We’re going to come to Ephesians 3 in a moment.  But to get us thinking about where we’re going this morning - think with me about the purpose of life.

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.”

This may be closer to reality:  “Of course you have purpose in life.  You pay taxes, don’t you.”

Solomon - in Ecclesiasties - asks the question:  “What purpose is there in life?”  Solomon observes that there comes a day when life has no enjoyment - the productive years of our life come to an end.  We no longer have a spirit of adventure but are content to remain secure at home.

In Ecclesiastes 12 - verse 6 - he says that there’s a day when the “silver cord is broken and the golden bowl is crushed” - meaning our consciousness is extinguished - the Pitcher by the well is shattered and the wheel at the cistern is crushed - the well runs dry - our bodies stop working - and - the dust will return to the earth as it was.”

Ecclesiastes 12:8 - a familiar verses - “Vanity of vanities,” says the preacher, “all is vanity!”  Life is futile - empty - hopeless.  Life is because life is.

According to the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition:  “A man is only worth the sum of his possessions.”  The only real value to our lives - the only valuable part of life - is measured in what we gain for ourselves.  He who dies with the most toys - wins.  Grab all you can while you can because that’s all there is.  There’s purpose in that.  Life is about me.

Lee Iacocca - remember him?  Lee Iacocca said,  “What do guys like me do who’ve had the world by the string?  I got some notoriety... and made some money in the car business... now that chapter has closed, and I don’t think much about cars anymore.  You can plan everything in life, and then the roof caves in on you because you haven’t done enough thinking about who you are and what you should do with the rest of your life.” (1)

William Randolph Hearst - who amassed one of the great fortunes of recent history - ended his days amidst all the opulence and splendor of Hearst Castle - sitting in a basement - playing over and over again the movies of his Hollywood studio - in an effort to capture a degree of enjoyment from the past.

Jesus said, “For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?”  (Luke 9:25) 

In this Humpty Dumpty world - there’s got to be a greater purpose for our lives than what we gain for ourselves.

Ephesians 3 - join me at verse 14 - Paul writing about the purpose of our lives - Ephesians 3 - starting at verse 14:  For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.

Let’s pause there.  Verses 14 and 15 are  What Motivates Paul.  Say that with me, “What motivates Paul.”  What gets Paul going - moves him - impassions him - knocks him off his feet - down to his knees - to pray for the Ephesian Christians.

Paul writes, “For this reason.”  For what reason?

Do you remember the words to “We are the family of God”?  If you all can sing “This little light of mine” you can sing “We are the family of God.”

We are the family of God - YES!
We are the family of God.
And He’s brought us together
To be one in Him,
That we might bring light to the world.

That truth is what’s moves Paul.

Since chapter 1 Paul has been writing about God blessing us - blessings that go above and beyond our wildest imagination.  Blessings that touch the core of who we are - touching our greatest needs.

God choosing us to know Him.  God determining that we should be His children  God buying us back - setting us free from the crud of this world - the clutches of Satan and his minions.  Setting us free from bondage to sin and ultimately eternal death - buying us back through the broken body and shed blood of His Son Jesus.

God making us to be inheritors of the riches of His kingdom - life with God now - and life unimaginable - way better than here - life with God that goes on forever.

Life - in which we can daily - even in the worst of our circumstances - we can know with 100% certainty that God is with us - that God has purpose for our lives - in fact that He uses us - US! - in His awesome working together of history - according to His purpose of bringing glory to Himself.  We are His masterpiece - on display for His glory.

God - Himself - gives us His Spirit - God the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us - to remind us that God will fulfill His promises to us.  To dwell within us that we will have His power available to us to live life as its designed by God to be lived.

If you’ve been with us as we’ve been going through Ephesians 1 to 3 - does this sound kind of familiar?  I hope so.  What God has done is awesome.

And God does all this - regardless of whether we are a Jew or a Gentile.  Jesus - in His work on the cross - had broken down the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile.  God creates a new community.  Takes Jews and Gentiles and puts them together - creates something totally radically different - a new international community of Jews and Gentiles - organically the Body of Christ - spiritually without distinction - the Church.

We - the Gentiles - share the promises made to Israel.  We’re not a parenthetical afterthought - a footnote on the text of history - something less than what God has for His people - runner’s up in a spiritual contest.  We are God’s people - with all the rights and privileges and promises and hope and purpose and inheritance and relationship and future that that oneness of God and His people has meant from Adam until today and forever into the future.  In Jesus all that is ours.

When Paul writes - in verse 14 - that he bows his knees before the Father - the Greek word is “patera”.  In verse 15 - the word he chooses to use for “family” is “patria.”  It’s a little play on words in the Greek that shows us that Paul is focused on one family before one Father.  Our Father who is in Heaven.

By God’s choice and work - we are the family of God.  And God has brought us together to be one in Him that we might bring His light to the world.

That amazing reality moves Paul - drops him to his knees before God - in prayer for the Ephesians.

Coming to verse 16 - verses 16 to 19 - are The Specifics of Paul’s Prayer.  Let’s say that together.  “The specifics of Paul’s prayer.”

Paul drops to his knees and this is what he prays - verse 16 - Paul prays - that He - God - would grant you, according to the riches of His glory - according to everything that God is - all of who God is being made available to us - to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

Three specifics of Paul’s prayer that we want to focus on.   First specific:  Inner Strength.  Let’s say that together.  “Inner strength.”

This is like going to Home Depot.  Imagine all the fun stuff they’ve got at Home Depot.  We’re told, “Take what you want.”  And we take maybe a Binford skill saw.

Or, we’re at Costco - a shopper’s paradise.  We’re told, “Anything you need.  It’s all yours.”  And we select some frozen Stouffer’s Macaroni & Cheese - family size of course.  And that’s it.

Paul is praying that we’ll open ourselves up to all of God strengthening us - strengthened according to the riches of God’s glory - the whole enchilada - Costco - Home Depot - everything.  How rich is God?  A whole lot more than Bill Gates.  The full measure of God poured into our lives.

Then notice that Paul prays that we’ll be “strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man.”  That’s the very presence of God being the inner fortitude - the inner strength by which our lives are lived.

Then, “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.”  That we’ll experience the reality of what it means to know Jesus - a relationship with Him - in our hearts.

Those two images are closely related.  The “inner man” - “the heart” - the core of what makes us us - who we are deep inside - what moves us and drives us.

“Dwell” has the idea of permanent residence.  Someone who comes - takes up residence in our homes - in our hearts - takes over - and never leaves.

Do you see what Paul is getting at here?   When we come to God - by faith in Jesus - give Him control of the core of who we are - the unimaginable resources of God - the incredible strength of God - His strength - not ours - His strength becomes the strength that enables us to do life.

Think about how awesome that is.  As we surrender our lives to God - God gives to us His strength to have patience with our spouse - to put up with that “gentleman” at work - to deal with stuff at school - whatever the challenges of life.  God gives us His strength to respond to unrighteousness - to endure ridicule - persecution - ungodliness - to go through what by our own strength is impossible. 

Second specific:  Perspective.  Let’s say that together.  “Perspective.”

Paul writes that we would be “rooted and grounded in love.”  That’s a mixed metaphor.  Plants are rooted.  Buildings are grounded.  The idea is a plant with strong roots and a building with an immovable foundation.  Put together - immovable stability.   Stability cultivated by love.

Love is not an easy thing.  When the example of love that we’ve had is abuse coming from someone who was suppose to love us - like a mother or father.  When the example of love around us is the world’s love - focused on self - getting our needs met at the expense of others.  Us - getting shredded in the name of love.

The Apostle John - in 1 John 4:10 - John writes, “This is love - if we want to know what love really is - this is it - This is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the means by which our sins are forgiven.”

God - knowing everything there is to know about us - the worst of the worst - when there was no possible gain for Himself - no possible selfish motivation to do so - God still loved us so much that He sent Jesus to the cross to die in our place.  That’s God’s unselfish - commitment - love.  Which is totally opposite to the self-focused - gain all you can for yourself - abusive thing the world tries to pass off as love.

God’s love is why John can write later in chapter 4 - verse 18:  “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear.”

No matter how chaotic our lives are - no matter what the background - what level of abuse - or what our struggles - when we begin to realize that God really does love us - US - His love demonstrated in Christ and continually poured out into our lives - that He will never leave us - abuse us - abandon us - that His love is safe - when we begin to realize that God really does love us there’s stability in that.  A secure foundation to build our lives on.

Paul writes that when we have this stability - begin to trust that God loves us - we will “be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth.”

“Able” is a word in Greek that has idea of having enough strength to do something.  “Comprehend” is a military term used of chasing down an enemy and capturing them.  Until we open ourselves up to God - to receive what He desires to place within us - we’re not able to capture - to get our lives around - just how greatly God loves us.

When we open ourselves up to God - to allow Him to strengthen us at the core of who we are - to supply us with inner strength - when we begin to trust that He really does love us - its like God gives our lives an upgrade - an upgrade to our operating system that allows us to process the - breadth - length - height - and depth - to process the unimaginable unlimited expanse - the boundarylessness - of God’s love without a complete shut down of our operating system.

Put simply - the more we see God at work in our lives the more we realize its safe to trust that He really does love us - and that we are loveable.  That its safe to trust His love.

Without the upgrade we can’t handle the possibilities of God’s love.  But, with Him in control of our lives there’s the beginning of a whole new foundation for understanding and living life.  We begin to see ourselves as those who are loved with the love Christ - a love that goes beyond our wildest imaginations - beyond anything that we’ve experienced in this life.

Rather than living in fear we learn to live with boldness and confidence - to engage life as children of the Creator of all this - our Father - the Almighty God who’s got all this under His authority and will.

Then - Paul says we experience that with “all the saints.”  All of us together experiencing God’s love.  Not just super spiritual people who are holy and pious.  But us normal people - some of us more normal than others.

God has drawn us together to form this awesome community - the church - Creekside - an upgrade of community beyond the limits of what this world offers - to lavish His love on us - for us to be channels of His love to each other.

Imagine relationships without fear.  With openness and trust.  Imagine being able to experience and celebrate together His healing and growth and the possibilities of community that go way beyond anything we could have imagined or ever achieved on our own.

Paul’s second specific is that we will have a totally new perspective of life - a new vision and understanding of life - a foundation for doing life that comes upon those who begin to see themselves as the beloved of God.

Third specific:  Fullness.  Let’s say that together, “Fullness.”

Would you agree with this?  Ultimately - the best part of a pie is the filling.  The whole point of the crust is to have some place to put the filling.  Opening ourselves to God’s strength within and seeing ourselves as the beloved of God are like crust.  Once we have all that - what we get is the fullness of God.  God pouring all that He is into our lives - giving us all that He is - in order for us to be all that He desires for us to be.

Now we need to be careful.  Stay with me on this.

Sometimes we think of filling like we go to the gas station and get our tank filled with gas and then we have what we need to go on tootling down the road.

Filling isn’t God filling us up so we can do whatever we want.  Filling is fullness.  Our lives lived out according to God’s power and God’s purpose.

The fullness of God is like spring around here.  “M” street with all those white blossoms.  Its like all those almond trees looking like they’re covered in snow.  Are we tracking?  The inner life of the tree bursting out with blossoms.

God so filling our lives that His life bursts out in how we live life.  So that what’s lived - in the day to day stuff of our lives - in the legacy that we leave behind in our children and families and work places - in the ways we serve Him in His congregation - in every experience and dimension of our lives - what blooms out - what’s lived - is His holiness - His character - what He intends for our lives to be.

Think about those three specifics.  Inner strength - God’s resources - God’s strength - enabling us to do life.  Perspective - realizing that we’re loved by God.  And the third - fullness - living Godly - holy - from the core of who we are - in every circumstance.

Sometimes people want Christianity 101 - 5 easy steps to a wonderful Christian life or 4 steps to having a Godly marriage or 3 ways God wants you to do your taxes so you won’t get audited.  Find a book - read an article - hear a sermon - that holds the key to whatever we’re going through at the time.  So many Christians are looking for easy solutions - quick fixes - to the hard realities of life. 

There’s a place for all that.  But the bottom line is that when we come up against the hard realities of life we don’t have time to read a book or dig out our notes or Google what someone else thinks is the answer to our lives.  Chances are the 5 principles or 6 keys that we learned won’t exactly fit the situation we’re in anyway. 

What Paul is praying for is so much more crucial for our lives.  Paul sees the reality of what God has done for us.  Knocks him off his feet.  Drives him to his knees.

His prayer is that we will understand - realize - trust - open ourselves up to the awesomeness of what it means to live life strengthened and loved and filled by the living God.  Whatever the circumstance - living life as Paul prays that we would live life - we will always have what we need to do life as life needs to be done.

Verses 20 and 21 are Paul’s Application.  Let’s say that together.  “Paul’s application.”  What’s the bottom line of all this?  Remember we started off by talking about purpose.  What purpose is there for our lives.

Verse 20:  Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.  Amen.

How many of us asked God - before God created creation - before we were alive and kicking on planet Earth - anyone here ask God to include in His great purposes to send Jesus to the cross to die for you?  Or to make it possible for Him to strengthen you at the core of who you are - His power working within you - to love you with everlasting love - to fill you with the fullness of who He is - to open up to you eternity with Him?

What Paul writes about here goes beyond the scope of where we live our lives.  Beyond our ability to think.  And - beyond that - Paul gives us the assurance that what we understand now is only a fraction of what God intends for us in the days and years and eternity to come.

Paul’s application is first that we’ll realize just how awesome God is and just how incredible what God has done for us really is.

And second - that we will see that the purpose of all of what God has done for us - God so richly - abundantly - unimaginably - blessing our lives - the purpose for our lives - is that God be glorified.  That our lives would wholly testify of Who God is.

Paul writes - to God be the glory - in the church - the testimony of the church is of God.  And in Christ Jesus - the work of the Son is to glorify - to testify of the Father - to all generations - all God’s people - forever and ever.  May God be glorified.

There’s a choice that each one of us makes.  That’s before each one of us - today - and every day of our lives.  It is a fundamental choice of life.  The answer determines the purpose of your life.   Here’s the choice:  Glorify self.  Or, glorify God.

Glorify self - means living by our own strength - our own self-love - our own wisdom and understanding of life.  It is a purpose which is empty of purpose.  A pretty lonely - hopeless - life to live.  Glorify self means that I get the credit for my life.

To live glorifying God - means learning to live by His strength - realizing that He loves you and that you are loveable - living life by the wisdom and understanding of the one who has designed life.  Glorifying God means living by the purpose for which you were created and living within the blessings of that purpose.  Glorify God means that God gets the credit because He is my life.

Glorify self?  Glorify God?   May we choose - each day - to glorify Him.

____________________
1. Fortune Magazine, 06.24.1996

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible®, © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation.  Used by permission.