A Lowly Shepherd’s Prayer

God’s people would take your
Bibles and turn back to the book of Ephesians into chapter 3. If you have not been with us,
this is kind of the plan that we’re doing. I noted a couple
of weeks ago that there are some books through which I’ve preached
in our now 19 plus years here that I haven’t been in in many
seasons and so in the midst of a break from the gospel of John.
I think we were in chapter 15 or 16, somewhere in there. What
I purpose to do is just do a quick flyover and then one chapter
a week in this incredible epistle. We may do this from time to time.
There are other books that I preached a long, long time ago. This book
we preached in 2001. James, I think, was way back
there somewhere, and there are others as well, as well as other
books that I would long to get to someday. But if you would,
we come into chapter 3. having tasted a bit of chapter
1 verses 7 and 8. And then last Lord’s Day, we
learned about God’s house, that spiritual temple that he is building,
founded upon none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. So we
come into chapter 3 with that backdrop where Paul says, for
this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus, for the sake
of you Gentiles, if indeed you have heard of the stewardship
of God’s grace which was given me for you, that by revelation
there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in
brief, And by referring to this when you read you can understand
my insight into the mystery of Christ which in other generations
was not made known to the sons of men as it has now been revealed
to his holy apostles and prophets in the spirit. To be specific
that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the
body and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through
the gospel. of which I was made a minister
according to the gift of God’s grace which was given to me according
to the working of his power. To me, the very least of all
saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the
unfathomable riches of Christ. and to bring to light what is
the administration of the mystery, which for ages has been hidden
in God, who created all things, in order that the manifold wisdom
of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers
and the authorities in the heavenly places. This was in accordance
with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus
our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident access through
faith in Him. Therefore, I ask you not to lose
heart at my tribulations on your behalf, for they are your glory. For this reason, I bow my knees
before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth
derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches
of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit
in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through
faith, and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be
able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and
length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ,
which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the
fullness of God. Now to Him, who is able to do
exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according
to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the
church and in Christ Jesus, to all generations forever and ever.
Amen. Paul had already laid out to
the Gentiles, as we began to see in chapter 2, the reminder
to them that they were not second-class citizens in this great new economy
of God. They were not second-class citizens. They were part of God’s household. Consider this at length last
Lord’s Day in chapter 2. And that is Paul’s design. Remember, he’s writing to a largely
Gentile church, not just Jews. He’s writing to them and he’s
trying to impart to them their standing. He’s trying to let
them know that they are not second-class citizens. They belong there.
God brought them in. God is the one that put them
on this footing. And he essentially continues
that argument here in chapter three, doesn’t he? It is Paul’s
desire that the Gentiles would not just come into the church
and not just that they would feel welcome. but they would
become flourishing members of Christ’s church. The prayer in
this particular passage versus, we’ll look at in a moment at
verses 13 through 19. I have read a variety of accolades
of this prayer. One in particular said that the
prayer in this context is generally acknowledged to be the most sublime,
the most far-reaching, and the most majestic prayer found anywhere
in Paul’s epistles, possibly even in the whole Bible. That’s
quite an advertisement. I think what we’ll find is that
not only for these first century Gentile Ephesian believers, saved
out of the world of heathenism, godlessness, I think we’ll find
that not only was this a prayer for them, it’s a prayer for us. Paul basically picks up here
in verse 13, where he drops off in verse one. He is a true pastor. He cannot finish his sentences. He begins a thought and then
is so overwhelmed with the thought that he interjects in verses
2 through 12 what really amounts to be a great parenthesis. It’s a sub-thought. But he starts
in verse 1, glance back if you would, For this reason I, Paul,
the prisoner of Christ Jesus, for the sake of you Gentiles,
And in chapter 2, or chapter 3, verses 2 through 12, he enters
into this great reminder of the spiritual standing of the Gentiles.
You remember, if you were here last Lord’s Day, what he said
to them then, that they were of God’s household. They’re not
servants in the quarters. They’re not second-class citizens
to the Jewish nation. They are full members. They belong there. But Paul is
driving the point home to these Gentile believers that not only
do they belong there, but they have all the rights and privileges. And so now in verse 13, he resumes
really what he’s been saying all along. And he does so with
that little word, therefore, and it asks us to draw a conclusion. Paul has been hammering away
at the standing of the Gentiles. And so certainly included here
is everything that he has said in the epistle up till now, all
of chapter one, all of chapter two. But specifically, he glances
over his shoulders immediately and says, you belong here. Look at verse eight of chapter
three. where Paul says, to me, the very least of all saints,
this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles. the unfathomable
riches of Christ. And we might come away without
saying yes, we are thankful. And we would gladly sit in the
back row or in the balcony just to be in God’s temple, just to
be let in on this amazing grace of salvation. We would gladly
sweep the floors, we would gladly do whatever it takes just to
be, and Paul says, pause. You are full members. You are
part of God’s household. You’re not second-class citizens.
Jump down to the very end of that section in verse 11. This
was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out
in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident
access through faith in Him. He tells them once again, you
belong here. This is God’s house. and you
are God’s family. Because we have this incredible
standing in God’s house, because we now are part of God’s family, we have the privilege to come
before him with great boldness, not as guests in his home, but as family
members. Since we too are God’s children
now, we should take full advantage of the spiritual riches and the
privileges that have been granted to us. You know what he says? He says, we belong here. The
riches are unfathomable, they’re inexhaustible, but more, he says,
they’re ours. And not only that, but we can
be bold. We’re not uninvited guests. We’re
not sneaking in and pilfering other people’s things. Because
of our faith in Jesus Christ and the relationship that we
have with Him, we can come boldly before the throne of grace. Look
at what He says in verse 13, Therefore I ask you not to lose
heart, and my tribulations on your behalf, for they are for
your glory. He says essentially the same
thing in two of his other prison epistles. The very fact that
he was imprisoned was for their sake, was for their glory. This
is how he said it to the Philippians. Just listen. I want you to know,
brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater
progress of the gospel so that my imprisonment in the cause
of Christ has become well known throughout the whole Praetorian
Guard and to everyone else, and that most of the brethren trusting
in the Lord because of my imprisonment have far more courage to speak
the word of God without fear.” In other words, Paul was just
a living example of God’s grace and faithfulness, and everybody
who was watching, especially the Gentile believers, were benefited
by his example. This is how he said it to the
Colossians. I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake and in my flesh
I do my share on behalf of his body, which is the church and
filling up with what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions. He says,
I will gladly do my part because ultimately it is for you as an
example. In other words, his relationship
was so tight with these Ephesian believers, with the Colossian
believers, with the Philippian church, so tight was his bond
that his afflictions were their afflictions and their courage
was his courage. And because of that, Paul basically
says, let’s pray together. Look at verse 14. For this reason, Because of everything I just
said, the fact that my sufferings are your sufferings and your
empathy for me is felt and turned by God’s grace into courage. For this reason, I, Paul, the
prisoner of Christ Jesus, for the sake of you Gentiles, as
he began in verse one, because the blessings are so rich, Because
the access is so great, he says, I bow my knees before the father. I want you to note something
here. There isn’t anything ever in this passage from verses 13
through 19 that says anything about the actual act of prayer. There’s no word suggesting here
the act of praying, or asking, or appealing, or petitioning,
or supplicating God. There isn’t anything like that.
The only thing even remotely related to that, Paul just says,
I bow my knees before the Father, but we all know exactly what
he means. We all know what he’s doing.
He’s falling on his knees in prayer on their behalf. He’s
doing just what he suggested. He now is going boldly before
his generous God to ask to bring requests. Bowing the knee or
knees. It was a familiar posture. It
was a position not just of prayer, but it was a position of It showed
a heart attitude of worship. When Paul was writing to the
Romans, the church in Rome, he referred to the bowing of the
knee as an act of absolute worship. Romans 14.11, it is written,
as I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me. A quote
from Isaiah 45.23. It’s the same exact thought that
he communicated to the Philippian church. At the name of Jesus,
every knee will bow. It is the ultimate act symbolic
of worship. But it is also employed at really
poignant moments of solemn prayer. Listen to just a few. Luke 22,
41. On this particular occasion,
Jesus is drawing near to the cross and it says that he withdrew
from them about a stone’s throw and he knelt down and began to
pray. Jesus Christ employed this attitude. In Acts chapter seven, which
passage I just read to the high schoolers, Stephen is in the
midst of being martyred. He’s in the midst of being martyred,
and it says that falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud
voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. I wonder how
many of us, if we were praying, would pray that prayer. Don’t
hold them blood guilty for this act. Peter, likewise, fell on
his knees praying for that little girl, Tabitha. When Paul bid
farewell to the Ephesian believers on that shore, he knelt down
and prayed with them all. It is recorded of solemn moments
in the snapshots of Christianity as it plays out. Paul says, we can make no doubt
that Paul here is praying. When it says that he falls on
his knees, even though it doesn’t say, he fell on his knees, folded
his hands, closed his eyes, and began to pray. It doesn’t say
that. We don’t need it to say that.
We know what he was doing. For this reason, it tells us
why he asks, I bow my knees before the Father, he asks, from whom
every family in heaven and earth derives its name. He points to
the fatherhood of God. He’s going before his heavenly
father, and he’s reminding these Gentile believers, he’s your
heavenly father. Every family in heaven and on
earth derives its name from him. And the theology, if you will,
of this entire thought reminds them that he is your heavenly
father. You don’t need to go to him with
Meaningless repetitions, Matthew 6, 8. You don’t need to be anxious,
Matthew 6, 32. Your heavenly father knows that
you need all these things. You don’t need to beg and plead like an unwanted guest. You come
before him as your heavenly father. But not only does Paul tell us
why he prays, and that he prays, and for whom he prays. Now he
finally begins to get into the very specifics of for what he
prays. And he does that in verse 16.
For what does he ask? There’s all kinds of prayer.
We’ve enjoyed several different aspects of prayer already this
morning. There is the prayer of just adoration,
thanking God for who he is. There is the prayer of confession.
There is the prayer of thanksgiving, like we read in Psalm 138. But there is also the prayer
that goes before God on behalf of others, intercessory prayer
that asks God for something. It’s not a sin to ask God for
ourselves, but there’s a special richness when we go and we ask
on others’ behalf. You see what Paul is doing here.
Look at verse 16. He says, I bow my knees before
the father from whom every family in heaven on earth derives its
name that he would grant you. What Paul is doing here is building,
he’s not beating around the bush. He’s not dragging his feet. You
know, if I could just pray long enough, maybe God will figure
out what I really mean. He’s teaching them about God.
He’s, teaching them how to pray, he’s laying out before them,
if you will, a theology of prayer. He told them why he prays that
he prays, he justifies his prayer on their behalf, that they too
are children of God. And now he tells them the nature
of his prayer. It is a request, it is a petition,
it is a supplication, he’s going to ask God for something that
he would grant them. these Ephesian believers, these
formerly outsiders, and he asks God for a favor on their behalf.
And as he teaches them this one last truth, he’s rich. He has inexhaustible resources. He can handle, no problem, these
requests, great as they are. Based on the riches of God’s
glory, Paul doesn’t even hesitate to ask, even for what is, humanly
speaking, impossible things. He knows that when God gives,
He lavishes His blessings upon us. He gives generously, magnanimously,
without holding back. You see, we give far too often
out of the overflow. We don’t even feel it. We’re
careful not to drain the seemingly finite resources that have been
entrusted to us. But God, God doesn’t even need
to look at his account, right? His riches are inexhaustible. He doesn’t need to be careful
or stingy. He is, as one pastor said, he
gives like himself, not grudgingly. or in tiny portions as if he
was afraid to exhaust his riches, there is no fastidious scrupulosity
or anxious frugality on the part of the divine benefactor. He’s
not a tightwad. You see, and the truth is that
God, unlike us, when we are overly careful givers, we are overly
dubious askers, right? We’re fearful to go before God
and to ask because we think we might burn out God’s supply. And so we dull our prayers, we
soften them, we make them so general, we whittle them down
to the point where we’re really asking nothing at all, not Paul. Paul knows the inexhaustible
riches of God. He knows, and so he asks because
of what he points out, the riches of his glory. Several weeks ago,
you remember this? Chapter 1, verse 7, we were considering
God’s blessing of redemption and forgiveness, and those two
things we saw go together. You can’t have one without the
other. You can’t be forgiven unless you’ve been redeemed.
And if you’ve been redeemed, you have been forgiven. And Paul
told us there, remember? In chapter one, verse seven,
in him we have redemption. Through his blood, the forgiveness
of our trespasses. You say, that is just incredible. Not for God, because Paul appends
to that, that little prepositional phrase. In him we have redemption. Through his blood, the forgiveness
of our trespasses. according to the riches of His
grace. Paul said it then and he’s just coming right back to
the eternally endless supply. He’s back at the everlasting
well asking again. So you have here the context
and the posture and the pleading of this lowly shepherd humbling
himself before Almighty God to pray, to ask for specific things
on behalf of these believers, and not just these heathen Ephesian
believers, these converts to Christ. He’s asking on behalf
of all believers, you and I. Now, I want to insert one one-minute
short technical acknowledgment here. In the process of discovering
the God-given outline of this passage, I will just say that
it was quite an adventure this past week. Keep in mind that
the reality is in verses 16 through 19, there’s one prayer. And you
very easily could have one sermon outline. In essence, Paul prays
for one thing. Some say that he requests three
things of God built upon a Greek conjunction that we find in this
passage. We see it translated a lot of
times as that or so that. But building a three-point outline
on this particular section becomes in the end somewhat contrived
and really rather clumsy. Others argued for a five or even
a six-point outline, which were even more difficult in my mind
to justify. I see a much cleaner God-given
outline built upon four infinitives. If you’re not a English major,
don’t panic. An infinitive is simply what
I would describe as a to verb, not the number two, T-O, to. It’s the simple form of a verb,
to live, to run, to eat, to sleep, and there are four particular
infinitives In that form, woven throughout this passage, those
are the particulars for which Paul prays. This is his pastoral
prayer. This is a lowly shepherd’s prayer. Paul was nobody in God’s kingdom,
the very least of all sinners, and yet even he had full and
confident access before a holy God to come and to bring great
requests On behalf of others, this is a lowly shepherd’s prayer. But in it, he points out some
of the Christian’s greatest needs. First of all, the Christian’s
greatest spiritual need, first of all, is the enabling of God’s
might. He prays first and foremost in
verse 16 that they would be strengthened. Look at verse 16, if you would,
that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to
be strengthened with power through his spirit in the inner man.
Paul goes on to pray and to ask on behalf of his Ephesian church
Paul knew that God desires to give us what is best, and so
Paul asked for the best. He asks that they would be infused
with divine ability, the very grace of God. That is, after
all, our greatest need, isn’t it? We are weak, we are unloving,
we are spiritually immature. And we can produce nothing in
and of ourselves. We can’t bring ourselves to salvation. And we certainly can’t bring
ourselves to sanctification. We can produce none of those
things. It is only found in God. We are weak physically. We are
weak in our Bible knowledge. We’re weak in our faith. We’re
weak in our prayer. We’re weak morally. And we’re
too often tempted to lean on our own power. So Paul says,
let me go before an omnipotent, all-powerful God and ask for
his help. He asks that they would be strengthened
with power through his spirit, the Holy Spirit, in the inner
man. And so he knows and acknowledges
that it’s the Holy Spirit, the one that comes alongside and
comes into a believer’s life and not only teaches and encourages,
not only convicts of sin, but ultimately shores up granting
great spiritual resources to the believer. It is the power
of the Holy Spirit. It is almighty God’s power conducted
through the Holy Spirit in our lives that gives us the ability
to change and to grow and to flourish and to honor Him. And
all of this takes place, Paul says, in the inner man. It comes from without. It comes
into our lives deep down in the sphere of the inward part of
our person. frequently spoke of that realm,
if you will. Whether you refer to it as your
heart or your soul, or even your mind as Paul so frequently does. Paul spoke of it in Romans 7,
I joyfully concur with the law of God in my inner man. You remember
what Paul is doing there in Romans 7. He says it’s easy to say yea
and amen to the law of God, I can concur with it in my inner man,
it’s the rest of me with which I struggle. First Peter speaks
of the inner man, the inner person, the area on which the godly woman
focuses, right? Let it be the hidden person of
the heart. What Paul prays here is ultimately
that the divine influence would get in, get all the way down
to the motherboard, the heart. To use old language, the mainspring,
as one Puritan pastor put it. I don’t
even know the last time I saw a mainspring. Everything now
is, no longer mechanical, now it’s all digital. But he basically
acknowledges our utter depravity, our utter need of God’s grace
for every area of our lives. And he says, if only you would,
God, grant them your grace, enable them with your power. This is the same thing for which
Paul prayed Corinthian believers in chapter four, verse 16, when
he said, we do not lose heart. But even though our outer man
is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. God is the one that’s giving
us the grace. God is the one that is changing
us and molding us and shaping us and making us more and more
day by day like Christ. God is the one that works. in
the inner man. As one pastor said, he impresses
the mind with the idea of the changeless love of Christ and
the indissoluble union of the believing soul to himself. God
is the one at work in the heart of the believer. And if that were the only thing
for which Paul requested, what a glorious truth. Could we need
anything else? other than God’s strengthening
help, God’s grace at work in our hearts to mold us and change
us and make us new, to fit us for heaven, for glory one day. Paul’s not greedy, but he knows
the riches of God could never be exhausted and so he’s not
done asking. This is the loving shepherd’s
prayer for his saints. And he says the Christian’s spiritual
need is not only the enabling of God’s might, but the indwelling
of God’s son. He prays, if you would, look
at verse 17, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through
faith. That Christ may dwell in your
hearts through faith. Now that is, remember I told
you about these infinitives. It is an infinitive and it’s
difficult to translate. And so in looking at the great
variety of attempts, I humbly offer my own suggestion here.
He prays Christ to live in their hearts. That’s essentially what
he says. In order to enable them to grow
and to please God, he wants Christ to live in his fullness. He wants
him to be not a passing guest in a believer’s life. He wants
him to take up residence. He wants him to live there and
dwell there and feel at home there. And he does so by pleading
that they would live by faith. Faith ultimately, we know, produces
love. In fact, faith without love,
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13, is utterly useless, a noisy gong,
a clanging cymbal. And so ultimately, Christ living
within us is going to grow and burgeon into a new and different
person that loves even the unlovely. He loves God, he loves other
believers, and he loves the lost and even those who are his enemies. As I indicated, there are two
words that typically speak of dwelling, taking up residence.
We actually looked at one last Lord’s Day. Par oikeo is a Greek
word that means to dwell alongside, para, alongside, from where we get our word parallel. It literally means to live aside
the house, to stay aside the house, to dwell in a place as
a stranger. This is, remember, Paul admonished
the Ephesian believers last week, you know what, he says, you’re
not, unwanted citizens anymore. You’re not just passing through
anymore. You’re not alongside the house
anymore. The other word is kat o keo. This means to dwell in the house
in the sense of settling down. You’re not just visiting. To
settle down and make a permanent residence there. He says, that’s
what I want you to do. I want you to welcome him in
as a wanted guest in your home, as God who belongs in your life. I want Him to feel welcome in
every part of your house. There are no closets that are
off limits in our home to Christ. There are no areas of our life
that are untouchable by Him wherein He would be unwelcome. It’s the
same exact promise that we heard, isn’t it, in John’s gospel. Chapter
14, verse 23, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word. My
father will love him and we will come to him and make our abode
with him. Paul pleads. for these Ephesian
believers to so live by faith that they take Christ and make
him at home in their heart and in their lives. The apostle, in this particular
prayer, he takes this architectural illusion
which he’s been using all the way along through this epistle,
doesn’t he? He’s talking now about a house But we remember
last week we saw that it’s a temple. When Paul speaks to them here
shortly, he will remind them that they have been built upon
the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Christ Jesus himself
being the cornerstone in whom the whole building being fitted
and held together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord.
It’s the indwelling, it’s the dwelling place of God himself.
It’s the dwelling place of Christ. In fact, Paul echoes this same
thought in Romans chapter eight. Would you take just a moment
and turn to Romans eight? I just want you to see this unfold. Romans chapter eight, and if
you could get to verse nine quickly. He’s talking here in very like
terms about making Christ at home in our hearts as believers. Look at verse nine. However,
you are not in the flesh but in the spirit. The Holy Spirit
of God has taken up residence. If you have placed your faith
in Christ, The Spirit of God dwells in you, he says. But if
anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong
to Him. If Christ is in you, though the
body is dead because of sin, yet the Spirit is alive because
of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him, that
is the Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, dwells in
you, that same God, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will
also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who
dwells in you. Over and over again he’s talking
about God and Christ and the Holy Spirit all one in being
in essence. Back if you would to Ephesians
3. Paul says we want to make Christ
at home and welcome we want to make him a full-time resident,
a welcome part of our hearts, not just a guest, here today
and gone tomorrow. Paul echoes the same thought
when he wrote a very similar epistle to the Colossian believers. He says, the hope-giving Savior
dwells in you, Christ in you, the hope of glory. to the Galatians,
which passage we heard read just a little bit ago, Christ lives
in you. Paul says, Christ lives in me,
Galatians 2.20. What a glorious thought. What
a great need that believers have to open their doors, the doors
of their heart to Christ, to the Savior who died on their
behalf and to welcome Him in as a permanent and welcome resident
in the home of their heart. What need there is of this? What
sins would be eradicated if we knew that Christ was the welcome
resident in our heart in every situation? And we would think
that Paul might even then be done. the enabling of God’s might,
the indwelling of God’s son, what more could the believer
need? But the needs are great. The needs are very great, and
this loving shepherd’s prayer on behalf of his flock grows
even greater. The Christian’s greatest spiritual
need is not only the enabling of God’s might and the indwelling
of God’s son, but he wants us to have a grasp of the grandeur
of God’s glory. Look if you would at verse 18. Paul’s prayer is basically this,
that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to
be strengthened, Christ to live in your hearts, that you may
be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width
and length and height and depth. To comprehend is to have a mental
grasp to come to a really settled conclusion about a thing. He
wants us to know, and he doesn’t even identify the thing. He just gives us the measurements. To what does he refer? Much to my expectation, There was more than
one answer to this, and I’m going to give you a short, quick list.
All kinds of thoughts as to what Paul’s referring to when he talks
about the breadth and length and height and depth. Some said
that it was the depth and the thoroughness of the comprehension.
Well, that’s true. Some said it was the measurements
of heaven itself. Some said it was to the mystery
of the cross that we would have the full mind of God on his plan
of redemption. Some said it was just simply
the divine plan of redemption. Some said it was a survey of
the divine nature, God himself. In other words, theology is on
view and he wants us to know the breadth of God and the height
of God and the length and the depth. Some said it was the measurement
of God’s love or Christ’s love to us. Others pointed to divine
wisdom, some to the Christian church itself, that you would
have the full measurements of what God is doing in the earth.
I think the simplest way to look at this, the cleanest and clearest
way, because Paul doesn’t give us the specific object. He doesn’t
define for us exactly what he’s pointing to, except as you stand
back and you look at the totality of the chapters he’s already
laid out. What he wants them to see is
the gracious purpose of God sweeping down through the centuries, indeed
in his plan of redemption. As another so carefully and succinctly
put it, to the complete revelations that he has in store as we grow
into maturity, he wants these Ephesian believers to get a grasp
of all that God is doing in his world with regards to or spiritual
needs. Sometimes we’re so content to
have such a puny and feeble mind with regards to spiritual things,
isn’t it? We don’t press in deeply. We
don’t read thoroughly. We don’t study. We don’t long
to know. And Paul prays, I wish God, if you
would, expand their horizon, help them to know just how great
a God you are, just how great your work is here on earth, the
breadth, the length, the height, and the depth. And he closes
with a fourth. A fourth spiritual need, not
only the enabling of God’s might, the indwelling of God’s son,
the grandeur of God’s glory, but the perfecting of God’s love.
To know the love of Christ. When we speak of the love of
Christ, You could take this in a number of different ways. You
could say that it’s our love for Christ, that we would build
ourselves up and work ourselves up to a greater love for him
at all times. That our love for
Christ would grow and grow and grow. And that’s true. We do
need that. We do long for that. But I think
that would come quite naturally if we took it as the other way.
Caught a glimpse for one minute, right? Of how great Christ’s
love is for us. This was the first part of our
service. I couldn’t have planned it any better myself. His plan of redemption for lost
sinners such as us. This is the way he says it in
verse 19. I pray that he would grant you
according to the riches of his glory to know the love of Christ
which surpasses knowledge that you may be filled up to all the
fullness of God. We know that human love can be
nothing more than a noisy gong and a clanging cymbal if we lack
love for one another. But as I said here, it’s beyond
just a knowledge of Christ. It’s a full comprehension of
his incredible love shown to us. And that as we come to grasp
the greatness of Christ’s love for us, we begin to grow. in our understanding
and comprehension of God himself. Paul says at the end of verse
19, filled up to all the fullness of God. One day, God will draw each one of his
children to himself. in perfection. We will see Christ
as he is. We will see heaven laid out before
us. And we will know Christ perfectly
then. We ourselves will be glorified
and perfected at that point in time. When we say that we are
growing into all the fullness of God, our horizons are being
expanded really day by day. As we press into God’s Word,
as we pray before Him, as we deal with sin in our lives, our
eyes are opened more and more each day, and we grow more and
more into the likeness of His Son. Scripture says, and we need not
shy away from it, that the goal is perfection. God’s going to
do that. Be perfect as your heavenly Father
is perfect. The goal is perfection. It’s a total conformity to Christ’s
image. And it comes by beginning to
grasp the love of Christ for us. Would you humble yourselves
before so great a God Our merciful God, we do humble
ourselves and we see these great spiritual needs placed before
a God with inexhaustible riches. Lord, we acknowledge that we
are too reticent to ask for such great things. And yet Paul not
only acknowledges these incredible needs in a believer’s life, but
he goes boldly before the throne of grace to plead for these things
on behalf of those who so desperately needed them. The enabling of
God’s infinite power. The indwelling of God’s precious
son. The grandeur of God’s amazing
glory. and the perfecting of God’s unfathomable
love. Lord God, grant us a grasp of
these things. Grant your grace that we would
begin to grow in the full knowledge of them. And Lord God, we pray
that if there is any person here who does not know the Savior,
has not placed their faith in the Savior for salvation. Lord,
these things are desperate needs in these people’s lives. We pray that you would move upon
them, prevail upon them, and bring them to repentance and
to faith. Lord, for us, grant us your abundant
measure of grace. It’s in Jesus’ name that we pray,
amen.