Accepting the Fathers Love

Ephesians 3:13-21. Accepting the Father’s love. As a Christian one of my biggest mistakes if not the biggest is that I have never really grasped the fact that in this life, intimacy with God is an absolute essential for the here and now. For the Christian, intimacy with God can never be seen as an unnecessary luxury, and to live without an intimate experience of God would be like anyone trying to live without any experience of love. I don’t think it is possible to overstate the necessity of being intimate with God, so we can live the life we have been called to. Intimacy with God is not something that just happens, it is never a default position, but rather it is a consequence of intentional pursuit of God through prayer. Think of it in this way, we all know that food is important, we know that if we don’t eat we will eventually die of starvation. So in accepting that fact, would we ever go and sit at the meal table and wait for food to appear? Would we ever expect our bodies to produce enough nourishment and energy without having to feed them? No, we need to take the time, effort and expense to produce and prepare food so we can eat in order to survive. This same principle applies to our intimacy with God, it is an absolute essential that must be intentionally pursued through prayer. This is the subject of Paul's 2nd prayer for the Christians in Ephesus. The context of Paul’s prayer In verse 13 we read ‘I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.’ The purpose of Paul’s prayer at this point is that the Christians in Ephesus would not be discouraged because of his suffering. The Greek word ekkakeo used for discouraged carries the idea of loosing you fight, to ‘cave in or give up.’ to be weary or exhausted. Interestingly in Classical Literature the word was used to describe the act of treating someone badly. Many believe that discouragement is Satan’s most effective weapon. Discouragement is so powerful, let me share with you some extracts written anonymously by a pastor. ‘I dread going to my church. That’s bad. I’m the pastor. As the week wears on and Sunday rolls around again, I get this nagging sense of dread in the pit of my stomach. It’s Friday and Sunday’s coming! Anxiety. Apprehension. Indigestion. Discouragement! Undoubtably Burnout? Possibly. Depression? I don’t know. Maybe. I don’t think so, not in the clinical sense at least, but I’m not sure. I just know that the thought of going to my church and performing my duties on Sunday gives me less than the surge of joy, hope, anticipation and excitement that those others feel. Every week I preach the eternal word of God. I try to be faithful to my job, though recently it’s been a struggle and I’m guessing my performance has slipped a bit. No one except my wife knows how I feel and I don’t think my people have any idea that these emotions attach when I think about going to church. I’m not in trouble with my congregation. We are not a church in crisis. Things are not horrible at the church. They aren’t great, but they aren’t awful either. I’m unhappy with some decisions the church has made and I am afraid we’ve missed some opportunities that are going to come back to haunt us in the future. There are some dynamics in the church that deeply trouble me and yet there are so many good things going on here. So why is my spirit so troubled? I doubt I’m the only one who feels this way. Depression and discouragement are real issues among a lot of preachers – we just can’t talk about it because we are too holy! Why do you think I’m writing this anonymously? If you happen to know me you would lose respect for me if I admitted that I had this spiritual struggle. I’m a pastor, a holy man, a man of God! I’m not allowed to have feet of clay. I must be faster than the speeding bullets of the enemy and be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound (by faith, of course). I’m not allowed to have problems like mere mortals, right? Move along, folks. No weakness to see here! I sometimes wonder if you guys who are always cheery, always pumped and stoked, always regaling the world with your triumphs and successes on Facebook, Twitter and blogs – do you really have it all together, or is that a cover-up? Are you hiding your pain and compensating for your insecurities with spiritual hype? Or are you really that chipper? Is everything that wonderful, or do you just need us to believe it’s that great? Are you hurting as bad as I am but covering it with more make up than an ageing socialite? I’m tired of feeling this way, but I can’t seem to find the enthusiasm on-button. I need spiritual renewal – more time in God’s word and in prayer – a refreshing of my soul. I need some friends I can trust whom I can share this burden with, but I’ve been burned enough times to be very wary of touching that stove again! So, for right now I’m pushing through the pain. Step by step. Day by day. I’m going get up tomorrow and do my ministry with the strength God gives me, whether there’s any joy or not. Then I’m gonna do the same thing the next day and the next. I will keep doing this by faith and dependence, hoping that one of these days the dawn will come and the sun of joy will rise again. In the meantime it’s Monday and Sunday’s coming.’ ‘Over the years, heart disease has been dubbed “the silent killer.” But there is another disease of the heart which can be just as deadly, and just as subtle. It’s called discouragement. Discouragement is a slow but methodical killer that feeds upon the unresolved disappointments of your life. It is a predator of the human spirit, dragging its prey, over muffled pleas, to the dark cellar of broken dreams. Discouragement steals hope and undermines your faith in the value and purpose of life. With cynicism, it sews seeds of bitterness and resignation. It sours you to life. True to its name, it relieves you of your courage, a precious gift of the heart. Discouragement is your enemy, the enemy of humanity, and of nature herself.’ Andy Drymalski 2. Look at how |Paul prays. He bows bows. Paul is telling us that he bows in prayer while praying for the Christians in Ephesus because he wants to communicate the intensity of his prayer "I bow my knees," he says, "in prayer to God." That means even more than that he kneels; it means that he prostrates himself. The ordinary Jewish posture of prayer was standing, with their hands stretched out and the palms upwards. Paul's prayer for the Church is so intense that he prostrates himself before God in an agony of entreaty.’ W Barclay. Look at what he is praying about, he is praying about their inner being. For Paul the inner life was far more important that the outer life. We have said this before but God is more concerned about our character than our circumstances. As Christians we need to continually experience the transforming power of the gospel. We need to become people who are ‘self-aware,’ when it comes to what is going on inside us. We need to recognise where weed to be changed. We need to learn how to manage our emotions, especially discouragement. The way Paul prays here confronts how many Christians think in two ways. He prays believing that internal change is more important than external/circumstances change. Secondly inner change is never achieved by changing someone’s behaviour. We live as part of a Christian community that prays more for behaviour modification instead of inner transformation. So Paul prays for five things for these Christians in Ephesus so they wont be discouraged. a. He prays that, ‘that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being.’ The word Paul uses for strengthen is only used five times in the New Testament. It carries the idea of being strengthened by inner growth. It is used to describe the spiritual growth of Jesus Luke 2:40 ‘And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.’ It is also used to describe John the Baptists’ spiritual growth Luke 1:80. ‘And the child grew and became strong in Spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel.’ There seems to be a relationship between growth and strength. I think that sometimes we are inclined to think that we are like batteries that need to be recharged. I have heard people say things like ‘I go to church on Sunday to get my batteries charged.’ but, that is not how it works, strength is the consequence of inner growth produced by the power of the Holy Spirit transforming us from the inside. b. Paul prays, ‘so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.’ At a surface level this seems like a very strange request, Paul is praying for Christians, people who have asked Jesus ‘into their heart,’ So why would Paul pray this? There are two terms we need to understand:- i. The heart, the heart is the seat of the will, the mind and the emotions. So when something effects us emotionally and intellectually but does not effect what we do then it has not touched our hearts. Or if we get passionate about something and we act without thinking through the consequences, then we are not living out of the heart. ii. Dwell in your heart. The word dwell” is the verb “katoikeō,” and it means “to live in a locality for length of time, …reside, settle (down) It carries the idea of God making a home in your life. Jesus’ least favourite room is the guest room. iii. Faith. Faith can become a nebulas concept, but let me give you working definition of faith. Faith for the Christian is ‘absolute loyalty to Jesus, motivated by love, produced by complete dependence, irrespective of the circumstances.’ c. Paul prays that we would be ‘rooted and established in love.’ The word “rooted” is from the Greek word “rhizoo.” It is an agricultural term used to describe how a plant takes root in the earth. Figuratively, it means to be firmly planted, to be stable, to be firm, to be fixed. When our lives are rooted in love it brings a security and stability into our lives. William MacDonald said, “To be rooted and grounded in love is to be established in love as a way of life. To be rooted in God’s love is to ensure that love is the distinguishing factor about our lives. The word “grounded” is from the Greek word “the-me-li-oo.” It is an architectural term used to describe the foundations of a building. A well-grounded building — one on a firm, solid foundation — can withstand adverse conditions such as flooding, earthquakes, or fierce winds. The interesting thing about Paul’s use of these two words is that they are like two opposites. Rooted relates to growth, there is something organic about it. Grounded relates more to work or labour. These are two sides of the same coin. We will never grow unless we feel secure in God’s love. That does not mean that we don’t have responsibilities to work out or salvation. Put it this way, the more secure we feel in God’s love the more we will endeavourer to make choices that will accommodate growing in love. d. Paul prays that they may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.’ Here Paul is confronting a serious problem of the heart that many of us, if not all of us suffer with, and that is the ability to receive love. That is why we need to be strengthened in the inner man, because often we lack the ability to receive God’s love. The word Paul uses for power, exischyo is only found here in the New Testament. It means to be eminently able, to have full strength, entirely competent. Maybe the most important thing in life is to have the ability to receive the love of God. It is easier to hold onto our guilt, our shame, our anger, our hurts. But you will never hold unto to these and the love of God at the same time. The Russian novelist Destoyevsky in his book ‘Notes from the underground.’ describes people who refuse to move beyond bitterness and unforgivness as underground people. He writes ‘They remember their injury, down to smallest most ignominious detail, even adding more details, then going over the details of the injury again and again until they actually invent stuff that has happened. The most striking thing about the underground person is that they will forgive nothing.’ Being the damaged, messed up people that we are we all need ’God’s empowering healing grace so we will have enough courage to grasp his love. Paul is not praying here that the Christians in Ephesus would love God more, That is a good prayer to pray, but he sees that before they love God more, they will need a better grasp of God’s love for them. One of the biggest tell tale signs of a persons inability to receive love is their inability to ask for help. If we are too proud to ask for help, then we will be too proud to receive and experience God’s love. Sometimes we don’t want to receive God’s love because of fear, fear of further rejection, fear that if we get too intimate with God he might let us down, so we don’t open ourselves completely to him, we are happy to have him in the guest room. But not in all of our lives. There is a third reason why people find it difficult to receive God’s love. This is because they have been defined by guilt and shame, and they genuinely believe that they are unlovable, and they believe that they are not worthy of love. That is why we need to be strengthen to receive his love, e. He prays that their knowledge of God’s love would be continually experienced. He prays that ‘they may know the love of Christ that passes knowledge.’ What Paul is praying here is amazing. He is praying they would experience God’s love not understand it. Giving mental ascent to the love of God will never save us or transform us. Our hearts have be made to receive love and to live in it. To be a follower of Jesus you need more than sound theology, you need to be continually redefined by your unique and personal experience of God’s love. Paul concludes his prayer by asking that the Christians in Ephesus be filled with all the fullness of God. We have all got something that fills our lives, something that controls, motivate and defines us. To be filled with all the fullness of God is to be defined, motivated and controlled by him. How can we ever be filled with his fullness? The bible tells us in1 John 4:8 ‘But anyone who does not love does not know God- for God is love. Love is the essence of his character and the motive behind everything he does. So to be filled with all the fullness of God is to ‘know the love of Christ that passes knowledge.’ To be filled with all the fullness of God is to develop the image of God within you. Conclusion Notice that when Paul prays, ‘that they may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people!’ This is not a prayer for an individual person, but for a community. Church is meant to be a community where people grow together in their experience and expression of God’s love. I wonder if we are a community that is being defined by our experience of God’s love? or have we devalued the gospel by becoming a people who are going through the motions, ticking our boxes, disconnected from the reality of God’s love. A community that is defined by love is a community that takes intimacy with God seriously.