In this episode, we finish out Ephesians chapter 3 and the the indicatives of part 1 of the book. In Eph. 3:14 - 21, Paul models not only praying bigger, but models how to specifically pray for Spiritual strength. The 3 main issues we delve into from this passage in this episode are: 1)What does it mean to pray for spiritual strength? 2) What is the spiritual strength we are given? 3) Why is it even necessary that we have spiritual strength?
But before we get to that, we define what "God's manifold wisdom" is. A confusing, sometimes misunderstood concept.
Lots to learn together!! Join us!
Thanks for tuning in! Be sure to check out everything Proverbs 9:10 on our website, www.proverbs910ministries.com! You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Rumble, YouTube, Twitter, Truth Social, and Gettr!
In this episode, we finish out Ephesians chapter 3 and the the indicatives of part 1 of the book. In Eph. 3:14 - 21, Paul models not only praying bigger, but models how to specifically pray for Spiritual strength. The 3 main issues we delve into from this passage in this episode are: 1)What does it mean to pray for spiritual strength? 2) What is the spiritual strength we are given? 3) Why is it even necessary that we have spiritual strength?
But before we get to that, we define what "God's manifold wisdom" is. A confusing, sometimes misunderstood concept.
Lots to learn together!! Join us!
Thanks for tuning in! Be sure to check out everything Proverbs 9:10 on our website, www.proverbs910ministries.com! You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Rumble, YouTube, Twitter, Truth Social, and Gettr!
Episode 135 – Battle Ready
Welcome back. A few episodes ago, we looked at Ephesians chapter 1 and Paul’s exhortation to pray bigger. Just 2 chapters later, Paul is back on the subject of prayer. The beginning of chapter 3, the section we looked at last week, was Paul veering off some from what he was saying in chapter 2. It’s like he wrote the thoughts in chapter 2, and verse 1 of chapter 3, but then gave his readers12 verses of parenthetical thoughts. Think of it like you are telling a friend all about your day and when you get to the part where you tell them you had lunch at a restaurant, you get a little side-tracked and go on for a few minutes telling them about the incredible food they had at the restaurant. Eventually, you come back around and finish your thoughts about your day. This is what Paul did with Eph. 3, Verses 2 – 13.
And beginning in verse 14, Paul does get back on track. But before we finish out the chapter with verses 14 – 23, we want to circle back and cover something we didn’t get time to in the verses we looked at in the last episode, but alluded to in the episode, “You Don’t Live Here Anymore.” In Eph 3:10 - 11, Paul says, “So that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This verse comes on the heels of Paul saying that it has always been God’s plan (although it was hidden to the people of the Old Testament) to include both Jews and Gentiles in His plan of salvation for the elect. The New Living Translation makes the verses a little clearer, “God’s purpose in all this (meaning including both Jews and Gentiles) was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord.
John Calvin has a brilliant insight into this verse. He says, "The church, composed both of Jews and Gentiles, is a mirror, in which angels behold the astonishing wisdom of God displayed in a manner unknown to them before.” As on earth, in the heavenly realms, there are angels that belong to God and angels that have rebelled and belong to Satan (they’re his demons). But unlike here on earth, there is no plan of redemption for the angels. Once an angel sins, they are condemned for eternity as Jude 1:6 tells us, “And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day.”
So what this means is that angels have never seen what redemption looks like. They didn’t understand salvation or having a Savior. “Manifold wisdom of God” means various aspects of God’s wisdom. By God saving His people (both Jews and Gentiles) on earth through Jesus, the angels (even the highest-ranking angels) see an aspect of God’s wisdom that would be otherwise unknown to them. There is more packed into that section, and we just don’t have time to get to everything, but we wanted to touch on the manifold wisdom of God because it can be confusing.
So onto the rest of chapter 3. As we said, Paul veers off a little in verses 2 – 13 but finds his way back and continues with what he has said in chapter 1 & 2 beginning in Eph 3:14. Eph. 3:14 – 19 says, “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
There are 3 main issues we are going to delve into from this passage – what does it mean to pray for spiritual strength, what is the spiritual strength we are given, and why is it even necessary that we have spiritual strength. But before we get to that, notice how Paul starts this section, “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.” All that Paul has said thus far in this epistle is the reason he bows his knees before the Father. He is bowing out of gratitude, awe, reverence, humility, and respect. While Paul was completely confident going before the Father knowing he belonged to God and his position with God was secure forever, Paul also knew that never are we to come to God entitled. We have been given the right to call God the Father, Abba, or dad, but He is still the holy, almighty, sovereign God, and we need to never forget that.
And that is the same principle we should apply to Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Jesus is called our elder brother and our friend, but He is still God, and we should never come before him presumptuous or as His “buddy.” We should always come before Jesus with respect and reverence. And the same with the Holy Spirit. Even though He indwells in us and sanctifies us, He is still God, and we should never approach Him with anything less than reverent awe.
And the last part of Paul’s statement that every family in heaven and on earth is named from God is an affirmation that God is the Father and Creator of everything – including angels (every family in heaven) and humans (every family on earth). Whether someone acknowledges it or not, God is their Creator. He has created us all and breathed His life into us all. ALL people – even the most wicked, are created in God’s image. They were created by God, through God, and for God.
Before we delve into what it means to pray for spiritual strength, and what that spiritual strength we are given is, let’s look at why we need to have spiritual strength. Since God is sovereign over all, has already chosen all those that He will save; since Jesus has paid our debt, taken God’s wrath that was meant for us on Himself and reconciled us to God; since Jesus has already won the victory over Satan, sin, and death, and while we are waiting to that victory to come to complete fruition, He continues to fight all our battles for us, why do we even need spiritual strength? Scripture tells us that believers have all we need spiritually (as we saw in Eph. Chapter 1). Scripture also tells us that we were once dead in our sins and blinded to God’s Truth just like the unbelieving world. Because of that, we are to be gentle and loving when dealing with unbelievers. Our goal should be to win people over with the Gospel message. In light of that, we are called to be good neighbors, good friends, and good citizens. Although there have been a few sinful exceptions, Christians do not walk around damning and cursing the unbelievers around them.
So logic would dictate that if you have a group of decent, law abiding people around you, even if you disagree with their beliefs, you would just go on with your life and pay them no mind. But the unbelieving world can’t – they literally can’t. Whether an unbeliever acknowledges it or not, or is even aware of it or not, they are at war with God. We’ve talked about this a few times. Unbelievers are enemies of God. And what do enemies do? They make war. We saw this in Eph 2:1 – 2, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.” Those who have not been regenerated have Satan as their master. This may be a hard truth, because we all know really “nice” people from an earthly perspective who aren’t believers, but it being a hard truth makes it no less true, and we need to know that and live accordingly.
C.S. Lewis said, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.” And we talked about this very thing in episode 36 – Satan and his demons, so if you haven’t listened yet, we invite you to. We certainly don’t want to be ignorant of the existence of Satan and his control over the wicked, nor do we want to be unhealthily preoccupied with Satan. However, as believers, we need to know what we are up against with him and his followers – aka unbelievers. Unbelievers, with Satan as their master, are making war on God – they can’t help it, it is their nature. As Dr. Voddie Baucham has said, “Going to war with God is a fool’s errand, but sinful man in a fool.”
Psalm 2 reiterates this truth, “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” “Kings and rulers of the earth” are ungodly political leaders. And make no mistake that plenty of the people under them are following them willingly and gladly. So why are the wicked making war on Jesus? John gives us the reason for it in John 3: 19 – 20, “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.”
The wicked are not only living in darkness (They are dead in their sins and have Satan as their master), they love the darkness (which is a result of living in the darkness). The light (Jesus) exposes their darkness, and they can’t stand it. They don’t want to see their sin or their guilt, and they don’t want anyone else to see it. Now, hopefully, we all know how stupid it is to think you can actually wage war against God. Psalm 2 continues with Biblical proof of it, “He who sits in the heavens laughs;the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”
We’ve had a great object lesson on this recently. For months, Russia lined up tanks on the Ukraine border. Knowing that Russia had thousands and thousands of troops, billions of dollars of weapons, chemical weapons, and even nuclear bombs, had the entire world on high alert. People were terrified of what would come of it, and if China would follow suit and we would all be plunged into WWIII.Imagine if Russa, China, and all of NATO joined forces to make war on God. They would have all of the power in the whole world on their side. And you know what God’s reaction would be? He would laugh.
I love that. Psalm 2 is such a huge encouragement to the people of God. No matter how powerful someone on earth may be, God just laughs at them. This makes me think of the first avenger movie when the villain Loki was wreaking havoc on the earth. The Incredible Hulk stood before him and Loki said it was too late, there was nothing he could do to save the earth. Loki declared himself a god. The Hulk took hold of him and slammed him into the ground a few times and said, “Puny god.” God doesn’t even need to slam anyone into the ground. He just had to send His King on Zion, His holy hill – Jesus. Once Jesus came and won the victory over Satan, Sin and death, the wicked’s fate was sealed. That’s why God laughs and that’s why He speaks to them in His wrath. For any who God does not regenerate, they are condemned to hell – no second chances, no do overs.
So as fantastic as all that is, it still doesn’t answer the question of why we need to have spiritual strength. Sounds like God has everything well under control. We need to have spiritual strength because even though we know it is absolutely ridiculous to think anyone can go to war against God and win, the wicked think they can. And they think their means of winning is by attacking Jesus’ followers. If they can get rid of all of them, that would solve much of their problem. We’ve seen it over and over throughout history – kingdoms, empires, governments, and movements trying to stamp out Christianity. And even though time and time again, it ended up making believers stronger and more numerous, they still continue to try. And it won’t stop – they still think they can win. So understand that even if we do not go looking for a fight, the fight is coming to us.
And that is exactly why we need spiritual strength. While Jesus has already won the war, until He brings it to completion, there are still battles to be fought. Having Spiritual strength is how we become battle ready. So that’s why we need spiritual strength, but what is spiritual strength? We’ve already looked at some of this, and will look at more when we get to the Armor of God. Paul has already told us we have everything we need spiritually. The first step in spiritual strength is knowing this and living accordingly. Like Paul, we need to learn to be content in whatever situation God puts us in – plenty or want, full or hungry, comfortable or suffering. And this sounds a lot easier than it is. Could you be content – that means satisfied and at peace – if your house was taken away and you were homeless, the government froze your money and assets and you were penniless, the shortages continued - grocery stores closed down, there were severe shortages of meat and produce – gas became so expensive, you couldn’t afford to drive anywhere, or even worse, gas cars were banned and you couldn’t afford an electric car. Businesses closed and you lost your job and couldn’t find another one. Churches were closed, fenced in and guarded by armed military men.
Three years ago, we would have thought all of this sounded like hyperbole, but now . . . So Spiritual strength starts with fully grasping and living in the knowledge that you have all you need spiritually – so regardless of what happens to you while you are on this earth – it’s only temporary – your future and your eternity are secure and better than anything you could possibly imagine. And the only way you can fully understand and grasp this is by knowing God’s Word. You may be thinking, here they go again. Any excuse to tell us to read our Bible. But knowledge is crucial to Spiritual strength. In the desert, God gave the Israelites manna to nourish them. If not for the manna, the Israelites would have starved, yet some rejected it and many grumbled and complained about it. The Bible is our manna. If we neglect it and don’t take it in, we are spiritually starving ourselves.
To quote John Ritenbaugh, “Israel's physical taste buds were perverted. Spiritually, we should be concerned about this because we have come out of a world that has a terrible ability to pervert our spiritual taste buds. There are all kinds of sights, sounds, colors, amusements, and entertainments that are very stimulating. They may not be evil of and by themselves, but like any spice, they need to be controlled, or they will take over the whole dish. Unless our lives are just delicately flavored with those things, we might be in spiritual trouble.” And on the other side of the argument, as Charles Spurgeon said, “A Bible that is falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t.” So Spiritual strength, in part, is feeding on God’s Word regularly which will ingrain in us that we have all we need spiritually, so we can endure and stand up to anything that comes our way. Knowing that even if we have to face absolute evil and wickedness, we can be strong knowing that God is laughing at them and their puny efforts against Him.
That brings us to the third point and Paul’s main point in this Ephesians passage – how do we pray for Spiritual strength? First, we need to know, as Paul does, that we cannot be spiritually strong on our own. Like salvation, sanctification, transformation, and faith, we need the Holy Spirit working in us to accomplish it. And Paul’s prayer in Eph. 3:16 – 19 reflects this. We read the ESV earlier, here’s the NLT version of those verses, “I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.”
Paul’s prayer is not only a model for praying for Spiritual strength, but a model for praying bigger. Paul is praying for four main things for the people in Ephesus: for inner spiritual strength given to them by the Holy Spirit, that Jesus is firmly planted in their hearts, that they will have the ability to comprehend all the dimensions of spiritual realities, and that they know fully the love that Christ has for them. The first is self-explanatory. Like we said, spiritual strength ultimately comes from the Holy Spirit. As 2 Tim 1:7 says, “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” The second one, too, is pretty self-evident – that they have truly surrendered their heart to Jesus and are fully trusting in Him. Prov. 3:3 -5 is a great example of this truth, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”
The third item of prayer isn’t quite so obvious - that they will have the ability to comprehend all the dimensions of spiritual realities. As we saw in Eph. Chapter 2 and earlier in chapter 3, and as we will see in future chapters of Ephesians, Paul spends time talking about the heavenly realms. It all ties together. In order to think bigger – meaning being eternally minded, understanding the sovereignty of God, knowing who we are in Christ, and having spiritual strength - we need to think about eternity and heaven. That, of course, includes the spiritual realms, angels, and even demons. And, again, we aren’t to be preoccupied by any of them, but we need to have an understanding of them to grow in our faith and better understand who God is. As Paul tells us in Col. 3: 1 - 2, “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” Remember, in the beginning, God created both the heavens and the earth.
And for Paul’s last prayer for them is a pretty grand prayer – “that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” I love what John Calvin says about this, “There are many persons not wholly destitute of love; but it is easily removed or shaken, because its roots are not deep. Paul desires that it should be rooted and grounded, -- thoroughly fixed in our minds, so as to resemble a well-founded building or deeply-planted tree. The true meaning is, that our roots ought to be so deeply planted, and our foundation so firmly laid in love, that nothing will be able to shake us.” The love of Christ that surpasses knowledge is that while we somewhat know what it cost Jesus to redeem us, we can’t fully know. There is no way for any of us to know exactly the price Jesus paid for our salvation. We can love Him and be grateful to Him for what we do know, but again, we can’t fully know what it cost Him. But as we grow in our faith, sanctification, and spiritual strength, we can be more and more filled with the fullness of God. This is Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians, and it should be our prayer for ourselves and all believers.
Paul closes out chapter 3 with a doxology. Eph. 3:20 – 23 says, “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”It may seem odd that he gives this doxology, which sounds like an ending, in the middle of his letter. But remember that Ephesians is divided into 2 parts. The first 3 chapters are indicatives – meaning the things God has done for us, things He has given us. And the last 3 chapters are imperatives – meaning the things we are told to do in light of those indicatives. Paul gives this doxology to praise and worship God for all of the indicatives he just spent 3 chapters talking about.
A doxology is a theologically informed praise of God. It is often written in a form meant to be sung. Scripture is full of doxologies: 1Chr 29, several Psalms, Matthew 21, Gal. 1 just to name a few. Doxologies use theology. They are theological truths put into words that can be sung and memorized. As Alistair Begg says, “Paul makes his theology as the impetus for his doxology.” Besides the 3 chapters of indicatives Paul has just laid out, he has prayed two big prayers for the Ephesians. In chapter 1, as we looked at a few episodes ago, and here in chapter 3. We have also seen him thank big in chapter 1 and earlier in chapter 3. After praying and thanking bigger, Paul is now worshipping and adoring bigger with this doxology.
It’s an important point to make that doxologies are songs with correct theology. Worship songs should contain what we know about God as the basis for worshipping God. In the early church, the only songs sung in worship services were Psalms. This was to ensure that correct theology was being sung as part of the service. And while we aren’t saying that that’s how it should be today, correct theology in worship songs is just as important as correct theology from the pulpit. We should ask ourselves questions about the music being played in our church and the worship music we listen to personally. Is it accurately portraying who God is and glorifying Him, or is it a self-ism or worse heretical? The best hymns and even contemporary songs directly quote Scripture or are strongly based on Scripture.
It’s not enough to just think about or sing about God, we need to think about Him and sing about Him correctly.
And that’s a good place to end today. Thanks for joining us! If you are enjoying this podcast, please leave us a review on whatever platform you listen on. And please share it with your friends! We would greatly appreciate it. Have a blessed day everyone!