Ephesians 3:20

Our day in 21st century America is commonly referred to under the banner of postmodernism. Postmodernism is not necessarily a worldview that's easy to define. When you try to grasp exactly what it is, people have a hard time putting it into exact terms because the term postmodern or postmodernism can be applied to a lot of different fields of study and areas. There are things like postmodern architecture, postmodern literature, postmodern music, and postmodern design.

As you move through that, you get down to the area of postmodern thought and postmodern philosophy. To add to the confusion, in the last decade or so, there have been people studying philosophy who are saying that we've moved away from postmodernism. Now, we are in a post-postmodern era, which is even more difficult to define when you try to really grasp what those things are.

At the end of the day, the terms postmodern and post-postmodern represent progressive shifts in the way that we, here in our nation and in Western Europe, frame our existence. They influence how we understand what reality is, what it all means, and what the purpose of life is. It's just the lens through which we look.

If you were to back the clock up, if you were to rewind about five or six hundred years and look at the way that people in the West framed their existence and their understanding of their purpose, you would find a worldview of theism. For more than a thousand years, people in the West framed their understanding of how the world worked through the lens of theism, believing in a personal God who created everything and was interested in having interaction with His creation.

However, when you get into the 16th and 17th centuries, a shift begins to take place. Now, you have a new worldview through which people are looking at the world. It moved from theism to deism. Deism was the concept, the idea that yes, there is a creative God, but He is not...

God created the universe and set things in motion, existing somewhere out on the edge of the cosmos. However, He is not interested in having any sort of interaction with us. As we move through the 1700s and into the 1800s, a new worldview begins to emerge with the advent of the modernist era. People start to study the world around them, and as science grows, we transition from deism to naturalism. One of the key figures in this shift was Charles Darwin.

During this time of naturalism, the belief is that there is no God and everything simply exists, having been there forever. This mindset was not new; many Greek philosophers, 1,500 years prior, held similar views, believing that the universe always existed without anything setting it into place. The naturalist mindset of the 1800s posited that everything has always been present and has progressively evolved.

As we move through the naturalistic mindset, we enter another era at the end of the 1800s and into the 1900s, known as nihilism. One of the chief architects of nihilism was the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who famously coined the phrase "God is dead." It is fascinating to study Nietzsche's life, as he was originally a Christian on his way to seminary to become a clergyman. A drastic change occurred in his life, leading him to adopt a nihilistic perspective that viewed the world through a lens of despair and sadness.

The essence of nihilism is the belief that there is no purpose or meaning in this chaotic world. This perspective aligns with a naturalistic view that denies the existence of God and a moral lawgiver. If there is no one who has given dignity and purpose to humanity, then life becomes pointless, devoid of reason or rhyme. It is simply chaotic. Even Nietzsche, despite his nihilistic views, hoped that humanity would find a way to break through this nihilism.

The 20th century brought a significant shift in worldview, moving from theism to deism, then to naturalism, and through nihilism to a new perspective that emerged from the idea that nothing exists for any purpose. One of the key figures in this transition was the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. Sartre was an atheist, but he was also philosophically an existentialist.

Existentialism arises from the meaninglessness of nihilism, positing that while there is purpose, it is only the purpose that individuals create for themselves. Those who embraced this view, like Sartre, significantly influenced 20th-century thought. Many who experienced the cultural revolution of the 1960s in America may not have known Sartre's name, but his ideas were being thrust forward in the youth culture of that time.

Additionally, other influences were merging with Sartre's thoughts, particularly from the East. Many may remember the Beatles, who introduced some Eastern philosophies into Western culture. As these ideas from Jean-Paul Sartre in Western Europe and Eastern mysticism converged through the New Age movement, they helped birth the postmodern era.

In this existential mindset, every individual is tasked with framing their own reality, meaning, and purpose. Sartre articulated this perspective in his essays on existentialism. He stated that conscious beings, upon realizing their existence, begin to define their own meaning. He wrote, "Man exists. He turns up. He appears on the scene. And only afterwards does he define himself." He emphasized that only after this realization does a person become something, and it is through their own will that they define who they will be. Sartre concluded that there is no human nature since there is no God to conceive it. Thus, man is not only what he conceives himself to be, but he is also only what he wills himself to be.

This encapsulates the mindset of the 20th century: we are self-made people.

We have to figure out what our lives are all about. We have to discover ourselves. After we discover that we exist, and come to the place of consciousness that we are, we need to frame for ourselves what we will be. Our entire life is given to this pursuit of trying to figure out just what we are here for. What is our own purpose?

From this line of reasoning, ultimately, you descend towards postmodernism. What is postmodernism? The easiest way to describe it is to take the mindset of Jean-Paul Sartre and apply it to the reality that there are billions of people, billions of conscious beings that live upon the earth. There are over 7.2 billion people on the earth today. If you take the existential model that every single one of those individuals needs to be consciously aware of who they are, and then they need to define for themselves what their meaning, reality, and purpose are, you end up with an infinite number of possibilities—an infinite number of meanings and purposes in the world. No one meaning can be over another meaning; we all have to be equal.

As we come into a time in the modern and postmodern eras, everything becomes relative. You've likely experienced this as you interact with someone who may not believe the Scriptures—a friend, a coworker, a neighbor, or a family member. When you share with them your view of how the world works, which is really a theistic model, they might respond with something like, "I'm really glad you have that. You have your truth, and I have my truth." We live in a time where it is almost the worst thing in the world to say that what you believe is greater than what someone else believes. They have framed it for themselves, and whatever you find yourself to be, that is what you are. Whatever you want to become, that is what you will be. You are going to make yourself.

That is the postmodern mind. There is no common narrative, no underlying story that coherently describes what life is ultimately about. That's the world we live in; that's the culture we are in. It is a life with no foundation, no anchor, and no sort of mooring. It is life as you choose it. It is a choose-your-own-adventure life for every single human being that lives upon the earth.

No God defines for us what reality is about. The problem is that when you begin to navigate down these paths of this very shifty river, which turns all over the place with all kinds of rapids in the way, you find that the philosophical questions that need to be answered by a philosophy that is able to hold water cannot be answered by this multiplicity of views.

The idea of origin has a fuzzy answer. Where did we come from? Well, we don't really know. The naturalistic scientific mindset of the day says that we do know, based on the study of physics, astronomy, and mathematics, that there was a point in time, about 15 billion years ago, when everything suddenly came into being. However, we don't know how that happened, why it happened, or where it all came from because there was nothing before that. It just burst onto the scene.

We spend billions and billions of dollars to build things like the particle collider in France and Switzerland, the CERN project, to try and figure out what started it all. But we still don't know. The most fascinating thing in the world is a documentary currently available on Netflix called "Particle Fever." It features experimental and theoretical physicists trying to find the Higgs boson. Some of you may remember hearing about that in the news a few years ago. They are using the particle collider to search for this particle that they theorize exists.

Peter Higgs, a physicist from the 1950s who is still alive today, theorized that there was this particle, which they called the God particle. Some of you have heard about the God particle before. The amazing thing is that they are conducting all these tests, spending billions of dollars to zero in on it. About two and a half years ago, they found it, but it didn't work the way they expected it would.

At the end of the documentary "Particle Fever," there is a brilliant physicist driving home after watching this discovery be unveiled. It was like the Super Bowl of physicists. He was driving down the street, reflecting on the implications, and he said, "Everything that we've written is wrong. All the textbooks need to be rewritten." This was just two years ago. Everything they thought they knew turned out to be incorrect. They are trying to figure these things out, but they can't quite put their finger on it.

The question of origin is fuzzy, and the question of identity falls strictly upon you. You must figure out for yourself who you are and define your own meaning, purpose, and value. You have no intrinsic dignity from anything, and so we just don't know in this construct that we live in today.

The question of destiny is significant. Where do we go after this? What is the ultimate value and purpose of our life? I don't know. You've got to figure that out.

Then there is the question of purpose. What are you here for? For many people who hold certain views, their only purpose in life is to perpetuate humanity, just to keep it going. This is why, in a big way, there are so many people passionate about global warming and climate change. They see it as a crisis that could destroy us, and so they feel compelled to find a way to fix it. That is their purpose: to address this issue so that humanity can continue. For many people living in the West today, this is the whole purpose of life.

Some of you may think the green movement and the global climate change initiative are foolish, but you have to understand that for some, this is their entire world. It is a big deal to them. This is their religious work, even though it is not framed in religious terms. There are beliefs behind it, ideas that motivate them, and certain rituals they feel they must perform. All of these elements contribute to a mindset that insists we must fix everything because it is all a crisis. Their entire purpose is simply to keep things going.

As I have shared several times over the last few weeks, it is my conviction that the Bible presents the most compelling and coherent philosophy and worldview. It provides the best answers to the questions of identity, origin, destiny, and purpose. When people ask, "Who am I? Do I have intrinsic value? Is there dignity in humanity?" the Bible answers with a resounding yes, because God created us in His image.

When you ask the question of origin—where did we come from?—the Bible offers a coherent answer. Yes, science and the naturalistic view may disagree, but they have their own theories as well. Our belief is that God exists and that He created us. We are made by Him and for Him, and in Him, we live and move and have our being.

Then there is the question of destiny: where are we going? What is the ultimate purpose? What are we being led to? God has answers for that in the Scriptures as well, and from that, our purpose is defined.

We have been looking at the Scriptures, specifically the book of Ephesians. You can open your Bibles there if you'd like to. If you don't have a Bible, just lift your hand, and one of the ushers will gladly bring you one. We will start today in chapter three in just a moment. As we go through this series called Identity, we are examining this book that the Apostle Paul wrote 2,000 years ago to a gathering of Christians who lived in a city called Ephesus. That's why it's called Ephesians.

In Ephesians, Paul is writing to a Greco-Roman-minded culture, a people who had a Greek and Roman-dominated worldview. The reality is that philosophically, it's not much different from the worldview that exists today. There's nothing new under the sun; everything comes back. Even the clothes that were worn in the 70s and 80s are making a comeback. No doubt, there will be leg warmers in no time. If you have those around, just get ready.

The book of Ephesians is applicable for us because the worldview is very similar, and the Word of God never changes. It is powerful for every age; it is living and active. In Ephesians chapter one, we considered our identity—our "I am," who we are. Paul uses the two simple words "in Christ" to define our identity. In that construct of "in Christ," which is what a Christian is, those who are in Christ receive at least ten things that Paul describes in chapter one. We looked at them a few weeks ago.

We are blessed with every spiritual blessing. We are chosen, predestined, adopted, accepted, redeemed, and forgiven. We have been given revelation from God—outside information that we could not glean from just scientific endeavor. We have been given an inheritance from God as His children, adopted into His family. We have riches that come from Him. Finally, we are given an eternal future. All of these things are ours in Christ; this is our identity: adopted, redeemed, forgiven, and given an inheritance. All of this, as we saw in Ephesians chapter one, verse two, is by grace. It is not something that we merited; we didn't deserve it in any way.

When we got into chapter two a couple of weeks ago, we saw that "by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is not of works, lest anyone should boast." Ephesians chapter two, verses eight and nine, tend to be really important verses to many Christians because they hold on to these truths. My position in Christ, my identity, is not because of something I created for myself; it is something that God gave to me by His grace. I didn't merit it.

We looked at our "I am" and our identity in chapter one. Then in chapter two, we examined our "I was," our origin. Where did we come from? In Ephesians chapter two, verses one, two, and three, we saw some really important things that we need to grasp and hold on to: we were, in times past, dead in trespasses and sins, as stated in Ephesians chapter two, verse one. Then, on top of that,

In chapter two, verse two, we saw that we were enemies of God. In times past, we were walking in disobedient opposition to Him and were under the direction of another spirit. The Bible describes that other spirit as the devil. Therefore, we were under the direction of the devil to do things that were in opposition to God, making us His enemies in times past.

Then, in verse three of Ephesians chapter two, we learned that we who are now in Christ used to be led about by lustful desires, the desires of a fallen natural mind, of a fallen and carnal sort of mindset. Because of that, we were subject to the wrath of God, as He is the moral lawgiver. According to our fallen nature, we pursued things that were against His moral law. God is just, righteous, and holy, and He will judge sin. Before our position in Christ, by grace through faith, we were walking under His wrath.

The Apostle Paul, in the book of Romans chapter two, states that in that position, we were storing up wrath for the day of wrath, which is a scary thought. It's like having a huge Amazon warehouse full of wrath stored up, waiting to be delivered. That is a very fearful image to consider.

As we move into chapter three, we are now looking at our destiny in Christ. The world in which we live does not provide a compelling narrative. It does not give a sufficient story or adequately answer the questions of origin, identity, and destiny. Because of that, it lacks convincing answers for the question of purpose. This is where we will focus in the next three studies as we go through chapters four, five, and six.

What is the purpose of the person who is in Christ, who was dead in trespasses and sins, and who has this destiny that we will explore today? What are they to be committed to now? That is the direction we will take after examining this passage in chapter three. The gospel is, I believe, the best place to find answers to the questions of who we are, who we were, and who we will be. The book of Ephesians does an excellent job of addressing the question of destiny, and it does so through the teachings presented within.

Prayers of the Apostle Paul are very interesting. As Paul was writing this letter, he didn't write chapter one, verse one. He didn't write verses and chapters; it was just one letter. Years ago, hundreds of years ago, some smart people decided that when we study these things, it would be really helpful to have some markers so we could find them quickly. They added chapter and verse marks. However, these chapter and verse marks are not divinely inspired. If you've chosen, for example, Mark chapter 10, verse something to be your verse because your birthday is in October, that is not divine. Those verse references were added later.

When Paul writes these things, he writes them as a letter. In the midst of this letter, as he shares his heart with the church at Ephesus, inspired by the Spirit of God, we believe that this is Scripture and that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. As he writes, he kind of pauses; there are parentheses twice, and he says, "This is my prayer for you." He writes down his prayer. This is the prayer that I have for you. These prayers that Paul gives are found in Ephesians chapter one and Ephesians chapter three. I believe these prayers open our eyes to something of our destiny.

The reason I say that is because of how Paul finishes the prayer he prays in Ephesians chapter three. So, would you open your Bibles to the book of Ephesians, right after the book of Galatians and just before the book of Philippians, near the end of your Bibles? It's on page 1957 in my Bible, which is probably not the same in yours.

Would you stand with me? We are going to look at just two verses together and then we'll pray. Ephesians chapter three, verse 20. There are probably a number of you who know this verse and love this verse. Ephesians three, verse 20 states, "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever." And all God's people said, "Amen."

Let's pray. God, would you give us insight and wisdom as we look at your word here in Ephesians, as we consider the prayers that Paul prays, and as we consider what value they may have for us and how they might...

Illustrate for us our destiny, what we will be. God, help us to take these things to heart and use them to transform our minds, that we would be able to display Your glory in the world in which we live. We ask this in the mighty and precious name of Jesus. And again, all God's people said, Amen. You can be seated.

Now I take us to Ephesians chapter three, verses 20 and 21 as a reminder. A reminder to the Ephesians 2,000 years ago and to us that God, to whom these prayers were directed, Paul is praying to God in heaven as inspired by the Spirit of God. God, to whom these prayers are directed, is able to answer our petitions in prayer. I want to bring this up because when we look at what Paul prays for the church at Ephesus in chapter one and what he prays for the church at Ephesus in chapter three, we can be certain that these are not just some prayers that go out into the air and never do anything. God in heaven hears these things, and He is able to answer.

The word "able," now to Him who is able, means capable and powerful. For those of you who have been around the Bible for a while and have heard some Greek words, maybe you've never taken Greek, but you've heard some Greek words. It is the Greek word "dunami," which is connected to the word "dunamis," used in the book of Acts chapter one, verse eight, where it says, "You shall receive power when the Spirit of God comes upon you. You shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts." That word "power" is capability. God gives you divinely the power, the ability, the capability to do the things that He calls us to do. Here, Paul reminds the church that God is capable and able to fulfill the things that we bring to Him in prayer.

So, Ephesians chapter one, verses 15 through 19, and Ephesians chapter three, verses 14 through 19 are the two prayers that we're going to look at. God is able to do these things. Not only is He able, He is able to do exceedingly abundantly more than those things, greater than these things.

Let me give you this verse, Ephesians 3:20, and a couple of other versions just to add some amplification to it. The New Living Translation says that God is able to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Infinitely more. How much more? A lot more. My son, Ethan, who is six years old, loves the number infinity right now.

He keeps asking me, "What's greater than infinity?" Infinity plus infinity. He's just all into this thing. A six-year-old in kindergarten, for some reason, has latched onto the concept of infinity. It's a big number. How big is it? It's big. You can't fully comprehend it.

God is able to do infinitely more than we ask. The New International Version says He is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine. The J.B. Phillips Translation states He is able to do far more than we even dare to ask or imagine. When you look at this and break it down, one of the things that emerges is that we routinely imagine or ask far less than what God is able to do. Our prayers are always lower than what He can accomplish. We routinely ask for far less.

Another way of saying it is that we need to pray bigger than we do. Why? Point number one on your outline: God can powerfully accomplish all that we ask of Him in prayer. Why do we ask you every single week to take out that little prayer card and write down your prayer requests? We will pray with you and for you because we believe this: God is able to powerfully accomplish all that we ask of Him in prayer. Yet, we often ask for far less than we know He can do.

You can never outpray the power of God. He is capable, strong, powerful, and able. We need to keep this truth in mind as we look at the prayers that Paul gives. As he prays to God, he says, "God, this is what I'm praying for the church." We can be certain that God is able to fulfill those prayers. The fulfillment of these prayers is what we will be in Christ. This is our destiny in Christ—the fulfillment of Paul's prayers.

Our destiny, the destiny for the Christian, involves a really great word: hope. It involves hope. Now, how many of you remember the presidential campaign of 2008? It was a significant event in United States history. One of the main themes that one of the candidates, who became President, Barack Obama, was pitching was hope. Hope. There were a lot of people who were really excited about hope. You remember those stickers of his, kind of red...

White and blue face and hope underneath it. People were really charged up by this word, hope. Now, hope, as people tend to frame it, is kind of a blind shot in the dark. It's wishful thinking. I really hope this happens, but I'm not entirely sure that it will. The odds are stacked against me. That's kind of human hope for the most part. People say things like, "I really hope I win the lottery." If that's your hope, you have more of a chance of being struck by lightning on a clear day than winning the lottery.

So, hope is a blind shot in the dark for human beings. But hope, as the Bible describes it, is different. When you do a word study in the Bible on the word hope, you come to see that hope for the Christian is accentuated by a calm certainty. It is absolute expectation that these things will come to pass. When the Christian says, "I hope to be with God in heaven," it's not like a blind shot in the dark or wishful thinking. No, it's absolute certainty that it will come to pass. Why? For he who promised is faithful, as the author of the book of Ephesians says.

Let us hold fast to our confession of hope without wavering. Why? Because he who promised it is faithful. He will fulfill it. That's what the book of Hebrews says. So, point number two on your outline: hope for the Christian is not wishful thinking, but absolute expectation. Hope for the Christian is not wishful thinking, but absolute expectation.

Paul is going to pray in these two prayers for things to happen in your life as a Christian. Because God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think, we can trust that by his power, he is going to fulfill this. The fulfillment, the outcome of these two prayers, is your destiny as a Christian.

So, look at Ephesians chapter one. I'm going to just read through both prayers. Ephesians chapter one, verse 15. He says, "Therefore, I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, after I heard that you were Christians, essentially, I do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers."

This is my prayer for you: that, verse 17, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit.

Of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. My prayer for you is that God would give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. That the eyes of your understanding would be enlightened, that you would know what is the hope of His calling and what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.

And what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the working of His mighty power, which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him in heavenly places. So there's Paul's prayer. My prayer is that you would have spiritual wisdom and revelation. My prayer is that your eyes would be opened and that you would grasp what are the riches of the glory of the inheritance that you have. What is the exceeding greatness of His power at work in your life? That's Paul's first prayer.

The second prayer is found in chapter three, verse 14. For this reason, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. I get down on my knees and I pray from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant to you. So here's Paul's petition. He's on his knees, praying to God. This is my prayer for the Christians at Ephesus and the Christians that he didn't even know would exist in Escondido, California, in the year 2014 or 2015.

My prayer, as I get down on my knees, is that He would grant to you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. That you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. What an awesome prayer!

He finishes the prayer by saying, "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think." He's reminding himself and the church at Ephesus at the end of this prayer that God can and will do this. This is what He is going to accomplish.

In these prayers and the fulfillment of these two prayers that Paul prays for the church at Ephesus is the destiny, what you will be illustrated in words because God will fulfill these things. The destiny of the Christian. Now, the first thing I want you to note before we look at some of the specifics here in these...

Two prayers are that this destiny is here and now. Yes, the Christian does have a destiny in heaven, but I'm trusting that if you're a Christian, you already know that. Right?

In John chapter 14, Jesus said to his disciples, "Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also."

So we believe that our destiny is indeed in heaven. If you ask most Christians, "What's your destiny?" they would say, "To be with God in heaven." That's great; that's awesome. However, I am worried that sometimes we think that this is all that is included in our destiny in Christ. Too many Christians live their lives as if they have only to look forward to eternity and have nothing of value here and now to be hopeful for. Our destiny is so much bigger than just heaven. It's so much more than just heaven.

Don't misunderstand what I'm saying. Eternity and heaven are awesome. We are looking forward to being with God for eternity, and that is a great thing to hope for and to look forward to. But that's not all there is. To put a twist on the words of the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 19, he said, "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable." To put a twist on it, I would say, "If in the life that is to come only we have hope, then we are of all men most pitiful."

If the only thing we have to look forward to is what is going to come in the future, then Christianity just becomes a mere escapist sort of ploy. Can we just get out of here? Unfortunately, I've heard too many Christians over the last decade and a half express that sort of mindset: "Just get out of here. This place sucks. Let's get out of here."

But listen, God has something greater for us here and now. How do I know that? Well, Jesus said in John chapter 10, "The thief has come to steal, to kill, and to destroy, but I have come to give you life, and that more abundantly here and now." There is something of our destiny that God wants us to be and to become now. The abundant life in Christ needs to be more than just an escapist plan from this place to get to heaven.

Point number three on your outline is that our destiny in Christ is more than just heaven. It is my hope that this simple point would begin to change our discourse, that we would recognize that God has something more for us than just getting out of here. If that were the case, He would have simply taken us out of here, right? You would have prayed the prayer, "I believe in Jesus," and then He would have just said, "Out, get them out of there." But instead, He left us here. Not only did He leave us here, but He prays in the high priestly prayer of Jesus in John chapter 17, on the night before He would be crucified. He says, "Father, I pray that you don't take them out of here."

You might think, "Wait, what? We want out!" But He responds, "No, no, no, no. I want you to leave them there." Why? Because He has something of the abundance of life and communion with God that He wants us to experience now. Paul's desire in these prayers is that we would lay hold of what God has for us here, that we would grasp that for which Christ Jesus laid hold of us.

In Ephesians chapter one, Paul prays, "God, would you give to them first the spirit of wisdom and revelation?" He asks for this in full measure, not in part, but wholly. The spirit of wisdom and revelation comes from the Spirit of God, for He alone is wise and reveals that which is unknown. The spirit of wisdom and revelation in full measure is very similar to what the prophet Isaiah spoke of regarding the Messiah. He predicted that the Messiah would have the fullness of the Spirit upon Him in Isaiah chapter 11, verse two. There, he says, "The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon the Messiah, Jesus, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord."

So when Paul prays for you, the church, in Ephesians chapter one, that you would have the spirit of wisdom and revelation, he is literally praying that you would experience the fullness of the power and presence of the Holy Spirit upon your life. He desires that you would know what that really is and that you would grasp it here and now.

Then he goes on to pray, secondly, that our eyes would be enlightened, that we would understand, so that we would have full perception and enlightened understanding of a number of things, including what is the hope...

God wants you today in this life to begin to comprehend and grasp what is the hope of His calling. He has ordained you for a purpose in this life and in this world. The Apostle Peter speaks about the hope of our calling, stating that we are called to eternal glory by Christ Jesus. One of the things encompassed in the hope of our calling is that God has called you to be the canvas upon which He glorifies Himself. He wants to use your life to shine forth His glory. That's one of the things He wants to accomplish in our lives.

Paul prays that the eyes of our understanding would be enlightened and that we would fully grasp the extent of the glorious riches we have inherited in Him. God wants you, as a Christian today—not just in eternity—to begin to comprehend just how wealthy you are in Christ. He desires for you to grasp what it means to be the beneficiary of every spiritual blessing in heavenly places. He wants you to come into the full knowledge and awareness of these things.

Furthermore, He wants us to understand and grasp the exceeding greatness of His power, His mighty power. How many of you today think that God is mighty and powerful? God wants you to know that He is mighty and powerful by seeing His power at work in you. He desires for you to come into the understanding of what the power of God is like. Paul describes this in Ephesians chapter one, verse 20, stating that it is the same power that was at work in Christ when God raised Him from the dead. That is pretty powerful. He wants you to experience the power of the resurrection in your daily life.

This is what Paul is praying for. God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we think or ask. So, what is our destiny in Christ? It is that these things would be fulfilled in us and that we would lay hold of this.

In Ephesians chapter three, Paul prays that God would mightily strengthen us through the power of His Spirit. This is very similar to what he already prayed in chapter one; it is almost a restatement. He desires that you would practically, on a daily basis, as you live out your purpose in Christ, experience the empowering of the Spirit in your life to do those things. Remember, Jesus said to His disciples, "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you to be witnesses unto Me in Jerusalem, Judea."

Samaria and the outermost parts. God wants you to experience His empowering by His Spirit to accomplish the things that He has created for you—the good works that you would walk in them. Not only that, He prays that God would grant that Christ would dwell in our hearts.

In First Corinthians chapter three, and again in First Corinthians chapter six, the Apostle Paul says that the Christian is the temple of the Holy Spirit of God. In the book of Colossians, he states that Christ dwells in us and gives us hope of glory. Paul expresses his prayer that you Christians would begin to understand and experience what it means to have Christ dwelling in your life. He desires that you come into the fullness of that experience in everything that takes place in your life.

Thirdly, he prays that we would be firmly fixed and that we would fully comprehend what is the height, depth, and width of the love of God. How wide, how long, how high, and how deep the love of God is—how immeasurable His love is. Another way of saying this is found in Romans chapter eight, a few books to the left. In Romans chapter eight, verse 38, Paul writes, "For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created things shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ that is in God.

Why is this important? God wants to bring you into the place where you are aware of and comprehend just how great God's love is towards you. It is in that awareness that you begin to understand that He does not love you based on what you've done; He just loves you. His love is not contingent upon your efforts or works. If you didn't do something one day, it does not mean that He is mad at you or that He doesn't love you anymore.

Most Christians live their lives in a kind of tossed-to-and-fro experience of "He loves me, He loves me not." They just don't really know. God wants us to come into the experience of that awareness that we are fully loved.

Aware that He loves us, He also prays, fourthly, that we would be filled with all the fullness of God. That we would have in our lives now, not just in heaven, all the fullness of God resident in us. In Colossians, He speaks about Jesus and says, "For in Him, in Jesus, dwells all the fullness of God bodily." We are complete in Him. He wants us to come into the experience of completeness in Christ.

These are the things that are our destiny. Yes, I know that the Christian destiny is to be with God in heaven for eternity, but it's more than that. It's not just heaven; it's to come into the full awareness of all these things: the love of Christ, the power of God, the residence of Jesus Christ in you, and the strengthening of your inner person, your inner man. This is so that you would be able to fulfill your purpose, which we're going to get into next week.

Next week, we're going to talk about the topic of what we should be. We've talked about "I am" in chapter one, "I was" in chapter two, and "I will be" in chapter three. Next week, I should be. We will look at verses like, "I beg you, brethren, that you would walk worthy of the calling wherewith you were called." I beg you that you should no longer walk as the rest of the world walks, as stated in Ephesians chapter four, verses 14 or 15.

He says this is your purpose. You should do these things based on who you are in Christ, who you were before Christ, and who you will be because of Christ. Now you should walk in these things. That's where we're going.

Now, one quick reminder: this destiny is only for those in Christ. If you're not a Christian today, this is not your destiny. You are in that quagmire, that weird place of trying to figure it out and determine what you are here for and what your purpose is. I'm here to tell you that Jesus Christ has a purpose for your life. I know some people get all wigged out about the purpose of God, but listen, God has a purpose for your life, and it's far bigger than anything that you have experienced yet.

To come into the knowledge, the awareness of that, is to put your trust in Christ Jesus for your salvation. By grace, through faith, He will receive you, adopt you, forgive you, and make you His treasure. Finally, this destiny transforms our purpose.

Laying hold of this and grasping these truths that we see in this passage transforms our purpose. It changes what we live for and how we live on a daily basis. It is my hope and my prayer that we would take these things to heart, that we would meditate on them and think about them.

What does it mean to grasp the width, length, depth, and height of the love of God? What is it to fully understand and comprehend the indwelling nature of the Spirit of God and to experience the fullness of God in my life today? What is that? From this understanding, our lives will change. It will affect how you wake up tomorrow and the next day, and the next day after that. The things that have dominated your life, the sin that has ensnared you, will be left behind through the power of God. Whatever that thing may be, whatever has a grip on you, the sin that so easily ensnares you, God wants to bring us into the experience of these truths.

Point number six on your outline is simply for you to think about this week: What is your "I will be"? Is it found in the truth that we've just looked at here in Ephesians chapter one and Ephesians chapter three? Is there something in your life that is keeping you from laying hold of the full possession of these truths? Maybe it's just a mental block. You might think, "He can't forgive me. You don't understand what I've done. I'm so far from God." Well, that's not what the Scriptures say. He draws near to those who have a broken heart, those who are contrite. They confess, "Lord, forgive me," and He draws near to them. They experience His grace and His power.

Would to God that these truths would be effective in us. Amen? That we would experience the transforming power of God and not live a deflated life in Christ, like Tom Brady's footballs.

So let's stand together and pray. Father God, we rejoice in You. Lord, the Apostle Paul said, "Rejoice in Christ Jesus. Again, I say rejoice." God, help us to rejoice in You today and in the good things that You have done, knowing that You have the power, the ability, and the capability to do these things that the Apostle Paul prayed for Your church—exceedingly, abundantly, immeasurably.

And infinitely more. Lord, I pray that you teach us to pray bigger for our own lives and for the lives of those around us. Our prayers come so low in comparison to what you're able to do.

So God, stretch us to pray bigger for the person we think could never come to faith and for the issues in our own lives that we think we'll never be able to overcome. Lord, help us to be diligent in bringing those things to you, knowing that you are able.

We ask this in Jesus' name, and all God's people said, Amen. Amen.