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"THE DEPTHS OF
CHRISTIAN LOVE"
Ephesians 3:14-21
I. A prayer for avoiding
discouragement. 3:13
A. Paul's prayer of intercession.
1) He has told us we can approach
God with freedom and
confidence. 3:12
2) He now prays for our power,
for our not losing heart.
B. It is easy to get spiritually
discouraged. 3:13
1) Athletes need
"heart" to stay in the race.
2) Believers need
"heart" to remain vital Christians.
3) We you feel you or someone you love are slipping, pray.
C. Bow on my knees...
1) Standing was normal
posture. Luke
18:11,13
2) Kneeling indicates an
exceptional degree of earnestness.
a) Ezra's confession of
national sins.
b) Jesus in Gethsemane.
c) Stephen at martyrdom.
d) (Catholics and kneeling
rails?)
3) Any posture can honor God.
a) Just don't slouch!
II. The One we pray to: God the Father.
A. "I bow before the Father from
whom (literally:) all fatherhood
is
named."
1) In other words, God is a
father.
2) He is the very epitome of
fatherhood, the archtype.
3) Fatherhood implies the thought
of concern and provision and
loving
guidance.
B. When you are despairing over your
spiritual life, when you are
feeling
cold and about to lose heart, turn to your Father.
1) He is a father with resources: "glorious riches".
III. The course
of recovery from spiritual depression:
Six Steps.
A. "Strengthened with power by
Spirit in your inner being."
1) Inner being - our spiritual
nature, created at salvation.
a)
Puzzling since Paul is praying for Christians.
1> Isn't Christ
already in believers?
b) The indwelling of Christ
is a thing of degrees.
1> The word for
"dwelling" denotes residence as against
lodging.
2> Thus Paul prays to
the Father that Christ by his
Spirit will be
allowed to settle down in their
hearts, and from his
throne there both control
and
strengthen them.
2) God begins the work of
recovery here.
a) Not in our feelings or
subconscious.
b) We seek instant sense of
relief, but God starts deeper.
c) Essence of prayer: "God, help me."
B. "That Christ may dwell in
your hearts through faith."
1) Faith is the key.
2) Believe that God is in you,
and able to help you.
C. "Being rooted and established
in love."
1) Mixed metaphors - plants and
buildings.
a) Tied together as figures of
security.
b) (Tree roots cut for sewer,
not as stable)
2) We need foundations for our
experiences.
a) God loves us and we are
precious to him.
D. "That you may have power to grasp
the dimensions of God's love."
1) The price of privacy: loneliness.
a) Christians are called to
be together - with saints. 3:18
2) The dimensions of love. (Ephesians 1-3)
a) Broad enough to encompass
all mankind.
b) Long enough to last for
eternity.
c) Deep enough to reach the
most degraded sinner.
d) High enough to exalt that
sinner to heaven.
3) Human love tends to be
one-dimensional. (hormones, manipulative).
E. "Know the love that surpasses
knowledge." 3:19
1) Know the unknowable.
a) We can feel things we
cannot comprehend.
2) See Christ in all the circumstances
of our lives.
F. "Filled to the measure of all
the fullness of God." 3:19
1) We realize why God has placed
us here.
2) We realize he is able - more
than able to answer our prayers.
3:20-21
Rev. William
Asarisi (study notes)
John Stott. "Confidence in God's
Power" Eph
3:14-21
I. Our prayers show our anxiety and
ambitions.
A. We pray about what concerns us.
B. Paul here turns from exposition to
intercession.
II. Introduction to his prayer. 3:14-16a
A. For this reason...
1) Reason must be Christ's
reconciling work and Paul's
understanding
of it by revelation.
2) The basis of Paul's prayer was
his knowledge of God's
purpose.
a) We have no authority to
pray for anything which God
has
not revealed to be his will.
b) Bible reading goes with
prayer.
1> Scripture discloses God's will.
2> Prayer asks God to
do his will.
B. Bow on my knees...
1) Normal posture was
standing. Luke 18:11,13
2) Kneeling indicates an
exceptional degree of earnestness.
a) Ezra's confession of national
sins. Ezr
9:5
b) Jesus in Gethsemane.
c) Stephen at martyrdom.
3) Any posture can honor God.
a) But slouching can be close
to abomination. (Hendriksen)
C. Before the Father, whom every
family...
1) NIV is best - the whole family
of believers.
a) Ephesians stresses God as
ultimate Father who has one
family. 4:6
2) "Family" may imply
"fatherhood."
3) God as a Father:
a) Not from analogy, or
projection, but derivation.
D. According to his riches...
1) Paul knows God is not limited.
2) Paul knows God can answer
prayer.
III. Substance of
his prayer.
A. Staircase of petitions: To know Christ's -.
1) Strength.
2) Love.
3) Knowledge.
4) Fullness.
B. Strengthened with might in the
inner man...
1) Puzzling since Paul is praying
for Christians.
a) Isn't he already in them?
2) The indwelling of Christ is a
thing of degrees. (Hodge)
a) The word for
"dwelling" denotes residence as against
lodging.
b) Thus Paul prays to the
Father that Christ by his Spirit
will be allowed to settle
down in their hearts, and from
his
throne there both control and strengthen them.
C. Rooted and grounded in love...
1) Paul's purpose is that they be
grounded in love.
a) They need God's strength
to love one another.
2) Two metaphors: tree and house.
D. Knowing Christ's love...
1) Paul passes from our love to
Christ's love.
2) The dimensions of love.
a) Literal or rhetorical?
b) One literal possibility:
1> Broad enough to
encompass all mankind.
2> Long enough to last
for eternity.
3> Deep enough to
reach the most degraded sinner.
4> High enough to exalt
that sinner to heaven.
3) "With all the
saints"
a) The isolated Christian can
indeed know something of the
love
of Jesus.
1> But his grasp of it
is bound to be limited by his
limited
experience.
b) Love needs the whole
people of God to understand the
whole
love of God.
1> Our varied
backgrounds and experiences work together.
4) Comprehension vs. experience.
a) Even with the help of
other saints, love may not be
"known"
by experience.
b) God's love surpasses
knowledge.
E. Filled up to God's fullness.
1) Use of genitive:
a) Objective: abundance of grace God gives.
b) Subjective: God's perfection. (preferable)
2) God's perfection becomes the
standard or level up to which we
pray
to be filled.
a) The fullness of love
ultimately must wait for heaven.
IV. The conclusion of the prayer. 3:20-21
A. The four petitions are sandwiched
between two references to God.
B. God's ability to answer prayer is
stated in a composite of
seven
stages.
1) God is able to "do"
or to work.
2) He is able to do "what we
ask".
3) He is able to do what we ask
or "think".
4) He is able to do what we ask
or think, for he knows it all
and
can perform it all.
5) He is able to do
"more...than" all that we can ask or think.
6) He is able to do much more, or
"more abundantly" because he
does
not give his grace by calculated measure.
7) He is able to do it "far
more abundantly" for he is a God
of
super-abundance.
a) (Paul coined this word
himself.)
C. Only divine power can generate
divine love in the divine society.
I. Being in danger of losing heart. 3:13
A. Athletes need "heart" to stay in the race.
B. We need knowledge to begin (prayer
in Eph 1) and
power
to continue (prayer here in Eph 3).
II. Coming back to God.
A. He addresses those about to lose
heart.
B. He wants to lead them back to
vital Christianity.
C. He begins with prayer.
1) When someone's faith is
failing, pray for them.
2) The position for prayer.
a) "Bow."
b) Any position works, as
long as you do it.
D. The One we pray to: God the Father.
1) "I bow before the Father
from whom (literally:) all fatherhood
is
named."
a) In other words, God is a
father.
b) He is the very epitome of
fatherhood, the archtype.
c) Fatherhood implies the
thought of concern and provision and
loving
guidance.
2) When you are despairing over
your spiritual life,
when you are feeling cold
and about to lose heart,
turn
to a Father.
a) He is a father with
resources: "glorious
riches".
E. The course of recovery from
spiritual depression: Six Steps.
1) "Strengthened with power
by Spirit in your inner being."
a) Inner being - our
spiritual nature, created at salvation.
1> Spirit comes in at
conversion.
2> Paul calling for
them to get saved?
A> No, he is
asking for them to more committed to Spirit.
b) God begins the work of recovery
here.
1> Not in our feelings
or subconscious.
2> We seek instant
sense of relief, but God starts deeper.
3> Essence of
prayer: "God, help me."
2) "That Christ may dwell in
your hearts through faith."
a) Faith is the key.
1> Are you believing
God?
2> Believe that God is
in you, and can help you.
3) "Being rooted and
established in love."
a) Mixed metaphors - plants and
buildings.
1> Tied together as
figures of security.
2> (Tree roots cut for
sewer, not as stable)
b) We need foundations for
our experiences.
1> God loves us and we
are precious to him.
4) "That you may have power
to grasp the dimensions of God's love."
a) The price of privacy: loneliness.
1> Christians are
called to be together - with saints.
3:18
b) The dimensions of love.
1> The cross?
2> The love of God?
3> Best - themes in
Ephesians 1-3:
A> Length our
Christian hope from creation to eternity.
B> Breadth = all people, Jew and
Gentile, are gathered
into church.
C> Height where we
are in Christ, in heavenly places.
D> Depth the living death out of which Christ
called
us.
c) All of this comes by
relating to one another.
5) "Know the love that
surpasses knowledge."
3:19
6) "Filled with the fullness
of God."
a) We realize why God has placed us
here.
b) Know that God can do more
than we can imagine.
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