Ephesians 4:7-16 - “Bodybuilders”

All right, let’s take a look at what we’ve seen so far.  Unfathomables!  God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ.  Unfathomable!  When we were His enemies and spiritually dead, He saved us and rescued from eternal death by His grace (an undeserved gift!) through faith in Christ.  Unfathomable!  He chose us and brought us into His forever family, made us heirs with Christ.  Unfathomable!  He has given us His Spirit and is directing His power in and through our lives - the same limitless power that God displayed when He raised Christ from the dead.  Unfathomable!

God has also joined together a body, Jews and Gentiles - age old enemies, diverse peoples from every nook and cranny and corner of this world.  We all have been brought together into this forever family, a family wired to love one another, brought together in peace and love and united by the Holy Spirit.  Unfathomable!  Being united in our common faith in Christ we have so much in common, brothers and sisters, journeying together to celebrate and spread the knowledge of God’s breathtaking goodness.  And God’s Spirit is producing this unity/oneness, such that our relationships now are characterized by this unfathomable peace.  And we are to be guarding this oneness, making every effort to do so, with all humility, forebearance, etc - The mission depends on this.  And God has been working towards all this throughout all history.  

And Paul is still thinking about this in our passage today. Still thinking about a body, held together by these ligaments, these bonds of peace.  And it’s growing.  It is maturing.  It is being built up - and today we consider the age-old question, how does this body grow?  Let’s talk about that!  [4.7-16].  OK - you tell me: how does the body grow?  Building up itself, Paul says.  He says it twice.  Building up the body [12, 16].  It requires the proper working of each individual part.  To each of us grace was given - we are gifted to build.  We are one body, but individually gifted with grace by Christ to help His body grow.  In other words, we are (Christ's) bodybuilders.  Now, what do you think of when you hear that word?  [Maybe that unmistakeable Austrian accent of Arnold Schwarzenegger?] 

[7] "to each of us".  We're not talking about a mass of monkey-see monkey-do sycophants who are supposed to all look and talk and live and be indistinguishably identical.  No, in this body there is dazzling beauty and creativity and individuality woven together by the Spirit.  Expressed in and through our oneness.

Yes, we were each called, and grace was given.  God did it, to be sure.  And specifically here Paul calls it the gift of Christ.  It could be that Christ IS the gift, which of course He is (cf Jn 3.16)(and it is still all about Christ, mentioned 16x in these 10 verses), but it is also God the Son giving gifts to God’s people, by the Spirit, and that in different measure, in differing amounts (Rom 12.6).  Yes, in one respect some of these gifts will prove to be more fruitful than others (Mt 13.23), and yet in all things we will one day see that in and through it all the Spirit of Christ was energizing each gift and bringing the increase in whatever way He so desired (1Cor 12.11), all to show off and increase the celebration of how breathtakingly good God really is.  As we will see, our job is each to simply, faithfully put the gifts to use.  To serve.

8 - Ascended [Ps 68.18] —> Christ, Who of course descended (multiple times?): The Incarnation, then the Coming of His Spirit (at Pentecost), not to mention what most commentators would agree was His descent in Sheol...

11 - Christ gave SOME as apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers

I should mention that Paul’s point here is, It’s not about the gifts - it’s about each of us and all of us being bodybuilders!  THAT is why Christ gave the apostles & teachers, etc…

Paul proceeds to unpack the ‘gifts’ - at least some of them - which Christ gave to men.  The word here means a given thing.  Elsewhere these gifts are called pneumatika (Spirit-things) or charismata (grace-things)(where we get the word 'charismatics').  And note that this list of gifts is different than the other notable lists of charismata we find in the NT (Rom 12,  1Cor 12, 1Pet 4)

To be thorough, some suggest that Paul is talking here more about offices, about ones who Christ appointed to function in these various roles.  Some go a step further and suggest (insist?) that the first two of these offices (so, apostles and prophets) have passed out of use. 

First up is apostles - sent away ones.  People told to go (which technically includes ALL disciples down to present day and beyond, doesn’t it?).  Who did Christ send?  He specifically chose and sent out the Twelve - those who had been with Him and who became actual witnesses of His resurrection.  He also sent out seventy others, but in the early days of the church in Jerusalem, the Twelve were a distinct group, gifted in various ways (esp teaching & miracles).  Then we see in Acts 14 on their first missionary journey that Paul and Barnabas are called apostles.  They did not belong to “The Twelve”, but we do see God using them to teach and to perform miracles, just like the Twelve.  In Acts 15 we see the Twelve in Jerusalem alongside elders, but in Acts 21 when Paul reports to Jerusalem he meets NOT with the Twelve but with ‘James and the elders’ (act 21.17-18).  Where are the twelve?  They almost appear to fade into the background.  We are sort of left to wonder to what extent this was an exclusive gift/office given only for a season to a few (specifically to those initial twelve, plus Paul, who repeatedly insists he was an apostle (Gal 2.8, 2Cor 12.12, Rom 1.5), or perhaps it is broader than that?  Others suggest that this gift (if not the office) still operates today, albeit in a somewhat-watered-down form, God’s Spirit gifting some to operate sans-miracles (at least in the west?) in the form of entrepreneurial start-up pioneering (launching things/ministries, planting churches, etc)[think Pete Brokopp].  Scripture doesn’t really say.  But in light of the context it makes sense to conclude that Paul here most likely has in mind the Twelve (plus-one-or-a-few) who were specifically used to plant the church in various places during its 1st century infancy.

Prophets - declaring forth ones.  In the Bible, prophets spoke for God, declaring His word to the people.  They spoke of misdeeds and of things to come (destruction, Messiah) - "thus sayeth the Lord" was their verbal calling card.  At certain times there was only one prophet for the entire nation (i.e. Moses, Eli, Samuel, Nathan).  At other times you would not find even one.  In our study of the minor prophets we saw that leading up to the exile a small handful were operating, warning God’s people of coming judgment for their unfaithfulness.  And in that season, the prophet Joel did prophesy of a day when God’s Spirit would indeed be poured out on all mankind, and that sons and daughters would speak for God (Joel 2.28).  Peter quotes him at Pentecost:

Acts 2:16-18 

“…but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel: ‘AND IT SHALL BE IN THE LAST DAYS,’ God says, ‘THAT I WILL POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT ON ALL MANKIND; AND YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY, AND YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS, AND YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS; EVEN ON MY BONDSLAVES, BOTH MEN AND WOMEN, I WILL IN THOSE DAYS POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT and they will prophesy.

Peter added that last line in his message.  In the NT we see prophets more on a congregational than a national level, not speaking words of canonicity (i.e. words that would be considered inspired Scripture) but rather communicating more to a local assembly and to individuals therein.  Paul ranks it second in order of significance, yet since the #1 gift, apostle, appears to be restricted to the twelve (plus one-or-a-few), Paul holds up prophecy as a most-desirable gift to be valued/desired by believers (1Cor 14.1).  Do prophets still function today?  Are there speaking-forth ones in local assemblies?  They appear to have passed out of existence in the modern west, at least in ‘mainline evangelical congregations’, but I wonder if one might still find prophets operating in “charismatic” congregations and in other assemblies in the two-thirds world where ‘less-educated’ believers simply take God’s Word and put it into practice?  Paul told the Corinthians they should eagerly desire to be prophesying, that a prophet speaks for exhortation and consolation and to build up believers, and that they should let two or three prophets take turns speaking (to the assembly) and the assembly should pass judgment on what they have said.  Did those instructions not convey to us?  'Cuz ‘MEC’s pretty much do none of this.  Some hold up 1Cor 13.9-10,12 - “For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away… For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.”  If by “the perfect” Paul means the Bible, then it would be fair to say that gifts of prophesy ceased after the Bible was written/compiled.  But if when he says "perfect" and "face-to-face", he means the return of Christ, then this "doing away" is still to come and it would make sense that there are still gifts of prophecy operating today.  Thus the challenge for us moderns would be to use them (and use them properly - many false prophets have gone out into the world…).  Then there are still others who describe a modern-day sort of prophecy-lite where God’s Spirit gifts some people to be wired to call out things that aren’t right.  My wife is certainly gifted at doing this.  On this Scripture is silent...

Evangelists - good news ones.  Even more scarce in the Bible than apostles, this word is actually used only three times in the entire NT.  Philip is the lone non-apostle who warrants this title.  Acts 8 records the early exploits of this man who was supernaturally gifted by God to proclaim the Good News about Jesus.  It is notable that so compelled was he that he is the first Christian we see crossing cultural boundaries with the Gospel - outside the comfy confines of traditional Jewish-dom to both Samaritans and to Africans.  The work of declaring the Good News about Jesus is entrusted to all who follow Him, but according to Paul there are ones who, having received a gift - a supernatural enabling - in this regard, will be more eager and more fruitful in helping others begin to follow Jesus.

Shepherds and teachers - protecting/caring ones and imparting knowledge ones.  The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep, no?  Protecting them, leading them beside still waters... Some are gifted and called to do this.  Teaching - feeding the sheep, imparting knowledge about God and His Word - it feels like a call.  There are those who are gifted at teaching.  But look at [15] - Truthing in love.  That’s ALL believers.  We (all of us) are taught - in order to teach.  So - like Timothy - we all must pay attention to the truth we share - what we say, and how we say it.  Make no mistake, every bonafide Christ-follower is able to (and should) impart knowledge to others as it pertains to following Christ (and about life in general).  The fact is that each Christ-follower is indwelt by a built-in Teacher, and we can be expected to grow in knowledge about the Lord to the point where we can and do teach and impart this knowledge to others. 

-And so, we have these gifts in the Body.  So what?  To what end?  Verse 12...

[12] Towards the equipping of the saints.  So some have these equipping gifts… And the word here refers to the mending of a fishing net.  What is a fishing net supposed to do?   There are holes in this net, and any net with holes is unable to function the way it is supposed to.  It won't work for the job at hand.

[Scene from Guardians of the Galaxy, the Nova Corps blockade develops holes and ultimately fails - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01dBP_ZeuRQ]   

Unto the work of service = unto the building up of the body.  These equippers equip the body to serve, and that’s what we do: we (the body) build up the body.  Let all things be done for edification.  We build up one another.  We are all bodybuilders, building the body so that there will be no holes.  Paul is not giving us jobs at this point, he is laying down a mission statement.  These inform everything an organization does:

[Coke corporate mission statement: "We refresh the world"]

Look at the outcome:  Unto to oneness of the faith and the full knowledge of Jesus.  We grow the oneness (which we must guard) - and get to know Jesus through building up one another!  Unto a mature [perfect - KJV] man  —> the perfect man  [the David statue is a granite version of the "perfect" human?]  Unto the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.  But this is not a measure of human perfection.  This is a measure of Christ being perfected in you and me - and in our family.    [until Christ is formed in you… Gal 4.19]

[14] In order that we are no longer children, no longer tossed by the waves.  One of the wondrous things about younger children is how trusting they are.  They will believe anything you tell them.  What is that noise, Daddy?  Well, that’s thunder, son.  Two thunder giants live in the clouds and they are beating their giant thunder drums.  Tell that to a 5yr old, and they’ll be like, wow!  My youngest is 11, middle school.  He knows enough now that he would likely question something like that.  And my oldest, 16, full blown adolescence - he’s like, whatever, Dad.

My point being, with growth and maturity comes this awareness of the nature of things, there is groundedness, to the point that there is dependability.  And we can ask them to do things and count on them to contribute.  We can count on them to be able to take care of youngers.  In many parts of the world, teenagers are treated and expected to function as adults.  Maturity means we can count on you, and we can count on you to contribute.  We want the faith of a little child, but not the immaturity.

Look at what causes this growth, this maturing.  [15]  Speaking the truth in love.  Literally, truthing in love.  Truth and love.  It’s not one or the other - both are critical.  What happens when it’s all truth and no love?  What happens when it’s all love and no truth?

But who is truthing in love?  All of us, each one of us.  Every joint supplies something.  The proper working of each individual part, he says.  The growth of the body depends on each part doing its part.  Each one of us has a part to play in the building up of the body.  Have you found your part yet?  Then do it!  And if you don’t know what your part is, do something.

We grow into Christ.  Then this body growth comes out of Christ.  And so the most important thing you and I can do in playing our part is to keep growing into Christ.  This is a joint effort.  A collaborative effort.  Yes there are pastors and teachers and all those other folks to help equip us for the work of serving, but we all also serve.  We aren’t supposed to continue in the body as infants.  Fat babies.  As toddlers or even as children.  As cute as they are.  There is nothing cute about an infantile grownup.  An immature adult.  Equipping the saints FOR the work of service.  Family we can count on!  Such that we can say with the One Who lives in us, "I am among you as One Who serves".  We are not here to be served, but to serve.  The saints are the bodybuilders!  All of us! 

But this truthing in love - where does it take place?  Where does that happen best?  I would suggest that it happens best in community.  Not in lecture format.  Not a talking head.  Many Christians, our diet of truth tends to look like me showing up to a sermon, maybe a Sunday School, maybe I have some other streams of content - books, radio, internet - but it tends to be a one-sided conversation.  But that’s NOT what we see in this letter.  This is an all-skate.  Second person plural!  You all.  Y’all.  All the saints are working and serving.  All the saints are building up the body, together we are journeying towards oneness of faith and the full knowledge of Christ.  Together as one we are growing up in all aspects into Christ.  The body grows and builds itself up in love.  We are talking about a living organism.  A family.  It’s a family business, and we are all expected to contribute.  Truthing in love.

So what does this look like?  To be sure - lots of growth and good instruction takes place in these traditional venues, the ones where we sit and one person does the speaking.  But here I think Paul is talking about a more interactive environment.  I think he is thinking about the dominant form of community at that time - the house church.  The early church met in their homes.  Breaking bread from house to house [Act 2.46].  Greet Prisca and Aquila and the church that is in their house [Rom 16.5].  Greet Nympha and the church that is in her house [Col 4.15].  Paul to Philemon and the church that is in your house [Phlm 2].  In homes.  Common unity forged in circles - around kitchen tables and coffee tables and campfires.  People doing life together.  Examine the Word together.  Encouraging and exhorting one another together.

Hebrews 10:24-25 

…and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Look at this verse.  What does it sound like?  Does it sound like one person speaking to the masses?  To me it sounds like a team effort.  It sounds to me more like a circle than rows.  Stimulating one another to love, encouraging one another.  And of course people are messy, so all the more reason to know how to guard the oneness!  Thankfully I do get the sense here at Hope Fellowship that most of us are eager to journey in community.  This passage to us is more of an excel-still-more.  And I do think we can excel still more.  I think what the body of Christ and what we need is not more cleverly crafted sermons or slick programs.  We need more community.  More truthing, more love.  Are you with me?  

Ephesians 4:7  But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.  8 Therefore it says, “WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES, AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN.” 9 (Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.) 11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. 14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

Jesus, Jesus, Most Prestigious, how does Your body grow?

With Words from above

And lots of love

And humble hearts serving below.

Ephesians 4:1-6 - “The Secret Sauce of a Forever Family”

 

Some say one is the loneliest number.  They say two can be as bad as one.  That’s not how God has designed it!  What God has joined together, let no man separate [Mk 10.9].  At one time, that truth permeated our culture, handed down from our forefathers who brought forth on this continent a new nation, dedicated to the proposition that God rules in the affairs of men, and that His Word shows us how to live.  Mostly dedicated, at least…

John Adams: “The Bible contains the most profound philosophy, the most perfect morality, and the most refined policy that ever was conceived upon earth.”

Family is forever - at least it’s supposed to be.  We don’t get that from our culture anymore - but we see it in God’s Word.  And we’ve been looking at how God has joined together this new family, Jew and Gentile, every nation - a forever family in Christ that bears His Name and channels His love and blessings towards one another and towards their neighbors and to all nations.  Paul has been unpacking how this family, the body of brothers and sisters in Christ, is what God has been working towards throughout history, since before the beginning.  This is the culmination of the great mission to bring men and women everywhere back into a forever relationship with Him.  Into His family.  Forever.  The culmination of what He did in sending Christ to be the Savior of the world.  To God be the glory in the church forever.  In Christ.  To Whom Paul has referred so far at least 40 times - it’s hard to keep track actually.  But if you are a believer in Christ this morning, you are IN.  You belong.  To Christ - and to His family.  Forever.  Unfathomable.

Sadly, even the best laid plans seem to often go awry.  And when we look at the history of God’s family - the church - we see too often that even God’s family seems to have trouble staying together.  It has trouble doing the love-one-another thing.  I mean, we can understand that earthly families can have trouble, can’t we?  Anytime you bring together two imperfect inherently-selfish people, that can present some challenges, right?  Staying together can be hard.  Even the bringing together can be challenging.  But we’re talking about God’s heavenly family - shouldn’t things be different?  Truth be told, what we’re talking about in the church is actually not much different from any earthly family.  Two or more - isn’t that what Jesus said?  Two or more imperfect inherently-selfish people - usually many more than two.  Indeed, God’s blessings are more than sufficient for love to abound - but in practice it often falls short.  Cuz we fall short.

I’d like to suggest that in our passage today Paul gives us the secret sauce to a Forever Family.  It is as needed in our world and in the church today as it ever was.  Let’s take a look…

He begins with a Therefore… Why is the therefore there?  Again, everything Paul has been unpacking to this point is about how God has blessed us and worked to bring us into this body of Christ.  The believers there in the vicinity of Ephesus were a localized expression of this body, this forever family.  An outpost of glory.  And having established his premise, Paul is ready to build on it.  And, as we’ve seen, he is the prisoner of the Lord, this one Lord - referring to Jesus Christ [3.1].  And Paul is His prisoner.  Paul has said yes to Jesus, not just as Savior, but as Lord.  Master.  Whatever You want, Lord.  Whatever You say, Lord.  I’m all Your’s, Lord.  I’m all in, Lord.  What is Your bidding, my Master?  And this devotion, this commitment has landed him literally in prison.  He is in prison for following Jesus and for doing all he can to help others follow Jesus - specifically the Gentiles.  All the nations.  In prison for Jesus.  In prison for us.

Paul says, you guys are a family, and I’m doing my part - I’m actually in prison for this family - so here’s what you need to do.  There actually is no direct command here, not yet.  Only an exhortation.  An urging.  An urgent plea, from the one laying down his life to bring us in.

Walk worthy, he says.  Walk worthy of your calling… I am urging you.  Don’t waste this…

Paul is thinking all about our calling, a high calling.  That’s what he’s been writing about for the first three chapters.  We were far, and God called us near, to come closer.  God has called us out of wrath and darkness and into His household, His forever family, into an assembly of gathered peoples from every nation, Jews and Gentiles, and we/you all are being built into a holy temple, this dwelling of God in the Spirit, a place where He dwells and shows off His breathtaking goodness to and through His people.  Blessed with every spiritual blessing.  Our calling to salvation was not in isolation, it was not only about me and my fire insurance, about me myself and I getting our sins forgiven.  Our calling was about a joining of peoples, the assembling together of the nations, about removing dividing walls and enmities and about creating a body, a family, a holy temple of united worshippers who will be known by the love they have for one another, peace with God and one another.  The body of Christ, His bride, brought together through His blood.  One group, one new man, one body, one Spirit.  Our high calling is not simply out of the world and into heaven, it is into a new nation, a new family.  Brothers & sisters.  Compatriots.  Ties which supersede geopolitical boundaries.  Where peace reigns.  Shalom.  Love.  Forgiveness.  Reconciliation.  Tremendous sacrifices have been made in order to bring this about, by God Himself, God the Son, as well as by His servants like Paul who gave up everything, who left everything and followed Christ.  Servants who have endured extreme hardship and persecution and prison for the sake of this Body of Christ, this assembly of called-out called-together ones which we call the Church.  God’s forever family.

[It's like after they soldiers rescue Private Ryan, they tell him, "Don’t waste this - earn this, Private Ryan...!"]

[Or as in the letter to Mrs. Bixby from President Lincoln - “I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of Freedom.”]

So costly a sacrifice… Tremendous sacrifices have been made in order to bring this family together.  And there are multitudes still to be rescued, gathered into this assembly.  The stakes could be no higher.  The cost has been incalculable.  Unfathomable!  Because of this it IS urgent that those who are now a part of this Body conduct themselves in a way that is in keeping with the call, upwards and inwards & outwards.  Walk worthy.  Don’t waste this.  We are talking about both a holy household which does life together like a family and in doing so increases their knowledge and celebration of the breathtaking goodness of God, AND we are also talking about an ongoing rescue mission, full-on all-in commitment to loving and serving and getting the Good News about Jesus to a lost world and to the lost souls around us who are stumbling headlong towards a huge spiritual cliff, a horrible and irreversible fate awaiting them if we fail to intervene w the Good News. To bring them in. We’re Christ’s ambassadors.  We’ve been brought in to bring them in (at least in part).  At great price, so costly a sacrifice.  And so here, Paul turns our focus on this idea of unity.  Oneness.  We’ve been brought in to be one.  One body.  A family - the way it was always meant to be.  There is this unity, this oneness.  The word “one” appears in various forms EIGHT times in these 6 verses.

And Paul here says that this unity, these family ties if you will - this oneness is being produced by the Spirit.  Our job is not to manufacture it.  We already saw that we are being built into a dwelling place of God IN or BY the Spirit [2.22].  God is doing the heavy lifting.  This oneness is the outcome of the work of the Spirit in our midst.  The Spirit of God produces oneness between believers pretty much anytime we spend time together.  Have you ever noticed the description of the early church?  Have you noticed how much time they spent together? [Acts 2:42, 46]  It’s almost automatic.  There is this spiritual gravitational force, drawing us and holding us together.  But we have to assemble (Stop forsaking your assembling together - Hebrews 10.24).  If we were talking about a physical structure, we would be talking about nails and screws and bolts and hammers and nails and such.  But this is a living entity.  A body.  A spiritual body.  That’s what Paul said in [1.23], the church is the body of Christ, the fullness of Him.  And that which unites and binds together this living body - like any body - is ligaments.  Paul says the bond, or ligament, of peace [BY the Spirit].  That’s the word in the Greek.  Ligaments are the tough fibrous tissues which hold together the bones of our physical body.  Apparently, the forces which our muscles and outside forces exert on our bones should tear them apart.  But they don’t - because of our ligaments.  When a ligament is damaged, the joint can become unstable.  A torn ligament severely limits proper movement.

Our job is not to manufacture this oneness.  It is to guard it.  Watch over and protect it.  To maintain this ligament bond of peace.  The bond of peace.  What is this peace?  Peace and quiet?  I think sometimes we have this image of peace where we are sitting down and relaxing in front of our favorite scene holding a large cup of our favorite beverage and in that place of P&Q the worries and the cares and the distractions and the hassles of other people are nowhere to be seen...

[calgon - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yjGPgs0_S0] [google images of peace]

[jellyfish lamp][lava lamp]

But is this peace?  Is that what Paul is talking about?  Is this the secret sauce which is going to hold our family together, not to mention bring in the nations, gather them in for white-hot enjoyment of the breathtaking goodness of almighty God?  What is this peace that Paul is talking about?  Is it the absence of noise?  The absence of conflict?  Ignoring it?  No way.  No, the peace, the shalom Paul is describing - the peace we want! - is forged in relationships.  Through healthy positive interaction.  That’s where the love is.  Peace is made and - guarded - by those who can tap into the essential ingredients of a forever family which Paul describes here.  Five ingredients to this secret sauce.  Put these on your spiritual shopping list! 

• First thing he says [2] is, With all Humility.  Humility is a healthy, proper view of self.  It is the attitude of Christ.  It says, Others-better.  Others-first.  Others-more-important.  

Philippians 2:3-4 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

Humility is the antithesis of me-better me-first - which happens to be our default wiring from the womb, looking out for number one.  Mine!  Me-first is deadly poison to a family.  Me-first comes in to get my needs met.  Serve me.  Take care of my needs.  Fulfill my wants.  And maybe if my needs aren’t getting met, I’m outta here.  Humility comes in ready to meet needs.  Ready to do whatever.  Cuz it’s not about me.  Others-first.  Looking out for their interests also.  It is being able to take more than a passing interest in the things which concern them.  It is being able to see past my own needs enough to be a part of helping to meet the needs of others.  Not out of obligation, but from the heart.  We’ve all encountered the public servant who was merely doing their duty.  Only going thru the motions of serving.  No, when Christ got up from the table and grabbed the towel and the water and washed the filthy stinking feet of His disciples, He wasn’t performing some obligatory service.  He was doing it from the heart.  Others better others first.  It takes two, but it only takes two.  If two people are living into the reality of others better others first, the prospects are really good for a successful family.  Humility shows up and says, this is not about me - how can I help?  Humility is what gets me out of my seat and out of my bubble (my bubble bath) enough to go and ask someone else how they’re doing.  And then holding in there long enough to listen to the answer (which also requires patience and forbearance - we’ll get to those in a bit).  Humility is also what says, I need you.  Every part of a body needs the other parts.  There are no spiritual lone rangers in this family.  But it is made possible in the hearts of those have been blessed by God.  God has showered His breathtaking goodness on them, His amazing grace, and so their cup is full.  Filled up to all His fullness.  They know that God’s got this, and they show up brimming and ready to overflow God’s goodness to the family.

• Gentleness.  Strength under control.  Which requires more strength - to hold on to a hurt, or to forgive it, let it go?  Which takes more strength, to restrain my tongue or to let it fly.  Controlling my tongue (& temper).  And we’re not just talking about holding it back from the one who has offended us or who rubs us wrong.  We hold our tongue when they’re not around.  The gentleness of Christ holds back, does not even break a bruised reed.  There is compassion, kindness, grace, forgiveness.  Some suggest that Christians are the only ones who beat up their wounded - how sad if that is true?

• Long-suffering.  Long-suffering.  We say patience, but the Greek word is long-suffering.  In other words, how long is my fuse?  Those we are closest to are most likely to blow our fuse.  They push our buttons.  Sometimes it’s on purpose (big brothers!).  Often it is unintended.  But the question is, how long will we wait.  How long will we keep waiting?  Willingness to wait - that’s patience.  It goes hand in hand with this next quality...

• Forebearance.  Bearing with one another.  The NASB says tolerance, but this is not the modern day tolerance which says, let me do whatever I want even if you don’t like it and even when God says don’t do it - and don’t dare criticize me when I do.  Forebearance is not, I’ll accept you as long as you don’t criticize me but if you do I’m unfriending you and here comes my backlash.  Today we’re too ready to leave, reluctant to commit.  Not saying we don’t need to be careful, but we really need to be more ready to commit and reluctant to leave.  This is also not to say that we simply let our brother go off in disobedience.  Love goes after family, fights for them, in so far as is possible with us.  Speaks the truth in love when necessary.  The Greek word here literally means to hold against.  To hold against.  To hang in there.  Something is bothering us.  Something comes at us, in our face.  Maybe it irritates us a bit.  But we’re talking about family.  How are we going to react?  Do we hang in there?  With humility?  Gentleness?  Patience?  Love?  Most of the things which ruffle our feathers are trifles, aren’t they?  You left the seat up.  You left the door open.  You left the lid off.  You left your clothes out.  You didn’t do what you said you’d do.  You didn’t do what I asked you to.  Some aspect of your personality rubs me wrong.  Relatively tiny offenses when compared to what is at stake in the mission.  Many times we can simply agree to disagree yet still love one another for the sake of the mission (which I believe is the spirit of our Alliance).  Sometimes yes the offense is more egregious.  The wounds are bigger.  You hurt me.  You weren’t there for me.  How many times do we forgive our brother?  We hang in there.  I’m not saying it’s easy.  Neither is Paul.  Humanly impossible.  He’ll tell us in chapter 5 that the love and the kindness and faithfulness and self-control necessary to guard our family oneness is produced in our lives by the Spirit.  The same one Who forges our oneness furnishes what we need in order to guard it. 

• Lastly, diligence.  Being diligent.  Making every effort.  All in for this.  What are you and I prepared to do?  And then what are we prepared to do?  You and I must be prepared to go all the way.  I urge you, Paul says.  Walk worthily.  Make every effort.  Don’t waste this.

[Lords of the Earth - account of missionaries who gave their lives for the sake of others]

Life is not only the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.  It can include slings and arrows from those closest to us.  Those who are supposed to be family.  Supposed to love us.  But we have a love which bears all things.  Endures all things.  Believes all things.  This is God’s love for us.  Which He showed out on the Cross.  Which we show to one another.  Not to mention to our enemies.  To Him be the glory in the church.  Forever.  Family.  Forever.  Let’s pray...

Ephesians 4:1   Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, 3 being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

Ephesians 3.14-21 - “Floored By Glory”

[Watch this experiment on conformity: Smoke fills a room, and nobody else reacts, and the question is whether the test subject will conform to the group or "break with the herd" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjP22DpYYh8] - They do not break w the group.  Their response: I/we were waiting..." (i.e. for somebody else to do something)]

"For this reason...", Paul begins this section.  We’ll come back to this.  Paul is continuing a thought he had back at the beginning of this chapter/end of ch 2.  Which was, you are being built into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

"I bow my knees…"  What is he talking about here?  He's talking about prayer.  And Paul, for one, is NOT sitting around waiting for something to happen.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - prayer is THE most important work we can do as followers of Christ.  Prayer touches eternity, accesses the very throne and heart of God Himself.  It unlocks the mighty storehouses of heaven and unleashes God’s blessings in and through our lives.  It touches hearts and brings down miracles.  And we do well to note Paul’s posture here - not of his body per se, but of his heart.  I bow my knees - what does that say about him?  Could be he’s overwhelmed.  Could be a sign of reverence.  I think here he is … surrendered.  He is dependent.  Desperate.  There’s no little engine that could in play here.  No little dab’ll do ya, no dash of prayer for favor, cuz that’s just “what we’re supposed to do".  Paul had learned well that apart from Christ, we can do nothing.  That we do not have because we do not ask.  That prayer is the slender nerve which moves the mighty muscle of God’s omnipotence.  I’m fully convinced that the best thing we can do for our church and for our neighbors and for the nations who are far from Christ and for our own souls and families - is pray.  What are we waiting for?  Wednesday nights - come join us.  Sunday mornings.  We have a room set aside where you can pray.  Think about it - Jesus prayed during desperate times, but He prayed at all times:

Luke 5:16 But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.

If He prayed often, how much more should we?  Think about it - after Jesus ascended back to heaven, leading up to the day when God poured out His Spirit - what was the church doing?  And after Pentecost, during the revival where God was adding to the church every day, what were they doing?  Luke tells us they were devoting themselves to prayer.  And when the work of managing the daily business of the church got to be more than the leaders could handle, what did they say they needed to focus on?  PRAYER and the ministry of the Word.  Prayer is not preparation for ministry - it IS ministry.  And ANYBODY can do it!  Sadly it is the most neglected ministry in the church.  I know - prayer can feel kind of boring, right?  It can feel like a waste of time.  “I have more pressing things to do, more necessary things, more interesting things to do”.  I don’t think we realize Who we are talking about.  Who we’re talking to.  To Whom.  The truth is, we pray when we’re desperate.  When we seriously want something.  And I would say that most of us, most of the time, we’re clearly not desperate.  I’m thinking about the church in the US in general.  What are we waiting for?  I bow my knees, Paul says.

Notice too what Paul says next… "Every family in heaven and earth..."  Paul is talking about family.  Family.  Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em, right?  As Paul is praying for this assembly in Ephesus, he is thinking about family.  

Family can be messy.  We can even come to the place where we don’t want to be close to them, where we believe we don't need them, but this could not be further from the truth.  Family is the most elemental societal unit - the building block of healthy functioning civilization.  Individuals do not build society, families do, providing lifelong support and nurture and companionship as well as the basic framework by which we carry out the first command: be fruitful and multiply.  Much of the growth of the early church we see taking place as families and entire households come to Christ.

So we read, God is the One Who named my family.  AND He also knows my name.  Because He made me.  He knows who I am, every hair on my head, He knows every intimate detail, every hidden thought before I even think it, all the things about me that nobody knows and some which I don't even know myself.  He engineered the totality of my being, forming and shaping me in my mother's womb, body mind and soul, awe-inspiring and full of wonder, so full of potential to show off His breathtaking goodness.  He knew the course and number of my days before there was as yet even one of them.  And part of this included my family.  For better or worse, they are God's gift to me, and I to them.  He wants to redeem my entire family here on earth because He so longs for us to be together with Him in Heaven.  Forever.

But there is another.  Another family.  A bonafide forever family.  A household of faith.  A new family - Paul’s been talking about this.  Jews and Gentiles together, all the nations - brought together into God’s forever family in Christ.  Paul is now beginning to ratchet up his focus on this family of God.  The people of God who are trusting in and following Christ, who God has adopted into His family and who are now all brothers and sisters in the faith family of Jesus Christ.  We are family.  A household of faith.  We need each other.

I think we as Americans tend to read these passages with eyes of red-white-and-blue, steeped as we are in the blessings of liberty and rugged individualism - we default to the singular in our minds.  God blessed me with every spiritual blessing.  He chose me.  He so loved me.  He saved me by grace through faith.  I was far and now I’m near.  Paul is bowing his knees for me.  It’s all about me.  But Paul is praying in the plural.  He has in mind what God is trying to do in the church.  Yes, there are wondrous implications for each of us on a personal level, but here Paul has in mind the end of chapter 2.  You all there in Ephesus are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.  For this reason.  This is what has Paul on his knees, dependent and desperate.  Because the ramifications of what God is trying to do in and through the church are monumental.  This is mission-critical - God has set it all up such that the entire rescue operation hinges on this.

[2.22] being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit —> [3.17] rooted and grounded in love (this is the foundation)

[1:23] (Christ’s) body is the fullness of Him Who fills all in all —> [3.19] filled up to all the fullness of God (this is the end result)

Paul is talking about a building.  I think he is thinking about previous versions of God’s dwelling place, where God had caused His Name to dwell.  Places He filled with His glory…

Ex. 40:34-38   Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. Throughout all their journeys whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the sons of Israel would set out; but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day when it was taken up. For throughout all their journeys, the cloud of the LORD was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel.

1Kings 8:10-13 

It happened that when the priests came from the holy place, the cloud filled the house of the LORD, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD. Then Solomon said, “The LORD has said that He would dwell in the thick cloud.  I have surely built You a lofty house, a place for Your dwelling forever.”

Let's not miss Solomon’s posture here - 1Kings 8:54   When Solomon had finished praying this entire prayer and supplication to the LORD, he arose from before the altar of the LORD, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread toward heaven.  He was on his knees!

This was to be a place of worship...

Deuteronomy 12:11 

Then it shall come about that the place in which the LORD your God will choose for His name to dwell, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution of your hand, and all your choice votive offerings which you will vow to the LORD.

The place where the Lord will cause His name to dwell.  And what did Paul just say?  Every family in heaven and on earth, your name comes from His name.  THE Father.  Most cultures of the world do just this - families get their family name from the father.  And this family of God, the body of Christ, the church - we bear the name of our heavenly Father (AND His Son!).  We bear His name.  And so let’s not miss this - what we do as God’s children, His people, His family - reflects on Him.

v 21 - To Him be the glory in the church… Rooted and grounded in love, knowing how great God’s love is, glory. --> Love is gonna unleash glory.  If we ever get the love figured out, if we ever get the love part cranked up, glory is gonna follow.  Glory akin to that which filled those temples of old.

So Paul is praying for this young church, these young believers.  He’s praying for us.  He’s on his knees, with this vision of glory, asking for glory… Let’s look at what he is asking…  Three unfathomable things that’ll make you say, whoa…

But first, let’s not miss the measure and motive of our praying.  The measure of our praying.  In fantasy football, we talk about a player’s ceiling.  How high might they go?  Are they capable of going off and scoring a whole lot of points?  What kind of potential are we talking about?  According to the riches of God’s glory [16].  According to the riches of His glory.  This is our spiritual ceiling - admittedly, it's pretty high... This is our heavenly bank account, if you will.  It’s our spiritual trust fund.  The riches of His glory.  How much is that?  What kind of resources are we talking about?  Limitless.  Inexhaustible.  Unfathomable.  The resources and power of almighty God are never in short supply.  This is not too difficult for Him.  Whatever “this” is in your life.  He’s got “this”.  "Here, let Me help with this…"

And the motive of our praying.  To God be the glory [21].  To Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus.  All that we do, all that takes place, it is for the increase of knowledge and the celebration of God’s glory.  His breathtaking goodness. 

But so the first unfathomable thing Paul is asking - strengthened with power in the inner man [16] - why?  Many reasons, no doubt, but remember Paul’s focus.  Remember where he is going - family.  Love.  Strengthened with power in the inner man --> so that we can love one another.  Again, family is messy.  Love takes a power which is beyond our natural ability.

Note too that Christ dwelling, settling down in our hearts is not subsequent to this power - it is not consequent.  It is coincident.  “So that” is not used in the Greek… Rooted and grounded in love - it is also coincident.  The love of Christ through the power of His Spirit is the foundation of this temple, this dwelling place of God where He is causing His name to dwell, where Christ indeed dwells.

Remember, Paul is thinking about this massive building project, Temple 3.0.  [2.22]  All peoples, all nations, being fitted and joined together and built up into this holy temple, a dwelling place of God’s Spirit, the body of Christ, a repository of His matchless glory and a conduit of His unfathomable blessings.  The church universal as well as the local assemblies, such as this one in Ephesus.  And Paul is gripped by a vision of God’s great glory and many-multicolored wisdom being shown off through the church, through these people who have surrendered all to Jesus and are one body, loving one another.  His grace.  His power.  His purpose.  Because the outcome of it all was going to be glory.  Glory.

We’ve talked about glory.  This is God’s breathtaking goodness.  It is things which make you say, whoa.  We get glimpses of God’s breathtaking goodness in so many ways.  But Paul told us last week that things were for OUR glory.  All the things he was doing and suffering and going through, the whole reason he was a prisoner for Christ was so that the nations could enter in to glory.  So that the peoples of the world could come to know the breathtaking goodness of God.  Glory awaited these Gentile believers.  Glory awaits you and me.  God’s breathtaking goodness in us - and through us.  Glory awaits - what are we waiting for?

It probably doesn’t hurt to remind ourselves here, how good is God, exactly?  Just how good is He?  What do you do to remind yourself of how good He really is?

Psalm 27:13  I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.

So much brokenness in the world.  Things break down.  Things take work.  Relationships, family…  Life tilts sideways and God’s goodness can become obscured.  It can be hard to see it sometimes.  Sometimes we just need to slow down and be still and remind ourselves that God is so good, His plan is so good.  Power in the inner man.  Christ settling down in our hearts.  But here’s a question - what would it look like for Christ to settle down and make a home in your heart?  He’s not in the foyer.  He’s not consigned to a guest room.  He is making Himself at home - what would that look like?  The decor, the ambience.  The conversation around the table of your heart?  What would it look like if God’s power really were unleashed in our lives, in our hearts?  Love.  Strengthened w power on the inside, Christ at home in our hearts, rooted and grounded in love.  What would your life and mine look like if God’s power was strengthening our hearts to love?  Full throttle, opened up.

Second unfathomable: Paul’s praying that we will comprehend and know this love of Christ.  He says this love surpasses knowledge - in other words, it’s unfathomable.  And knowing something unfathomable is itself unfathomable - how do you know something that surpasses knowledge?  But Paul desperately wants us to know it.  To be able to grasp it, how big it is - how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is.  And it’s infinite, so we’re talking about being able to wrap our feeble finite minds around something which is infinitely beyond our capacity to grasp OR know, much less reproduce.  In the words of Mad Max, it’ll take a miracle [fun clip of that here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjUmULa0R-8].  Which of course is precisely why he’s praying!

Third unfathomable: Paul is praying that we will be filled up to all the fullness of God.  Also infinite.  Also unfathomable.  Being filled up - what does that mean?  Filled up?  Isn’t that a problem, the common lot of man, that we are in fact broken cisterns, broken wells which have trouble holding water?  Our hearts are sieves.  Constantly trending towards empty.  Nothing satisfies - not even Snickers.  And yet somehow we are wired with the capacity to experience fullness by finding that in God.  And again, I think Paul is picturing this dwelling of God, God’s people, a local assembly where the glorious fullness of God is so manifest that you can feel it.  You can feel it when you walk in.  There is something different about this house, about these people.  There is love.  All men will know you are My disciples if you have love for one another.  It’s a promise.

Finally: "To God be the glory IN THE CHURCH unto all the generations of the age of the ages."  Forever and ever.  Glory so glorious it’ll floor you.  Bring you to your knees.  This is what Paul is picturing.  This is what has him on the floor.  On his knees.  God’s massive building project.  A family of peoples bought by the blood of Christ and brought together to love one another and spread the knowledge of the breathtaking goodness of God to this and succeeding generations forever and ever.  So be it.  Amen.  This is Paul’s prayer for these people in Ephesus he has never met.  But he knows they are believers in Jesus.  And he desperately wants them to grasp and channel God’s love to one another.  So he prays for them.  Let’s pray.

Ephesians 3:14   For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

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, 21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.