The Power of Love
Ephesians 3:14-21
October 29, 2019
I think most people like super-heroes. Partly because they defeat the forces of evil, but I think there’s a deeper reason why we like super-heroes. I’m not sure if I’ve ever had one particular super-hero who I really like or if I could, I would want to have their super powers. What about you? If you could be a super-hero, which one would you choose? And - there are so many out there, and some of it depends if you’re into the DC or Marvel movies.
As I was reading through the scripture for today’s message, there was a particular theme that kept coming back to me, which led me to think about super-heros.
As I thought about super-heros, I wondered why? Why would we want to be like them . . . and the theme that kept coming back to me was a desire for power! Not to use power in a bad way or in a way which makes me superior and worshiped, but every super-hero has some type of super natural power which helps them defeat their enemies. And if we could make ourselves into a super-hero, we might want a few of those powers. They would come in handy as we defeat the forces of evil.
As we’ve been moving through Ephesians, today we’re looking at Ephesians 3:14-21. In this section Paul’s talking about power, but it’s not the kind of power we think about. It’s a different power, one that has the ability to shock us and the world around us.
If we look back to Ephesians 1, Paul prayed that we would know who Christ is [1:17], that we would know who we are in Christ [1:18], and that we would experience His power [1:19]. In verse 19, Paul wrote that we would know - -
19 ... what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His great might - Ephesians 1:19
In this single verse, Paul uses 3 different words for power. That’s how important this is to Paul and how much it means for us. Paul wants us to understand, and more than that, to believe without a doubt in God’s absolute power. The power He used to raise Jesus from the dead and the power to bring Him to heaven. And - - - what’s almost even better . . . is the fact that this power is available to you and me.
Some might say, "I've heard that all my life, so where is it? I've never experienced it. My life is one flop after another, one collapse after another, one failure after another. If God's power is out there, available for the benefit of His people, where is it? How do I get it?"
Let me just read these verses to you, then I want to tell you about something I discovered which is changing the way I pray, and might just do the same for you. Paul wrote these words --
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.
Paul starts out this section stating, For this reason I bow my knees before the Father. So, what is Paul’s reason for bowing his knees?
The "reason" for Paul's prayer - - for Paul humbling himself by bowing down before God - - is about what we were talking about last week. It was the fact that roadblocks and hatred were being torn down. The Gentiles and Jews were coming together as one NEW body because of their faith in Jesus Christ. In essence, the church was becoming a new creation because of these 2 people coming together in the name of Jesus Christ.
And we live in an antagonistic world. Our world is often defined according to divisions. We had the the Montagues and the Capulets, the Hatfields and McCoys, and in politics (Republicans and Democrats; liberals and conservatives), societally there’s the rich and poor, black and white, and so on. Divisions exist, and it’s usually disastrous. I spoke about the gangs I worked with years ago, who because they lived across the street from one another became grounds to kill.
So, because of this new unity in this new organism, called the church, Paul celebrates and for this reason he takes that posture of humility, humbling himself before God, bowing down, getting on his knees and saying thank you to God for these 2 groups coming together - - and becoming one.
You see, this section of scripture is all about power. It’s really about super power. It’s not what we see in Superman or Wonder Woman or Batman or Aquaman or the Black Widow.
Let me remind you what Paul is praying for, because too often we breeze through what Paul is writing, but I believe this has major implications for our lives. Listen again to Paul’s words in Ephesians 3, as he prays that - -
16 . . . God would 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.
So, do you see what Paul is praying for? Let me unpack this, because it’s really important for us.
This passage is about the power of the Holy Spirit and the power we receive from the Spirit. Usually, when we think of the Spirit’s power, or when we pray to God for power about something, we ask God to strengthen us, to give us the power to do whatever, the power to change or help a person change, or the power to bring healing or to change a person. These are all good prayers!
But, Paul is talking about something different. He's talking about the Holy Spirit's inner power for us — a strength that He gives us so that we can know and understand the love of Christ which is beyond knowledge and that we could be filled with all the fullness of God.
So, the goal is to know the power of God’s love and to be filled with all the fullness of God. And who doesn’t want to experience the power of love and to be full?
Paul gives us a progression as he prays before God: he bows in humility before God. Why? So that Christ might dwell in your hearts. Why? So that you might be rooted and grounded in love. Why? So that you can know the love of Christ. Why? So when all’s said and done, you're a mature, complete Christ follower, filled with the fullness of Christ.
As a pastor, I’ll admit what goes through my heart and mind sometimes. And I’m opening myself up here, seriously, I am and being more vulnerable than usual.
I wonder why someone doesn’t serve more, why they don’t give more, why they just don’t attend more, why they need to buy more stuff, why they’re so miserable, why they can’t forgive, why . . . why . . . why! Sometimes, that’s what fills my mind.
But, I can’t answer these questions. That drives me crazier. But, my comfort in a backwards kind of way is this - - everything ultimately is a heart issue. This is what Paul’s really getting at when he prayed that we - -
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.
You see, Paul is praying that we would have enough strength to comprehend what is not comprehendible if that even makes sense.
Paul is praying that we would have strength to comprehend with all the brothers and sisters in the faith the greatness of God’s love for you. We have such a difficult time understanding what Paul is talking about. We struggle with how wide and long and high and deep God’s love for us really is. I mean, we kind of get it, and so we kind of follow him. But if we fully understood God's goodness, it would change us. We would have a life transformation that shocks the world.
Do we understand who it is that loves us so much? If we really understood this, we would look at our possessions we fight for, and we would say, “I don’t care about them.” We would look at all of our strivings, not that we shouldn’t have goals, but we would look at them and wonder why we are striving after all these things that are pulling us away from Christ.
Paul is inferring that if we really understood the love of Christ, we would be totally different.
All any of us can do, is introduce you or anyone to Christ. I want you to know that He loves you more than anyone who has ever loved you. Yes, God loves you more than anyone or anything, and His love is perfect. In fact, John tells us God is love. God is the personification of love. That’s kind of hard to grasp, which is exactly why Paul prays for us to be empowered by God so that we can comprehend His love.
God loves us so much that He gave His only Son for us. Even while we were and are sinners, even while we rebel against Him, God still loves you and sent His Son, to be a sacrifice for you and I. The Father watched His Son, die on a brutal cross - - - for you and I. Then Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to heaven by the same power that is in you and I, and God placed His Spirit in each one of us, so that we could always experience the power of His love and presence. That’s our God.
Paul is offering us this amazing power. It’s not just the power to understand, but it’s the power to defeat sin. It’s power over weakness and fear. Power over despair and rage. Power over shame and greed. Power over doubt and guilt.
These beat us down. They drive us away from God, yet God gives us this amazing power to overcome them. We don’t have to give in to them, because we have God’s power always available to us. We simply and profoundly need to yield ourselves to God and His love.
So, Paul prayed that we would be rooted and grounded in love. Paul is praying that we would have Christ as our foundation. And if Jesus is our foundation, if we are rooted and grounded in Jesus, then we have the ability to overcome anything that comes our way and experience the power of God’s love.
As I was preparing for this message, I read something another pastor wrote, and it really struck me. It was very revealing about myself and what we generally pray for when we think of God’s power.
As Paul prays that we would be “rooted and grounded in love” God’s telling us He wants us to know the greatest foundation for life is the love of God. And Paul prays that we would have the power, together with all of God’s people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that we may be filled to the fullness of God. In other words, Paul is praying that we would come to know that Christ’s love is the greatest power of all and that He will fill you up and overflow you with that love.
That’s all pretty basic to what I’ve been saying, but here’s the kicker, which struck me. I always ask Joshua and Zachary when they have tests or presentations. I ask them pretty much every week and then I pray for them to do well, to remember, not to get stressed out, to be at peace and at the same time to experience God’s presence. That’s a great prayer, if I don’t say so myself. I also pray that they would be happy, joy-filled, that they would marry a woman who God has chosen for them, and on and on and on.
I’m still going to pray for them as they take tests and for their future wives and for their health and more. But as I read this passage, and as I read other commentaries, what I really don’t pray for, which I should and am shifting in my prayers for them is this - - -
My prayer is for my boys is that their lives will be more about God’s love filling them and overflowing within them. I don’t think I ever prayed that prayer for them, or even for me.
As you pray for your family, your children, your spouse, yourselves, is that the prayer you are praying?
Lord, fill me . . . fill my family . . . grant to me that I would have you as my firm foundation so that as I’m grounded in you, I would receive and accept your power so that I could more than believe, but I would accept and embrace the power of your love and I would somehow gain an understanding of how great your love is for me and I would be filled with the fullness of your love.
To know the love of God which surpasses knowledge literally means that we would know the love of God which extends beyond anything we can imagine. The image is that I would throw a ball beyond what is expected. And when we experience the FULLNESS of God’s love, can you imagine what that means?
It’s a complete love which fills us to capacity. It’s not just a drop when we’re thirsty, it fills us to capacity and beyond. We never thirst again. Isn’t that great! That’s available for each one of us.
So, Paul ends this great passage with a little doxology. He prayed - -
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.
Imagine this . . . Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly that we ask or think.
God is able to do what we ask or think because he knows our thoughts. He is able to do all that we ask or think because he knows everything and can perform it all. There is nothing that is beyond God’s power. He is able to do much more, far more abundantly than all that we ask or think. God is a God of superabundance.
And that God of superabundance is available for you and I. All we have to do is ask . . . pray . . . and seek after God and God will always, always show Himself to you and I.
Have you asked Jesus to love you with an overwhelming love? Let me end with this - -
How much do you think God the Father loves His Son? Try to imagine that. How much does God the Father love Jesus? I'd say a lot! It would be a perfect love! A super abundant amazing love.
As Jesus was talking in John 15, He was talking about being the true vine and we are the branches. In John 15:5, He said “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit, apart from me you can do nothing.”
Then Jesus made an amazing statement a few verses later. In John 15:9, He said -
9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. – John 15:9
I can do a whole sermon on this one verse. But in a nutshell, do you see what Jesus is saying? Did you catch it? Jesus is saying . . . just as Father has loved me, His Son, that’s how much I love you.
If you really think about it, it should maybe read, ‘just as the Father has loved me, I have loved you about 30%, that’s how much I love you.’
But that’s not what Jesus said! We need to believe His words, As the Father loves me . . . as my Dad loves me with a perfect love, that is exactly how much I love you. Now, I want you to dwell in my love. WOW!
That’s how we’re going to end. That’s His command to you . . . leave her and go and dwell in His love, let the love of Jesus wash over you!
Let’s pray - -
God, empower me, strengthen me so that I can understand your love for me. And empower these people in this room whom I love. Strengthen them right now by the power of your Holy Spirit, so that they can know your love and rest secure in it.
