ephesians. The first prayer was in chapter 1:15-23 and following, and Paul prayed for enlightenment. Here he prays for enablement. The first prayer was “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.” That was chapter 1
- and now he says “Oh, God, I pray that they might begin to do what that power enables them to do. So this is a vital prayer. Paul wants to bring the believer to the place of maximum power output. He wants full functioning Christians. There's nothing as tragic as those who aren't using what God has given them. The greatest heartache comes when people live lives that don't match what they know. That's a heartache. You know, we ought to be able to live up to what we know. We ought to be able to live up to what we understand. We ought to be able to take this knowledge and make it part of our life.
Ill - marine biologists conducting an experiment was with a pike. Pikes are long, eel-spaded fish with long blunt noses. They get to be about 4.5 feet long and weigh around 50 pounds. Whenever it was feeding time the marine biologists would dump a large bucket of the minnows in the tank where the pike was. Minnows are pikes favorite meal, you know. The pike would swim rapidly around the tanks gobbling every minnow in sight. And in a very short period of time, the pike would have devoured every minnow in the tank. Here’s what they did to the pike. This time at feeding time, they decided to lower a glass cylinder into the tank, so that the pike would be inside of the cylinder. Because it was clear glass the pike could not tell that there was any change in his environment. The next thing the marine biologists did was to pour another large bucket of minnows into the tank. Immediately the pike began to scurry and scramble aggressively trying to devour his dinner, his favorite meal, minnows. Unfortunately, his hunger would go unfulfilled. With every lunge, with every attack, the pike would continually bump his nose into the glass wall of the cylinder. Surprising, after a very short time, the pike stopped lunging. The pike stopped trying to attack the minnows in any shape, form, or fashion. The pike just stood motionless expect for the movement of his fins to keep him afloat. Once the marine biologists saw this, they removed the glass cylinder. Consequently, the minnows were swimming all around the pike, right in front of him. He could have started his dinner at any moment, but he didn’t. He just stood there. The pike had given up to the point where he literally staved to death. Most of us I think live way beneath our privileges as Sons and daughters of the king.
Ok so lets talk about what we are going to be talking about. What is potential?
Potential: a: something that can develop or become actual. Possible but not yet in existence
a latent excellence or ability that may or may not be developed. The inherent ability or capacity for growth, development, or coming into being. Something possessing the capacity for growth or development.
Potential is being potent; endowed with energy - unused influence.
- That’s the way it was as Paul tought about the Ephesians – they were a congregation of believers – saved? Yes. Filled with Spirit? Undoubtedly – Heaven bound? Without a doubt- but they were not everything that God wanted them to be. Paul looked at them and he saw everything they could do – sometimes we get caught up in focusing on what we can’t do. Paul saw unlimited potential – They saw their limitations. – These are all spiritual issues by the way – and they are no small issue at that. Somebody might say this is just a different way of viewing things. “You have your opinion and I have mine – no right and no wrong in it- just different views of life.” Paul wouldn’t agree with that. The smallness in their thinking and the limitations they placed on themselves were because of a lack of spiritual understanding. Does it make sense to have limitless resources and limitations in what you can become and what you can do and not use them? Does it make sense to have a limitless God and say and we have to be careful not to stretch ourselves too far? Does that make sense?
How Do we Reach Our Potential?
Get Powered Up With The Strength Of God So how does Paul respond to this situation? He prays. Now I might not have responded that way: I might have asked if they would like to be discipled, I might have suggested counseling – maybe start a small group. But Paul knows where the real change comes from- he prays. How many times we need to learn that lesson. We try to solve spiritual problems using earthly means. Prayer is where the battle is won.
For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15from whom his whole family[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, Paul’s prayer is grounded in the glorious riches that have been available to us in Christ. It’s an absolute total lack of faith for anyone in Christ to cry poor. It’s a rebellion – a total denial of the word of God. Listen guys, this is in fact the contrast between us and the rest of the world. Here we are so rich. - having so much – with such amazing resources. Such power and such potential to be loved by God, to be empowered by Him, to be indwelt by Him, to possess what we possess - What a contrast to the destitution, the spiritual poverty, the emptiness, the meaninglessness, the purposelessness of the life of people in the world. In chapter 1 and verse 18 Paul prays his first prayer in Ephesians. And he prayed that we would know the riches of the glory of our inheritance. In other words, it is an inconceivable, incomprehensive richness that we have. And having prayed that we would understand it in chapter 1, in chapter 3 in our text he prays that we would tap into the power that this inheritance brings into our life. The believer is unbelievably rich – God is rich in mercy, grace, kindness, love, joy, goodness, patience, forgiveness- When will his storehouse run out of any of these? They are all things that we're rich in. Boy, to have it all and not to use it is pretty sad. God has been so generous in making us rich we ought to be able to use those riches. We ought to be able to function on those riches. We ought to be able to daily use in the process of living. Somebody once said hat the average person uses one tenth of one percent of his brain. And I would venture to say that the average Christian probably uses one tenth or less of the percentage of the power of God that is available at his disposal. We limp along.
Power in the inner man. So what is he praying for? – the inner person - So let me ask you a question when we pray – What do we pray about the most? Physical things. Now it's not wrong to pray about physical things. James “If any sick among you, call for the elders of the church to come and pray.” That's not wrong. But the preoccupation should be on the spiritual. And you know in the church of Jesus Christ for years we have bogged down in praying for the physical, the outer man which perishes. It's nice that the Lord would heal my broken leg but that is totally inconsequential in the light of eternity.
Power in the inner being- you know, many Christians, never really experience what Pau is talking about here. They sort of limp along, they can't resolve their home conflicts, they have hassles getting along with their family, they can't seem to adjust to the job, the neighbors give them problems, they're sort of weak, they're sort of infirm on the inside. They have Jesus – they just don’t have the power of Jesus working in their life. They feel inadequate. They try to do the best they seem to come up short. The internal anxieties and pressures and problems seem to overpower them. They don't know what it is to see exceeding abundantly above all they can ask or think operating in them. But it isn't God Is fault. It is theirs because the energy is there, the availability is there, the power is there, the riches are there, it's only a matter of appropriation
That’s what he is trying to overcome here. The inner man is the real issue. (Say it out loud) You have a weak inner man; you suffer from frustration and mental strain and emotional and spiritual imbalance. Now we would expect the unregenerate world to lose the battle of the inner man, wouldn't we? We don't expect unregenerate people to have great self control over sin.
The inner man is the real you, the “inside you.” The “you” inside of “you” is what Paul is talking about.. Now we spend a lot of time on the outer man. We are very “outer man” conscious. You all took good care of the outer man this morning. (well most of you did) You all look lovely, wonderful. Some of you took especially good care of the outer man. You got up this morning and immediately you faced the outer man in the mirror. And you brushed it and fixed its teeth and then you put on its face. But for most people, as you start every day, the most immediately issue is to focus on the outer person. For some of you it’s no big deal. For others every day, dealing with the outer person is like a daily remodeling project. You’ve got to paint and spackle and trim the hedges. You're very concerned about the outer man. After you had clothed the outer person and you fed the outer person and got the outer man wonderfully prepared - then you came here and we don’t even pay much attention to the outer person. When we meet with Jesus it’s all about ministering to the inner person because the inner you is the real you. It's the spirit and soul part of you. And that's the thing that needs to be strengthened.
The outer is in an ongoing state of decay. That’s what the Bible says isn’t it? “Outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” (2 Cor. 4:16) The older you get, the more you realize the outer man is wasting away. The outer man is in a process of perishing. Every single one of us are in one way or another, wasting away. For all of us our outer man is in various stages of decay. (temporal vs. the eternal) But Paul’s prayer is that the Ephesians would be revitalized with power in the inner man. That they would experience renewal and refreshment on the inside - He doesn’t’ want them to have a weak inner man- but a strong one. The Greek for power is very interesting here.(dunamos with dunamos - strengthened with power) He says I want you to be strengthened with power. - powered with power. Dynamited with dynamite. To be strong with strength – to be mighty with might. That’s the idea. Paul is saying that because you have the glorious power of God Himself dwelling within you have everything you need. That's you, that's me. We've got enough power to do the job.
Get Opened Up To His Reign – so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. How can we
reach our full potential? First get powered up with the His strength – second get opened up to his reign.
Notice the words “so that” Where there is a strong inner person there is a result. And it says to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man with the result that, or in order that - you have a purpose or a result - that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. You say Well, I don't understand that, because if I'm a Christian -Christ is already there. How can I have the power of God within me and not have Christ within me?
See the word dwell there? That Christ may dwell? The Greek word is katoikeesi. Comes from two words kata and oikeo. Oikeo means to be at home, to dwell at home, to be at home. Kata means down. So kata added to oikeo means to really be at home. To settle down and be at home.
When you’re operating in the power of God- Christ is going to really be a home in your heart. And I dare say, there are a lot of Christians where He dwells but is not that comfortable. Would you agree to that? I imagine all of us would agree there have been times in our lives when we have discomforted Christ greatly.
Ill of when our kids were small and my wife would walk into a room she wouldn’t settle down and relax unless the room was picked up. She walked in and said, “Just look at this place it’s a mess – and she would start to encourage the kids to go around and start picking up the place. She didn’t feel comfortable sitting in a room where there was a mess. Now if I they don’t respond to her encouragement, she would move on into exhortation, If they didn’t respond to exhortation she would up the intensity a bit more. She had a way of getting them to respond. The volume might rise up a little and the intensity of her voice amps up and sooner or later she had a way of getting the kids to start picking up. One way or the other – the room was going to get cleaned up. That's the experience of Christ who enters into the life of a believer and finds that the work is not always all done. He can't just settle down to commune with the believer. Jesus is all about cleaning up the place. So the question is not is Jesus there - it's is He comfortable there? That's the issue. And in many lives He's not comfortable. He's distressed. He’s not just going to settle down in a dirty room.
Some of you have read the little booklet called "My Heart Christ's Home." If you haven't you ought to get it and read it. That's a good little booklet. It is written as an allegory where a person's life is like a house. And Jesus comes to the house and starts going from room to room. First Jesus went into the library which is the control room of the house. Right? What you read. Where all the information is stored. And Jesus goes into the room that is the mind, the brain, and he finds on the shelves all kinds of trash and garbage and junk and evil and bad thinking and bad human philosophy and useless stuff, stuff that is not going to help you. A lot of neutral things and He just takes it all off the shelves, throws it away and puts the Word up there.
Then He goes to the dining room. And the dining room is the room of the appetite. - the room of the desires. What do you really feast on? What do you really hunger for? What do you really want? And he finds a worldly menu. A menu of riches, a menu that includes prestige, a menu that includes things, materialism, lust of the flesh and He takes it all out, and puts a new menu in. It’s the food that really satisfies the will of the Father. Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. So the library is cleaned up and the Word is there. And the dining room is cleaned up and the only thing on the menu is the will of God.
Then Jesus goes to the living room because the living room is where you spend most of your time and that’s the place where you fellowship. He goes in there and He finds that that's where He's neglected. There's a lot of activity going on but nobody pays any attention to Him. He cleans that room out.
He goes to the workshop and He finds fantastic tools, beautiful work bench. And the guy is in there making toys. Just toys. And Jesus says you've got all this ability and you can't produce anything more than a toy? Jesus wants to take all your abilities, all your capacities, all your capabilities and cause them to produce things for the Kingdom. Cause them to lay up treasure in heaven, cause them to make things that have eternal value. So He changes the whole format in the workshop.
He gets all done - the library's all fixed; it's got the right kind of stuff up there to control everything. The dining room is great, we've got the appetites all set on the will of God. The living room is settled, we're in there fellowshipping with Christ and His children.. And the workshop is ready; we're down there using our tools and our abilities to make things for the kingdom. But there's a problem – there’s strange odor coming from someplace. Everything looks nice and clean, but something stinks. Smells like something rotten, but you can’t really tell where it is coming from. And the Lord isn't too happy. “There's something dead in here,” he says. The smell is coming from a closet with a closed door. And the guy says – “Look, You come into my house. You clean up everything. I mean, leave me one closet, will You? That's all I ask. You can have the dining room and all this stuff, just ... that's my closet.” The Lord says, “No, I want that closet.” That's the closet full of personal sins, the hidden things, the dead things. And the man became very angry because Jesus had every other room but Jesus gave him a command – “Open that door!” And he opened it and it was full of evil things. Those little secret things that nobody knows about, those things that go on in your mind. Those things that you do when nobody sees you do them. And Jesus cleaned that out. And when He got all that done then He was at home. See? The Lordship of Christ is to extend to every room in your life, He wants it all.
Check out this verse: Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:23) See, God the Father, God the Son they want to come and be at home in my life. They don't want me dragging Them into a wrong behavior, they don't want me dragging Them into an evil place. They don't want me exposing Them to an evil deed. I have to realize that everywhere I go and everything I do involves the Lord.
Get Filled Up With His Love And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Once he’s got the closets clean - once Christ settles down and is at home – we will be rooted and established in his love –Not only will we be rooted and established in his love this passage says we will be able to comprehend it. Most people won’t be able to comprehend it because they haven’t experienced it in all their fullness. You talk about something that enables you to reach your full potential – this changes everything. Ill of testimonies at Jim’s funeral. One by one people stood and gave testimonies of how he had loved them through a difficult time – helped when they needed help – encouraged when they needed encouraged – All started when a pastor asked him to respond to the love of Christ and he went forward. The love of Christ filled his life and he filled others with the same love he had received. Ill - Somebody asked Louis Armstrong to explain jazz. Louis Armstrong is a great jazz trumpeter. They said, Mr. Armstrong could you explain jazz? And Louis Armstrong says Man, if I've got to explain it, you ain't got it. And he's right. And if you're asking about love, if I've got to explain it, then you ain't got it. But if you got it, you're not looking for the explanation, you comprehend it.
the Greek the verb comprehend is a compound verb, there is a Greek word lambano which means to receive something. And then there is katalambano which is an intense verb meaning to seize, or to grasp for your own. Christians, fight too much. They argue too much. They want their way too much. Christ wants us to love with His love. He wants us to love people the same way He loved them, sacrificially, selflessly, givingly, offering ourselves up for their behalf and their needs.
How long is this love? What is its length? He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. So it stretches from eternity past. Chapter 2 verse 7; “That in the ages to come He will show the exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” How long is His love? From eternity past to eternity future.
How deep is His love? Deep enough to reach us when we were dead in trespasses and sin. When we walked according to the patterns of the world, according to the prince of the power of the air. When we walked according to the spirit that works in the sons of disobedience. When our manner of life was guided by the lust of the flesh and the lust of the mind. And we were, by nature, the children of wrath. It was deep enough to reach to the lowest pit to draw us out.
How high is His love? High enough to take us and bless us with all spiritual blessing in heavenly places. To raise us up together and make us sit together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. That's how high it is.
How wide? God so loved the world. He wraps his arms around every person of every nation of every tribe of every tongue of every time. It’s wide. The point is “He’s got enough love for you – for all of us. This is the kind of love we are to build our life on. This is the kind of love we are to comprehend and seize at every moment. This is the kind of love we are to experience and know. The kind of love that reaches to parties that hate each other. The kind of love that runs from one part of our life to the end of our life. The kind of love that reaches to the person in the deepest pit. The kind of love that can lift up a person to the very presence of God. That's the kind of love we are to know.
Check out the word fullness: The word pleeroo, fullness = total fullness. It’s dominant, total dominance. Now the problem a lot of Christ followers have is they try to live a balanced life. We say, “Well, here's the Holy Spirit and here's me. A little bit for the Holy Spirit, a little bit for me, a little bit of self will, a little bit of Holy Spirit's will. But when we're filled with the Spirit, you see, all of a sudden self is completely out of the picture and everything falls on the Holy Spirit's side of the scale. There’s no place in the Christian life for balance. I’m currently working on becoming the most unbalanced person you’ll ever know. (some of you will say I’ve already arrived) But the deal is this - God doesn't want to share us with us. It isn't a little bit of God and a little bit of us, a little bit of ... it's the fullness of God. He wants us to be filled up with His love. Filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Get Used Up For His Glory - 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, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Look what it says – He is able – say it out loud. Say it again. Shout it loud. God is able. Church do you believe that? That’s I really need to say about anything that lies in front of us. He is able. He is able to do what you ask. He is able to do what you ask or think. He is able to do all that you ask or think. He is able to do above all that you ask or think. He is able to do abundantly above all that you ask or think. And that's not all! He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that you ask or think. Don't ever say, Lord, I don't know if You can use me in this situation. He can.
Beyond your dreams, infinitely beyond. As believers -a church we should have that power. You know, I don't believe that we've even begun to see what God could do if we really got turned on. When the church gathers together, it gathers with the Holy Spirit, and the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when it separates every believer goes out of here able to do exceeding abundantly above all that he can ask or think,
The power is there. The resource is there. There's no limit to what God can do. He can cause us to mount up with wings as eagles. He can cause us to run and not be weary. To walk and not faint. He can accomplish things through us that we never dreamed. But not until you believe what he says. Not until you take your eyes of your own self-imposed limitations. Will you really try to limit the limitless? To restrain the unretrainable? Will you really try to contain the uncontainable? Will you really attempt to put boundaries on the One that has end? God wants to be glorified in the church. Will you really walk in insecurity with the One that gurantees your security? Do you think He could forget you when he says you are unforgettable? Is it possible to exhaust his resources when his word declares they are inexhaustible? How can we be weak when he is so strong? How can we be unsure when His Word has never failed? How can we be afraid when his eye is on the sparrow? How can we not know the way when Jesus has declared I am the way the truth and the life? How can our way be dark and unsure when we follow so bright a light? How can the church be weak, when he is so strong?
Christ made it possible for God to be glorified in the church. Christ came and redeemed the church. And so, by Christ Jesus, God can be glorified in the church. But listen, people, He can't be glorified in the church until the church really uses its resource. If the church isn't what it ought to be, it diminishes the glory He deserves. Don’t rob God of His glory. Don’t diminish His glory because of fear and unbelief. Don’t turn a deaf ear to the promise of His Word. He is able. He is able to do more than we ask or imagine. He’ll go beyond what you ask or imagine – way beyond. A weak church? A poor church? No such thing! A weak Christian? A poor Christian? No such thing. Only an unbelieving church. Only an unbelieving Christian.
I can’t think of anything worse than a church who refuses to believe our great God for great things. I can’t think of a worse thing in the world than a dead church. In the world’s eyes, if the church is dead- than God is dead. My God is not dead! My God is alive and well. My God is waiting for a group of believers who will take him at his word and trust him for the resource and walk boldly into the future taking big risks in places where others say it can’t be done. My God is bigger than the doubts that man has. My God is greater than the fear that causes others to shrink back. My God is great and worthy to be praised. My God is bigger than any problem that I can contemplate. When my God makes a promise I believe my God will keep His word. Not only will he keep his word-he will fulfill it in ways that that will bring amazement to the world. My God is able. My God will be glorified!
What about your God? Will you trust Him. Will you take Him at his Word? Will your focus be up even when the economy is down? Will your heart be true even when your friends prove false? What will the world know about about your God by the way that you live your life? If our eyes would only see and our ears would hear the Word of the Lord today. If our hearts would only be opened to the truth of His word.
CLOSE:
Get Powered Up With His Strength
Get Opened Up To His Reign
Get Filled Up His Love
Get Used Up for His Glory
* PowerPoint slides may be available for this message. Some slides I use have copy write restrictions on them - others are slides, which I’ve created. If this sermon has slides I’ve created, I’d be glad to pass them on to you for your use. Please feel free to email me at: timvamosi@charter.net
