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Sunday, September 9, 2018
Family Prayer (Ephesians 3.14-21)
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::: Music ::
CHOIR: A Joyful Song (Porterfield)
O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus (arr. Enfield)
Good, Good Father (Barrett, Brown)
Glory to God Forever (Fee, Beeching)
POSTLUDE: Glory to God (Rick Bean, Jazz Mass)
:: Sermon Manuscript (pdf) :: This manuscript represents an early draft of the sermon. Some weeks the spoken version varies more than others from the early manuscript. Nevertheless, if you'd prefer to read than to listen, this is provided for that purpose.
Today’s text begins with the words, “For this reason.” Paul is picking back up where he left off in verse 1 of the chapter where he said the same thing but then interrupted himself with several verses of exuberant commentary. But he’s back on track now, telling them “For this reason I bow my knees.” Before we get into the prayer that Paul intends to pray, let’s remind ourselves what the reason is that is driving him to his knees.
In Ephesians 1-2, Paul has explored the expansive love and eternal purpose of God to welcome home people from every tribe, tongue, and nation to Himself. God is undoing the curse of the Fall of Adam and pursuing humanity to bring them home. And Paul is witness to the way in which the promises to Abraham for God to bless and use a special family and people are being expanded and multiplied out to all people. He is writing especially to Greek people and overflowing with excitement at the news that in Jesus God has broken down the dividing wall between Jew and Greek, male and female, slave and free. God’s arms are open wide and they are wide indeed. So it is for THIS reason – the huge love of God – that Paul is brought to his knees before the Father.
Today we will look at the prayer he prays. It is for you and me – part of that expansive reach of God toward the whole world. Let’s look…
Family Prayer (vv.14-16)
He addresses the prayer to the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name (v. 15). Having explored God’s love for those near and far, Jew and Gentile, rule-bound and prodigal, we remember that God created all human life. We ALL derive our name and our being from God. God made us in His image, male and female; and God called it good. And God has pursued the human race through a people, a message, and a great, persistent, pursuing love. His prayer consists of a series of three things, each of which results from the one before.
Spiritual Power: What Paul prays to God the Father is “that God would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man (v. 16)” – Remember Paul’s own story? Paul thought himself as the last person qualified for this work of sharing the Good News of God. But God saw to it that he was equipped… nothing to do with his natural abilities. It’s an old saying, but a true one rooted in this passage: “God doesn’t call the equipped; God equips the called.” You and I are called together as the Church; and God promises to give us what we need for the work we are to do. We are simply to show up, ask God what He wants us to do, and do it faithfully. And that starts with inner spiritual resolve, also a gift out of the “riches of God’s glory!”
Experiencing Jesus through Faith: The result of that spiritual strengthening is “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith (v. 17).” – An interesting statement, that. Scripture tells us that when we trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior, he DOES dwell in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. But here it is linked to our actions through faith. I often hear people say, “I just don’t FEEL it; how do I know God is in my heart?” I think this passage is giving us a great key to this question: we feel it when we say ‘yes’ to God’s work.
Experiencing Jesus in Love: Yet another consequence of THAT is “that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend…the love of Christ (vv. 18-19).” Do you hear that? We will know and experience the love of Christ through grounding ourselves, rooting ourselves in His love. Recently at Harris and Allie Wilson’s wedding, they chose as a foundational verse for their marriage, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” That is rooting or grounding yourself in God’s love. And that’s what it means to BE the church; that’s what it means to BE a follower of Jesus. And when that happens, we will share in what followers of Christ (aka “the saints”) have known in every age and time: the fullness of the love of Christ – the breadth, length, height, depth… surpassing knowledge. You will be “filled up to all the fullness.” (v. 19)
Bowing Our Knees
So it was at just this point in my sermon studies that I had a realization. This is a prayer. It’s not a theological lesson. So while it is important to understand what Paul is praying for you and me, I think it’s even more important to enter into prayer with Paul and to pray prayers like this ourselves. So I want to do something a little different and pray for you and with you using this prayer as a template. I think that will allow us to truly enter into what is going on in this text. So, I’ll ask you to bow your heads as I pray a portion of this text directly. Then I’ll leave some time for you to pray silently yourself. Then I’ll move to the next section. Would you bow your heads with me?
God, you are our Father, having loved us while we were yet sinners and having called and welcomed us home through Jesus Christ. You have adopted us as children, and not only that, but heirs. According to the riches of your power and love and grace, strengthen us with spiritual power. Encourage us where we are powerless and weak. Confront us where we are foolishly strong, that we might know and depend on you for all things. Pour out your wisdom on this church that we might be empowered to be your people and your witnesses in the world. Bless us with your Spirit’s power that we might know the joy of being in the center of your will. Father, here our silent prayers naming you as Father and requesting your spiritual power in our lives…
Father, we want to know Jesus in our lives. We want to experience him in and at the heart of all we are. Help us fix our eyes, ears, and wills on him in faith, that we might follow where he leads, obey what he commands, and bless as he blessed. Father, hear our silent prayers to experience Jesus in our lives…
Finally, Father, we want to know the love of Jesus. We want to know its breadth and length and height and depth. Help us participate in your love-in-action so that we might experience that love in our own lives. Open our eyes when we leave here today. Open our ears to the words and needs of those around us. Open our hearts to respond to people who need a word or gesture of hope or love or mercy. Lord, hear our silent prayers now to participate in the love of Jesus Christ…
We ask these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.
God-Sized Power (vv.20-21)
Paul concludes our text with a benediction which I’ll also use to close the service. In it he appeals to the one who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think. That’s God! And can you imagine? God can do more than you can even imagine to ask God to do. One more time: God is able to do FAR MORE than you can even imagine to ask of Him. And interestingly enough, Paul doesn’t ask anything here. Instead he says, “To HIM be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.”
There is nothing wrong with asking God for help or for anything. And God loves you and delights to hear and answer prayers according to His will. But to think of God as merely the answerer of prayers is like thinking of marriage as a way to get someone else to do stuff for you. “Honey, will you take the trash out for me?” “Will you pick up some bananas at the store?” “Will you get up with the kids so I can rest a bit more?” In the right context there is nothing wrong with those ‘asks’ but that’s not the definition of marriage. Rather, sacrificial and mutual love for another person is humbling and beautiful. It is glorious.
So Paul works through a deep and heartfelt prayer rooted in the Good News and extraordinary power and love of God in Christ. But he ends up out of asking and humbled to the point of praise. That’s someone who has tasted the breadth and length and height and depth of God’s love. If you’ve run into that, you know that there is no more to be said, but to God be the glory. To God be the glory in the church and in my life. Amen and Amen.
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