00:00:00:19 – 00:00:38:09
Clint Loveall
Hey, everybody, thanks for joining us on a Tuesday. But our first day of the week together, and we’re grateful to have you with us as we continue through Ephesians. We’re in the third chapter, moving toward the end of the chapter and we had said in a couple of different instances that one of the one of the, factors of this book, one of the things that Paul, the author, who or the author does in this book is kind of move toward sections of praise or almost worship, kind of you can feel it build.

00:00:38:09 – 00:01:04:21
Clint Loveall
And today I think we get to look at one of those sections, and this one is specifically pointed at the people in Ephesus, there in the church. So I’m start reading verse 14. Probably goes to the end of the chapter, and then we’ll come back and and talk it through. For this reason, I bow my knees before the father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name.

00:01:04:26 – 00:01:33:24
Clint Loveall
I pray that according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

00:01:33:28 – 00:01:59:24
Clint Loveall
Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly more than all we can ask or imagine. To him be glory in the church and in Jesus Christ to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Before we start here, just want to admit a bias. I love this passage. I have used the latter part of this passage as a benediction many times.

00:01:59:24 – 00:02:36:43
Clint Loveall
I think this is a wonderful section of praise. As Paul says, I fall to my knees on your behalf in front of the God of all the world. And as we walk through what it is that Paul asks God on behalf of the Christians there in Ephesus, and by extension, all of the family of faith, it just a it’s an amazing, wonderful list that the riches of his glory may grant, that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through His Spirit.

00:02:36:48 – 00:02:39:22
Clint Loveall

00:02:39:27 – 00:03:04:49
Clint Loveall
We’ve talked about this before, Michael. It’s, interesting contrast that sometimes in the modern world, we like the idea that faith makes life easier. I think that Paul is always quick to remind us that faith invites some difficulty and that faith is hard, and that as we try to be Christian in a world that isn’t, there’s going to be challenges.

00:03:04:49 – 00:03:31:26
Clint Loveall
And so it is interesting, I think, that the first thing he asks on behalf of Christians, those he loves and prays for, is strength, that they be strengthened, that they stand strong, that they’ll be up to the task of being Christian in the world, of being the body of Christ in the world. That I think that’s I, I we often don’t we live in a pretty we have it pretty easy when it comes to the faith.

00:03:31:26 – 00:03:47:53
Clint Loveall
And we live in a place with a lot of blessings and a lot of freedom and a lot of resources. And sometimes it doesn’t feel maybe like we need just sheer strength to be people of faith. But I, Paul sees it differently, and I think it’s an interesting place for him to start.

00:03:47:58 – 00:04:13:31
Michael Gewecke
Let’s we begin in this section when you just start at the beginning of this section. And I do think it’s worth noting that this prayer is, of course, breaking in to the text in a way that may seem spontaneous, but really, if you look closely at it, it is really perfectly containing many of the themes that we’ve already seen worked out in the study that we’ve had together.

00:04:13:31 – 00:04:38:45
Michael Gewecke
And then having gone slowly, you can now catch some of those threads right within it. And notice right here, verse 14, from whom every family on heaven and earth takes its name. Notice the universality of that. Notice the the unity theme that’s teased out right at the beginning of the prayer. Once again, it’s a prayer addressed to God the Father.

00:04:38:56 – 00:05:02:36
Michael Gewecke
And so therefore it has in mind a familial connection. It starts right from the beginning with this idea that God is the one who claims, and God is the one who unifies. And if the walls of hostility are going to come down, God is the one who’s going to create the home, the boundaries, the place for the gathering of the body.

00:05:02:36 – 00:05:28:31
Michael Gewecke
And I think that that is a gorgeous and beautiful way to start, because it does invite everyone at the reading of this into the prayer. In other words, it doesn’t matter if you would have, grown up reading the ancient, Hebrew text or the Aramaic translations of the old. If, however, you may have done that as a Jew, or now you’re coming in as a Gentile, it doesn’t really matter.

00:05:28:31 – 00:05:51:52
Michael Gewecke
Whatever your language, whatever your history, when you come to this, you come as a person who’s been brought in by God the Father and ultimately that’s the gift of unity. But then the text goes on not to linger there too long. We have this phrase that we might get stuck on the riches of his glory. And Clint, wouldn’t we all love riches, right?

00:05:51:52 – 00:06:18:47
Michael Gewecke
I mean, that phrase right there. I would love the riches of God’s glory and whatever that means to you, whether that that has with it the idea of power or prestige or esteem or being lifted up. I think if we could all give some answer to what we think of when we think of glory. But I think it’s striking that ultimately is God’s riches and glory, that we would be strengthened in our inner being by the power of the spirit, and ultimately strengthened for what?

00:06:18:52 – 00:06:39:44
Michael Gewecke
And I think this is where it starts to turn that Christ is going to dwell such that it it roots us and grounds us in what? In love. So what are the riches and the glory? Well, it it’s being strengthened in Christ for the specific reason of being in love, which once again connects back to that original theme that we had just at the beginning.

00:06:39:45 – 00:06:52:46
Michael Gewecke
The prayer, the idea that all of this is about the God from whom everyone on heaven and earth takes his name. It’s a familial, relational, powerful force that binds us all together. We have it in just a couple verses here.

00:06:52:55 – 00:07:18:39
Clint Loveall
I was just having a conversation with another Bible study group about Paul and the fact that Paul is somewhat universal. What I mean by that is missionaries see, Paul first and foremost as a missionary, and theologians see Paul first and foremost as a theologian. And those of us who live on the pastor side of the equation. We tend to read Paul as a pastor.

00:07:18:39 – 00:07:51:30
Clint Loveall
And through that lens, I’m moved by these words that his prayer for his people is that Christ may dwell in their hearts, that what he hopes for those in Ephesus, and as he knows that this letter would be read out loud to them, what what he wants for them is that Christ will be in them, that that they will have faith, that they will be here to use that language rooted and grounded in love.

00:07:51:30 – 00:08:29:31
Clint Loveall
And if you just take a quick survey of the words here, spirit, Christ, dwell hearts, faith rooted, grounded love. I mean, there’s this is a lot and I here in that the sort of the plea to God of a pastor’s heart for these people in this church that they could be strengthened and that more than strengthened, they could be faithful, that they could be rooted and unmoving, and that they could be grounded in love, that what they do would reflect, that who they are would reflect the glory and the love of Christ.

00:08:29:31 – 00:08:46:12
Clint Loveall
I think that, again, I don’t want to take anything away from those other groups who see other things in Paul. But as I read those words, I, I just see the entreaty of a pastor on behalf of his people.

00:08:46:17 – 00:09:13:53
Michael Gewecke
And when you’re making a prayer that includes the prayer for love, I think that this fits easily under that rubric of be careful what you pray for type thing, because ultimately we’re always opening a thing that we can’t see the bottom of. There’s a kind of depth here that we’re going to, by definition, miss, no matter what stage of faith we’re in, just want to point out, when we have this idea in verse 17 of being rooted and grounded in love.

00:09:13:53 – 00:09:49:06
Michael Gewecke
It’s followed up in verse 19 as the description of what kind of love that is, to know the love of Christ. And what is the love of Christ? It is surpassing of knowledge that we might be filled, that that the, the, the knowledge of Christ’s love is such that it would fill us with the fullness of God. Clint, this is to your point from the perspective of a pastor, the fundamental kind of stuff that this is not the tangential stuff that churches like to argue about.

00:09:49:10 – 00:10:13:06
Michael Gewecke
It’s not the kind of first order things that people like to bring as complaints about why I don’t like how this thing went, or I think we should do this better, or ultimately, this is the part of the human soul that is the most tender, difficult, vulnerable, to, to go. And ultimately, I think all of us find ourselves wanting when we go here.

00:10:13:06 – 00:10:49:16
Michael Gewecke
But ultimately, the invitation is to recognize that in Jesus Christ we receive, we see, we gain knowledge of what we are for a moment, able to to capture in our own smaller souls the immeasurable greatness of God’s love for the world. It extends far beyond what we can even attempt to get our minds around. And that’s the great gift of a prayer like this, is to pray that the church and the those in it will live into that kind of beautiful, dangerous, mind bending task.

00:10:49:21 – 00:11:12:33
Clint Loveall
I think there’s almost a sense in which this rings parental. You know, I, I call to mind when we have the occasion to do a baptism here at the church, and and we are, of course, wishing for good things for that child. We hope they have a long, full life. We hope that they’re healthy. We hope that they’re happy.

00:11:12:37 – 00:11:41:25
Clint Loveall
But underneath that, what the church is hoping, what the church is trusting, what the church envisions is that they’ll come to know Christ, that child will somehow come to learn, maybe even partly through our own efforts, the the greatness of Christ and the promise of the gospel. And I think that’s what I hear here. It’s it it has a ring of a parent praying over their, their child or their children.

00:11:41:25 – 00:12:06:56
Clint Loveall
And I think that, you know, Paul brings that kind of heart to the task. And then there are these wonderful words, I pray that you would somehow know, comprehend the height and breadth and length and depth that just means in every direction. And to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, which is an interesting phrase. I hope you know something that is beyond your knowledge.

00:12:07:01 – 00:12:40:32
Clint Loveall
I hope you know something that is beyond knowing itself, that you might be filled with the fullness of God. Another unimaginable kind of phrase. And, this is beautiful stuff. I just think that, you know, in these moments when you turn Paul loose and he doesn’t have to fuss about some problem in the church, and he’s feeling this relational connection, and he’s celebrating these people, and he’s moved in love for them, that this is what he voices over them, I think is is really spectacular.

00:12:40:37 – 00:13:07:55
Michael Gewecke
Well, and I think that there’s an open eyed ness to what Paul has to say here. He’s not naive and he doesn’t write this as a child. He writes it as a person who’s fully aware of what this means of the implications of it, because he ends the prayer well to the one who, by the power work within us, is able to accomplish abundantly far more than what we can ask or imagine.

00:13:08:00 – 00:13:36:45
Michael Gewecke
Ultimately, this is God’s work, right? When Paul thinks about glory in the church and in Christ Jesus for all generations, forever and ever, that’s because of Christ. That’s because of his faithfulness, is because of his power. It’s because of his love. Ultimately, it is all of these things. But ultimately we are given the gift of being invited to be participants in what God is doing in the world.

00:13:36:50 – 00:13:57:52
Michael Gewecke
But make no mistake about it, Jesus Christ is the one who receives the glory. Not because it’s an attribution situation. It’s not because we’re just trying to be humble and point that to someone else is because fundamentally, the good is growing because of who Jesus Christ is, because it is Jesus Christ’s love that is the center of teaching us what love is.

00:13:57:57 – 00:14:30:28
Michael Gewecke
Everything that follows that is ultimately us coming to be aware of how God intends it. And how do we know that that’s how God intended it? Because that’s what Jesus Christ reveals in his life and his actions. So ultimately, a prayer that is for the people, a beautiful hope and parental yearning for what the people might have and know in their life is ultimately going to end with a word of gratitude to to Jesus Christ, who is the center and foundational block of all of that.

00:14:30:28 – 00:14:39:12
Michael Gewecke
Because Paul knows if any of this comes to be true in the lives of the people, the one person who gets credit for all of it is Jesus Christ who’s at the center of it.

00:14:39:25 – 00:15:15:18
Clint Loveall
Yeah. And maybe moving from a strict interpretation of the text to the idea of what the text might say to us, even through a, say, a devotional or preaching lens, or what a beautiful thing for Paul to wish upon the church that God could accomplish abundantly far more than we can ask or imagine. What a beautiful thing to wish for a church that God would do something that you haven’t yet dreamt of, that God in in each of our lives can do more than we can imagine, can do more than we can ask.

00:15:15:23 – 00:15:43:31
Clint Loveall
We often have, you know, we’re people and we struggle with real stuff in life. And so we have a tendency to be short sighted about if I could just get up through this thing, or if I could just handle or if that thing just got better, or if that would resolve itself. And here Paul says, not only do I want God to do those things for you, I want God to do for you things that you can envision that you literally can’t imagine.

00:15:43:31 – 00:16:06:38
Clint Loveall
And I what a, that would be. That would be a kind of dedicatory verse for a church maybe to put over the door or something. I just, I think there’s something really special about that, that Paul is saying, I just want God to bless you and use you in ways that you haven’t even thought of yet. I think that’s really good.

00:16:06:43 – 00:16:30:43
Michael Gewecke
I think it’s a beautiful prayer because ultimately it teaches us something about when we come to pray for one another, what the subject of that can be. I think, Clint, for a lot of us, our prayers look a lot like a to do list. And that’s okay. God cares about the things that are happening in our lives, and certainly it occupies our care and our mind space.

00:16:30:43 – 00:17:13:28
Michael Gewecke
Then God wants in relationship to be with us to to hear and know those things. But I think, what’s this prayer stands to show us? If you were to look at it from a higher view, is it shows us that we should be praying for one another, that we might have the best of the faith and the best of the faith is ultimately this amazing gift of knowing something, of the love of Christ, of that having a way of changing within us the capacity that we have to bring honor and glory to Christ in what we do and say to to remember that our lives have been blessed beyond measure with these great, all surpassing

00:17:13:28 – 00:17:35:45
Michael Gewecke
gifts. And so therefore we should pray for others that they not only know and see these gifts in their life, but that they would benefit from them, that that it would grow in them. And sometimes those are challenging prayers, sometimes they push back on the choices that other people are making because they’re self-destructive or because they’re shallower, because they’re divided or their attention is somewhere else.

00:17:35:45 – 00:17:57:41
Michael Gewecke
You know, life has a way of grabbing all of us and telling us that things are important, that do not even get close to the center of Christ importance, and the prayer that we should have for one another, as we should have for ourselves, is that Jesus Christ continues to live at the center, and that that expands our world beyond what we could possibly see for ourselves.

00:17:57:41 – 00:18:21:54
Clint Loveall
It’s it’s a good and I think, necessary moment any time Scripture, faith, preaching, church friends, any time we are reminded that God is bigger than we ordinarily conceive of and that whatever our concept of God, God is more than that. And as such, so is our calling that those are good moments. Those are helpful moments along the way.

00:18:21:59 – 00:18:37:48
Michael Gewecke
Beautiful prayer. Good time to be together. I hope that has been something that has been encouraging or insightful for you. If so, give this video a like. It helps others find it in the midst of their study of books like Ephesians. And if you want to stick with us on this study or studies like it, subscribe. We look forward to seeing you all tomorrow.