I am Empowered

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Series Overview
The S.O.A.P. Bible Study Method
Weekly Scripture Passages for S.O.A.P.

8:40am Service | 10:00 Service | 11:20 Service | Sermon Audio

Good morning Chapel family. We’re taking this summer to walk through the book of Ephesians. When you start studying Ephesians, you quickly realize that it breaks neatly into two halves. Six chapters; first three talk about who we are; the last three talk about how we should live. So chapters 1, 2 and 3—who we are; chapters 4, 5, and 6—how we should live.  

So today we’re going to be wrapping up that first half, all about who we are. And here’s what we’ve learned so far: we entered this world spiritually dead—cut off from God; cut off from God’s people. We had no future and no reason for hope. But God didn’t leave us that way. In fact, before the creation of the world, God chose us to be his adopted children, he paid for us at the cross, and the moment we put our faith in Christ, he sealed us with the Holy Spirit and brought us into his family. So the walls that separated us from God and from other people have been broken down by Christ. All of that happened not because we deserved it, but by pure grace—pure gift—so no one can boast. All we can do is receive it and say “Thank you.” 

So as believers, that’s our identity: we used to be spiritually dead, guilty, isolated people; now, because of Christ, we’re spiritually alive, forgiven, reconciled people. Radical change of identity! Amen? This is who we are. And that’s the first half of Ephesians. 

The second half—chapters 4, 5, and 6—is all about: okay, in light of all that—if that’s true—how should that change the way we live our lives every day? 

So today we come to the very end of that first half. As Paul writes this section of the letter, he’s on his knees praying. And the thing he prays for is actually the link between the first half and the second half of the letter. Because Paul knew that you can intellectually know everything in the first half. You can memorize Ephesians one through three: here’s all the truth about who I am. But that knowledge will never make it from here (head) to here (heart), and then to here (hands) unless you have this thing that Paul prays for. Have you heard the accusation that Christians are hypocrites? You Christians go to church and sing your songs and say your prayers, but I don’t see you being any more loving or generous or compassionate or forgiving than anyone else. You’re all hypocrites. I hear that all the time. And they’re right! Unless we have this thing that Paul prays for.  

So…let’s find out what the link is between knowing your identity and living it out. Ephesians 3, verses 14 through 21. This is God’s Word for us today… 

14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 

20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. This is the Word of the Lord. 

So: what’s the link between knowing your identity and living it out? Inner power. Inner power. 

Let’s talk first about The Need for Inner Power. Look at verses 14 to 16: 14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches (here’s the ask—here’s the request)… that he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being. So picture Paul, down on his knees, in his prison cell, praying for these people he loves. And the main thing he prays is that God will give them power in their inner being.  

Remember what we said about Paul’s prayers? You never find him praying for people’s health or their prosperity or their safety. Not that it’s wrong to pray for those things—of course we do. But Paul always seems to go to a deeper level. He always seems to pray for more inward, eternal things. Maybe that’s because prison tends to clarify your vision and remind you what truly matters. 

So the link between knowing who you are and actually living it out is…inner power. Paul says, “I’m praying that God will strengthen you with power in your inner being—verse 17—So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. That’s interesting, because these people were already believers, which means Christ was already dwelling in their hearts. So Paul must be praying that Christ would dwell in them more deeply and more powerfully and that Christ would be more central to who they were. In other words, “I’m praying that Jesus won’t just be an add-on to your life; he won’t just be one of many things that you’re into (“Tell me about yourself?” Well, I’m into gourmet cooking, and travel, and Jesus…)…no, no, no-- I’m praying that Christ will be at the core of who you are. Because that’s where inner power comes from. It comes from making Jesus the unrivaled king of your life.  

Go back to verse 16: I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power. The God that Paul prayed to, and the God who loves us, is a God of glorious riches. He owns everything, and he’s your dad. And when you know that, it has to change you. 

In one of Tim Keller’s books, he says: imagine you are a billionaire—fabulously wealthy. And one day, you have three ten-dollar bills in your wallet. And you take a taxi, and the ride costs $8, so you hand the driver one of the tens. So later in the day, you look in your wallet, and there’s only one $10 bill. And you say, “Okay—either I dropped one of the tens, or I gave the taxi driver two of them.” So here’s the question: what are you going to do? Are you going to get all upset? Are you going to go to the police and demand they go find that driver? Of course not! Why? Because you’re a billionaire! You lost ten bucks—so what? You are way too rich to worry about that kind of loss! 

So this week, somebody is going to criticize you. Something you order on Amazon is going to break the day you open it up. Something you’re hoping for at work is not going to happen. You’re going to show up at your AirBnB vacation rental house, and there’s going to be someone else in it, because they double booked it. In other words, genuinely bad things will happen to you this week. So if you’re a Christian, what are you going to do? Are you going to lose your temper? Are you going to lash out at your family? Are you going to toss and turn in your bed at night? If you do, it’s because you have no idea how rich you are. You might call it lack of self-control or lack of self-esteem, and that’s true. But at a deeper level, you have lost touch with the glorious riches of God. As a Christian, you are a spiritual billionaire, so stop freaking out when you lose ten bucks. Are you with me? 

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power in your inner being. If you feel internally weak, remember who your dad is, and trust him to give you all the power you need from his glorious riches. If we’re going to live out this life, that’s what we need. 

So you say, “Okay—so as I allow God to give me inner power, then I’ll be able to do all the stuff the second half of Ephesians tells me to do, right? Then I’ll be able to obey God’s commands.” Well, yes. But there’s something deeper that comes first. There’s something that this God-given inner power unlocks in your heart…and that’s what enables you to walk in obedience to God’s commands. Which leads us to the second point: 

The Goal of Inner Power. What is it that gets unlocked in you as you receive God’s power? Continue where we left off—middle of verse 17: And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, (here it is—here’s what this power enables us to do…) to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ… The power that Paul is praying for is first and foremost not the power to do anything. It’s the power to…what? To grasp something. To grasp the magnitude of the love of Christ: “how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.” We need supernatural power to even understand the love of Jesus. Because in our natural mind, we don’t get it. 

You know what my natural mind tells me? That God’s love for me is only as good as my recent performance. Do you ever feel that way? Oh man, I skipped church…I lost my temper…I drank too much…I went on that web site I said I’d never go on again…there’s no way I’m on God’s good list. I have to put in some good behavior to win back God’s love. That’s called “legalism”—thinking our standing with God depends on keeping the rules. And it’s completely contrary to the gospel. That’s why we need supernatural power to grasp the love of Christ. It’s so counterintuitive. 

When I first came to The Chapel I was Pastor of Single Adults. And one of the leaders in our ministry was a divorced guy, in his mid-30s. His wife had walked out on him a few years earlier, and it utterly devastated him. And I said, “You’re obviously doing much better now. What got you through that?” He said, “You know, when he was going through the divorce, there was an older man at The Chapel, and every time he saw me in the lobby, he would pull me aside and say, “I just want you to know that God loves you.” And he said, “At first I just looked at him and said, “Yeah, I know. God loves everyone and he loves me.” And this older man said, “No, you don’t get it. God really loves you.” And I’m going to paraphrase what my friend said. He said, “Through the influence of this wise mentor, I slowly started to grasp what I had never truly grasped. In the devastation and shame and anger of being abandoned by my wife, and feeling like such a failure, and feeling so unloved, I realized this was the main thing I needed to know: God loves me. That’s what got me through the divorce. It wasn’t a prayer technique or an amazing book; it was being still and allowing myself to be deeply and personally loved by God.” 

Let me ask you: are you still operating by natural thinking? Are you still functioning with a performance mentality? Or have you allowed your heart to be melted by the love of Christ? It changes everything 

Let me point out a few other things about grasping the love of Christ. 

First, It’s communal. Look at verse 18. He says I pray that you may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp the love of Christ. That means understanding Christ’s love isn’t something you can do all by yourself. My divorced friend needed the guidance of that older man to help him see what he couldn’t see on his own. You and I need spiritual friends, and small groups, and teachers to do the same for us. So move toward others—move toward community.  

Second, It’s a ministry of the Holy Spirit. In verse 16 he says I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit… One of the ministries of the Holy Spirit is to make the love of Christ real to our hearts. Listen to this—Romans 8:16…16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Those are beautiful words. Because Jesus went to the cross in our place, and took away the sin that separated us from God, we are sons and daughters of God. And one of the jobs of the Holy Spirit is to testify deep in our spirit that we are God’s children, and he’ll never disown his kids. To whisper to us: you’re mine, and I will never let you go. Are you learning to listen to that Voice?  

Thomas Goodwyn, the Puritan pastor, said, “Picture a 4-year-old boy walking along with his father. The boy knows he’s a son, and that this is his father. Then all of a sudden, the father picks up his son, he hugs him and kisses him, and he says, “I love you so much, and no matter what happens, I will always love you.” And then he puts him down again. And Thomas Goodwyn said, “The boy has no new knowledge. He has no new information. He already knew that this was his father, and he was a son. The only difference is: now he feels it. And that’s what the Holy Spirit does in our hearts.” 

So, it’s communal, it’s a ministry of the Holy Spirit, and third, It’s inexhaustible. Verse 19: and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. That sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? He says, “I want you to know something that surpasses knowledge!” It’s like saying, “I want you to climb this mountain that’s unclimbable!” It’s crazy! How can we know this love, if it’s too big for knowledge? And the answer is, we can never know the love of Christ fully, but we can know more and more of it. And—look at that last phrase—we can be filled by it.  

Picture taking a little plastic pail and walking up to the ocean. The ocean is the love of Christ: high and deep and long and wide and overwhelming and massive. How much of that ocean are you going to get in your little pail? Not much; but you can get some of it! You can fill your bucket with it. And every time you read the Bible; every time you listen to the Word preached; every time you gather in small group and help each other grasp the love of Christ; every time you quiet your heart and listen for the voice of the Spirit, you are being filled. You are grasping a little bit better this Jesus who loves you and gave his life for you.  

Let me say it really clearly: in order to live out your identity, the thing you need more than anything else is to grasp the love that Jesus has for you.  

There was a college professor, named Dr. Addison Leitch. And he told the story about two young women who were students at the college where he taught. Both were bright students, and their parents wanted them to get master’s degrees and go on to lucrative careers. But while they were in college, they became Christians and decided they were going to become missionaries. Their parents freaked out. One of the mothers called this professor, thinking he was to blame for all this. The mother said, “We wanted our daughter to get her master’s degree, start a career, and get something in the bank, so she could have some security.”  

And here’s what the professor said:  

Please just let me remind you of something. We’re all on a little ball of rock called earth, and we’re spinning along through space at zillions of miles per hour. Even if we don’t run in to anything, eventually we’re all going to die. Which means that under every single one of us there’s a trap door that’s going to open one day and we’re all going to fall off this ball of rock. And underneath will either be the everlasting arms of God or absolutely nothing. So maybe we can get a master’s degree to get some security. 

But the biggest savings account in the world cannot stop cancer. It can’t stop traffic accidents. It cannot stop broken hearts. It can’t give you anything … any of the things that only God can give you. He’s the only significance you can have. He’s the only love that you can get and can’t lose. 

I don’t know what happened to those two college students. But that is wise counsel. We run after so many things to give us significance and security, don’t we? But the only truly secure thing is the love of Christ. And the more you grasp that love—and realize who you truly are—the more you’ll be able to live the way you’re meant to live. 

So…Paul is on his knees, praying for his friends—praying for us!—and of all the things he could ask for, he says, “I pray that they’ll have the inner power to grasp the huge love of Christ.” That’s what they needed, and that’s what we need. 

And then he wraps up this part of the letter in a memorable way. Let’s talk about The Giver of Inner Power. Verses 20 and 21: 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Up until this moment, Paul has been addressing his readers: “Here’s what I’ve been praying for you. Here’s what I’m asking God to do for you.” But now he gets to the very end of this section—he’s concluding the whole first half of the letter—and he takes his eyes off his readers, and turns his attention upward, toward God. And he addresses God in two ways. 

First, Audacious prayer. You know what “audacious” means? It means to approach God with confidence and boldness to be unafraid to ask for big things. Audacious prayer. Because the God we pray to is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. So pray big.  

Now, if this were a church that taught the gospel of health and wealth, this is the part of the sermon where I would tell you to ask God for a Lamborghini and a yacht. But we don’t teach a health and wealth gospel, because that’s not what the Bible teaches.  

So what kinds of audacious things should we pray for? Well, what did Paul just pray for? He prayed for his readers to have the inner power to be able to grasp the love of Christ…because that’s the most important thing that every human needs. And Paul says, “The reason I’m praying that for you, so persistently and so passionately, is that I know the God I pray to is more than able.” 

So here’s the question for us: are we praying audacious prayers for the spiritual awakening of the people we love? Yes, we pray for their health and we pray for their safety and we pray for their jobs. But do we pray for the power of God in their inner being, so they can grasp how high and deep and long and wide is the love of Christ? Because that’s the one thing they can’t lose. And God is inviting you to pray those kinds of big prayers.  

You know what happens when you pray for people like that? It changes the way you interact with them. Because you start to be expectant about how God is answering your prayers. So you become more confident and less fearful when you interact with them. You speak your faith more freely.  

For many years, Norma Jean and I prayed for her father. He was a self-made man; German immigrant who worked his way up from nothing to being the president of a large company, and very proud of his accomplishments. But we didn’t see much spiritual interest. In many ways, he seemed like the least likely person to admit he needed God. So we prayed audacious prayers. And I remember one morning we were at their home in Nevada, and the two of us were up early one morning. And for the first time, I clearly explained the gospel to him—I literally sketched out a diagram on the back of a napkin—about our sin and God’s holiness and how God made a way to bring us together through the cross. I think he got it. And in those later years, we saw more evidence that his heart had been softened, and his faith was growing. When he was 70 years old, he went to bed one night and he never woke up. Massive heart attack. I’m so glad we prayed those audacious prayers.  

I’m sure there are people in your life just like him—unbelievers—and God is inviting you to boldly pray that they will grasp the love of Christ for the first time. And I’m sure there are also lots of believers in your life, and God is inviting you to pray bold prayers that they will grasp Christ’s love at a whole new level. Don’t hold back. Pray audacious prayers. And then interact with those people confidently and expectantly. 

And then finally, with his eyes turned toward God, Paul demonstrates Awestruck praise. Do you remember how this whole letter started? Back in chapter one, right after Paul introduced himself, he says praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He starts the letter with worship! And now, as he wraps up this first half, he says to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. In other words, the first half of Ephesians starts and ends with praise—which reminds us, it’s all about him. It’s all about God! 

If you are a person who believes that God is able to do immeasurably more than you could ask or imagine, you will not only pray a lot; you will worship passionately. You will give glory to God with all your heart.  

And that praise will look different for every one of us, but can I just share my own experience with you? I’m a big sports fan. Especially the Knicks—I’ve rooted for them since I was eight years old, and they still haven’t won a championship, but I’m not giving up. And when I root for my teams, I’m very vocal and very expressive. And years ago, here’s what I decided: I will not be more vocal and more expressive in cheering for sports teams than I am in worshiping my God. It’s kind of logical, right? I won’t be more fired up about the Knicks than I am about Jesus. So for me and my naturally reserved, Scandinavian personality, it’s not natural to drop to my knees in my men’s group, and lead the group in bowed-down prayer. It’s not natural to stand in church and raise my hands in worship. But I choose to allow the glory of God to override my natural tendencies. And it’s so freeing. 

I’ll close with this, and I’m borrowing this illustration from Pastor JD Greear. Think of your relationship with Christ like a balloon. There are two ways to keep a balloon up in the air. If you fill the balloon with your breath, the only way to keep it up in the air is to continually smack it upward. And that’s how most religion keeps you motivated—it repeatedly smacks you with the rules. And as a pastor, if I’m not careful, that’s how I can start to view my role. You guys come in here on Sunday, and I smack you about different things: “Be more generous!” And the offering goes up for a week. “Go on a mission trip!” And a people sign up for a trip. So every week I have to get up here and smack you back into spiritual orbit. No wonder nobody wants to be around me! 

But there’s another way to keep a balloon up in the air: we all know what it is, right? Helium! Fill it with helium! Helium-filled balloons float on their own—no smacking required. As Paul was writing to the Ephesians, he didn’t want to have to continually smack them, so what does he do? He prays that God will fill them with inner power to grasp the love of Christ. Guys, that’s the helium. That’s what will empower you to do what we’re about to see in chapters 4, 5, and 6. It’s the love of Christ! That’s the one thing you can’t lose. Because the more you’re filled with the love of Christ, you spirit will soar. 

Let’s give praise to God and let’s rise for our closing.