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Ephesians 3:14-21

Let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me again to Ephesians 3. We’re going to finish what we started last week, which is to consider the second of Paul’s prayers for the Ephesians. As you’re finding your spot, let me ask you: How did you learn to pray? That may sound like an odd question. Indeed, we don’t give much thought to it; I confess. But it’s a question worth pondering. How did you learn to pray? From whom did you learn to pray?

I attended a pastor’s conference recently and had the wonderful opportunity to hear D.A. Carson preach. He’s Emeritus Professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and he asked that question of us (a group of pastors), which I thought was strange, but it struck me, and thus I thought I’d ask you.

Dr. Carson said he grew up in a Christian home where English was still spoken and the King James Bible was read, and so they grew up praying in Elizabethan English. So, when he prayed in his family devotions (at 5 years old) it sounded a bit like this: “We beseech Thee, almighty Father, that in the magnificence of Thy grace which Thou saved us through Thy mercies in Your blessed Son, our Redeemer.” Of course, we laughed and he said it didn’t make him more spiritual. It was just the way he was brought up. It’s what he heard, and so that’s the way he prayed.

He went on to say, however, that if you got converted through the ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ in college out of a completely secular background, then you might have sounded like this: “We just want to thank you Jesus for being here. We pray that You’ll bless us really good.” Of course, we laughed at that one too. But he made the comment, to which we all agreed (at least intellectually) and that is neither is better than the other. It’s just a different form of language, which is a brute way of saying: we learn to pray by imitation. That means, of course, that it serves us well to consider who we imitate. And that’s why we’re giving so much attention to this prayer.

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.

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.

“Father, what we know not – teach us; what we have not – give us; what we are not – make us; for Your Son’s sake, amen.”

Last week I encouraged us to pray selflessly and spiritually – two things that should be (and are) kind of obvious whenever we consider prayer at all. And yet, sometimes we don’t see what’s right in front of us. And I told you last week that we’d be coming back to this text because I had one final point to share with you. Well, since last week, I’ve added another. So, we’ll conclude chapter 3 today with another two observations from Paul’s earnest prayer for the Christians in Ephesus.

Pray Specifically

Paul makes four (4) petitions on behalf of the Ephesian believers, and in the ESV they all begin with the word “that”:

A Prayer for an Inward Power (v. 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…” Paul is more concerned about our “inner being” than he is our outer being. That’s the implication of verse 16. He doesn’t ask for strength for the outer man, but the inner man. Something that’s diametrically opposed to our concern today, isn’t it?

In fact, the only other place that Paul uses this language is in 2 Corinthians 4:16-19; see if this doesn’t sound familiar, “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” The “inner self.” It’s a reference to our souls. It’s what remains when the “outer self” is in a coffin or an urn.

I’ve finally arrived at an age (in fact, I’ve been here for some time, and most of you much longer than me) where my children remind me I’m not the man I once was. You know what I’m talking about.

“Hey dad, your hair keeps falling out and clogging the drain. You want me to sign you up for Bosley?”

“Hey dad, you need some Copper Fit clothes, or some of that Icy Hot that Shaquille O’Neil advertises?”

Our “outer man” is wasting away. Yet, our “inner man” is being renewed day by day. Paul prays that we would be strengthened with power through the Holy Spirit in our inner being.

I was called over to Bill and Martha’s house on Thursday. Bill had a particularly rough night on Wednesday, and Thursday morning didn’t look good at all. So, I went over to pray with them and just be there for them. Ends up, Bill bounced back when their son, Mike, showed up. But prior to Mike getting there, Martha and Kim and Bill and I just prayed together and cried together. There was an inner strength present that doesn’t just show up out of nowhere on the day a tragedy occurs. Martha and Kim (and Mike, too), all prayed words that came from time and prayer and memorization of the Word of God.

That’s what Paul prayed for. Don’t you want someone to pray like that for you? How about you praying like that for somebody else?

A Prayer for an Inward Presence (v. 17a), “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith…” This is a little bit tricky and might cause us to scratch our heads a little. We know, from Ephesians 1:13-14 (and other biblical texts) that when we repent of our sins and believe in Jesus Christ (by faith) that the Holy Spirit is given to us as a deposit and a guarantee of our inheritance. So why would Paul pray that this way if the Holy Spirit is already in the heart of every true believer?

The answer has to do with the meaning of the phrase “dwell in your heart.” In the Greek, that phrase means to “settle down,” “to take up residence,” “to be at home,” not just be a casual guest. It’s the difference between being in a house, and being at home in a house. If you’ve ever stayed at someone else’s home – even if it’s a family member’s house – then you know exactly what this feels like. On the one hand you’re grateful they’re letting you stay with them and not have to spend money on a hotel or something, but on the other hand you’re afraid you might break something, or upset their daily routine, or make noise too late or too early. You’re in their house, but not at home in their house.

Think about the house you’re living in now, or one of your previous homes. Even if it’s a brand-new home and nobody’s ever lived there, the house has four walls and a roof but it doesn’t feel like home until you put your personal touches on things. This is especially true if you bought a pre-existing home. That’s why we remodel; we want to get rid of that old wall paper, or change the color of that room, or pull up the carpet and put down hardwoods, or knock out that wall and expand, or a million other things – all in an effort to make it our home and not somebody else’s home.

Now, think about your heart like that. Have you let Jesus come in and remodel things, or have you just set Him up in the guest bedroom? Oh, you enjoy having Him there as a guest. You eat breakfast, lunch and dinner together. Shoot, you might even have a glass of wine together and talk about the day’s activities as you watch the sun set, but He’s not allowed to move that picture on the wall. Guys, He’s not allowed to control the TV remote, and change the channel from that questionable movie we’re watching. Ladies, do you let Him wander through your bedroom closet and make suggestions about what to wear and how to wear it?

See, we invite Christ in (as it were) but we don’t give him carte blanche to do what He wants – to clean things up and throw things out.

A Prayer for an Inward Perception (vss. 17b-19a), “that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge…”

Now, I want you to notice something here. I hope this kind of blows your mind like it did mine. See, I’m often praying for a greater love of God, but this isn’t a prayer that we would love God more (although that’s certainly a good prayer to pray). No, no, Paul’s prayer is that we might have a greater comprehension of God’s love for us. Do you see that? It’s upside down. We’re normally praying that we might grow in our love for God, but Paul prays that we might be able to grasp the measure of God’s love for us.

Let me ask you; how do you measure love? Is it measured by the ounce? By the pound? By the ton? Ok, maybe it’s not a weight thing. Maybe it’s by how far somebody will go with us? So then, is it by the inch? By the foot? By the mile? Or maybe you measure love using time. So, is it by the hour? By the day? By the week? By the year? Maybe you measure it by the dollar, or pound sterling, or peso, or euro? How do we measure love? Paul suggests four dimensions: width, length, depth, and height.

Now, I’m just going to tell you that you’ll find all sorts of suggestions (in commentaries and small group discussions) as to why this is, but the reality is we don’t know exactly why Paul chose to do this. There were a couple of recommendations that I found helpful. For example, Matthew Henry, in his 16th century commentary said, “This is to remind us that the love of Christ is higher than heaven, it’s deeper than hell, it’s longer than the earth, and it’s broader than the sea.” Ok, that’s good. That’s helpful. Someone else said, “It’s broad enough to encompass all mankind, long enough to last for all eternity, it’s deep enough to reach the most degraded sinner, and it’s high enough to exalt him/her to heaven.” Ok, that’s a good explanation too. But the reality is simply this, Paul uses these various dimensions of measurement to encourage us to wrestle with the love that God has for us, which is ultimately beyond our knowledge. Look at verse 19. Paul says the love of Christ surpasses knowledge.

I’m so grateful for hymn writers that have the ability to take complicated and heady and weighty theological concepts and notions and put them into verses that can be easily remembered. Take, for example, Frederick Lehman’s hymn The Love of God:

The love of God is greater far Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star, And reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care, God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled, And pardoned from his sin.

Could we with ink the ocean fill And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above, Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole, Tho’ stretched from sky to sky.

O love of God, how rich and pure! How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure – The saints’ and angels’ song!

The final petition that Paul prays for is…

A Prayer for an Inward Provision (v. 19b), “that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” Notice the progression of these petitions. The inner strength of the Holy Spirit leads to the indwelling of Christ, which leads to the surpassing knowledge of God’s love for us in Jesus, and finally to a fullness of God’s presence in us. The image that kept coming to my mind as I contemplated that was one of those pickled pepper mason jars. You know what I’m talking about? Mason jars filled with different colored peppers, usually layered. Sometimes they use different colored dry beans, or even pasta. By the way (guys) those are for kitchen decoration. You aren’t actually allowed
to eat what’s in those jars.

Anyway, the image is that the container (you and me) is eventually overflowing. It’s stuffed full. The jar has to be shaken and stirred in the hopes of getting one more pepper, or one more bean, or one more bowtie pasta in. The idea is that once it’s complete, it doesn’t matter what angle you look at that jar it’s full of peppers or beans or pasta. When somebody looks at you and me – regardless of which angle, regardless of where they see us (in public, at work, on the golf course, at home, in church) – do they see nothing but God? Paul prays that you and I might be filled with all the fullness of God.

I want to finish this prayer and this sermon by taking just a moment and reflecting on…

Pray Soulfully

Ok, so that’s not the best word to describe verses 20-21, but I’m a sucker for alliteration. Last week was praying selflessly and praying spiritually. This week is praying specifically and I just couldn’t come up with another synonym for glory that carried the same sense. I tried splendidly, but that just didn’t ring. And soulfully doesn’t really do it justice either, but so be it.

This is Paul’s hymn to Him. This is Paul’s conclusion. Verses 20-21 are his doxology. It’s his praise of glory. Pastor, theologian, and Greenville, SC native, John Piper, put it like this. He said, “When the massive weather front of God’s love meets the massive weather front of God’s power in the heart of a believer, it produces a hurricane of confidence called doxology.”

When your heart breaks out in the words, “Glory to God,” it’s like a football team carrying their coach off the field on their shoulders; or like a standing ovation at the Peace Center; or like waving and cheering at a Memorial Day parade.

There is – in the heart of every child and teenager and adult – the need and longing to sing a doxology. We may sing it more lustily to athletes or rock stars or architecture or space technology or politicians or purple mountain majesties, than we do to God. But there’s no denying that there’s a doxology in every heart. We were made to worship and sing praises to our God.

Can I gently convict some of you (not all of you). You know that I love you, and what I’m about to challenge you with is something that even I don’t always do. Do you know the main reason people feel awkward about singing or shouting glory to God? It’s not because you can’t sing. The Bible doesn’t allow us that excuse. It calls us to “make a joyful noise unto the Lord” (Psalm 100:1). So, it’s not because you can’t sing. And it’s not because you don’t know the words. We make that pretty simple most of the time. You have hymn numbers in the program and words on the screens. It’s not even because you don’t know the tune, although we do sing some songs you may not be familiar with from time to time. Are you ready? It’s simply because God isn’t as real to you as your favorite sports team, or movie star or musician.

Think about it. I’m not calling anybody out by name, but you come to church or Bible study and we start with hymns of praise and worship and some people just stand there. Some people might mouth the words, but no sound comes out. If you’re visiting a church that’s different from Mountain Hill – maybe you’re visiting family at their church or you’re on vacation – how many of you just kind of look around the room during the worship singing? Yet, be honest with yourself. If you went to a football game or a baseball game or a basketball game of your favorite team, some of you would come home and not be able to speak because you screamed so much. Some of you go to concerts at the Bons Secors Wellness Arena and you’re singing so loud and dancing that people like me, three rows back tap our kids on the shoulder and say “Would you look at that crazy person. They’re loving life. For the moment, they don’t have a care in the world.” Right? You know I’m right. I’ve been to ballgames with some of you and seen you at concerts. Why? Because much of the time God isn’t as real to us as those people or those teams.

Writing about this issue of praise and glory, C.S. Lewis said:

The most obvious fact about praise escaped me for the longest time. I thought of praise in terms of a compliment, approval, or the giving of honor. I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise unless shyness or something else brings it into check. The world rings with praise… Lovers praise their mistresses. Readers praise their favorite poet. Walkers praise the countryside. Players praising their favorite game. Praise of weather, actors, cars, horses, colleges, countries, historical personalities, children, flowers, mountains, rare stamps, rare beetles, even sometimes politicians and scholars. I had not noticed how the humblest and at the same time most balanced and capacious minds, praised most, while the cranks, misfits, and malcontents praised least.

I had not noticed either that just as men spontaneously praise whatever they value, so they spontaneously urge us to join them in praising it: “Isn’t she lovely? Wasn’t it glorious? Don’t you think that was magnificent?”

Paul is telling every to praise God. He’s only doing what all men do when they speak of what they care about. What do you care about? What do I care about? What does Mountain Hill care about? Paul’s admiration for God was boundless. Paul had (in his heart) for God what you and I have in our hearts for our favorite teams, or musical groups, or whatever. He had so much admiration it was like he was cheering to God because of the victory of Jesus over sin, death and the grave. He had so much love for God that he just lost sense of where he was and who all was around him and he burst forth into song.

If football teams have their stadiums, and singers have their arenas, and actors have their stages, then God has His church. Look at verse 21, “To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations for ever and ever. Amen.” Mountain Hill Community Church is a local expression of the universal church. Part of our purpose as a body of believers, as an assembly of the faithful is to be a corporate and visible and audible doxology to God.

Listen to me folks, it may not be a high crime in the world’s eyes for you and me not to sing and shout and give God praise and glory, but you better believe that if you call yourself a Christian, if you’ve been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, if you know your sorry soul have been saved from the pit of hell by Jesus Christ, then to not sing and shout and give Him the glory that’s due His most holy name is a high crime indeed. In fact, it may say something much more significant than you and I care to admit.

So, let’s give Him glory. Let’s give Him praise. Let’s not be ashamed of the name of Jesus. Let’s not apologize when tears fill our eyes, or a smile unconsciously comes across our face when we sing those lyrics. He’s worthy to receive all glory and honor and praise and dominion, now and forevermore.

The greatest of men – like the apostle Paul and St. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas and Martin Luther and John Calvin and George Whitefield and William Carey and Jonathan Edwards and Billy Graham – the most admirable of men are only meteors on the sky of history. They last about a third of a second and then they’re gone. But God is like the sun. And generation after generation He rises on the just and the unjust and His glory never fades. And so, I conclude with the words of one of the church’s earliest doxologies, “Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost: as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.”

Father, accomplish Your purpose in and through us, we pray. Meet us at our point of need. Pour out the Holy Spirit upon us in increased measure, we pray. Forgive our sins, and increase our hunger and appetite for You that we might sing and shout and give You all the glory; and that the mere thought of You, Lord Jesus, would stir renewed affections in our hearts for You. Lord, we ask this in Your name, amen.