Eph 3:14 For this reason I
bow my knees before the Father, 15
from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to
be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your
hearts through faith--that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength 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, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do far
more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work
within us, 21 to him be glory in
the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.
Amen.
We continue this week with the
sermon series "God's blueprint for the Church." So far we've seen
God's marvelous overall PLAN (week 1) and that it entails an EXTREME MAKEOVER
(week 2). In chapter 3 of Ephesians vss 1-13 Paul continues to unpack what he
calls the "mystery" that has been revealed now in these latter
times--the mystery that God had no intention of leaving the Gentiles out of the
picture forever. This is a major recurring theme in most of Paul's writings. This
makes sense given that Paul felt a primary calling to be the "Apostle to
the Gentiles."
After further summarizing the
revelation of the mystery--that God would have ONE covenant people, comprised
of both Jews and Gentiles based on faith in the Messiah Jesus--Paul finishes
out chapter 3 with the verses chosen as this Sunday's reading... what amounts
to a beautiful prayer.
The metaphor of building/blueprint
is taking shape. Paul uses such terminology himself. Already in chapter 2 he
said:
19 So then you are
no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and
members of the household of God, 20
built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself
being the cornerstone, 21 in
whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in
the Lord.
So... the structure may
not have WALLS (we saw that last week), but it does have a foundation, a chief
cornerstone,... and in this prayer of St. Paul we can even discern what I would
call "pillars of support." This brings me to a note before proceeding
further. Ephesians can be very easily divided into two main parts: DOCTRINE
(chapters 1-3) and RESPONSE, or 'ethics' (chapters 4-6). In other words, Paul
spends the first half instructing his audience about what they should believe
and why, and the last half remarking about the difference it should make in
their lives. As he does this, Paul is providing more and more detail regarding what God's blueprint
for the Church should look like.
Hence, regarding the
'pillars' of this structure that God is building... these pillars that
individual believers, you and I, are to be, two things jump out at me
specifically: (1) we are to be STRONG
pillars, " strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner
being, (vs 16)." And, (2) we are to be STEADY, 'grounded' pillars, "so
that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith--that you, being rooted and grounded
in love (vs 17)." Strength that
comes not from worldly concepts of power but rather from the Holy Spirit....
and groundedness that comes from.... of all things... love. This sounds very
counter-cultural! This sounds like it could only come from the heavenly Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
cheers,
TM
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