Word of Salvation – Vol.50 No.15 – April 2005
To Him Be Glory
Sermon by Rev R Adams on Ephesians 3:14-21
Scripture Readings: Philippians 2:1-11; Ephesians 3:14-21
Suggested Hymns: BoW: 48; 51a; 138; 116a; 92; 150b; or
PsH: 89; 94; 286; 230; 180; 310
Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ.
As we come to this passage we are hit by the words, “For this reason…” And it’s a bit like a footy match… the player with the ball has slid over the try line to score… and all eyes are on him… he has everyone’s attention. In the same way Paul has our attention as he says, “For this reason I kneel before the Father…” And we just have to know this ‘reason’ that Paul is alluding to.
In the verses prior to our passage, Paul speaks of God’s eternal purpose accomplished in Christ Jesus (vss 11-12). He’s been speaking of God’s eternal plan that somehow includes diverse people. And essentially it is that people of diverse cultures can now experience unity in Christ Jesus. All those whom He has “purchased for God from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Rev 5:9) will eventually be found in the church. No one would deny the importance of lost souls finding themselves in the church. Yet the church doesn’t exist simply for the salvation of souls. The church is not an end in itself… it is the means to an end. And that end is to glorify God.
You may remember Jesus saying, “I will build My church… and the gates of Hades will not overcome it” (Mt16:18). Well so it is. Since the church is in the world… Satan and his fallen angels will, in fact, glorify God… though I can tell you, that’s not what they had in mind. They were thrown out of heaven because they rejected God’s glory. Instead, they sought to glorify themselves. But because of Jesus Christ and His church… they will be forced to praise God even as they are dragged off to a shameful end.
And not only so, faithful angels in heaven will also see God’s eternal plan being worked out through the church and they, too, will praise Him. The purpose of the church is to demonstrate… to heavenly beings… the amazing riches of God’s grace. We… the church… are to be praising God… glorifying Him.
Speaking by the Spirit of God, Paul says (vs 21): “to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!” We bring glory to God by living… and being the church that Christ is building. To that end, Paul prays. So that in our everyday lives we might practice what it means to be a Christian and a part of God’s whole family. So that we might fulfil the purpose God has set out for us.
Notice how Paul begins his prayer: “I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name” (vss 14-15). “I kneel before the Father…” is an interesting thing for Paul to be saying. Jews usually pray standing up with their hands raised. The Pharisee and the tax collector in Jesus’ parable both stood to pray. (Lk 18:9 ff). But here, Paul is driven to his knees before God. Why is that?
I’ve just been explaining how the Church exists to glorify God. The only way we’ll be able to do this is for all Christians to be united in believing in the God who gives us our family name, “Christian.” If we’re going to glorify God, we’d better look to Him rather than to the church. We can easily question if the Christian Church is up to the task of glorifying God. With different denominations… and independent churches. After 2000 odd years instead of being closer together we’re further apart. Even in our own congregations we’ve still got lots of work to do.
I suggest to you that Paul is on his knees before God because he can see how impossible it is going to be, humanly speaking, for us to achieve our God-given goal. In our own strength we’ll never be able to glorify God. So Paul falls to his knees.
He pleads with the Father from whom the whole family in heaven and on earth takes its name. We ought to be pleading with God for same thing… the wherewithal to bring His grand plan to pass even in us. You see, if there’s going to be any hope for the Church, it is in this… that we may become more like our Father. “That (we) may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (vs 19).
With this in mind, Paul prays for three things:
Firstly…
1. FOR inner strength BY GOD’S SPIRIT:
(Vss 16-17) “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.”
When Paul uses the word “power”, he’s referring to the power of God to give us faith in Christ Jesus. “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor 1:18). Back in chapter 1, Paul has already prayed that these same Ephesians might know “(God’s) incomparably great power for us who believe”… and he goes on to say that this “power is like the working of his mighty strength… when he raised (Christ) from the dead…” (Eph 1:19-20). What he means is, “May God give us this power to believe.” And he mentions this “power” three times in our passage… indicative of the extent to which the church needs this life-giving power of God.
I think the “church” finds it hard to get united behind the idea of glorifying God… because we all still struggle with our old dead natures. God has given us new life in Christ… but there’s still part of us that’s dead… that needs to be brought to life. And only God can do it… by the exercise of His power… through the influence of His Spirit “in our inner being” (vs 16)… or the equivalent thought (vs 17)… through the presence of Christ dwelling “in our hearts through faith.”
You’ve probably moved house at one time or another. And once at your new home, maybe you stripped the walls and repainted them… or whatever… because you wanted this to be your place… you wanted it to reflect your character… your personality. Well, in the same way, when Christ moves into your heart through the Holy Spirit… He begins to change things to His liking… until you become a dwelling place suitable for Him.
Yes indeed, Lord, send Christ to work in OUR hearts. It has to be an urgent plea. In another place, Paul actually says: “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith… Do you not realise that Christ Jesus is in you-unless, of course, you fail the test?” (2 Cor 13:5). People, we cannot afford to fail the test.
So, Paul goes on to pray…
2. THAT WE MAY GRASP CHRIST’S LOVE:
(Vss 17-18) “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.”
If Christ is in our hearts… a fruit of that will be the very “love” Paul is praying about. Love is the first fruit of the Spirit… along with joy, peace, patience, etc (Gal 5:22-23). So if Christ is at home in our hearts… he will display His own love in and through us. “We love, because He first loved us” (1 Jn 4:19).
Jesus commands us to love: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you” (Jn 13:34). Ultimately, it is God’s intention that all members of His family… in heaven and on earth… will love each other, just as He loves us… now… through Christ. But we can’t fulfil God’s intent or Christ’s command… without having Christ along with it… so that we can love as Christ loves us.
Paul prays that we will understand Christ’s love (vs 18), “that you may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp…” His love. Paul’s on about something more than intellectual activity. It’s NOT just KNOWING ABOUT God’s love… as we might have done when we were kids memorising some verse like John 3:16: “For God so loved the world…”
Understanding the love of Jesus… being able to truly grasp it… comes from being continually immersed in it. Someone has said, “an individual Christian can know something of the love of God… but it takes the whole family of God to grasp the whole love of God.” I guess that person means we have to be experiencing it together with the saints… in the church. It’s a bit like experiencing that your wife or your husband loves you. You might have guessed it already because you’ve been told plenty of times. But when he or she has kissed you, then you know from experience.
And that’s what Paul prays for. That we will experience what it feels like to be fully loved by Jesus Christ… even as the fullness of His love defies our comprehension. Who can understand it? But this is what we as the church are to be about… learning from our experience together… the love of Christ… so that God gets the glory.
Then Paul’s third request…
3. THAT WE BE FILLED WITH THE FULLNESS OF GOD:
(Vs 19) “…to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
If we belong to God’s family… we ought to be somewhat like chips-off-the-old-block. If we’re going to glorify God… we have to appreciate His qualities. God has to fill us with His fullness… so that we can be like Him.
In chapter 4, Paul calls it “attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (vs 13). So whether it’s “fullness of God”… or the “fullness of Christ”… or even the “fullness of the Spirit” in chapter 5… it all has to do with becoming more like God… reflecting more of His character.
Being filled with God’s fullness is the natural outworking of being strengthened by the Holy Spirit… of having Christ dwell in our hearts… of understanding His incomprehensible love. Can we comprehend? We can only believe that we can know “how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ…” and praise God for it.
In the name of Jesus…
Amen.