The following message was delivered at Ohio Valley Baptist Church on March 16, 2014:

Introduction

While studying this text, I have asked why would Paul need to pray here? He’s already prayed in 1:15-23, why would he need to pray again? I discovered why when I began to note the literary differences in 1:1-2:22 and 4:1-6:24. Ephesians 1-2 is all about who you are in Christ and what God is like in salvation—one of the most crucial types of knowledge about God that you can have. These chapters consist of information, doctrine, and statements.

Notice: Ephesians 1:3-14, you are: elected (1:4), holy and blameless before Him (1:4), predestined (1:5), adopted (1:5), redeemed (1:7), forgiven (1:7), sealed with the Holy Spirit (1:13). Didn’t find any commands there.

Ephesians 2:1-22, you are: no longer dead in trespasses and sins (2:1), no longer following the course of this world (2:2), no longer following Satan (2:2), no longer living in the passions of your flesh (2:3), no longer children of wrath (2:3), loved by God’s great love (2:4), given new spiritual life (2:5), seated with Christ in the heavenly places (2:6), saved by grace through faith (2:8), God’s workmanship—created in Christ Jesus for good works (2:10), brought near by the blood of Christ (2:13), united in one body through the cross (2:14-17), no longer strangers and aliens (2:19), fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God (2:19), a dwelling place for God by the Spirit (2:22).

Even in Ephesians 3, you are “fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus” (3:6).

But look at the difference in language in the latter chapters of Ephesians:

Ephesians 4:1-32—live in unity and live as a new person.

Ephesians 5:1-33—walk in love, wives submit to your husbands, husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church.

Ephesians 6:1-20—children obey your parents, slaves obey your masters, put on the whole armor of God.

So Ephesians 1-2 explains what you are, and Ephesians 4-6 tells you what to do. But just knowing isn’t enough—they always say knowing is half the battle. But it is only half. You need the strength and resources to carry out those commands—the power to live out Ephesians 4-6. That is exactly why Paul prays here—that his readers would have the strength to carry out those commands. Imagine that you as a Christian are an engine. Paul has described all the parts of that engine in the first two chapters, and in the latter chapters that engine is running and working and doing. Somewhere in between you have to get that engine started. So then, the prayer that follows is sort of like Paul saying, “Gentlemen, start your engines!”

The Text

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

INTRODUCTION TO THE PRAYER (3:14-15)

Verse 14 reads, “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father. . .” Remember 3:1 where Paul says the same thing? “For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus. . .” Remember that he interrupted his prayer and explained the nature of his apostleship and the different aspects of his ministry. Here in v. 14 is where he picks up again on that prayer. Again, like with the last time we studied this, he states “For this reason” which points back to the salvation and privileges that belong to his readers through Christ. Just read chapters 1-2. That’s the reason Paul “bows [his] knees before the Father.

The Father

The Father has been central to what Paul is saying here in Ephesians. Paul indicates here, like the rest of the Scriptures that every member of the Trinity is necessary for salvation. (You just read about it throughout this letter). In the Bible, God is always seen as acting as a tri-personal team. The Father plans your salvation, the Son carries out your salvation by dying on the cross, and the Spirit of God applies your salvation by giving you new spiritual life and sustaining you till the end.

So Paul prays here to the Father, “from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named” (v. 15). All those in heaven (angels and peoples alike) have their origin from the Father, and all living beings (families of people, families of insects, families of animals, etc. every family) have their origin from the Father.

It’s true that when someone or something is named, it provides a description of what that thing is or who that person is, but also for someone to give a “name” to something must mean that they possess some type of authority to do so. You name your children because your children belong to you and you have the right to name them. Same principle here. For God to give creatures a name isn’t simply to provide them with a label. But it signifies that God has authority over them and every right to give them names. All things depend on God for their existence.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRAYER (3:16-19)

The reason Paul points to God’s authority here is because of what he is about to say in the description of his prayer. Paul is going to focus mainly on God’s power in the body of his prayer. Think about it: God’s authority points to His sovereignty and His sovereignty points to His power.

Paul’s First Prayer Request

So we will look at Paul’s first prayer request for God’s power in v. 16: “that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being.”

First he says “that according to the riches of his glory” He may do this for you. Notice that Paul doesn’t say “out of his riches.” There’s a difference—a big difference. If God gives “out of his riches” then He would give a portion from the amount that He has. But if God gives “according to the riches of his glory” (like the Bible says He does) then He would give in some accordance with what He has. If you go to a rich man and say, “I need $500.” The rich man gives you $4. He gives out of his riches. If you go to that rich man and say, “I need $500” and he gives you $1000, that is giving according to the riches that he has.

God always gives in accordance with what He has. “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace” (Eph. 1:7). “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).

And Paul prays here that God would give according to His riches, in accordance with what He has, that these Ephesians would be “strengthened with power through his Spirit in [their] inner being.”

Let’s break down this prayer:

Paul’s prayer: That they would be “strengthened with power.”

How it happens: through the Holy Spirit.

Where it happens: in your inner being.

The Inner Being—Strengthened Through the Spirit

It will not happen any other way—if out “inner beings” are to be strengthened, they will only be strengthened through the power of the Holy Spirit. And the only way to be strengthened by the Holy Spirit is to yield yourself to Him, and fill your mind and heart with the Bible—because the Bible is the Spirit’s thoughts on paper and we need to allow the Spirit to fill our mind with His thoughts and that only happens through considerable time with His Book.

The Holy Spirit can’t call to your mind any Scripture that you haven’t read before. What about when you are tempted? Do you know that the Scriptures say that God provides a way of rescue (1 Cor. 10:13)? What about when you are joyful? Do you know that the Scriptures say to delight yourself in the Lord (Psalm 37:4)? What about when you are sorrowful? Do you know that the Scriptures say to “lift up your soul to the LORD (Psalm 25:1)? If you aren’t filling your mind with the book that the Holy Spirit inspired, then He cannot bring these passages to your mind when you are faced with situations that would compromise your fellowship with God.

You will not remain in a neutral state—there will be something that will take place of the thoughts of God if the thoughts of God (in the Bible) are not filling your mind! We need to write these things on the tablets of our hearts (Deut. 11:18), and meditate on these things day and night (Psalm 1:2) so that we can think the thoughts of God in our inner beings, and the Spirit can dominate our thought pattern.

If you wonder why your always thinking about things that you shouldn’t be thinking, then you need to back up a little and start immersing yourself in the Word of God. Because, when you are yielding yourself to the Spirit of God, being filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18), allowing Him to control your mind, actions, walk, and influence everything about you—then you will be strengthened in the “inner being,” that is the inside part of you. That’s what Satan is targeting when you are tempted. That’s what sin affects when you are weak. And it’s a daily Christian struggle. Paul expresses this in Romans 7. He says that he wants to do right, but he finds himself always doing what he doesn’t want to do: “21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members” (Rom. 7:21-23).

But where does Paul find the solution? “For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:2). We need to pray as Paul did here, that God would strengthen us with power through His Spirit in our inner being. And we need to yield ourselves to the Spirit of God with each passing moment.

Paul’s Second Prayer Request

Paul bows his knees before the Father (v. 14) and prays first that his readers would be strengthened with power in their inner beings through the Spirit (v. 16) Now we read his second prayer request: “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith” (v. 17a).

Paul prays “so that” Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. That makes all the difference because in order for Christ to dwell in their hearts through faith, something previous would need to have taken place—that is, being strengthened in the inner man through the power of the Holy Spirit. If you’re not strengthened with power through the Holy Spirit, then Christ cannot dwell in your heart through faith. That’s what Paul is saying here.

Katoikeo

I want us to look for a moment at the word “dwell” here. I’m going to give you a Bible study tool for free tonight. 1) The NT was penned in Greek. That was the language used at that time. 2) The Greek language is complex. Many of the characters in Greek consist of what looks like our letter X and O (Maybe God was writing a love letter when He inspired the New Testament). 3) Often times the same English word is used for different Greek words. John 21 is a prime example. Jesus asks Peter, “Do you love me?” three times. The first two times He asks Peter, the word love is agapao which means a “God-like love.” In other words, “Do you love me the way I love you?” The third time, the word love is phileo, which means “to appreciate.” And we read that Peter wept because Jesus asked him that the third time.

Well, the Greek word for “dwell” here is katoikeo. It’s more complex than meets the eye. Split that term in half and katoi means to dwell or to reside in. And keo means to be at home—or to be comfortable in a home. Put those two terms together and you have “to dwell comfortably in a home.” Now read it that way: “So that Christ may ‘dwell comfortably in your hearts’ through faith. . .” Makes a huge difference.

Your Heart—Christ’s Home

This is Paul’s prayer that Christ may dwell comfortably in their hearts but not before they are strengthened with power through the Spirit. Would you say that Christ is not comfortable in the hearts of His people sometimes? Of course. I know that to be true in my case. Often times, in the hearts of His people, Christ goes where He would never choose to go. And listen to me, Christ can’t settle down and be at home in our hearts because He’s always up cleaning the place up all the time because it’s such a mess!

But if our “inner beings” are being strengthened with power through the Spirit and we are allowing God to do with us as He pleases and we are giving Him all the room He needs to work in our lives, and we are opening up every door to Him, then Christ will finally be able to settle down and be at home in our hearts. But He must have full access to every part of your life.

So you get saved and Christ comes to dwell in your heart (now picture your heart like a house as the Greek here would imply). He goes into the library—the control room where all the thoughts are stored. Jesus says, “Alright we’ve got to get these books out of here—too many bad ideas here and lustful thoughts and such. We’re going to burn up these books, and replace them with My Book.” You say alright, Jesus you’re right. He goes into the living room—where you have fellowship. That’s where you leave Jesus when you neglect Him. Jesus says, “Hey you maybe want to sit down and spend some time together? We need to talk.” You say alright Jesus, you’re right. He goes into the dining room—that’s where your appetites are. He says, “Oh I see, this is what you hunger for—pride, prestige, lust, money. . .” Jesus about has the place cleaned up when this terrible odor comes from inside your closet. Because the cleaner the house, the worse it smells. He says, “Hey what’s in that closet?” You say, “Really Jesus? I’ve given you everything, that’s my only closet! You can’t want that—its’ 2×4 at the most!” You see that’s the room in your life where you keep thing from God. You think they’re secrets—but God knows them anyway. These are the things you really don’t want to reveal to God.

That’s the way Paul is relating here: Christ can’t settle down and be at home in your life until the garbage is cleaned out of it, and that will only happen when the Spirit of God has strengthened you in the inner man to give you victory over sin. We must give God access to all the rooms of our life if Christ is to settle down and be at home in our lives. The Spirit of God will do the cleaning—that’s what God does after you’re saved right? He cleans you up. Conversion is only the beginning.

Where in your life is the Spirit of God stifled or hindered? What areas in your life do you need to open up to the Spirit of God?

Paul’s Third Prayer Request

Paul has prayed that the Ephesians would be “strengthened in the inner man through the power of the Holy Spirit,” and he has prayed that Christ would be able to be comfortably at home in the hearts of these Ephesian believers. And in the latter part of v. 17 he says “that you, being rooted and grounded in love.” Paul is assuming that they are already “rooted and grounded in love.” Like it’s something that has already happened because Christ is at home in their hearts. Let’s read this text where Paul names his third prayer request: “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. . .” (vv. 17-19)

Knowing the Surpassing Love of Christ

Here we have Paul’s third prayer request: that they may know the love of Christ. Paul prays that they may have strength to comprehend what is the “breadth and length and height and depth” of the love of Christ. That’s a wordy phrase there. Paul simply is pointing to the fact that the love of Christ is far-reaching. He is evoking a sense of immensity and greatness of the love of Christ. And even every type of measurement—like is named here, cannot comprehend the love of Christ.

You know, people say, “I wish I had more love for somebody. I wish I had more love for the Lord. I wish I loved more the things of God and hated the things of the world. I wish my love was properly directed.” It’s just not that simple, people. It’s not enough to have a desire to do that. You need strength for that. Back up! Is Christ really at home in your life? He isn’t unless you’ve been strengthened by His Spirit in the inner man. If you don’t love, Christ is not at home in your life because you are not strong in the inner man, because you are not yielded to the filling of the Holy Spirit. Start at the beginning, and love will be the byproduct.

In v. 19, the Greek for “know” here, is kata lombono. Which means to “seize and make your own.” They always say that you will never know love until you experience love. That’s the idea here. You’ll be able to seize the very love of Christ and make it your own. You will know the “love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.”

You ever see two young people in love? Man everything is just bliss. They’re holding hands, love is just everything—and that’s true. Love is everything when you experience love. Now if human love can do that, imagine what divine love would look like in our lives.

The Fullness of God

Paul has prayed here that the Ephesians would 1) Be strengthened with power through the Spirit in the inner man, 2) Have Christ at home in their hearts, 3) Comprehend the “love of Christ” that surpasses knowledge. Now all that must take place for the end of v. 19 to make any sense. All this must happen for you to be “filled with all the fullness of God” (v. 19b).

This doesn’t mean that you become God or God becomes you. It just means that God’s very essence flows through you and permeates your very being. You see, because if the Spirit is strengthening your inner being, Christ is at home in your heart and He’s not having to be up cleaning it up all the time, and you are really grasping and experiencing the love of Christ in your life—then God can do whatever He wants through you and you will be filled with all the fullness of God!

That’s the only way that vv. 20-21 make any sense. Often times people favorite these verses because they promise that God is able—but there is more to this text than just “God is able.” Now, God is able. God is able to do far more. Far more abundantly. Far more abundantly that all that we ask or think according to this passage of Scripture.

Underestimating God

Now often times we underestimate the fact that God is able. That’s bad enough. We underestimate God and think He isn’t hearing our prayers—when we know that He tells us “call to me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things” (Jer. 33:3). We underestimate God and think that He doesn’t have forgiveness for our many sins—when we know He says, “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool” (Isaiah 1:18). We underestimate God and think that He isn’t sovereign over our lives and circumstances—when we know that He says, “[He] works all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28).

But you know what is absolutely bone-chilling for me? When God asks us a question. When God asks the questions in the Bible, something really stirs in me. When we underestimate God, He asks, “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?” (Jeremiah 32:37).

God is Able—Through Us

Now it’s bad enough that we underestimate God’s power as it is . . .but read the rest of this verse . . . “according to the power at work within us.” The Bible doesn’t just say here that God is able—it says that God is able through us. If we underestimate God’s power as it is, how much more will we underestimate His power through us?

That power will not be at work within you—and God will not be free to do what He wants through you until you have first experienced what Paul has talked about above:

1) Be strengthened with power through the Spirit in the inner man,

2) Have Christ at home in their hearts

3) Comprehend the “love of Christ” that surpasses knowledge.

THE DOXOLOGY (3:20-21)

So you’ve got all these things—and God is at work in your life “according to the power at work within you.” You’re a real spiritual big-shot. It’s all going well for you.

But Paul says something in the end of this prayer that keeps you from being prideful: “to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever” (v. 21). Who gets the glory? Man gets it? No. God gets it. The purpose of God in salvation is to give you Himself—in turn He gets the glory. You enjoy God, He gets glorified—God’s passion if for His glory.

Paul writes to these Ephesians—that’s great if all these things happen for you—just remember that God gets the glory in both the church and in Christ Jesus.

And this will happen for “all generations forever and ever.”

Conclusion

Are we praying this prayer? Are we allowing the Spirit to strengthen us in our inner being? Are we allowing Christ to settle down and be at home in our lives? Are we allowing God to give us the strength to comprehend His love? Are we being filled with all the fullness of God?