Ephesians Series #18
“Stairway to God’s Fullness” Pt 2
Ephesians 3:17-21
I. Our Wealth and Worth In Christ 1-4
A. Paul blessed God for blessing us with every spiritual blessing 1:3-14
B. Paul prayed for their enlightenment 1:15-23
C. Paul detailed our resurrected life in Christ 2:1-10
D. Paul declared our awesome acceptance and reconciliation 2:11-21
E. Paul shared His personal testimony regarding ministry 3:1-13
F. Paul prayed for the Ephesian’s enablement 3:14-19
Paul shared the significant content of his prayer with the Ephesians.
14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, Ephesians 3:14-15
Paul’s prayer reveals a golden staircase to God’s fullness. His initial request sets a sequence of events into motion. His end desire is for the Ephesian Christians to live out the fullness of God.
We will try to describe what that means in a moment.
1. Desire for Inner strengthening with power by the Holy Spirit 16
Paul prayed that these believers be strengthened with power in the inner man
16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man 3:16
a. It is God who grants our strengthening
b. It is a strengthening “according to” His riches in glory
c. It is a strengthening with His power (dunamis)
d. It is a strengthening by or through the Holy Spirit
e. It is a strengthening that takes place in the inner man
Even though this is the same power able to perform signs and wonders, it is not its most glorious application or manifestation.
11 strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously Colossians 1:11
This prayer was for strengthening for the attaining of steadfastness and longsuffering.
That we remain true to God in the midst of difficult circumstances (steadfast) and maintain a spirit of service in the midst of difficult people (long suffering) requires a supernatural enabling power from outside of ourselves. We will never achieve God’s fullness without God’s strengthening first.
2. Desire for the dynamic indwelling of Christ by faith 3:17
so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love
The object here is Christ’s indwelling. The means is by our faith or trust in Him. The place of His indwelling or control is the inner man. This indwelling has to do with Christ being trusted with free reign in the inner man. The faith exercised here relates to daily surrender to Christ and meaningful connection. The Holy Spirit strengthens us so that we surrender more and more of the areas of our life to Christ; beginning in the inner core of our being.
What areas do you still reserve the right to control in your life? Living the surrendered life takes the Spirit’s strengthening.
I was listening to a message the other day that spoke of our general response to rule of Christ in our life. How would we respond if one of our kids treated our instruction like we generally treat Jesus’ instruction? “Go clean your room!” We come back a few hours later and nothing has been done. Our child responds with… “I memorized what you said dad.” “In fact, I got some of my friends together and we spent the day discussing what a clean room might look like.”
Is Jesus really the boss of our life or simply a figurehead we adore but ignore?
I don’t want you to get a wrong picture of this “indwelling” relationship with Jesus. It is really a relationship of incredible love in its ultimate expression. This daily intimate interaction with Jesus grows deeper and deeper as life progresses. The more we depend on Him, the more we find Him absolutely dependable. The more we trust His love, even when it feels counterintuitive, the more we feel His love. When you can’t trace His hand trust His heart. The more we experience His love in all of life’s situations, the better we understand it. Deeper understanding regarding Christ’s great love is the natural result of our daily interaction with Him and surrender to Him by faith. That naturally draws us up to the next stair to God’s fullness.
When God powerfully strengthens us with power by His Spirit in the inner man…
We, by faith, allow Christ to daily demonstrate His incomprehensible love for us and effectively live in us, then we gain a better understanding what genuine love is all about.
3. Desire for the Believer’s fuller understanding 17b-19a
So that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge,
Christ’s indwelling brings a rooting and grounding in love.
6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. Colossians 2:6-7
That is the foundation for the next stair.
Paul prays that they would…
Have the strength to comprehend what is the breadth, length, height, depth
Have the strength to know the love of Christ
This daily loving relationship with the indwelling Christ enables a deeper understanding.
The strength to understand that is the same power referred to in chapter 1 regarding the “working of His might”.
He will instruct us later to enter into the spiritual war in the “strength of His might.”
13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13
Paul used an intensified form of this word; super strength. Here, it is the ability, force, competence to comprehend something.
The word translated “comprehend” means to take eagerly, i.e. seize, possess, apprehend, attain, come upon, comprehend, find, obtain, perceive, take. This looks to a full comprehension. Paul desired that they would really get it. Paul wanted them to personally experience this love relationship. He wanted an “a ha” moment for these dear Christians.
“Oh, I finally get it!”
What is it we are to comprehend along with all the other believers? Notice the unity theme continuing to run all through this letter. This is something to be understood by all believers.
Commentators differ as to what Paul intended to be comprehended here. The simplest explanation is to connect this all to Christ’s love. Paul wanted them to personally grasp the full dimensions of Christ’s love for all the believers. It is a love without limitation. It is a love without boundaries. It extends in all directions and all dimensions. He wanted them to comprehend the breadth and length and height and depth of Christ’s love. He prayed they would know by personal experience the unknowable love of Christ.
Paul struggled to explain with words the grand themes of salvation all through this letter.
He used a multitude of words and phrases to try to illustrate the infinite.
“overwhelming greatness of His power toward us” (1:19)
“the great love with which He loves us” (2:4)
“Overwhelming wealth of His grace which he lavished on us” (2:7)
“infinite riches of His grace” (3:8)
“manifold wisdom of God” (3:10)
Paul tried to describe the infinite nature of Christ’s love for us.
Comprehend the length, breadth, height, depth of His love
Know the unknowable love
Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the skies of parchment made; were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade;
to write the love of God above, would drain the ocean dry; nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky.
O love of God how rich and pure how measureless and strong. It shall forever more endure the saints and angel’s song.
Paul prayed for an understanding of God’s love that transcended mere intellectual levels.
It is an ever expanding personal experience of God’s love. Just as His love for us is without limits, so should our love for each other excel more and more. This understanding leads naturally to the top stair.
4. Desire for filling with the Father’s fullness
The more we contemplate and understand His love for us, the more that love transforms us.
The more we reflect on His love, the more loving we become. When we are filled with His love, we experience the fullness of Him who IS LOVE. The concept of filled has the idea of permeation, saturation, control. It is like the wind that fills a sail. It is the idea of His nature filling our sail. Paul expresses it a bit different in the next practical part of his letter.
12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, Ephesians 4:12-13
Chapter five exhorts us to be imitators of God. Walk as Jesus walked. Love as God loved. Paul prayed that they would become more like Jesus.
Here is the full staircase.
• Paul prayed for the Spirit’s strengthening.
• The Spirit’s strengthening brings about the Son’s full indwelling in our life.
• The Son’s loving relationship results in an ever increasing comprehension of his love.
• This ever growing understanding of the full dimensions of His love begins to cause us to reflect the Father's fullness; who is love.
How can the finite be filled with the infinite? We are speaking of nature. One illustration helped make this so clear to me. When you look out over the ocean you are gripped by its vastness. When you fly to Hawaii, you spend nearly 5 hours speeding hundreds of miles per hour over nothing but endless ocean to a group of tiny specks. It is inconceivable to think that I could fit that vast ocean into my little bucket. Yet I when I fill that tiny bucket to the brim, it could be said that my bucket is filled with the fullness of the ocean. The ocean water in my bucket has the same elements as the vast ocean from which it came.
Paul’s prayer is that we become so overwhelmed by the love of Christ, that we are drawn closer to Him to the point where His very nature fills every aspect of our little bucket.
Now because Jesus was God, the father was pleased that the sum total of His nature occupied Him.
19 For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, Colossians 1:19
9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, Colossians 2:9
But it pleased God to fill His church as well.
22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. Ephesians 1:22-23
Paul was personally gripped by the unfathomable love of God.
38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom 8:38-39
To perceive and practice His love is our calling. Paul spends the rest of his letter practically spelling out what that looks like. We long to be filled up to the fullness of God’s love.
I long for us as a church family to be so gripped by His love that it overflows to everyone we touch.
Let’s pray for it until we see it.
Let’s pray for the Spirit’s strengthening with power in the inner man.
So that
The Spirit’s strengthening will allow the Son’s full indwelling in our life.
So that
The Son’s loving relationship with us brings in an ever increasing understanding of His love.
So that
This ever growing understanding of the full dimensions of His love begins to cause us to naturally reflect the Father's loving nature.
Impossible? Well, Paul understood that we serve the God of the impossible as expressed in his doxology.
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,
21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21
The things that God will accomplish through the church around the world transcend our imagination. He will do it THROUGH the church according to the power at work with the church. They will result in glory being offered in every generation through eternity.
Sample Prayer based on Paul’s Prayer for Enablement
Because You created the church to display Your power and glory…
I humbly come before you to ask that, according to the riches stored in Your glorious warehouse, You would grant us to be strengthened with power in the core of our beings by Your Holy Spirit SO THAT Christ would have full reign in our lives that roots us and grounds us in His love SO THAT we will have the capacity to fully comprehend the full dimensions of Christ’s love for us SO THAT we will be saturated with His glorious nature.
Strengthen us so that we become more like You every day through a daily trust and interaction with Jesus and a deeper comprehension of His infinite love.
Strengthen us so that His love not only fills us but overflows to all those around us.
Now to You who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to You be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
