Let's turn to Ephesians chapter 3. I'm going to begin covering verses 14 through 19, Paul's prayer for the Ephesians. It's his second prayer. And we're going to have to break this into two parts. We'll do part of it tonight and part of it next week. There's just too much here to get through in one sitting. Ephesians 3, 14, 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, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, 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. Well Lord, as always, we thank You for this Word. And Lord, we pray that You'd give us understanding. That You would teach us by Your Spirit. That You'd bring this Word to us in power. And Lord, help us to understand the things that the apostle says here. In Christ's name, Amen. So for two and a half chapters now in Ephesians, Paul's been writing about the eternal plan and purpose of God the Father. The ultimate end of which is what? Who wants to tell us that? What's the ultimate end of it all? I want us to remember this. It is to sum up all things. Bring all things together. Gather all things together in His eternal Son. That's God's purpose. We tend to think its purpose has to do with us personally. And we are the great beneficiaries of His purpose. But His purpose is to gather all things together in His Son. From before the foundation of the world, this has been His purpose. And God has been at work in bringing all things toward this ultimate purpose. That's what creation's about. Before creation, He chose a people for Himself in His Son. Before He created anything. Before time. He chose these people from among a humanity that He intended to and did form. From the dust of the earth that He would also create. A humanity that would then take on His own image with immortal spirits and the ability to think and to reason. A humanity, though, that He knew would turn against Him. This was all part of His eternal plan, eternal purpose. And those among the rebels of humanity that He chose in His Son, He predestined that they, despite their sinfulness, were going to stand before Him wholly and blame This was his plan in Christ. He predestined them, Paul tells us, to adoption as his own sons through Christ to himself. To them, he would grant forgiveness of all their offenses against him. If you're in Christ, if you're believing in him, if you have been born again of the Spirit, God has blessed you in such an abundant way. And this is all by his grace. This is all according to His purpose. Even during this life, those in Christ have received an inheritance in heaven. If you're in Christ, if you're joined to Him, you right now have an inheritance in heaven. You've been sealed with the Spirit of God as a pledge of this inheritance. Now this is just the first ten verses of chapter 1. Paul then wrote that all those who had been the recipients of these gifts because of His great love and mercy, have been raised from a state of spiritual death to a state of spiritual life. And have been raised up with Christ and seated with Him in the heavenly realm. From chapter 2 then, verse 11, Paul has been focused on a mystery that God had now revealed to him. And what was being revealed was that there is no longer any division or distinction between the sons of Jacob and the Gentiles. That through Christ, that by His blood on the cross, He had broken down this wall that divided them. Jewish and Gentile believers are now one body, one people of God. And He reminds us all that the unity, this union of Jews and Gentiles in Christ was not made known in the previous generations. Here's Paul out here revealing this now. God had revealed this mystery to him. Had made him a steward of this mystery. To proclaim it in the world to both Jews and to Gentiles. To bring to light, Paul says, that God has brought all peoples together into one body in Christ. How does that accord with his eternal purpose? It's a perfect example of a perfect illustration of that which all things are pointed toward. The summing up of all things in Christ. As we've seen in these first two and a half chapters of this letter, all these blessings have been accomplished by whom and where? By Christ at the cross. He accomplished all of this. What did He do on the cross? He shed His human blood. and accomplish these things. And now, here we are in 60 A.D., God was making, bringing this mystery to light. Making His eternal plan of purpose known through the church, which is this body now of believing Jews and Gentiles. Not only to men, but to spiritual beings. It's amazing that God would reveal all this to us. Because the spiritual beings to that point did not know this mystery. It hadn't been revealed to them. God's eternal plan and purpose were unknown to them. But now, Paul says, it was being revealed to the angelic beings through the church so that the manifold wisdom of God would now be made known to them. This is the most amazing piece of literature, much less letter, that may exist in the world. So all that's happened, creation, creating man, the fall of man, which God knew would occur, the flood, His calling of Abraham, His making of the covenant promise to him, His sending the sons of Jacob into slavery in Egypt, His calling Moses, empowering him to lead them out of bondage into a land that He had promised to Abraham hundreds of years earlier. He was establishing the sons of Jacob as a nation. As His own peculiar people. Making of a covenant with them. And their breaking of the covenant. And His judgment on them. All according to His eternal plan and purpose. And then the repeated promise of a Messiah. Somebody who was going to come and restore all things. And then His sending His Son into the world to become a man. Fully God, fully man. To what God knew would be the Jews' rejection of Him. And their demand that the Romans crucify Him. And when He got to the cross, God's purpose was accomplished. Now at the cross, the old theocracy of Israel was now abolished. And the new community of the people of God, the church, was established. In chapter 2, verse 15, Paul wrote, He has made the two, Jew and Gentile, into one new man. So God's eternal plan, theretofore hidden, was now revealed. And in this, His wisdom, His glory, His power, all of these things shine forth. What we must understand, and what Paul's saying here, this has been God's plan from before the foundation of the world. And now, in Jesus Christ, it has been accomplished. And then Paul speaks of another of the great blessings all those who've been joined to Christ have received. He says, now you don't need a priesthood. You don't need a priest. You don't need an animal sacrifice. Now you can come to the Father through Him. Now we have boldness and confident access to God through faith in Him. By and because of our union with Christ, we've already received the right to come to the Father through Christ. So God had a plan for all eternity. Now His prayer is going to end up being, I want you to understand what God's done here. His purpose in election, creation, incarnation, in the death and resurrection of His Son was all according to His eternal purpose. This was His purpose in everything. So, in light of these eternal blessings, Paul, who's writing from prison, tells them, don't lose heart at my tribulations. No, this is all part of the plan. In light of all these glorious truths and the blessings we've received, the inheritance which is assured, don't lose heart. Don't worry about me being in jail in Rome. In fact, Paul writes, not only need you not worry about me, but in verse 14 he says, for this reason, I bow my knees before the Father. The word for Father in Greek is patera. From whom every family, patria, kind of a play on words there, in heaven and on earth derives its name. So in verse 14, Paul picks up with his prayer for his readers, which he left off back in verse 1. See that big dash you have there between verses 1 and 2. And as we've read earlier, this is Paul's second prayer in this letter. The first we can sum up this way. Back in Ephesians 1, verses 15 through 23. In that prayer, his prayer was this. That the Ephesian converts would come to know God intimately. and experience His power. His prayer here is like it but not identical. It's that they would know and experience the power of Christ's love. Christ's love. This prayer, verses 14 through 19, is the fifth now of eight very long sentences in this letter. Eighty-six words, one sentence. We saw a single sentence in chapter 1, verses 3 through 14. The prayer in chapter 1, verses 15 through 23, is a single sentence. The first seven verses of chapter 2 are a single sentence. Chapter 3, verses 2 through 13, are a single sentence. And so is this prayer here, verses 14 through 19. So he says here, for this reason, after all he said. And there's a reason I read back through all that he'd written to this point, or at least a lot of it. For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father. For what reason? What's he talking about when he says, for this reason? What do you think? Well, is he talking about that they now have access to God, which he talked about in verse 12? Or is he talking about the bringing of the Jews and Gentiles into one body? Is he talking about that you were spiritually dead and He's now made you alive in Him? Well, in light of all that God has done, this may refer here to what Paul had written just in verses 2 through 13 that we've spent the last few weeks in. regarding his having made his manifold wisdom known to the angels through the church. It may be referring back to chapter 2, verse 11, where he first began to write about Christ bringing Jews and Gentiles into one body in Him. It may go all the way back to chapter 2, verse 1, where Paul wrote of the former state of the Ephesians and the former state we were in. dead in our trespasses. And then God's gracious saving work in them. It may go all the way back to chapter 1, verse 3. In the very beginning of Paul's recounting of all these blessings they had received. I would lean toward the latter, but we can't really be certain. But Paul has said all these things in very few sentences, by the way. We have these chapters. We've had over six months in this passage. But he's had just a few sentences to say what he said. He saved individuals. He predestined them to be in Christ, to be adopted as his sons. He raised them from spiritual death to spiritual life. He brought believing Jews and believing Gentiles into one body in him. And he's bowing his knees before the Father for them. This prayer Regardless of how far back he's going by the words, for this reason, it's based on God's saving work in them, as Jim just said. And his working out of his eternal purpose to create, out of an old humanity that was lost in Adam, a new humanity chosen by him in Christ in eternity past of believers in Christ. And to ultimately do what? gather up all things in Him. That purpose never steps aside and God is always at work. Jesus said, My Father is working until now and I'm working. So now Paul prays for those in whom God is doing this wonderful work. He prays that they might be strengthened by God It's a pretty solemn introduction. For this reason I bow my knees before the Father. Now, should we kneel when we pray? That's an easy question. It's not commanded in Scripture. In fact, in the Old Testament and in the early Christian community, prayer was often by standing. Jesus said, when you stand and pray. But kneeling was not uncommon. Kneeling, what does it signify? What would you say kneeling in prayer signifies? Submission? What else? Humility? Reverence? You've got all three words that I have written down here. That's right. Isaiah 45, 23, I have sworn by myself, the word has gone forth from my mouth in righteousness, says the Lord, and will not turn back, that to me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance. So there's no specific command to pray standing, sitting, or whatever. However, many, and Richard Lenski among them, he puts it this way, the bodily attitude during prayer is important. Because, well, let me ask you folks, why is it important what our bodily posture is in prayer? What does it say? It tells you something about what's inside you as you're praying. About your soul's attitude toward God. Lenski says kneeling expresses humility and lowly supplication. And he goes so far as to say careless, thoughtless attitudes of body are not good. Hendrickson says this, posture in prayer is never a matter of indifference. The slouching position of the body while one is supposed to be praying is an abomination to the Lord. Well, I don't know that the Scripture says that. But this is a view that's held by many. Because Scripture doesn't prescribe a one and only one correct posture for prayer. But it's something to think about. And Paul, who's our example in so many things, knelt in prayer. In the Garden of Gethsemane, somebody else knelt in prayer. The Lord Jesus. So, certainly, you can't go wrong kneeling in prayer. Now, that says there's a posture of prayer. But now the prayer itself. You can divide this prayer in several different ways. You may be divided into six parts. You may divide it into three parts. Or we could look at it in two parts. Verses 16 and 17a as the petition that Paul makes to God. And verses 17b through 19 as the purpose, what he desires God to grant in response to his prayer. Now if you just have your Bible open as you're looking at these verses, the first part, verses 16 and 17a, the first half of 17, is a petition for inner strengthening through the power of God's Spirit. Now I won't ask for a show of hands, but how many have ever prayed for someone else that they would be strengthened through the power of God's Spirit in their inner self? This is a great model for prayer. He's praying that they would be strengthened in their spirit through the power of God's Spirit. And the purpose of this is what? What's the purpose of this prayer here? What's the objective? That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Now doesn't Christ already dwell in the heart of the believer? Yes. So His meaning must be something else. And we'll see what that is as we look through this. Now the second part, beginning in the second half of verse 17, and verse 18, and verse 19, builds upon and explains the purpose of the first part. It's a prayer that they would have genuine understanding of the height, breadth, depth, and width of Christ's love for them. One concept, not four different concepts. What he wants is that they would have a genuine understanding of Christ's love for them. A full understanding of Christ's love for them. And in verse 19b at the end, he brings this intercessory prayer for them to a climax. He prays that. And we came to this at the end of the prayer in chapter 1 as well. That they would be filled up to all the fullness of God. At the end of chapter 1. The fullness of Him who fills all in all. So when we look at this prayer, and then we look at the prayer in chapter 1, especially verses 18 and 19, we see many similarities to this prayer here in chapter 3. Turn back to chapter 1, and here's what Paul prayed in verses 18 and 19. And I think the similarities are going to be obvious. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. Here he says 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. Before the prayer of chapter 1 and between the prayers of chapter 1 and chapter 3, Paul wrote of the great, eternal, heavenly blessings they had received. I mean, this is what every preacher seeks to do is to bring to the fore the goodness and grace and mercy of God. How loving He must be to have done all these things for us. These are all things of heaven. These are divine gifts. They're very difficult for humans to fully grasp. And they're impossible for those who've not been made spiritually alive to grasp. The natural man cannot appraise the things of the Spirit of God, because they're spiritually discerned. So, He's given us His Spirit. He's made us spiritually alive. And now, Paul says, He's given you this gift now. I want you to understand what this all means. But even for those who've been made spiritually alive, a full comprehension of God's love and His power and His goodness and of the glory of His blessings on us is not yet possible. I wish I could stand here and just explain it, lay it flat out for us. Paul is praying in both prayers, chapter 1 and chapter 3, that God would grant to them a greater understanding and knowledge of Him. And this is what we are called to pursue. And that they would have a greater understanding of the love that He has shown them in Christ. There's a reason we preach the death and resurrection of Christ every week. It's because that's the demonstration of His love for us. He's already told us that through Christ We, both Jews and Gentiles, have our access in one Spirit to the Father. He's bowed His knees before the Father. And Jesus has taught His disciples to pray to the Father. What did He say when they asked Him, Lord, teach us to pray? What did He say to them? One of the first two words that He told them to pray. Our Father, who art where? Who art in heaven? And then the Lord's own prayer in John 17. Who did He pray to? His Father. This is where all prayer is directed. So He's speaking of the Father here. We look at the passage again. 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. He speaks of the Father here. as the one from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. If you're looking at a King James or an NIV, you see the words whole family. And some would translate that way, by the way. Very few. Most are in agreement that every family is the better translation. I agree with that. And the problem with the translation whole family is that those who have been now made alive with Christ, both Jew and Gentile, are now, and only now, of the household of God. They're no longer in Adam and are no longer of some family that consists of all created beings. They've been called out of the great mass of humanity. That's what Christians were. Called in the early days. The called out ones. And they are now adopted children of God. So there are multiple families. It's not just one family of all creation that he's talking about here. Paul had just written of the generations of men. And he's written of the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realm. And here he writes, every family in heaven and on earth. Which implies more than one family again. Genesis 11 speaks of 70 families from the earth alone descended from Noah. Genesis 12.3, God says, in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. The Father's family is who? Is what? Where do we see the Father's family? The church. The church is His family. Communion of saints is His family, both on earth and in heaven. And we may include all of the angels who serve Him and stand in worship before Him as part of that family. Maybe they're their own family. Chapter 1, verse 5. He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself. Romans 8, 15. His Spirit testifies with our spirit that we're children of God. Galatians 4 and 5. All of these speak of our adoption as sons through Christ. And then we read Hebrews 12, 22 last week. You've come to Mount Zion. These are people on the earth. And to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. We who are on earth have come to the heavenly Jerusalem. to myriads of angels, to the general assembly of the church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect. This family that is those adopted into the family of God. is the one family. But if he says every family on earth derives its name from the Father, what's he talking about? Well he's talking about there are other families. Both on the earth and in the spiritual realm. Who would be beings who would not be members of the family of God? The fallen angels. Who else would not be of the family of God? Unrepentant sinners. We remember any of those in John chapter 8? To whom Jesus said, scribes and Pharisees, you are of your father, the devil. Different father. But the point here, when he says he bows his knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, He's saying that we all derive our existence from God. He's brought all beings, all things into existence. And given them names, whether Himself or through someone like Adam, who named the animals. Everyone derives their existence from God. That's what he's talking about here. So he begins the substance of his prayer then in verse 16. We've kind of outlined it before. Now we're going to look at the prayer itself. And we're going to look at the prayer itself now in three steps. And it leads to this climax at the end, which is ever glorious, as it always is with Paul. That we may be filled up to all the fullness of God. The words are that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. That's as far as we're going to go tonight. In this prayer, as I said, we encounter phrase after phrase whose meaning is not entirely within our reach as finite humans. But Paul prays that God may grant them, and you can see the words here, strength, knowledge, and understanding. That's pretty similar to what we read back in the prayer in chapter 1. It's not exactly the same, but it's very similar. He wants them to understand and to take into their hearts and take hold of all of these blessings that have flowed to them. Out of what? Out of the riches of His glory. You know, Paul uses phrasing that we don't use that often. That God, of and from and out of His own glory, who had already bestowed these heavenly gifts on the readers. Remember all those gifts we read back in chapter 1, verses 3 through 14? Paul's praying that in addition to that, in addition to those gifts, that He would grant them inner strength. inner power, enabling them to have a greater comprehension of what God had done in them. And in his entire church, in and through his son. You see what he's saying here? He's saying, yeah, I know you understand Christ's dying for you. I want you to really take this into your hearts and grasp it. I'm praying that God will give you a real apprehension of the glory of all of this. The ultimate goal here that Paul desires for his readers, including us, is that they would gain the fullest possible comprehension and understanding of the love of Christ for us. Because we don't have it. We're busy with other things. that we may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Now the riches of God's glory. When he talks about God's glory, what's he talking about? Is he talking about the beautiful buildings and the clothing that he might be wearing in heaven? What's he talking about when he talks about God's glory? The riches of His glory. His love and His kindness. And we call those what? His attributes. The riches of His glory is the abundance of all His attributes. What do we know about God? What are the things we can say about God? The attributes we know of Him. He's holy. He's all-powerful. I mean, all we gotta do is look around. You see anything around here that God didn't make? What else is He? He's all-knowing. He's omniscient. That's why He could have this eternal plan of purpose, know what was going to happen, and have a plan to deal with those things. He's all-seeing. He's loving. He's kind. He's merciful. He's compassionate. All of this and more constitutes the riches of His glory. All of these blessings that you have flow from the riches of His glory. From this bank of this treasure that is the attributes of God. His majesty. His eternal nature. Who else is eternal besides God? Nobody. God always was, always will be. Him who is, and who was, and who is to come. So Paul prays that they would have this fullest possible comprehension and understanding of Christ's love for us. And he prays this knowing that the love of Christ is such that it, what's he say down here a verse or two later, it surpasses knowledge. I want you to understand this, that surpasses knowledge. At this time, In this age, we should be very cognizant of the fact that our capacity to truly appreciate the love of Christ and His glory is limited. So never feel like you've arrived. None of us has arrived. None of us will arrive until He returns. Our capacity to truly appreciate His love And His glory is limited. First of all, in our own strength, we don't possess the power to even begin to appreciate His love, to understand Him, His love. Even once we're born again, we're limited. So, that's why Paul's praying, God, I want you to, would you please grant that you would increase these people's grasp of your glory and your love. That's what this prayer is about. He prays that God would empower and enable His people to grow in Christ, in their understanding of Him, in their intimate relation to Him. He prays that all of God's glorious attributes may be richly applied to the spiritual progress of His people. We have a tendency to feel like, I'm saved, we've arrived. Paul's saying, yeah, you've been saved. Yes, you've been born again, but you haven't arrived. No, arrival is something we pursue day by day, minute by minute. And so in order to do this, he has a first petition that they would be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man. And the objective of this is, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Which seems like kind of an odd statement. Now, he's been talking about the power of God working in them throughout this epistle. Back in the prayer in chapter 1, verse 19. Just back here in chapter 3, verse 7. I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given to me according to the working of His power. God's equipping of Paul for His ministry was a work of His power. You know, we think, well, God can just do anything. Yes, those are exhibitions of His power. When He equipped Paul, He did it through His power. So our strength is Christ. He's our strength, indwelling us by His Spirit. Think about it. What do you actually have if you don't have Christ in you? You're an empty vessel. His indwelling of our inner man, our spirit, in contrast to our outer man, enables and equips and empowers a reborn sinner to know God better. to come into a closer relationship. And in this prayer, to understand and comprehend His love. Because we take it for granted. We all do. None of us gives due regard to the love God has shown us. This is his prayer. When you look at the words, it finally jumps off the page. There's so many divine words here that it can be hard to get a handle on it. But he prays that the indwelling presence of the Spirit of Christ will be effective not only in their spiritual growth, but in their comprehension of God's goodness to them and in their intimacy with Christ. It's clear that the Spirit of God was working through him as he's writing these things. And here's the thing, Paul goes to God with this request, knowing that God has all of the resources necessary to fulfill this request. He's got the riches of His glory. And so his prayer is that all of the attributes of the glory of God may be brought to bear in strengthening and empowering them to have a greater comprehension of Christ's love for them. Now Paul finishes this thought in the first part of verse 17. He's praying for all of this so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Doesn't Christ already dwell in your hearts through faith? What do you think? Head shaking up and down. That's correct. Yes. So what's he talking about? Well first of all, what's the heart here? What's the heart? Is he talking about the organ that pumps blood in and out? He's talking about the inner man. It's another word for the same truth. Heart, here as elsewhere in Ephesians and in the Old Testament, speaks of the center of one's being, his thoughts, his will, his spiritual self, his emotions. All those things that lay at the center of our being. The inner man, the spiritual self. And Paul's prayer, we may look at it this way now, is that they would receive a divine empowerment Let me ask it again. Do we pray that people will receive a divine empowerment? But this is a good thing to pray for. For those who are in the church, we pray for the unbeliever that God will give them spiritual life. But those who are now born again, we should pray that God would empower them, strengthen them in their spirits, in their inner thoughts and desires. That they would be governed not by the ways of the world, but by heavenly things. They would be ruled by God's purposes that Christ, rather than the wisdom of this world, would rule in their hearts. And the relation, by the way, wherever we see the Spirit of God in Scripture, we see the power of God. We see it in many, many New Testament passages. The one that probably leaps to mind the quickest is Acts 1.8. Jesus says to the disciples as He's about to return to His Father, You will receive power when? When the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. These two go together often. Now what about this? Does it not seem strange for Paul to pray that Christ may dwell in the hearts of believers? Doesn't He already live within them? So what's going on here? What's he saying? Well the focus of this request is not on the initial indwelling of Christ, but on His taking up permanent abode in the hearts of His people. His continual presence and rule You ever know of somebody who, it seemed clearly, was born again and may be born again, but now they're back out in the saloon? What's happening? Christ isn't ruling in their hearts. His prayer is on the continual rule in the hearts of these people to whom He's writing. There's different words for dwell. Christ may dwell. The word here, ketoi eko, It has the sense not of just coming and dwelling, but a fuller sense of settling down in a place, making a permanent residence there. Prayers that Christ may settle down in our hearts and rule in them. Continual indwelling. So the point here is that the more the Spirit empowers us, the greater will be Christ's influence on them, and the greater will be our conformity to Christ. Yes, He's in your heart. Now, let that indwelling be firm. Let it be made firm. And let the Spirit, by the power of His indwelling presence, that you become more like Christ. Now Paul's going to pick up this point in the second half of this letter. He starts chapter 4, verse 1. Chapter 4, verse 1. Therefore I, prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called. We're going to stop there tonight. I hope I've communicated Paul's meaning here rightly to you. But we'll conclude our study of this prayer for the Ephesian converts next week, Lord willing. So let's take a moment, reflect on the things the Word of God has spoken to our minds and hearts, and then we'll close in prayer. Lord, sometimes your Word just overwhelms us, not only with its truth, not only with its majesty, but with its divine character. Lord, I pray that by Your Spirit, You would impress this Word upon our hearts, that You would deliver this Word to us in a clarity that I couldn't possibly achieve, that You would give us understanding of Your meaning. In Christ's name,