The Power of Love
Ephesians 3:14-19
Corrie Ten Boom in the book, Reflections of god’s Glory (page 69), wrote, “In Africa a man came to a meeting with bandaged hands. I asked him how he had been injured. He said, “My neighbor’s straw roof was on fire; I helped him to put it out and that’s how my hands were burned.
“Later I heard the whole story. The neighbor hated him and had set his roof on fire while his wife and children were asleep in the hut. They were in great danger. Fortunately, he was able to put out the fire in his house on time. But sparks flew over to the roof of the man who had set the house on fire and his house started to burn.
“There was no hate in the heart of this Christian; there was love for his enemy and he did everything he could to put out the fire in his neighbor’s house. That is how his own hands were burned.”
Last Sunday, I said that Paul started to say something and got off on to something else. Eph 3:1 “For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles—“
He then began to talk about the messenger and the mystery, not the action that he was going to state “for this reason”. He picks it up again in verse 14, beginning again.
Eph 3:14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,
For what reason does he bow his knees before the Father? Simply, God sent His Son to unite people of every nation under one Church. He removed the wall of separation between mankind and God, drawing us near to Him. He removed the walls of separation between all people, nations, culture, language and heritage, thus allowing unity. He revealed to us the mystery of the Church, people from every background worshipping together in unity that is not humanly possible, a supernatural unity.
Just to be sure we get that, he emphasizes it in verse 15. Eph 3:15 “…from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named…”
Remember, he had made us who were not family to be family, both those who were far off and those who were near. Remember, he was specifically called as an apostle to deliver this message across cultural lines.
With those foundation truths established earlier in Ephesians, now let’s get into what Paul was praying for this Church of people who were just like us in the most important way.
Just before we do, I want us to keep a few thoughts in mind that may address a simple question you might be asking.
First, When Paul prayed this prayer he is discussing, he is talking to the most important person in the universe. As a matter of fact, when he prays to God, he is talking to the one who he needs to be talking to.
Then why is it important for Paul to tell the Ephesians, and subsequently us, what was in his private prayer to God? Why do we need to know?
There are two possible answers, and they both may be right.
1. The first thing that comes to mind is that this would be a good way for Paul to teach us how we should pray for each other.
If the Ephesians needed this prayer to go from Paul’s lips to God’s ear, you need your pastor to be praying the same thing for you. If this prayer was so important that God included it in the Eternal Word of God, maybe it is something you need to be praying for in the life of your deacons, Sunday school teachers and pastor.
So let’s view this as something we need to pray for each other today.
But I think there may be another important reason for us to know this prayer for us.
2. What if everything in this prayer is already available to us through Jesus Christ and we just haven’t realized it?
What if this is already given as a promise from God? What if the purpose for this quoted prayer is for us to realize the importance for us to realize what Christ has already done for us?
I quote to you often 2 Peter 1:3, that God has already given us everything we need for life and godliness, or Christian life success…. In Christ Jesus. Maybe Paul is praying that these people will realize what they have in Christ and actualize it in their lives.
So let’s keep these two things in our minds, and any others that the Holy Spirit may impress upon us and see what are the actual nuts and bolts of this prayer.
I. Strength
Eph 3:16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
Paul is actually praying for strength, coming from the Holy Spirit, through the inner being of the Christian life. Interestingly, the ESV says “strengthened with power”. The KJV says “strengthened with might”. Two Greek words are used to render this to those phrases.
1. The first word, translated often as “strengthened”, also carries the meaning of increasing, growing, becoming larger.
2. The other word, that goes with growing, is dunamis, or dynamo, like dynamite.
When you consider the dynamics of this verse, you can see that this may fit our two premises. We can certainly see the advantage of praying this for each other.
As pastor, I find that many problems in our congregation zap the strength from our people. I find that dealing with these problems often drain my strength. It is such a blessing to know that I have a congregation of people praying for my renewed strength each and every day. I thank you for that. It is important to know that as I pull out my prayer lists, one of them being the church prayer guide, the other being the database of our Church members, that I am praying for your increasing strength.
Yet the dynamic of the verse is not for there to be more power in the source. This is being prayed “according to the riches of His glory.” Our prayers cannot make the power of Christ any bigger. He is not saying that Paul is praying for God to have more power and to share that with us. It is understood that, “according to His riches in glory”, God already has all the power.
So, here’s the deal…..
We have already discussed that Christ removed the wall of separation between us and God. We have already discussed that God has given us all that is His. We are already seated in the heavenlies, even though that does not appear to be our reality day by day.
But as a guarantee, God has given Himself, in the form of His Spirit, as a title deed for us to hold. That title deed also carries the power of the Holy Spirit, as God supplies all things now that we need to grow and experience victory.
So if it is not the source of power Paul is praying for. If it is not the path of the supply that Paul is praying for, that only leaves our ability to receive the strength as what Paul is praying for. So that aligns with our second premise.
For us to receive, we must realize that it is available. We must actualize the truth in our lives.
Rich man died, leaving lifelong servant enormous wealth. Attorney came by months later to find servant in squalor. The Lawyer restated the availability of wealth. Servant said, “That’s all fine and well, sir, but may I have enough for a little bread?”
That’s what Paul was relating to the Romans when he talked about renewing their minds in Romans 12. Simply, Paul is praying that we get it, that we understand it, and thus we receive what is being handed to us.
My dilemma is this… the same as his was…. Paul has already stated this truth in the Book of Ephesians. He told us what we have in Christ, and this another way of saying it. Maybe we will catch on here, but if we do, what must we do?
I am tempted to start back at the first of Ephesians and point out what we have, what we may have covered without realizing the significance. But that would mean starting this series of Ephesians over again. Then when I get to this point again, and we realize anew what we have in Christ, I could start it over and cover it again, and still not exhaust it. This is important. This is why we need to be like the Bereans.
Here is a side sermon, free of charge, today and today only. Sometimes I hear someone say, “I don’t get anything out of that preacher. I’m starving to death under his ministry.”
Listen, we have it backwards. We do not come to Church to eat. Eat at home. Get out your Bible. Put away your syrupy devotional books and get into the Gospels and Epistles to the Church. Come to church well nourished, and simply pray for God to use the service to give you a little dessert.
I know many have spent their lives coming to the Church to get fed spiritually. But let me show this in a startling passage.
In Revelations 3, beginning in verse 14, we see the letter to the Church at Laodicea. It was a lifeless, dead Church, lukewarm and disgusting to God.
But look at verses 19- 20 for the shock of a lifetime. “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”
This is not telling a lost person how to open the door of his heart to be saved. He is talking to the individual members of a dead, luke-warm Church. He said, if anyone inside will hear me and open the door, I will fellowship with that one. The Church services will not be blessing free, but full of blessing, for the one who comes prepared and invites God.
The problem here was not that the Church services were godless. The lives of the members were lifeless and they were coming to the Church services for life support. Our Nation is not seeing a Church bathed with power, because the individuals of the Church are not fellowshipping with God outside the building. Therefore, there is little fellowship with God in the services. A lifeless church in America, It’s not because we don’t have power available, …not because the Pauls of the world are not praying it, …not because we are not praying for it for one another, …but because the individual Christians are not experiencing the supernatural in their lives. We are not experiencing it in our Church and showing it to the community.
I am not talking about miracles, healing services, signs and wonders. I am talking about the supernatural love that moves people to faith. It’s about people seeing Christ make a difference in our worse possible moments, no, I am not seeing that. No, not about our service, we are failing on a much simpler level, the difference Christ makes in our everyday life.
We are living without power, not at the powerful Church meetings, but at the funeral home, in the hospital rooms, at the business market, in the family meetings…..in the city council meetings, in the school boards meetings, at the PTA, at the baseball games. We are powerless and living, acting and reacting like a good lost person.
Now I am speaking generally, not about any specific person, unless I am speaking about myself. Please understand that.
What are we not seeing, as a large group of people meet together, worship, serve and call upon God?
Eph 3:17 “…so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love”,
There you have it. We are not letting Christ live through us. We are living the Christian life through our efforts, not through Christ’s supernatural life living out of us. This is seen in our daily battles as not being grounded and rooted in love.
Paul then tells how Christ lives through us the power of Christ is demonstrated in our lives. Eph 3:18-19 “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, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
That you may have strength…. Not just strength, but strength to comprehend….Not just strength to comprehend, but strength to comprehend the power and pervasiveness of love.
“will all saints…” Don’t miss that. Greek, “pas”, “every single one of them, in all of history.”
Now, if he said that we could know the dimensions of love with all the living saints, which would be one thing. No, he is praying that we learn increasingly the dimensions of love even with those who are in heaven.
The OT saints did not have this, but we do. We have love at a level that was never seen in all of history until Christ arose and the Spirit move into the hearts of His people.
This has been a hard battle for me. I came from a home with a father who had a quick temper. Of all my dad’s excellent qualities, the one I got most of was his quick temper.
My dad had more integrity than any person I know. That would have made a good trait to pick up from my dad. Hopefully, I got that, but the thing I notice most is his quick temper.
Over the past 12 years or better, I have committed my temper to the Lord. Oh, don’t get me wrong. God never let me get away with it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that the temper does not burn upon moments of stimulation.
But God has burned on my heart that, in those heated moments, if He does not make a difference, I have no testimony. I demonstrate no power over that of a lost man. If I cannot control my lusts, I have no claim over a pagan. If I cannot set my greed under the Lordship of Christ during the greatest temptation, I have no testimony to the heathen.
This MUST be true in our love. How we love each other, in the worst possible moments, is the acid test of discipleship. It is the amplifier of our witness. It is the fuel of our evangelism and missions.
As Jesus was facing the reality of His coming suffering….As He was preparing His disciples for the trials of His suffering….After He had identified his betrayer and told the disciples that they would run in fear and shame, He gave the acid test for loving the Father.
Joh 13:35 “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
This is not how you love your best friends in the Church. It is not how you love your family members who belong to the same Church.
One of the disciples who heard this statement of Christ was known for His love. John understood this at a level the other disciples had not yet reached. Later, by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, John carried this thought further:
1Jn 4:19-21 “We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.”
How much do you love God? Before you answer, notice…. God put a “love meter” in each one of our lives. Our love for God is measured by the Christian we love the least. (repeat).
Listen: “ We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.”
God’s love, through us, must be supernatural, or it is not from Him at all.
