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Positionally. It's gonna lead us into the next three chapters that talk about our walk and what we're gonna start doing our responsibilities that we have in Christ. And Warren Wiersby in the book said, our positionally we're seated in the first three chapters and in the second three chapters we're walking and then in chapter six we're standing. And those two positions are linked together by kneeling and that's where we find ourselves today is in this prayer where we're kneeling in prayer before the Lord. And I think it's really powerful because our first prayer that I also got to teach on a couple weeks ago was about knowing God and it was about knowing him, knowing his hope, knowing his inheritance, and knowing truth.
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And now this prayer is more about grasping that and apprehension and kind of getting it for ourselves and letting it sink in. And I think that's a perfect kind of segue into the next part. It's preparing us, it's enabling us to walk out our walk in our faith in Christ. So let's pray. Dear Lord, I just I thank you so much for this opportunity this morning.
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And, Lord, I just pray that our hearts would be wide open. I pray that you would you would just fill us up with your spirit, God. Lord, speak through me and I just pray that my words would be your words that, everything would come out clearly and that we would learn from you this morning, Jesus' name. So let's start by reading through it. So it's Ephesians three fourteen through 21, and Roseanne just read most of it, but let's read it again.
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For this reason, I bow my knees before the father from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his spirit in the inner man. So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works within us. To him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. So before we jump into the points of the scripture I wanted to point out and we talked about this too that Paul is in prison right now.
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And I think that's something that kind of really struck me this week for some reason that, he's chained up to a Roman soldier and he's in prison and this is how he's choosing to pray instead of saying, please pray that I'd be delivered from prison, that I won't be harmed and, praying for his physical needs. And Weirsby says on page 93, too many of our prayers focus only on physical and material needs and fail to hold the deeper needs of the heart. It would do us good to use these prison prayers as our own and ask God to keep to help us in our inner person. That is where the greatest needs are. And I feel like that's kind of the theme for this morning is this focus is on the inner man.
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It's about the heart. Last time I spoke, was about faith, and that's where it begins. It all begins inward, in the inner person. So there are four points, that Paul takes us through as he's praying for, things that stand out that he's praying. So and the first point would be, found in verse 16.
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He said that he would grant you according to the rich of his glory to be strengthened with power through his spirit in the inner man. And again, this is not a physical thing. This is starting in the inner man. It's important to note that this is through his spirit. It's the power through his spirit.
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He wants us to be strengthened so we have the power to live as Christ and it's for his glory. So the things that we'll do are for him. I think a lot of powerful things have been done in the name of religion, that have been harmful to the name of God. And I think it's important to note that we need to be connected, and it needs to be through his spirit where we get our power. The church can lose its light when we don't follow the spirit and we base our lives on a power that's not for his glory.
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On page 96, Weirsby said, if God took the Holy Spirit out of this world, most of what we Christians are doing would go right on and no one would know the difference. Sad but true. Paul talks about a struggle of living by the spirit and living, in the flesh in Romans seven. In Romans seven eighteen, he says, for I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh. But the wishing is present in me but the doing of good is not.
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The good that I wish I do not do but I practice the very evil that I do not wish. But if I'm doing the very thing I do not wish, I'm no longer the one doing it, but sin dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wishes to be good. And in verse 22, I love this, he says, I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man. And there's that inner man again.
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That's the focus. He's praying for power for that inner man to be able to live through the spirit and not in the flesh. In Romans eight two, he says, for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. We do have the power to live a holy life. We have the power.
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I mean, we have the wish in our inner man and we have the power and we're strengthened through his spirit to be able to live above sin. In Romans eight verse five, for those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the spirit, the things of the spirit. For the mindset on the flesh is death, but the mindset on the spirit is life and peace. Elizabeth Elliot, she says that this is the key. The key is to be spiritually minded.
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She compared Eve with Mary. She said, be spiritually minded, not Eve who refused the given. She said, be unto me according to my will. Independence, she said, my will be done. There was defiance, ambition, opposition.
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But be spiritually minded like Mary. She said, here I am Lord, do anything you want with me. It was dependence. And when you say that, God will show you the next thing to do, and you'll be living in the power of the spirit. So the key is keep setting your mind on the spirit, and that will lead to life and peace.
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You may not know why something's happening to you, but when you submit, then his power will get you through. When I was younger, I've I've always been I've not really ever been one that gets up and speaks in front of people. And I was kind of shy when I was younger, maybe not with my kid and with my friends, but in the classroom setting. I would be terrified to get up and do anything like this. And but when God asks you to do something he gives you that peace and I believe it's his power that allowed me to come up and and do this because it's it's not out of my character, to be a speaker.
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And, and I'm also gonna talk about that in the next part too because I think he's working in my heart too and all of these things that I'm learning and teaching, I feel like it's speaking directly to me. So the second point in verse 17 is that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. The word dwell means to abide, to live. Abide means remain or stay. So this is Christ abiding or living or taking up his home in your heart.
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First Corinthians three sixteen says, do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the spirit of God dwells in you? And again, I feel like this theme for me this week has just been it's about the inner man and it's about Christ and his work in your heart. Is he dwelling in you? Is he dwelling in me? Is he making his home in you?
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John fifteen four through five says, abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing.
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And again, that's we're strengthened with power through his spirit to do his work. So what is the fruit that we will bear? If we if he's abiding in us, what what is that fruit? Galatians five twenty two says, but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. That can be kind of like a litmus test.
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Am I abiding in Christ? Is he abiding in me? Are those fruits evident in my life? Or am I seeing bitterness and anger and unforgiveness or judgment? Am I abiding?
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John eight thirty one says, Jesus therefore was saying to the Jews who had believed in them who had believed in him. If you abide in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine. And you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. So remember that abide means to live and to dwell. So abiding in him also means being in the word and abiding I think also means not just reading the word but living it and remaining in it and staying in it and dwelling in it.
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And that's how we connect and we abide in Christ and he can abide in us. And if you need help with that, I would just say sign up to teach every other week at a women's Bible study. That'll get you in the word. Okay. So the next point, it says, that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge.
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And I loved what Weirsby said about this. And if you haven't read the chapter, really loved it. I tried not to just make my talk exactly what he said so But, he talked about the concept of our word comprehend carries the meaning of mentally grasping something. While apprehend means laying hold of it for yourself. This is what I think of, you know, we've been studying knowing God and knowing who we are in Christ.
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And this is knowing that and having that move from your head to your heart and really getting it, grasping it. And that is what enables us. So it's it's it's not just kind of an emotional thing but it's like the truth of God's character and his love And we're able to grasp it. He's praying that we'll know something that's surpasses knowledge. If if we could understand how much he would love us, I think it would change us.
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And it would change us from the inside out. And I know, sometimes we kind of think, well, if God loves me so much, then why is this happening to me? And, Romans five eight, it says, we know that all things work together for good for those who love the Lord. And I love the next part because it says to those who are called according to his purpose. So it's about his purpose and and that's the good that it is.
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It's for his own purpose. And also I think God wants us to grow and then we begin to cling to him more. And I know I think Deborah talked about this last week. Once we understand his love and we're rooted and grounded in it, when things happen then we're not shaken by it. RC Sproul said, God is for his people and he will never cease to be.
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And I think that we just need to pray that we can understand this kind of love. It's a kind of love He loved the world but He also has an even deeper and special love for His people. And that kind of brings us into point four. Let's see. That you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.
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And the first thing that I think of when I think of being filled up is that first we have to be emptied of ourselves. And what happens when we're filled up with God? In John one fourteen it says, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. So this is talking about Jesus. He was the word that God spoke when he created the world and that word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the father.
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He was full of grace and truth. If we are full of him, we will be full of grace and truth. Ephesians five eighteen says, and be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the spirit. And this is just what are we allowing ourselves to be controlled by. We should let ourselves be controlled by the spirit.
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I also love how at the end of chapter one in Paul's first prayer, chapter one verse 23, Ephesians. He said, The church is his body. We're the fullness of him who fills all in all. And I just think that's that's beautiful that he fills us and we're his fullness here on earth as his body. How can we be the fullness of him?
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I think that's by abiding in him and by being filled by him. So just thinking of all those four points, what happens? What is the result of these four things? If we're strengthened with the power through his spirit in the inner man. If he's dwelling in our hearts through faith, if we're understanding his love, if we're filled with the Holy Spirit, what's the result?
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Do you think that maybe it would be going out into the world and pointing fingers and judging? Or could it be our heads puffed up with knowledge and thinking how much we know now. Well, at the end of this prayer and at the end of these three chapters, Paul's response is doxology and he just explodes into worship. He can't help it. The word doxology is the first part is doxa which means glory or splendor.
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And the second part is logos which is word or speak so it just means to speak glory and it's just worship. And, so that doxology is now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works within us. To him be the glory in church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. And just in the context and the theme of what God has been teaching me through this, that it's about the inner man and it starts in the heart. I believe that to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all we ask or think.
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It says, according to the power that works within us. So this is a power. It's it's about the inner man and what he can do in our hearts. He is able. He has the power to do it.
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He can accomplish the unthinkable. He can dwell in our hearts and produce life giving fruit in our lives. We can know his love that surpasses knowledge. And we can know the one that fills all in all and he can fill us. RC Sproul said, one of the One mark of truly orthodox theologians is that their writings always include expressions of doxology.
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Knowledge of the Lord's character and his work should inspire heartfelt praise. For why learn about God if we're not moved to fulfill the purpose for which we are created, to worship and glorify the creator. When studying theology does not prompt us to adoration, we must question whether we are more concerned to puff ourselves up with knowledge than to glorify God. And from the beginning when I was asked to teach this and I started studying in Ephesians over Christmas, I was that was my prayer. I was like, God, I really want this to sink in.
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I understand. I don't wanna just know it. I want it to sink in and become real in my life and make a difference. I want it to go from my head to my heart. And I think when it does that, that's the result as a doxology.
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And our lives become a life that speaks of God's glory. And I love at the end where he says, He will be glorified in the church. So through us, through our lives being a doxology. And there's one other quote by CS Lewis and this is kind of funny but he says, I believe that many who find that nothing happens when they sit down or kneel down to a book of devotion would find that the heart sings unbidden while they're working their way through a tough bit of theology with a pipe in their teeth and a pencil in their hand. And that's kind of what I think about when I'm thinking about this Weirsby book because it's a tough bit of theology, but we're working through it and hopefully what we're learning about God and the deepness of it will sink into our hearts and will burst forth in worship.
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So we were made just thinking about worship, we were all made to worship. We were created to worship, and we will worship something. And so this is kind of silly, but what does Oasis what do Oasis, the goddess Artemis and Beanie Babies all have in common? So Oasis was a band in the nineties, and they were super popular. And they were like, they won all these awards and they sold like 70,000,000 albums.
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And they were in the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest top 10 UK chart run by a group. And so they were super popular. And I just I was trying to think of something that, you know, we kind of we worship. Sometimes we worship musicians and we we get all into famous people and it's a sort of worship. And it was I picked this one because it was interesting.
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One of the band members, Noel Gallagher, said that the band had become more important than God. And this was in 1997, and this was a big deal. And there were many fans who agreed. There was a in The UK, there was a 16 year old who said, I think Oasis probably is more important than God. A lot of my people don't go to church anymore and religion just seems outdated.
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Oasis makes a lot of sense and people can relate to their songs. Well, where are they now? Well, they sold 70,000,000 albums and it said like any rock band, they hated each other's guts. After eighteen years of tumult, the band finally called it quits in 2009. So I don't I don't know why I just thought it'd be funny to write a doxology to them.
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So two ace I didn't say to them be the glory but I said two oases be glory for 72% of one generation of teens and rock music lovers in 26 different countries from 1995 to 2009. Amen. Do you think they were bigger than God? Okay. What about Artemis?
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And I we've talked a lot about the goddess Artemis because she was the God in Ephesus that the temple was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. And she was worshipped and she was a goddess of fertility. And, her temple lasted for almost seven hundred years. It was destroyed once and rebuilt, but it was destroyed finally in two sixty two BC. And then it was kind of forgotten, and it wasn't even rediscovered until the nineteen hundreds, and then only a few columns remained.
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So her doxology was to Artemis speak glory for 28 generations in in Asia and to those in need of fertility and protection. Amen. Okay. So beanie babies, and this is really silly, but I just wanted to you know, there there's so many trends and fads and crazes that we all get wrapped up in and caught up in. And this was just one of those crazes because the company had this strategy that they would make it really scarce and they'd put something out and then they'd take it off and you know, would restrict the shipments and so it made everything really desirable and popular and it was a huge value in collecting these Beanie Babies.
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And so people just bought these by the thousands thinking that they were gonna make a lot of money. And the craze lasted, I think, till 1999 when the Thai company announced they were no longer making Beanie Babies and they made a bear called The End. And so and now if you go on eBay and you look up Beanie Babies, there's there's like pages and pages of people trying to sell these things and now they're worth less than what they originally bought them for. So So a lot of people put their hope into that, into that excitement, into making an investment that didn't turn out. So to beanie babies be glory, a craze that lasted all of six years that left one fifth of one generation disappointed with unanswered eBay auctions almonds.
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So, okay, you see the point. So I just wanted to think about, we go from one thing to the next. There's fads that come and go, diets that are the next big thing, the next answer. And we're we are made to worship and we're gonna worship something. We're gonna worship artists or musicians, our stamp collection or animals or mountains or whatever it is.
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But all of these things are short lived. So I wanted to us to look again at Paul's doxology to God. And he said, now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all we ask or think according to the power that works within us. To him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.
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John Piper said that God is like the sun. His glory shines generation after generation after generation, never fading in glory. Our lives should shout a glory to him. Our life should be a doxology to the one who's worthy of our worship. Elizabeth Elliot said, one holy life can have untold effects.
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Our business is simply to be holy. So it starts in the inner man and through God's power and through learning about him and digging in if we need a pipe in our teeth to dig in and work your way through this hard theology. I pray that we would know him better and that our eyes would be open with his knowledge of who he is and what he's done and that would result in unbidden singing. I wanted to close with another doxology, from Jude. This is one of my favorites.
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It's from Jude, the last two verses. It says, now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, blameless with great joy. To the only God our savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forever. Amen. Lord, I just thank you for these words, and I thank you for who you are.
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Lord, I thank you that your glory has been before time, that it's now and forever for all generations. God, we we want our lives to worship you, and we wanna choose to worship the thing that will last. God, I just pray that our hearts would continue to be softened and continue to be open to learning. And, Lord, I pray that we would glorify you and that our lives would become praise and worship for you. It's in your name we pray.
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Amen.
