Message of the Week

The Little White Community Church

Scripture:  Ephesians 3:14-21

Jan. 28, 2024

Message: “Beyond Our Imagination!”    By Pastor George Gnade

Intro: 1. Our Scripture for today is one of the most beautiful passages in the Bible, including some wonderful promises. I pray it will be a blessing to everyone.

2. In Eph. 2:1 -3:13, Paul has explained the gospel and the unexpected inclusion of the Gentiles who come to believe in Jesus right alongside of the Jews who come to believe in Jesus. The good news is that we are now considered to be one body in Christ.

a. This good news drives Paul to his knees in prayer. He writes in vs. 14, : “For this reason, I kneel before the Father, from whom His whole family in heaven and earth derives its name.”

b. “His whole family” refers to all Christians, both Jew and Gentile, who love the Lord.  “In heaven and on earth” includes all the believers who are already in heaven as well as all the believers who are still on this earth. 

c. Just as an earthly father normally chooses the name of his children, so our heavenly Father has given us the name of His Son. In Acts 11:26, the Bible says: “The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.” 

3.  We have all been named after God’s Son and called Christians ever since.  Our heavenly Father is the father of us all. Even as Jesus taught us to pray: “Our Father who art in heaven…”, so all Christians are to pray to their loving heavenly Father and to give thanks to Him for all our blessings. 

a. As Paul kneels before His loving heavenly Father, he has some very important requests to make to Him in our behalf.

b. Let us consider them for a few minutes to day.

A. The first request is found in vs. 16. Paul prays “that out of (God’s) glorious riches, He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being.”

1. None of us can live the Christian life in our own strength.  In fact, when we fail to depend on the Lord, we often fail miserably.

a. Over and over again, the N.T calls us to die to our old way of life, including the sins of our past, and to begin to live a new life through the power of the Holy Spirit.

b. In Eph. 3:16, he explains this to us even more clearly by adding: “so that Christ may live in your heart by faith.” Christ dwells in us through the Holy Spirit and He dwells in us “by faith.”

2. Even in the O.T., the Bible tells us “that the just shall live by faith.”  Abraham was saved because in faith He believed what God told Him and, therefore, did what God told Him to do. All Christians must learn to live by faith in God’s Word and with Jesus help, do what Jesus has taught us to do.

a. In John 6:28, the crowds asked Jesus: “What must we do to do the work that God requires?” Jesus answered: “The work of God is this: to believe in the one He has sent.” 

b. The whole Christian life comes down to believing in what Jesus teaches us and, in His strength, asking for grace to do what He teaches us. In the end, it all comes down to faith. First we are saved by faith in what Jesus did for us on the cross and then secondly in faith allowing Jesus to teach us to live the life He wants us to live.

B. The second request is found in 17. He writes: “And I pray that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have power together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ – that you may know it surpasses knowledge…”

1. So first Jesus gives us His Holy Spirit to strengthen us and the faith to trust Him as He strengthens us, but the real secret is “to be rooted and grounded in love.”

a. Flowers and trees are rooted and grounded in the soil. The better the soil, the better the plant or tree etc. will grow and produce in keeping with how God made it.

b. God tells us the soil the Christian is to grow in is the soil of God’s love. We need to ask God for grace and wisdom to always act in love. That is how our roots grow, and as we grow in the love of Jesus we begin to produce that kind of love in others.

2. Jesus said: “A new commandment I give unto you that you should love others the way that I have loved you.”

a. Obviously, this is not the sexual love of passion. It is not the selfish love of the world. It is the agape kind of love found in Jesus. As we read what He did and how He did it and learn from Him, the Holy Spirit will hear our prayers and help us show that love to others.

b. Because it is a selfless love, it is often a sacrificial love.  As Jesus put it: “He who seeks to save his life will lose it, but he who loses his life for my sake will find it.”

3. That is why Jesus came and why He died on the cross. He literally gave His life. As we learn to “take up our cross and follow Him,” we will be surprised how God’s kind of love will shine through us.

a. How do you measure that kind of love? In Eph. 3:19, Paul said “it surpasses knowledge.” It could begin with a small act of kindness, but it may end up leading you to doing something bigger and greater than you ever imagined.

b. For example, Jesus may give you the grace to forgive someone who has hurt you instead of seeking to get even. When we ask: “What would Jesus do?”, it might surprise us the answer God might give us!

4. This kind of love can’t be measured or even explained.

But Paul does tell us the goal God has set for all of us. In vs. 19, he writes: “that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” In plain words, the more our hearts are filled with the Holy Spirit so that our actions and thoughts grow out of the soil of God’s love, the more others will see Jesus in our lives. That is what Paul prayed God would do in and through each of us.

C. Finally, vs. 20-21 Paul describes what God will do!

1. It says: “Now unto Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we could ever ask or imagine, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever, Amen!”

a. Imagine God at work in every Christian, doing amazing things throughout the centuries. Imagine the glory and honor and praise that He has and continues to receive when we work in cooperation with the Holy Spirit in us and accomplish many things for Him.

b. That is the picture God is painting for us in this passage.

2. Does any one of us ever arrive or accomplish all He would like to do in and through us? Obviously not!

Our sinful natures often get in the way.

a. But look what God has done through the Lord Jesus Christ in 2000 yr. and we stand in amazement!

b. And if we get personal, when I look at my life, fully aware of all of my faults and limitations, and look back over how the Lord has used me, I am amazed how much God has accomplished through me! I know He had to help me to do what I have done, and I know He deserves all the glory.

3. Don’t you feel the same way? Wouldn’t you love to see God do even more? He can and He will if only we are willing to yield to Him and learn from Him and allow His love to fill us to the full.