According to the Riches of His Glory

In one paragraph

This message was a close reading of Paul's prayer in Ephesians 3:14-21, the second half of a passage Pastor Van had been working toward for several weeks. He traced four things Paul prays for his readers, and then turned to the doxology at the end of the chapter to show where all four are heading. Paul opens the prayer with "for this reason," and Pastor Van pressed on that phrase first. The reason...

Read together

1. Psalm 103 opening call to worship before singing
2. Ephesians 3:14-21 the main passage for the sermon, Paul's prayer for the church
3. Ephesians 2 background for 'for this reason': Jews and Gentiles as fellow citizens, Jesus as cornerstone, God's dwelling
4. Ephesians 1:5 according to the good pleasure of his will, adoption into God's family
5. Ephesians 1:7-8 according to the riches of his grace lavished on us
6. Ephesians 1:11 according to the plan of the one who works out everything in agreement with the purpose of his will
7. Ephesians 1:18-19 the immeasurable greatness of God's power exercised in raising Jesus from the dead
8. Ephesians 2:6 the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus
9. Ephesians 2:21 the whole building grows into a holy temple in the Lord, built together for God's dwelling
10. Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ, the life I now live I live by faith in the Son of God
11. 1 Corinthians 3:16 do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you
12. John 15:5 Christ is the vine, we are the branches, we can do nothing without him
13. John 15:8 the Father is glorified when we produce much fruit and prove to be Christ's disciples
14. John 15:9 as the Father has loved Christ, so Christ has loved us, remain in his love
15. John 15:12 the command to love one another as Christ has loved us, laying down his life
16. John 15:17 again the command to love one another

Talk about it

1. Pastor Van described the posture of kneeling in prayer as something that helps him physically to focus. What practices or habits help you approach prayer with intentionality, and what gets in the way?
2. Pastor Van talked about the pattern throughout Ephesians of Paul praying 'according to' a limitless source, and said that without God's strength in our inner being we can't do anything pleasing to Him. Where in your life right now do you most feel the need for that inner strengthening?
3. Pastor Van used the analogy of buying a run-down house and renovating it room by room to describe how Christ dwells in us and works on us over a lifetime. Are there rooms you have been slow to let Him into, and what has held you back?
4. Pastor Van pointed out that comprehending the love of Christ is described in Ephesians as a group project, something done 'with all the saints.' How have other people in this church helped you understand or experience God's love in a way you could not have on your own?
5. At the end of the sermon Pastor Van said we limit what God can do in and through us, and named a lack of faith, a lack of knowledge, a lack of prayer, and unconfessed sin as possible reasons. Which of those do you think is the biggest limiting factor in your own life right now, and what would it look like to address it?