This Mother's Day, we reflect on the intricate emotions that define this special day. Whether you're celebrating the joys of motherhood or grappling with its challenges, today's episode is a tribute to all mothers, diving into the spiritual richness of love from Ephesians 3:14-21. We explore Apostle Paul's insights into divine love, laying a deep foundation for unity and personal growth within our Christian community, providing comfort and encouragement to all.
As we turn life’s pages, we discover the strength and resilience that spiritual fortitude offers, akin to an unseen room in our homes waiting to be found. Today, I share a personal story about the challenges of weaning a child from a pacifier, using it as a metaphor for our deeper cravings for fulfillment. Join us as we journey to grasp the lasting and satisfying nature of Christ’s love, contrasting it with the transient pleasures of worldly pursuits, and leading us to a space of divine fullness.
In our concluding reflection, we consider how practicing Jesus' presence daily can foster transformative love that reaches beyond ourselves. Envision your life as a testament to God's grace and power, drawing others into the embrace of divine transformation. Explore what it means to be anchored in love, rooted in faith, and uplifted by the hope that permeates our existence. Join us on this transformative journey.
This Mother's Day, we reflect on the intricate emotions that define this special day. Whether you're celebrating the joys of motherhood or grappling with its challenges, today's episode is a tribute to all mothers, diving into the spiritual richness of love from Ephesians 3:14-21. We explore Apostle Paul's insights into divine love, laying a deep foundation for unity and personal growth within our Christian community, providing comfort and encouragement to all.
As we turn life’s pages, we discover the strength and resilience that spiritual fortitude offers, akin to an unseen room in our homes waiting to be found. Today, I share a personal story about the challenges of weaning a child from a pacifier, using it as a metaphor for our deeper cravings for fulfillment. Join us as we journey to grasp the lasting and satisfying nature of Christ’s love, contrasting it with the transient pleasures of worldly pursuits, and leading us to a space of divine fullness.
In our concluding reflection, we consider how practicing Jesus' presence daily can foster transformative love that reaches beyond ourselves. Envision your life as a testament to God's grace and power, drawing others into the embrace of divine transformation. Explore what it means to be anchored in love, rooted in faith, and uplifted by the hope that permeates our existence. Join us on this transformative journey.
Let's try that again. Good morning Eastside. How are you? Good, good, good. Well, I'm grateful that you are here on Mother's Day. How many of you over the last couple of days have saw the wonderful light show in the sky? Anybody get out to see it? I watch it on everybody else's news feeds because the thought of getting up in the middle of the night just didn't, you know, sit. Well, we still have young kids. They sometimes get up very early Anyway, but it was a spectacular sight If you saw it. It doesn't seem like anybody in here did, but that's okay, social media is the place for that.
Speaker 1:Well, as Kinsey mentioned, and as you probably know, it is Mother's Day and this is always kind of an interesting thing. I was coming to Houston, I've preached several of the last Mother's Days that I can remember, and it's something that always just kind of hits me as the husband of a mother, as the son of a mother, and I never know quite how to handle it. And so this morning, as I was praying and just working through kind of the sermon for this morning, I wrote a poem and I want to read it kind of for you and over you. It is called Today is Mother's Day. It's in your bulletin, so you can look at it now or you can look at it later. Today is Mother's Day and the dawn broke quiet and clear, where mothers, by blood or by choice, drew their beloveds near their actions, a prelude to tales of joy and strife in homes where every gesture unfolds the story of life.
Speaker 1:Today is Mother's Day and it's not the same for all. For those whose mother, without bearing answering a silent call, their presence a fortress, their words a healing balm In every act of giving their love is a soothing psalm. Today is Mother's Day. For some it is shadowed by grief. For mothers who cradled the beginnings of life, however so brief, those touched by fleeting sparks extinguished too soon, hold love that will endure beyond the sun and the moon. Today is Mother's Day, but for some it whispers screams of loss of connections, marred or distant. The receipts reveal the cost. Those tending to scars from relationships frayed or torn experience this day unfolding heavy and forlorn.
Speaker 1:Today is Mother's Day and in its hours we recall mothers who have left us, whose memories stand tall. Their laughter still echoing their touch, a remembered grace In the void they've left behind. Their memory fills the space. Today is Mother's Day Through both joy and tear-streaked pain, every mother mirrors a part of God's heart, an eternal refrain. In their boundless giving, in every sigh and sacrifice, they reflect God's love for us, a love that paid our ransom price. Today is Mother's Day, so let's give thanks where it is due, to every kind of mother with hearts both fierce and true. For in each story of motherhood, however brightly it may shine, we see a piece of heaven, a glimpse of love divine. Thank you.
Speaker 1:I just want to pray over our mothers. God, we are aware that those gathered here who bear the title or the role of mother, and those who aren't with us this morning, and those all around the world, for sure in this country today, are just feeling all kinds of different things, and so I pray that you would just meet us who are gathered here in this moment, that, as we encounter your presence, that we would feel the true reflection of motherhood in your loving gaze. This morning, father, you've made us male and female, you've made us to express you together, and so we know that you embody motherhood, and so I pray that we would feel that love this morning, nurture us. I pray by your word, through the Spirit, as we gaze at the face of Jesus together. I pray that you would change us, father, that we would be different people when we leave here than when we came in, and that, whatever the day holds for us, whatever the internal feelings and processing and external celebrations, that we would feel your presence and just carry you with us throughout each moment. We pray all of this in Jesus' name, and my brothers and sisters said with me amen, amen.
Speaker 1:Well, this morning we're going to continue in our renewed series through the book of Ephesians, and so if you want to look in your bulletin, there are a place to take some notes. You can flip open your Bibles to Ephesians 3 or check the text. It's on the previous page today, just kind of the way the layout happened, so you might need to flip back as we go through. And so, believe it or not, we're in Ephesians 3, 14 through 21, and the believe it or not part is that Paul today will finish his introduction to the letter. So the first three chapters are the introduction, and so congratulations, it's a milestone.
Speaker 1:But in order to fully grasp Paul's prayer that we're going to unpack today, we need to kind of look back and remind us of where we've been, kind of the context of the greater first half of the letter. And so in the first half, paul explains kind of the gospel's cosmic implications. Right, it's as big as all outdoors. He emphasizes how God has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing, how God has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing. He outlines the divine mystery that brings together both Jews and Gentiles into one family under Christ, a family chosen, predestined, sealed by the Holy Spirit. And now, in Ephesians 3, 14 through 21, the apostle Paul prays fervently that his readers would grasp the transformative power of God's love.
Speaker 1:Paul's prayer is not just a conclusion to the theological reflections that he's been doing. Instead it's gonna be a launching pad for all of the practical instructions for living that will follow this prayer today in chapters four, 5, and 6. And so we need to ground our understanding firmly in this idea that God's love transforms not just our minds but also our hearts, impacting our purpose, our behavior in profound ways. And so, from the theological heights of our passage this morning, paul is going to dig deep into the profound reality and impact of God's grace through Christ. And so this prayer in Ephesians 3, 14 through 21, serves as kind of a bridge into those practical commands that we're going to unpack in chapters 4, 5, and 6. We're going to see that we're being urged to embody our identity as God's children within the context of the church. This is why we're studying Ephesians Eastside to get a big glimpse of all that God has done for us in Christ and all that he is calling us to as a body.
Speaker 1:So this morning we're going to zoom in on how Paul's prayer is structured to inform us and to transform us. We're going to see that this prayer is about more than understanding God's love intellectually. It's about deeply embedding ourselves into it. So this is how we're going to experience the transformative power of God's love in our daily lives. Paul recognizes our foundation and our source of strength must be God's love, without which we are ill-equipped to live as God intends us to live, and so we're going to divide Paul's prayer into three sections. First, we'll unpack how Paul prays, verses 14 and 15. This establishes the foundation for Paul's prayer, draws us into his ongoing train of thought that Houston began for us last week, and then we're going to come to what Paul prays in verses 16 through 19. And this is where we're going to spend most of our time. This morning we're going to look at four key phrases in the heart of the prayer and then, last, we'll consider why Paul prays all of this in verses 20 and 21.
Speaker 1:This is the benediction on this prayer, really on his whole introduction, and it's an incredible look at everything that God is at work doing in and through us. And so, before we get into it, I just wanna invite you to settle back into your chairs, feet flat on the floor. If they touch, just take a deep breath with me. Let's take another one. Would you just pray again with me before we start? Well, god, we are seated here in your presence. We're here to meet with you. We believe presence. We're here to meet with you. We believe that you are here to meet with us. You love being with your people. So I just pray again. Spirit, show us Christ this morning in Jesus name, and my brothers and sisters said again with me amen, alright, number one how Paul prays.
Speaker 1:As I already mentioned in Ephesians 1-3, paul's been kind of unpacking this divine mystery that's been made known to us through Christ, and this epic story showcases God's plan to reconcile the world through Jesus, forming a new humanity composed of both Jews and Gentiles who live in unity together. Previously, this is impossible. As recipients of God's grace, followers of Jesus are encouraged to live out their faith with confidence, knowing that, despite current struggles, god's ultimate purpose is unfolding. And here, in 13, paul begins with these words Look at it with me. For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father. Paul is demonstrating an intentional humility, acknowledging God's ultimate authority to do everything that he has written in the preceding chapters. Paul wants us to recognize that approaching the Father requires humility and submission. Kneeling represents our acknowledgement of God's supreme sovereignty and by calling him Father, paul reminds us of our privileged relationship with God. We're not distant subjects, we're not servants, we're not coming to an unapproachable monarch, but we are children adopted into a divine family, and this realization brings a profound comfort and a courage Family. We can approach God freely and be assured of his loving care and posture towards us.
Speaker 1:Verse 15 continues from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, and the word that Paul is using here is patria, which means lineage or family. It's this idea of a family tree, of the deepest kind of connection, and he's intentionally using this word to evoke this concept of divine fatherhood. See, god is the ultimate father from whom every family draws its identity. And this notion of family transcends human borders, divisions, reminding us that our ultimate belonging is rooted in God's fatherhood of us. He's inviting us to become the unique expression of love in and through the holy life that we have been given, and recognizing that God is the source of our identity brings freedom, doesn't it? We're no longer defined solely by the constraints of our earthly families or societal expectations. Instead, our family line is heavenly and our relationship with God forms the foundation of our self-understanding. This calls us to embrace our identity as God's children fully, to live in the security and love of his family. This calls us to embrace our identity as God's children fully, to live in the security and love of his family.
Speaker 1:And I'd submit that this prayer is built on the foundational relationship with God as our father, because that relationship is marked by intimacy and authority. 1 John 1.3 reminds us, see what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God, and so we are. This truth should equally influence how we perceive our spiritual identity. Understanding ourselves as God's children, we can approach him with confidence and humility, and Paul is demonstrating for us what he hopes we will understand. As we read the following prayer, he's also laying a foundational understanding for how the rest of the letter should be grounded. God is our good father. We as his beloved children. Our own prayers should reflect this understanding.
Speaker 1:Esau, our lives should be built on the assurance that we are deeply loved by our Heavenly Father. I know I've shared this statistic before, but in a survey of Christian leaders, 87% of them report that they believe God to be disapproving of their behavior most of the time, to be disapproving of them most of the time Not behavior, but of them. Understanding that God is our Heavenly Father, who loves us in Christ, predestined us before the foundations of the world, gave us his Holy Spirit. That we might see Jesus and grow to become more like Him paints a very different picture, doesn't it? And so recognizing Him here at the outset as our loving Father helps us to fight against the distortions that our mind and heart naturally bring into this whole thing, and we can live courageously, finding refuge and strength in His unfailing love for us, demonstrated in Christ.
Speaker 1:Let's move to our second main point here and get into the heart of Paul's prayer. So, with the reality of God as our father as our foundation, we move into the heart of this prayer. I want to pull out these four key phrases. You can see them in your bulletin. The first is strengthened with power. Then we're going to look at rooted and grounded in love. Then strength to comprehend Christ's love and filled with all the fullness of God.
Speaker 1:First, paul prays that we would be strengthened with power, and this is a specific kind of strengthened with power. It comes from the Spirit in our inner being, according to the riches of his glory. This is an amazing concept and it emphasizes God's abundant generosity. Look at the term riches and we've seen this term before. It appeared in chapter 1 in verse 7 and 18. It appeared in chapter 1, in verse 7 and 18. It appeared in chapter 2, verse 7. It appeared in chapter 3, verse 8. And Paul describes these riches in detail, referring to them as an expression of God's grace, of our inheritance, the unfathomable depths of Christ's love, and they're for us.
Speaker 1:Paul is praying that the Holy Spirit would apply this wealth of glory to strengthen us at the deepest part of our being, Giving us spiritual resilience to face whatever challenges lie ahead and to simply be children of the Father. And this isn't a surface level thing. It's not superficial, it doesn't disappear when trouble arises. This is why that earlier quote that I mentioned is so disturbing, because, as our humanity kind of gets pushed and pulled by the waves and troubles of this life, this is our ballast, that we have strength and power through the Spirit in our inner being. Just like in chapter one, this is a reality that Paul is praying that we would realize. This isn't something that we have to go out there and get, but it's something that is deep in the foundation of our relationship with God. Already. It's like a room in the house that we just never found. It's already there. It's intended to shape our identity, our motivations, our actions. The Holy Spirit fortifies this core, giving us the spiritual resolve to withstand adversity, navigate life's challenges, remain anchored in God's truth. When the Spirit strengthens our inner being, we experience the assurance that Nehemiah 2.18 says God's hand has been on us from the beginning and that we have the spiritual capacity to remain grounded amid life's uncertainties.
Speaker 1:Family, once we are strengthened in our inner being, paul prays that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith. The dwelling of Christ in our hearts is not a shallow concept. It's a transformation. It means his character influences how we perceive ourselves and how we interact with others. This is what we we want to capture when we say that our mission is to love, live like and speak of jesus. It's that he takes up residence in us when we believe, and by the power of his spirit at work in us, we become, become more like him as we spend time with him, as we learn from him, follow him Like a guest who becomes a resident personalizing their new home. Jesus changes the atmosphere and conditions within each one of us, and this transformation impacts our thoughts, decisions, relationships, all of our motivations.
Speaker 1:I think we often struggle with anxiety and insecurity regarding our identity and purpose. Or is it just me? Do you struggle with that? This prayer reveals the Holy Spirit seeks to provide us with this unwavering inner strength, spiritual power, trusting the Spirit to fortify our convictions, prepare our hearts for Christ's indwelling presence, allowing his character to form within us. Does that sound good to you? This morning, as we make space for Christ, he will reshape us, providing the peace, the purpose that only his presence can bring, the peace, the purpose that only his presence can bring. And when we internalize this strength, family, we're equipped to stand firm, no matter the circumstances, we have security, knowing that God's power is available, through his spirit, to reinforce our identity and our calling, ensuring that we can live with confidence as conduits of Christ's transformative love.
Speaker 1:Let's look at the second thing. Paul prays Rooted and grounded in love. Paul shifts to this language in the back half of verse 17, describing believers as rooted and grounded in love, and he's drawing from two distinct places to convey the depth and reliability of this love. First, he uses the metaphor of being rooted. This is an agricultural term, right, we all recognize this term. Roots are where plants get their nourishment, their stability, and so, like the tree planted by streams of water in Psalm 1, we're to flourish because we draw sustenance from our secure foundation in Christ. This is the time of year when everything is growing, and Jordan Nutting gave us a bunch of hostas and they've been sitting in a box waiting to be planted. We at best have like a gray thumb in our house, and so we're very hopeful. But one of the things as Nikki and I were working in the yard a little bit yesterday watering these, you just see this intense root structure. You're just looking at it and, and it's veiny almost, and you can just see the strength that it will provide these hostas and the nourishment that it will pull from the soil. This is what the love of Christ is designed to do for us Stability, nourishment.
Speaker 1:Second, paul employs the imagery of construction, saying that we should be grounded. To be grounded is to build on a firm foundation that remains stable even in adversity. Another way we can think about this is to be grounded from electricity. Do you guys know electricity grounding? Our first house that we built or that we not built? We've not built any houses in my dreams we have. But our first house that we owned was built in the late 1930s. Nothing in the house was grounded. We had to fix that. It was really fun. We had these gray adapter things and everything was hot all the time. It was just not a good situation. If you've ever experienced that. It's dangerous and we even had an outlet catch fire in Quinn's room when she was like one Caught. It shut off the breaker or pulled the. I can't remember what we did. But being grounded has great benefit. It keeps us safe from lightning strikes. It keeps us safe because we are firmly planted in the ground, just as a cornerstone or a foundation of a building ensures the structural integrity.
Speaker 1:Being grounded in Christ's love provides stability, resilience. God's love is manifested in Christ's sacrifice as nourishing soil and the solid bedrock that we need. In the Old Testament, the metaphor of roots often referred to the law of God as the source of life, but here Paul is making a powerful claim Christ's love has replaced the law as the new foundation of our lives. Our relationship with God no longer hinges on adherence to rules, but is grounded in the unshakable love revealed in Christ's work on the cross. His love toward us is much deeper and more intense than we can fathom.
Speaker 1:Family, I fear that many of us, myself included, are prone to building our lives on unstable foundations, things like career success, relationships, personal achievements. We make rules for ourselves and secretly believe that we will be fine as long as we run the play that we've drawn up. But these are ultimately just temporary, unsatisfying sources of security, aren't they? Do you know what I'm saying? Paul's prayer challenges us to root and ground ourselves in Christ's love period full stop. That's the source of our nourishment, that's the sustaining power that we need, and when our lives are rooted and grounded in the enduring love of God, we can face adversity with courage, walking through uncertainty with peace. The love of Christ changes our perspective, shapes our decisions and transforms our behavior. Christ changes our perspective, shapes our decisions and transforms our behavior, providing the kind of life that we deeply, deeply long and strive for.
Speaker 1:Third aspect of the prayer that we would have strength to comprehend Christ's love. Look at verses 18, through the first part of 19 with me, paul continues his prayer by asking that believers may have strength to comprehend the breadth and length and height and depth of Christ's love. This is an incredible request. It's an acknowledgement again that there's something that's in place that we need to understand. This is not something that we're going off and getting, but something that is already there. By doing this, he's acknowledging that there's an enormity, a hugeness to God's love. This is intellectual and emotional and it requires supernatural strength to fathom something so immense that it divides human understanding. And we can't accomplish this on our own.
Speaker 1:Paul's use of spatial dimensions here to describe God's love draws on temple imagery. Again, pulling on the Old Testament, the physical dimensions of the temple are meticulously recorded in Exodus 26, ezekiel 42. In the New Testament, revelation 21 details what this temple looks like the height, the width, the breadth, the depth. And so for the Jewish people reading this letter. The temple was the dwelling place of God's presence, and Paul is using these terms to convey the comprehensive nature of God's love in Christ. The breadth, length, height, depth encompass all of creation, reflecting the limitless scope of God's grace. Do you see In this way? Paul is inviting us to see God's love as this all-encompassing reality that surrounds us, that sustains us. Do you feel how this just keeps going? It's like a mushroom cloud just keeps opening up and opening up.
Speaker 1:Paul adds that we are to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. This is a paradoxical statement, right? How can you know something that surpasses knowledge? Well, god's love is too vast for us to fully comprehend. It transcends our finite understanding, our limited experience. We haven't done this in a while. So, everybody, take your hands, put them up like this and now put them on top of your head and now keep that shape.
Speaker 1:Ladies, you're familiar with this. This is how you measure everything in your house. Sorry, happy Mother's Day. Now pull it in front of you and look at it. It's not very big. It's hard to believe that the full knowledge of the height and breadth and width and depth of God's love for us can fit in here. Plus, some of us have thick skulls, like me and like I just demonstrated. But just think about this for a moment Do we truly believe in the vastness of God's love for us, or do we place limits on that?
Speaker 1:Maybe we've been wounded, maybe we've made mistakes that we think puts us outside of God's love, or just distorted views of God. Like I mentioned earlier, we may pose boundaries based on personal experience, thinking God's love is not available to us or that we somehow are unworthy. Paul's prayer challenges us to rise above these self-imposed constraints and ask God for the strength needed to comprehend his boundless love. The love of God in Christ calls us into a new existence, one where we are no longer defined by failure but are continually transformed by his grace at work in us. The love of Christ is an active, pursuing love that does not wait for us to clean up our act, but meets us in our darkest moments. In this divine love we find the true essence of the gospel a call to live in the freedom and joy of being fully known, fully loved by Christ. It's not just theological truth family. This is a daily reality that empowers and compels us to live for him who has loved us first, that while we were still sinners, christ died for us.
Speaker 1:What would your life be? Just think about your life right now. Take stock, just take a couple seconds. What would your life be like if you had a better grasp of the love of Jesus for you than you do right now? What situations would change? What relationships would take on a different tone? How would your inner critic function differently? How would your inner critic function differently? God's love overwhelms and transforms our hearts, renewing our minds, reshaping our identities. And as we grow in our comprehension of his love, we find power. We find the ability to be a conduit through which others can also come to know this love that transcends understanding. Do you remember in John 13, what does Jesus say to his disciples? He says they will know me by the way you love one another. You will prove my existence by the way that you love one another and how that love ripples out. And it all starts right here. Family. That God would give us strength to comprehend the height and the breadth and the length and the depth of his love for us in Christ. Let's look at the back half of 19.
Speaker 1:Paul prays that we be filled with all the fullness of God. This phrase implies not only being filled but also being fulfilled. The richness of this expression points to the idea that God's presence not only saturates but also completes us. There's a filling and a fulfilling. Paul envisions believers not just full of his presence, of God's presence, but deeply fulfilled by it. The satisfaction level is 11. This fulfillment implies a life overflowing with meaning and purpose.
Speaker 1:In Ephesians 1.23, we already saw Paul call believers the fullness of Christ, emphasizing the intimate relationship between Christ and his people. And now he expands this vision to encompass the fullness of God himself, praying that we would be filled entirely with God's own presence, praying that we would have this astonishing revelation of how much God's love is for us and how much we are filled with his presence. Just think the infinite divine presence of God filling us so completely that it fulfills the deepest longings of our hearts, and even those that we've put on the shelf down in the corner of the basement of our lives, saying that's just not gonna happen. I mean, I know, ben, maybe someday in heaven I'll be fully human, like Jesus, never sinning again. Then I'll be fulfilled. That might be true. That might be true, but I challenge you not to limit God, this side of heaven. This vision is that the fullness of God himself is something that we have access to, that we are dwelling in through Christ, by the power of the Spirit. And this divine fullness isn't limited to just a one-time experience. It's a continuous process of God working in us, drawing us deeper and deeper into his purpose for our lives. And I don't know about you, but when I read through this and I consider these implications, this prayer just lines up perfectly with my deepest desires for meaning, for belonging, for significance. God's fullness touches every area of our lives, he said, infusing us with purpose and joy as we align ourselves with his divine will. It reshapes our identity and empowers us to live as expressions of his glory in the world we're meant to live.
Speaker 1:We were raising our kids that at 18 months we would start taking the nook away. Nook, whatever you call it, you know I'm talking about the pacifier. We would take the nook away around 18 months during the day, and they would just have it for nap and for sleeping, with the idea that by two the nook would be gone. Well, nor turned two right as we entered into a year of our lives where we moved four times, I think, was it four times, five times Moved a lot, so we delayed taking the nook away. Parents of young kids, you know what that's like. It's like we're going to fight just the battles we have to fight right now. So what ended up happening is we, unbeknownst to us, created a monster, and so we get to the point where it's like, okay, she's like two and three quarters, almost three. We need to start transitioning the nook away.
Speaker 1:And Nora revealed that she had become an addict, and so she not only had her own nooks that she had stashed all over the house, but she would take her brother's nooks, because he was a year and a half younger than her. And she had this trick. You guys, to this day I don't even know how she did it. She would tuck them in her shirt and so you would take the one out of her mouth and she would turn around and just pop the other one in right away. And I think she thought that she was like super clever and that we didn't know. And after a while I could spot it. And at one point she had three nooks tucked up in her shirts like this, just ready, ready. She didn't trust us that there was a better life beyond the nook. She took life into her own hands and said no, no, no, I know what's good for me, I'm going to keep going.
Speaker 1:And it's a cute story and I love thinking about it. It captures a specific moment of our family. That's really sweet when we were first here in Madison, but I wonder how many of us this morning are playing the nook game with God. Moment of our family. That's really sweet when we were first here in Madison, but I wonder how many of us this morning are playing the nook game with God when it comes to truly being satisfied in the deepest sense. We're not benefiting from playing games with him. You guys, like Nora, at just about three. He can see right through us. He sees the nook tucked up inside your shirt. He's not fooled.
Speaker 1:Where are you seeking fulfillment In anywhere other than God's fullness? This is a call to honesty about that. My question for you this morning, pastorally, is do you know how to recognize it? Here's a way that I'm learning and please hear me, I am learning how to do this, not a master. Where do you keep coming up empty when it comes to satisfaction? What things in your life have a diminishing return of joy and sense of fullness. What do you find yourself returning to again and again, with the thought that maybe this time I'll finally scratch that soul deep itch inside of me.
Speaker 1:When we put our hope in pursuits like career success, relationships or personal family achievements for meaning, we all know that these will ultimately leave us unsatisfied. And yet we still go back, like drug addicts, like nook addicts, who return to the same thing over and over again, needing more and more to get the same high. We have to keep upping the ante to get satisfaction. This is the primary cause of the brokenness and destruction in our world today. This is sin working its way out, leading to diminishing return over return over return, until we destroy our lives and the lives around us. And I don't want us to get the impression that this has to involve just major life goals, right, I'm saying family success, career success. Sometimes it's just about how we perceive life goals.
Speaker 1:Through doom scrolling, the algorithm seems to prefer us living short-sighted, perpetually unfilled, always craving slightly more than what we have. And this drives us either to resign to dissatisfaction and just keep scrolling, or to pursue these wants, perpetuating this consumeristic idea that we can ourselves with enough resources, idea that we can ourselves, with enough resources of time or treasure, get what will deeply satisfy us for ourselves. We end up in this never-satisfying feedback loop and, in contrast, god's fullness never diminishes. It remains a limitless source of joy, peace and purpose that can transform our lives. The more we spend time experiencing the full strength, power of his love, the greater we experience it internally. Externally, it never stops, it never loses power, and this divine fullness can satisfy the deepest needs that we can identify. It can heal the deepest wounds that we often try to mask with these temporary solutions. It's worth every fiber of our lives and that's why it's the crescendo of Paul's prayer that we would be filled and fulfilled in the love of Christ alone, that we'd experience the strength of Christ, with power from the Holy Spirit, rooted, grounded in love, having strength to comprehend all of Christ's love for us. So let's move to our third main point, why Paul prays these things for us. So let's move to our third main point why Paul prays these things for us.
Speaker 1:In these last two verses Paul shifts from this personal petition to just pure doxology, just worship. It's a hymn of praise to God. It's not just poetic flourish. Paul is laying out the theological bedrock for everything that he has prayed for us up to this point, for everything that he has been saying during his introduction up to this point. He closes out his prayer not by focusing on human needs, not by even focusing on spiritual growth alone, but by magnifying the God whose power is at work within us.
Speaker 1:Verse 20 begins now to him, who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. And this is Paul echoing a traditional Jewish blessing of God, the source of all goodness and power. It's a declaration of his limitless ability, a theme that stretches across the scriptures, from the beginning all the way to the end. This is reminding us that our prayers are heard by God, whose capacities infinitely exceed our comprehension or expectations, that everything that we hope would happen is only and ever fulfilled by God's power. And Paul is telling us this power is not distant, it's not external, it's at work within us. It's the same divine energy that raised Christ from the dead and seated him at God's right hand. Everything that we've been glorying in in chapters one and two and the first part of three, and this internal dynamic is transformative. It doesn't just sustain us, everything that we've been glorying in in chapters 1 and 2 and the first part of 3. And this internal dynamic is transformative. It doesn't just sustain us, it propels us into the fullness of life that God intends for us. And in verse 21, paul concludes To him, be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Speaker 1:It's just packed with theological significance. Houston and I were talking earlier this week and I think we've said this about most of the passages so far. It's like you could just spend sermons just doing this stuff. So if you feel like we've been cruising, you're right. Family, the glory of God is the ultimate purpose of all things. It's ultimate purpose of your life. It's the ultimate purpose of my life. It's the ultimate purpose of every tree and shrub and bush and the sun in the sky, the moon, the stars, the beautiful northern lights that you can look at in other people's news feeds or on your news feed through other people's camera lens. They're very tired today, by the way, a lot of dads burning pancakes this morning. I have fear.
Speaker 1:But Paul specifies this glory shows up in two specific places. Yes, it's on display throughout the entirety of creation, but there are two specific places that this should show up, and does show up in intensity. The church is the body of Christ, the visible manifestation of God's wisdom, his power, here on earth. The church is intended to reflect the glory of God to the world. We struggle with that, don't we? In a global sense? Not calling out anything here, I'm just saying in general. The phrase throughout all generations underscores the timelessness of this. Paul's words aren't just for his contemporaries, they're not just the Ephesian church's words. They resonate through every age, calling every generation of believers to anchor actions, hopes, in the glory of God. And the second place that Paul anchors this is in Christ, the enduring nature of Jesus.
Speaker 1:As we reflect on why Paul prays, these words, we're reminded our lives are not just about personal fulfillment, right. They're not just about spiritual enlightenment. They're fundamentally about glorifying God. Each prayer we utter, each step we take in faith is an opportunity to reflect the magnificence of his grace and power. Mowing your lawn, bringing food to a neighbor yes. Coming here on a Sunday morning, being with your missional community, driving as though Jesus were riding with you some of y'all need to take that to heart.
Speaker 1:We're called to live not as just passive recipients of God's blessings, but as active participants in his divine story. It means that our prayers, our mission, our daily lives should align with his purposes, not the culture around us. And how does this happen? I'm glad you asked. It has to start with a mindset shift From focusing on our limitations to the transformative practice of spending time in God's presence. It's in these moments of quiet, intentional communion with God that we begin to truly experience the depth of his love that Paul is praying for. John Mark Homer, in his book Practicing the Way, puts it like this it's not enough to know about God intellectually, we must know him experientially. This is the heart of Paul's prayer, that the internal transformation that's essential for how it aligns us with God's heart, tuning us into the frequency of his love and his power, happens when we regularly retreat into his presence, when we allow his spirit to work within us, shaping desire, guiding decisions, empowering actions. It's not a passive experience, it's active engagement. Remember our favorite Dallas Willard quote the gospel is not opposed to effort, only earning. There is a part for us to play.
Speaker 1:The early church understood that it was not by their strength, but by the power of the Holy Spirit at work within them. They were ordinary women and men who witnessed the extraordinary move of God, and I would say, because they were rooted in his presence. They were rooted and grounded in his love, saturated by the fullness Fulfilled totally in Christ. He said let's commit to being people of God's presence. He said let's commit to being people of God's presence that we might experience the height, the depth, the length, the breadth of God's love for us in Christ. Let's cultivate daily habits of spending time with God, not out of obligation but out of a deep desire to know him more. And as we do, I think we'll find that the transformation we experience is not just for our benefit but also for the benefit of those around us. We become conduits of his love and grace, reflecting his glory as we walk in the fullness of life that he intends for us.
Speaker 1:So, as we conclude this morning, I just wanna call us to something. Would you just take your bulletin and turn to the daily practice, which is just after the order of service? And maybe you've been wondering this whole time, like man. Well, one, when's he going to land this plane? Two, what are we supposed to do with this? How are we supposed to grasp all of this? One day at a time, one moment at a time, learning how to practice the presence of God. And so we have been for the last four and a half months doing daily practice, as we call it learning to love Jesus, love like Jesus, speak of Jesus one day at a time. We're coming up on week two of solitude, and if last week was tough to get into because solitude is scary or feels impossible, I would like to invite you to press into this week's practice. We're going to start each day by reading a psalm and then there are some instructions for coming to quiet and experiencing the presence of God.
Speaker 1:All of what Paul prays for us here begins with this practice. We find fulfillment in his presence. As we engage in the practices of Jesus, we don't just gain a deeper understanding of God's love, we become vessels through which his love flows into the lives of those around us. This is how we reflect God's glory and how we realize our dream as a church to someday see everyone in Madison and Dane County and we know that we mean also beyond. But we're just gonna take this little chunk of land that everybody in Madison and Dane County would have a daily encounter with Jesus in word and in deed. I mean it's through us. If that's not explicit, it's through us, as we encounter God daily and learn to practice his presence and bring the fullness of his love with us wherever we go. May our lives be a testament to his endless grace, his boundless power, attracting others into this beautiful story of divine love and transformation. Let's pray.