Sermon: A Worthy Prayer

Let me pray for us and pray for the Lord's blessing of His word before we read it and hear it preach this morning.

Our Father, even as we just sung in prayer, so we say in prayer to speak to us this morning,

our God who can speak in a way that every single one of us in this room is spoken to expressly the way that we need to be spoken to,

to pray that as this text is read, oh Father and as this text is preached, that you would preach a better sermon than this preacher can.

It's you as the great sovereign king and shepherd of your people would tend to each of our hearts and our souls in this room this morning that you administer your grace to us and we pray this in the strong name of Christ. Amen. Ephesians chapter three verses 14 through 19 though I'm going to read through 21 uh this morning. This is the holy and errant sufficient word of God.

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that you being rooted in grounded in love. They have strength to comprehend with all the saints, what is the breath and length and height, depth

and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now the hymn who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us, him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. The grass withers and the flower faith, the word of God is forever. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Paul just give you a little context, sits in prison as he writes this letter to the church and Ephesus and in our text, what he is doing is he is informing them of a prayer that he prays for them. And it is, it is a great prayer. It is I think one of the best of prayers. It is a prayer of a pastor that cares for his congregation. Uh, it is I think what every pastor would desire for the people that are under his care. It's the prayer that I think every husband, every father,

every mother, every friend, every brother, every sister in Christ should be praying or want to pray. It's a great desire for those that are attached to them. It should be what we want for ourselves. What is in this prayer? It is one long sentence just verses 14 through 19. But if you look at the language of verse 14, he begins this, for this reason I bow my knees. And now if you go all the way back to verse one of chapter three, you'll see the same language

for this reason I. But then he stops. Paul has gotten sidetracked. He was beginning to tell them of the prayer that he prays for them in verse one, but then he stops in verses two all the way through verse 13, he goes off on what may feel like a little bit of a tangent where he is telling them of his ministry on their behalf that he has been called to be a preacher to the Gentiles. And yet it is not so much a distraction

or a tangent that even more underscores his prayer here. And I think it makes it even more beautiful because he can't preach to them right now. He's in prison but he can pray for them. And so he's telling them of his prayer. I want to look at this under two headings this morning. I want to look at Paul's posture in this prayer verses 14 and 15 and then second Pauls two petitions in this prayer verses 16 through 19. If we were to continue on, like I'd been the plan,

we would've looked at Paul's praise in this prayer in verses 20 and 21. But we're just going to look at those two points this morning. His posture and his petitions. So first Paul's posture, verse 14 and 15. It says, for this reason I bow my knees before the father. This doesn't strike you as profound at the outset, but Paul to say that he bows his knees, this is something that is different. This would not been the have been the normal kind

of posture in prayer in the Old Testament world or in the New Testament church. The people of God would stand as they prayed. And yet as Paul says here, he bows his knee and what he is alluding to is that he comes before God as king, you bow your knee to a king. And so he is recognizing as he is saying at the very outset of this prayer, that this is a God who is sovereign. And he underscores that by the phrase that follows saying this God, whom he knew

before is the one from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. You think about naming biblically as is pictured in the garden of Eden. When Adam names all the animals, it is showing his dominion, his sovereignty over the animals. So every family or type in heaven, I believe he's referencing angels there. Every family on earth, he is referring to all of mankind. That is this God whom he bows before, has dominion,

has sovereignty over all creatures. He's king now offering prayers to a sovereign. It's a helpful starting place, but it's not a comforting place. A sovereign could be impersonable. He could be a kind of ogre in the sky. And so it's not just a sovereign king that he offers his prayers to notice Paul address him as Jesus taught us as father. When Paul prays, his posture is not, it's not just the physical that is in view here, but the spiritual.

He prays with confidence. He has confidence as he prays to this God. He has confidence in his ability as king, as sovereign, that he also has confidence in his willingness to hear and answer prayers because he is Father

Heidelberg catechism. Question 26. It asks this question, what do you believe when you say, I believe in God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth from the apostles creed? And the answer is this, I believe that the eternal father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who out of nothing created heaven and earth and everything in them who still upholds and rules them by his eternal counsel and providence is my God and Father

because of Christ the Son, I trust God so much that I do not doubt He will provide whatever I need for body and soul and will turn to my good whatever adversity he sends upon me In the sad world, remember Paul is in prison, the sad world. But then listen to the final sentence of Catechisms answer. God is able to do this because he is almighty God and he desires to do this because he is a faithful Father.

Paul's recognizing this is my father's world, it's his. So he has confidence as he cries out to him on their behalf, says posture and prayer.

Second is to petitions his first petition. Verse 16 is that they may be strengthened with power through his spirit. In verse 13, Paul had asked the Ephesian Christians quote not to lose heart that could be translated, do not be discouraged. And why are they discouraged? Because Paul is in prison. And so now strengthening, he puts in contrast to their discouragement. He wants them strengthen with power in their inner being

that they're insides those places in them that are trembling right now. And he echoes that with a kind of repetition in verse 17 by saying that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith the same general meaning.

It may seem a little odd, these Ephesians, they're Christians, aren't they already strength in the spirit in their inner being? Aren't they already dwelling, having Christ dwelling in their hearts? And the answer of course is yes and yes. So, so what are you praying for them, Paul, in the midst of their distress? What? What's he asking? God, this sovereign merciful father, what is he crying out to him for on their behalf?

Well, what's he pleading with God for It is that they might have this continual growing presence of Christ within them.

As Charles Hodge said, the end dwelling of Christ is a thing of degrees.

So let's try and make sense of this.

Christ is in the believer. This never changes.

Once we are brought to saving faith, given that gift of faith, we are united to Christ by faith that that that cannot be ripped away. Our salvation is in Christ and we are in Christ. But what Paul uses here is he uses a word that that speaks of Christ taking up residence, that is settling in making his home there. What he's doing is he's picturing this sweet communion that they already have with God, the Father in Christ by the Spirit.

They already have it. And what he is picturing is that it's even becoming more and more settled deeper and deeper and deeper, more and more of a reality in their lives

growing by degrees in their inner being. The second petition puts a finer point on this. It's found in the second half of verse 17 through 19. He says that you being rooted and grounded in love, that is as God grants you to be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being so that Christ dwells in your hearts through your faith, you will be rooted and you will be grounded in love. The second petition flows from the first petition

and the results are them being rooted. It's agricultural, they're being grounded. It's architectural being rooted and grounded in love. You see, they're shaken, they're discouraged, they're anxious, maybe even fearful. And he's, he's telling them that the love of God in Christ,

this, this is your sphere, this is your solid ground.

Circumstances may change. We're planted, we're established, we're kept in the love of God. Our lives are planted in it and they are built up in it.

I hope you know that the entire life of the Christian is one that is centered upon love. God is love. The apostle tells us, and we are gods because of love for God. So love the world that he gave his only begotten son in. This is love. Not that we loved God, but that he loved dos and sent his son to be a propitiation for our sins. So much so that Jesus will say this is the great characteristic, the great identifying principle of his people.

They will know you by your love for one another. All of the law and all the commandments can be summed up in these two words. Love the Lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself. Love the Christian life is wrapped up consumed in love.

But notice Paul prayers not that they may love more, as important as that is, his prayer is that they may know Christ's love for them more. And that's the solid ground.

This is where I think Christians often get a degree off and it makes a great confusion of the Christian life, is that we make our primary aim or primary purpose of becoming more and more in love with Christ. That becomes our primary focus. And and what Paul is doing is he's, he's orienting them and saying, no, look, that's, that's not the primary because that that can't force the issue. That doesn't cause the issue. Rather he's saying what you need to know more

of is the love of Christ for you. That's the wellspring. And from that comes everything else

is knowing more and more of the love of Christ for you. That's the primary pursuit.

That's your comfort.

And we can always pursue knowing his love more.

Why? 'cause there is always more of Christ's love. The no whatever the trial, whatever makes us anxious. Whatever causes discouragement or fear or struggle, Christ's love is sufficient. And Paul wants Ephesians to understand as your pastor, I want you to understand there is so much more for you to know.

Paul prays that they may have strength to comprehend with all the saints that includes you, the saints.

And he uses four dimensions to attempt to speak about the love of Christ. He says the breath and the length and the height and the, the depth in the original language, the these four dimensions, they are regarded as a unity. That is, they are a totality. It's a fool's errand to, to try and measure it. If it was measurable, its height would exceed the heavens. Its depth would penetrate the deepest seas. Its breath would span the universe.

Its length would be without end. But Paul doesn't do what I just did. He doesn't use illustrations because he would say even those categories of breath and length and height and depth, they even as categories can't contain this.

The love of Christ cannot be bound.

The finite cannot contain the infinite.

This love, as he says it surpasses knowledge.

Thomas Goodwin, my favorite quotes in church history, said it so well when he said, if there were infinite worlds made of creatures loving it would not have so much love in them as was in the heart of that man, Christ Jesus.

And Paul wants them to know this love more and more and more and more to pursuit that they can undertake all of their days

because it's a pursuit that we undertake for all of eternity.

So it calls upon God's power in the spirit that they might know this love of Christ more and more.

That's a prayer worth praying.

That's a prayer worth praying for one another, for praying for your church, praying for your loved ones, praying for yourself.

I love that this is a praying church

and some of you are incredible prayer warriors. You put me to shame.

And yet I wonder how often we're, we're praying this kind of big prayer.

Listen, you're to pray for physical health. You're to pray for your children, you're to pray for jobs and finances. Those are all things that are worthy of prayer. Parking spots at Kroger and Meyer or worthy of prayer. The smallest of prayers are fine,

but these are the best of prayers.

The big prayers you grow to know more and more the love of Christ.

A prayer that's truly without in that can be prayed all of your days for all of your people. For all of yourself.

And what does Paul mean by No, this is so very important.

He's not simply referring to the mind. It it includes the mind, but it's not limited to the mind. He speaks in verse 16 of being strengthened with power through spirit in your inner being. In verse 17, he says that Christ may dwell in your hearts in the Old Testament scriptures, it would speak of your bowels to deep down your gut, to your core. It's all that you are your mind and your will and your affections. He, he wants the Ephesians to know this love of Christ

by experience.

That it's the realm in which that their, their whole person is lived in bowels. We would say in the heart,

not just spout facts, you know, with the mind about ah, this beautiful Christ that so loved us that he came into this world and lived a perfect life for sinners. That he died a perfect death for sinners upon the cross. He said more than just knowing it with the mind and being able to say it, but to live in that orbit

to experience it.

He wants them to live in that reality more and more. Not just bare facts, but experience.

I'm not sure how to illustrate this. I don't think Paul knows how to illustrate. I think that's why he gets to this place where he just kind of uses these four kind of broad things and he, he tries to use different phrases. Ah, you're inner being your heart.

Best I can come up with if you give me a little grace this morning I,

I was in high school, if I can use a personal illustration, I had a stepfather that was not the best of men. And one of the things that he was always very concerned about was our family budget. So as a 16-year-old young man who just got his driver's license, I heard over and over and over again that I better not get a speeding ticket and I better not get in an accident because our insurance rates would skyrocket and go through the roof.

So of course there was a Friday night

and I was driving late and I was speeding to get home before curfew and all of a sudden I saw the red and the blue lights in my rear view mirror. And to say that my heart ended up in my toes would be an understatement.

And I drove all the way home sobbing and crying as that speeding ticket was laying on the passenger seat next to me.

And I wasn't in tears because I feared my stepfather, but because of the disappointment I knew it would bring to my mom, it wasn't the financial cost that I dreaded for my family. It was the relational and emotional cost that I knew she was gonna have to pay for her son's folly. And I felt like I had failed my mom.

So I got home and they were asleep. And so I crept into their room and trying not to wake up my stepfather and went to my mom's side of the bed and I whispered in her ear, mom, I need to talk to you. I've done something awful. Probably not the best thing to say to a mom. In the middle of the night she got up and she followed me to my bedroom and I sat on the bed and she sat next to me and I said, tears streaming down my face.

And I said to her, I have done something awful. Mom.

She just stopped. And she said, what is it? I said, you, you can tell me. I said, oh mom, I got a speeding ticket. And I wasn't ready for the response. Instead of a tirade or even a furrow brow, she,

she just simply put her arms around me. She said, son, I love you. It's okay.

Now, I knew my mother loved me. I, I knew she loved me,

but I can say by degrees I came to know my mother loved me even more that night,

more and more degrees

where it's experienced,

the Christian has more and more to know by experience.

Experience. God loves me,

he loves me.

We seem to know that intellectually most Christians, that God in Christ loves them. Frankly, it's impossible to believe otherwise. If you believe the scriptures.

Often we struggle by experience

anxiety and doubt and fear. They cloud the mind and the heart. And we think we think about God. He seems distant. It seems easy to readily admit that Christ died for us, but struggled day to day to believe his goodness is still aimed at us. Yes, he cared for the leper, he had compassion upon that leper. But I don't think he quite has that kind of kindness and compassion towards me.

Hard season takes a toll. Thoughts dominate or at least questions of whether he is either blind to our circumstances or even he is harsh and ordaining them. Some think he is no different from the man behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz. He's unable to grant what we need or maybe not so much unable as unwilling.

So we will sing of his love. But in our heart of hearts, we wonder whether it's limited rather than lavished upon us.

I've asked various Christians and counseling with them. I that when you imagine Christ right now looking upon you,

how do you imagine him? Is he looking upon you with a furrowed brow and a frown

or is he looking at you with a smile and his eyes filled with delight?

I think many Christians think he purchased me, but now he simply tolerates me.

That's a lie.

He loves you

and you're to know that more and more and more. He loves you.

God the Father and God the Son and God, the Holy Spirit in us are a God of love for us and to us.

His love for us, it's eternal. It stretches back into eternity. He loved you before you were. And that means that his love is not conditioned upon anything or anyone. His love for you is not determined by you what you look like today or what you will look like tomorrow. His love is rooted in him.

He is eternal. Therefore, it remains constant from beginning to end. But his love is not only eternal, his love is unchangeable. It's the same yesterday, today and forever because he is the same. Yesterday, today and forever.

The love of Christ cannot be separated from the person of Christ. He does not diminish. So his love does not diminish. And you, if you are a Christian, are the object of his unchangeable love.

But it's not only that's eternal, it's not only that it's unchangeable. His love is affectual. It accomplishes its purposes.

Even the devil as the prince of the power of the air, the prince of this world and aligning all of his host and even implanting and working sin and judases heart could not undo his purposes.

What Christ's love wills, it accomplishes, I will lose nothing of all that he has given to me, but raise it up on the last day.

There are depths to it that you explore for all of eternity.

Paul seek to comfort them with this knowledge. But it's more than that. He wants, wants them to be formed by this knowledge.

He knows that this experiential knowing of Christ's love that it is the greatest blessing of this life. And it's the great blessing of the life to come. It has great shaping influence. It comforts, yes, but it also compels. It shapes it form.

Think about whatever it is that going through in the Christian life.

Maybe it's a a deficit. I want to be more a man of prayer, more of a man of the word. What is it that motivates me? That compels me to be more of a person of the word that's not just tying up my bootstraps and yanking myself up to do it. It's knowing more the love of Christ. When you know more the love of Christ, you want to spend time with Christ in prayer. When you know more the love of Christ, you want to hear more from Christ as you pour over his word.

When you know more the love of Christ, you can't wait to come into fellowship with his people because they are His people. On Sunday mornings, when you know more the love of Christ, this sin that continues to beckon and call me that I keep giving into it becomes more and more detestable and something I more and more hate and more easily turn from. When I know more of the love of Christ, even though my body is deteriorating

and wasting away, I can still have joy because I know of the hope that is set before me and that I get to see him face to face in this body will be restored. And I know the love of Christ more and more it forms, it shapes, it compels.

He wants them to know more and more of the love of Christ as a comfort, but also to compel them. He's gonna go into Ephesians chapter four and talk about what it looks like to live as a Christian. But this is the prayer. It starts here.

It's formative. In fact, that's what he means here in verse 19. By them being filled with the fullness of God, he defines it in chapter four, verse 13 as being mature in Christ. And so the picture he's painting is this is the love of Christ works in us. And even as it comforts, it compels, it becomes the great shaping influence upon your life. And he's saying, you want to know more of this. You want to experience more of this.

You want to see your life lived more and more in this orbit based upon this ground.

It's to dominate, it's to delight.

So he is saying, I keep praying this for you,

something we should keep praying for ourselves and one another. There's nothing greater to know.

There's a famous story, it's closed with this about Carl Bart, one of the most impactful theologians I have many disagreements with. But despite those disagreements, one has to recognize that in the 20th century he was a man who thought deep about theology and he was a man that had an impact upon the church. He was lecturing once at the University of Chicago in 1962 and there was a q and a after the lecture, and one of the students asked

this world renowned theologian, Dr. Bart, what is the greatest thought that has ever entered into your mind? Dr. Bart thought for a second, and then he said, what I learned at my mother's knee, Jesus loves me. This I know, or the Bible tells me. So

there's a world in that. There's an eternity in that and it's yours. If you're in Christ this morning, keep praying after it. Keep praying after it for one another. We might know that love more and more. Let's pray

King and Father, we do bow before you this morning. We are thankful for the gift of your word, that foundation that has been laid for us in love, that we might truly know the love of Christ.

And yet how small is our knowing? So we pray that you would work in us by the power of your spirit, by the indwelling of your son, that we might know more and more the height and the depth, the breath and the link, the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. Indeed, we may be filled with all the fullness of you. Our God may be to your everlasting glory and praise sin. It's the love of men's souls. Name that we pray Christ Jesus. Amen.