Title: Let’s [Let God] Do This!
Recall that we’re approaching the book of Ephesians in the way that God intended for us to live.
We’re not called to just “live and learn” as if we just live our lives and learn from our lessons.
We should learn from our mistakes for sure.
But God calls us to Learn and Live.
He plans for us to take Him at His Word and build our lives/our behavior on His truth.
Our everyday relationship with God and each other should be based on the truth of God.
For instance, as Christians, we shouldn’t live as if we’re desperate for acceptance, significance, and security.
The reason why we shouldn’t live this way is because God has explained what it means that we’re in Christ.
In Christ, we’re fully accepted, significant, and secure.
And we’re provided this in and by our relationship with the most important being that would ever matter.
In Ephesians 1:7, we’re told that in Christ “we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our
trespasses, according to the riches of his grace”
In 1:13, we’re told we were “sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance.”
After telling us how desperately lost we all were, we’re told how miraculously we were brought to salvation,
as we learned in 2:4-5, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been
saved.”
Not only have we been saved by grace, we’re also God’s “workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good
works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
God has supplied us with all we need in our relationship with Him.
And next year, we’re going to be jumping into the practical applications of these truths.
Well, this means we’re coming to the end of the first half of Ephesians which is deeply theological.
And we’re going to be moving into Ephesians 4-6 for the practical.
Before we do, we’re learning this morning from a prayer that Paul prays for his readers.
So, that means he was praying it for us too.
If there’s a theme to what we’ve learned about God and us from these first 3 chapters, it might be that we
didn’t get into the riches of God’s grace by deserving them.
It’s like the old saying, “If you find a turtle sitting on a fence post, if there’s one thing you can know, it’s
that it didn’t get there on his own.”
As we move toward chapters 4-6 and the many commands to obey, I want us to keep this in mind.
You see, we can pump ourselves up to obey all that God has commanded us.
And we can make the mistake of thinking that it’s dependent on us in terms of our power.
I think you’ll see today that our role has more to do with surrendering.
And it’s God’s power through His indwelling Holy Spirit that changes us.
I hope that you’ll also see that what God has called us to do, He’s called us to do it together as a church.
This doesn’t fit with our western individualism.
And that’s why we usually miss this fact - the miraculous mystery that God revealed for His glory is that we
were called out of all our different backgrounds to be His people and see Him work in and through us
together.
Having learned how amazing God’s plan has been for our salvation and His glory, let’s let God keep doing
His thing!
This is the final encouragement as we move into His commanding section of Ephesians.
And I hope to refer back to the principles her as we walk through those chapters together.
So, we’re looking at the last half of chapter 3 together as we’ll read verses 14-21
* 14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is
named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through
his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted
and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length
and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled
with all the fullness of God.
* 20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power
at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and
ever. Amen.
The first way I want to encourage us to Let God Do His Thing is this -
1. LET’S SURRENDER OURSELVES TO EXPERIENCE GOD’S BEST. (14-19)
* 14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is
named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through
his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted
and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length
and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled
with all the fullness of God.
Verses 14-19 is another one of Paul’s long sentences.
It’s a prayer that has one request with a few expected results.
Before getting into the prayer itself, we see that Paul sets it up.
He describes himself as kneeling, which wasn’t the typical posture for prayer but was a formal expression of
deep emotion and earnestness in prayer.
He describes God as being the source of every family’s name.
But the word translated “family” is related to fatherhood.
It’s basically saying all “father-headed groups” derive their names from God.
This term points to the fact that fatherhood finds its origins in God the Father.
Paul is saying he prays “to the Father as the author and perfect example of what a father should be.”
The image is that of THE perfect loving Father, hearing Paul’s request and ready to respond according to
His gracious character.
The facts of these verses that we’re looking at make up one sentence.
God can empower us by His Holy Spirit, so Christ might reign in us, so we might experience Christ’s love
among us, so we might fully experience God.
First, Let’s surrender ourselves to experience God’s best, knowing that -
1a. GOD CAN EMPOWER US BY HIS HOLY SPIRIT.
* 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his
Spirit in your inner being,
Paul requests that God will act according to His richly abundant glory and provide strengthening power.
And this would come to believers through the indwelling Holy Spirit impacting in us in our inner being.
The New Testament Commentary says this about the inner man -
“It is the deep seat of the personality, where the Spirit seeks to have his dwelling and so transform the
whole life of a human”
So, this is the central request which Paul is making to the Father for them.
And the rest of this section are results of this work of the Holy Spirit providing strengthening power.
These verses will be key for us to recall when we get to other short commands regarding the Holy Spirit.
=>We’ll be challenged with the importance to maintain the unity that the Holy Spirit provides to His church.
* Ephesians 4:1–4 1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling
to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in
love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one
Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—
We’ll be warned again spurning the work of the God’s Spirit as we’ll read in -
* Ephesians 4:30 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of
redemption.
We will be challenged to live lives that are controlled by the Holy Spirit, as we read in -
* Ephesians 5:18 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,
Finally, we’ll see the importance of battling in the power of the Spirit against spiritual forces as we stand
firm -
* Ephesians 6:18a 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.
Secondly, let’s surrender ourselves to experience God’s best, knowing that God can empower us by His
Holy Spirit, -
1b. SO CHRIST MIGHT REIGN IN US
* 17a so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—
The presence and effectiveness of the Holy Spirit mean the presence and effectiveness of Christ.
This isn’t talking about when Jesus comes into our lives at salvation.
Rather the term “dwell” means that Christ is “at home in,” deeply rooted in the very center of our being.
It means allowing Christ to be the dominating factor in our attitudes and conduct.
Of course, though Paul prays that this might be the result, it must take place in response to faith.
Many with “name it claim it” beliefs want to argue that their flashy lifestyle is evidence of their faith.
But the truth is that our growing faith is evidenced by us allowing Christ to rule our hearts/desires.
The truth we need to recognize at this point is that we can be saved without Christ being “at home” in our
hearts.
This is why Paul is praying that this would be true for the Ephesians and for us.
We need to surrender ourselves to God - individually & corporately to allow the Holy Spirit to have this
impact on our lives.
And we’ll see next that we have a lot to lose if we don’t allow Christ to reign on the throne of our hearts.
Moving on, let’s surrender ourselves to experience God’s best, knowing that God can empower us by His
Holy Spirit, so Christ might reign in us -
1c. SO WE MIGHT EXPERIENCE CHRIST’S LOVE AMONG US.
* 17b that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints
what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19a and to know the love of Christ that surpasses
knowledge,
Strength supplied by the Holy Spirit in our deepest part results in love and wisdom.
This work of the Holy Spirit is further described as the Christian being rooted and grounded in love.
These verses mix verbs from different industries - the foundation of both plants and construction.
But the material of the establishing work is God’s love at work in our inner being.
With God doing this inner work in us, His redeemed, the result is further strength of communion with other
saints - our church family - to comprehend with all the saints
And that further strength with fellow believers is to enable us to comprehend the love of Christ.
I see this regularly in our small group, and I bet others of you see it too.
When we discuss God’s truth and we allow ourselves to be surrendered to Christ, we dwell on and grow in
His love together as we talk about it.
The immensity Christ’s love of is expressed in how it have breadth and length and height and depth.
Think about it. If you were to measure something out, you can only measure in one direction at a time.
In a similar way, one can only comprehend a part of the love of Christ at any given time.
And this is an experiential knowledge we gain of Christ’s love.
We experience His love as we exercise it in worshiping and obeying God and caring for one another.
Quote - “The love of Christ is infinitely greater than anyone can fully know or imagine… It must find
expression in experience, in sorrows and joys, trials and sufferings, in ways too deep for the human mind to
fathom, or for human language to express.”
And there’s no end to the experience and supply of God’s love, as it surpasses knowledge.
In the end, it’s through surrender to Christ’s reign in our hearts resulting in loving Him and one another,
with the strength He supplies.
Lastly, let’s surrender ourselves to experience God’s best, knowing that God can empower us by His Holy
Spirit, so Christ might reign in us, so we might experience Christ’s love among us -
1d. SO WE MIGHT FULLY EXPERIENCE GOD.
* 19b that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Through this process, we experience more and more of the fullness of God.
This is a principle that will come up again in the letter as it lays out how we are to grow in glorifying God
together toward this same goal.
As we’ll read in Ephesians 4:13 the goal of God building His church -
“until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to
the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”
[Illus - Welcoming someone into your home]
How you welcome someone into your home might look different from person to person.
When a contractor walks in, you might be like, “Oh good you’re here. I’ll show you what I need you to fix.”
The same would be for a housekeeper or a baby sitter - “Here’s the project I have for you. See you later!”
If it’s a salesperson, you might stand there with your hand on the door just waiting to be able to say, “You
know, I don’t think we need what you have.”
Obviously, you’d welcome a guest differently.
You might help them with their coat and ask if they’d like something to drink.
What if it’s your landlord?
You might hope they don’t see the new hole that your son decided to make in the wall.
?- What if you were a servant and the person you were welcoming in was the master of the house?
You’d welcome them in quite differently.
What we’ve learned from Ephesians is that God is our Creator who graciously called us into salvation.
What we see today is that our calling involves the Holy Spirit indwelling us with power.
And as we surrender to Him, we’re welcoming Christ, our MASTER into our lives
This means living with our hearts set on serving Him rather than ourselves.
It means allowing God to draw us away from sin rather than us being drawn into sin.
It also means loving one another as we investigate the caverns of God’s love together.
Quote - TNTC - “If there is no love, the Spirit of Christ is not present, and there can be no understanding.”
I gotta tell you, this passage has convicted and ministered to me for the 4 weeks I waited to preach it.
I’m excited by the idea that the Holy Spirit can empower me to surrender my life to Christ.
I’m amazed at the opportunity to delve into the love of Christ.
But I’m also grieved by what I’ve missed out on by denying the Holy Spirit power to work within me.
I’ve been grieved by the idea that my sin causes me to miss out on experiencing Christ or the fullness of
God – knowing what surpasses knowledge.
?- What is Christ in the “home” of your heart?
remodeling contractor
housekeeper
salesman
Master of the House
?- How has your relationship with sin grieved the Holy Spirit and caused Christ to not “feel at home” in your
heart?
We’re meant to experience God’s love together.
And to do this, we need to be surrendered to God’s work in the deepest part of who we are.
As we move forward in letting God do this –
2. LET’S GLORIFY GOD FOR HIS POWER AND PLAN. (20-21)
* 20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power
at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and
ever. Amen.
Verses 20-21 are the closing benediction for chapters 1-3.
Paul’s requests are already bold in asking God to work mightily - that God may grant believers to be
strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being
Yet Paul goes on to write in his doxology which is a statement of worship or glory to God.
His request was that God would bring unity to the church, which was made up of Jews and Gentiles.
* 20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power
at work within us,
His request was that God would bring unity to the church, which was made up of Jews and Gentiles,
These were groups that not even the angels anticipated being made into the one people of God.
The word abundantly is yet another term meaning “beyond all measure.”
It’s speaking of God’s ability to act beyond our imagination - to do miracles beyond what we could ask Him
to do.
The New Testament Commentary tells us - “There is no limit to his power; only human words and thoughts
about it are limited.”
But let’s keep in mind that the context here has to do with Him working in and among us as the church.
This isn’t describing Him as some SUPER genie.
It’s telling us to never think that God can’t work in and through or change His people for His glory.
Realize this.
God’s intention is to further His kingdom through some amazing accomplishments through us.
But it’s not His plan to do these things through us individually but together.
He is glorified by bringing us together and putting us on His gospel-mission together to accomplish His will.
?- If your eternal rewards were limited to what you accomplished with fellow Harvesters, would it affect
what you’d be expecting?
The repeated truth of these 3 chapters has been that all God’s work is for His glory.
* 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
The glory that God would receive in this context is from the church being unified by the love that results
from empowerment of the Holy Spirit.
It fits that this glory would be sourced in the church and in Christ Jesus who paved the way for both Jewish
and Gentile believers to be one in Christ.
?- How does it sit with you that the church and Jesus Christ are about God’s glory just like everything else?
The setting that is pictured is when the church and Christ would both receive glory.
And this fits Revelation 21 when the church as the bride is glorified with Christ our Bridegroom.
The redeemed and Redeemer will display Gods glory as God’s reborn image bearers unite with His only
begotten Son.
Quote - “The glory of God is most gloriously seen in the grace of his uniting his sinful creatures to his
eternal, sinless Son.”
I’m surprised by how many mystery novels or movies have the same general plot.
A group of people are invited or lured to a remote location by an individual.
They may or may not have any connections with each other.
But they all have a connection to the mystery.
Maybe a wrong has already taken place for which there needs to be justice.
Or maybe there’s a mishap that sets the mystery afoot.
But the thrilling story goes on from there.
Maybe you’re familiar with these stories like
Agatha Christie’s The Ninth Guest followed by And Then There Were None
The 1985 movie, Clue
The suspenseful thriller, The Invitation
One of the more recent versions of this is Glass Onion, the sequel to Knives Out.
In it, a group of people receives an elaborate invitation to a private island.
Of course, no one actually understood what they were being invited into.
They thought they were going to a simple weekend getaway.
They believed they knew the reason for their gathering.
But as the film unfolds, it becomes clear that the host’s agenda was far more complex, consequential, and
revealing than they imagined.
In Ephesians 3, Paul is reminding the church that God has done the same thing with us— but with a very
different heart and a far better outcome than these mystery stories
God has gathered us into something far greater than we first imagined.
When we trusted Christ, we responded to an “invitation”—
but most of us thought we were just coming for forgiveness or hope, or a fresh start.
We didn’t realize He was calling us into:
His strength working in our inner being through His Holy Spirit,
His Son becoming at home in our hearts as our Master,
His love rooting and grounding us,
His fullness filling us,
and His glory being displayed through us together.
We thought we were just coming to Jesus as individuals.
God was actually forming us into a Spirit-empowered, Christ-indwelt, love-rooted, glory-bearing people.
Ephesians 3:20–21 is Paul saying:
“You have no idea how big this actually is.”
Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think… to Him be glory in the
church and in Christ Jesus through all generations.”
When Jesus saved you, the invitation didn’t tell half the story.
You came for forgiveness.
God planned to give you fullness.
You came for personal renewal.
God planned to make you part of a Spirit-filled people that would glorify Him across generations.
You came asking for what you could imagine…
God was already planning what you couldn’t imagine.
