Rooted in God’s Love
Ephesians 3:14-21
February 24, 2019
I don’t usual give homework assignments . . . but last week I did.
My hope after last week’s message was that each of us would take time to allow God’s Spirit to fill our spirit. We would seek to draw closer to Him as we passionately celebrated who God is.
That’s kind of a big thing to do. Because we all look at God differently. Some come to God through experiences, some through their emotions, others are more intellectual, some are physical. It comes to us in different ways, but I wanted you to make the attempt to worship God on your own. Even for just a few minutes to give thanks, praise and adoration to God.
Then, my hope is that you would come here today, excited to worship because you experienced something new from God.
We’ve been talking about the mission of the church. And for the past few weeks, we’ve especially been looking at loving God with our heart, spirit, mind and body. It’s not always easy, life gets in the way, mostly, we allow life to get in the way and it pulls us further away from God. Then we need to intentionally draw back to God.
Last week we began to look at Ephesians 3:14-21. This is a powerful passage from Paul to the church. Paul wrote —
14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 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, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith — 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, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 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 3:14-21
Paul humbly bowed before God praying that the people would be strengthened with the power of the Holy Spirit. He prayed that so that Christ would dwell in their hearts because of their faith.
That’s really an important prayer for us.
Some of you have family members, friends and co-workers - - people you deeply care about. When you talk to them, you sense there’s an emptiness in their lives. You see them trying to fill their lives by doing things the world tells us to do. Buy your happiness, drink a little more, please yourself at someone’s expense, cheat if you can . . . and that list can go on and you can fill it with nonmaterial things like gossiping, slander, malice, unforgiveness, bitterness, hatred and more.
We see those people don’t we? If we look close enough, they’re all around us. There are even some here this morning. You see, here’s the problem. I’m going to play Dr. Phil this morning - - for about 30 seconds and diagnose most problems in the world. I can put him out of business, but it will not end the dysfunction and evil in the world. So . . . I guess I’ll let his show stay on, because, at times, it’s ironically - - funny and sad at the same time.
OK, that’s the build up. Here’s the issue - - -
People don't understand the love of Christ. That’s it! Nothing more, nothing less. They don’t understand it and they don’t know the love of Christ! Now, let me say, knowing Jesus and believing in Jesus, doesn’t mean life will be easy and there will be no tragedies, sorrows or grief.
BUT . . . why are people so empty? Because their hearts don’t know Jesus. They don’t know about His love and compassion, His power and strength, His grace and mercy, His suffering and death . . . all for us.
What happens is that we end up treating people’s symptoms. We try to fix this or that. We tell people to get off of drugs, we tell them to stop drinking, to be less greedy, to quit worrying, to forgive, to let go, to stop shopping, to stop being bitter. We tell people to STOP doing wrong!!! We treat the outward sickness.
But the bottom line is that these are symptoms of a deeper issue. Those aren’t the real issue. That’s only what we see. It’s like an iceberg, that is deep underwater, we don’t see that. We only see what’s visible to our eyes.
The issue is something supernatural. The issue is that hearts need to be changed. Hearts need to become opened to the love and power of Jesus Christ. Without hearts, spirits, minds and bodies open to receive the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. If we don’t do that, we have no chance to have a full life in Christ.
The heart needs to be changed — like how the people in Ezekiel had a heart of stone and needed a heart of flesh. They needed a transformed heart. God said --
25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 AND I WILL GIVE YOU A NEW HEART, AND A NEW SPIRIT I WILL PUT WITHIN YOU. AND I WILL REMOVE THE HEART OF STONE FROM YOUR FLESH AND GIVE YOU A HEART OF FLESH. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. – Ezekiel 36:25-27
This is so powerful, folks. God cleanses us and gives us a new heart. He will take away that heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh. The heart of stone symbolizes our defiance towards God and our rejection of all that is good. The heart of flesh and God’s Spirit being poured into our spirits indicates our openness to God and our acceptance of God as our Lord and Savior, and we are His children. God can only do that once we’ve become open and receptive to His Spirit.
So, when we consider what Paul is saying in verse 17 –
17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith — that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
That’s where God was going in the Ezekiel passage. The call is for God in Christ to dwell in our heart and spirit because of our faith in Christ. That we would be rooted and grounded in His love.
That means we are firmly established, our foundation is in Christ. We have a foundation in nothing else. If Christ is not our foundation, then what is? What else is there to support you and strengthen you?
So, when we see our loved ones struggling with a sin issue, when there is a life issue going on, that’s usually the surface issue, there’s a deeper issue at work, and that’s a heart and spirit issue.
It’s so difficult for us to recognize that God loves us so much, that He was willing to come to this place for us, and He died for us . . . He really wants to help us. He wants us to be overcomers. But, in order to do that, we need to hold onto Him.
The reason why some of us struggle so much with sin is that we’re relying on our own power to deal with it. We falsely believe that if we think it through on our own we will figure out a solution. We believe we have the power and strength to withstand the temptations of life. Sometimes we do make it, but we fall too more often than not. Since God has poured His Spirit of love and power into us through Christ, we have someone greater than us to help us! Don’t we? That’s Christ!
Yet, we struggle because we rely on our own power to deal with life issues.
Do we realize that we’re completely helpless and powerless apart from God? There was a great illustration I read - - called "Palm Monday," by Tony Merida -
The donkey awakened, his mind still savoring the afterglow of the most exciting day of his life. Never before had he felt such a rush of pleasure and pride.
He walked into town and found a group of people by the well. "I'll show myself to them and they’ll celebrate me," he thought.
But they didn't notice him. The people went on drawing their water and paid no attention to him.
He shouted, "Throw your garments down, don't you know who I am?"
They looked at him in amazement. Then someone slapped him across the hind end and ordered him to move.
He muttered to himself, "Miserable heathens! I'll go to the market where the good people are. They’ll remember me."
But the same thing happened. No one paid any attention to the donkey as he strutted down the main street in front of the market place.
He shouted, "The palm branches! Where are the palm branches? Yesterday, you threw palm branches!"
Hurt and confused, the donkey returned home, confused, sad and dejected.
When he arrived home, he told his mother what happened. She looked at him and gently said, "Foolish child, don't you realize that without Him, you are just an ordinary donkey?"
Apart from Christ we’re just ordinary. We can do nothing without Christ. Jesus even said that in John 15:5, saying — 5 I am the vine, you are the branches, apart from me you can do nothing. – John 15:5
That is why we need to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in our inner being.
Before we move on from verse 17, I want to add one distinction about what Paul was praying for. When he prayed that the Spirit would dwell in our hearts - - understand what he was asking for as well.
In Greek there are a couple of different words which mean “TO DWELL.” One word means to have a temporary dwelling, the other means to have a permanent or fixed dwelling. The word Paul used means to have a permanent or fixed residence, a personal home.
Paul is praying that Christ would take up a permanent residence in our heart. It wouldn’t be temporary, it wouldn’t be just when we’re in trouble. It would be all the time . . . and if it’s all of the time, then we would have a greater experience of His power and strength to accomplish what He’s calling us to do.
Does that make sense? You see, God wants us to succeed. He doesn’t want us to struggle, to be like that donkey even when we have Christ within us.
At the same time, I am not trying to paint a pollyana view of a life with Christ. Most of us know that we experience hardships, loss, grief, sadness, physical issues and more. But when we have Christ, when the Spirit has taken up a permanent residence within us, we can more than survive the tough times. We end up thriving because of who we are in Christ.
That’s what Paul is after. He wants us to experience the amazing power of Jesus. Yes, we have those days, when life seems to go against us, when we’re just not feeling the love. I get it, I understand. But, if we are not experiencing Jesus, if it’s more than a season of life that’s a struggle, then in all sincerity . . . do you really know Jesus? Do you call Him your Lord and Savior? Have you embraced the power of the Holy Spirit to live within you - - so that those who know you, would say you are different . . . different in a good way. In a way which shows the love of Christ through the way you live your life.
People see hope, they witness forgiveness and grace, they experience your strength in the midst of the not so good times. They see it - they’ve come to expect it - - and secretly - they marvel at you.
You can walk with your head held high because your heart is filled and you know life is good, even when it’s not!
People say you’re contagious. How’s that!? That’s how we should be!!! How often have you run into a grumpy Christ follower, someone who never seems happy, someone who is not really nice. You know what I mean!! They pick and choose who they’re nice to.
How is that showing Christ?! You see, my vision for this church, for every follower of Jesus Christ is really, really simple. It’s this - -
We are called to be passionate and contagious Christ followers who make a relevant difference in the world!!
To make this happen, the power of the Holy Spirit must be within us. It’s because we’ve said yes to Jesus, then we’ve worked, yes, it takes work to develop that relationship. And that work pays off because we are not as the world is, even though we have similar struggles, but the way we deal with them is different. It’s better and we’re stronger because we have Christ, but also because we have one another.
So, that’s where we’re at. I know I’m randomly stopping. This message will continue next week when I’ll finish looking at Ephesians 3.
Again, I’m giving a homework assignment. It’s the same as last week. But a little more reflective. Consider where you’re at in your relationship with Christ. Do others see you as real, relevant, passionate, contagious about Jesus?
Do you pick and choose your moments to be nice to people? Do some say you may be kind of fair weathered?
That’s kind of in your face. Maybe I’m stepping on some toes. That’s OK, too! I want you to consider who Christ is in your life. How much have you allowed Him into your heart and spirit?
Consider it, pray about it, worship Him and passionately celebrate Jesus this week! He loves you! No matter what you’re going through . . . He loves you!!
