Overwhelmed: Ephesians 3:14-19, Part III

Listen to full sermon here (Scroll down to …from Restless to Fulfilled) http://journeyqueens.com/podcasts/overwhelmed/

So here we now come, to the meat of Paul’s prayer, and what does he pray for, he prays, “that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” Just like Jesus didn’t come to make bad people good, but to make dead people alive, because in all seriousness we are all dead in our sin without Jesus’ redemptive work on the cross, so like that, he did not come from heaven to make our external circumstances; jobs, relationships, health, perfect, but to change us from the inside out, to completely gut our inner being, to utterly destroy that selfish ‘meism.’ I don’t need a better job, more stuff, a better wife, husband, girlfriend, boyfriend, or the like; I need a new me. I need God, according to his vast, immeasurable, unending riches, to imbue me with His strength, to experience the new life as one of His children, as a new creation, not just doctrinally in my head, but experienced in my everyday life, through the power of the Holy Spirit.  

Christianity cannot simply be just head knowledge, a set of doctrines that are memorized and poured over, it’s just not enough. The Pharisees knew scripture, but were far from the kingdom of God and in the book of James its written, “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe – and shudder!” The heart alone too is not enough; it is too subjective. Feelings fade, so there must be more. Head and heart plus the spirit are needed in order to be fulfilled, to externalize what’s been going on in our inner being. So as the meat of Paul’s prayer suggests, God gives me a measure of strength to persevere in my circumstances. Psalm 46:1-2 says, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way." 

Now, what is this inner being he speaks of? Well, to get a better understanding let’s look at the opposite, the outer being. In second Corinthians Paul says, “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.” This outer self or being is, simply put, our physical bodies. It’s how most of us experience the world, through the five senses. And well, to be honest, it does waste away. As a chaplain I recently had the opportunity to do clinical work at Bellevue Hospital and it was eye opening. Patients ravaged by AIDS, renal failure, severed limbs and the like, and some, though their outer self was literally wasting away had a peace about them. One man I remember, lying in his hospital bed, cheeks sunken, collarbone protruding, told me when I brought up death and dying, “I am ready to move on, I know where I am going.” For me, I honestly don’t know how I would cope in such a circumstance. I would like to believe that I’d be strong in spirit, but who knows. What I do know is that there indeed are people that know God is present in their problems and that God truly gives strength to persevere. The apostle Paul was beaten, shipwrecked, imprisoned, and still worshipped God. In Acts it is written, “The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.” Though his outer circumstances were horrendous, his inner person was as lively, joyful, and full as ever. He knew he was a changed person and nothing; absolutely nothing could take that away from him. His inner being was being renewed daily.  

So this inner being then, is where we, you, and I reside. It is our heart, mind, and soul; it is who we are. It is where God’s Spirit is enthroned for those who know Him. It is the epicenter of transformation, from the inside out. And it’s not going to just one day happen, well, most likely not. What I mean is that this inner self is cultivated and nourished by God’s Word and our relationship with Him and those around us. Paul in his letter to the Romans writes, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Another Christian, William Blake, penned these fine words, 

These five windows of the soul
Distort the Heavens from pole to pole
And goad you to believe a lie
When you see with, not thro the eye

You hear that? When we see with and not through the eye we miss filtering the world through our inner being, through our conscience where the Holy Spirit convicts, teaches, and goad’s. The five senses can only do so much. We must see the world differently through the lens of the gospel, through God’s love, and His bigger purposes. This is what Paul wants for the Ephesians and for us to get unstuck from life’s seemingly debilitating circumstances that overwhelm us. So Paul prays for the inner person to be renewed, “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” But wait a minute, Paul is talking to Christians in Ephesus, doesn’t Jesus already reside in them. The important word here is ‘dwell.’ Do we open our lives to Jesus as a close friend, whereby we feel comfortable sharing our deepest longings, secrets, and fears or is he more of an acquaintance or fixer upper? If it’s only in the throes of life that we invite him in, when things are going sour and are crumbling around us then we can’t really say that he dwells in us. For to dwell means to make a home, to always be present.  

And that is what Paul prays for, “that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” When something is rooted and grounded it means that it is established. With trees for example, the roots are what give the tree its beauty, health, stature, and strength. It is through the inner workings of the roots that the tree is nourished, so that it can bear leaves for shade or fruit for consumption. The same goes for those rooted in Jesus. When we are rooted in Jesus, when he dwells within us, we flourish no matter what’s going on in life. Like a firmly planted tree we weather even the fiercest storms because we have that which matters more than anything in the world, God Himself. Because God is not a means to an end; He is the end Himself. What I’m saying is that to have God in our lives is everything. As Jesus says in Matthew, “the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” It’s hard to comprehend because it’s just so, supernatural. So here’s a few examples. 

This may be a surprise to you, but my lovely wife Elizabeth here and I sometimes fight. And a lot of the times we don’t even know what we’re fighting about. Both of us will come home from work and just be in bad moods. Elizabeth will say something that rubs me the wrong way, so I make a snide comment and the cycle begins. Sometimes we stonewall each other and ruin an entire evening, but sometimes something will bubble up inside me and say, “Ian, what are you doing, you love this woman, look to Christ and what he did for you.” And I’ll begin to think to myself, “If God can love such an imperfect, selfish, depraved person like me, why can’t I do the same for Elizabeth, if even not on the same level?” And I begin to think about what Jesus did on the cross for me, and the monumental expression of love he showed by not only being crucified, which is a horrendous way to die, in fact the word excruciating means out of the cross, but even more, taking on humanity’s sin and being cast from God’s glorious presence, a divine abandonment. Think about it, Jesus is the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, he has known nothing but that all encompassing presence with God the Father and he gave that up for me, for us. So, the wheels begin to spin in my head and heart and I cannot fathom being mad at Elizabeth anymore. And to be honest, I don’t even remember what I was even angry about. I say I’m sorry and we pray together. Being rooted means being able to tap into those nutrients, that relationship with God and externalizing it in everyday life. When we’re rooted, God works through us even when we’re not feeling it. 

Here's another example. I had to be at work at 6am so as I was walking down the Forest Hills subway stairs I hear over the intercom, “MTA police to next train, MTA police to next train.” I thought, “Oh no, what happened now?” Not so much that I cared about the people involved, but that the train would most likely be delayed; real Christian of me right. So a few minutes pass by and the train pulls into the station. I get on right behind the conductor in that middle car as he looks to see if the police have arrived. Nope. I look out the open doors to see if I can detect what the disturbance may have been, but instead of seeing something I hear it. A few people away from me sitting down is a man that is cursing, laughing, and talking loudly to himself. I swing around and we lock eyes. “Oh crap, what’s he gonna say or do now!?” I break contact and look away and he starts yelling, “You stupid, non-heterosexual, dumb dumb poopy-head…” Though those weren’t exactly the words he used, they were definitely a bit more R rated. A few minutes pass and MTA operations is trying to get the conductor to move the train and asks why he needs the police. So I overhear the conductor tell operations that numerous passengers have told him that this man has been threatening people, but operations nonetheless needs the train to move to keep traffic going, so the doors close and we’re off. The man goes into a tirade and the thought crosses my mind, “Do I take action?” as in law enforcement action, since I’m a federal law enforcement officer? But instead I pray…”In the name of Jesus and by the power of his cross and blood I pray that…” The prayer ends and…silence. The man puts his head into his hands and doesn’t speak the entire commute.  

You see, to know the breadth and length and height and depth of Jesus’ love is to go beyond mere knowledge, it surpasses knowledge and bears hearty fruit in everyday experiences. This is a relationship with a person that knows us to the core and who therefore can change us from the core, so that the toilsome, irksome, life-depriving things of this world that grieve us and steal joy no longer have control. Because all those things pale in comparison to having him, our king and our God. So what’s my response to all of this? Remain rooted in Christ.  Tim Keller said a few Sunday’s ago, “To be loved, but not known is superficial and unsatisfying. To be known and rejected is our greatest nightmare, but to be known all the way down and loved infallibly endlessly is heaven.” And for Jesus our savior to do it, to love us like that, is everything.   To listen to this sermon fully i.e., all three parts, click the link and scroll down to Part 6, "...From Restless to Fulfilled."