Experiencing the Fullness of God

BY MARTIN R. CRAIN

Ephesians 3:7-21
We are all very busy people, aren't we? Sometimes we're so busy we forget what we are doing. Sometimes I get up and go into a room and forget why I went there. Maybe I'm just getting old. Or maybe I'm too busy to remember what I am all about. This is a danger we can all fall into in our Christian walk. We forget where we are going for God. We forget the purposes that He has given to us.

As believers in Christ, nevertheless, we must apply His purposes and His directions to our lives. We should be progressively experiencing the fullness of God in our lives.

Our text from Ephesians 3verses 7-21has to do with growing in Christ. In this message, we want to look particularly at Paul's prayer. By focusing on the four key points of that prayer, I believe we can learn how to experience the fullness of God in our lives.

1. The Spirit's power

In verse 16, Paul is praying for the power of the Spirit for the Ephesians. He is praying for them because, as he points out in verses 13 and 14, he fears that they may be discouraged. He says, "I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being."

There are times when we, too, get discouraged, when we are tempted to lose heart. When that happens, we also desperately need this power from God through His Spirit. We need to ask God for strength to deal with our trials.

Paul refers to this power in two other verses in this passage. In verse 7, he speaks of the power that has enabled him to be a servant of God; and in verse 18, the power to know the love of Christ. Besides dealing with our difficulties, we need the power of God both to serve and to love in a godly way.

Inner strength. Notice that this power, this strength, is in our inner being. This is God's power working in us. So often, we want God's power to work through us or for us. We want God's power to change or manipulate our circumstances so that we will feel better. We want to use God for our benefit.

But we are not thinking of that here. We are thinking of God working in our spiritual life. We are considering the power of God that enables us to face our circumstances and overcome the world. This is the root of our devotional lifepower to be a testimony for Christ in spite of our difficultiesand we must depend on the Holy Spirit for it.

I, too, get discouraged sometimes. When I'm discouraged, I need to pray. It is through prayers that I lay hold of the power of the Spirit. I also need my brothers and sisters in Christ to help me. It is through my fellow believers that I am reminded of the power of the Spirit.

2. Christ's presence

Why does Paul pray for inner strength for the Ephesians? He explains in verse 17, "so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith." You see, as we pray for the power of the Spirit, our faith is increased.

We come to Christ in faith to be saved. But for our faith to grow, we need to experience the presence of Christ. Notice that this experience is in our hearts. It is in the very center of our being. It changes what we want to do, what we desire to do. The idea here is one of abiding in Christ and Christ abiding in us. This is always what the Spirit wants us to experience. The Holy Spirit always focuses on Christ and on exalting Him.

A picture of believers abiding in Christ is painted by our Lord in John 15. It is a picture of the branch receiving its nourishment from the vine. "Remain in me," He says, "and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me."

What is the fruit of this dwelling of Christ in our lives? It is the fruit of the Spiritlove, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal. 5:22,23). We bear fruit as we, empowered by the presence of Christ in our hearts, live a life that sets us apart from the world, a life that glorifies God.

3. Christ's love

From the second half of verse 17 through the first half of verse 19, Paul talks about Christ's love. He says, "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."

You see, when we experience the presence of Christ, we are rooted and grounded in love. Love ought to have an immovable hold in our lives. But remember, this is not human love. This is God's perfect love, unconditional love. And it should be like a tree's roots in our lives. It should be like a building's foundation on which we build our lives.

This love is multi-dimensional. We live in a three-dimensional world. But Paul speaks of this love of Christ in four dimensions. That is because Christ's love is all encompassing. We cannot possibly comprehend all that there is of Christ's love. It is spiritual; its source is only in God.

Perfect love. Jesus Himself speaks of this perfect love. He says, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." To die for a friend shows great love. But then we remember that Jesus died for his enemies. Paul writes in Romans 5:8, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Dying for enemies is something far beyond us, yet we can experience it in Christ.

The apostle John tells us that we love because God first loved us (I John 4:19). Because Christ died for us and has given us His Spirit, His love can shine through us. Having experienced it from God, we can now give it back to God, which includes showing it to others.

Love, therefore, should be our primary motive for prayer. We pray to God not to get what we want, but because we love Him. Once we understand the greatness of the love of Christ, we respond in devotion to Him. In our devotional lives, there
fore, love for God, for fellow believers and for our neighbors must be the primary motive.

Sufferings. As we plumb the depth of God's love, we come to sufferings. Writing to the Philippians, Paul says, "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection" (3:10). To us that sounds great. But Paul goes on to say, "and the fellowship of His sufferings, becoming like him in his death."

If we want to know the love of Christ, we need to know the fellowship of His sufferings or the likeness of His death. It is not pleasant; yet it is crucial in knowing His love. In fact, the greater the pain in our lives, the greater becomes our capacity to know Christ's love. The greater the pain of giving of ourselves for someone else, the greater the potential to draw on the love of Christ. The more we love, the more we can understand love.

How often do we cause God pains? Does He stop loving us? No, He keeps loving us. I have often become tired of cleaning up after my children. But Jesus died to clean up all of my sins. As I sacrifice for my children, I do it because I love them. But I must draw upon the sacrificial love of Christ to make it effective. I must rely on the presence of Christ and the power of the Spirit. Then, knowing Christ's love I can sacrifice for Him and for others.

4. God's fullness

In the last half of verse 19, Paul says, "that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." We don't become God. We don't even become equal with God. But we may be filled with His fullness.

Jesus is the Word. So, to be filled with God is to be filled with the word of God. We need the living word; we also need the written word. "All Scripture" Paul tells Timothy, "is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." The purpose here is spiritual maturity or fullness. Only when we are filled with God's word can we be filled with God.

God communicates to us through His word and we communicate to God through prayers. And then God fills us with Himself.

Paul understands this completely. Here, Paul is in prison in danger of his very life. Yet, he is praying for the Ephesians, who are in no danger at all. Paul is in need of comfort. But instead, he is comforting others. Because he knows the fullness of God, he prays for those who do not know the fullness of God.

Progressive. This is a progressive filling, not something that simply happens once. There is no limit to the fullness of God, because God is limitless. So, God fills us and then He expands our capacity for His fullness.

To be filled with God, however, everything else must go. Many things in life are good for us. Our health is good. Our jobs that provide for our loved ones are good. The families that God has given us is good. We want to use our health, our jobs and our families to God's glory. But we mustn't let any of that come between us and God.

Let us not forget the Israelites. God gave them a promised land. God gave them homes that they did not build. God gave them crops that they did not plant. God gave them peace that He fought for. And in all their blessings in the Promised Land, they forgot God. We must never confuse the blessings of God with God Himself.

Sometimes when we lose our job, we are more open to the presence of God. When we lose our health, we can be more open to the fullness of God. In the lost of a loved one, God can fill us. Frequently in our loss, we learn to be filled more with God.

Beyond expectaions. The last two verses of this passage guarantee that this is so. They read, "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."

God wants to fill us more than we can imagine. God wants us to experience the love of Christ more than we can imagine. God wants us to have the abiding presence of Christ more than we can imagine. God wants us to have the power of the Spirit to work in us more than we can imagine.

But remember, it is for His glory, not ours. It is for His glory as Christ is exalted. o

Dr. Martin R. Crain is District Superintendent of the New England District of the Evangelical Free Church of America, 97 Dale Drive, Keene, NH 03431.

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