Ephesians 3:14-21 "A Church That Is Prayed For"
Preached on July 27, 2003 at Clara/Winchester UMC
Before the term “mega church” was ever conceived, Charles H. Spurgeon pioneered one right in the heart of London, England. When he was just twenty years of age, the New Park Street Church in London called him to be their pastor. God began to move in the midst of that church and soon people were coming in such large numbers that the church building couldn’t hold them. So they constructed a new building—the Metropolitan Tabernacle—which seated 6,000 people, which was unheard of in that day, and they filled it twice every Sunday.
For thirty-one years, he filled the Metropolitan Tabernacle twice on Sunday and hundreds and hundreds of people came to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ each year and were baptized.
Charles Spurgeon, who is referred to by many as the prince of preachers, would have been the first to tell you that the source of the churches strength and success wasn’t in any special program or new idea, nor was it in the words that he preached: Left to themselves they were just mere words. There was a greater source of strength. So what was it that gave this church its power?
Well, the story goes that one Sunday, five young college students who were preparing for the pastoral ministry, visited the Metropolitan Tabernacle to hear Charles Spurgeon speak. While waiting for the church doors to open, Charles Spurgeon himself approached them and asked if they would like to see the powerhouse of this great church. The soon to be preachers were delighted to see the secret to the power of this church. Spurgeon led them through a long hallway, down a stairway, and cautiously opened a door at the bottom. What the five young men saw astonished them. Looking through this open doorway, they saw about 700 church members bowed in prayer asking God for His blessing on the upcoming service. “That,” said Spurgeon “is our powerhouse!”
This morning as we start a new series of sermons on what makes a great church, I want you to see that of all the things that must happen to make a church great, the first requirement is that it must be a church that is prayed for. Rick Warren has said that a prayer-less ministry is a powerless ministry, and if our church is to be a great church that is used by God to do great things, then it must be a church that is prayed for, and prayed for often. Great things happen when people pray and great things will happen in the this church when people begin to pray for the church.
This morning I want us to take a look at the prayer that Paul prayed for the Ephesians church. Paul was the founding pastor of this church and he loved the church and earnestly prayed for it. By looking at this example, my prayer is that we will see what it is we need to be praying for and that we would be moved to our knees just as Paul was and to plead on behalf of this congregation to our Father in Heaven. So what was it that Paul prayed for for this church?
Now the first thing Paul prays for is for the strength of the church. Ephesians 3:14-16 “For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being. “
Now notice first of all that the focus of Paul’s prayer was for the inner being. What exactly is the inner being? Every person here is a compound being. We are composed of a body, a mind, and a spirit. The body is your physical nature, (the outer appearence) the mind is your thinking, your intelligence, your personality, and your spirit is the part of you that is eternal, (that part of you that is created in the image of God) and it is what makes man unique from all other creations.
Plants have a body and that is it. They have no mind nor spirit. You never see a plant sink into a deep depression. Animals have a body and a mind, yet they don’t have a spirit. Animals have emotions, a dog can have a personality, but they have no concern over spiritual issues. You never see a group of chickens in a chicken house asking, “Why am I here?” A chicken crossed the road and saw a KFC and said, “I know why we are here and it’s not good!”
Mankind instinctively knows there is more to life than this, because we have that inner being, the spirit within us, that longs for a relationship with our Creator...and it is that spirit who truly defines who we are. If you were to remove my legs and arms, who I am would not change. If my attitude changed, it wouldn’t change the fact that I am Barry Robinson. My spirit is who I am, and that spirit is what will endure forever. This tent of a body is only a temporary setting and will soon be gone, but my spirit will last forever. 2 Corinthians 4:16 says, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” This shell of a body is falling apart, yet my spirit is being renewed every day by the power of God.
Now if this is the case, (if the outer being is temporary and inner being is eternal) why is it that we tend to focus so much on the outer being rather than the inner being? Which is more important? We tend to be more concerned with our outer appearance than we are about the well being of our spirit. Don’t believe me, let me ask you this. Which did you spend more time on this morning getting ready for church; your outer appearance or your inner spirit? No offense but from the look of some, I would have to say neither.
But we tend to focus more on our outer shell, and this is also evident by the focus of our prayers. We pray for the physical needs of others, yet we tend to neglect to mention the spiritual needs. I have a little cartoon that I placed in the bulliten that shows a preacher writing on the chalkboard all the prayer request of these two old women in the church, and finally he says, “Does anyone have a non-biological prayer request.” Think about your own prayers. How often we pray for a person’s kidney, their heart, and their spleen, but how often do we pray about their soul? And how much more important is the well being of a person’s soul than the well being of their spleen.
It is the inner being that should be our primary focus. Now it’s not wrong to be concerned about the physical being, in fact your supposed to be…but realize that God’s focus is on that which will last forever, and it is that spirit within you that will determine how well you truly are. 1 Peter 3:3-4 says, “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. 4 Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.” So let me ask you, how is it with your soul this morning? If your outer shell was removed what would be revealed?
Now Paul prayed for that the inner being, the spirit would be strengthened. Why was this necessary? It’s necessary because it is the only way we will ever truly be all that God wants us to be. Our spirit is willing but the flesh is weak, and there is a struggle between the two. That’s why I think so many enjoyed watching the Incredible Hulk, because we have a beast within us that just wants to let go of all restraints. There is a battle going on within every one of us, the battle between the Spirit living within us, and the fallen nature we inherited from Adam.
Paul knew of this struggle when he wrote in Romans 7:21, “So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! “
We all can relate to that. We know what we want to do, but the temptations are so strong. The temptation is there, but God has promised always to provide a way out, and where that strength is needed is to take that escape route. We need the strength to resist our sinful nature, and that strength is provided to us not by our own power but by allowing the Holy Spirit greater control of our lives.
Now what happens as a result of this strength? Jesus Christ comes to live in our hearts. John 14:23 says, "Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him." I like how the Message Bible puts that verse. It says, ""Because a loveless world," said Jesus, "is a sightless world. If anyone loves me, he will carefully keep my word and my Father will love him— we’ll move right into the neighborhood!
That is what is meant by Eph 3:17, “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” The verb dwell literally means “to settle down and feel at home.” Certainly Christ was already resident in the hearts of the Ephesians, or else Paul would not have addressed them as “saints” in Ephesians 1:1.
What Paul is praying for is a deeper experience between Christ and His people. He yearns for Christ to settle down and feel at home in their hearts—not a surface relationship, but an ever-deepening fellowship.
Christ wants not only to come to your house, He wants to come and feel comfortable being there. When I was in the Navy, Denise and I were invited over for dinner to the apartment of a few guys I worked with. These were 3 bachelors who were not Christians. When we walked in, the first thing that popped out at us, besides the milk crates, was the calendar on thier fridge. It had at least a dozen pictures of..well lets just say a portion of a woman’s upper torso that should remain covered up, but wasn’t. Now that made me feel uncomfortable, but imagine my wife! So I went to my friend and said, "Hey Coop, would you mind taking down that calendar, it’s not proper especially with a woman around." And then I said that if he wanted us to stay, it would have to come down. You see, a person can be invited into a house and not feel comfortable there because of what is there.
Now how about the house of your heart today? Is Christ comfortable with what is there? Is there any area of your life you haven’t turned over to Him and allowed Him to change to fit His needs? Perhaps it’s your language, your habits, your check book, your attitude. How about truly saying this morning, “Christ, make yourself at home in my life today.”
Now the next thing Paul prayed for was that the church would be able to grasp the extent of God’s love for them. Eph 3:17-19 “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge”
Now notice first that the church is to be rooted and established in love. Love should be the one thing the church does best. Yet it seems that the church can be the most hateful place on earth. Even in our preaching we can portray an image of a hateful God who is against everything and hates everything and everybody. There is a story about an overzealous preacher who sat on the local bus condemning the sinners of that city. He carried an over-sized bible and condemn those to hell who he deemed were sinners. When a drunk got on the bus, the preacher went to work. “You lousy, drunk! Do you not know that you are going straight to hell?” The drunk stopped, looked at his ticket and said, “Did I get on the wrong bus again?”
The point is this, we need to be rooted in love and sharing that love with a lost world. God is love, and we need to speak the truth in love. The church is to be a place overflowing with the love God has so lavishly poured upon us.
And that love is greater than anything we can comprehend. Paul prayed that we “may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.” The early church bishop Jerome understood this passage to say that the love of Christ reaches up to include the holy angels; that it reaches down to include even the evil spirits in hell; that in its length it covers the men who are striving on the upward way; and in its breadth it covers the men who are wandering away from Christ.
What kind of Love is this that God has for you? First, know it’s a far reaching love. For God so loved the world. How big is the world? Are you in the world? That means that you are included in His love. And it doesn’t matter who you are or what you’ve done, because God’s love is an unconditional love. It’s not earned by being good and it’s not changed by being bad. God loves you, and there is nothing you can do to prevent that. God loves you not for what you’ve done but for who you are.
A while back my oldest girl Clarissa had broke a major rule in our house, and was disciplined for doing so. That night when she was going to bed she asked me, “Dad, are you still mad at me?” I told her no, but I was disappointed in what she did. Then she said, “Dad, do you still love me?” I said of course, and then I explained that no matter what she did, it would never change the fact that I loved her. Nothing in the world would separate her from that love I have for her.
God loves you with a far reaching love, a unconditional love, and also…a self-sacrificing love. No greater love has a man than this, that he would lay down his life for his friends. For God so loved the world that He gave….His one and only Son. God’s love for you is not a cheap love, it’s a love that cost Him everything. When you were dead in your sins, separated from God by your sins, Jesus took your sins and went to the cross.
I’ve told you in the past the story about the EKU cheerleader that was killed in a tragic accident many years ago. She was a beautiful young girl, had her whole life ahead of her, and was engaged to be married to a man who truly loved her. While driving home with her fiancé, she lost control of the car and was killed instantly while her fiancé in the seat next to her was left practically unharmed. Prior to the funeral, the pastor had asked this young man if he would be willing to say a few words. He said it would be difficult, but he agreed. And at the funeral, the young man was understandably upset, but in his talk, one thing was said that touched every one gathered. He looked at the casket of his deceased fiancé and said, “Stacy, if God would have allowed me, I would have taken your place that day…without a single question asked.”
Do you realize the love that God has for you? He didn’t ask how much have you sinned, or will you be faithful to Me till the end? No, while we were yet still sinners, Christ died for the ungodly without a single question asked.
That’s the amazing love that God has for you, now how will you respond to it. I don’t know if it is still there or not, but as you are crossing over the Mississippi River along I-10 in Louisiana there used to be a large billboard which caught your eye. It stood high above all else just as you start up the Mississippi River bridge. And on it is a picture of Jesus Christ hanging on the cross of Calvary, with His head bowed. The caption underneath simply read, "It’s Your Move!" God loved you so much, Jesus died on the cross for you, now it’s your move. How will you respond?
