God the Father and the Riches of His Glory

14 through 17 today and most of you were here last week so I'm not sure we need to reread what we covered last week so let's let's continue remember the theme here in Ephesians 3 is kind of this Jew and Gentile being one in Christ and kind of all the things that relate to to that relationship and beyond.

So talking about the fellowship of this mystery of the church and really the intent of the church to bring glory to the Father. So for this reason, I bow my knees to the Father, our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. Boy, that's a stacked verse here. Let's kind of drill down here a little bit. The first thing we have is for what reason? What reason is this? For this reason, I bow my knees. What's interesting, Bob, is that this is a repeat of the same phrase from verse 1.

Roger, I'm going to suggest to the class that this either relates to Ephesians 3.1 or Ephesians 3.13. What are your thoughts here? What does 3.13 say? Somebody read 3.13.

Wherefore, I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory. Okay, so this is the next verse. For this reason, it makes sense that for this reason it would relate to verse 13, right? What about 1? Somebody read 3.1. For this reason I, Paul the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles, OK, and then it goes on. Yeah, read 2 too. OK, good, thanks Randy. Alright, so what's the thoughts here? How many vote for 3-1? And how many vote for 3-13? Alright, good. 313 wins.

We can stop here. You're dismissed. Alright, so let's look at this. Remember the Jew and Gentile are now one in Christ Jesus. Somebody turn to Ephesians 2, 19-22. Whoever gets it, reads it. We just need to be reminded of what we already covered months ago. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God's household. Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together. into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

Alright, good. So that really kind of relates to this theme that we have in Ephesians 3 and David and Patty are traveling to Texas so pray for them this week too. Alright, let's continue. But perhaps more logically to what immediately precedes this verse.

So in other words, 19-22 goes back to Ephesians 3.1, and that precedes Ephesians 3.1. So I'm just going to leave it there, perhaps more logically, but class voted for verse 13. So, anyway, we'll let it be. I think it could relate to either. We don't want to drill down too far on this, but for this reason, it's kind of like, therefore.

What's it there for? I mean, it's a conclusive kind of statement. For this reason. What reason? Well, the church is one. Three, one. Or ultimately, verse 13, as we read, wherefore I desire that you faint not at my tribulations, for which is your glory. Remember we talked about that last week. His tribulations are the glory of the church, and that's because we relate one to another. And as we see one of our brothers or sisters have trials and tribulations in their life, we glory in that, in that the Lord is working through the circumstances in their lives and ours too as a body to bring ultimately His Word and truth to our lives. I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. What should we make of this posture of prayer that Paul is relating to here? Tom, you've avoided the question. What was the question? The posture. What about the posture of being on his knees?

Alright, well let's drill down here a little bit. More typically, prayer was while standing. So let's just look at a little scripture to support that statement. And whenever you stand praying, this is in Mark, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. That's the Lord Jesus Christ. Of course, talking in a different period, different dispensation, if you will.

And then, you know, Luke 18.11, the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God I thank you that I am not like other men Exhaustioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector said. I mean, there's at least a scriptural basis of standing while praying. Now, whether that's law or...

Yeah, go ahead. There's also, actually, what I said last week about the Lord in the garden. In that case, he was flat on the ground. Okay. Prostate on the ground. you know, and I almost want this isn't more symbolic. Maybe that's where you're headed. Let's continue.

Alright, so when knees, is that a prayer posture that relates to being more humbled and more fervent in prayer? So is this kind of like lesser versus greater? Well, could it be more, almost submissive too? A what, Regan? Could it almost be more submissive? Oh, I think that's humbling, yes. I mean, is the Lord going to hear it any differently? Absolutely not. Tom?

I think it's maybe even an act of concentration on your part, saying, I'm walking as I can. I'm rolled out as I can. I'm right on my knees before you, Lord. I'm serious. Well, I think that relates to the term fervent. I mean, you get the idea when you look at this in terms of examples of being on your knees. And Roger, I'll come back to what you said in just a second. Let's go on to the next slide.

Luke 22, 41 in Gethsemane. He just left the disciples. And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, and he knelt down and prayed. And you're saying he was prostrate. Well, actually, there's a, and it's not that verse, other verses kind of say, he says knelt there, I agree. Alright, let's look at other examples. And then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not charge them with this sin. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. Okay? knelt down, right? And that's Stephen, by the way. Let me make sure you understand. That's Stephen. Remember, before he was stoned, he knelt down.

And then, but Peter put them all out and knelt down and prayed and turning to the body, he said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes and when she saw Peter, she sat up. She was dead, at least considered dead. We believe scripture said this is a woman who was not resurrected, but restored to life. Peter knelt down.

So I don't want to be overly dogmatic here, but I think Tom, you hit it right. I think when you kneel down, you kind of shut out the world, and we pray constantly, and the evidence for that, in no way are we told when and how to pray. Second Thessalonians, therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness and the work of faith with power. I mean, Praying continuously. How are you doing at that? Somebody give me an example of what praying continuously looks like in your life.

I feel like I have an ongoing conversation with the Lord all day long. And it's kind of a casual and informal communication. It's not necessarily self-serving, everything can be, but this kind of back and forth to the Lord is really what the Spirit does in our lives. Tom?

I just feel seduced to pray for the other drivers, not necessarily to spare myself, but just so that everybody gets home safe or gets wherever they need to go safe. Speaking of that, did you hear about that road rage killing this week? I mean, how unbelievable that was. Did you not hear about this? I mean, somebody was taking their family to the dentist and apparently something happened. I read the guy turned around and shot and killed the woman, one of her sons. Anyways, yeah Randy, go ahead. Hard to follow that topic. No, no, I mean, I just, I don't know what Tom is saying about being on the road praying for the...

Coming back to the idea of kneeling though, I think it's interesting, it's historically when you look at the Old Testament context there was a humility, it was a sign of humility, and like for example 2nd Chronicles 6.13 Solomon kneels and he's up on a platform, but you were supposed to have your head above the king's head, and so it was a sign of humility that you kneeled And so Paul's kneeling here is not an insignificant gesture of humility. It also happens to bring focus.

You're going to see the feet of the church. So again, if we go back, I think the comment here of this being a more humble position to pray and also more fervent, more focused, maybe something that's even more relevant to our day-to-day existence. I mean, keep in mind, the Gospel accounts really relate to the Old Testament tradition maybe more than what the Pharisees were doing. But again, I think we have a lot of freedom here to pray however we want. Carol? I think it depends on who you are.

Because kneeling my whole life has been very painful. There just isn't enough there to pad my knees or whatever, you know. And then I'm thinking about my knee pain. And I'm not concentrating on my life. Have you been to a Catholic church or an Episcopal church recently? Well, I mean, is it that tradition that's basically, forgive me, it's garbage. It's just garbage that you have to, as a congregation, you have to kneel down on these kneel benches to pray. But yet, I think in Scripture, in the New Testament, this kneeling, particularly the Lord himself, and now Paul under this circumstance, and Peter, and Stephen, I mean, this really gives us an idea that maybe Maybe that's something that we ought to pause on and think, gee, maybe there's time where kneeling is what we should think about. I think sometimes you're in an intense situation where you just don't know what else to do. You just fall down or kneel down or just collapse when you're talking to the Lord about something. It's kind of an intense, very focused situation.

I think we've captured this. Who else? Steve, go ahead. of a natural factor of body language. It's natural to express certain things with certain types of body language. Look at the whole animal kingdom, how they interrelate with each other, referencing hierarchy and submission. We see that in our dogs actually. So I think it's just kind of part of that lineage thing.

I found a verse about the Lord on his face. Matthew 26, verse 39. This is in the Garden. And he went a little bit beyond them and fell on his face and prayed, Father, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me. Not as I will, but as Thou will. and I think that probably is subsequent, maybe a different gospel account, but I think what Luke, but immediately after leaving, going into Gethsemane, he said he knelt, but then he prayed for it. So anyway, circumstances dictate sometimes.

Carol? I think the body language with prostrating yourself, where you just throw yourself at the Lord's feet kind of thing, shows you've Wow, really? You know, it's something like his strength will be made perfect in our weakness, right? I mean, isn't that true? Good point, yeah. Any thoughts about this? You know, you said something, I think it was last week, about how it wasn't until Christ came that we were able to have this personal relationship with the Lord. You know, like maybe the Jews were not, they had to go to the temple one day a year.

And I'm really struck by, you know, the way that we pray, whether it's in our heads, daily, or on our knees, it's personal. Yeah, and you know, to some extent, I'm going to go a little bit tangential here today, so forgive me for this a little bit. You know, praying at the dinner table and sometimes even as a congregation, it's kind of almost a little legal-like, isn't it, at times? I mean, we do it and it makes us think that the Lord's in our lives at every place, both as a congregation and at the dinner table. But anyway, it's a bit traditional too at times, and I think kind of vain at times. So anyway, I'll just raise that as an issue. So I think that reminds us when we do pray at the dinner table or as a congregation that we really turn that over to the Lord.

And that's a Spirit-led position that we have, to really consider that as a personal communication region. It's not simply the body, but each of us individually. Nobody's putting metrics on our prayer. The Spirit leads and that communication is open 24-7 for all of us. What do you think about the manner in which Paul addresses the throne? How does he address the throne? I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. What do you think of that?

Well, the Greek preposition could be to or unto, which I don't know about you, but unto is stronger than to. Or before, it's kind of like I'm in your face. I mean, I'm going to use a colloquialism, face to face. This is front and center. I mean, this is really a very close relationship and relates to our position. I mean it's really an opportunity to be in the same room with.

And of our Lord Jesus Christ is by the way omitted in some translations. I'm not sure which ones you have. It's in some but not all. Actually I have another translation to share. I actually have one that has the father of fatherhood which is kind of interesting. The Father of Fatherhood. Really? Which version? It might be least, I'm not sure. Father of Fatherhood.

And it seems like that kind of fits in the context that's going to go on in 15. Every family in heaven derives this name. It's pretty cool. Well, whether you leave of the Lord Jesus Christ in or out of this, bowing your knees to the Father or unto or before is really a very close relationship. In the Greek it's a very strong phrase that we shouldn't ignore. From whom the whole family, we can leave the in, but the is in the original Greek, in heaven and earth is named.

Boy, alright. What family are we talking about here? We've got another one of these kind of Ephesians 3.1 verses 3.13 kind of... Yes, Tom, what family is this? Everyone who is in standing with the Lord, saved in heaven. Alright, so you're thinking the church is the family. Is that what we're thinking here? Is there another opinion? How many think this is the body of Christ? And how many think it's the broad family of all of God's creation? And how many didn't vote? And you're not even raising your hand.

Alright, let's go here. Is this positional truth for the church? Macaulay, Clark, and Gill say yes. And by the way, I could have listed another five people in commentaries I looked at. Or does it relate to all families for all times? Wiest and Constable. And that's two of the references that our elders have given us to teach from.

All right, let's vote again. How many think this is positional truth for the church? And I feel it is. How many people think this is all of the families for all time that God has created? Well, it says, and earth. That's what kind of... Where are you existing? Positionally, you're there. My condition is right here. Is everybody having fun today by the way?

Well, you know, Roger's got to favor that because he's given the handouts that we should use to teach. Randy, what are your thoughts here? I think this is probably I teach this. It's been so long ago that I can't remember what I taught. Randy Peterman in twenty eighteen thinks that this has more to do with Genesis one. OK, twenty six.

But also the angelic creation. Yes, the angels are included in some people's view of this. And the angels are heavenly beings, right? And as we talked about last week, the good angels and the bad angels, right? These spirits that are around us. Let's look at a couple of verses and maybe give us different perspectives.

Colossians 1.20, And by him, to reconcile all things to himself, by him were the things on earth or things in heaven having made peace through the blood of his cross, you could interpret that, all things to himself, right? That is his ultimate creativity. He has created all things for his glory. Now all things do not really give him glory in terms of their earthly existence.

And then we can go to Romans 9.25, as he says also in Hosea, I will call them my people who are not my people and her beloved who is not beloved and it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them you are not my people and there they shall be called sons of the living God. The reason I brought that up is it relates again, Romans 9 is about the Jew being part of the body.

So take it or leave it and I think you could go either way but if we go back we've got very smart people who have been in the world and presumably where spirit led they have a different opinion of us. I don't think it's one of those things you die for one way or the other.

Think about all the questions that we have fun discussing that don't relate to the foundation of the gospel and how it applies to our day-to-day lives. But it's kind of fun to try to think, what did the Lord really mean by this? And when we get to heaven, this is all going to be perfectly clear, is it not? You know, when I'm told that I have the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, I say, well, you gave me a short change here. I don't have it all for sure. And by the way, the more you learn in Scripture, sometimes the more questions you have, except for the basic truths of I've been saved, I'm being saved, and someday I'm going to be saved and be with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Alright, now that we've conquered verses 14 and 15, we've answered all the questions, or have we? Verse 16, that He would grant you, each one of you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man. Another loaded verse here. How do you interpret that He would grant you according to the riches of His glory?

And the question I would say, would grant is active subjunctive. What does that mean? Active, who's doing this? He's doing it. What's subjunctive tense mean? You're the recipient of the action. No, not necessarily, Tom. Subjunctive tense. It means he may do it or he may not do it. Really? That he would grant you according to the riches of the world? You mean there's a question about this? Well, is he depending on us here, do you think? So what's our responsibility? Faith. Oh. To believe. Yeah. You've attended some of these classes before, I think. Okay.

It cannot be a function of gotta be now, gotta be right now, but he will in his good time. Well, I think, you know, we aren't robots down here. I mean, we have a responsibility to act by faith. And so this subjunctive tense is not the fact that God's not fully giving, the riches of His glory, is that are we in a position to be receiving them? And sometimes we shut the door, don't we? I thought our life in Christ was to bring Him the glory.

What's the problem here? He's giving us the glory. How do you interpret that? Roger gave me this set of verses, I think for a reason here. He looked through and gave him the easy ones and never mind, Randy and I did more difficult. Alright, is this a two-way street? You know, I think of, if Hal were here, and he is here, I mean, we know Hal, he's been here, he's taught here.

I mean, our bringing glory to the Lord is our life. I mean, that's what we're here for, to bring glory to the Lord. And now it's saying, his glory, he would grant you according to his glory to be strengthened. We'll continue in a second. Is this a two-way street? I think it is.

The riches of His glory is being put out there for us to receive, that we have by faith to receive it. But yet our life as we walk in grace and truth, in the Lord Jesus Christ, Spirit led, He gets the glory for that. And by the way, we're not counting up benefits that we've done to give Him the glory. And by the way, any other thoughts on that before we go ahead with the second part? Yeah, Randy.

One of the things that I love about Ephesians is back in chapter 1, verse 6, to the praise of the glory of his grace which he freely bestowed on us and the beloved. The glory and the grace are intertwined. Everywhere that grace is poured out, he's glorified. And so the fact that grace is involved in every aspect of our lives means that the glory is compounding in the system God has created. So according to the riches of His grace, well that's infinite. Right, but the subjunctive verb tense makes us mean that as recipients, His grace is endless and His glory is endless, but yet we by faith enter into that.

Are you okay with that? Why would it be subjunctive? He might give it or he would give it. Which part is subjunctive? Sorry. The would grant is in subjunctive language. And that means will or will not. But we can't believe that he's giving some and not.

I mean, I think that's because we're the recipients of that. Because what follows that is to be strengthened with might through his spirit in the inner man. But also what precedes it. That's why I think it's the whole world. This is out there for everyone, but not everyone is going to believe. That's a very good thought. I had not thought of that. Not everyone that follows the verse that talks about the world. I think that would make one tend to think that the interpretation is reserved for all creation, wouldn't it? Sure, but it's very clear. and that's why it's subjunctive, because not everyone is going to believe. Some people are going to... I mean, we know those people. We all know them. Who just won't believe. It doesn't matter how much they're shown.

And the other side of that is in a Galatians 5.16 sort of a place.

If we abide, we will not do the desires of the flesh, and we will do the works of the spirit. But if we do not abide, then this strengthening can't happen. But the idea of God can only parcel out a certain amount is not the way we interpret this, right? Any, Tom? No, we are not continually in touch with the Lord as he wishes, because we're in the world in spite of all else that's happened, we get distracted.

It's a fact of life for us having to be on this earth. As this occurs, of course, there's a weakening, if not an outright temporary cessation of fellowship until we realize we're on the rabbit trail here. We need to get back in fellowship. Distraction is common, is it not, for all of us?

All right, I think we've hopefully put some truth to this whole section and I really like Margaret's comment about referring to the fact that that previously might really indicate it is all of creation and much of the world system is not a recipient of that. So his glory, his richest of his glory is there, but in fact those people are not in a position to respond. I think that helps us along that path.

And then it goes on to say, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, and to be strengthened here is the antithesis of a losing heart, and that gets us back to one of the first questions we had in verse 14. Could that relate to verse 13? I mean, don't lose your heart. Verse 13, wherefore I desire that you faint not, or not lose your heart at my tribulations for you.

Continued discussion could go on infinitely here. And with my truest spirit in the inner man, isn't that neat, the reliance of the spirit working in us, because by the way, if the spirit's not working in us, we don't get the riches of his glory. Yes, Tom? Probably a favorite definition that I've heard of for describing the Holy Spirit is he takes the things of Jesus and makes them real to the believer. Makes them real, okay. And that's the new nature, right? exchange life, if you will, the identification truths. So I'm going to ask the class to personalize this. What does this look like or how does this happen in our day-to-day experiences? Well, let's have some verses to reflect on this and maybe we can talk about it a little bit further.

Philippians 4.19, and my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Colossians 111 strengthened with all might according to his glorious power for all patients of long suffering with joy.

2 Corinthians 4.16, by the way, in my opinion, one of the greatest chapters of the whole Bible is 2 Corinthians 4. So, particularly when you're having trials and tribulations. Therefore, we do not lose heart. Notice the relationship to 3.13.

Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. So, Clark, quoting, the outward man is strengthened by food, but the inner man by spiritual and heavenly influences. I think influences is a little weak, but nevertheless you get the idea here. And I was going to ask the class back to the original question, how does this look like on a day-to-day existence? How is your inner man doing?

And Tom, you've alluded to this, I mean our earthly experience, there are ultimately challenges and barriers that we have in terms of walking by grace in that new nature. Alright, everybody's reflecting on that a little bit personally. I think the reminder here is we're studying Ephesians because of the positional truth of who we are in Christ Jesus.

And I think these verses really remind us of Philippians 4.19, Colossians 1.11, 2 Corinthians 4.16, as parallel verses to think of his riches of glory being personified in our new man in Christ Jesus, ultimately, day by day.

All right. Verse 17. that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that you being rooted and grounded in love, by the way, comma, next week. And who is teaching next week? Roger in love, comma. You pick it up and take it on from there. The problem with Paul in Ephesians, there's lots of commas in Ephesians. It's kind of hard to stop here. Well, keep in mind those commas aren't Paul's fault. That's who's ever kind of put this to text.

Doesn't Christ already dwell in our hearts? Well, the answer obviously is yes. And here may dwell is aorist active infinitive. I hate to be overly Greek abound here, but by the way, the active infinitive is kind of to be interpreted as believing it. I mean, the infinitive tense means you kind of accept it as it is. So doesn't Christ dwell in our heart? That Christ may dwell in your heart means that he does. Accept it for what it is. It's interesting that that's not indicative tense, which means fact. But infinite tense means, you know, this is true. You're on it and you're paying attention. Good, Tom. OK. All right. Followed by what?

Our faith. Again, we have a responsibility always to live the Christian life by faith. God's grace has paved the path. Now our faith allows us to walk in it. Dwell is, by the way, a pretty strong term in the Greek. It means to set up home in. I mean, this is like we're all going home after church, presumably, and that's kind of what this is. This is our home.

Christ dwells in your hearts. That's his home in each one of us who are part of the body. Alright, Colossians 119, for please the Father that in him all the fullness should dwell. So that same fullness that dwells in him dwells in us because of his presence in our lives. So that's positional truth, but it can and should be conditional as we walk by faith.

Okay, the process of being saved, isn't that what we're talking about here? I was saved. I will be saved and I am being saved day in and day out. And 1 Corinthians 1.18, for the message of the cross is foolishness of those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it's the power of God. I mean, that's just one of the uses of the present tense about the fact that we're still being saved. We've been positionally saved, but that walk we all have day in and day out is the active role of the Lord Jesus Christ by the power of the Spirit in our lives of being saved day in and day out. That's neat because that's one reason I'm here at Holly Hills because that's what's taught here is this process of God's working at his great grace in our lives by faith through the power of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I'm just going to make a comment. To me, how sad it is when we know believers who are so frustrated because they don't understand why, if they're saved, why they're not perfect now and in fact we are being saved and conform constantly as we grow and they don't recognize that. I think most people don't even think about these things the other thing the one natures who do think they are perfected, that's true positionally, but certainly you need to understand we all as believers have two natures. Yeah, Randy.

I think one of the only ways that we can co-dwell together on this earth in a conditional sense is through a deeper understanding of the fact that we are all in the process of being sanctified and being conformed. That way when I come to you, let's say We have some area that we disagree on. If I come to you and we're both being conformed, that means I can come and know I can learn. And I can come to you and know you're learning. And it's not about me versus you and we're going to fight it out. It's about what does God say? What is true? And how is he growing us together? It's humbling. Yeah, I mean, verse 14. I mean, I'm right and you're wrong, but I mean, we can... I couldn't pass that one up. I'm sure you're right.

The thing is, if we know God's right, we can sit back and approach it. I think what we've been through a little bit here today is it's kind of fun to look at those areas that don't have perfect interpretation and to see what people think. That's what's fun about the Lord. The freedom we have to really address these things by conversation of the power of the Spirit in the class. Again, the gospel is fixed and easy and straightforward, but how that works day-to-day in us being saved instead of just having been saved is really important.

Alright, let's go on. And what purpose is here? To be strengthened with might through his spirit in the inner man. Well, it's to be rooted and grounded in love. That love is agape. Now, somebody define agape love for me and don't be overly simplistic. There are three kinds of verbs for love or nouns for love. It can be used as a verb or a noun in Greek.

Well, it's the kind of love that only comes from God. Right. It's unconditional. Unconditionally. And we can have and use that love because He gives it to us. Okay, that's good. And how does that relate to your neighbor who you may not care for? We can apply it to them. Okay.

It's easy to love because that's another nature within us, but it's not so easy to like sometimes, isn't it? Is the flesh wrong in not liking to be with someone because of either their lifestyle, their language, or something else? I don't think that's wrong, but there's a self-righteous perspective to that.

But our love for that individual is still there because Christ's love was for the entire world, was it not? Even the criminal who was on the cross next to him. carried out to the very end of that individual's life. So anyway, this unconditional term is often used, and I think it's true, it's unconditional, but it's Christ's love that's agape love.

We can't work on agape love. You go to a mainline church, we're supposed to love our neighbor. That's the world message of peace and love. You don't need the cross for that, because you're going to fail at it. But we're telling the world system to love and have peace. Sure, that would be great. But agape is a whole different animal. I think the importance is that it's not normal to have that. Correct. We don't just have it.

We only have it when God shows it to us and we can see it and feel it and therefore return it. You know sometimes you're in big crowds maybe at an event, a concert or a game or you're even, Margaret and I just got back from from busy cities like Paris and Dublin. You see these throngs of people and you think, gosh, God's love for them is the same as it is for me. How many people even have a clue about that?

Perfect passive participle. That means an effect that has continued action. It's passive because we're the ones being grounded. and rooted. And by the way, our response to that is by faith. Do we believe that we've been rooted and grounded in love? And that being rooted and grounded is in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. These verbs are a result of being strengthened by the Holy Spirit. So in the absence of the Holy Spirit reminding us of this perfect positional truth, we in fact can't apply it or consider it as applicable to our lives. Can you distinguish between being rooted and grounded? What are your thoughts there? Why does the scripture provide two verbs for us here? Roots go down deep and keep growing. Those of you who have removed big trees from your property realize what a problem that is with the root system.

Grounded means we're firmly on the surface of the ground. Okay. We're not rooted just by being grounded. Okay. You'd be grounded walking on the sidewalk. It's very different than having roots that go into the ground. So like building a house on sand rather than on materials? Yeah, right. The idea of being grounded actually is kind of another word that we might use for a foundation. Okay, I like that.

So back to the story of the sand versus the firm foundation that we have in Christ. You know, I kind of thought together this may be the depth, as Carol has indicated, of our foundation in Christ, what Randy just said. So nothing overly sophisticated here, but rooted and grounded or related, if we're rooted Ultimately the roots have something above it, right? That tree is grounded because we only see it at the ground level.

So this relates to the depth of our relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ and the foundation we have that ultimately is more surface evident that we walk on. So anyway, I think the verbs are not redundant. They may have a little bit different interpretation and build on one another. Any other thoughts?

Like you said, it's a foundation that we're built upon the truth of His Word. When the Spirit is really the branches, if you will, and the fruit that comes from them is the work of the Spirit. That's what the verse implies. The Spirit's working in the inner man to solidify our being rooted and grounded in Him.

Alright, and this establishes our path, doesn't it? Colossians 2, 6 and 7, As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, So walk ye in him, rooted and built up in him and established, if you will, on his foundation and established in the faith as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Wow, good verses to help us understand this point.

And I'm going to turn to the Sermon on the Mount, and you can throw tomatoes or rotten apples or whatever at me, but the question is what do you do with the Sermon on the Mount, the beatitudes and all that stuff? I mean, it's Kingdom Age stuff, so accept it for that. But I think some of the principles in the Sermon on the Mount relate to our new nature in Christ Jesus too. I mean I think it relates to what we can't do on our own and reminds us of what in Christ Jesus is possible.

So I'm going to share this and you can again throw rotten tomatoes at me. Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock. and rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house and it did not fall for it was founded on the rock." Now we're founded on the rock, right? I mean we're rooted in the rock.

Now this is not necessarily meant for the flesh to carry out, but it's a principle that God taught through the Lord Jesus Christ on the Sermon on the Mount, in the Sermon on the Mount. I think again, sometimes we are a little bit overly critical, it's all Kingdom Age stuff, which I think the application of this to the Jew was clearly Kingdom Age. But I think, isn't there a principle? I mean, think about God in the Old Testament. What's it there for? God's principles are outlined in the Old Testament.

Now we're in this great platform of grace. We're not told we have to do this because we have no power in ourselves to do this. But the idea here is the rock that this wise man built his house on is the rock we all have our lives built on in the Lord Jesus Christ.

I'm going to stop there. Some thoughts about today's text and our conversation related to it. I'm thinking of this one little bit of a song that somebody in a previous fellowship before I came here had related. She had been at a work study and application area in England relating to things of the Lord. And one little song she was taught there went like this. Fix your eyes upon Jesus He alone has power to keep Fix your eyes upon Him He is such a faithful friend One on whom you can depend He is faithful to the end Fix your eyes upon Him Alright We're ending with a song here.

This is other thoughts today in terms of this section. All right. We'll pass out the exam here now. All right. So I'm not sure we've done a whole lot earlier, maybe. So the other teachers in this class, Randy, Roger, anything further to add here today?

I think it's pretty fascinating that Paul goes into kind of an architectural language in this passage and in the next passage to talk about this relationship that we have. And Ephesus, culturally, is known for its architecture. It's one of the three large cities in all of the Roman Empire. And so being rooted and grounded, if they see rooted and grounded, that means something to way more of the populace. that what we're rooted and grounded in by faith is this love of God and this powerful, powerful foundation. Margaret and I have had the privilege of being in Ephesus and it's still an amazing place to see.

There's still quite a bit of architectural structure that's still there and remains. A highly sophisticated structure for the day and age in which it was built too. Talking about toilets and adequate drainage to carry sewage. It was pretty advanced. The interesting thing about Ephesus is that it was once on the sea but now it's recessed by maybe a couple of miles. You see all the port and everything that related to the port but it's a long way from the water.

Let's close in prayer. Randy, please. Family, Father, we come before you and we're grateful for the truth of your word and we pray that you would impress upon us some things to think about and meditate on from the text this morning and this week. And we'll just pray for this rooting and foundation to impact our day-to-day walk with you and with one another. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.