Knowing Jesus Better

Christian Living Series 1 of 9

  1. Knowing Jesus Better
  2. The Vessel Formed
  3. Mystery
  4. The Church as Community
  5. Keeping Power Switched On
  6. Real Solutions to Real Problems
  7. Don't You Know There is a War On
  8. The Hope The Glory The Power
  9. The Dynamic for Holy Living

September 13, 1987

EPHESIANS: Knowing JESUS Better...A PRAYER FOR FULLNESS

Purpose: (3:14-21) 19b "...that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." Paul's letter to the Ephesians is a manual on the healthiness of life in God as it is intended to be lived. Here we may read about how God's great POWER can be released in those who believe; we are introduced to mysteries of GRACE and wonders of KINDNESS and joys of LIFE. But the highest privilege is FULLNESS! The greatest imperative in the book is 5:18 Be filled with the Spirit! And in the prayer here (3:14-21) is the heart of Paul's concern for the Ephesians, and certainly God's will for you and me: FULLNESS! But what KIND of fullness?

I. THE QUESTION IS NOT 'SHALL WE BE FILLED?,' BUT 'WITH WHAT SHALL WE BE FILLED?'!

  1. Each of us is a vessel that is full for there is no such thing as spiritual vacuum. People are full of the stuff of life; people are full of their own importance; they are full of worry; they are full of hot air. In our culture it is the norm to be filled with the importance of self. We are so near to our culture that we are often blind to the pervasive, insidious, all-encompassing fullness of SELF WORSHIP as the 'accepted way' to live. There is occupation with what "I" want! There is obsession with being true to "ME!" To suggest otherwise is equal to LUNACY and TREASON combined.

    IT SEEMS IMPOSSIBLE, A CONTRADICTION, THAT ONLY WHEN I AM FILLED WITH GOD MY REAL 'BEST SELF'— MY 'FULFILLED SELF' CAN BE FORMED! But this is what Jesus was talking about when He said: (Mk 8:35) "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the gospel's, the same shall find it."

  2. There are places where our fullness shows. We need to be looking at:

    Reservoirs of consciousness: The things that "fill up our day." Not that we have consciously said: "This important!" Or  even that we ENJOY it . . . but this is what we DO!

    Wellsprings of attitude: The way we usually ARE to other  people. The 'habits of the heart' (with apology to Bellah.) We let ourselves take on a "usual" way of looking at things: "Here comes the Dreamer!" said Joseph's brothers. "Here comes A PAIN!" "Here comes LOVE!"

    Fountains of the spirit: The way we really ARE BEFORE GOD! Blessed are the pure in heart! Blessed are the seekers after  God! Open, obedient, growing faith and love that is reflected in love for the Word, love for the place of prayer, love for the Church.

  3. Our "fullness" is not usually a conscious choice:
    1. We catch the ways of society more than we deliberately choose; it isn't that we need to look for the devil under every rock...the spirit of 'creeping secularism' is much more subtle than that— WE JUST NEED TO FORGET WHO WE ARE, AND WHOSE WE ARE FOR A SHORT WHILE!
    2. Being filled is not necessarily seen as moral questions, or as "serious"— but things that 'take up space' in our souls.
    3. (If we can speak as though spiritual things were 'spatial') Many thoughts/attitudes/mind-sets "take up room" that might be used for better things. [If your box is filled with $20 bills, you couldn't get in $100 bills even if they were offered!]
  4. Fullness does not say anything about CAPACITY. Remember, even a small vessel can GROW, and eventually take on surprising proportions.

II. THE IDEA OF BEING FILLED WITH GOD

  1. "Filled with all the fullness of God" ALL THAT GOD HAS TO OFFER - certainly doesn't mean that we have all of God that there is— the Universe does not "contain" God, but rather is sustained by His Word- but it DOES MEAN 'FILLED WITH GOD!'
  2. This is not a phrase to be lightly dismissed: "Oh, yes— what is meant here is 'the experience of entire sanctification!'" Which may be true— but in OUR context we may be saying: "This is stuff we Nazarenes 'own.' We are on familiar territory. Two trips to an altar and 'we have God's fullness!" Sometimes I think our church has got all the theological issues solved so neatly, and 'understands' all the 'hows' and even the 'whys' that people don't see how our "neat theology" relates to them where they are.

    But there is REAL TRUTH in this message of holiness, a reality to being filled with the Spirit of God that, while it defies complete description , is crucial to our success as Christians.

    EITHER WE WILL SEEK TO BE FILLED WITH GOD, AND BELONG WHOLLY TO HIM, OR WE WILL FAIL! And we will:

    1. fall into outward sin
    2. fall into sin of pride— thinking WE are the KEY—have a "holiness" that is a mass of rules and regulations
    3. fall into sin of 'false humility' (antinomianism) and say: everyone has to sin every day anyway...

THIS IS NOT MERE THEORY (this prayer of Paul for you and me) AND ONCE AGAIN:

III. THE KEY TO FULLNESS IS KNOWING JESUS CHRIST

(v20-21) GOD IS ABLE TO MAKE THIS REALITY

This is what all the rest of Ephesians is about. But for right now we look at a practical application:)

  1. Fullness means the indwelling Christ (v 17): Jesus, welcome, at home, in you/me just NOW! By having heard Him knock, and by having deliberately invited Him in to STAY
  2. And Fulness means the empowering Christ (v 18): Enabling us to GRASP GOD'S LOVE:milk//meat/ /development/ /identity//responsibility
  3. The all-surpassing Christ (v 19): a crisis/on-going process of surrender; a grasping of the LOVE that enables us to "present our bodies a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1,2)Conclusion:
    1. You do not have the choice: "Shall I be full— or shall I not?"
    2. The question is: WILL YOU BE FILLED WITH JESUS CHRIST?
    3. Will you invite Him in? Make HIM your STRENGTH? Acknowledge your HELPLESSNESS before Him; and let HIM BE YOUR STRENGTH!

Make Him your ALL IN ALL? Trust Him with your secret ambitions . . .your dreams . . .your hopes?

#241 His Way with Thee