The Gift of Power

Good morning. I hope your week was a blessed one for sure. This morning, we’re going to look at a passage of Scripture in Ephesians 3:14-21

^“14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, ¹⁶ that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸ may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, ¹⁹ and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. ²⁰ Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, ²¹ to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.”

Verses 14-19 is a prayer request by The Apostle Paul to God the Father for God’s people at Ephesus. Now, you know what a prayer request is. We typically receive these kinds of prayer requests through email or through a small group Bible study. Perhaps you’ll get an emergency phone call from a loved one in the family or a friend, asking you to pray for him or her for this reason or for that.

Prayer requests are common throughout the lives of God’s people – so is the case with the Apostle Paul. Actually, this isn’t his first prayer request. He first request is given in 1:15-23 – it was a prayer for spiritual wisdom.

Let’s put this together so that it makes sense: Paul’s first prayer request was for God’s people to know God’s power in them. His second prayer request was for them to use God’s power.

Transition: So then, this holds true for believers today. So in Ephesians 3:14-21, I want to highlight

• keys to living for the Lord with the gift of power we have received

I. Understand God’s Power in your life – v. 14-17

That is to say, (below)

God’s power is infinite

1. Verse 14. “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory”

I need to explain a few things about the first part of verse 14 so as to set the groundwork for the rest of verses 15-16.

First, the phrase in verse 14, “for this reason” – it goes back to what Paul previously explained in verse 1-13. Paul talked about Gentiles who had come to faith in Christ.

They are now united in the spiritual body that is called the Body of Christ. That the Gentiles would come to saving faith was a mystery in the Old Testament, but revealed in the New Testament. Paul was explaining this to these Gentile believers in Ephesus.

For this reason, Paul’s prayer request is for these Gentile believers to apply their spiritual benefits to the fullest measure.

To put it simply, apply your practice with your position!

Now, let’s jump back to verse 14, “for this reason, I bow my knees before the Father.”

To put it very practically, Paul said this: I’m on my knees praying to God the Father for you. Paul’s prayer for these believers at Ephesus wasn’t just a one time occurrence. The original language indicates that this was a continual prayer of the Apostle – to live in light of God’s power in their lives!

So – Paul is praying “before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.” (stop there)

In other words, Paul is praying to God, who is the Father of all believers in heaven and on earth. This is not a reference to all people in general. Paul is not referring also to the unbelieving, but to the spiritual family of saints of every age – those now “in heaven” and “on” earth.^[1] – meaning, those who still remain on earth.

2000 years later, the family of believers consist of those who remain.

Transition: So then, for those family of saints who remain until the gathering… until the rapture of the church (see below)

1. God’s power is at work in your inner man

1. Eph 3:16b - “that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, ”

Here begins Paul’s prayer request: He wants God’s people to be strengthened by God’s Spirit. And this power to be strengthened is in accordance with the riches of His glory so that the believers walk with their Savior is all the more sweet.

The place where this begins is “in the inner man.” That reference to “the inner man” refers to our spirit. There’s an outward physical part of us and an inner spirit part of us.

Theologians call this dichotomy. In fact, James 2:26 refers to the outer part of us and the inner part of us.

“…the body without the spirit is dead….”

Only God can reach into the depths of the human spirit or our inner person. Only God can energize the inner man such that he is strengthened by the Holy Spirit to live out his practice with his position in Christ.

1. 2 Corinthians 4:16. “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.”

In other words, the focus is not so much on firming up our physical well-being, but a focus on strengthening the inner man with power. Let me put it another way:

When a person become a born-again Christian, you won’t be able to catch bullets with your teeth. You won’t be able to leap over tall building in a single bound. Nobody will look up into the sky and say, “it’s a bird – it’s a plane – it’s Superman! Paul’s prayer to God the Father is for the strengthening of our inner man, not the material part of us.

My physical well-being is under a curse motif – it’s getting weaker and weaker with age and time. But while we are physically growing weaker, our human spirit that animates our being should be progressively growing stronger and stronger and more and more fortified through the power of the Holy Spirit of promise.

Every believer in this room should have a strong spiritual appetite to feast on the Word of God. His Word is our spiritual nourishment for our inner man that strengthens us.

Daily feeding on the Word of God keeps our mind bathed in His Word, halting of our mind toward “the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. ⁶ For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.” (Romans 8:5-6)

Paul went on to say of believers in Romans 8:8-9, “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. ¹⁰ If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.”

So I say to those who are here today who are followers of Christ: You should be like walking kegs of spiritual dynamite! That’s Paul’s prayer and promise of Ephesians 3:16.

What is your life marked by? Is your life marked by righteousness? Or are you faking your spiritual walk? Is your life characterized by righteous living or characterized by unrighteous living?

Transition: You say, how do I get this power? Answer: You already have it!

God’s Power is delivered through the Holy Spirit - v 16b

The means by which a believer is strengthened is not by his own power, but “strengthened with power through His Spirit.”

By the way: the word for power in the Greek is “dunamis"– it’s where we get our English word for dynamite. The idea Paul has in mind is incredible power. How much power is that, you may ask? Answer: Limitless power to be strengthened through the Holy Spirit. He is the means by which this power has been granted to us. Every follower of Christ has this power granted to us through the Holy Spirit.

It’s the kind of power that strengthens the believer to apply our practice with our position in Christ. Paul’s not talking about some Pentecost experience, but a continual supply of the Spirit’s provision to strengthen the inner man.

So then, my friends, if you are believer in Jesus today and have surrendered to his Lordship in salvation, then you are a part of God’s family. He has placed you in his body. This happened at your salvation. At your salvation, you were baptized by the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12:13 Paul wrote that the Holy Spirit has spiritually baptized believers “into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.” This happens only once in a believer’s life – we call it being born again (John 3:3)

The Holy Spirit was your agent of salvation who blew life into your heart and now dwells in you forever – Merry Christmas – He is the greatest gift none of us deserve!

For this reason, the Apostle Peter wrote that God’s “divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness.”

Have you ever analyzed your prayer life?

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Why do we ask for the Spirit to come down, yet the Spirit is already in us!

Remember what Paul said in Romans 8:9, “But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” The Spirit is here! He is the seal of your redemption in Christ!

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John MacArthur

It disturbs me when Christians ask for what they already have. You know, we ask God for strength, and we already have strength that Christ has given us: “We can do all things through Christ whose strengthens us.” We ask Him for power, and the Spirit’s there with all the power we need. We ask Him for grace, and He says, “My grace is sufficient.” We ask Him for love, and He says, “The love of Christ is shed abroad in your heart,” you know. And we ask Him to guide us, and He says, “I’m trying. Why don’t you follow?” We always ask for these things that we already have; and we have the Spirit.”

My friend, we already everything we need. “His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.” – 2 Peter 1:3

The purpose of God’s power is that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

Now, at this point, some of you might be thinking this: If I already have everything I need I have already have this spiritual power granted to me through the Holy Spirit– why do I feel like my spiritual life and walk is not so dynamic? The Answer: Because you’re not filled!

It’s one thing to have the Spirit resident, it’s another thing to have it dominant. Being filled with God’s Spirit can happen throughout a believers life. It means a daily surrendering of your will to the Spirit of Christ.

But what does it look like

“Do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. ¹⁸ And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.”

It’s easy to surrender our bodies to be filled with alcohol, or surrender ourselves to be filled with doubt or to anger….or lust…you can fill in the rest. Those can be sinful dispositions for the follower of Christ.

But surrendering yourself under the power of the Spirit such that he dominates my thinking process, or my lying down and my getting up, or how I respond to solicitations to do evil such that I have the strength and power to resist my own sinful dispositions – ahh – my friend – that is what Spirit filled living looks like.

Fill your mind with the Word of God. Fill your life with prayer. Surround yourself with godly influencers. And when you do that, your heart is filled with joy! Your heart is filled with strength and power.

At that point, who do you think is controlling the wants in you? Who do you think is energizing you? Who do you think is revitalizing and empowering your obedience to Christ? Take a wild guess, my friends.

” ¹⁹ speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; ²⁰ always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; ²¹ and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.” – Ephesians 5:18

Christian, welcome to your Spirit filled life! Don’t let the sins of your past recycle itself in your mind and so dominate your thinking. Rise up! Hack it to pieces. Replace the recycled sins of your past by bathing your mind in His Word…and mark your life with a lifestyle of prayer. And you will quickly see the surrendering of your will to the Spirit will lead you to a spirit filled life of joy, strength, and peace of the inner man.

” take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” – Ephesians 6:13

II. Grow in response to God’s Power in your life – vv. 18-21

A. By Comprehending the limitless love of Christ

i. Eph 3:18-19 – “…may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge.”

1. This is more than intellectual…this is practically applying what I know about the Love of Christ...this surpasses knowledge. You really only know something until you begin doing it and practicing it.

2. Exchange: I can exchange having to understand everything and not trust anyone and, instead, trust and love the one who understands everything and loves me.

3. His love is so wonderful and celestial – we need His power even to comprehend what may seem so alien to us and believe it and then live in light of it.

Transition: But we are not lone wolves. We cannot do this on our own. That’s why the Apostle Paul said that comprehending the love of Christ is a church affair

B. With all the Saints

i. “Together with all the saints” – v.18

ii. “To Him be the glory in the church” – v. 21

iii. Ephesians 4:16 “…from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

1. Note the connection to building up and growing…being rooted is imagery of a plant growing, and breath, height, length, depth is imagery describing building. So then the Word of God is the Christians spiritual nourishment that we must be spiritually rooted in order for us to grow in the knowledge of the Holy – and in our growing in understanding our behavior changes – our thinking changes – we begin to grow upward stretching our hands toward the light of Christ until the appointed time in which he will reach down to pull us up to be with him forever.

2. Exchange: I exchange seeking to live life on my own and I have brothers and sisters in Christ to help and encourage me on my pilgrims progress.

Don’t be a lone wolf – that’s what one of my professor’s told us in class at the Master’s Seminary. He said that the wolf travels with his pack. They need each other. If a wolf travels alone, he’s a dead wolf. A lone wolf is a dead wolf.

A lone Christian is a dead Christian, easy pray for Satan. Satan will take one look at you like he looked at Eve and warm his hands by the fire.

Don’t forget Cain. “sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it." – Genesis 4:7. And if sin is holding mastery over you, then who really is your master? Who really is your father? (John 8:44)

Transition: So then grow in response to God’s power in your life…

C. In Christ-like Maturity

i. “That you may be filled with all the fullness of God” – v. 19

Verse 19 is perhaps one of the most incompressible statements in all of Scripture that we won’t fully grasp until we stand on the golden shores of eternity.

It’s not that we can understand what Paul is saying – it’s clear. What’s difficult to fathom is God’s love he has for his people such that Paul’s prayer would be for God’s people to be filled with all the fullness of God!

The word is πληρόω (plēróō ) in the Greek, meaning to be filled to the brim – it refers to the Holy Spirit’s complete dominance over our lives.

Even the Apostle Paul understood that this is such an unfathomable truth he says in verse 20, “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us.”

1. “Power that works within us” – v. 20

In other words, the Holy Spirit is working. He’s not a passive recipient. He isn’t on the sidelines saying woe is me! He’s not in the passenger seat. He will perform his sanctifying work in our lives and he will providentially do whatever it takes to dominate our very being.

1. Ephesians 4:12–13 “…for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”

Ephesians 4:15 — 15 “…but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ.”

Exchange: I exchange the standard of comparing myself to others, or being complacent with where I am spiritually and instead I focus on the power God supplies to conform me to the image of His Son.

God’s power in us is incompressible – and we have no excuses. He leaves us no wiggle room at all to say that the reason why we could not live in the fullness of spiritual life is because he didn’t give to us everything we needed – not so.

Merry Christmas – we have the greatest gift of all. The Holy Spirit. And you want to know what’s so great about Him?

What’s so great about him is that we can so live for Christ because of Him who resides in us and strengthens us – and it’s incomprehensible!

Let me close with a story by the name of Wilber Chapman

I got off at the Pennsylvania depot as a tramp, and for a year I begged on the streets for a living. One day I touched a man on the shoulder and said, “Hey, mister, can you give me a dime?” As soon as I saw his face I was shocked to see that it was my own father. I said, “Father, Father, do you know me?” Throwing his arms around me and with tears in his eyes, he said, “Oh my son, at last I’ve found you! I’ve found you. You want a dime? Everything I have is yours.” Think of it. I was a tramp. I stood begging my own father for ten cents, when for 18 years he had been looking for me to give me all that he had.

My friend: This is precisely what God did with us. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to redeem his people from the market place of sin. He gave to us His Holy Spirit to clean us up. But it doesn’t just end there – he sent the Spirit to reside in his people to fill us beyond our brim of understanding.

I close with the words of the Apostle

“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, ²¹ to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.” – Ephesians 3:20-21

And all of God’s people said – Amen!

Let’s pray.

[1] John MacArthur, The Macarthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 1986), 102. The fact that the phrase “from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name”, refers exclusively to believers is supported by the broader context of Ephesians as indicated in 2:18, 19; cf. 2:20, 22; 3:6.