Experiencing the Trinity Praying the Boldest Prayer Ephesians 3:14-21 (Grace September 3, 2017) I. Introduction In 1998, the Los Angeles Times had a front-page article with the headline: Missing Pieces of the Cosmic Puzzle. In the article, K.C. Cole wrote about the fact that physicists and cosmologists cannot find 99 percent of the matter that their leading theories say must exist in the universe, nor 70 percent of the energy that their leading theories say must exist. In the opening paragraph, Cole makes this amazing statement: Scientists pushing into unknown territory often find themselves at a loss for words. The more mysterious the emerging landscape, the further they must reach for appropriate language to describe it. The article went on: Lately, physicists who study the big questions of the universe can be heard tossing around such terms as quintessence, X dark matter, smooth stuff, funny energy and tangled strings. (K.C. Cole, Missing Pieces of the Cosmic Puzzle; The Los Angeles Times; June 15, 1998; Record edition; p. 1.) That s how it is when we are trying to describe the three-fold-ness of God: we are reaching for appropriate language. We use language like one in three, three in one, subsist, persons, undivided substance, incommunicable subsistence, begotten, proceeds. But we still grasp for understanding so we go back to the language of the ancients and use terms that take us even deeper, words like homoousios (one substance) and perichoresis (mutual indwelling). The more mysterious the emerging landscape, the further they must reach for appropriate language to describe it. Today will be the final message in our series on the trinitarian nature of God. I am grateful for the clear Biblical foundation that Stephanie gave us to help us understand why we believe God is Trinity. I am grateful for Evan s message that helped us understand the nature of Trinity and how misunderstanding God s trinitarian nature can shipwreck our faith. I was touched deeply as I prepared for and spoke about how God extends the invitation to each of us to join in the eternal love of the Trinity. Jesus Christ died in order that we might enter the very heart of God, experiencing and being transformed by the love that exists between the Father, Son, and Spirit. I was challenged by Tony s message as he shared seven transformations that occur in our lives as we engage in relationship with the trinitarian God. And yet, with all these informative and challenging messages, we still find ourselves reaching for appropriate language to describe it!
II. Praying the Boldest Prayer Imaginable We see Paul reaching for appropriate language in his prayer which he wrote to the Ephesians. You heard it read just a few moments ago, but allow me to read it again: For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. 16 I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, 17 and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. 18 I pray that you may have the power 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, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:14-21, NRSV) The prayer itself, is one long sentence in the original Greek one long, beautifully crafted sentence which gathers rhetorical momentum until the words crescendo into the boldest prayer anyone can ever pray. The prayer can be sub-divided into three sections. In Darrell W. Johnson s book, Experiencing the Trinity, he says, We can further sub-divide the prayer into six sections, or six movements. Six movements of the heart in prayer before the Trinity, each of them builds on the others until the whole prayer crescendos into the extravagantly huge prayer to be filled up to the fullness of God. We are going to walk through these six movements today and pray the boldest prayer imaginable! Before looking at these six movements, or six ways of experiencing God as Trinity, note how Ephesians 3:14-21 begins and ends. It begins and ends with a big God. Paul begins: I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name (verses 14-15). Every family in heaven and on earth all created and sustained by the Father! And this Heavenly Father gives according to the riches of his glory (verse 16). Glory means all that makes God be God. Riches of his glory implies that the essence of God is inexhaustible. When this God gives, He gives out of a well that is full and bottomless! This is where Paul begins his prayer. And this is where he ends his prayer: to him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or imagine (verse 20). Paul knelt before a big God. Therefore, he could pray big prayers. Little God, little prayers. Big God, big prayers. It is with a sense of urgency and passion that Paul expresses his desire that we experience the fullness of life that is available to us in the triune God.
A. Movement one: I ask the Father that he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit (verse 16). Not just strengthened but strengthened with power. And not just any power, but the power of the Holy Spirit. Quoting Darrell Johnson, The power of the Third Person of the Trinity, who in the beginning hovered over the dark nothingness and brought into being the universe. Who in the middle of history hovered over the nothingness of the Virgin s womb and brought into being Jesus of Nazareth, the God-Man. Who now goes beyond hovering over to actually dwelling within those redeemed by the God-Man. (Johnson, Darrell W., Experiencing the Trinity - Kindle Locations 1207-1216). The Spirit in the inner being. Inner being refers to the deepest recesses of our person, to the very center of one s self, to the place within us that even we ourselves have yet to explore and understand. Here is where the Spirit comes to dwell, and here in that innermost person is where we are given power a power that we desperately need. Power at the core of our being to be the person that God created us to be. Power that helps a man who is struggling with leaving his wife for a younger woman to renew his marriage. The power of the Trinity to help a woman overcome her struggle with addiction to prescription drugs. Power that helps a teenager who is filled with rage at his or her parents to find peace. All of us need this power within our inner person. Holy Spirit come upon us. Surround us. Enfold us. Indwell us. Breathe the power at the center of the universe into the center of our being. B. Movement two: I ask the Father that according to the riches of his glory that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith (verse 17). In one sense, heart is equivalent to inner person. But in another sense, heart goes beyond inner person. If inner person is the center, heart is the control center of the center. For the biblical authors, heart means more than emotions or feelings. Heart involves mind and will. I pray that the Father grant that Christ dwell at the control center of the center. Yes, Father! The Third Person of the Trinity moving deep within, the Second Person of the Trinity dwelling deep within, exercising control deep within. That Christ may dwell. There are two words in the Greek New Testament that are rendered in English as dwell. One (paroikeo) means to inhabit as a stranger, to live as an alien away from home. The other (katoikeo) means to settle down somewhere. It refers to a permanent as opposed to a temporary abode. Which word do you think Paul uses here? Father, I ask that Christ not only visit our hearts, but that he come and take up permanent residence in them. I ask that your Son dwell at the very core of my personality!
C. Movement three: I ask the Father to grant you according to the riches of his glory to have you rooted and grounded in love (verse 17). In the love of the Trinity. In the love of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Rooted and grounded is the natural consequence of the Spirit empowering the center, and Christ controlling the center. Paul is asking that the love of the Trinity be the soil and foundation of our lives. Rooted deeply in the soil of God s love so that good fruit emerges. A foundation that is grounded deeply in the love of God, making the building of our lives strong and enduring. O Father, please, please may the soil and foundation of my life be the pure and strong love You and Your Son share in the Spirit. D. Movement four: I ask the Father to grant you according to the riches of his glory that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth of God s love (verse 18). O Father, help us to comprehend the breadth, length, height and depth of the Trinitarian love. In the words of Darrell Johnson: How can we mere mortals get our minds around this love? Breadth: God s love is broad enough to encompass every tribe and tongue and nation. Broad enough to know and pursue all 7.4 billion people on the planet! Length: Long enough to encompass all of time. God s love was there in eternity past, long before we were created, long before we sinned. And God s love will be there in eternity future inexhaustible, ever richer. Depth: God s love is deep enough to make the ever downward journey. The second Person of the Trinity becoming one of us, a real flesh and blood man. And choosing to take on our sin, to become sin. Deep enough to find me! Deep enough to reach inside me and grab my rebellious heart and win me to himself. Height: God s love is high enough to lift us out of sin and into his Trinitarian Fellowship. (Johnson, Darrell W., Experiencing the Trinity - Kindle Locations 1285-1292). We have that same Holy Spirit power to actually comprehend (lay hold of as one s own, to seize, to take possession of) the love of God. Oh, Father, grant us strength to seize, to take hold of the breadth, length, height, depth of Your love. Overcome any resistance or fear or suspicion or laziness, and strengthen us to grasp it with our whole being. E. Movement five: I ask the Father to grant you according to the riches of his glory to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge (verse 19). To know what surpasses knowing! This knowing is more than intellectual assent. It means to know personally, to experience. To experience what surpasses experiencing!
The implication is that we will never be done with knowing this love. There will always be more to know, to experience. F. Movement six: I ask the Father to grant you according to the riches of his glory that you may be filled with all the fullness of God (verse 19). Extravagant language for an extravagant reality. Filled up. The verb means to fill to full capacity, to fill to the brim. Father, fill us up to the brim out of the riches of Your glory, fill us to full capacity. The fullness of God is the sum total of God s wisdom, power, purity, grace, truth, beauty, mercy, justice, light. The fullness of God is all that makes God be God. Paul is praying that we broken, frightened, sinful, anxious, empty human beings be filled up to the brim with the sum total of God s attributes. In Colossians 2:9, Paul says that all the fullness of Deity dwells in Christ in bodily form. And in Colossians 2:10, he says, And in Christ, you have been made complete. In relationship with Jesus Christ, we partake of that fullness. For the Spirit involves the inner person and Christ Himself makes His home in our heart. III. Conclusion This is the good news, the Gospel. The Triune God draws near to us to draw us near to Himself, pulling us within the circle of the Trinitarian relationship, in order to occupy and possess, pervade, and permeate every part of our lives. I invite you to pray Paul s prayer every day for the rest of this month and see what God does. Let s say it together: For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. 16 I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, 17 and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. 18 I pray that you may have the power 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, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.