Lessons from Paul's Prayer - A Call to Greater Usefulness in His Church

I'm thankful that I can say my life is hidden with Christ. If I wasn't hidden in Christ, I'd be in my sin. And I'm thankful that he found me. Didn't have to look very far. He just had to look pretty low. I'm thankful that he sought me and he found me and he bought me and he redeemed me. I'm very appreciative of the great gift of salvation. In all these years I've been able to say that my life is hidden with Christ. And it's all by his good grace and I'm thankful for that. I appreciate that worship as always. Well, let's take our Bible. Let's turn back to Ephesians chapter 3. That should be a familiar place for you.

We're going to be in verses 14 to 21. And sometimes I will mention other verses. Sometimes I will call you to turn to some other scripture, but we will not go anywhere else in the scripture. So you can just have your Bible turned there. You can just have your Bible laid open there. We'll get to those verses here in a minute. Now I think most of you know that we should be moving on into our next verses. We should be moving on into chapter 4 in our study of Ephesians. But just like I have done a couple of times throughout our series in Ephesians, I'm going to pause here and I'm going to do what I often call preaching back into the verses.

I'm going to preach back into the verses that we have already covered. Now, some of you know why I do this sometimes. I know that this is new to some of you, but basically I have two purposes in preaching over verses like this again. First of all, I really see the need to reiterate and to emphasize some of what we've studied in the verses. We need the teaching from these verses. Verses 14 all the way to verse 21 to be strongly impressed upon our minds and upon our hearts. And then second, we really need more application out of these verses. We need more application. There is a lot more here that we need to work out to apply in our lives.

In a very big way, these verses are super important and we need to treat them that way. For me, there are three things that make these verses very important and important enough for us to take some extra time here. First, these verses speak to a work that can't be attained overnight. They do. We can't get the work of God that God wants to do here with a casual reading or even just one message. We need to park the car right here in these verses. We need to camp out here in these verses.

We need to stay here in the verses and we need to stay here in the verses until God begins to do a work and he continues to do that work in our lives according to the verses. And then second, these verses are the keys to the entire book. Now that might surprise some of you. These verses took right here in the middle to me in many ways. They are the keys to the entire book. Remember where these verses are placed in the book and remember why. I shared this with you last time we were in the verses. From chapter one, the beginning of the book, all the way up to chapter three, verse 13, it's all about the theological.

Paul is describing to these Ephesians what the Christian is to believe. And then starting in chapter four, going all the way to the end of the book, chapter six, it's all about the practical. And Paul is unpacking how the Christian should live. Well, this prayer, verses 14 to 21, I said this before, it's sandwiched right here in the middle. And this prayer focuses on a work of God that will enable us, his people, to live out both the theological and the practical. And this prayer is all about strengthening from the power of God in our lives.

This prayer is all about Christ dwelling in the home of our hearts and the love of God and the fullness of God being made real in our lives. In this work, the work from these verses will enable us to possess this life and live this life in so much more. But then third, the work of God represented here in these verses will enable us to do true kingdom work. Now, I want you to think about that. As God's people, we are responsible for kingdom work. And listen, this isn't just average kingdom work we're talking about here. This is kingdom work at a level that we cannot imagine.

These verses speak of a work of God in us that can and will empower us to do things that we can't think about, that we can't dream about, that we can never even conceive of asking God to do. So we really need to take note of the reasons why these verses are important. Now, I think we all know that Paul was praying in these verses here. Verses 14 to 21, they're all about Paul's prayer for the Ephesians, and he was praying for God to do this work in them. So let's read the verses again, verses 14 to 21.

Paul says, "For this reason," in other words, because of all that he has unpacked in chapter 1 up to this point, "I bow down on my knees before the Father." He's humble. This is his position and his disposition in prayer, "from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named." And here comes the prayer, "that according to the riches of his glory, he may grant to you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love may have strength to comprehend with all of the saints what is the breadth and the length and the height and the depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled with all of the fullness of God, and not a hymn who is able to do far more abundantly," the New American says exceedingly, "then all we can ask or think according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever.

Amen." So here we have Paul's prayer for these Ephesians. And I titled the first message from these verses, "Paul's Prayer for the Fullness of God." Now this can be called a part two, but it's much more. And like I do sometimes, I will give you the title at the end of the message. Now I want to show you how we're going to approach the verses. First of all, I will not divide all of the verses. We did that in the first message. So if you didn't get that message, you might need to get my notes, and you might need to go back and listen to that message. But second, we will not cover these verses in order.

I'm going to start with verses 20 to 21, and then I'm going to work back to verses 16 to 19. Now primarily, we're going to look at two things. We're going to look at Paul's goals, two goals, out of verse 20 and 21. And then we're going to look at Paul's prayer, verses 16 to 19. And there are four specifics about this prayer. But we need to ask a question. What was Paul's goal here in the prayer? What was Paul's goal? We know this was a prayer, and we know that he was praying for God to do a work in them. But what was Paul's goal or goals here? So that's what we're going to look at. Number one, Paul's goals.

Actually, Paul had two goals, and we see the first goal in verse 20. This is what I call Paul's goal for greater usefulness. Paul's goal for greater usefulness in their lives. It's right there in verse 20. He says, "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." Paul had a goal. Paul had a desire that God would work in them for a greater kingdom usefulness. Actually, this entire prayer, starting in verse 16, was so that God would work in them towards greater and more abundant kingdom usefulness.

Now, notice this greater usefulness came not from their ability and not even from their own desires. This ability came from the power of God, verse 20 says. Here Paul spoke of the one who is able. This would be God. He, that is God, he had the power, and he was able to work in them for this greater usefulness. So Paul was saying that this greater usefulness came not from a man. It did not even come from themselves, but it only came from the one who is able, and that was God. And then notice this greater usefulness that came from God resulted in a limitless work of God in them. That might seem strange to you.

This greater usefulness that came from God, it resulted in a limitless work of God in them. The phrase "far more abundantly," that's from the English Standard Version, and then the phrase "exceedingly, abundantly," that's the same phrase in the New American. It's a very expressive phrase in the original language, and it definitely speaks to an unlimited abundance. So Paul was using some very purposeful and very unique language to say that God was able to do far more exceedingly, exceedingly, and more abundantly more than they could ever think, they could ever imagine, that they could ever even ask.

Remember that I said that this verse is commonly expressed as a pyramid of progression. It's common for Bible commentators to describe this verse, verse 20, as a pyramid of progression, this pyramid of progression of God's ability within the believer. Let me show you the pyramid. Start small at the top, and it just gets broader. He is able, he is able to do, he is able to do far more abundantly, he is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask, he is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or even think. I like to think of this work as a work of God spiraling down in and on the believer.

It's spiraling down from God and the power of God on and in the life of the believer. He is able, that's God, he is able to do, that's what God can do. He is able to do far more abundantly. He is able to do far more abundantly than we can ask. He is able to do far more abundantly than we can ask or even think or even imagine. Well, that brings us to the second goal, verse 21. This is what I call Paul's goal for God's glory. Paul's goal here for God's glory out of their lives. It's right there in verse 21. To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever, Amen.

And here in verse 21, Paul gives us his ultimate goal. He says to Him be glory. You see, Paul knew that God desired and God deserved glory from their lives and from this work out of their lives. Paul knew that God would and should get glory from this work, this work of greater kingdom usefulness. But the question, now think with me here. What does that look like? It's one thing to say it, but what does it look like? What does it look like for God to get glory out of the lives of His people in and from this work, this work of greater kingdom usefulness? What does that look like? If you're like me, like me, eventually you want to say show me.

Tell me yes, but show me. Paul gives us a very concrete picture of what this looks like. Paul does not put this work. He doesn't put all of this out in the abstract or out in the clouds and leave it there. Paul says to Him be glory in the church, meaning that all of these things are meant to take place in the church. Go back to the verse. "Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly exceedingly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church." Simply this is what Paul was doing here.

Starting in verse 16, Paul was praying that God would so work in the lives of these Ephesian believers that He would move them to greater kingdom usefulness and a greater kingdom usefulness that they could ever imagine and think and even comprehend. He was praying for an exceedingly abundant usefulness to come into their lives and the arena in which this work was to be displayed was the church, the playing field, in which all of these things were to take place. It would have been the church, that local church. That was where God would get glory in their lives and in this work.

If I could use an illustration that some of you know and understand, the church was the trophy case. Yeah, the trophy case where all of this would be displayed for the glory of God. Now a question, a question and application, is a matter of fact, quite a few questions. Which should we desire? It's God's people and it's God's church. Which should we desire? God's greater usefulness in our lives or God's greater glory out of our lives? Which should we desire? Well, the answer is yes. The answer is yes.

We should desire that God get greater and greater glory out of our lives and we should pray for and work for a greater and greater usefulness in our lives. If God and when God works in us towards a greater and a more abundant usefulness, well, God will get glory out of our lives, you see. And our hearts should hunger for this. Our hearts should hunger for this. Our hearts should hunger for a greater usefulness for God and ultimately for God to get glory out of that greater usefulness. But where does this take place? All of this is supposed to take place in the arena of the local church.

All of this is supposed to take place in the playing field called the local church, this church, your church, my church, our church, His church. Let me talk with you about this a little bit more in the form of a few questions. Who's going to serve in VBS? Who's going to teach little boys and girls the truth of God's Word? Who's going to love them while you give them cookies and Kool-Aid? Who's going to love them at recreation? Who's going to pray for them when they walk down the halls learning God's Word? Who's going to teach our children on a week-to-week basis? Wednesday night, Sunday night.

Who's going to love them and put the deposit of God's Word in their minds and their hearts? Teach we. Who's going to be patient with them and continue to teach them God's Word from Genesis all the way to Revelation each week, week in and week out, summer, fall, spring? Who's going to teach our teenagers? Who's going to invest into their lives and lead them and be examples of what godly men and godly women and what a godly marriage should be? Who's going to mentor younger believers in the life of the church? Titus 2 says that the older are supposed to pour into the younger.

Some of you need to look in the mirror and realize you're getting older. But who's going to pour into the younger? Who's going to invest into the younger? Who's going to lead up and head up ministry teams in the life of the church? Things that desperately need to be done week in and week out, week in and week out, not just for a month but six months or even six years from now. Who's going to evangelize the lost? Who are going to be the strong leaders of the church in the future? Who are the leaders for tomorrow? Who are the deacons? Who are the elders? The ones that will fill this pulpit and fill the pulpit on a Wednesday night?

Who's going to do all this? We have to ask a question of ourselves. Why is it god accomplishing in us, in us, far more abundantly than all that we can ask or even imagine or even think? Why is it god doing exceedingly, abundantly, beyond all that we ask, all that we imagine in our lives and in the life of this church, your church, our church? Why? Well, the problem isn't with god. It's not with god. What does the text say? Remember our spiraling down? Remember our pyramid? He is able. He's able. He's able to do. He is able to do far more abundantly. He is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask.

He is able to do far more abundantly than all that we can even think or even comprehend or imagine and ask. He is able. We must see that god isn't accomplishing far more abundantly than all that we can ask and all that we can think because the power that is at work within our lives is limited. We are limiting the limitless power of god to work in us and through us. The problem isn't with god. It isn't. It's with us. You know, occasionally I will make a quotation that might be rather theological or deep or just something that I can't quite phrase it that way and I don't want to borrow that. This is a very deep one.

The Bible commentator said that Paul was not satisfied with many-mouthed Christianity. Paul wasn't satisfied with many-mouthed Christianity. But I'm afraid we are. I'm afraid I can be. Why is that the case? It's because we have not had this work in us to produce a work in us to produce a greater usefulness, an unlimited, a super abundant usefulness in and through us. So we all need to see that we have a problem. I think Leon Morris is right. I think most of us have many-mouthed Christianity. At best we are accomplishing very little compared to the god-sized ability that we see in verse 20. Let me say that again. Think about verse 20.

At best we are accomplishing very little compared to the god-sized ability that we see in verse 20. Am I right? Am I being unfair? Well that leads us to a much-needed question. How can we attain and maintain a work in us so as to be able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or all that we think? How can we get that work? Well I'm glad you asked me that question. That way I can keep preaching. This leads us to Paul's prayer. Paul's prayer. Paul's prayer so as to accomplish this work in the Ephesian believers. And in us, verses 16 and 19, they're all about the work of God in the believer that would produce this work.

And until this work is accomplished, until these conditions are met, well, many mouse Christianity. So Paul's prayer in verses 16 and 19. But in Paul's prayer here, Paul makes four specific requests that represented four specific works that they needed. I said this before. Paul did not just pray these words. These weren't filler words. Everything had purpose. And if these conditions were met, and if this work was done in them, well, then and only then could they, this church, do exceedingly, abundantly beyond all that they could think, imagine, or even ask. So let's look at the four requests. One at a time.

First, Paul knew that they needed an inner spiritual strengthening. That's right out of verse 16. Paul knew that they needed an inner spiritual strengthening. Look at verse 16. That according to the riches of his glory, he, thus God, may grant to you, that's the Ephesians, to be strengthened with power, that's the spirit of God, the power of God, through his spirit in your spiritual being. Now we must know and understand all that this spiritual strengthening is. This speaks to an inner strengthening of the believer's heart and the mind. This speaks to an inner strengthening of the inner man, the inner woman, the inner person.

This is a strengthening of the inner self so that their inner self would be strong and continue to grow strong and even stronger. And this is not a spontaneous one-time zap or event. This is an ongoing, progressive, even difficult work. And look at the possibilities here. This is possible according to the riches of God's glory. Simply, there is a glorious abundance of strength and power that is available from the Holy Spirit of God for the believer. So the possibilities of strengthening are not limited. And then look at the power here.

This strengthening in the inner self is possible, not because of what a man can do, but because of what God can do. Simply, this work takes place by the power and the work of God in the believer. So the power for strengthening is not limited. Simply, this means that the potential for inner strength and strengthening in the inner man of the believer is unlimited and it is unhindered. Unless the limiting and the hindering is from the one who needs the inner strength and the inner strengthening. Unless the hindering comes from us, you, me. And this brings me to another set of questions.

We must ask why so many are not rising above the low, low standards of Christian living that are the norm today. Why? Why are so many not rising above the low, low standards of Christian living that are just the norm today? It's because some of you are holding on to sin. Some of you are holding on to sin. Some of you are holding on to secret sin. You know, there are people who are believers that will hold on to sin and they'll hold on to secret sin and they'll hide that sin. And, oh, they don't want people in the life of the church to know. They know that it's sin. They hold on to sin. Believers can hold on to sin, folks.

Now, I'm not talking about cheap grace. There are people that are lost and need Christ and they can use that as an excuse. But there are believers that hold on to sin and they hold on to secret sin and it can become what's called a besetting sin. What that does is that cause you to live the low, low standard of Christian living. This is the norm today. Some of you are holding on to disobedience. Christians can hold on to disobedience. There are areas of your life where you're disobedient and you know it. Some of you are holding on to spiritual apathy and weakness. You pour all of your energy and all of your time into worthless things.

Social media sucks up all of your time instead of prayer and Bible study. Friends, busyness, hobbies, all these things, many of these things are good things. But they can suck up your time instead of prayer and Bible study. And listen, that produces spiritual weakness and apathy. Some of you live in great weakness in areas of your life where you know you should be spiritually strong. Now I'm going to compartmentalize here. Some of you your family life isn't what it should be. Your marriage isn't what it should be. Yes. Some of you the way you manage your home isn't what it should be.

Some of you the way you deal with your children isn't what it should be. Some of you just the order of your home and your finances and things like that. You're just your home life isn't what it should be. And you accept that and you live with that. And all that does is create a low standard, a low standard of Christian living there in your home. And you walk out the door, close the door and act like it's all okay. Some of you aren't what you should be at work. Listen, I'm talking to Christians here. You don't relate to your boss like you should. You don't relate to your employees like you should.

You are not the Christian employee like you should be. Years ago when I first went into bivocational ministry, I went to work for the building contractor. And I'll never forget on the job site, one of the first days on the job site, the foreman of the crew looked at me. He said, "I expect you to work harder than anybody. I expect you to be here sooner than anybody. I expect you to put out more than anybody because you're a Christian and a pastor." See, if you're not what you should be at your work, that creates these low standards of Christian living. Some of you don't give financially to the church like you should.

Some of you don't give like you know you should. Some of you aren't committed to the life of the church like you should. Some of you aren't committed to service like you should. What am I trying to show you? There are compartments in your life where you're not living in obedience. There's defeat and not victory. And what I'm trying to show you is this. There are many ways where we have low standards of Christian living and we accept that as the norm. Now I'm going to be really honest with you here. Some of you need a great work of spiritual strengthening in your inner self just so you can rise above the low standard.

You need a great work of God in you here just to get out of the low up to par. And not only do you need a spiritual strengthening for your weakness, next you need a spiritual strengthening and more and more inner spiritual strengthening to become strong and to become victorious and become the model. Listen, Christ wants to do what? A super abundant work in you. And second prayer. Second, Paul knew that they needed Christ dwelling in the home of their heart. That's at the beginning of verse 17. Paul knew that they needed Christ dwelling in the home of their heart. Look at the verse.

"So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith." Now just like with the inner strengthening, we must no one understand what it means for Christ to dwell in the home of our hearts. And what Paul is saying here is not hard to grasp. Oh, but it's very profound. Simply Paul is saying that these believers needed this inner strengthening so that Christ could live not just in their hearts, but down deep in the home of their hearts. That's what the language says here. And we must see how this builds. This inner strengthening must take place before the dwelling can take place. John MacArthur helps us here.

I used this quote a couple of weeks ago. It needs to be repeated. And I'm quoting, "Christ cannot be at home in our hearts until our inner person submits to the strengthening of his spirit." Until the spirit controls our lives, Christ Jesus cannot be comfortable there. But he only stays like a tolerated visitor. Paul's teaching here does not relate to the fact of Jesus' presence in the hearts of believers, but to the quality of his presence. And he's right. And here, another series of questions. Is Jesus uncomfortable in your heart? Is Jesus like a tolerated visitor? I'm borrowing John MacArthur's language there.

Is the quality of his presence in your heart poor? Because you are a weak spiritual Christian. That inner self is weak, and it is not what it should be. Some of you really need to see that Christ does not dwell down deep, down deep in the home of your heart as he should. And it's all because of spiritual weakness. Is the quality of his presence poor? The spirit of God is uncomfortable because you're satisfied with spiritual weakness, laziness, even sin. And then third, Paul knew that they needed to comprehend the love of Christ. This is a greater portion of Scripture.

The end of verse 17 into verse 19, Paul knew that they needed to comprehend the love of Christ. Verse 17, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all of the saints what is the breadth and the length and the height and the depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. Now, just like with the inner strengthening, in Christ dwelling in the home of our hearts, we must understand what this means to comprehend the love of Christ.

Simply when the inner strengthening takes place and Christ is dwelling down deep in the home of the heart, the believer is being rooted and grounded in the love of Christ. This work causes the believer to be rooted and grounded in Christ and in the love of Christ, much like the roots of a strong and healthy tree. And as a result, as a result of this, notice what takes place. The believer has the ability to grasp the breadth and the length and the height and the depth of this love. This breadth here speaks of God's love for all people, both Jew and Gentile.

This length here speaks of Christ's love that reaches before the beginning of time all the way throughout the ages. This height here, it speaks to Christ's love that stretches even into the heavenlies. And this depth here, it speaks of Christ's love which can reach down to save the lowest of low, even those who are dead, dead, dead in their trespasses and sins. Again, another series of questions. Do we comprehend this great, great unfathomable love? This word comprehension, it means more than just an intellectual knowledge here. It means to lay hold of something. It means to make it one's own.

It means to seize and to possess something and to be seized and to be possessed. And I'll be honest with you, I don't think we comprehend the love of Christ like we see in this verse. If we were truly seized, seized by the breadth of Christ's love, how would we relate to the lost? Think about it. If we truly were seized and apprehended by the love of Christ, the breadth of Christ's love, how would we relate to the lost in our family? If we were truly owned and possessed by the depth of Christ's love, how would we relate to the worst of worst sinners?

If we really made it our own, if we really owned it the length and the height of Christ's love, how would that affect our worship? And how would that affect our apathy and our spiritual weakness? It would move it. I don't think we are truly seized by Christ's love. I don't think His love has laid a hold of us and laid a hold of our lives like we see in the verse. And the result is spiritual weakness. It's a sign of spiritual weakness. And then fourth, Paul knew that they needed to be filled with the fullness of God. That's at the end of verse 19. Paul knew that they needed to be filled with the fullness of God.

That you may be filled with all the fullness of God. It's rather simple. Now, just like with these previous three requests, we must know and understand what it means to be filled with the fullness of God. And we must see that these are all linked together. They're all tied together with this spiritual strengthening being first. But here Paul is saying that believers should be and need to be filled up with the fullness of God. It almost seems redundant. Simply this speaks of a complete feeling, a complete control.

When someone is filled with great grief, when someone is filled with great anger, well, we can see that they are controlled by their emotions and they act out accordingly. Well, it's the same with the fullness of God. When the believer is filled up, filled up with the fullness of God, well, they are controlled by God. Again, a few questions. We have to ask ourselves, what are we controlled by? If we are not filled up with the fullness of God, well, we are filled up with many different things at many different times. Sinful things, maybe not sinful things.

There's a whole host of things that we can be filled up with if we are not filled up and controlled by what? The fullness of God. Now, at this time I want to take a step back here. I want to look at this powerful, much needed prayer. I'm stepping back from the verses. Paul is praying for these believers that he knew well. He knew what they needed. And he prays for an inner spiritual strengthening which would lead to Christ's dwelling down deep into the home of their heart. And this would lead to a comprehension, an apprehension of Christ's love and then being filled up with the fullness of God. And for what purpose? Why? Verse 20.

So that God would bring them all to a greater, more abundant usefulness, where? In the church. And that was for his glory. You see how it all fits together? And we've got to ask ourselves, how are we doing this work? This greater kingdom work. Look at what's at stake here. God's greater usefulness in his church and ultimately God's greater glory through it all. And this involves you, this involves me, this involves us. Who else? And if you're a member of Grace Life Church, it definitely involves you. Now I know many of you are praying about where God would call you to put your life and we're patient there.

We want you to be where God would want you to be. But if you're a Grace Life Church, I'm speaking to you. Who does this entail? It's us starting with me. Now I want to conclude with the title and the purpose of the message. This is more than a part two to Paul's prayer for the fullness of God. This is so much more than a part two. What we have here is a call. It is a call. A call from God to work. This is a call to prayer and a work of prayer. One verse at a time. One phrase at a time. One word at a time. A call to our knees. A call to work. A call to pray over these verses. To pray over the meaning of these phrases.

And to keep praying until God begins to do this work. And it's all tied together. And what we have here in these goals are God's standards. His call to greater and more abundant usefulness. And ultimately God getting glory out of his local church in you. That's God's standard. Well I'll finally get to the title of the message. I call this lessons from Paul's prayer. I've used that before. Lessons. But it's more. It is a call to greater usefulness in his church. And wherever you are you are responsible to receive what the Lord would say and do. So it's up to you. And I'll say this in closing. If we will submit ourselves to this work.

God can and will do things through us and in us. That would exceed. That would be beyond anything that any man could imagine. You might say us. Yeah us. You. Me. So it's up to us. A call to greater usefulness in his church. Let's pray. And we'll sing a hymn of closing. Not closing out the work. work. We're continuing the work. Let's pray.