Strengthened through Prayer to Know the Love of Christ (Ephesians 3:14-21)
Strengthened through Prayer to Know the Love of Christ
Ephesians 3:14-21
Introduction
It is one thing to know the truth. It is another for the truth to dwell powerfully in our hearts. It is one thing to grasp the ideas that Paul has been talking about intellectually. It is something else entirely to feel their force as a treasure. That is why “for this reason” begins this paragraph. He has taught the truth, but, as every good pastor knows, now he must pray, because he knows that there is a kind of knowledge that his hearers need which he cannot himself produce. The preacher cannot create spiritual understanding. He cannot enlighten the eyes of the heart. And therefore, he prays.
There is an experience that I think all true believers know. It is always in relationship to the word, whether in personal reading or during a sermon. As our minds follow the passage and mull it over, spontaneously, unexpectedly, and without any exertion from the will, the truth lands on you. It is not just a mental “click” where you “get it.” Rather, all in a moment, the mundane communication of truth transfigures, and your heart is transported far beyond itself to behold vistas of glory. It is as though the roof opens above you to reveal the vision of a million galaxies of God’s love and majesty. All at once, you are captivated and transfixed on the intricate and glorious ways of God. It is so joyful, it almost hurts.
God’s love in Christ is not something simply to understand, but something to know. We have not truly understood what it means that God loves us until that love seizes our hearts. We must, as this text says, “know that which surpasses knowledge.” But too often we are content with a cold, detached, check-box love, where we can rightly affirm in good conscience that “God is one,” but only thereby make us party to the devil.
We must avoid at all costs the deeply destructive idea that Christianity can be reduced to an emotional experience. But we also must not dare begin to think that brain knowledge suffices. God did not reveal the mystery of his will to us that we might write essays about it. He did not send his Son to die that we might be able to say the word “propitiation.” He did not give us his Spirit so that we might write systematic theologies. I love every one of those things! But those things are all means to a greater end—knowing the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge. It is the same reality as what Paul said, even if in a slightly different connection than he meant it: “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body up to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing” (1 Cor 13:1–3). Or later in the same book, “If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Maranatha!” (1 Cor 16:22). We must not only “know” (Eph 1:17-18), but we must also receive the love of Christ. It is not the kind of knowledge that comes from a university, a philosopher, or a spiritual guru. It is rather a knowledge that culminates in knowing the love of Christ.
From this angle, we begin to see that Paul has been talking about the love of Christ all the way along. He loved us when he chose us before the foundation of the world. He loved us when he redeemed us from our trespasses. He loved us when he sent the gospel to us through those who spoke the gospel to us and gave us the Holy Spirit through that message. He loved us by giving us his Spirit to understand his power. He loved us when he made us alive in Christ, raised us up, and seated us in the heavenly places. He loved us when he reconciled us to himself in one body through the cross, making peace. He loved us by revealing to us the mystery of Christ through the ministry of the Apostles, which is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things. God has greatly loved us, and this is, in essence, what Paul has been saying all along.
If we are to be all we should be as a church, we need to know Christ’s love. If we are going to thrive as a church, we enjoy the stabilizing effect of the love Christ. We must root into Christ. We must be built on Christ. We must know the love of Christ—even the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge. For the very reason that God has shown us this great love, Paul reverently, humbly, submissively prays to the Father that the church would know Christ’s love and be filled with the fullness of God.
It should not be lost on us that this great ending to the doctrinal portion of this letter ends as a prayer.
I. The Posture of Intercessory Prayer (3:14-15)
The posture of prayer is that of reverent devotion. Look at how Paul describes his approach to God: “For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father.” There are a lot of ways to say “I’m praying.” He could have said “I’m praying for you, that…” Or “I make mention of you in my prayers.” Or “I remember you in my prayers.” Why does he choose this unique way of describing his prayer? It is helpful to remember that the act of “bowing the knee” is an act of submission and reverence. It was unusual for a Jew to pray on his knees. Usually they would pray standing up. Such is the example of numerous places on Scripture. It is only when the are in earnest with God that they fall to their knees. Thus Solomon prays on his knees at the dedication of the temple. Ezra prays to the Lord regarding the intermarriage of Israel. Jesus prays on his knees in Gethsemane. Paul is reverent, and he is in earnest with God.
Matthew Henry: “When we draw nigh to God, we should reverence him in our hearts, and express our reverence in the most suitable and becoming behavior and gesture.” We need to be careful how we approach God. I’ve often noticed when my view of God is lowering when I begin my prayers with throwaway phrases. For me, its “Father, thank you for today.” Not a bad thing. But its careless. Rote. Thoughtless. Is not the Father worthy of more care and attention when we approach him?
Now, to be clear, the Bible does not prescribe one posture for prayer. People pray while standing, kneeling, sitting, walking, lying down. The posture of the body is not the issue, but the posture of the heart. Yet, it still is helpful to ask: is the way that I am sitting, my physical posture, during prayer demonstrating that I am in earnest, or does it demonstrate flippancy?
When he prays, Paul is making use of the privileges that have been afforded him by the sacrifice of Christ and the gift of the spirit. 2:17-18: “And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.” And now, he makes bold use of that access by approaching the Father to ask for all that the Father has promised.
Which is why he goes on in 3:15 to say, “from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.” Now, what in the world does that mean? There are a number of possibilities, but the one I believe to be the most convincing relates to the context, and particularly to the Lord as a “Father.” In fact, there is a play on words here in the Greek. The word for “Father” is patera and the word for “family” is patria. And the “family” in question derives its name, it’s identity from it’s Father—just as my kids derive their name from me. Which seems to indicate to me that we are dealing with a spiritual family, not a physical family. This is a family which is named after the Father—a family which shares the name of the Father. That, by definition, cannot be applied to unbelievers. So, the “family” refers to believers. And they are either “in heaven”—dead and with the Lord—or “on earth”—here and waiting to be with the Lord. The whole spiritual family derives from the Lord.
Now, having said that, let us learn this central point from these words: Prayer is the means by which the worship of God is realized in the heart of the saints. Paul knows the magnitude of what he has just explained in these three chapters. He comprehends the astounding scope of God’s plan to redeem. He has unfolded how God’s plan to reunite all things in Christ is now unfolding through the church. And he knows that the church, to be all that it can be, must see that plan and see how they play a part in that. But he also knows that he cannot make them see those things, so he prostrates himself before the Father and prays. Worship explodes in your hearts in response to our prayers.
Thus, we must ask ourselves the question: Do you pray? If you do not, could it be that is the reason why you are struggling? Why your heart does not soar with the singing of the saints? Why you do not feel a tangible sense of his presence and blessing? Why your bible reading is anemic and lifeless? Why you struggle in friendships or marriage or parenting or in the workplace?
And, when you pray, what do you pray for? It is, of course, not wrong to pray for things like health problems or job issues. But are our prayers spiritual in nature? If we were to do a survey of all the prayers in the Bible, very few of them would be for things like physical healing or financial provision. Most of them—if not all of them—revolve around God’s ability to do what he has promised. Prayer is not informing God of our personal struggles. It is not designed to be therapeutic to you. It is rather pleading the promises—asking him to do what he said in his word—begging him to be true to himself. A wonder how much it would transform your prayer life if that was the focus. And yes, pray for the health issues and money problems and other things. But work to couch them in spiritual ways. “Father I pray for so and so’s health problem—use this in their life to transform them into the image of Christ.” “Lord Jesus, please provide enough money for us to make the rent—for we are completely dependent on you, so thank you for this opportunity to live out that reality in this practical way.” It can be a both-and. And this modeled by Paul in the coming verses.
II. The Petition of Intercessory Prayer (3:16-19)
Now that we have seen the posture of intercessory prayer, let us move on to the petition of intercessory prayer. What are we to pray for? What does Paul pray for? What does he desire for them to have which God must supply for them?
Petition according to Paul’s example will be filled with the following requests, or ones like them:
First, Paul prays for inner, spiritual strength. Now, initially, we have to note that Paul asks that God would grant this strength “according to the riches of his glory.” What an amazing thing to think about! As far as the riches of his glory stretches, so he grants power to his saints! Only these kinds of resources can accomplish this kind of goal. And what are the “riches of his glory”? I think the riches of his glory refers to the riches which are his glory. His glory strengthens us, and it is a rich glory. Because God is infinite and his glory is inexhaustible, then there is sufficient measure of grace to help us be strengthened to comprehend Christ’s love.
If we are to comprehend the love of Christ—which is where this is all going—we need strength to do it! It is a mind-bending exercise. And that is not only because our minds naturally assume that Christ does not love us unless we earn that love, it is also because of the sheer magnitude of his love for us. Which is why he doesn’t only say that we need to be “strengthened” but to be “strengthened with power.” And what power is this? The same power he spoke of back in 1:19-21. It is the “immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believer, according to the working of his great might, which he worked in Christ when he raise him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.” The very power that raised Jesus from the dead is the power that strengthens us to know his love.
That power resides in us through the indwelling Holy Spirit. We’ve already learned that the Holy Spirit is the seal of our future inheritance, that he brings wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God, and that he makes the church one by his presence in all of us. Now we learn that the Spirit of God is also the vehicle for the spiritual power of the saints. That is the true work of the Holy Spirit: to impart spiritual power to your souls. We should be experiencing something of the Holy Spirit’s power in our lives—the ability to do his will, and to know his love.
Paul says this strength resides in the “inner man.” What is that? The “inner man” is not just the immaterial part of us, but more specifically the beginning of the new creation in Christ Jesus. For example, Romans 7:22, “For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being.” The inner person delights in the law of God. And further, 2 Corinthians 4:16 says that our “inner man is being renewed day by day” even as the outer man wastes away. Thus, our inner person, the spiritual, renewed aspect of us needs to be strengthened. It is not an easy thing to comprehend the love of Christ, and we need strength to do it, and we need prayer for that strength.
Second, Paul prays for the settled presence of Christ through faith. The result of experiencing this inner strengthening by the Holy Spirit is that “Christ dwells in your hearts through faith.” Another way to look at this is that the presence of the Holy Spirit in us is synonymous with the presence of Christ in us. When the Holy Spirit works powerfully in our hearts, what we know is Christ. And when Christ dwells in our hearts in this way, we can be confident that the Holy Spirit is at work.
Christ and the Holy Spirit are so closely identified that where one is, there the other is as well. The most clear example of this is in Romans 8:9-10: “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” You see there an interchange between “Spirit” “Spirit of God” “Spirit of Christ” and even simply “Christ.” The presence of the Spirit is the presence of Christ. Where the Spirit dwells, Christ dwells. So, in Ephesians 3:16-17, the same reality is at play. Paul prays that the Spirit would strengthen them in their inner person, and the result is that Christ dwells in the heart through faith.
Now, Paul there is not talking about initial faith—or, believing for the first time. He is talking about ongoing faith. The substance of the Christian life is faith. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:7, “We walk by faith, not by sight.” Walking is Paul’s metaphor for daily living. So every day, every step, every moment of the Christian life is a walk of faith. Faith is the ongoing reality of the Christian life. So Paul here is not asking for the Ephesians to be saved. Rather, he is asking that they would experience the full power of the indwelling Christ in their lives through the indwelling Spirit at work in their inner person. Every step we take is a step taken in trust. And every trusting step we take leads us into a greater understanding of the love of Christ.
Third, Paul prays for spiritual stability springing from Christ’s love. When we walk by faith—when Christ dwells permanently in our hearts—it stabilizes us. Christ becomes the controlling factor in our motivations, thoughts, actions, words, feelings, and every other aspect of our being. We become “rooted” and “grounded” in love.
To be rooted in love is to be firmly growing out of love. The Greek word is that from which we get our word “rhizome” which is an underground root system with a bunch of branches coming out of the ground in different places. Sumac, Thistles, and Raspberries are all rhizomic plants. It may look like a bunch of different plants on the surface, but it is not so underneath. In reality they are all part of one big plant. And the same is true with us. We may have a bunch of different expressions of our faith, but the fundamental reality is the same. Our works are multiple, but the principle that gives rise to those works is singular.
To be “grounded” is to have a foundation. The word is literally “foundation.” It is the same word used in Ephesians 2:20 for the “foundation” of the Church in the teaching of the Apostles and Prophets. And the idea here is that when we have the indwelling Spirit, when Christ dwells in our hearts by faith, it is a strong foundation upon which we might build our lives. We are founded within his love. We have dug down into it and poured our footings and laid our cinderblock foundation in the soil of his love—and now we build on that firm foundation. And we are rooted in his love. Our roots go down deeply into his love and draw life and sustenance and spiritual strength so that our “leave does not wither” and we “bear fruit in our season.”
What brings spiritual instability other than “rooting” and “founding” ourselves on other things? If you root and found yourself on your works, you will be unstable. Or if you do so upon your marriage, you will founder. Or if you do so on having children, you will vacillate. Or if you do so on the church, you will fall. All of those things fail you—because all those things are shifting sands. It is only when we root and found ourselves upon the love of Jesus Christ that we become stable in our Christian walk.
Fourth, Paul prays for an experimental acquaintance with the love of Jesus Christ. When I say “experimental acquaintance,” I do not mean “emotional experience.” Emotion is certainly bound up with it. How can we truly comprehend the love of Christ without being moved to joy and thankfulness and appropriate sorrow. But what I mean is that it is not just understood in the mind but received as the treasure of the soul. It is not just an intellectual knowing. It is a knowing that goes beyond knowledge—a knowing that surpasses knowing. Thus, it is an experimental knowledge—a knowledge of the heart—a knowledge that comes from tasting and not just analyzing. I might be able to have a certain kind of knowledge of honey that comes from analyzing its molecular structure. But that is a different kind of knowledge of honey than sticking my finger in the honey and putting it in my mouth. I don’t just know. I experience. I know by tasting. And that is what the Bible calls us to do with the love of Christ. Don’t just analyze it. Taste it! See! The Lord is good!
And that’s what he means here. He asks for “strength to comprehend”—a word which means to attain or grasp or catch something. He says that this love possesses “breadth and length and height and depth.” He isn’t specific on what he means by each one of those, but he is saying that his love is expansive. It is magnificent. It is extravagant. And thus he prays v19 “to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.” And that word “surpasses” is tame. It literally means “to attain a degree that extraordinarily exceeds a point on a scale of extent.” It goes beyond the expected in extraordinary measure. We are to ask that we would know that which exceeds our capacity to fully grasp. We are to walk in ever-increasing knowledge of his love for us.
Fifth, Paul prays that they would be filled with all the fullness of God. What that means exactly, I don’t know. But we do get some clues from other places where Paul talks about “filling” and “fullness.”
1:23 – his body is the “fullness of him who fills all in all.” Now, when we talked about this a while ago, we said that the church is the “fullness of Christ”—which means that the church is filled with Christ by the Holy Spirit, such that the church is the full presence of Christ on earth. It is his body. And Christ is him who “fills all in all” in the sense that he fills everything in every way. He will one day fill the universe with his glory. And the church is the miniature expression of that future, coming reality.
This is the context for what Paul says in Ephesians 3:19—that we would be “filled with the fullness of God.” What is the fullness of God? It is all that God is! And where do we see all that God is for us most clearly? Jesus Christ! Col 2:9—“In him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.” Jesus is the fullness of God. He is all that God is for us. And so to be filled with the fullness of God is to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and subsequently filled with Jesus Christ, such that we know experientially all that God is for us in Jesus. And notice the tension. The church is the body of Christ. It is the fullness of Christ in the world. But the church also must be strengthened in order to be filled with the fullness of God. We must become who we always were.
This is the final and highest culmination of the Christian religion, isn’t it? Our goals are often far too small. Be comfortable. Be happy. Be wealthy. Be healthy. Or, in a more pious mode, do good deeds, grow in holiness, volunteer, feed the hungry. Not at all bad! Yet also not the point. The aim of Christianity, the highest and most pure expression of our religion is this: to be filled with all the fullness of God! To know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge through the indwelling Holy Spirit, and so be filled with all the fullness of God! Imagine if that’s how we prayed for each other, or spoke to each other. “Be filled with the fullness of God, brother!” No wonder Paul moves on to praise the Lord!
III. The Glory of Intercessory Prayer (3:20-21)
Now that Paul has reverently laid out his petitions to his God, his heart is now compelled to worship. That which the mind understand and the heart receives must be expressed by the mouth in praise. He now glories in God. And more specifically, he glories in the ability of God to do all that he has promised, even more than we ask.
“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask of think.” Matthew Henry: “Open thy mouth ever so wide, still he hath wherewithal to fill it.” God never comes up short. Whatever you ask for, he can do more. Whatever you request, he has the ability to exceed that request. He can do exceedingly abundantly more than we can ask or think. Which means that, whatever you think you should ask for, you should probably ask for more. Too often we are like someone who shows up to Niagara Falls with a thimble, all the while nervous if there will be enough water to fill it. Get under the waterfall! You won’t need the thimble!
Now, notice what it does not say. He does not say “God is going to give you far more abundantly than you ask him.” The text does not focus on what God is going to do, but rather on what God is able to do. Paul’s point is that there is no lack of ability on God’s part when it comes to doing his will. So, this is not a blank check for a Porche or a cushy job or a big family. We need to be careful not to twist Scripture in that way. This promise is not given to us to spend on our lusts. It is given to us to assure us that God is able to do all his will in and through us. This is a promise that whatever God’s will is, he is surely able to do it. So long as we are asking him to do his will, we cannot over-ask. When it comes to praying God’s will, our prayers are always too small.
We should derive great comfort from that. He is able to do his will in you. And what is his will? He has revealed it in Scripture. His will is what he commands. Thus, in Ephesians, his will is that we would walk in unity as a church. That we would do the work of the ministry by speaking the truth in love. That we would grow up into maturity as a body. That we would rid ourselves of sin and the influences of the world and put on Christ. That we would not lie or be angry or steal or speak corrupting things or become bitter. That we would love one another with the true love of God. That we would be separate from the world. That we would walk together as a church with loud singing and giving thanks and humble submission to others. That marriages would flourish through a wife’s submission and a husband’s loving oversight. That children would flourish through patient discipline and loving nurture. That households would be in order. That is God’s will. And that is what God’s power is able to accomplish in us.
This should be a great encouragement to us when we see the obstacles in the way of these things. The flesh stands in our way. Our sin would quickly and gladly interrupt God’s work in our midst. Satan deliberately works to foil the unfolding of God’s plan through us. The world seeks to destroy the church, even in small ways. It is easy to see these obstacles and then conclude, “This is impossible.” But remember Jesus’ words, “With man it is impossible, but all things are possible with God.” So, if you see the difficulties in marriage, or problems with the church’s unity, or areas where we need to grow up into maturity, or places where we are overly worldly, or the places where the old humanity still lives in us, God is able to do more than we ask or think! We should quickly run to him and ask boldly.
Paul reinforces this line of thought by saying that this ability of Gods is “according to the power at work within us.” And what is the power at work within us? 3:16, the Holy Spirit. The same Holy Spirit who seals us and reveals the word to our hearts and unites us in one body is the one who strengthens us with power in the inner person. And it is that power that is at work to unfold all God’s purposes for us individually and as a body. Which in turn says that this verse is not about getting wealthy or getting what we want. It is about God accomplishing his spiritual purposes in us. God exercises the full extent of his power in us so that we might became all we should be as a church.
Remember, all of this accrues to the display of his wisdom! The church is the mystery, hidden for ages in God, and is now revealed to display his wisdom to angelic powers. The church is the initial outcropping of the “eternal purpose which he realized in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The display of the wisdom of God hangs on the success of the church—how could he let the church fail!? And yet, this is a great mystery—the success of the church also depends in part on the church asking the Lord to do in her what he has promised to do. Prayerless churches are dying church’s, because prayerless churches cut themselves off from the power of God to do in them what he has promised.
God’s abounding sufficiency compels us to pray to him. We will only pray to God if we believe he is able to answer our requests. In fact, what does a lack of prayer say other than, “God is not able to do this. Why should I ask?” When we consider his all-sufficiency, his almighty power, his overwhelming grace, we should have no discouragement from prayer. We should be drawn to prayer. We should be praying individually every day for one another and for the needs of Shepherd. We should be praying corporately as often as we have opportunity for our city and for our church. But It has been wisely said that the best way to motivate ourselves to pray is not focusing on the responsibility to pray, but to focus on the God to whom we pray.
And thus, in conclusion, to him belongs the glory. His is all the glory, because he has done it all. He planned it all, paid it all, did it all. He made us alive. He joined us to his church. He revealed the mystery. He is building the church. He is able to do it. He will surely grant it. “To him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”