WordTruth - Ephesians

Giving the Best Gift

What was the best gift someone ever gave to you – a family member or a friend? The best gift I ever received was a spoon (yes, a spoon). You have to understand the background of this special gift. I have a fondness (Mary would say a habit) of eating a bowl of ice cream at night. When on business trips, I go back to the motel room after dinner and long for a bowl of ice cream. I found that fondness (or habit) would drive me to the nearest Quik Trip to get a pint of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. Unfortunately, it is quite difficult to eat a pint of Ben and Jerry’s without a spoon. Those little plastic spoons you take with you in your lunch sack just won’t cut it. After mentioning this awful predicament to my wife and children, they decided to fix me up with my own personal spoon. On Father’s Day, I received a special ice cream bowl complete with all the fixings – including a spoon with my name carved in it: “Dad.” This was the best gift because it was a complete surprise, met a profound need in my life, and most of all because it was so personal.
The Apostle Paul writes in our Scripture passage today about the best gift you can give to your brothers and sisters in Christ. It does not matter if life is going well for them, or so-so, or if they are completely down in the dumps. It will surprise them. It will meet a profound need in their life. And it is the most personalized gift you can give. The gift Paul offered to the Ephesian believers was prayer.
Scripture: Ephesians 3:14-21
Main Point:
Prayer is the best gift you can and should give to your fellow believers – a gift that will transform them from the inside out into channels of Christ’s awesome love.
Outline:

Why should we pray for our fellow believers?

What should we pray for our fellow believers?

Strength on the Inside

Power on the Outside

What should we expect from these prayers?

1. Why should we pray for our fellow believers?

14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named… (Ephesians 3:14-15, NKJV)
It is a little silly to even ask why we should pray for our brothers and sisters. Don’t we hear prayer requests every week for people who are sick, out of a job, or dealing with all manner of difficult situations? Of course … and that is the focus of much praying.
But is that it? Are all prayers to be focused only on such “emergency requests”? No, and Paul makes it clear in chapter six of Ephesians that we are to be: “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints” (Eph. 6:18, NKJV). This kind of praying is hard work – it takes perseverance and sacrifice of your time & energy.
But when Paul says, “For this reason…,” what does he mean? Why did he bow down to pray for the Ephesians? The previous passages in chapters two and three focus on the mystery of the church: one body of believers, both Jew and Gentile, united in Christ.
This one body came into being by the grace of God – grace extended to the whole world. Grace that transforms our relationship with God from foreigner to family. Grace that enables us to call God our “Father.” As the Bible says:
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name. (John 1:12, NKJV)
Who can understand the love God has for us that He would adopt us as His children? Paul just made it clear in verse 8 that he was “less that the least of all God’s people” (Eph. 3:8, NKJV). Elsewhere, Paul called himself the chief of sinners (1 Tim. 1:15). Though Paul had been an extremely religious man, he understood the depth of his sin before a holy God. The grace that God extended to Paul through Jesus Christ allowed him to be included in the body of Christ.
None of us deserves to be in God’s kingdom. None of us are worthy of the church of Jesus Christ. If you have never seen yourself with the humility Paul exhibited, then perhaps you have not understood the utter holiness of God. But the wonder is not the depth of our depravity but the greatness of God’s love for us – that is what makes the grace of our LORD Jesus Christ so precious.
Jesus asked Peter a pointed question about the effect of grace:
41 “There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “You have rightly judged.” (Luke 7:41-43, NKJV)
One who is forgiven much, loves much. One who is forgiven little, loves little. The grace God extends to you, you wretched sinners, and makes you holy and blameless before God. That grace must compel you to extend this same kind of love to others. Love your brothers and sisters in Christ with the grace that God has extended to you – undeserved and utterly complete. Love them with the gift of prayer.

2. What should we pray for our fellow believers?

a. Strength on the Inside

16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith… (Ephesians 3:16-17a, NKJV)
Paul’s prayer here is from God’s glorious riches to your inner being. There are at least two parts to you as a human being – the inner being and the outer being. The inner being (mind, emotions, thoughts, memories, soul/spirit) is invisible and the outer being (physical body) is visible.
Paul is praying for something incredible to happen to you on the inside. Jesus Christ said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20-21, NKJV).
When you need electricity to light a lamp, you plug the cord into the wall. You can’t see the electricity but you know you need it and you hope it comes out when you plug in the cord. You know for certain the lamp will not light up unless you tap into that power source.
You need strength to live on this planet. It is a fallen world with fallen people. Bad things happen all the time. Even without bad things happening, you will get tired, weak, and confused. You need strength to keep going. You need power on the inside.
Paul prays that God would grant you “might” (NKJV) or “power” (NIV) – a word that means explosive, dynamite power. Powerful power! In fact, it is resurrection power – the power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead. How does this power get inside you? Through “His Spirit” – the Holy Spirit, also called the “Spirit of Christ” (Rom. 8:9; 1 Pet. 1:11) and the “Spirit of Jesus” (Acts 16:7).
So from God the Father’s glorious and infinite riches, His resurrection power is accessed by the Holy Spirit and deposited inside you – speaking of believers in Christ. To what end? What is the intended effect?
“That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith” (Eph. 3:17a, NKJV).
Real strength comes from experiencing the presence of the LORD Jesus Christ in your life – in the inner being. This can only happen through faith. Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father – to prepare a place called Heaven for you and me. We cannot see Jesus right now – we must live by faith.
Paul’s prayer – which should be your prayer for your brothers and sisters in Christ – is that you might be strengthened in faith – to know with certainty that you belong to Christ and that He is with you! The fact is that the Holy Spirit indwells you the moment you heard the gospel and trusted in the LORD Jesus Christ as your Savior (Eph. 1:13-14). More than the facts, Paul prays that you will experience the presence, the intimacy of Jesus Christ in your inner being. You cannot see Him but by faith you can know that He is there and experience His presence.
Jesus Christ is the Anchor you need in life to keep your feet level and your perspective straight. You know, on the ocean – away from the sight of land – you can float around without knowing which way your are going. With Christ inside, you know where you are going even when land is not in sight.
Your love gift to your brothers and sisters in Christ is to pray for their strength and vitality in experiencing the presence of Christ. Strength such that they can say with the Psalmist: “God is my refuge and my strength -- My ever-present help in times of trouble” (Psalm 46:1, paraphrased). And, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4, NIV).

2. What should we pray for our fellow believers?

b. Power on the Outside

…that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; (Ephesians 3:17b-19a, NKJV)
When you first trusted in the LORD Jesus Christ as Savior, you were “rooted and grounded in love” – that is, the love of Christ. In the Greek, this phrase is in the perfect tense. This means that it was accomplished once in the past with lasting results. Another way of saying it is this: you WERE rooted and grounded in the love of Christ, you ARE rooted and grounded in the love of Christ, and you EVER WILL BE rooted and grounded in the love of Christ. This is a fact. It is true of every believer in Christ.
However, our puny minds just cannot really comprehend this truth. It’s worse than calculus. You know it is a fact, you can believe that it is true but you just cannot totally understand it. Even so, Paul prays that you will!
He prays that you “may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height [of the love of Christ]” (Eph. 3:18, NKJV). The phrase “able to comprehend” translates another Greek word for power – this one means that you have full strength to possess something. You may remember the United States using its military force to enter and take over Grenada, a tiny little island country. The U.S. military had the “power” – full strength to possess the island.
Paul prays that you will have full strength to possess the fullness of the love of Christ:

How WIDE is the love of Christ? It spans “a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!'” (Rev. 7:9-10, NKJV).

How LONG is the love of Christ? The Bible says that “Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end” (John 13:1, NKJV).

How HIGH is the love of Christ? The love of Christ reaches from the Earth to the highest places of the heavens – “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:11-12, NKJV).

How DEEP is the love of Christ? The love of Christ is deep enough to reach all the way from Heaven right to you. You can’t dig a hole deep enough for yourself to escape from the awesome love of Christ.

Do you know this love of Christ? It is truly overwhelming to try and comprehend it. Paul prayed that you would “know the love of Christ which passes knowledge” (Eph. 3:19a, NKJV). The word he used for “know” is the experiential kind of knowing. I “know” the President but I do not “know” the President – if you “know” what I mean. But I do know software development because I have done it for over 25 years. And I do know my wife because our lives have been intertwined for over 22 years. Knowing from experience – that is what Paul is praying that you and I will know about the love of Christ.
You need from the LORD Himself the full strength to possess this knowledge -- by experiencing it day by day, week by week, year by year. As you go through life, Paul’s prayer is that you will experience the love of the LORD Jesus Christ. You will find Him faithful to His promises. When the car does not start – you will still find Jesus Christ loving you and present with you. When your relationships hit a few rough spots – you will still find Jesus Christ loving you and ever present with you. When you win a great victory – you will still find Jesus Christ loving you and ever present with you.
You will not be able to fully comprehend the love of Christ. But as you go through life – with that inner strength of His presence – you can begin to grasp and know from experience the reality of Christ in your life and His great, great love for you. Will that be enough to sustain you? Yes, and bring you victory!

3. What should we expect from these prayers?

…that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:19b-21, NKJV)
As you pray for your brothers and sisters, extend these love gifts to them: praying for their inner strength to experience the presence of Christ, praying for their outer power to experience the love of Christ in their life. What will be the result? What can you expect from these prayers?
Your brothers and sisters will be “filled with all the fullness of God” – meaning you will be filled up with the love of Christ, such that it will have to spill over to other people. You cannot contain all the love of Christ inside you – it is impossible. So your prayers in this regard will cause a vast increase in the love of Christ in your church – and to your community as well.
Not so sure your prayer can have this effect? Look again … in the doxology Paul acknowledges “Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Eph. 3:20, NKJV). You cannot even imagine what God can do – because of your prayers? No, but because of HIS power that works in us. God is able because God is able to do anything.
And so there is no limitation to what you can do in Christ for the kingdom of God – it is His power at work in you and through you. The only limit is the limit you place on God. As you begin to experience His presence and His great love, God will get bigger and your limits on Him will get smaller. What a grand experience we have living for Christ!
Your best gift for your brothers and sisters in Christ is this prayer that Paul offered to the Ephesians. So tap into the infinite resources of God the Father and start offering your love gifts.

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© Copyright 5/26/2002, Randy Lariscy.