Believers worth believing

Ephesians 3: 14-19
14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. 16 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, 17 and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. 18 I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Paul was in awe of God’s plan of salvation that united Jews and Gentiles. God’s wisdom in forming the plan and carrying it out to perfection made Paul stand in awe of God. To think that God would reach out to all of mankind to bring salvation through Christ caused him to rejoice in spite of his imprisonment. God’s plan is now being revealed through his Church. We are now in the age of the church and it is through it that God reveals his wisdom to the world and all of the demonic forces are watching as the church becomes everything God has destined it to be. We are part of God’s plan to bring all things under control under the headship of Christ who is the head of the Church that is destined to be his bride.
Being a part of a church is critical to our fulfilling God’s plan. We live in a time when people substitute being a part of a local body of believers with many different things. You have access to a lot of things on the internet, television, radio and even in parachurch organizations yet none of these can replace being a part of a local body of believers which is part of the church universal. The church is composed of all who have been called out of the world and have joined themselves to Christ. When we speak of the church we have to keep in mind the church universal or Catholic Church and we need to keep in mind the local church. Paul’s letter was to the church, the local church in Ephesus, a specific body of believers that he had spent quite a bit of time with instructing them in the Word of God. I want to encourage you to be an active part of a local body of believers. For some of you it may be difficult with all of the responsibilities you may carry within your mission and work or the temporariness of your status here but it is important to tie in with a local group as much as you can. Your participation in the church is important and vital. You have a place and a role in it because you are a member of it.
People today emphasize being “spiritual” yet do not link it with being part of the church. Perhaps they have bad memories of an abusive leader in the church or have had other experiences that have turned them away. A survey that I read in “Serious Times” newsletter, of young people’s attitude toward Christianity has revealed some information that is not good yet needs to be given attention so that corrections can be made where needed.
How People View the Church
91% anti-homosexual
87% judgmental
85% hypocritical
78% old fashioned
75% too involved in politics
72% out of touch with reality
70% insensitive to others
68% boring
64% not accepting of other faiths
61% confusing
It is a sad day when this is the image of the church in many people’s minds. Paul did not view the church as such. He saw it as a family united in both heaven and earth. He saw it as a dynamic force on the earth reflecting all that Jesus is and filled with God’s love.
The church is a family.
The family is the basic structure that holds society together. God created the family and the church is his family. We may not all have a good image of a healthy family, many people have grown up in dysfunctional families and they do not have a healthy concept of what the family should be like when it is functioning as God intended it. When I think of a healthy family I think of a family that is marked by love for each member, support, forgiveness, kindness, discipline, boundaries that protect and provide guidance, encouragement and grace. You can probably add many more traits of a healthy family to this list but the idea is that the church should be a family that exemplifies everything good in life based in God. Life without God, apart from his family should be viewed as abnormal not optional or unwanted.
Paul prayed for some specific things for the church. Like Paul, we too need to be praying for the church and its individual members. The prayer he prays in these verses can be a model prayer for each of us as we pray for each other.
The first is that it would be strengthened with might through the Spirit in the inner man according to the riches of God’s glory. God has unlimited resources available to us. He give us what we need according to his riches which is different that “out of his riches.” The Believer’s Bible Commentary explains this with the following:
Preachers often point out that there is a difference between the expressions “out of the riches” and according to the riches. A wealthy person might give a trifling amount; it would be out of his riches, but not in proportion to them! Paul asks that God will give strength according to the riches of His perfections. Since the Lord is infinitely rich in glory, let the saints get ready for a deluge! Why should we ask so little of so great a King? When someone asked a tremendous favor of Napoleon it was immediately granted because, said Napoleon, “He honored me by the magnitude of his request.”
Our inner man is the part of us that connects with God, our spiritual nature that has been made alive through the new birth. Our inner man draws strength from God when we feed him the proper spiritual diet. Our inner life or life of devotion is critical to our receiving strength. Isaiah 40:31 tells us that “those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength, they will mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”
The word “wait” has a meaning of attending to someone, much like a waiter who takes care of you when you are at a restaurant. When we wait upon the Lord we are attending to him, serving him, listening to what he wants us to do and responding to please him. It is in our service to Him that we gain strength. Sometime the Lord just has us be still, to rest, to come away for a season to be renewed. The analogy of the eagle being renewed is one that has many applications to our lives.
Eagles enjoy the longest life expectancy among bird species They can live up to 70 years In order to survive, they have to make a critical decision at the age of 40 When eagles turn 40, their claws weaken Their beaks are growing long & curved almost touching their chest Their wings are heavier due to thick & long feathers. They have 2 Choices：•Dying•Or undergoing a painful transformation They have to fly to the top Build their home there And REST 150 days of perseverance & steadfastness... They have to hit their beaks against the rock till they fall off. And wait patiently for the new beaks to grow. They will use their new beaks to pull out their nails With their newly grown nails, they will then clean off their old feathers . 5 months later, the eagles will fly again with their new feathers . They renew their strength for another 30 years!
Waiting on the Lord to do his renewal work in us is often very difficult. We want to be in the thick of things, busy doing things for the Lord but he wants us to find time each day and perhaps for some of you this is the season of rest and renewal where you are just soaking in the Lord and allowing him to minister to you. Treasure these seasons that the Lord gives you because they will build the strength you need for the next leg of the journey. When I went through my DTS it was a time of just resting in the Lord, soaking up the teaching, spending personal time each day with him and just receiving from Him. It was an awesome time for me and I enjoyed having this time set apart.
Treasure as well your time with the Lord each day. Make him the priority of your day, set aside time to pray, seek Him in His word, meditate on his word, listen to his voice, quiet your heart before him. He will renew your strength in your inner man and you will be able to carry out the work in his strength.
The second thing Paul prayed for was “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith”. Christ wants to invade and take control of every area of our life. There is a little booklet called, “My heart, Christ’s home” by Robert Munger, that takes you on a journey of your home to see if Christ really dwells in every room. It is by faith that we receive Christ into our heart and invite him to take control over every area of our life. Many of us struggle to release certain areas that we like to control because we think that we will miss out on something if we relinquish it to Christ. We are really not in control of that area of our life, it is really controlling us. Anyone other than Christ being in control is a slave driver type master. Our desire to control or be controlled by habits only places us in more bondage. The devil is deceptive and he wants us to think we are in control but the truth is just the opposite. Christ comes to set us free from ourselves, our selfishness, our desire to rule over ourselves and other people. When we finally give up and give over control, he can take charge and bring about a freedom that we have never experienced. Is Christ in control of my thoughts, my use of time, my money, my eating, my recreation, my relationships, my work, my family etc.? It is easy for us to recognize people who are out of control but often difficult for us to see areas in our own lives that are out of control. We look at a drug addict or alcoholic and see that they are being controlled by a chemical. But what about the person who idles away time behind a computer screen or spends excess time talking on the phone, or works too much, or never finds time to be with other people? We could add many more things to this list. These are all choices they have made and reflect that Christ is not the Lord of every area of their life. The problem is that they are really missing out on God’s best for them, they are settling for something less and often times very destructive, instead of giving Christ complete control and allowing him to bring balance and wholeness into their life.
At times we need to ask people to be very honest with us and tell us what areas of our life they perceive that Christ is not in control but we are still maintaining control or being controlled by a habit. Sometimes we need someone to intervene and tell us the truth before we self destruct or bring other people down with us. Most of us are aware of the killings that happened at Ft. Hood recently. The man who did the killing had some major issues going on in his life. Perhaps others noticed some changes taking place but no one intervened and he committed some horrendous shootings. The base commander was interviewed after the shootings and he made a comment that the soldiers needed to refer people who were experiencing stress and anxiety so they could receive help. Intervention is needed to at least give people an opportunity to see that they need help. As believers we need to watch out for one another and when we see things that are not in order or out of the control of Christ we need to intervene in prayer, confrontation and rehabilitation in love. Christ wants to set us free from every controlling influence that is destructive in our lives. He is the Liberator and he uses people to help set people free. He wants to dwell, take up residency and control of every area of our heart.
Love in Action is a ministry that helps people who are struggling with sexual and relational issues. They understand that without Christ and people being Christ to others transformation will not take place. The following is taken from their website and describes how they do ministry which to me is an example for us as well.
“At LIA we want to help men and women experience a safe Christian environment where they can let down the masks they have had to wear in front of the world and even in front of the church; where they can share honestly and openly what is going on inside them without fear of reprisal. In such an environment the trust develops that God uses as the foundation for healing of deep emotional and relational brokenness. It is our privilege to walk alongside these courageous men and woman as they submit their pain and brokenness to the Lord.

What can we do in the face of so much pain? Often, as LIA counselor David Jones says, we must simply “sit beside it.”2 We must be willing to enter into someone’s pain and experience it along with them. If we could only claim human powers, then this exercise would be truly futile. But as Christians we know that God uses us to be “Jesus with skin on” to each other, and Jesus Himself is the ultimate expert in “sitting beside pain.” When He did it 2000 years ago, the results changed the course of history and made salvation possible. When He does it today through his Body on earth, the results continue to transform lives and bring lasting change to hopeless situations.”
 
Paul’s final prayer was that the believers would be rooted and grounded in love and have understanding of the fullness of Christ’s love. When God’s love is in us we are radically changed. The more we understand the height, width, depth and length of God’s love for us the greater is our capacity to love like he loves. We love based on knowledge and the more we know about God and his love the more we are capable of being filled with his love. It is like we are a container that is expandable base on our knowledge. The more knowledge we have of God’s love the greater our container becomes. As we experience God’s love in greater measure we are able to take that love in us and live it out. We love because he first loved us. His love gives us the capacity and ability to love others. John said we cannot say we love God and hate our brother. God’s love does not work that way. “ The life of love is a life of kindness, selflessness, brokenness and meekness. It is Christ finding expression in the believer.” BBC This life of love is lived among other believers who also help us in our understanding of God’s love. We need each other and if we are open we can learn more about God’s love through others. I will always remember Brother John who was Catholic monk who worked at the base I was stationed at in Germany. He was such a gentle and humble person who truly loved people. I had never met anyone like him in my life and his love for God and people made a huge impression on my life. He had a greater capacity to love because he had experienced the love of God in a greater way than I had. He had a more intimate relationship with the Lord and it was evidenced by his love for others. If we try to give meaning to the dimensions of Christ’s love we can think of it in these terms:
Width —The world (John 3:16)
Length —Forever (1 Cor. 13:8)
Depth —Even the death of the cross (Phil. 2:8)
Height —Heaven (1 John 3:1–2)
Love for Christ will be reflected in our love for the world and our desire to see people come to Christ to experience his love. I read a story from a book written by E. Stanley Jones who was a missionary to India for over 50 years and preached the gospel in many nations. It is a story of love in action.
“There was a woman in Africa who came to Christ, and she felt that she wanted to do something for Jesus. But she was blind and seventy years of age and therefore her contributions did not seem to be very promising. She was uneducated, but she came to the missionary with her French Bible and said, “Would you mind underscoring John 3:16 in my Bible in red?” The missionary was very intrigued to see what she was going to do. She took the French Bible and sat in front of a boys’ school in the afternoon. When school was dismissed she called these boys and said, “Boys, come here please. Do you know French?” Very proudly they said that they did. Then she said “Please read to me this passage underscored in my Bible.” And they did. The she would ask, “What does this mean to you boys?” They said , “We don’t know.” Then she said, “I’ll tell you what it means to me.” And she told the story of the Gospel. Twenty-four young men became pastors or assistant pastors due to the work of this blind beggar. She was so transformed that people called her “Madame.”
The Love of Christ in it fullness in us brings transformation and produces love for people which is demonstrated in a variety of ways as was exemplified by this blind beggar. Love only becomes meaningful when it is expressed in action. We live in a culture that struggles with understanding what true love is and how it is expressed appropriately. Most of what we see as love is only selfishness and manipulation of someone to get a need met. Christ is our model of love and as we understand his love for us and allow his love to transform us we become the Church that will have a tremendous impact on the world. The church must be a community in which true love is expressed if it is going to make a difference in people’s lives. Jesus said to his disciples before his crucifixion, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:35
The challenge before us tonight is to be the Church that God wants us to be. To be strengthened with his power by waiting upon him, serving him, spending time with him on a daily basis to allow him to renew us. The church should be full of people who are under the complete control of Christ in every area of our lives and reach out to people who are struggling with areas that are out of control. Finally the church should be noted for its love of Christ that is expressed in actions toward others.
As we close the service tonight, let’s form small groups with the people next to you and pray for one another and any needs that you have whether they come out of what we talked about tonight or anything else that you need prayer.
As we pray let’s believe that God will do what Paul wrote at the close of this chapter.
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21