No Ordinary People
Text: Ephesians 3:14–21 ESV
Introduction to our series, “Who am I?”
We have started this series asking the question, “Who am I?” And what a question that is?! Its such an important question because it’s a universal question. Whether you are middle class, lower class, high class, blue collar, white collar, stay at home mom, or beggar, each of us is answering this question, whether we know it or not. And how are we answering it? We answer it most clearly with our lifestyle. Our lifestyles often point in one of two directions:
Inward—can we make ourselves into something by being a self-made man?
Outward—can something or someone give us what we so desperately need?
Interpreting ourselves in light of current events
But sometimes we are confronted with realities like death, sickness, war, economic plunge, natural disasters, earthquakes, (or a coronavirus), which sober us and unsettle us with the foolishness of trying to find ourselves in this constant and fruitless back and forth. When hard events rock us, they can bless us by shooting our sight upward, instead of out and in. And as I have shot my sight upward this week, four words have come to mind as I have been asked, “How are you dealing with this coronavirus?”
1. I am weak. I am frail, vulnerable, and dependent. Our lives are mists and a virus reinforces for us in a good way that we can appear for a little and then we will disappear. We are truly dust, and our frame is weak. A season like this can grant a warm-welcome of humility.
2. I am strong. While our bodies are weak, our souls are immortal, invincible, and incorruptible. Nothing and no one will deny us our soul from the presence of our Heavenly Father. We will not be denied God’s presence. Hebrews 7:25 tells us this,
“Consequently, He [Jesus Christ] saves to the uttermost since He always lives to make intercession for those who draw near to God through Him.” (Hebrews 7:25 ESV)
This very instant Jesus Christ, virus or not, is pleading His blood in the place of yours, and nothing changes our standing today, tomorrow, or next week. Be made strong in His resilience and enduring grace.
3. I am at risk. We are plagued (like the rest of mankind) with sickness, financial trouble, loss of relationship, pain… God does not promise to prevent these haunts and hurts of life from touching you. He just says, “They do not have the final word”, because viruses are vehicles to bring about God’s grand plans. They are not the end of God’s grand plans, and in that way, you must know that although you are susceptible, you are very safe!
4. I am safe. Though we are weak, we are strong. Though we are at risk, we are very safe. God is still seated upon His throne and still working his great plan of redemption and nothing is unnerving Him! The killing of Christ upon the cross is our go-to reality that proves that what appears one way isn’t necessarily the whole or true picture. Anyone on that day would have concluded that the killing of Christ was the utmost of tragedies. It appeared to be the end of hope. But we now know, looking back on it, that Christ’s death was not the end of hope but rather was the realization of it. The cross tells us that suffering can lead to some of the world’s most salvific events.
In the mid-1500’s a group of Christians gathered in Heidelberg Germany to write a question and answer catechism to ground themselves in the great truths of our Christian religion. This was one of the first questions they answered:
What do you understand by the providence of God?
Answer: The almighty and ever present power of God by which God upholds, as with his hand, heaven and earth and all creatures, and so rules them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty—all things, in fact, come to us not by chance but by his fatherly hand.
As God’s sovereign hand has directed us up this week, so do our hands in prayer direct us upwards. We have ample opportunity, of our own initiation, to look upwards. As we look into our next passage in Ephesians we see that Paul is directing us up. He is directing us heavenward in his prayers for the Ephesians and consequently what they mean for us. And so, as we look up this morning, we are going to realize things about ourselves and answer the question, “Who am I?” Or better yet, “Who are we?” The book of Ephesians does not only prompt us to ask, “who am I?” but it causes the Christian to look farther and deeper and answer, “Who are we?” Because for the Christian, your identity cannot be summed up in a vacuum or expressed in independence. It exists in this body of interconnectedness. To bring this home as an example, you could follow the Bible to a ‘T’ and still be in sin if you are just doing it alone. ‘Who you are’ is inseparably woven into who I am. Our identities are expressed biblically through interdependence (ie. a people, family, country), not in independence and isolation from others. In Christ, we see ourselves mainly through the lens of a whole body, not just a part of it. We are a plurality, not a singularity in Christ. And its sticks out from beginning to end in Paul’s prayer.
Why do we pray?
It seems fitting that we ask this question at the beginning because Paul answers this question at the beginning of his prayer. He says, “For this reason…”. Now, before we talk about his rationale and reasons for prayer we might ask, “what are ours?” First of all, do you have any reasons? Or do you have any reasons besides, “I’m told to, or I know I should.” One of the ways we can shepherd ourselves is reminding ourselves why we pray. This is how we combat apathy, lack of desire, and poor motivations, and we look to God’s Scripture to empower poor drive and morale (through promises, His nature, our frame).
Myself, I was helped some time ago by an article I read while attending a missions class entitled “Praying against the status quo.” And as I read, I was so ashamed and full of conviction about how just “OKAY” I was with the way things are in the world. To put it bluntly, I just don’t care. I am sadly too at peace, comfortable, satisfied, and content with my own life and lives of so many others in this church and world. My lack of prayer shows my lack of care for hurt, pain, unbelief, marriage, the health of my walk with God, poverty, crime, injustice, and broken relationships. I want to become dissatisfied with mediocrity and pray against the status quo and hold Him to the future of what He has promised to do for me, you, and our world. We are even instructed by our Lord in His prayer, “Your kingdom come, your will be done.”
Why is Paul praying?
Paul’s answer to why he is praying for the Ephesians (and consequently how this prayer applies to us) is found all the way back at the end of chapter 2 in verses 19-22 (after taking a valuable aside in verses 3:1-13). Paul is not praying according to the status quo because of what is prompting His prayer…
“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grow[ing] into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:19–22 ESV)
In essence, Paul is saying, “if you have trusted Christ, God has done something in you, is doing something in you, and will continue to do it until heaven. He has changed you, is changing you, and will one day fully change you.” This is a way to refer to the terms justification, sanctification, and glorification for identity purposes. So, we can conclude that our lives are building projects (our lives are under construction), which keeps us from pride because we are not a finished product, and makes us hungry to become more of what we will be, and humbles us that we can become something useful to the Great God-Builder. And what is God doing, changing, building us into: “a dwelling place”. He wants to make His home with me.
As an example, I reminisce back to the day I proposed to Sara. There is no better compliment than the one she gave me when she said, “Yes!” after I got down on one knee. Because, in essence, she was saying, “I want to make a home with you, become one with you, start and share a life with you, and your life is now my life…” When God takes residence in our lives, we need not worry if it’s a one-night stand, or if He’s trying us out in a dating relationship. Every morning you wake up, He’s there and His presence tells us he wants to make a home with us, in us, and start a life together. To be in relationship is to be home with God and a home for God!
In our neighborhood, a developer has bought a lot and is expanding this one lot into two for two houses. They have demolished the old home and dug down deep into the ground and laid a foundation so they can build a house that will be a home and allow family to dwell together in love and lifestyle. God is at work, not for the sake of working, but He is working to expand His home with you and in you.
This is exactly what prompts Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:14-21 (and what should prompt our prayers too)…God has demolished the title of “aliens and stranger” and has dug down deep and laid a foundation of Christ Jesus for one simple and straightforward reason: that we would be a dwelling place, habitat, a living space for our Lord and Savior. God wants to fill you with Himself.
What is Paul praying?
Before we jump into the prayer itself, let’s make some observations from the outset:
1. Paul is not praying for the Ephesians to receive Christ for the first time. Paul has taken great pains to tell us about their redemptive journey. But Paul’s prayer could appear that way right? Because Paul uses similar phrases that come up in a gospel presentation (i.e. phrases of Spirit, Christ would dwell in faith, know God’s love, filled with God). He has already established, at various points earlier in the letter, that the Ephesians have undergone a life transformation. They are already justified and approved. So, this is not a prayer for the unsaved but for the saved. This is a valuable lesson we learn about Christianity—the gospel message God uses to birth us is the same message He uses to grow us, develop, parent, and build us up. Its not a different message, but the same message only leaned into, look upon, and loved in increasing ways. Maybe a way to distinguish salvation from sanctification is to consider how you would enjoy a steak. There is a difference between tasting that a steak is good and then savoring its goodness! When we move from simply tasting and being filled by a steak to enjoying and lingering on it, we can more fully understand the difference between being justified by the gospel and being sanctified by it. When you savor a steak, you draw out its flavor, you commit to consuming it more often, you commit to make financial sacrifices to have more of it, and you cannot keep it to yourselves because you want to tell others. That is what this prayer is; it’s a savory prayer seeped with sanctification themes.
2. Paul is not praying for God to do something to the Ephesians independent of the role they play in sanctification. In justification, God works almost entirely apart from us to bring us back from the dead, but in sanctification He works through us and alongside of us to bring us along in His building project work. (Paul makes this all the more clear in Philippians 2:12-13). So, we see in Paul’s prayer, that God strengthens us with power (v. 16) so that we can become active players in Christ’s in-dwelling and strengthens us so we can comprehend and know His love. Sanctification is not a ‘sit back and watch’ endeavor. It’s being an active laborer in God’s big building project. Some of you need to realize you are not the foreman, and others of you need to get to the site and lay some bricks.
3. Finally, Paul is very conscious of who he is talking to. And it is the very God we pray to who coaxes us to come before Him. Paul tells us just before his prayer that Jesus offers us
“boldness and access with confidence” (Ephesians 2:12).
In essence, Jesus’ death has rolled out the red carpet for our direct access to our Father! And we see Paul articulating the awe over the fact that every creature that has every lived finds its source/existence derived from Him. We can also take that phrase another way spiritually speaking and say, “whether you are Ephesian or Jew, if you are in Christ, you share the same Father and therefore the same last name!” Either way we take it, whether Paul is talking about physical birth or spiritual rebirth, we are awed that we can call such power and authority, “FATHER!” And so Paul concludes His prayer,
“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think…” (Ephesians 3:20a ESV)
And we are reminded that when we have the trifecta of attributes that this Father does: all wise, all good, all powerful, there is no limit on the good that we can or should ask for. Our God’s nature only widens the prayer possibilities. So now, we will jump into the meat of the prayer and watch as Paul opens up the floodgates of God’s fullness for us!
We are no ordinary people
First, we are an empowered people. Not only should we take heart in the power available to us because of God’s nature that we have unlimited access to (“according to the riches of His glory”). That alone is incredible access to power, but we need to know that He has planted power in us. To understand the potency and concentration of this power, we need to reflect on the cause and catalyst of this power, which is the work of Christ in the gospel. We go back to Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 1 and we see this power explained:
“…and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.” (Ephesians 1:19–21 ESV)
Paul is saying, “I want you to know how much power is being exerted toward you in this great building project of God. That the power at work for you and in you is the same power that God worked in Christ when he raised Him from the dead and seated him at his right hand.”
This is the immeasurable power God is strengthening us with in Ephesians 3. So we aim not to be ashamed of that power. Romans 1:16 tells us that Paul is not ashamed, for this gospel is power! We are the product of this gospel power, and God is working a powerful process in our lives so that when temptation comes we say,
“For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV)
And when trial comes we say,
“But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.” (Hebrews 10:39 ESV)
It is right and appropriate for us to exude power because we are the product of an all-powerful God.
To put it plainly, Christians are not slumpy people. We are not head-hangers with slumpy postures. We are an empowered people with heads held up high in hope because we have a backbone stronger than steel. Christ has given every believer a cross-shaped backbone and this backbone is what holds our heads, hands, and shoulders up. We are not powerful, but we are empowered by the back of the one who bore our sins.
Secondly, we are an indwelled people. This second characteristic about the people of God is the goal of our empowerment. Paul prays, “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith…”. This is the reason for our strengthening…that God may inhabit, take residence, possess us that He may conform us into His image. He is, in essence, discipling us from the inside out. God prepares us to live with Him by living in and through us. He is preparing us for His residence by taking up residence in you. He comes to ramshackle houses and kicks out squatters and the gods of this world, which threaten to fill us up in increasing ways. He is sweeping out our old man and dusting away the cobwebs and spiders that have so entangled our existence, and He’s cleaning house.
To put it another way, God does not take up residence in us as a careless and irresponsible tenant to use and abuse a property. God comes in as owner. Owners take responsibility for the property themselves to build it, better it, and beautify it. That is what our Great God-builder is doing. He has bought the tattered home and is restoring it and renovating it to such extent that you would hardly know what it appeared like before.
Finally, we are a loved people. Earlier this week I had a rotten day. Someone was having a hard time with me, someone said they really didn’t like my ministry, and then someone was going to have to pull back from one of my bible studies. I felt really down and really discouraged and just wanted to escape. And then I clearly perceived where my mind went to try and cope. My mind did not look up, but bobbed back and forth between looking in and out—in at what I could do and out at who I could do it for. I wanted to throw myself in ministry to assuage my defeat and discontentment. And the Spirit caught my coping error and said sweetly, “Come to me.” So I prayed Ephesians 3:16-17 and was reminded how I needed the indwelling of Jesus by faith and not the faithless pursuit of being indwelled by some ministry idol.
As we reflect upon the indwelling of God (just as Paul did in his prayer), we cannot help but make a beeline to His love. He prays,
“so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love…” (Ephesians 3:17 ESV)
How do you know when God takes deeper and more settled residence? You feel layers of increasing love.
In some of my own harder moments I have heard the whisper, and then, in tears, I have repeated the phrase “I am loved.” “I am loved. I know you love me. I know you do.” This love of God is our Christian armor. When doubt, death, divorce, discouragement in life seek to dismantle us, we are reminded of the Romans 8 love which mocks the naysayers in our lives: “Who will bring a charge against God’s elect?” Nothing and no one! God’s banner over us is sure, steadfast, and permanent. He has purchased you. He is perfecting you, and He will bring you into His presence and the words for His Son in Mark 1:15 are claimed by us—You are his beloved and with you He is well-pleased.
Paul’s prayer reminds us that we are to excavate this love and reach down to the deep foundations of Christ in our life to the Savior’s strong whisper: “You are loved.”
Because the one He empowers, is the one He indwells, and the one He indwells feels the unending layers of His love. We must never forget it. We are no ordinary people. And by God’s grace we are becoming less and less ordinary.