Ephesians 3:17-21
Being Full Of God
Last week we began looking at Pauls 2nd Prayer
for the Believers in Ephesus
A) Inspired
prayers reveal Gods heart for us / Provide
examples of how to Pray
B) Looked at
the posture of Pauls Prayer Knelt
1) And then the Premise from which he prayed that God
would grant them according to the riches of His Glory
C) Answer to the pray would not be from Gods riches
/ but according
to His riches In other words it is from an Overflowing abundance
He supplies
D) From there we looked at his first 2 request 1st
v.16 that they
would be strengthened w/ might thru His spirit in the inner man
1) 2nd That Christ would be at home in their Hearts = DWELL V.17
So Paul is praying that they would be strengthened by Christ
/ That Jesus would have the Chance to reign in their lives #3 Tonight that they
would be growing in the Love of Christ !!! RD v.17-19
A) Now Paul borrows one word from the world of Agriculture ROOTED & another from
the world of architecture GROUNDED to illustrate the Lords desire for us to be living in His
Love
B) The word Rooted takes us to the plant world
& speaks of roots
going down deep into the soil
1) Gods desire for each one of
our lives is that we would be rooted deep in the soil
of His love .
C) A plant will not grow unless
it is rooted in the right soil /
1) What is the soil that we
need to be rooted into in order to grow in the Love of Christ ? The
Word
Ps 1:1-3
Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the
ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of
the scornful; 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he
meditates day and night. 3 He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also
shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.
Jer 17:5-8
5
Thus says the LORD:
"Cursed
is the man who trusts in man And makes flesh his strength, Whose heart departs
from the LORD.
6
For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, And shall not see when good comes,
But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness,
In
a salt land which is not inhabited.
7
"Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
And
whose hope is the LORD.
8
For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots
by the river, And will not fear when heat comes;
But
its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor
will cease from yielding fruit.
D) See a tree no fruit Why? Problem
is below surface / root system!
1) See a Christian who is not bearing fruit
problem is below the surface not spending time in the word { Really seeking
Jesus
E) Key to Bible study is to see Jesus / touch Jesus
/ hear His heart
Not
Principles
1) I cant truly spend time with Jesus without
becoming a more Loving caring giving self sacrificing individual Impossible
The word Grounded speaks of architecture/ it refers to the foundation of a building on which a building is built!
A)When they
build a building several stories High they lay a deep foundation!
B) The higher you want to go the deeper the
foundation must be!
1) Something could be learned
from this spiritually / the higher one
desires to go
w/ Christ the deeper the foundation !
C) I was asked by a brother recently if I had read a
particular book popular book I said that I had
good but at the same time
1) Before I could even finish he said what I was
going to say: It was Baby food . Basic wasnt very deep
D) One of the things that concerns me about our
current church culture is there isnt a lot of depth being encouraged
1) We live in a culture
that caters to quick remedies / fast food / gimmick type of stuff the
Church has gone that route
E) You look at a lot of the books being published
today so many of them are based on spending 15 minutes with God quick
devotional
1) I have nothing against devotionals but if that
is all the diet a person is getting Problem - Bible studies are important
So the Lords desire for us is that we would be rooted &
grounded deep with in His Love
A) That Comes
from saturating our minds in the Word / and spending time at the feet of Jesus
B) Love is
really the essence of our Christianity They will know you are my disciples by your love
1) The Fruit
of the Spirit is love
C) So the Lord wants us to be growing in our
comprehension of His love for us Notice
how Paul puts it here :
18 that you may
be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and
depth and height --19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge;
A) Word comprehend = to grasp or to grab a hold of/ Grasp = the
measure of Christ love!
B) It speaks of having a firm
grip upon something / being able to grasp the love of Christ in such a
way that affects the way you live
C) So Paul
prays I want you to grow in your understanding of the MEASURE of Christ love
!!! Comprehend its Width
1) How wide or
broad is God's love?
D) Wider than the sea; world; universe; It
stretches out to every country / people / tribes and nations
1) For God so loved the
world that He gave
..
His love wasn't narrow; wasn't singled out for certain class of people
His love is
tangible and available
A) He loved the rich young ruler/ woman adultery. He
loved religious Nicodemus / Zacheaus / the publican
B) Loved Judas who betrayed Him; Caiaphas and Anna
the scheming political priest who judged Him during mock trial
C) His love is wide enough to embrace everyone: who comes to His outstretched arms
I asked Jesus how much loved me
spread
his arms & died /
His love is wide
/ Also deep
His love is deep!
Christ left the glory and brightness of heaven to come down - end up in
darkness of the tomb.
A) Read the story of some sailors who were venturing
out into uncharted waters: let out sending line to locate bottom!
"No
bottom with this line" - more line was let out
"deeper than that sir! "
B) They attached all the line they has on board to the sounding
weight.
It's deeper than that!
1) We too can let out sending lines to measure God's
love; no bottom will be found
C.) Deep
enough to take hooker like Rahab - Hall of
faith
1) Deep enough to take religious Zealot / murder -
Paul - make him an
apostle.
D)Deep enough to take Peter - depths of
guilt restored
1) Deep enough to forgive your
sins / give you new life It is wide / it is
deep
/ it is long
How long ? Long
enough to last forever! Throughout eternity
!
A.) It's High - High enough to take sinners to
heaven!
Tozer ".... because God
is self -existent, His love had no beginning, because he is eternal, his love
can have no end, because he is
infinite it has no limit, because he
is holy it is the quintessence of all
spotless purity, because he is immense, his love is an incomprehensibly vast,
and bottomless as a shoreless
sea.."
B) It is a love that
surpasses Knowledge - { Paradox
it surpasses Knowledge & yet I am praying that you might comprehend more
of it
1) Reading about the gulf stream today
C) If you combined the flow of all the rivers in the
world, you would have to multiply that power by 100 to
equal the force of the Gulf Stream,
1) that
current of water flows through the
Atlantic at a rate of 150 million cubic meters per
second!
D) Despite its enormous volume and force, the Gulf Stream
is invisible even to those who are sailing on it.
1) IN the same
way often times the Love of Christ is so invisible to those who are living with
in its force .
SO how do we comprehend to an greater degree the Love of
Christ ?
Two ways One is thru knowledge studying the word / 2nd
Experience
A) When I met
my wife it didn't take long before I fell madly in love w/ her! I loved everything about her !
B) The day we got married .... couldn't love her
more than I did right then!
1) Married 171/2 yrs /3
kids later / 2 churches/ 2 states
/ know what I love her more today than I loved her then!
C) Love is grown w/ time Knowledge & Experience
D) Thru that I have a better grasp
of her love for me
1)
Failed her she has forgiven / Been insensitive
she has endured / I havent been the best leader / she has been patient
E)
The same thing is true with the Lord See His faithfulness in your life and He
takes you thru situations Love grows & deepens
Why does the
Lord want us to better comprehend His love?
A) Trust Him more with our
lives Love Him because He first loved us
B)
Love the world the way that He does / sheep without a shepherd
1)
Love the Church the way that He does His body
C)
The more I understand of Christ love for me the more I am going to show &
share that love with others
1)
The more I am going to be a reflection of who He is!!!
D)
That is what Paul means in v. 19 when he says I want you to know all of this so that
you may be filled with the fullness of God
Word Pleroo means to make full, or fill
to the full! It speaks of total dominance:
A) A person filled with rage is totally dominated by hatred.
A
person filled with happiness - dominated
by joy!
B.)To be filled with the fullness of God is to be totally dominated by Him!
A) Col 1:19 - Pleased
the father that in Him all the fullness of God should dwell
B) When Paul prayed that we
might be filled with all of God's fullness, he was praying
1)that
in our character, in our conduct, and
in our conversation,
we might be like
Jesus.
C) Jesus was totally dominated by His fathers will /
heart / Time
1) That is what He was about That was His focus
even to the point of death
I like what Ken Gire says when paints a picture of Jesus in
the garden: wrestling with the cup!
A.) Cup
which represented the wrath of God being poured out on the sins of man!
Ken
Kire: He Took the cup because more than he feared the cup he loved the hand from which it came!
B) He understood the love & heart of His Father
to the point that He was able to surrender His all to the Fathers Plan
Well at this point one might be prone to think Nice
prayer but this is not possible this not a reality Like Paul anticipates that
reaction v.20
20 Now to Him who is able to do
exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power
that works in us,21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all
generations, forever and ever. Amen.