Eph. 3:14-21
Steve Simala Grant, Sept. 15/16, 2001
We live in a crazy world – a world where hatred and violence exists, persists, and at times shocks us with the evil that some people can perpetrate on other people. We have seen pictures this week of planes full of people slamming into buildings full of even more people. We have heard of the guestimates of the number of human lives lost – of innocent men and women and children, people with families and loved ones, people with faces and feelings and futures. Suddenly ended, as the world watched on in horror. Those images of destruction will live on with us for the rest of our lives, and they bring to each of us profound emotions – sadness and heartache. Disbelief. Anger. Desires for revenge. Questions about how hatred that strong could commit an act that purely evil. Questions about where God was when this happened.
I personally was deeply saddened, and drawn to prayer. I felt shocked and angry. I prayed for the leaders, for the workers, for those suffering and those killed, and for their families. And to be truthful, I wanted to see revenge. To see those who perpetrated these cowardly acts of terrorism made to suffer as much as their victims had. And I could feel the hatred welling up inside me.
As I worked through my own feelings, the anger did not subside, but I came to realize that the hatred was wrong. The desire for revenge was wrong. I now desire justice, not vengeance. The difference is subtle, but extremely important – justice is reasoned, careful, dedicated to the establishing of truth and then ensuring that punishment that fits the crime is carried out. Vengeance is purely emotional and reactive, and lashes out at any potentially responsible person or group.
I confess to you my ignorance of the fine points of international politics, of the reasons (political or religious) that people are moved to such hatred of the US that they are driven to attack innocent American civilians as they go about their day. I’m sure they can make a case against the US, and obviously can do so persuasively enough that suicidal men believe it and are willing to act in such horrific ways. But what I am not ignorant of is the roots of evil and hatred that are behind such atrocities, the one we have witnessed this week and the others throughout history – the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Auschwitz, Cambodia, the crusades, the persecution of Christians by the Romans.
I debated and prayed about what passage of Scripture to look at this morning, and in consultation with the rest of the staff decided to remain in Ephesians, in our series, and see what God’s Word has to say to us and the world we live in.
And I didn’t need to stretch the passage to make it fit. It begins by picking up the thought Paul began in chapter 3 and completing it – the key phrase that connects the two is “for this reason.” And then Paul introduces his second prayer for His readers (the first being in 1:15-23).
He says “for this reason…” and then goes to prayer. One of the astounding things I heard repeatedly all week was a call to prayer – everyone from local aid workers to the president of the US asked people everywhere to pray. And everyone from normal folks like you and I all the way up to the leaders of many nations around the world responded by saying “our prayers are with you.” And regardless of the fact that this statement came from people with profoundly different religious and spiritual perspectives, the response was a spiritual one. The response was prayer.
And this makes complete sense to me – in the face of situations beyond our comprehension, we naturally turn our hopes to God. I have often wondered how people who claim to have no faith can possibly cope in times of loss, especially in times of personal loss. And yet the truth is that most people have some measure of faith, and it is times like this one that bring that out – that bring questions and hopes to the surface. And this gives us opportunity, as the ones who know the Hope personally, to capitalize on that interest and share what Jesus has done for us. It is times like this that raise difficult questions – “how could a loving God allow something like this to happen?”; and though these are extremely difficult questions to answer, it certainly provides us with an opportunity to share the faith that we have that this life is not all there is – that we have a hope for an eternity where this kind of evil and suffering will be no more. We have Jesus – the answer to a world in desperate need. In the face of something wherein we are powerless to respond, we turn instinctively to God who does have the ability to respond and somehow accomplish His will even through actions that are entirely evil.
Paul was driven to his knees in prayer, driven to go before the Father following his own teaching from the previous verse (12) which asserts that we may approach God with freedom and confidence. And the substance of what Paul prays falls into three requests: first he prays that we would be strengthened with power. Second he prays that we would grasp the extent of God’s love. And finally, he prays simply that we would be filled with God.
1. Request #1: We Be Strengthened with Power (vs. 16-17a).
Paul’s first request is for strengthening. It begins with an affirmation of God’s ability – God’s resources – to hear and to answer prayer. He asks that out of his glorious riches God would do this strengthening. It is a statement about God’s nature and His capacity to answer and respond to our requests – and it is an appropriate place for us to begin from this week –of reminding ourselves of who God is and that He is big enough and strong enough to deal with all the events of our world. It is an appropriate place to begin from any time we seek God in prayer! God’s resources are abundant, limitless even. We need, as we pray, to be mindful of who it is we ask, and what God is capable of doing in response to our prayers.
The next phrase is the meat of this first request – that we be strengthened with power. A prayer for strengthening presupposes that we need it – that in fact we are week and frail and in need of God. Most of the time I don’t think we in NA feel that way – we live our lives daily feeling like we are in control and powerful and not in need of any help. Any sign of “weakness” is deplorable and to be avoided at all costs. And this pretension prevents us from forming deep relationships with others, because we feel like we can’t need or rely on anyone but ourselves. Our message as Christians is radically different! Paul said the ONLY thing he would boast about was his weakness! Our message as Christians is first that we need a Saviour, and second that we need each other in order to live obediently to our Saviour. The bombing of the Pentagon and the WTC is unsettling because it demonstrates that there are weaknesses, that we are not ultimately in control. And I believe that knowing we are weak can be a good thing – it causes people to ask questions, to seek some hope and comfort beyond themselves, in short it can draw people to God.
Paul prays that we would be strengthened in the face of our weakness, by the power of God. And as we work through the rest of the prayer, we see that Power is one of the major themes of this prayer – through all three of the specific requests we find this word and the concepts behind it repeated. Power is not meant to be corralled – stored – saved up for a rainy day: it is meant to be used to change something. To impact something. To be implemented and used to make a difference.
There are two parallel phrases that flesh out this prayer for power. The first is “through his Spirit in your inner being” and the second is “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith”. The NIV unfortunately adds the word “so” in front of the second, making it seem like we are strengthened by the Spirit so that Christ may dwell, but this is not actually the best translation – the NRSV changes the “so” to “and” , and makes it more clear that the two phrases are parallel; not one causing the second. The point is clear – Paul is praying that the strength and power would be something we each experience internally and spiritually.
What a timely prayer for our world. That those suffering loss would be strengthened. That those searching and cleaning up and rebuilding would be strengthened. That those agonizing with how to respond and what measures are just and appropriate be strengthened. And that they know it is by a power beyond themselves and are thus be turned towards God.
2. Request #2: We Grasp the Extent of God’s Love (vs. 17b-19a).
Paul’s second prayer request is that we might somehow be able to grasp the extent of God’s love (read).
Once again we see the theme of power in a predominant place. Paul recognizes that it will take the power of God to reveal the extent of the love of God. We’ll talk more about that in a moment, but first notice the clause that follows – “together with all the saints”. I was intrigued to learn that this isn’t simply a request for inclusiveness – that Paul is not praying that you would know God’s love and I would know God’s love and all of us would know it. There is something else to it – it is saying that a significant part of coming to grasp the extent of God’s love will only happen together!. In community. In unity. Have you ever noticed how often God chooses to act in our lives and the vehicle is another person? It is very, very often. That is how God has chosen to work. One of the things I tell premarital couples is that the love and intimacy they create in their marriage will be one of the significant ways that they will also experience the love of God – that in fact they will often be the hands and feet of God to each other. This little phrase sticks out because it demonstrates that we need each other – that we need to be in authentic caring relationships with one another in order to experience the extent of God’s love.
The meat of this request is that we might be able “to grasp how wide and long and deep and high is the love of God, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge.” The poetic characteristic hightens our appreciation of the extent of God’s love, that it is wider and longer and deeper and higher than we ever thought possible. And though it surpasses our understanding, Paul prays that we would know it. All the language leads us to conclude that Paul is not praying that we would simply understand in our minds that God loves us, but understand it in our hearts. That we would feel it, and thus live in such a way that honors the love of God for us.
Love is a powerful thing – even our own human love for one another. And when we stop and reflect on the love of God, we begin to see how even greater – far greater – is His love, and how infinitely more powerful. “The name of Napoleon the Great truly stands prominently for power. Musing as a lonely prisoner on St. Helena, he summarized thus: "Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and myself founded empires. But on what did we found them? On force! Jesus Christ alone found his kingdom on love, and today there are millions who would die for him."
Let me apply this thought three ways – first to directly address the question many will ask in light of this week; secondly to apply it personally; and third to apply it to our neighbours.
A. the big question
“How could a loving God let something like this happen?” Is God not powerful enough to prevent it, or not loving enough to prevent it? It is the “why” question. My first response is to affirm that it is a question that needs to be asked – that needs to be honestly voiced out loud. My second response is that I don’t know why – I cannot crawl inside God’s head and see His plan and will for all humanity past, present, and future, and thus I cannot explain what He is thinking and doing. Perhaps if I had this prayer request – to truly grasp the extent of God’s love – fully realized in my own life I would have a better answer. And in addition to these general things, I can assert some specifics:
1) God grieves at what happened, like He grieves at the death of every innocent person. God hates death – He hates it so much that He sent His only Son to earth to defeat for all time the power, the permanence, the sting of death. God did not and does not desire that people suffer. And yet it still happens because of the evil and the sin and the hatred that still exists in this world and always will until the end times.
2) And here is the part that is difficult for us to understand: God is sovereign. God will work through the evil to accomplish His will. This makes God neither responsible for evil nor even temporarily defeated by it. Somehow, by His power, He accomplishes His will for our world even in and through horrific evil. This is what we mean when we assert that God is in control – that He is sovereign. And this is something we can’t logically understand, but we can accept in faith.
3) Life is fragile, and in Christ we have confidence in an eternal life. And God cares more about our eternal life than we do about our temporary life – and we care an awful lot about our temporary life. Through Christ we have a hope for eternity that allows us to face death with confidence and without paralyzing fear.
So as you talk with people you know this week, and as they voice these questions, I pray that you would have an answer for the hope that is within you. I pray you would have opportunity to share the faith you have in Christ and the hope you have for eternity. We do not have all the answers, but we have a relationship with God that gives us strength for today and hope for eternity.
B. applied personally
Can I shift gears kind of suddenly and ask if you know this love that surpasses knowledge? Has Paul’s prayer been answered for you, both in your mind and in your heart? I know it is a sudden shift from thinking about terrorism in the US to reflecting on your own life, but think for a moment – do you know that God loves you? not the words, not the theological concepts alone, but the knowledge in the core of your being that the God of the Universe… loves… you… We are all quick to point out, at our core, how unlovable we are. How we have failed God and disappointed God and rebelled against God. And the devil is quick to reinforce all that, and bring us to the conclusion that “God couldn’t possibly love me.” Let me respond to that lie with Romans 5:8 – “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Yes, we are unlovable at the core of our old nature – but that is irrelevant! God loves us anyways. God loves us powerfully. And God proved that in Christ.
I want to pause here and pray this verse of Scripture for each of us, because I think this is a really significant root problem for many, many Christians today – we don’t really know in the depths of our being that God loves us. And we certainly don’t know the extent of that love. So I’m going to pray the verse, have a moment in silence to give God a chance to respond, and then continue.
C. applied to our neighbours
I’d love to preach a whole sermon just on this, but instead let me make just one simple comment. Our neighbours need, desperately, to know this love of Christ. And God has called us to take the message – in word and in deed – to them. The events of the week give us opportunity to share the hope that we have in the powerful love of Christ. And let it begin with us praying this prayer of Paul’s for those in our circles who do not know Christ.
3. Request #3: We Be Filled with God (vs. 19b).
The final request is a simple one. (read). It is simply that we might be filled. not just a bit. not half full. not even full to the top. But rather full “to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
(Sat.) I don’t want to try to explain this. I just simply want to pray it for us, and ask the worship team to lead us a bit as we seek and expect God to answer this prayer of Paul’s and of ours.
(Sun). This is quite an amazing request – a bold request! That we would be filled – completely – with the love of God to the degree of the fullness of God. How full is that? Let me ask you this morning – how full are you? How much of the love of God fills you? You can find the answer to that question by looking at yourself internally first – do you feel it? - and by looking secondly at how you treat the people around you, for if you are truly full, it will overflow into the relationships around you. If you are not satisfied, and I know I am not as I answer this question for myself, then simply pray this prayer and ask God to fill you.
Conclusion:
Paul prays three things for us: that we would be strengthened with power, that we would know the extent of God’s love for us, and that we would be filled. We need those things every week, but especially this week as we go as lights into a darkened world that is perhaps more aware of its darkness.
We haven’t studied verses 20-21 – they don’t need a lot of explanation. But we will close with reading them together (put on overhead).
