Free Refills

5-6 minutes

Eph. 3:14-21
Steve Simala Grant, Sept. 15/16, 2001

We live in a crazy world – a world where hatred and violence exists, persists, and at
times shocks us with the evil that some people can perpetrate on other people. We have
seen pictures this week of planes full of people slamming into buildings full of even
more people. We have heard of the guestimates of the number of human lives lost – of
innocent men and women and children, people with families and loved ones, people
with faces and feelings and futures. Suddenly ended, as the world watched on in horror.
Those images of destruction will live on with us for the rest of our lives, and they bring
to each of us profound emotions – sadness and heartache. Disbelief. Anger. Desires for
revenge. Questions about how hatred that strong could commit an act that purely evil.
Questions about where God was when this happened.

I personally was deeply saddened, and drawn to prayer. I felt shocked and angry. I
prayed for the leaders, for the workers, for those suffering and those killed, and for their
families. And to be truthful, I wanted to see revenge. To see those who perpetrated
these cowardly acts of terrorism made to suffer as much as their victims had. And I
could feel the hatred welling up inside me.

As I worked through my own feelings, the anger did not subside, but I came to realize
that the hatred was wrong. The desire for revenge was wrong. I now desire justice, not
vengeance. The difference is subtle, but extremely important – justice is reasoned,
careful, dedicated to the establishing of truth and then ensuring that punishment that
fits the crime is carried out. Vengeance is purely emotional and reactive, and lashes out
at any potentially responsible person or group.

I confess to you my ignorance of the fine points of international politics, of the reasons
(political or religious) that people are moved to such hatred of the US that they are
driven to attack innocent American civilians as they go about their day. I’m sure they
can make a case against the US, and obviously can do so persuasively enough that
suicidal men believe it and are willing to act in such horrific ways. But what I am not
ignorant of is the roots of evil and hatred that are behind such atrocities, the one we
have witnessed this week and the others throughout history – the former Yugoslavia,
Rwanda, Auschwitz, Cambodia, the crusades, the persecution of Christians by the
Romans.
I debated and prayed about what passage of Scripture to look at this morning, and in
consultation with the rest of the staff decided to remain in Ephesians, in our series, and
see what God’s Word has to say to us and the world we live in.

And I didn’t need to stretch the passage to make it fit. It begins by picking up the
thought Paul began in chapter 3 and completing it – the key phrase that connects the
two is “for this reason.” And then Paul introduces his second prayer for His readers (the
first being in 1:15-23).
He says “for this reason…” and then goes to prayer. One of the astounding things I heard
repeatedly all week was a call to prayer – everyone from local aid workers to the
president of the US asked people everywhere to pray. And everyone from normal folks
like you and I all the way up to the leaders of many nations around the world responded
by saying “our prayers are with you.” And regardless of the fact that this statement
came from people with profoundly different religious and spiritual perspectives, the
response was a spiritual one. The response was prayer.
And this makes complete sense to me – in the face of situations beyond our
comprehension, we naturally turn our hopes to God. I have often wondered how people
who claim to have no faith can possibly cope in times of loss, especially in times of
personal loss. And yet the truth is that most people have some measure of faith, and it is
times like this one that bring that out – that bring questions and hopes to the surface.
And this gives us opportunity, as the ones who know the Hope personally, to capitalize
on that interest and share what Jesus has done for us.

It is times like this that raise difficult questions – “how could a loving God allow
something like this to happen?”; and though these are extremely difficult questions to
answer, it certainly provides us with an opportunity to share the faith that we have that
this life is not all there is – that we have a hope for an eternity where this kind of evil
and suffering will be no more. We have Jesus – the answer to a world in desperate need.
In the face of something wherein we are powerless to respond, we turn instinctively to
God who does have the ability to respond and somehow accomplish His will even
through actions that are entirely evil.

Paul was driven to his knees in prayer, driven to go before the Father following his own
teaching from the previous verse (12) which asserts that we may approach God with
freedom and confidence. And the substance of what Paul prays falls into three requests:
first he prays that we would be strengthened with power. Second he prays that we
would grasp the extent of God’s love. And finally, he prays simply that we would be
filled with God.

1. Request #1: We Be Strengthened with Power (vs. 16-17a).

Paul’s first request is for strengthening. It begins with an affirmation of God’s
ability – God’s resources – to hear and to answer prayer. He asks that out of his glorious
riches God would do this strengthening. It is a statement about God’s nature and His
capacity to answer and respond to our requests – and it is an appropriate place for us to
begin from this week –of reminding ourselves of who God is and that He is big enough
and strong enough to deal with all the events of our world. It is an appropriate place to
begin from any time we seek God in prayer! God’s resources are abundant, limitless
even. We need, as we pray, to be mindful of who it is we ask, and what God is capable of
doing in response to our prayers.
The next phrase is the meat of this first request – that we be strengthened with
power. A prayer for strengthening presupposes that we need it – that in fact we are
week and frail and in need of God. Most of the time I don’t think we in NA feel that way –
we live our lives daily feeling like we are in control and powerful and not in need of any
help. Any sign of “weakness” is deplorable and to be avoided at all costs. And this
pretension prevents us from forming deep relationships with others, because we feel
like we can’t need or rely on anyone but ourselves. Our message as Christians is
radically different! Paul said the ONLY thing he would boast about was his weakness!
Our message as Christians is first that we need a Saviour, and second that we need each
other in order to live obediently to our Saviour. The bombing of the Pentagon and the
WTC is unsettling because it demonstrates that there are weaknesses, that we are not
ultimately in control. And I believe that knowing we are weak can be a good thing – it
causes people to ask questions, to seek some hope and comfort beyond themselves, in
short it can draw people to God.
Paul prays that we would be strengthened in the face of our weakness, by the
power of God. And as we work through the rest of the prayer, we see that Power is one
of the major themes of this prayer – through all three of the specific requests we find
this word and the concepts behind it repeated. Power is not meant to be corralled –
stored – saved up for a rainy day: it is meant to be used to change something. To impact
something. To be implemented and used to make a difference.
There are two parallel phrases that flesh out this prayer for power. The first is “through
his Spirit in your inner being” and the second is “that Christ may dwell in your hearts
through faith”. The NIV unfortunately adds the word “so” in front of the second, making
it seem like we are strengthened by the Spirit so that Christ may dwell, but this is not
actually the best translation – the NRSV changes the “so” to “and” , and makes it more
clear that the two phrases are parallel; not one causing the second. The point is clear –
Paul is praying that the strength and power would be something we each experience
internally and spiritually.
What a timely prayer for our world. That those suffering loss would be
strengthened. That those searching and cleaning up and rebuilding would be
strengthened. That those agonizing with how to respond and what measures are just
and appropriate be strengthened. And that they know it is by a power beyond
themselves and are thus be turned towards God.

2. Request #2: We Grasp the Extent of God’s Love (vs. 17b-19a).

Paul’s second prayer request is that we might somehow be able to grasp the extent of
God’s love (read).
Once again we see the theme of power in a predominant place. Paul recognizes that it
will take the power of God to reveal the extent of the love of God. We’ll talk more about
that in a moment, but first notice the clause that follows – “together with all the saints”. I
was intrigued to learn that this isn’t simply a request for inclusiveness – that Paul is not
praying that you would know God’s love and I would know God’s love and all of us
would know it. There is something else to it – it is saying that a significant part of
coming to grasp the extent of God’s love will only happen together!. In community. In
unity. Have you ever noticed how often God chooses to act in our lives and the vehicle is
another person? It is very, very often. That is how God has chosen to work. One of the
things I tell premarital couples is that the love and intimacy they create in their
marriage will be one of the significant ways that they will also experience the love of
God – that in fact they will often be the hands and feet of God to each other. This little
phrase sticks out because it demonstrates that we need each other – that we need to be
in authentic caring relationships with one another in order to experience the extent of
God’s love.
The meat of this request is that we might be able “to grasp how wide and long and deep
and high is the love of God, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge.” The poetic
characteristic hightens our appreciation of the extent of God’s love, that it is wider and
longer and deeper and higher than we ever thought possible. And though it surpasses
our understanding, Paul prays that we would know it. All the language leads us to
conclude that Paul is not praying that we would simply understand in our minds that
God loves us, but understand it in our hearts. That we would feel it, and thus live in such
a way that honors the love of God for us.

Love is a powerful thing – even our own human love for one another. And when we stop
and reflect on the love of God, we begin to see how even greater – far greater – is His
love, and how infinitely more powerful. “The name of Napoleon the Great truly stands
prominently for power. Musing as a lonely prisoner on St. Helena, he summarized thus:
"Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and myself founded empires. But on what did we
found them? On force! Jesus Christ alone found his kingdom on love, and today there are
millions who would die for him."
Let me apply this thought three ways – first to directly address the question many will
ask in light of this week; secondly to apply it personally; and third to apply it to our
neighbours.
A. the big question
“How could a loving God let something like this happen?” Is God not powerful enough to
prevent it, or not loving enough to prevent it? It is the “why” question. My first response
is to affirm that it is a question that needs to be asked – that needs to be honestly voiced
out loud. My second response is that I don’t know why – I cannot crawl inside God’s
head and see His plan and will for all humanity past, present, and future, and thus I
cannot explain what He is thinking and doing. Perhaps if I had this prayer request – to
truly grasp the extent of God’s love – fully realized in my own life I would have a better
answer. And in addition to these general things, I can assert some specifics:
1) God grieves at what happened, like He grieves at the death of every innocent person.
God hates death – He hates it so much that He sent His only Son to earth to defeat for all
time the power, the permanence, the sting of death. God did not and does not desire that
people suffer. And yet it still happens because of the evil and the sin and the hatred that
still exists in this world and always will until the end times.
2) And here is the part that is difficult for us to understand: God is sovereign. God will
work through the evil to accomplish His will. This makes God neither responsible for
evil nor even temporarily defeated by it. Somehow, by His power, He accomplishes His
will for our world even in and through horrific evil. This is what we mean when we
assert that God is in control – that He is sovereign. And this is something we can’t
logically understand, but we can accept in faith.
3) Life is fragile, and in Christ we have confidence in an eternal life. And God cares more
about our eternal life than we do about our temporary life – and we care an awful lot
about our temporary life. Through Christ we have a hope for eternity that allows us to
face death with confidence and without paralyzing fear.
So as you talk with people you know this week, and as they voice these questions, I pray
that you would have an answer for the hope that is within you. I pray you would have
opportunity to share the faith you have in Christ and the hope you have for eternity. We
do not have all the answers, but we have a relationship with God that gives us strength
for today and hope for eternity.
B. applied personally
Can I shift gears kind of suddenly and ask if you know this love that surpasses
knowledge? Has Paul’s prayer been answered for you, both in your mind and in your
heart? I know it is a sudden shift from thinking about terrorism in the US to reflecting
on your own life, but think for a moment – do you know that God loves you? not the
words, not the theological concepts alone, but the knowledge in the core of your being
that the God of the Universe… loves… you… We are all quick to point out, at our core,
how unlovable we are. How we have failed God and disappointed God and rebelled
against God. And the devil is quick to reinforce all that, and bring us to the conclusion
that “God couldn’t possibly love me.” Let me respond to that lie with Romans 5:8 – “But
God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us.” Yes, we are unlovable at the core of our old nature – but that is irrelevant! God loves
us anyways. God loves us powerfully. And God proved that in Christ.
I want to pause here and pray this verse of Scripture for each of us, because I think this
is a really significant root problem for many, many Christians today – we don’t really
know in the depths of our being that God loves us. And we certainly don’t know the
extent of that love. So I’m going to pray the verse, have a moment in silence to give God
a chance to respond, and then continue.
C. applied to our neighbours
I’d love to preach a whole sermon just on this, but instead let me make just one simple
comment. Our neighbours need, desperately, to know this love of Christ. And God has
called us to take the message – in word and in deed – to them. The events of the week
give us opportunity to share the hope that we have in the powerful love of Christ. And
let it begin with us praying this prayer of Paul’s for those in our circles who do not know
Christ.

3. Request #3: We Be Filled with God (vs. 19b).

The final request is a simple one. (read). It is simply that we might be filled. not just a
bit. not half full. not even full to the top. But rather full “to the measure of all the fullness
of God.”
(Sat.) I don’t want to try to explain this. I just simply want to pray it for us, and ask the
worship team to lead us a bit as we seek and expect God to answer this prayer of Paul’s
and of ours.
(Sun). This is quite an amazing request – a bold request! That we would be filled –
completely – with the love of God to the degree of the fullness of God. How full is that?
Let me ask you this morning – how full are you? How much of the love of God fills you?
You can find the answer to that question by looking at yourself internally first – do you
feel it? - and by looking secondly at how you treat the people around you, for if you are
truly full, it will overflow into the relationships around you. If you are not satisfied, and I
know I am not as I answer this question for myself, then simply pray this prayer and ask
God to fill you.
Conclusion:
Paul prays three things for us: that we would be strengthened with power, that we
would know the extent of God’s love for us, and that we would be filled. We need those
things every week, but especially this week as we go as lights into a darkened world that
is perhaps more aware of its darkness.
We haven’t studied verses 20-21 – they don’t need a lot of explanation. But we will close
with reading them together (put on overhead).