I wonder if you remember that time in the 80s when there were a string of books published with the idea of power in the title. Here are some examples: Power Evangelism, Power Preaching, How to Release God’s Healing Power Through Prayer, Hidden Power of Speaking in Tongues, Confronting Powerless Christianity, Seven Power Principles for Pastors and Prophets. If you can’t remember them, you might remember that at about the same time women’s coats and dresses began to appear with built in shoulder pads, to create what was known as ’Power Dressing’. I wonder how many of the women here still have some of those dresses or jackets in their wardrobes.
The idea was that if you dressed the part you might begin to be perceived as powerful; that changing your dress style might change the perception of women as weak and timid creatures who didn’t know how to get on in a man’s world.
But it was also part of a general movement in our culture to self-actualisation, to empowering the individual and in a sense parts of the Christian world took up those same ideas in looking for God’s power to be present in the ministry of the individual Christian.
Now I have to say that Paul regularly prays for power, either for himself or for his readers. We saw that last week as he prayed that we might know the immeasurable greatness of God’s power for us who believe. And again here in our passage today, he prays that God "may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit." So the question I want to start with today is this: What is the nature and purpose of the power that God makes available to those who believe in him?
The nature of God’s power for the believer.
Notice that he prays that you may be strengthened with power "in the inner being." So what does that mean?
In 2 Cor 4:16-18 Paul writes about the struggle he and other Christians experience in their daily life: "We do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. 17For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, 18because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal. (NRSV)" His experience is that his outer body is wearing away, worn down by the persecution and opposition he faces every day. But his inner being, that is, what’s left when the outer being has worn away completely, is being renewed, refreshed, rebuilt.
Now I don’t know about you but even though I’ve never suffered any real persecution, I know what Paul means about the outer body wearing away, in my case, as I get older. I went to the doctor last year because I was having a bit of trouble with my knees and I wondered if there was something he could do for me. So he sent me off to have an MRI done and when the results came back he smiled at me and said "You’ve got osteo-arthritis." Well, thanks a lot! So much for having an MRI. I don’t really want to know that! I’m supposed to be fit and healthy and here he is telling me I’m slowly cracking up! But we have to face it don’t we? We’re all getting older. None of us can do what we used to do 10 or 15 years ago.
But does that limit our usefulness to God? Of course not! Does it limit our ability to grow on the inside; to grow in our inner being? Of course not! You probably know people, (in fact you may see some in the room today) who are cracking up physically like me, but who are giants spiritually. They may be limited in what they’re able to achieve physically; they may be totally frustrated by the fact that they can’t contribute the way they once did, but put them through a spiritual MRI and you’ll see a healthy glowing spirit driving them, bringing them closer and closer to Christ even as they grow nearer to the end of this physical life. In fact what you see is their inner being starting to shine through the thinning veneer of their outer shell.
On the other hand you may also know people who are fit and healthy, despite advanced years, but who seem to be weighed down by a spirit of dissatisfaction with their lot; who become grouchy and bitter, short tempered, spiteful, nasty gossips, as though old age is a sufficient excuse to ignore the restraints of civilised behaviour. In their case what you see is the reality of their inner being shining through the veneer of respectability they’ve created over the years, but that they no longer have the energy or the inclination to maintain.
Those power dressers of the 80s probably had it all wrong, even if they were doing it for a good reason. The thing was, changing the outward appearance wasn’t enough. They also needed to show that their inward character was appropriate to the place they were looking for in society or in the business world.
So too in our case, it’s not the outward appearance that matters, despite our modern emphasis on style over content. God is interested in content, particularly the content of our inner being. So Paul prays that they would be strengthened in their inner being. [The kids song we just sang is right: "It’s better to train for the life to come, so practise being Godly."]
The Purpose of this Power?
Power is good, but it can also be used for the wrong purpose can’t it? You can use it to serve others or to build God’s kingdom or you can use for purely selfish reasons: to bolster your self-esteem; to build your own little kingdom; to keep others under your control; to make yourself out to be spiritually superior to the next person.
So why does Paul ask for them to be given this power? Paul’s reason has to be searched out. This is one of those complicated series of clauses that Paul tends to string together.
One reason may be so that Christ may dwell in their hearts through faith, as they’re being rooted and grounded in love. That would certainly be a good reason to pray such a prayer. If Christ is to dwell in our hearts then we probably need God’s power to make us a suitable dwelling place.
Think for a moment what it means for Christ to come to dwell in your heart. This is one of the illustrations that’s used in the Christianity Explained course. Imagine you’re moving into your first home. It’s not a new home. In fact it’s what’s optimistically called a renovator’s opportunity. But it’s what you can afford. You move in and you ignore the threadbare carpet and the badly scratched kitchen sink and the 80’s wallpaper and the shortage of storage space. It’s yours and you’re excited to be in your own home at last.
But then as the years go by, you begin to renovate. You get the electrician in to add a few power points, perhaps replace the power box. You strip off the wallpaper and paint the walls in more up to date colours. You tear up the carpet and polish the floorboards. You knock out a wall here or there, you put in floor to ceiling windows. You dig up the flax plants that have taken over the back yard and plant a few natives, perhaps a rose or two. You put in a fountain or maybe even a pool. And 25 or so years later you begin to feel like this place is just the way a home should be.
Well that’s what happens when Christ comes to dwell in our hearts. He begins to renovate. He applies all the power at his disposal to transform us from a renovator’s opportunity to a House and Garden display home. Not all at once mind you. Be careful about feeling like a failure if you can’t meet all the standards we find in the bible straight off. Christ changes us one room at a time as he comes to dwell in our hearts.
But then even that isn’t all that Paul has in mind here. Look further: "18I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." Now the NRSV there adds "I pray" to make it easier to read, but the original text is actually "in order that." So the reason Paul is praying is not just that Christ may dwell in our hearts. It’s also and perhaps more importantly given the context of Ephesians, in order that they’ll be able to comprehend the enormous love of Christ.
Now why would that be more important than praying that Christ would dwell in their hearts?
Well the context of Ephesians is this: God has called them to unity in Christ from utterly diverse cultural and religious backgrounds in order to demonstrate to the world what he had planned for humanity from before the beginning of the world. Look back at vs 8-11: "Although I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to me to bring to the Gentiles the news of the boundless riches of Christ, 9and to make everyone see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things; 10so that through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. 11This was in accordance with the eternal purpose that he has carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord."
How is the wisdom of God to be made known? Through the Church! How will the church make this mystery known? By demonstrating in our life together how the love of Christ binds us together into one body, with Christ as our head. How the love of Christ overcomes every barrier of race and culture and social and political background. And how are we ever to be able to demonstrate that sort of life? Well only if we can comprehend in all its fullness the love of Christ.
He doesn’t mean that we might have some sort of intellectual grasp of Christ’s love. I mean, I can grasp at an intellectual level what it must be like to face Brett Lee’s bowling or Andy Roddick’s serve. I’ve played cricket and tennis (neither very well!) so I have some idea what it’s like to face a fast bowler or someone with a big serve. But my intellectual grasp is really just the result of my imagination. It has nothing to do with the reality of what I’m imagining.
So too, I can imagine what sacrificial love feels like. But Paul wants me to comprehend it in all its power, in its breadth and length and height and depth. He wants me so to have grasped Christ’s love that it fills me with all the fullness of God. If that could happen to each of us, what a difference it would make.
Now let me suggest that our love for our Christian brothers and sisters will be tested over the next year or so if we go ahead with this process of moving towards a merger with St Michael’s. We have a very nice little community here. We know each other fairly well. We’ve grown slowly enough that each new person has had time to get to know the others in the congregation. But now we’re thinking about bringing together two congregation of about the same size, with the added complexity of a congregation that derives its identity from its ethnic origins. Are we ready to demonstrate in the way we deal with the issues that that will involve, how the love of Christ changes people? Are we willing to work at demonstrating the sort of unity that God meant his creation to exhibit? Are we ready to live in submission to one another as Paul goes on to instruct us in Eph 5?
Will we need God’s power to achieve that possibility? Absolutely! Is he able to give us that power? Of course! It’s according to the riches of God’s glory that Paul prays. It’s the same idea as we saw last week where he spoke of the immeasurable greatness of his power. The riches of God’s glory are immeasurable. We can have no doubt when we pray such a prayer that God can do everything we ask and more.
That’s in fact how Paul finishes this section. He can’t help himself. He’s so overwhelmed with the wonder of the love of Christ that he finishes with this great doxology and prayer: "Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen." Are we asking the impossible, thinking we can merge with a church with quite a different background to us? Possibly. Are we asking the impossible to think that we might be able to buy that block of land on Burwood Highway? Probably. But is the God we’re praying to capable of working both those miracles and more? Piece of cake! He could do it with his hands tied behind his back! In fact if you think that’s a big ask, wait until you see what else he’ll accomplish in our midst. What do you expect him to do here at St Theo’s in the next year or so? Well, read v20 again! He can accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or even imagine.
So how are you going to pray for our church? For power? For the power of the Spirit? That Christ might come to dwell in our hearts through faith? That we might be rooted and grounded in love? That we might comprehend in all its fullness what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge? What a prayer that would be to pray each day as we think about our fellow believers both here and at St Michael’s and anywhere else they happen to be!
20Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
For more sermons from this source go to http://home.vicnet.net.au/~sttheos
