There once was a rich man who was near death. He was very grieved because he had worked so hard for his money and wanted to be able to take it with him to heaven. So he began to pray that he might be able to take some of his wealth with him.
An angel heard his plea and appeared to him. "Sorry, but you can’t take your wealth with you."
The man begged the angel to speak to God to see if He might bend the rules. The man continued to pray that his wealth could follow him.
The angel reappeared and informed the man that God had decided to allow him to take one suitcase with him. Overjoyed, the man gathered his largest suitcase and filled it with pure gold bars and placed it beside his bed.
Soon afterward, he died and showed up at the gates of heaven to greet St. Peter.
St. Peter, seeing the suitcase, said, "Hold on, you can’t bring that in here!"
The man explained to St. Peter that he had permission and asked him to verify his story with the Lord.
Sure enough, St. Peter checked it out, came back and said, "You’re right. You are allowed one carry-on bag, but I’m supposed to check its contents before letting it through."
St. Peter opened the suitcase to inspect the worldly items that the man found too precious to leave behind and exclaimed, "You brought pavement?"
Are we missing the true wealth God has given us because we prefer to lug around suitcases of pavement? I know, some of you are thinking, you don’t mind having some pavement now so let me tell you about the ant and the grasshopper…
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he’s a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold.
Lets take a look at the wealth available to believers found in Ephesians 3:14-21. Paul begins this section of Scripture with…
I. The Invocation. Verses 14, 14 say, 4 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom his whole familya in heaven and on earth derives its name.
I’m thinking about this, remember Paul us in prison, chained to a Roman soldier, and what does he do, he takes a posture of kneeling, which was probably quite a surprise to the soldier who he undoubtedly brought down to the floor with him Now, before you read anything into this, the Bible does not command this as the only means of praying, in Scripture we read where people stood, knelt, bowed, sat and fell on their face. Paul was not dictating a pattern, he was giving an illustration of his prayer. It is not the outward approach that is important, it is the inward condition of the heart which leads to God. Paul begins his invocation, then he begins…
II. The Petition. Verses 16-19…16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
This is an awesome prayer. There are some keys I see, and desire in my own life when I read through this, hopefully you do as well. In verse 16, Paul prayers for the believers that they would have…
A. Strength. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being.
The inner being was a phrase understood by the Greeks. They saw it as the place of man’s reason. Paul desired believers would be able to reason, to know the difference between right and wrong, the consciousness of the Holy Spirit to the inner being. Wisdom that would keep believers safe in their actions and pure in deeds.
They also saw the inner man to be the place of conscience. If you neglect the prodding of the Holy Spirit, the conscience of the inner being, it dulls and you no longer remain sensitive toward sin. Paul prays God will strengthen your conscience.
They also saw the inner man as the place of man’s will. The will is where we have so many battles because we know what to do but the will battles the knowledge so Paul asks for the inner being to be strengthened to overcome the will to do evil and instead do good.
How many of you have a problem with willpower?
A beggar walked up to a well-dressed woman shopping on Rodeo Drive and said "I haven’t eaten anything in four days."
She looked at him and said, "God, I wish I had your willpower." Well maybe that’s not the kind of will power we are talking about.
The inner man is the reason, the conscious, and the will and the strength of it comes when we allow God to set up His home in our hearts and pursue Him with passion. He only awaits our invitation. Paul’s prayer is not just for strength, but in verse 17 he prays for…
B. Depth. so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love. Paul desires that God will dwell in believers hearts and the depth will come through love.
John Jowett said, “There is love whose measure is that of an umbrella. There is love whose inclusiveness is that of a great marquee. And there is love who comprehension is that of the immeasurable sky. The aim of the New Testament is the conversion of the umbrella into a tent and the merging of the tent into the glorious canopy of the all-enfolding heavens” That is a good description of the depth of love we need to strive for. So Paul prays for strength, he prays for depth, and he prays for…
c. Apprehension. Verse 18-19 a, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge. we have an inheritance in four dimensions: breadth, length, depth, and height. God’s fourth dimension is love! Finally, Paul prays for…
d. Fullness. Verse 19b that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. It is said nature abhors a void, a vacuum , that is why water or air will fill in an empty place. We are to be filled unto the fullness of God which comes through the Holy Spirit. For far too many believers the measure they use to determine their fullness is flawed. How often do we see the measurement being that of other believers who are not on the same level then we boost how much better we are than them when in fact the accurate measurement to which to gauge our fullness is to compare our life with the life of Christ. Many avoid that comparison because it shows just how wide the gap is, however the Holy Spirit is desiring to come alongside and fill the void if you will only let Him. The question becomes, will you?
Paul concludes this prayer in verses 20 and 21 with…
III. The Benediction. 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
There are some powerful words used by Paul in these two verses which demonstrate the awesomeness of God. To Him, God who is able to immeasurable more than we can ask or imagine, I can imagine and ask for a lot, yet Paul points out that which I ask or imagine pales to what God has the immeasurable ability to do. We dream too small! We worry about how the church is losing ground against the overly aggressive non-believing world, we fight to hold onto what we have while instead we need to look to the one who can do immeasurable more which indicated not a position of hording but one of aggressively moving out in the power of His might to accomplish great feats in His name. Believers, we serve the God who can do exceedingly abundantly. Then Paul tells us how He does it, according to the power at work within us.
Listen, how often do you look for external forces to do something for you? How often do you sit on the dock waiting for your ship to come in? You might be waiting a long time. The boat is bigger than your waterway to the dock can sail into so you had best get some power in your arms, some inner strength and begin to row out to meet the ship before it sets sail and you find yourself with the what if’s of life as you watch the sunset. Is the Holy Spirit speaking into anyone’s life today?
My God can do exceedingly abundantly through the power at work within in. That power is the word dunamais we looked at in other messages, it is the dynamite of God. Too many Christians are like Mount Rainier. Deep within the mountain is enough energy to wreck havoc in this area but it does not because the power has been kept dormant. We know it is there, we have developed a warning system just incase it decided to erupt however for now, it is energy unused. On the other hand, some believers are like Mount St. Helens which one day came to life and the power that erupted was dunamais, dynamite, as it sent cataclysmic mudflows and such power it blew down houses, trees and everything in its path. Here is a question for you to ponder, are you a Mt. Rainier kind of Christian, dormant, having power within but not a thing flowing without or are you a Mt. St. Helens Christian, one who realized the power of God available and you have come out of dormancy and into life, and everyone around you is aware of you faith because it explodes through you, people observe the power of God that is at work within you? Which are you?
Why does God invest His power in us? Is it for our own personal parade? Not at all, Paul says it is there so that God will receive glory in the church and in Christ throughout generations.
There is something important I hope you did not miss. What Paul is praying for and what God is doing is using us to bring a message of hope not just for our generation, but for the generations to come. We have a God given mandate to share the good news with the generations which are upcoming which means we have to connect with and communicate to those generations in ways they will understand and acknowledge Christ so God can be glorified. That, as we are seeing in our day, is not an easy task, and no where in Scripture does it say it would be, but it is our task none the less.
We live in a changing world, serving a changeless God who has brought a message of hope through the timeless words of Scripture which speak into a culture truths which are as relevant today as they were when the Holy Spirit inspired them through the various writers. The Bible is as contemporary as it is ancient. It’s power has never lost its hold, its transforming ability still able to take a sinner and turn him or her into a saint. Culture dictates different styles of communicating which the one being communicated is the same, Jesus Christ and Him crucified to provide the only way to God the Father.
We take the payer of Paul and we allow it to speak into our lives, reminding us of who we are in Christ and what is available to those who allow the Holy Spirit to work in their lives.
If you don’t know this power, let me introduce you to Him, His name is Jehovah, the God if wonder and His Son’s name is Jesus Christ who came to earth to live a sinless life as an example for you and I, dying on the Cross for the sins of all the world, past, present and future, rising from the dead three days later with the keys that can throw the chains of sin from you if you will be ask Him to be Lord and Savior of your life, seeking forgiveness of your sins and living in the truth of His life and light. When you do, the Holy Spirit of God comes into your life providing you with the power of God which enable you to life a life honoring Him. The Bible says to call upon the Lord and you shall be saved. In a moment I am going to give you that opportunity. Before I do, I want to talk to those in the room who are believers but for some reason, you have been dormant in your faith. I want to invite you to make a fresh decision, a life decision, this morning, where you ask the Holy Spirit to move in your life, presenting you with opportunities to let your faith out rather than keeping in bottled up. We have generations awaiting to hear from us and God is speaking today to our hearts asking if we will be the ones who bring him glory in our lifetimes. Will it be you?
I want to open the front of the church to be a place of commitment, either for asking God into your life, or asking the Holy Spirit to begin a fresh work…
Altar time
