Some of you know that the apostle Paul wrote many of the books that make up the New Testament of the Bible. Paul was a highly educated Jew who adamantly persecuted the earliest Christians until he experienced a dramatic conversion to Christianity.
After his conversion, Paul became the one person who probably did the most to spread the good news about Jesus. He is called the first missionary, because he went from place to place teaching people about Jesus. He would go to a city and gather any people who were willing to listen and tell them about Jesus. Many people heard the message and became followers of Jesus, or Christians, and their gatherings became some of the earliest churches. Once a church was somewhat established, Paul would move on to another city.
As he continued to travel, Paul wrote letters to the churches he had established in order to further instruct them, to encourage them, and sometimes even to admonish them. The reading we are looking at today is from the book of Ephesians. It’s a letter that Paul wrote to the church he had established in the city of
Paul’s letters are a very important part of the New Testament because Paul was a pastor, a missionary, and a theologian. In some places, his letters are rather complex theological disputations, and not very easy to understand. But other times, as with this passage, he breaks out with an incredible beauty that is almost like poetry. Still, his long sentences challenge translators. In this passage, the entire section of verses 14-19 is one long sentence in the original Greek. Fortunately for us, I will be reading the New International Version translation, which breaks those six verses into three sentences.
In this passage, you really feel a connection with Paul’s missionary-pastor heart. Paul had a heart for God, and a heart for his people, and he expresses that here so beautifully. As your pastor, these words of Paul express my greatest desire for you as well.
I don’t suppose that when Paul wrote this letter to the church at
Let me read the passage, and then I will go back and discuss some of the parts.
This is Ephesians 3:14-21.
14For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Paul begins this passage as a prayer of praise to God. When he says he kneels before the Father, he means that his reverence and praise towards God is the place where he begins. It is the place where we, too, should begin. To kneel before the Father is to give God the glory and honor that is his due, simply because he is God.
Paul goes on to express his prayer for his hearers. Today, two thousand years, later we have become his hearers because this writing is part of the Bible, God’s holy word to us. Paul says that his prayer is that we would be strengthened with power through the Holy Spirit in our inner beings, so that Christ might dwell in our hearts through faith.
What does it mean for Christ to dwell in our hearts through faith? This, really, is the central message of the gospel. The same Jesus who walked this earth two thousand years ago is alive today, and when we invite him into our lives, he comes to dwell in our hearts.
Jesus died on the cross for you and for me, because of his great love for us. John 3:16 puts it this way: “For God so loved the world that he sent his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” It was because of God’s great love for each one of us that Jesus came into the world as a human baby. Jesus was fully God, but he was also fully human.
Jesus did many miracles and taught the people the ways of God. He wanted everyone to know that God is a God of love. Then he willingly gave his life for each one of us when he was crucified on the cross.
But that wasn’t the end, because sin and death could not have any power over Jesus, and he arose from the dead, triumphant over sin and death. That’s why Paul can say that his prayer for each of us is “that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.”
I heard this good news when I was very young. I was about six or seven, and I was attending
Of course, I know much more about my faith now than I did then, but even as a young child, I understood my need for Jesus at the center of my life.
Why do we need Jesus in our lives? Jesus is the mediator between us and God. God is holy and righteous and without sin. We, on the other hand, are not holy; we are not righteous; we are sinners. Even a good little girl of six or seven knows she is not truly righteous, and she needs for her sins to be forgiven by Jesus.
You don’t have to be a bad, terrible person in order to need God’s forgiveness. On the other hand, even if you are the worst person on earth, God’s forgiveness is sufficient for you as well. In God’s eyes, we are all sinners, all of us in need of forgiveness.
Jesus provided that forgiveness for each one of us when he died on the cross. Jesus took the sins of all humankind on himself when he died on the cross, and he offers each one of us complete forgiveness. There is no sin too big, and no sin too small for him to forgive.
Carrying around our sins is a heavy burden. One of the beautiful things Jesus said is this: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30)
We don’t need to carry around the burden of our sinfulness—we can simply give ourselves to Jesus, and he will free us from the burden of our sin.
If you have never asked Jesus to come into your life and forgive you your sins and give you new life for all eternity, you don’t have to wait any longer. It’s such a simple thing—as I said, I was just a little girl when I made that decision. A child can understand and accept Jesus.
It is as simple as whispering a simple prayer, asking Jesus to forgive you and to come into your heart and be your Lord and your Savior. It’s a simple prayer that you can pray right here today, but it will change your life.
There is great freedom in knowing that you are loved and accepted by God. I think that is what Paul means when he goes on to say, “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
When Paul says “all the saints,” he is not talking just about the people who have been declared to be saints because of their great lives. He is talking about each one of us who has put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ. We are the saints! And Paul’s prayer for all of us is that we would comprehend this incredible love of Christ for us, and that we would be filled completely with the presence of God.
Some of you, like me, invited Jesus to be your Lord and Savior long ago. But perhaps your relationship with Jesus has grown cold. You just don’t feel the joy of your salvation. You don’t think a lot about how much he loves you.
I invite you today to just tell God that you want him to truly be at the center of your life, once again. It is as if each of us has a throne at the center of our lives. Our natural tendency is to place ourselves on that throne at the center. But the rightful owner of that throne is God—the triune God—God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God needs to be on the throne of our lives in order for us to maintain a right relationship with him.
Even when we know that God is the one who should be on that throne at the center of our lives, we have a tendency to sneak our self back in and sit on that throne, don’t we?
We’re just like those early Christians at
Paul closes this passage with a beautiful benediction, and I will use it to close our service today, as well. I love what it says:
20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Paul is reminding us here that we forget how great and powerful our God is. He reminds us that God wants to do great things in our lives and through our lives. God is already working in our hearts, and sometimes we forget to even notice. Then, he reminds us to glorify God in our church, now and throughout all generations, for ever and ever.
These words that Paul wrote so long ago are beautiful because they speak the truth about God to our hearts. What a wonderful, amazing God we have. God created us in his own image, and he loves us with an infinite love that we can’t even imagine. It is only through the power of God that we can know in our hearts and we are able “to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.”
The most important things in life can only be truly understood in our hearts. When we put our faith and our trust in Jesus, something wonderful happens to us that is beyond human understanding. It’s simple enough for a child to understand through the eyes of faith, and yet it is beyond some of the most intelligent people who refuse to see the truth of God with their hearts.
If you have never invited God, through Jesus Christ, to come into your life, I invite you to do it today. Maybe you’ve been in church many, many times, or maybe this is your first time. Maybe this message is old to you, or maybe it’s brand new. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you open your heart to God’s love. There are no special, magic words that you need to say in order to ask God into your life. God understands your heart and he knows you by name. But as we close in prayer, I will pray a very simple prayer, and if that prayer is what your heart wants to say to God, I invite you to simply speak that prayer to God in your heart. To pray this prayer is to accept Christ and become a Christian, or as Paul puts it, to become one of the saints. Or in simpler language, it means to say “Yes” to Jesus.
Prayer:
God, I pray for each person here this morning, that they would know the fullness of your love for them. For those who do not know you, I pray that they would respond by praying this prayer:
Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I need your forgiveness. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. Please forgive me of all my sins. I invite you to come into my life and into my heart and be the center of my life. Thank you Jesus. I want to say “Yes” to you, Jesus.
And God, I pray for those who have grown cold in their love for you. I pray that they would confess to you that they have not kept you at the center of their life. May they respond by praying this prayer:
Lord Jesus, I realize that I have allowed all sort of things get between you and me. I realize that you are no longer at the center of my life. Please forgive me for my self-centeredness; forgive all my sins and restore me to a right relationship with you. May I, too, say “Yes” to you Jesus today in my heart. Thank you for your great love for me.
God, I thank you for each one who has prayed one of these prayers in their hearts today. May they know your incredible love for them in their hearts today. We rejoice with you and with them.
Amen
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