Spiritual Warfare: The Battle for Freedom in Christ
Why Be An Ordinary Christian?
Speaker: Michael P. Andrus
Introduction: Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the great English Baptist preacher of a century ago, said, “There is a point in the experience of the committed Christian which is as much above the experience of the ordinary Christian as the experience of the ordinary Christian is above the experience of the man who is not a Christian at all.”
Think about that for a moment. Chances are your initial reaction is negative. We’ve been taught to think that there are only two kinds of people—believers and non-believers, the saved and the lost. And in a sense, that’s true. Unfortunately, some Christians seem to have concluded that once a person is saved, once he’s born again, he’s arrived. But I believe the passage before us will change such thinking, showing us that Spurgeon was right when he claims that there are great heights to which a Christian can climb if he is willing to rise above the ordinary level of mediocrity.
Our text for today is Ephesians 3:14-21:
For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
We are confronted in this passage with a powerful prayer from the Apostle Paul, a prayer that consists of four requests and a benediction. But before looking at these profound requests we need to note how he begins this passage: “For this reason I kneel before the Father.” For what reason? Look back at verse 1. There we find the same phrase, “For this reason,” but then Paul interrupted himself from verses 2-13 with a parenthetical discourse. So, verse 1 should be read in conjunction with verse 14: “For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles, kneel before the Father.”
To find the reason for his kneeling in prayer, then, one needs to go back to chapter 2, where the Apostle has described the incredible blessings that have been bestowed upon both Gentiles and Jews in being knit together in unity in one body. Seeing the magnitude of blessings already received encourages him to go to his knees and ask for more.
In human relations we often come to the point where we say, “I’ve asked so-and-so for so much, so often, I just can’t ask him again. You can’t squeeze blood out of a turnip.” But Paul’s response to God is very different. It is because God has dealt so kindly with the Gentiles and with himself that Paul has the courage to go back to the well one more time.
Now let’s look at the first of Paul’s four requests.
Paul prays that God would grant us strength in the inner being. (14-16)
“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being.” Sometimes it is as helpful to note what the Apostle does not pray for as it is to note what he does pray for. First, he does not pray for any change in circumstances, either for himself or for them. His prayer is not that he may be brought out of the prison from which he is writing so he can return to preach to them in Ephesus. That would be nice, but it is not the most important thing. After all, “stone walls do not a prison make nor iron bars a cage.” I feel convicted here, for I find myself often praying for the sick that they might get well, while frequently neglecting to pray for their inner being to be strengthened during the trial.
What is “the inner person,” anyway? It is really a quite simple notion. All of us are aware that what people see of us on the outside is not necessarily what we are on the inside. People can be ugly on the outside but beautiful on the inside. They can be sugar sweet on the outside but caustic and bitter on the inside. They can be handicapped on the outside but a champion of courage on the inside. They can be pious on the outside but corrupt on the inside.
Paul prays not for the outer person but for the inner person, i.e., who we are down deep inside. And he prays that God will grant us strength with power through His Spirit. The goal is expressed well in 2 Cor. 4:16: “Though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.”
Now he doesn’t spell out why we need this inner strength or where it might be applied in our lives, but I would like to suggest a few areas. Certainly, you could add many more to this list:
We need strength to withstand temptation. Temptation is nothing new, but I believe a case could be made for the fact that with increased financial resources, increased leisure time, and a definite diminishing of public moral standards, Satan is launching an unprecedented assault on Christian people in the arena of moral temptation. Legislation isn’t going to solve the problem, nor is isolation or legalism, or longing for the good old days. The only thing that will solve it is a strengthening of the inner person by the Spirit of God.
We need strength to be bold in witnessing. If anyone has the notion that some Christians find it easy to share their faith, I think they are seriously deluded. Certainly, some Christians do it more faithfully than others, but not because they necessarily find it easy. It’s because they have been strengthened with power by the Spirit in the inner person. The natural tendency is always to sit by quietly while the world goes to hell.
We need strength to conquer depression and other emotional struggles which every Christian faces from time to time. If not depression, it may be loneliness or bitterness or pride or fear or anger, or anxiety or jealousy or greed. How can such oppressive attitudes and feelings be conquered? Only as we receive strength through the Spirit in the inner person.
We need strength to build strong families. I don’t need to know anything about your family at all to assure you that your primary family needs are not financial, nor are they related to the school district you live in, or the job you have, or the house you call home. Your primary needs relate to the inner man or the inner woman, to your attitudes in the home, to the amount of love that is shown to family members, to the priorities that you share.
We need strength to be faithful in ministry. And I’m not talking just about pastors here. I’m talking about anyone to whom the Lord has given a job assignment. Our biggest need is not for eloquence or warmth or even preparation. Our biggest need is for time spent in prayer, for a heart of faithfulness, for a genuine love for those to whom God has called us to minister. And such things come only as the inner person is strengthened.
The human body has billions of germs, microbes and viruses constantly attacking. How does the body resist? There are really two ways: external and internal. Externally there are such options as drugs, vitamins, radiation therapy, or surgery. Internally there are the body’s own incredible disease-fighting mechanism called natural immunity, supported by exercise, fresh air and good diet. Any doctor will tell you that the internal disease-fighting mechanism is preferable to the external. Likewise, Paul’s method of fighting the germs of the soul is to build up the internal resistance of the believer.
So, the first major request in Paul’s prayer is that God would grant us strength in the inner person. The second request:
Paul prays that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith. (17a)
Now immediately this request in v. 17 presents us with a strange paradox. We’ve been taught all our lives that when a person receives Jesus Christ as Savior, He takes up residence in that person’s life. Rev. 3:20 says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will go in and eat with him, and he with me.” Rom. 8:9 adds that “If anyone has not the spirit of Christ, he is none of His.” Both these passages indicate that Christ indwells every believer.
Why then does the Apostle, in writing to a group of Christians, pray that Christ may dwell in their hearts through faith? If He’s already in their hearts, why pray for Him to dwell there? I think the key to Paul’s thought is found in the little word “dwell.” If you looked that word up in an unabridged concordance you would discover that there are eleven different Greek words used for “dwell” in the N.T. The one Paul chooses here means “to settle down,” “to make our hearts His home.” A dormitory is a place to dwell, but it is not a home. A hotel room is a place to dwell, but it is not a home. So also, Christ may dwell in a Christian’s heart without really feeling welcome. Paul prays that Christ may really find a home in our lives.
As we examine some of the NT usages of this word “dwell,” we find that it has some amazing implications. To use just one example, in Col. 1:19 and in Col 2:9 it is used in this fashion: “For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fulness to dwell in Christ…. For in Him all the fulness of Deity dwells in bodily form.” Is the fulness of God dwelling in Jesus Christ like the dwelling of a traveler in a Holiday Inn, never unpacking, always feeling like a transient? Or does God’s fulness really possess Him and control Him? Certainly, the latter, and in the same way Christ wants to dwell in our lives. He doesn’t just want to rent a room but to make our hearts His home. He wants to possess us and control us.
Have you ever met a truly Christ-possessed man or a Christ-possessed woman? If you have, then you can understand why Spurgeon said that there is as much difference between a spiritual and an ordinary Christian as between the ordinary Christian and a pagan. Perhaps I should even ask, would anyone ever accuse you or me of being Christ-possessed. It can happen as, by faith, we surrender more and more areas of our lives to His control.
The third request:
Paul prays that we would comprehend and know the love of Christ. (17b-19a)
“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge.” I have a little box here this evening. It has three dimensions. It is 6 inches long, 4 inches wide, and 4 inches deep. Those are the only three dimensions this box has, and the only three dimensions anything in this world has. But the love of Christ has four dimensions according to Paul! In fact, it probably has an infinite number of dimensions, but I believe he mentions four to impress upon us that the love of Christ is out of this world. It is beyond us; it penetrates to another entire dimension.
Still Paul prays that we might comprehend the incomprehensible, and then in verse 19 he prays that we might know what surpasses knowledge! What a paradox! It makes sense, however, when we see that he is asking us to move in the direction of greater and greater experience of that which, because of our creatureliness and our finiteness, we will never completely attain.
The love of Christ is surely the grandest theme upon which the believer can meditate. It is that in which we are rooted and grounded, according to verse 17. I have read that a great oak tree has as much of its mass under the ground in its root system as it has above the ground in its trunk, branches, and leaves. A great skyscraper can have as much concrete in its foundation and pilings as shows above the ground. The believer also must have root system and a foundation—and they must be in the love of Christ.
Dr. W.A. Criswell has explained the four-dimensional love of Christ by reference to John 3:16, and I believe it’s worth repeating. “For God so loved the world (there’s the breadth of it) that He gave His only begotten Son (the length to which He and the Son were willing to go) that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish (the “whosoever” showing the depths to which His love reached) but have everlasting life (the height to which God raises us).”
We come now to the fourth and final request.
Paul prays that we may be filled up to all the fulness of God. (19b)
Once again, we find Paul delivering an incredible request: “that you may be filled up to all the fulness of God.” On the surface this verse seems to be saying that it is possible for us to become little gods. And there are some religions, like the Mormon faith, for example, which teach exactly that. Unfortunately, however, while they may seem to have the advantage of a literal interpretation of this one verse, they end up contradicting a thousand others which make it perfectly clear that we are God’s creatures and always will be, even though we are redeemed. It was the serpent in the Garden of Eden who first perpetrated the lie that “ye shall be like God,” and the Devil is still deceiving men to expect that.
But if this verse is not suggesting that we can attain godhood, what is it saying? Perhaps it will be easier for us to grasp the answer to this question if we are aware that the attributes or characteristics of God can be divided into two groups. Theologians speak of certain of His attributes as “incommunicable.” That is, they cannot be shared by humans, now or ever; they belong to God alone. Examples are the omni’s (omnipresence, omniscience, omnipotence), eternity, immutability, and sovereignty.
On the other hand, some of God’s attributes are “communicable.” That is, they can be, and are, shared with people to a certain degree, attributes like holiness, love, justice, mercy, and faithfulness. When Paul prays that we might be filled up to all the fulness of God, He is praying, not that we might become omnipotent or omnipresent, but rather that we might experience the communicable attributes of God to the fullest extent possible.
And how can such a thing happen to us? It can happen as we are indwelt and controlled by Christ. If Christ controls my life, and if in Him dwells all the fulness of God in bodily form, then the fulness of God is in me.
Finally, this morning …,
Paul’s grand benediction clearly states the basis for his requests. (20-21)
The Apostle has made some incredible requests in this prayer. Surely, he has spoken with hyperbole and oratory. God isn’t one to grant such gargantuan requests, is he? Paul says He is. “Now to Him who is able….”
“Able to do what we ask.” Paul has asked for some colossal things, but he has asked nothing that is beyond God’s ability.
“Able to do all that we ask.” God isn’t stymied by the magnitude or number of our requests.
“Able to do all we ask or even imagine.” We can’t even dream up requests that God is unable to grant. That doesn’t mean that He will grant them all. As our heavenly Father He knows that not everything we ask for is good for us. But if He determines that it’s best for us, there’s no lack of ability for Him to perform it.
“Able to do more than all we can ask or even imagine.” Even the most active imagination is limited. God’s ability is not.
“Able to do abundantly more than all we can ask or imagine.” I don’t even know how to comment on that.
“Able to do exceeding abundantly more than all we can ask or imagine.” Selah.
Four years ago a little group of four families, whose needs for fellowship and edification were not being met, decided to start a church in West County. They were a bit fearful, but they knew God was able. They asked God for some other families to join them. They asked for a meeting place. They asked for young people so their kids would have friends to fellowship with. They asked for a pastor. They asked for a permanent location.
Did God do all that they asked? You bet He did. In fact, He did all that they asked or even imagined.
But then God did more than all they could ask or even imagine. If you had asked any one of those five families four years ago what they thought was the greatest potential they could see in their little church over the next four years, not one of them would have guessed at what God has accomplished. He gave them 200 other families. He gave them four successive meeting places, each one in turn adequate for the moment. He gave them dozens of young people. He gave them two pastors. He gave them 10 acres with an office.
But now God is doing abundantly more than all they could ask or even imagine. He has given them sister congregations in Cape Girardeau and Jeff City and Kirksville. He is in the process of giving them a sister congregation just 15 miles away here in St. Charles. And it looks like He is shortly going to allow them to plant a new church in South County. He is overwhelming them with blessings of every kind.
The big question is this: what is going to happen when God starts doing exceeding abundantly more than all we can ask or imagine? All I know is that I’m glad I’m part of a movement of the Spirit of God, and not just a cog in some denominational wheel.
The Apostle concludes in verse 21 by telling us that …
To such a God belongs glory in the Church and in His Son. Isn’t it unbelievable that the Church should be mentioned parallel to Christ as a source of glory to God? Not if we grasped the thrust of what Ephesians has taught about the Church. The Church is God’s eternal secret, finally divulged; she is His unique creation; she is the apple of His eye; she is the proof to angelic hosts of God’s incredible wisdom. From her God receives glory, just as He receives it from His Son, Jesus Christ—in all generations forever and ever. And we have the incredible privilege of being part of that Church.
Conclusion: Let me return to Spurgeon’s thought that I began with. There’s as much difference between the mature, growing, dynamic, committed Christian and the ordinary Christian as there is between the ordinary Christian and the pagan. We need to come to grips with the fact that salvation is not the end of the Christian life but the beginning. We need to develop a deep heart’s desire to grow beyond the experience of the ordinary Christian and to know strength in the inner person, the personal indwelling of Christ, His incomprehensible love, and the fulness of God.
Why settle for less?
Tags:
Ordinary Christians
Temptation
Love of Christ
Fullness of God