Being - Ephesians 3:13-21

We come in Ephesians 3:13-21. Here the Apostle Paul is praying for those who are reading this letter. Now we've pointed out that there are two prayers in Ephesians. In Ephesians 1:15-23, at the end of the chapter, there's the prayer for enlightenment that you might know. Here in Ephesians 3, it's a prayer for enablement that you might be. Many Christians know, but they don't translate their learning into living. And Paul is concerned now that he has taught them all that God has done for them (Ephesians 1), their possessions in Christ (Ephesians 2), their position in Christ (Ephesians 3), Paul's special ministry of grace, the ministry of the mystery to the churches. Paul is concerned that having learned all of this, they might be better Christians, that they might be what God wants them to be.

Ephesians 3:13, "Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory." Here the Apostle Paul, with the greatest love a man could have. "The love of Christ constraineth us," he says in 2 Corinthians 5:14. With the greatest message a man could bring, the message of the cross. With the greatest opportunity a man could ever give, the opportunity for people to be saved. And yet they persecuted him. "My tribulations," here is the preacher in prison.

Have you ever noticed how that people in the world imprison the truth? They threw Jeremiah in prison. They didn't want to listen to the truth, they wouldn't hear him. They threw John the Baptist in prison. They didn't want to hear the truth. Jesus was in prison. Paul was in prison. And down through the history of the church, those who have taught the truth have invariably been persecuted. Because the world doesn't want the truth.

Now Satan is a liar. Satan doesn't want people to see. In 2 Corinthians 4:4, we're told that the god of this world is blinding the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them. The devil keeps people in the dark. This is why he's happy when people don't go to church. They don't hear the truth. Of course, there are some churches where if you do go, you don't hear the truth. And I'm sorry about this. You make sure you're in a church where the word of God is preached and where Christ is glorified.

Paul said, "I'm being persecuted. I'm going through tribulation, but don't you faint." This is part of the ministry. God used the Apostle Paul while he was in prison to write Philippians. Oh, what a wonderful book it is, the secret of Christian joy. Ephesians, this book we've been studying now for so many weeks. Colossians, that tremendous book that exalts Christ, the head of the church. These wonderfully inspired letters came out of prison. Isn't it wonderful that God is not limited by four walls? I know some dear saints of God who are limited because they won't let God have his way in their lives. I know other saints of God who though they may be in a sick bed, a hospital room, they aren't bound, they aren't prisoners. God has set them free. They are having a great ministry. Paul said, "Don't you give up because of my trials, because these trials are for your glory."

Ephesians 3:14, "For this cause," says verse 14, "I bow my knees onto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." I've noted in my Bible, Paul's posture in Ephesians. Notice the postures that Paul talks about in Ephesians. In Ephesians 2:1, we are lying dead. "And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins." The sinner lying dead in the coffin. Then Ephesians 2:6, "raised and seated on the throne by the grace of God." Now here in Ephesians 3:14, "bowing the knee." Ephesians 4:1, "standing, having done all to stand." Here then is the posture of the Christian: seated with Christ, bowing the knee before Christ, walking in the Christian life, standing against the enemy.

Now don't reverse these. No one is going to be able to walk or stand who doesn't know the meaning of being seated with Christ and bowing the knee to him. You see, our authority comes from the fact that we are seated with Christ in the heavenly. And this authority is made real in our lives as we bow our knees in prayer. Do you take time to pray? "Man ought always to pray and not to faint," says the Lord Jesus in Luke 18:1. Prayer. Prayer. The Tennyson, the great poet, said, "More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of." Prayer. I once saw a motto hanging on the wall. It said, "Why pray when you can worry?" There's a song the children used to sing, "Why worry when you can pray?" Pray. Right now you have a burden, you have a problem. Pray.

Now a person can't pray, he can't bow the knee in prayer unless first he has been raised out of the grave. If he is seated on the throne, then he can bow his knee to the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ and pray. To me, this is one of the great blessings of being a Christian: the privilege of prayer. He talked about this in Ephesians 3:12, "in whom we have boldness and access with confidence." We don't have to come tiptoeing into his presence. We can come boldly into his presence. And tell him our problems. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. And just as my children come to me with problems and needs and worries, some of which are not very serious, but they are to them. So we can come to our heavenly Father and ask him for what we need. "If ye being evil know how to give good gifts to your children," said Jesus, "how much more shall the heavenly Father give good things to them that ask him?" (Matthew 7:11). If as wicked as we are, we know how to love and care for our children, certainly God is perfect as he is, is going to care for us. So don't give up. Pray. Don't faint. Pray.

Paul says you bow your knees onto the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see we pray to the Father through the Son by the Spirit. Now keep that in mind. I don't think it's wrong to pray to the Son. I don't think it's wrong to pray to the Spirit. But primarily, the New Testament teaches that we pray to the Father through the Son by the Spirit. The Holy Spirit of God prays in us and through us and tells us how to pray (Romans 8). We come in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this bothers some people. They think that to come in Jesus' name means just tack his name at the end of the prayer. They can come and ask God for the world with a picket fence around it and put Jesus' name at the end and they'll get it. Jesus said, "if you ask anything in my name, I'll do it" (John 14:13-14). But that isn't what it means at all. Let me illustrate. We have in our church, a book room. We thank the Lord for the ministry of our Calvary book room. Occasionally my children need school supplies, pencils, or erasers, or some little item, which we do carry in the book room. And my son will go into the book room and say, "Um, I'd like to have a pair of paper, please, and just put it on my father's account." And she'll do it. Because she knows that my son needs the paper, and that I'll pay the bill. He uses my name to get what he needs. Now suppose he walks in there and says, "My daddy said you should give me $20 that I need." She won't do it. Because she knows that I would never put my name to that kind of a request. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ will only put his name to that which he knows we need. And coming to the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus, doesn't mean asking anything we want and then putting his name at the end of our prayer. No, it means asking for what we know he wants us to ask for. And he'll put his name, he'll sign his name, he'll endorse any check for a request that he has authorized. Don't ever pray in Jesus' name for something that Jesus wouldn't pray for.

"We pray to the Father through the Son by the Spirit. The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named" (Ephesians 3:15). What family? God's family. Would you mark Ephesians 3:15? God's family is either in heaven or on earth. Isn't that interesting? Nobody in God's family is under the earth.

Now if you'll turn to Philippians 2:10, you'll discover that somebody is under the earth: "that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth." So apparently when unsaved people die, their spirits go under the earth. The Bible calls this place Hades, the place of the departed. But nobody under the earth is a part of God's family, according to Ephesians 3:15. There's no mention here of any temporary place where people go to be prepared for heaven. If you are in the family of God, you are either in heaven or on earth. Now if you aren't one of God's children here on earth, then when you die, you won't go to heaven. You'll go to that place that's under the earth. And nobody under the earth is in God's family.

Now that shocks people. People have the idea that after you die, God sort of weighs the good things and the bad things and says, "Well, you weren't such a bad fellow after all. Go ahead, you spend a few years here and then go on up to heaven." No. The Bible doesn't teach that. The Bible teaches very clearly that the whole family of God is either in heaven or on earth. Now if you aren't one of God's children here on earth, then when you die, you won't go to heaven. You'll go to that place that's under the earth. And nobody under the earth is in God's family.

Here then is his prayer in Ephesians 3:16-21, "that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory," not out of the riches, but according to. You'll never run out of riches. You see if I give you some money out of my bank account, I'm giving it to you out of my bank account and one of these days the account will be empty. But God doesn't give out of, he gives according to. He says there's so much there, just keep on asking. "According to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man."

Now there is the inner man, and there's the outer man. In 2 Corinthians 4:16, we're told that though the outer man is perishing, the inner man is being renewed day by day. The outer man is alive, but the inner man is dead if you've never been saved. But if you're saved, the inner man is alive. Now, he says, "I want the inner man to be strengthened by the Holy Spirit." Even though the outer man may be weak, the inner man can be strengthened by the Spirit. This is how the Christian is able to live victorious over pain. I know some people in our church, they are great saints of God who have pain constantly. They never hear a word about it. I know some Christian people who serve the Lord who have constant pain in their bodies, they never gripe, never complain, because they have this spiritual strength in the inner man. Now psychology can't give this to you, and tranquilizers can't give it to you, and blood transfusions can't give it to you, but the Holy Spirit can. He strengthens us with this strength in the inner man. He prays that you may be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man. This is how the Christian is able to live victorious over pain.

Now he prays that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. Now the word dwell literally means to settle down and feel at home. You see, if you're saved, Christ already dwells in your heart. Your body is the temple of God. We saw that back in chapter 2. If you are a Christian, Christ dwells in you by faith. "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in" (Revelation 3:20). He comes into your life to dwell when you're saved. But the word dwell here means that Christ may feel at home.

Now there may be places where Christ dwells where he doesn't feel at home. When I go calling, there are many homes I go into, I just don't feel at home. I can hardly wait to get out. And I'm thankful too, there are many homes where I do feel very much at home and have a joyful time of fellowship. You read your Bible, you find there are some places where Christ couldn't settle down and feel at home. Back in the Old Testament, God was going to destroy the city of Sodom and Lot lived in Sodom. And Lot was a saved man, he didn't act like it, but he was. And God couldn't allow Lot to be destroyed with the city of Sodom. And so Jesus Christ and two of his angels came down to earth. And they went to see Abraham first. And then Jesus stayed behind with Abraham. And he sent the two angels down to Sodom. The Lord didn't feel at home in Sodom. He didn't visit Lot's house.

And in the Gospel of John, as well as in the Gospel of Luke, we're told that there was a home in Bethany that Jesus loved to visit, the home of Mary and Martha and Lazarus. And there he felt very much at home. Does Jesus feel at home in your heart? I wonder if there are things in our hearts that make him uncomfortable. Paul says you're never going to have this inner strength until you rearrange the furniture and do some redecorating and change things around until Christ can feel at home in your heart.

"That you being rooted and grounded in love." Notice that faith and love go together. "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love." Rooted and grounded. Stability. Now many Christians don't have any stability. Many Christians are just like little children. Over in Ephesians 4:14, "that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine." Some Christians don't have any roots. They're just like tumbleweeds instead of trees. And Paul says, "I'm praying that you'll have this inner strength." Now how do you get this inner strength? First of all, make sure that Christ is at home in your heart. Then he says, "Be rooted and grounded in love." Love is the strength of our lives. Love for Christ and love one another.

Then he prays "that you may be able to comprehend." And the word comprehend is the word apprehend or appropriate. That you may be able to get your hands on, to claim for yourself. "What is the breadth and length and depth and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge" (Ephesians 3:18-19). There's a statement for you. How can you know that which passeth knowledge? He's saying here that the love of Jesus Christ is so great, you can't measure it. You can't measure the length and breadth and depth and height of his love. But he said, you can start. It'll take all of eternity for us to realize the love of Christ. Strength comes through love.

"I want you to know the love of Christ, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." God wants us to be full. Strength comes through fullness. "Be filled with the Spirit," says Ephesians 5:18. "Be filled with all the fullness of God. And of his fullness have all we received," says John 1:16. Many Christians are empty. You take the negatives here. Instead of being strengthened in the inner man, they strengthen the outer man and ignore the inner man. They feed the body, they don't feed the soul. Christ doesn't feel at home inside their hearts. They don't have love. They are not filled with the fullness of God. And because of this, they are weak.

"Now unto him, that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us" (Ephesians 3:20). Now, what is this power? It's the power of God. In 2 Corinthians 4:4, we're told that the devil worked in us. "The prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience" (Ephesians 2:2). But he tells us here that there is a power that works in us. What is this power? Ephesians 3:16, "strengthened by his Spirit in the inner man." And Ephesians 3:20, "unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us." It's God's power. Now, how does God's power work in us? Through prayer. Through his word. As the word of God and prayer becomes a part of your life, God's power goes to work. "Unto him be glory in the church, by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen." (Ephesians 3:21). The prayer for enablement.

Shall we pray? Father, help us to be strengthened with all might in the inner man. May Christ be glorified through the life that we live. May someone be saved through this message we pray in Christ's name. Amen.