The Riches of His Glory Part 1, Eph, 3:14-19
Ephesians 3:14-19 · Vern Peterman · Jan 16, 2005
Ephesians & Colossians, No. 53
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4826231952015

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

In Ephesians 3, 14-19, what we're going to be doing is taking a look at the first half of it, because this is sort of a lengthy passage, but I want to keep the whole thing in front of us. And so here's how we're going to approach it. Ephesians 3, 14-19 is Paul's second prayer for the believers. In chapter 1, 15-23, we saw another prayer, kind of focused around verse 18 there. And so this was his first prayer. He is, in this passage, moving into the second prayer for the Ephesian believers.

And there's enough in it that we're going to take this Sunday and next Sunday to cover the range of it. And we'll look at kind of the first half of it here this morning. The next verses after this are actually a continuation of the prayer. And we'll look at that a couple weeks from now, Ephesians 3, 20 through 21. It's kind of a benediction to the prayer.

Paul is actually praying, as he is praying for them, that the reality of their position in Christ would also be reality in their lives, that is, their condition by God's power. That's the point. He's been telling them verse after verse after verse about their position in Christ. Even to the point where we've had some people ask and say, how come we're continuing to look at our position in Christ? It's because that's what Paul wrote. But what he is praying in this prayer, and he indicated in the first one, but here he really put some focus on it, he is desiring that that position be carried over into their daily condition, but not by their own efforts.

Rather instead, as the passage makes clear, by God's doing. We'll see that here in a minute. That's the focal point here. It is God's accomplishment and God's doing. One of the other things that we're going to see in this passage that we've seen is true of several others and more yet to come, and that is that the entire Godhead, the Trinity as it's been termed, triunity may be another good way to put it, the entire Godhead is involved in this process. It is not simply a matter of saying, boy, those folks need some help down there, why don't you go and take care of it and we can put our attention to other things. No. The entire Godhead is involved in your walking your daily life as a believer.

It's spelled out here clearly as it's been repeatedly. Here are all the passages where it has been spelled out, so this is now Not the final one, but getting kind of towards the last half of those passages that are repeatedly referring to the Holy Spirit's involvement along with the Son and the Father. All right.

One of the other things that we pointed out previously is that when Paul is praying, he prays with a pattern. He said in Ephesians 115, for this reason, so it's interesting, he precedes his prayer was a for this reason. There's a reason for prayer. It's not just some sort of a mystical floating about with no connection. He says, for these reasons that he's laid out, there is the logical reason to pray.

There is a foundation for prayer. Then, here he does exactly the same thing in 3.14, for this reason I bow my knees before the Father. He follows the same pattern. Prayer starts with a, for this reason. There's a basis for praying. It isn't that he just suddenly gets this lurch in his heart that says, oh, I better pray. He does it based on what he has laid out. For the reason of the truths that have been laid out, then I will pray for you, and here's how and why. He starts off there, it says, for this reason I bow my knees.

Now, bowing the knee is an expression that's throughout scripture, Genesis through into Philippians Interestingly enough. We won't be reading all those passages, but there are quite a few and what we will be taking a look at a sample What it means whether it means it figuratively or literally Because sometimes it's expressed as a figure of speech is it means respectfully approach One of the places with that it shows up in Genesis. Let's go ahead and turn to that is This is when Joseph has become number two in Egypt after the Pharaoh because of his understanding of what's to take place and the years of plenty followed by years of famine. And so as he has made the number two ruler, those who are speaking to the Egyptians and the others that were in the land say, bow the knee.

Show respect for Joseph, who is now your ruler. And so, when I bow my knees, it is showing respect for the Father. It's not just, hey, that's what we always do, bend the knee. It is a showing of respect, and that's what is communicating. Now, as we look back here, This is access. Remember we talked about access to the Father?

That was the point that came up in Ephesians 2.18.

In Ephesians 2.18, rather, our access to the Father is without regard for, I have this background or I have that background. Genetic material isn't what determines whether you have access or not. It doesn't matter which gender. It doesn't matter what other status we have on planet Earth. Access to the Father comes through relationship with Jesus Christ. by his personal introduction.

In Ephesians 3.12, we saw that access to the Father is with boldness and confidence, but he gives us another insight here in 3.14. We have access to the Father without regard for earthly distinction, 2.18. 3.12, we have access to the Father with boldness and confidence, 3.14, but with respect, but with regard, recognizing Him as those sharing His glory with us of the superior authority.

Now, something else that crops up here, He says, I bow my knees before the Father. We've been seeing the Father mentioned several times in the book of Ephesians. We're not done. Here are the places where the Father is explicitly named. There are other places where the Father and what He has done and what He has accomplished is discussed. Here the Father is explicitly named in this passage. And the Father is credited with blessing us in the heavenlies in Christ. Eulogitos, it's good words to the Father, blessings to the Father for having blessed us in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.

Quick summary here, working in unison with the Son and with the Spirit and being the one with whom we have access through the Son and the Spirit. There are other things that are attributed to it, but that's kind of the quick summary of the father's place.

Now, what we see here, that's interesting, and some of you may have gotten an email I sent out earlier. I said, this Sunday, we're going to have Father's Day. Well, here's the way it's going to work, OK? We've got 3-14, 4-6, 5-20, and 5-23. That's four Father's Days this year, OK? And then we've also got the traditional Father's Day, but we're not done. In 6-4, fathers are mentioned directly. So that's six Father's Days this year, unless one of those happens to land on Father's Day, the traditional one. So five or six, all right? So anyway, lots of Father's Day fathers.

Now, as we look at this verse here in verse 15, now we come into one that's both interesting and maybe a little bit puzzling. So let's take a look at it. Verse 15, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. One of the things that folks in the Bible background elective might recognize here is kind of the two halves principle. One of the things that we noted there was that in the Hebrew way of speaking, they would say heaven and earth, oftentimes with other words. But the idea is that means everything. OK, everything.

And we see it first crop up in Genesis 1.1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, everything. It's the Jewish way of saying it. Rather than saying He created everything, they split it in two. Heavens and the earth, the two halves put together, there you've got the whole. It's the Hebrew way of saying it.

So basically what this is saying, every family in heaven on earth, God is the Father of all, of everything here. Now, let's take a look at what He means by that. That's why your church directory that Norm was telling us about here, when you go through it, it's really hard to figure out the names. They all start with Father. Father Anderson, Father Avery, Father Doyle, Father... Isn't that right? No. Just kidding. So if that's not what he means, what does he mean? What is this every name that is named? All right, let's figure that one out.

Since Paul is writing about in heaven and on earth, he is not just talking about humans. Scripture reveals that there are two main categories of spiritual beings in the universe. There are angels, they all appear to have been created no later than the six days of creation and quite likely within the six days of creation. Then there are humans who have all been descended from Adam and Eve, those two spiritual groups. There are other creatures, of course. These are the two spiritual groups. Within each of those, there are subcategories of different kinds, but those are the two groups that have a spiritual being.

Now, let's look at the angels. The angels were created at once, no ability to reproduce, so their numbers appear to remain constant. You don't have angel babies, in spite of the pictures. Now, they were given A time window in which to choose. Do you follow the Lord or not? Yeah, they were given a choice. But because they were all created at once, not born, that time window is the same for all of them. Their opportunity to choose appears to have been closed. And it appears now that their wills are already fixed for eternity. They have made their choice.

Consequently, there doesn't appear to be any plan of salvation for them. They are spiritual beings of a different kind, and God has worked with them differently than He has worked with human beings. Now, on the human side, here are human beings who have all descended from Adam and Eve, who then fell into sin. Humans increase in number, boy, have they increased, through reproduction, but since Adam all die. The window of opportunity to decide, rather than being one time for all, and irreversible, appears to be, as each person comes here on planet Earth, they are given this window of opportunity while on planet Earth to make a choice for or against the Lord. And it's different from the angels, because the angels don't have the opportunity for salvation. All mankind has fallen. We have been given a means of salvation, unlike the angels, and each person is choosing not do I remain with the Lord or go my own way, but do I rely upon the Lord's provision for salvation or go my own way. So there's a difference there.

What's very interesting is the angels appear fascinated by the salvation that we have. They appear intrigued by the way the Lord has worked with us differently than them, and it draws their curiosity. They are amazed and fascinated by what God is doing in you. So, you think you're just going home to your house and going about doing things, and we're coming here to church to meet, but the angels are looking with intent at what's taking place. It is amazing stuff.

So, the Father God the Father is the Father of all fatherhood. God the Father is the Father of all fatherhood. He is the picture of perfect fatherhood. The character and actions of God the Father is the key of learning for earthly fathers. As we look at this here, there's an interesting principle in place. Earthly fathers have, in varying degrees, fallen short of God the Heavenly Father. And yet, as one of the things we talked about earlier, human beings have the opportunity to put their trust in Christ and thereby be saved, which angels don't have.

But the thing that we also have opportunity to do is to then learn what is a father to be. What is a father to be? Here's our lesson. this is what a father is. So if you are a father this morning, and have kids that are still under the roof, if you will someday be a father, there's a lesson from scripture here.

Let's take a look at it. There's a pattern that comes out of this passage, and we'll want to see that. It starts off with a request. He prays that God would grant you, according to his riches and glory, to be strengthened with power through the Spirit and the inner man, and then, with a result, so that Christ may dwell, as we see, for this purpose, to be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, with this result, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, for a final purpose, that you may be filled up with all the fullness of God. We'll take a look at that part there this next week.

Returning to the subject of the Father, the Father, we saw in the very first time we looked at Ephesians 1-2, was the source of peace, looked at with Christ and the Holy Spirit as having a role. The Father is the source of peace. Isn't that interesting? This is a lesson for earthly fathers, to look to the Father. Here's the model Father. A source of spiritual blessing. Isn't that interesting? If you're looking for what is the place of a Father on planet Earth, that's a key point. A source of spiritual blessing. That's the first thing that Paul lays out when he starts talking about it. Blessed be the Father who has done this. A source of spiritual blessing. Every spiritual blessing credited to the Father. He's a source of wisdom and revelation in 117. Ah, wisdom.

Revealing things. There's a lesson for earthly fathers. How about one with whom we have access, and the picture that we got here, we have access that is equal, it is intimate and respectful. How about that? All those characteristics. Those are qualities that children need to see in a father. He is overall through all and in all, as we'll see in 4.6. He is not only overlooking things, but he's also not aloof. There is the opportunity for intimacy. He is involved. Though he sees things in an overall sense, he doesn't stand too far off. God desires that intimacy. There is a picture of a father.

The next one we see, one to whom we can be thankful. Now, not everything that an earthly father is going to do is going to be one of those things that the kids are going to turn around and say, thanks dad for doing that right away. Some things they might say something quite other than thank you. You know what I mean. But, there is a point of recognizing thankfulness and one of the points that Paul draws us to as we read through the book of Ephesians is that he is wanting them to come to a place of recognition that thankfulness is indeed appropriate. And that's the end goal that is reasonable for a father to look towards. And finally, he is spelled out again as a source of peace and of love with faith. These are key things that Paul spells out of a father throughout the book.

They are true of the Heavenly Father. They are in every way a model for those of us who are earthly fathers. Even those of us who do not have kids that are still under the roof have a place of encouragement of earthly fathers in these regards. So every one of you have a place in this, whether it's directly as a father raising kids or encouraging others, learning from it even. We will be looking at directly addressed verses as well.

Ephesians 6.4, Fathers do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

And also in Colossians 3.21, Fathers do not exasperate your children so that they will not lose heart. We'll take a look at those later.

Now, he's got these words that keep popping up here, and this is one of the passages, riches and glory. The word riches, plutos, is actually singular in the Greek. And so a way you might convey it in English with the singular sense is the word wealth. The idea of rather than looking at a diversity or somehow splitting the thing up, it speaks of the singular mass of these riches. Add to that, as Paul lays this out here, he does what he actually has as a pattern, and that is The Greek has the wealth, or riches, and the glory.

And we'll see here shortly that that's a pattern that he repeats. Let's take a look. Ephesians 1.18, which we've already looked at here, but I think there's some things to take a look at again. And see this little hand with the finger pointing? Be sure you draw that on your handout, okay? Get the shading in there. Anyway, all right.

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory." And notice in the English translation they did a good job of bringing out the definite articles. The riches of the glory of the inheritance of Him is the way that the Greek reads there. There is a focus on each.

You see, it's a singular wealth. It's a singular glory. There isn't anything comparable. There isn't somebody else who's got something sort of like it. It is the wealth, unique and singular and incomparable. It is the glory, unique, singular and incomparable.

Now, we looked last week, and we'll return to this again, the 2 Corinthians 3.18 passage.

It's the revealing and the declaration that he has already laid out in the first part of chapter 3, and it is shared. And we see that also in this passage here in Ephesians 1. Romans 9, we see a similar one. And in verse 23, he comes up with, Lo and behold, and he did so to make known. Remember in 118, in that passage, it was, I pray that you would know, so he wants them to get it. Here, it's God taking the action to make it known.

So that's what shows up, and it's again the riches, and the way it comes across in the Greek is this, the riches of the glory of Him. It keeps pointing to the singular, unique, and incomparable wealth. An incomparable and singular and unique glory of Him. It pertains to Him. Declared and revealed to make known, right? to make known. That's focal to what God is doing. Remember, that's God's eternal purpose, to declare and to share. And that's the other point that comes out here. He is wanting to share that glory with us. That is a key aspect of His eternal purpose.

Colossians 1.25-27 that we looked at, I've kind of clipped the middle out here so it all fits on the screen, but look at it again. God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory. And so we have the riches of the glory of the mystery. This. This one. It's the way the Greek comes across there. We've got the word mystery there. So guess what? We have a moose moment. Sorry. Okay. All right.

And we have here, here's the 2 Corinthians 3.18 passage. It's got the parallel to that. To declare it and reveal it. To make known. Right?

It's central and not incidental to God's eternal purpose to make known His glory. And it's not a little tiny glory, okay? It's not a itsy-bitsy-bitsy tiny glory. It's massive wealth of glory, okay? Lots, singular and comparable, riches, that kind of glory. And what does it say in this passage as well? in you, through you. That glory.

Paul keeps emphasizing, again, every church that he writes, and this church he tells them twice, God wants to make known, I'm going to pray for you because God has declared it, He has revealed it, He is sharing it, and I want you to live it. That's why he's praying for them. That's why he's writing. That's why he spent time there. That's why he's saying, if I've got to get locked up to do it, great! Because there's nothing better. You've got to know this. He says, I'm locked up to a Praetorian guard and this guy is horrible. But guess what? I get to reveal to you God's glory and I get to pray for you as you learn to share it. Because God has taken the initiative to do so.

We've looked at, according to the riches of His glory, measured by and consistent with His glory, to be strengthened with power in the inner man, declared and revealed. He's telling us. He's giving us the facts. He is desiring to share it. That's what this next portion of the passage is all about. to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man." That's the sharing. That's the sharing with you.

That is a key point and central to God's eternal purpose. It is not incidental. What we're meeting here to talk about this morning isn't just an optional item. This is something that God said before He created the world. He says, I want to do this. I want to share and declare my glory. And it's going to be shared with these people here. His eternal purpose. Now, we've got the last half. That's not right.

Anyway, last half of Ephesians 3.16. There we go. That's better. Okay. To be strengthened with power through His Spirit and the inner man. Okay? To be strengthened. Kratayao. Okay? This word is written in the passive voice. Okay?

We don't say, hey man, I'm going to strengthen myself. and God will be impressed. No. He says, wait a minute. He says, I am sharing my glory, and the way that happens in you is I do the strengthening. Passive voice. It's God's accomplishment. We're not intended to be self-strengthening. If we do something, we say, boy, I pulled that off good, aren't you impressed, Lord? The Lord says, no, that's not part of my eternal purpose. I'm not at all impressed. You missed the point.

He says, want to share my glory and I will do that by strengthening you with my power and my doing and my accomplishment. Paul is praying that it is God who is the one who is to strengthen the believers. He wants, as a part of his eternal purpose, to strengthen the believers, share his glory in them. With power is the next way he describes it. Dunamis. We've seen this word before. The word is often translated power or might. The key idea in the word is ability. The ability.

Paul prayed that the believers would be empowered by God's enablement. That it would be God's accomplishment. God is not impressed when we as human beings do something that others might be well impressed with. He said, you just missed my point. He said, no, I want to be the one. who shares his glory with you through my power and my strength in you.

That's my goal. Now, let's look at Ephesians 1, 18 and 19. He had begun to communicate a similar message. Verse 19, what is the surpassing greatness of his power, dunamis, we've seen that word here, toward us who believe. That's you and me. These are in accordance with the working, energeia, that you be energized of the strength, kratos, okay? That's the noun.

So he uses the verb form in Ephesians 3.16.

He is telling them basically a very similar message again. He's also telling it to them in a prayer. He is praying for them again. Interesting, when it comes time to pray, what does Paul pray about? I'm going to pray that you are strengthened by power from God, period. That's what Paul prays about for these people. He says, I've told you all kinds of things about your position in Christ, But when it comes right down to it, what I really am praying for, and I'll bow the knee here with a Praetorian guard chain to me and tell you, I want you to be strengthened by a power from the Holy Spirit, God working in you, sharing His glory with you and in you.

Paul spent the rest of the chapter in chapter 1, verses 20-23, expanding on the source and scope and character of that power. That's what he spelled out. Colossians 1, 28 and 29 that we looked at, amazing, similar message, what do you say? For this purpose I also labor, striving, agonizomai, remember we said that was an athletic term, striving with an athletic level effort according to his power, his energeia, his energizing, which mightily, dunamai, related word to dunamis, works within me, works, energeo, energizing me.

He wants every believer, verse 28, to be mature in Christ. He says, I want to see that accomplished because God is the one doing it in me, and not by my own efforts. I don't want you to be impressed by Paul. Then he says, through his Spirit in the inner man, and that really has the idea of by means of. It is by means of the Spirit that this is to come about. That's why we've been given the Holy Spirit. He's clearly spelled out that we are dwelt by the Holy Spirit. He is the one who puts the power of God to work in each believer. Now, here's this fine new machine, nice red machine, but it doesn't go by itself. There's the parts you don't see that much of.

There's the engine. The engine is what drives it. You don't see the body of the SUV just sit there writhing and jumping to try to go somewhere. It doesn't do that by itself. There are other parts that are unseen that are exceedingly important. You don't want the body lunging and jerking around to try to get somewhere. You want all the parts that are inside to be having the full effect. That's why you've got this nice drivetrain to carry the energy from the engine. Again, largely unseen. to the wheel so that you go somewhere, so that you can take on the tough climb, so that you can accomplish things. But it's the part you don't see that's essential.

It's that that Paul is urging in the life of the believer. He says, it's not you, this shell out here that God desires to be impressed with. It is Him. It's what's inside. Now, here it says, in the inner man. It's real interesting. Where is the inner man? Maybe I ought to have Bob come up here and help us. Is this what he's talking about? Is that the inner man? He'll be strengthened in here. Is that the inner man? Maybe not.

Romans 7.22, Paul uses the same phrase, the inner man. and then uses in verse 25 an equal, the mind, as an equivalent word.

In Romans 12.2, Paul writes of the renewing of your mind. Then, 2 Corinthians, boy, the folks studying 2 Corinthians, oh man, what a rich book. Anyway, 4.16, therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, our inner man is being renewed day by day.

The outer man is decaying, but it's the inner man that's being renewed. You may have a fine physical body, but that's not the part he's talking about. It's the inner man, the part that you can't see. That's the inner man. Paul uses the phrase inner man as we would use the word heart or mind. Not just this gray matter, but in a fuller sense.

The outer man is this body, and the inner man is who we are spiritually. In verse 14, he's told us about His own respectful but confident access to the Father. He then went on in verse 15 that the Father is the perfect source and characterization for all fatherhood. He's the one who blesses with every spiritual blessing.

He is the one who loves for you to have access. He says, what does it cost for you to have access? It's worth it. Worth the price. Verse 16, Paul has said that his request is for God's provision that is consistent with the magnitude of God's limitless wealth, his riches or wealth of glory. Glory, we said last week, was the radiant essence of who God is. Paul is looking for the believers that they would be empowered by God's enablement, by God's doing. He prays that that enablement would be by means of the Holy Spirit, that the Holy Spirit would be the one accomplishment in their inner man, in their hearts and their minds. You see, Paul isn't saying, look folks, here's the external standard. See, here's the law. You got it? Alright, read it. Alright, go do it.

I'll see whether I like the result. See, God isn't asking that, is He? Instead, what we see is God has already prepared the good works before him. He says, I've already prepared them. You've just got to let me do them. They're already prepared. He says, I've already taken care of that. You've just got to let me do it and pull it off. It's by my strength. It's by my provision. It's by my life.

We don't want to be a writhing car body Trying to lurch our way up the hill without the wheels and engine and all the things it takes to make it go. Spiritually speaking, that's kind of what it is if we try to do things on our own. We are, to use the analogy of the temple that Paul used with the church of Corinth, we're the holy of holies, folks. We're the holy of holies. Don't veil the door. Don't try to do it yourself.

It's consistent with God's eternal purpose. He has declared and revealed His glory. He desires to share His glory with us. Don't turn Him away. We don't need to. He says, Paul is praying for the believers and saying, I desire that you, in dependence upon the Lord, live your life by His strength, by His provision, by His sufficiency. What He has declared and what He has revealed He also longs to share with pray. Thank you, Lord, as we look at this passage here, what wonderful, wonderful things you've done. You have provided your very self to power us and to give us what it takes for the life to do the good works that you prepared, that you would be glorified and not us. We thank you for that. In Jesus' name, Amen.