God's Fullness for Us (Eph 3:14-21)

[0:00] Awesome, and just before I announce, just before I welcome Moxie up, I'm just going to welcome Kiyoko to read us the Bible passage. So if you guys want to open up to Ephesians chapter 3 verses 14 to 21.

[0:24] Okay, I pray for the Ephesians. For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.

[0:35] I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

[0:46] And I pray to you that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the Lord's holy people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

[1:06] Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus, through our all generations, forever and ever.

[1:23] Amen. Good afternoon, guys.

[1:39] Ephesians. You've been having that for the last couple of months, right? Very wonderful book of the Bible. And thanks, Pastor William, I got to actually preach the real climax of Ephesians 3.

[1:56] That's the climax of the whole book. Okay. Ephesians 3, verses 14 to 21. That is, we entitled it God's fullness for us.

[2:10] Can I have that stick? I need to. Yeah. Yeah. Now, there is this word fullness. I don't know. What do you get from this word fullness?

[2:25] Can you put in the next one for me? All right. There is this word. I'm not sure if you, thank you. Have you had this word before?

[2:36] It's called pleroma. Okay. Pleroma is actually a Greek word. Maybe it's been translated in English. Is it? Has it been? Pleroma.

[2:46] Have you heard this word before? It really means fullness. Okay. And this word, pleroma, it was actually a Greek concept. Okay. It's the understanding of the God, the spiritual powers in the Greek world.

[3:03] Okay. Okay. And it's very complicated. You know, they've got many gods. Okay. Many names. But later on, when this, there was this, what, this heresy, what they called Gnosticism.

[3:18] Have you heard that word before? Right. It was something they kind of added a little bit of Christian stuff in there. It really is not Christianity. And the Gnostics, they believe many gods, many ways, many mediators for salvation.

[3:34] Okay. Okay. And in them, those two little circles, one is Jesus, one is the Holy Spirit. And through that, and you know that kind of knowledge, that Gnostic means knowledge.

[3:49] Gnosis means knowledge. And you know that this complicated knowledge, you're saved. You're being saved. Okay. But for Paul, no, no, no, no such nonsense.

[4:02] Only Jesus. That's why in 123, it said the church, which is his body, the fullness of him, that's Christ, pleroma, that word, the fullness of Christ who fills everything in every way.

[4:17] And just as Kyoko just read the passage before in verse 19, that is the fullness of God. All right.

[4:28] Pleroma. And it's really all about God, about Jesus, not us. So, yeah, that's the passage we've just read before, 3, 14 to 21.

[4:41] It's actually a prayer. Okay. It's a prayer. It's, well, in chapter 3, verse 1, Paul was ready to pray. Pastor William, you preached that last time, right?

[4:51] And then, and just before he prayed, he wanted to say something really, really passionate, right, about God has charged him, gave him the mandate to, you know, to preach this mystery of Christ, and he felt so honoured.

[5:10] And he went on and went on for a few verses. And then after he finished, right, in verse 14, he started to pray. So that's 14 to 21 is the prayer.

[5:22] Paul prayed for the Ephesians that they are to be strengthened and to be secure in the love of Christ and eventually be filled with the abundance of God.

[5:38] How many of you of us just before, how many of us pray for these things for the other guy, for your brother or sister? Surely we can pray many things, you know.

[5:51] We pray for a house. I've been praying for a house for Karis and Rio. All right. We can pray for health. You can pray for many things. But try to pray these sort of prayers.

[6:06] It's much more lasting, much better, much more higher value, you know. Power strengthened, love from Christ, and the fullness of the abundance of Christ in our lives.

[6:25] And I think this is something we can, as Christians, we can pray for. Power from the Holy Spirit, love from Christ, and filling from God in our Christian walks.

[6:38] Now, when Paul, when he prayed for the Ephesians Christians, obviously he himself truly believed that.

[6:49] Now, we realize that by now, you know, after many sermons, you realize that Paul, when he was writing the letter, he was in prison, right?

[7:01] He was in prison for Christ. His situation was much, much worse than the one who were out there, right? And he himself, he knew that the external circumstances, the things happen around him, cannot affect what he has.

[7:21] The inner quality, the power of the Holy Spirit, the love from Christ, and the filling from God cannot, nothing out there, that all these bad things happen to him, cannot alter, change that inner quality in him.

[7:42] Young people, mature people, I mean, as we grow older, we'll encounter things that will challenge us, challenge our faith, that will break our hearts, that will ruin our relationships.

[8:04] But what can we rely on? If we rely on Pastor William, well, we've got a wonderful pastor.

[8:15] Of course, Pastor William is a wonderful pastor. But he himself is very limited to himself. Oh, we've got this loving relationship here, fellowship in this PCBC English service.

[8:26] Fine, that's great. But we all have to face these sort of things. Because each of us, we need to walk that narrow path. But if we pray, constantly pray, and we believe and experiencing this power from the Holy Spirit, the love from Christ, and the filling of the abundance of God in our lives, I mean, we can't go anywhere.

[8:56] We can do anything. Believe me. After 20, 30 years of ups and downs in the family, you know, things that we went through, praise God, he is able.

[9:09] And Paul truly believed that. That's why he prayed for them. Okay? So this prayer, it was actually, it's very Trinitarian. What I mean is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

[9:23] Okay? Just, I think, in chapter 1, 2, 3, Paul, in all his writings, it was very Trinitarian. He always mentioned God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit.

[9:35] Just like the song with this thing. I love that song. Do you like it? I believe in the hope, I believe in the, I can't remember. I believe in the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

[9:46] I believe in the resurrection. I believe in the name of Jesus. And for Paul, Father, Son, and Spirit, it's always there.

[9:57] It's not, it's no, just not single individuals. It's always there. And chapter 1, verse 3, it says, every spiritual blessing was in Christ. But this blessing, from Ephesians 4 to 14, it was Father engineered, Son executed, and the Spirit endorsed.

[10:13] endorsed. Alright? And that's why, to Him be all the praise. Same in verse 15 to, chapter 1, verses 15 to 17, Father, Son, and Spirit.

[10:26] And same here, in this passage. It's the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. See? The strength, from the Holy Spirit, love, from Christ, and fill, fullness of God.

[10:41] This is the prayer, of Paul, for the Ephesians Christians. And let's pray, for one another, in a similar way.

[10:53] I believe, when we do that, our lives, will change. So let's look at it, one by one. Okay? We pray, pray the strength, we pray for the strength, of the Holy Spirit.

[11:08] Okay? In, in verse 16, oh no, in verse 16, yeah. I pray that, out of this glorious, oh sorry, yeah, out of his glorious riches, he may strengthen you, with power, through his Spirit, in your inner being.

[11:29] Now, when Paul said, about the inner being, it was more, of a Greek understanding, at the time. The people, when they read this term, strength, in your inner being, they immediately, would identify, what are the, the aspects, in my, in their lives.

[11:49] That will be, for them, their intellect, their conscience, and the willpower. I think, we can, we can accept that, right?

[11:59] Our inner being, alright? There's many aspects, in our lives, but, that, that was the Greek understanding. And that Greek understanding, will affect our, you know, our understanding, for today.

[12:13] Okay? Yeah, I believe, whatever we have, whatever God, created in me, he has, blessed me, with certain, power, and strength, to live on.

[12:27] But the thing is, you know, our conscience, can be corrupted, with the many things, the values of this world, and our willpower, can be weakened, when we, you know, jong ban, jong dat to, you know, when we, you know, fail, you know, and, and when we, when we, you know, our, our intellect, you know, we might not be able, to grasp, two, things that, too profound, and, and, these things, can actually, you know, tear us down, by the world standard, by the things, that happen in the world, and, and Paul said, we pray, we pray, that, the, the, the strength, that, that, that our inner being, be strengthened, by, the power, of the Holy Spirit, and, truly, because this is, this is from, from,

[13:32] God's abundance, the glorious riches, when God is so glorious, and, and so, so abundant, his, so much riches in him, he's, he's not, he's not stingy, to give us, these sort of things, he's willing, he's willing, to grant to us, when we pray, will we, pray for, the power, of the Holy Spirit, that, so that, the, our inner being, be strengthened, as we walk, our Christian paths, Pastor William, told me that, a few weeks ago, just after the lockdown, when we came back to church, to worship, that Sunday afternoon, this, did not, appear, right, so you had to live on those, by those two TV screens, is it, was it true?

[14:27] Just one, oh, that's even worse, this thing here, it happened now, and again, it doesn't come up, all right, it happened today, this morning, Terence, when your father was here, first thing in the morning, helped me, to set up, and said, Moksi, this thing doesn't turn up, I know, because it happened often, and we tried, switch it off, and turn it on, switch it off, and turn it off, and then it didn't work, and then, I was in my room, and when I came out, suddenly, it came on, I said, Raymond, what did you do?

[15:03] He said, I just smacked it, and it just came on, the problem, eventually, we found out, getting too old, loose connections, young people, adults here, do we have these sort of, loose connections, with God, so that, we're supposed to have power, to show the power points, right, but, because of the loose connection, we cannot do, what God wants us to do, we cannot show, the power of God, in our lives, it's not God's problem, it's our problem, my problem, loose connection, let's pray, that our inner being, be filled, with the power, with the power, of the Holy Spirit, and secondly, the love from Christ, verses 17 to 18, so that,

[16:14] Christ might dwell, in your hearts, through faith, and I pray, that you, being rooted, and established, in love, might have power, together with all, the Lord's holy people, to grasp, how wide, and long, and high, and deep, is the love, of Christ, now this, that Christ, may dwell, in our hearts, now that, dwell, that word, is actually, it was a compound word, like two words, put together, it really mean, it's like, he's, he's packed up everything, and moved in, to stay in my house, it's not like, you go into a, to a trip, and you just stay, in the Airbnb, for a couple, of three days, he's come, he's come, he's got all, these luggages, he's got all, this belonging, he's just come, I'm going to stay here, forever, so Christ, is dwelling, in my heart, okay, but how, through faith, if I don't, give him room, if not, if I don't have the faith, to allow him, to come in, he can't come in, no matter how powerful,

[17:23] Christ, the Holy Spirit is, if I don't allow him, he can't come in, same thing, for this love, that, if I don't allow, Christ to dwell, in my heart, I can, I can love, you know, I still have the ability, to love, because I'm created, in the image, and likeness of God, when God created, Adam and Eve, they were, they had the, godly abilities, okay, but then, they sin, and that, that sin, has just marred, just, just, just, just, just, just, crushed that, that, that perfect, the perfection, from God, okay, we'll still be, we'll still be able to love, but very conditional, I can love someone, who I like, I can, I can love someone, who I'm affected to, but, like Christ, to die for someone, to give up everything, for someone, not in my life, that's why, we need, to be, to have, to, by faith, we, we allow,

[18:30] Christ, to dwell in my heart, so that, that love, can be, he used, he used two words, rooted, and established, it's actually two metaphors, one is, the agricultural, like planting, the plant, you have, the greater the plant, the tree, the deeper the root, okay, you can't, you cannot, you know, have a, a massive, you know, amount of roots, but it's only a tiny little plant, it doesn't, doesn't make sense, all right, and, and, and, and, the other one is the, architectural, you know, it's like building a house, establish the foundation, okay, Gary, you will know all about it, right, yeah, and he actually went on, and he went on, about this metaphor later on, okay, I will show that later, so, um, we have this love from Christ, and, and he said that, that, we may have, we may have power together, with all the Lord's people, and, and he say, he was saying that, you know, love is exercised, through, amongst the Christians,

[19:44] I cannot exercise, love by myself, all right, I get impatient, I, I get angry, but I, I won't, you know, I can't, I can't, you know, I won't show it, and, and, and, this cannot work, by myself, but, if, if I try to work, to love, to, to be patient, it's gotta be others around me, that really irritates me, really test my patience, and God, is able to use those opportunities, to, train me, to love, to be patient, all right, so, what Paul said, my, the power, of this love, be exercised, through, God's holy people, and together, we grasp, how wide, how long, how high, and deep, is the love, of Christ, this is, also, an, architectural, metaphor, apart from Gary, is there any other, architects here, yes,

[20:56] Ron, you're looking for a job, I hope you get one, yeah, I mean, when you, build a house, you, these are the four dimensions, you really need, need to figure out, before, you give it to a builder, right, you have to decide, how tall the building is, and this affects, how deep, you're going to drill, the ground, and how wide, how long, right, so Paul, actually, he was, he was describing, a building, someone was trying to ask, what sort of building, was he had in mind, when he, when he was describing that, some tried to, to imagine, but I don't think, no one would know, because he didn't say, some, some, some really went, a bit too far, they said, he might, might have just been, describing the temple, in Ephesus, because it was writing to the, people in Ephesus, Ephesus, right, and, oh, when people will just understand, you know, the great, seven wonders of the world, you know, but I don't think he would,

[22:03] I don't think he would, describe in, a heathen temple, to, to illustrate Christ's, amazing love, I don't think so, so I don't know, but at least he was built, he was describing a building, maybe, maybe, the temple of God, you know, the deep, the depth, the width, the length, and the height, yeah, but anyway, he was really to, to, to illustrate, I mean, Christ's love, is beyond understanding, beyond imaginations, okay, when we ask Ron, how, how's, how's the five months been, I mean, he could tell you, with, oh, much energy, I mean, he's him, he doesn't show much, right, he must be very, very excited, but he's just, yeah, it's like that, you know, but, but he know, he knows, he knows, that, that, how that five months, how, how excited he was, right, how God has worked through him, I was, one time when, there was a family, who went to South Island, and he, they told me that, oh, we're going to Milford Sound,

[23:11] I said, oh, I said, oh, I don't, I've never been to Milford Sound, I said, I never, truly, I've never been to Milford Sound, in the last 45, 50 years in New Zealand, never been there, because, I just didn't want to, to take the car, or get bus, to, to go through those, twisting and winding road, and then I just, just vomit, and I just, get sick, you know, I would never, but he said, I said, oh, I didn't want to go, oh, you, you're very brave, and he said, yeah, no, no, no, no, but we won't take the bus, how are you going to go, are we going to fly over there, wow, that's going to be expensive, and then, three weeks later, when they came back, he said, Moxie, wow, just wonderful, astounded, amazing, fabulous, he used any, every kind of words, he could found, to tell me, it was just, just wonderful, to see, the amazing, creative work of God, how many have you been, flying over, you have, haven't you, no, fly over, all the snow, the snowy mountain, and land on the glaciers, how many have you done that, just you, oh, good on you, who else, yeah, you were, one of the families, right, yeah, and your parents, that told me that, all right, now, do you want to come, and tell us, how amazing it was, it's beyond words, even, if you try, all your best, you can tell us, we say, oh yeah, yeah, it's just, it's like the ice, near the refrigerators, right, no, no,

[24:56] I mean, only you been there, you seen that, you experienced that, and you know, the love of Christ, how could I describe it, really, I, I don't know how to describe it, but if, you have been, the real, real, excitement, tangible, experience, that we had in Christ, how he has, lifted me up, through the mire, and clay, how he has, how he has, pulled me up, how he, how he's, how he has released my chains, we know, the length, the depth, the width, and the height, of the love of Christ, it was one, um, medieval, um, monk, a Catholic monk, okay, he was, known as, as great preacher, so many people, flocked to the monastery, to hear, was his preaching, and, and, and he announced, that the next week, he was going to, to preach, on the love of God, so, it was, filled, everybody, there wasn't, you know, service was at night, at night, so before, before, the, the night came, everybody came, and it was, filled, the monastery, and it was, you know, the whole, monastery, only, only it was, kind of lightened, by a few candles, and everybody, was in the dark, so it was, in a way, it's good,

[26:32] I don't know, who was sitting next to me, I couldn't, so I don't talk, okay, so it was night, it was, it was dark, and it, it was quiet, and, and suddenly, there was, this monk came, appeared from that door there, and came, with a candle, with a bigger candle, and he went up to the altar, he went up, the cave was not long enough, but he went up to the altar, and he came to the cross, now, the Catholics, they have, the, the, Jesus, you know, was carved, onto the cross, but for us, evangelicals, we believe Jesus is risen, so we don't have Jesus, on the cross, right, but that's alright, but at that time, when he went up, with a candle, he went, he went, beside the cross, firstly, he lit, he has lit up, the crown of thorns, slowly, and then, he went, to the hands, to the hands of Jesus, nailed, and then the feet, nailed, and then, the candles, went through the side, that, was pierced,

[27:55] Jesus, was pierced, and, he just left, the love of God, nothing else, needed to be said, when we see the cross, when we truly, experience the cross, nothing else, to be said, this is, the width, the length, the height, and the depth, of the love of Christ, if we hadn't, had that experience, it's just, a story, but, if we truly, experience that, we know, it's beyond, imagination, salvation, and thirdly, and this is, yeah, this is the, illustration, yeah, and thirdly, the fullness of Christ, in verse 19, that you may be filled, to the measure, of, all, fullness, of God, just like, 1, 23,

[29:04] Christ, the fullness of him, to fill the church, who, he is the one, to fill everything, in every way, God, who fills the whole earth, he wants to fill, my heart, this vacuum, he wants to fill it, and this, play Roma, this word, play Roma, the fullness, is a very, very, it's a word that, Paul, like to use, very much actually, like, in Romans, 11, 25, it described, this fullness, of the, the numbers, of the Gentiles, and Galatians, 4, 4, is the fullness, of time, Ephesians, 1, 23, we just read before, the fullness, of him, that filled, all in all, and, 4, 4, 13, is the fullness, of Christ, and, Colossians, 1, 19, the fullness, of Godhead, in Christ, so, in Christ, all in all, he is the, full, his fullness, he is, he, he wants to fill, our hearts, and only our hearts, be filled, by his fullness, that, we, can be content, and satisfied, and he's, he's willing, to fill our hearts, in, in the first prayer, in chapter 1,

[30:39] Paul, actually, Paul actually, did pray for, the fullness, of the hope, and fullness, of the fruitful, fruitfulness, in their lives, and the fullness, of the power, in their lives, so, when we have, the fullness, of God, in us, our lives, will be, fully content, and satisfied, despite, all the external, circumstances, that could happen, to us, are we willing, I'd like to illustrate, something, okay, I'd like to get, the three children, lovely children, to come up, and help me, and, can, can, can, I get, Drew, can you get the table out, yeah, just to illustrate, how our lives, can be filled, okay, Rowan, where are you, can I, can I, put it out here, okay, can I, come,

[31:51] Eden, okay, get behind, otherwise, people will be able, to see, okay, all right, we're going to play, a little game here, you're going to use this, you're going to use this, how many, and, you're going to use this, it's heavy, okay, this is me, this is my life, we're transparent, before God, but, without God, I'm empty, a little bit, nothing, okay, but, God has, filled, his, goodness, into my life, okay, thank you, he's not stingy, but it's just, illustration, I don't have enough water, that's all right, we should run the tap, because, he, his, he represents, living water, right, endless, okay, but this, just limited, time and space, I can do that, okay, this is me, okay, this is me, and, clear, living, drinkable, healthy, good water, but the thing is, we get naughty at times, don't we, yes, and we, you know, not good for our health, we drink coke, all right, so, at times, we, we fall, into temptations, and we sin, oh, supposed to be clear, now, it's not so clear, okay, oh well, and sometimes, oh, even we get difficult to, you know, to get into troubles, we still do, you know, oh, oh no, it's not clear anymore, what should I do, let's, let our lives be filled, by God's goodness, the living water, okay, keep pouring, is it okay, okay, keep pouring, keep pouring, keep pouring, keep pouring, keep pouring, keep pouring,

[34:17] Keep pouring. Thank you, Eden.

[34:36] Thank you. You see, God wants to fill us. Even, you know, we get, we sin, even we fall into temptation, but the more, you know, we sin, that means the more we need to be filled by God's fullness.

[34:56] This is not a perfect illustration, but if run this under the tab, it will eventually clear, just my life will be cleansed.

[35:09] Yes, we will still get into trouble now and again, but God's living water, it doesn't stop.

[35:20] It's here. It's ready for us, cleanses us, fills my life. So let's pray for this for ourselves and for others.

[35:31] The power of the Holy Spirit, the love of Christ, and the fullness of God. Let's pray. Thank you. Thank you, children.

[35:43] Thank you. Don't drink that. These are bad for you. Okay, let's go. Let's go back. Okay, let's pray. Father, I pray for myself and for all your good children here.

[36:05] Lord, may the inner being, may our inner beings be filled by the power of God, power of Christ. Lord, that we might, we might be deep, rooted, and, and, and, and, um, firmed in the foundations of the love of Christ.

[36:25] and that we might be filled by your, by your goodness as we walk and, and, and as, and as we follow you as your disciples.

[36:37] In Jesus' name. Amen.