Ephesians 3:17a

October 23, 2022

Christ's Heart-Homemaking Work

Part 1

Christ dwells in the heart of every regenerate person. But He desires still more.

For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father from whom every family or the whole family in heaven and earth is named that―and here it is―in verse 16, that according to the riches of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit, in your inner being. And here's our text, verse 17, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. So there's our text for today―so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. So we'll now be looking at the first half of verse 17. We're moving a little bit slowly through the prayer. But I was reminded and a little bit encouraged this week, that if we feel like we're moving through this prayer a little bit slowly, we are not moving through it as slowly as many others have. I was reading this past week of Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Jones, who is widely known as one of the, or perhaps the greatest preacher of the 20th century, he's often called, used 17 Sundays, 17 weeks to work through this same prayer. So we're just on week three, so I was a little bit encouraging for me. But at the same time, this very passage that’s before us, the first half of verse 17, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, who was a very capable preacher of God's word, a very capable handler of God's word, also said of this passage, that of all the passages in Scripture, this is the passage that makes him feel the most inadequate to stand before God's people and expound this to them. So if Martyn Lloyd-Jones felt a little incapable, or inadequate to expound this passage to God's people, then I feel a little bit, okay, in the sense that we approached this passage a little bit with trembling knees, because this passage right away is going to present a difficulty for us, it's going to present an issue for us that we must think through and we must think through carefully. So the issue that we face is going to be pretty much clear to us right out of the gate, and the issue is this: It is so abundantly clear to us, isn't it, that Paul is praying for and writing to those whom he believes, to be regenerate, born again, members of the family of God, whom he has said specifically, are indwelt by the Spirit of the Lord. So here in the beginning of verse 17, he prays for those who are indwelt by Christ, who are in Christ, he prays that those may, through faith, that Christ may dwell in them. This parallels in a similar sort of way, what Paul prayed back in chapter one, verses 15, 16, 17, and 18, when he prays that the spirit of wisdom and revelation would do this work in their hearts. So back then we looked at that, and we said, well, they already have the Spirit in them. Paul prays for the spirit. But we saw there that what Paul was praying for was, an increased activity, so to speak, an increased work of the Spirit of wisdom and revelation to reveal to them increasing truths of their blessings and privileges in Christ. Here we face a similar sort of question, although it's going to be different, but it does really jump off the page at us, doesn’t it? Because here's, here's the thing: we labored the point earlier. And there was a reason for this. We labored the point earlier that Paul is building a sequential, progressive, case. One point follows the previous point. And that point rests on the previous point, Paul uses specific wording and specific grammatical structure―we won't go back into that, because we talked about that in detail, probably two Sundays ago―but Paul uses specific wording to show to us that he is making these requests, and one request rests on the previous, and is built upon the previous so that we can even look at them out of order. Because Paul says (a) so that (b), so that (c), so that (d), and (d) in order that…what comes after (d) whatever’s next. So this prayer rests on the previous statements, these previous requests that Paul makes. And so Paul prays, the first request is that you may be strengthened with power through the Spirit in your inner man. And then comes the next phrase: so that, in order that, or to the purpose of: Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. So there is our question for us to tackle, for us to for us to deal with, because we know a couple of things that are going to at least on the surface appear to be in conflict and the first of that, the first of those is this: Paul prays that they may be strengthened with power, so that Christ may dwell in them. Now we know that Christ Himself is the power. So for Paul to pray that strengthening and power would come, so that Christ who is their strength will come, is a bit problematic for us. So the Scriptures tell us specifically that Jesus Christ―Paul looks upon Jesus Christ as the source of his power. The presence of Christ in Paul's heart is his source of power. From his letter to Timothy, First Timothy, chapter one, verse 12: I thank Him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus, my Lord. Or second Timothy two and verse one: you then my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Or second Timothy four, verse 17: but the Lord―meaning Christ, whenever Paul says, Lord, he means Jesus―whenever (I'm sorry), but the Lord Christ stood by me and strengthened me. So he prays for strength, that Christ whom he says, abundantly clear elsewhere is his strength, he prays that strength will be given so that Christ may dwell in them. But then the greater issue is the issue itself, the issue that: he's praying for regenerate people, whom he has said, are indwelt by the Spirit, and he's praying that Christ may indwell in their hearts. So is there something about the word heart? Is, is Paul praying that Christ would dwell in a different place or a different part of them? Has he said earlier that Christ in dwells them and now he's praying that oh, that he made indwell their heart―does he mean some other different area of their being or of their of their soul? Perhaps? No, because this word for heart is just the standard word for heart, it’s the word we get our our word ‘cardiac’ from. And nowhere, anywhere in all the New Testament does this word mean anything like: the organ in your chest that pumps blood, it never means that. It always has a spiritual, metaphorical meaning. And that meaning is always ‘the core of a person’, the very center of a person's being. In other words, you could draw a circle around that word heart, and then draw another little circle around the phrase inner man. And then a line between the two because the―I'm going to take those two to be the same thing, synonyms. Heart is synonymous with inner man, there is no difference that we can detect between what Paul means by inner man and what Paul means by heart. So when Paul is praying that Christ may dwell in their heart, he's praying that Christ may dwell in the same sense, in the same place as the inner man in the soul and the core of their being. So how do we come at this, then, this idea that Paul is praying for Christ to indwell those whom he has specifically said, are already into out by the Spirit, chapter one and verse 13: And you also when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation and believed upon him, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance. Or chapter four, looking a little bit ahead, chapter four and verse 30, Paul is going to say: Do not grieve the Holy Spirit by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. So Paul has specifically said that these believers to whom he is writing, they are indwelt, by the Spirit, sealed by the Spirit. They are born again, regenerate believers. And in fact, we go further than that, and we could say, even to the extent that it would be overly tedious for us to go back through the letter, the first three chapters of the letter and point out all of the occasions in which Paul has said that they are in Christ, and Christ is in them. Twenty, thirty times we could see in these three chapters that Paul has, in one way or another said that they are in Christ, or Christ is in them. And so therefore, what can Paul mean as he prays that Christ may indwell, or may dwell in their hearts through faith? So we see here that the Scriptures teach us that a fundamental truth of our faith is that to be in Christ, to be regenerate, is to have the Spirit of Christ―also called the Holy Spirit―to dwell within us. Paul writes to the Romans, in Romans chapter eight, verses nine and 10: You, however, are not in the flesh, but you're in the Spirit, if in fact, the Spirit of God dwells in you, anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him. In other words, Paul says, here's the marker. Here's how you know, if the Spirit is, dwells in you than you are in Christ, the two are the same, the two are inseparable. So, to come at this, we really need to take a look at this word―you guessed it―but everything's gonna hang on this word ‘dwell.’ What does the word dwell mean? And what does Paul mean when he's asking that Christ would dwell in their hearts by faith? So in looking at this word―the word is ‘katoikeo.’ It is a combination word, like many words in the Greek are two words that are basically just put together, that we find that this is often how the Greek language, Greek likes to put words together, it likes to compound words, it likes to take a base word, add a prefix, add another prefix and a suffix to it. And then you end up with this big long word that has a very precise and complicated meaning, a meaning that often takes 6, 7, 8 words in English to translate. Okay, so you've heard people say, maybe a preacher that will say, these seven words in English, are translating one word and the Greek, ever heard that said? The reason is because that's so very common. That's not anything particularly impressive, that's just how the language works. The Greek language likes to put words together: synonyms, (or I'm sorry), prefixes and suffixes, and add them all together to make a longer word that has a precise and clear meaning. So that's just how the language is built. So this word is two words put together, it’s the word that basically means, that the word for ‘dwell’ or ‘inhabit’ or ‘live to live in a permanent way.’ The word for ‘dwell,’ Paul takes that word, and he could have just used that word, he could have just prayed that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, and that would have communicated the same meaning of Christ dwelling in the heart. However, Paul doesn't use just that one word, he adds a prefix to it―the prefix kata, which is a preposition. That means ‘down.’ So if we were to look at this word, and translate it, literally, it literally means ‘down dwell,’ or ‘downward dwell.’ And so, it's taking the meaning of dwell, and it's adding to its or this preposition prefix that is communicating a downward sort of motion, or an inward, in a deeper sort of motion. But then it even goes further. Because, I want to go through something that will take maybe a minute or two, for the reason of giving you confidence in what I'm going to say that Paul's meaning is here. In order to really see this and to grasp it with a great confidence, to know: this is Paul's meaning, because everything's gonna hang on the meaning of this word, dwell. Words mean things, right? God has communicated to us through words. And so it's our job to endeavor to understand those words. And so just to be confident about what Paul is saying, here, he's taking this word dwell, he adds the preposition before it that means downward, but the preposition here is functioning as something that's called a primary particle. Anybody remember particles from high school grammar, you remember particles? Okay, the majority of us have never thought about a particle since you left high school grammar. But what is a particle? A particle is a word that, in and of itself, has no meaning. It has no definition. But it has a grammatical function. That's a word that has no meaning, but has a grammatical function. What that means is that a particle is a word that it almost defies definition. But everybody knows what it means when you use it, it works in a sentence. What it usually does is it usually adds either motion, or intensity, or emotion. Now, all that sounds really technical and bizarre. The easiest way to get at this is with an example. Let me give you an example of a particle in English, and you'll see exactly what I'm saying. So I'm gonna choose the particle: ‘alright.’ Can you give me a definition of ‘alright’? Pretty hard to define the word: ‘alright.’ But we all know what ‘alright’ means. So if we were to think about the word, let me say, for example, I'll give you a sentence and I'll use the sentence, the exact same words, and then I'll add in the word, alright, and you'll see just a little bit of a different nuance, just a little bit of a different flavor. And that's how we use particles. So let's take this example right here. “It's time for us to leave.” “Alright, it's time for us to leave.” Can you sense a difference there? Just a little bit of a difference. What the ‘alright’ does is it adds a little bit of, well, maybe frustration, maybe it's some movement there, maybe just a little hint of, of ‘I'm really tired of this.’ Okay, “it's time for us to leave,” and, “Alright, it's time for us to leave”―they mean the same thing, but the second, to add that word in there just adds a little bit of a of an emotional, forceful ‘umph’ to it. Like: it's really time for us to go. Alright? See, I just used it right there. So that helps this, everything just kind of move along like that. That's how particles work. Particles for the most part, add emotion or they show emotion. Now, the English language uses particles rarely, very, very rarely. We only have a handful of particles in the English language because in English, the way that we like to express emotion is with the intonation of the speaker. With the influx of the speaker's voice with the accent of the speaker's voice. That's typically how we show emotion in English, which is why texting can be so confusing, because the written English language is very poor at expressing emotion. But the spoken English language is good at expressing emotion. Just the reverse for the Greek language. Biblical Greek has lots of particles. And Biblical Greek uses particles all the time. And that's how we can know something about, sometimes the emotional flair or the emotional color of a passage. Anybody ever heard of the Amplified Bible translation? That's what the Amplified Bible is doing, is it's seeking to bring out the meaning of those words, mostly the particles, that help us to get a little bit of an insight into the intensity of emotion that is there, that is, quite frankly, virtually impossible to bring over into English when you just translate words for words and meanings across the translation there. So this word that means down ‘Kata,’ is functioning as a primary particle. So what it's doing is it's adding intensity. It's adding forcefulness. It's adding emotion, to the base word, which is ‘to dwell.’ So dwell down with force, dwell down with intensity. So here's literally what Paul is saying: I pray, I bow my knees, that according to the riches of his glory, you may be strengthened with power through the Spirit in your inner in your inner man, so that Christ may really dwell in your hearts through faith. That’s what Paul’s getting it here. Now I hate to use that word: ‘really,’ I mean, it sounds so, sophomoric, you know, ‘really,’ it's not, that's not a very technical, or academic kind of word. And that's probably why our translators don't use it. But I don't know how better to express what Paul's saying. He's saying: that Christ may really find a home in your heart, that Christ may really find a permanent, comfortable, residence in your heart. Paul is not speaking here of something that has to do with salvation. Paul is not speaking evangelistically here. He's not asking that power would, the strengthening power would come so that they may be converted and the Spirit would come in and dwell them. He's not speaking salvifically. He's speaking communally, he's speaking of fellowship, he's speaking of the depth and the quality of fellowship in their heart. He's not saying: I hope Christ comes to take up residence in your heart. He's saying, I hope that Christ, I pray that you that you're strengthened in your inner man, so that Christ may really find home in your heart. So that's the sense that Paul's getting that's the basic mean, that's where we have to start. We have to start by understanding what the words are communicating to us, and then we look at that, and then we want to take that idea. Now we want to flesh that idea out biblically. We want to really get at this idea that does the Bible speak to us about some type of greater indwelling of Christ? Does the Bible really speak to us about some sense in which the presence of Christ in our heart becomes stronger and more forceful and more dominant in our life? Is this something that the Bible teaches us that the Christ who has found a home in our heart still has ways of finding a greater home in our heart or a more comfortable home in our heart? And so that's what we want to look to the Scriptures right now to see, is this something that the Bible presents to us? This, let's use the word ‘homemaking’―the homemaking work of God. Now, in using that word, there's sort of an image that I'm not trying to communicate, and that's the image of Jesus wearing a little apron or frilly apron and doing the ironing at your house. Instead, what I want to get at is this idea that Paul is praying that Christ would make a deeper, more comfortable, more lasting, more dominant home in your heart.

Part 2

It is the strengthening work of the Spirit to make our heart an increasingly more "comfortable" home for Christ.

I pray, I bow my knees, that according to the riches of his glory, you may be strengthened with power through the Spirit in your inner in your inner man, so that Christ may really dwell in your hearts through faith. That’s what Paul’s getting it here. Now I hate to use that word: ‘really,’ I mean, it sounds so, sophomoric, you know, ‘really,’ it's not, that's not a very technical, or academic kind of word. And that's probably why our translators don't use it. But I don't know how better to express what Paul's saying. He's saying: that Christ may really find a home in your heart, that Christ may really find a permanent, comfortable, residence in your heart. Paul is not speaking here of something that has to do with salvation. Paul is not speaking evangelistically here. He's not asking that power would, the strengthening power would come so that they may be converted and the Spirit would come in and dwell them. He's not speaking salvifically. He's speaking communally, he's speaking of fellowship, he's speaking of the depth and the quality of fellowship in their heart. He's not saying: I hope Christ comes to take up residence in your heart. He's saying, I hope that Christ, I pray that you that you're strengthened in your inner man, so that Christ may really find home in your heart. So that's the sense that Paul's getting that's the basic mean, that's where we have to start. We have to start by understanding what the words are communicating to us, and then we look at that, and then we want to take that idea. Now we want to flesh that idea out biblically. We want to really get at this idea that does the Bible speak to us about some type of greater indwelling of Christ? Does the Bible really speak to us about some sense in which the presence of Christ in our heart becomes stronger and more forceful and more dominant in our life? Is this something that the Bible teaches us that the Christ who has found a home in our heart still has ways of finding a greater home in our heart or a more comfortable home in our heart? And so that's what we want to look to the Scriptures right now to see, is this something that the Bible presents to us? This, let's use the word ‘homemaking’―the homemaking work of God. Now, in using that word, there's sort of an image that I'm not trying to communicate, and that's the image of Jesus wearing a little apron or frilly apron and doing the ironing at your house. Instead, what I want to get at is this idea that Paul is praying that Christ would make a deeper, more comfortable, more lasting, more dominant home in your heart. This, by the way, is the only passage in all the Bible that speaks of asking Jesus to make a home in the heart. That's a phrasing that we hear a lot: ask Jesus to come into your heart. We've heard, we've all heard that said, not here in our context, because we avoid that phrasing. But that's a phrasing that you've heard a lot. This is the only place in Scripture in which there is a request of Jesus to dwell in the heart. So we need to understand this one and understand it closely and understand it carefully. So let's think about this homemaking, work of Jesus in our heart, to make a home into our heart. Does the Bible teach us that there is a sense in which God is more comfortable in the hearts of some than others? And I think that the Bible does hold this out for us. Let me start with the example of way back and our scriptures all the way back to Abram and Sarai, later to be known as Abraham and Sarah. So you remember the story of Abraham and Sarah, we won't go back through the story but Genesis 18, and Genesis 19 is where is where this story occurs. Genesis 19, is where God goes and destroys Sodom and Gomorrah. Just prior to that in Genesis 18, God makes a visit, prior to doing that, remember who he visits? He visits Abram, or then he's known as Abraham. And God comes to Abram. And there are three people, there, there's God, and then what’s described as two men. Now we know those two men to be divine men, so to speak, or angelic beings. So here's God with two angelic beings, and they come to Abram. Now, what form is God in? What does he look like? We can know here that this is the Son of God, this is the second person of the Trinity, because anytime that we see a manifestation of God, it is always the second person of the Trinity, because the Son of God is the visible manifestation of the God we can't see. So Jesus shows up in the Old Testament, though we don't call them Jesus, because ‘Jesus’ is his human name that's given to him when he takes on humanity. Before he takes on humanity in the Old Testament, he still makes appearances. He's not Jesus, He is the Son of God. He's the second person of the Trinity. And this is the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God, who comes to Abraham, in Genesis 18. And if you remember the story, what happens is they come, and then in typical ancient eastern fashion, there's a meal prepared. And they sit down for a meal. Now think about that for just a moment: of God, sitting down to table with Abram. What a fantastic picture that is, God, and to have his angelic beings sitting down to share food, like we just did, to share food with Abram. There's this picture here of just community, and fellowship. And if I could use the word, comfort comfortableness, in the sense that Abraham has made God comfortable to be there with him. Not that God is uncomfortable, ever, God's not a man. And not that God needs to be made comfortable. But there's just the sense in the passage that God is comfortable sitting here and talking with his child, Abraham. Now, the following passage, in Genesis 19, is the hellfire and brimstone passage when the fires falling from the sky and destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, but before that happens, remember what happens before that is Lot has to be rescued from Sodom, right, remember? So what's interesting in the passage is: God―the Son of God―and the two angelic beings come and share table with Abraham. But who doesn't go to Sodom? The Son of God doesn't go to Sodom. Instead, the two angels are sent to Sodom, because they have to rescue another child of God, by the name of Lot. We know him to be a redeemed Child of God, because the New Testament tells us he was. However, there is this sense that, although the Son of God was very comfortable, to enter into Abraham's tent, and share fellowship with Abraham, he nonetheless was not comfortable to go to Sodom and share table with a lot, who himself had made himself to be very comfortable in Saddam. Because his lifestyle, and his life reflected the values of Saddam much more closely than the values of God. And so there's the sense that although he's going to be rescued, God himself doesn't go there. Now, that's a stark reality that shows us that, that at least in the sense that it's implied in that passage, is that Abraham was a man that God was comfortable to share time with, to share His tent with, to share table with. And Lot, at least at that point, was not a man that was so comfortable for God to come and to share table with. So that's one place that we see this. I see this in other places in the scriptures as well. For example, look with me at John, chapter 14, in verse 23. Jesus answered to him, now Jesus here is answering Judas, not Judas Iscariot, but the other disciple―which by the way, wouldn't that just be the worst?—to be a disciple, that was the other Judas? So he's answering the ‘other Judas,’ and he says, If anyone loves Me, he will keep my word. And my Father will love him. And we will come to him and make Our home with him. So let's look at this very carefully. Because what Jesus is not saying here is, Jesus is not giving an evangelistic response. In other words, Jesus is not saying to Judas, not Iscariot, he's not saying: This is how I will come to dwell on your heart. If you love Me and keep My commandments, then I will dwell on your heart. That's not what Jesus―Jesus is not saying: this is how you receive life. This is how you are sealed with the Holy Spirit and Instead, Jesus is not saying, This is how conversion happens, Jesus is saying, This is how communion happens. This is how fellowship happens: if you love me. And if you keep my commandments, then what Jesus says is the fellowship will be sweet. There will be comfort for me to live in the home of your heart. I will find a settled place there. I won't just abide there, I won't just live there, I won't just exist there, I will find a settled home there, a comfortable home there, in your heart. Or look at me in Revelation chapter three and verse 20. This is also another passage that's quite frequently misunderstood to be an evangelistic passage, which is to say, this is how salvation happens. Because we've all heard that Jesus stands at the door of your heart knocks. And if you let him in, then he comes in―Revelation 3:20. Right? But that's a that's a misunderstanding of the passage. Because the context of the passage is clearly the context in which Jesus is not inviting lost people to open the door of their heart to him. Instead, Jesus is speaking to His church. Specifically, he's speaking to the church of Laodicea. And to the church of Laodicea, Jesus says: Behold, I stand at the door―not the door of your heart―but Behold, I stand at the door and knock. And if anyone opens the door, then I will come in, and I will―as the King James says―sup with him, or eat with him or fellowship with Him. So Jesus is saying, or he's writing here to the church at Laodicea: there is a door that, in a sense, is closed to me. And you have the ability to open that door. And if you open that door, the fellowship will be sweet. Now, does anybody remember what the problem with the church of Laodicea was? Remember the seven churches in Revelation and each one had a problem? Anybody remember what the problem with the layout of Laodicean church was? They were the lukewarm church―did somebody say it?—they were the lukewarm church. They were the ones that were neither hot nor cold. And Jesus says: if you're lukewarm, I spew you out, not meaning that I reject you unto hell. But meaning, our fellowship can't be there. You can't have this lukewarm heart towards me, and we have the sweet community, the sweet fellowship. So therefore, I stand at the door and knock. And I'm knocking for fellowship, I'm knocking for true community, I'm knocking, as to use the words of Paul in Ephesians three, verse 17, to really find a home in your heart, to really find a comfortable abode in your heart. Now, one other place that this―this may be a stretch, but I'm gonna throw this out there you can decide on your own―one other place that perhaps we see this is in Luke chapter one. And verse 45. And blessed is she and the she there is Mary, Mother of Jesus, Blessed is she, who believed that there would be fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord. So this passage here the angel is calling Mary blessed, and she's blessed because she believed. Now what happens to Mary? Literally, the Son of God enters her, and in a physical way―not entering her heart―but in a physical way―the community there―Is there closer community than a mother bearing a son? So perhaps that is a, even a metaphor for us showing to us here is this woman that the scriptures say blessed beyond all women, is this woman who had such close fellowship with the Son of God. So I think the scriptures are, at least in those senses are pointing us to this reality that there is a home making, that Jesus seeks to do in our heart a―to use Paul's word, again―really, really dwelling deeply and profoundly in your heart in a way that's comfortable, and permanent and lasting, and directive and controlling. So now, let's take that. And let's think for just a little bit about what I call here, the malleable aspect of Christ's indwelling. So I'm trying to be really careful here because there's dangerous ground on both sides. The indwelling of Christ is something that cannot be undone. If you are a regenerate person, if you are a converted person, and then the Spirit of God has entered your heart―chapter one, verse 13, of Ephesians―and you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit―that is not malleable. That is not undoable. The son of (or I'm sorry), the Spirit of God, God's Spirit does not enter into people in a redemptive way to leave them, he takes up abode with them, and that is forever. So in a sense, the indwelling of the Son of God, or the indwelling of the Spirit, is not something that we even have the ability to change. But there is another sense in which the presence of Christ in our heart is something that―if I can use the phrase, maybe―wax and wane, or grow and diminish, specifically in terms of power, and dominance, and influence, and community and fellowship, that is an aspect that can wax and wane. Now, what can cause that to diminish? Or what can cause that to be prohibited? Or roadblocked? Well, the Scriptures tell us, among other things, our sin can do that. Take a look with me at first Corinthians chapter six, verses 15 through 17. Paul, writing here to the Corinthians says: Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ, shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? So here Paul is saying, when you in your body, if you're indwelt by the Spirit of God, and you join yourself with a prostitute, there is a sense in which you are joining Christ to that prostitute. And certainly in joining together in that sin, that is something certainly something that, as Paul is going to say to the Ephesians, later on in chapter four, verse 30, that will ‘grieve the spirit.’ We can grieve the spirit, we can tax the spirit, we can engage in sinful behaviors, and sinful activities and sinful thought patterns. And sinful attitude patterns, that have the ability to roadblock, if you will, the dominance of the Spirit in our life, the effect, the working of the Spirit in our life. Ann that community is diminished, that fellowship is diminished. And this is what Paul's praying against: I pray that you'll be strengthened with power through the Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ will really, really dwell in your hearts. Or think with me of John chapter 15, verse seven, Jesus says: If you abide in Me, and My words, abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it'll be done for you. So think of what Jesus is saying there. He uses this conditional word, if, if you abide in me and I abide in you, and my words abide in you, then, there's this result. And the result is this type of powerful, supernaturally powerful prayer. So we can equate that with a close community, a close fellowship with the Lord. So this homemaking work of God, this homemaking work of Jesus in our hearts is something that closely aligns with a couple of other things in the gospels that we read about. First of all, is the supper, the communion, the Eucharist, the Lord's table. The Lord's Table, is one of the two ordinances of the church, that the church practices on a regular basis, that Jesus himself instituted. And these two ordinances are the ordinance of baptism and the ordinance of the Supper. And both of them correspond to the Christian life. The baptism corresponds to the beginning of the Christian life, the initiation into the Christian life. But the Supper coordinates to, or corresponds to the ongoing Christian life, or the day to day Christian life. And so think about the imagery of the Supper. The Supper―that occasion in which we take a bread, and we take of juice or wine―and we are figuratively consuming the Lord, in such a way that we are, in a metaphoric kind of way, we are saying that we feed upon the Lord. And we do this, as Jesus says, on a regular basis. So this corresponds to this close fellowship that Jesus, that Paul was praying for here. But this is also something that those who heard Jesus teach of this, found this to be a very hard teaching. From John chapter six, Jesus says, I'll just sort of condense this passage, Jesus says: Whoever doesn't feed upon my body and drink of my blood has no part of me. And that passage concludes by many of those who heard Jesus, then stopping to follow Jesus because the saying was too hard. So this aspect of this spiritual feeding upon Jesus, that Jesus puts into physical terms, some found this too hard to follow. And so they then stopped following Jesus. This also corresponds to what happens in the upper room in John chapter 13. What happens on the night of Jesus's arrest, of course, was the footwashing. And we remember the story―the footwashing―where Jesus says specifically here, he has this conversation with Peter. And he says to Peter says to him in his sort of self righteous, self reliant sort of way, Peter says, You're not gonna, you're not gonna wash my feet Jesus. And Jesus responds to say, if I don't wash your feet, you have no part of me. And then Peter, and his overexuberant sort of way: well, okay, then not just my feet, but give me a bath. And Jesus says: no, no, I'm not talking about a bath, for you are clean, but not all of you. So, what Jesus is getting at there is the same sort of thing, the same sort of regular returning to him for this infusion, if you will, of spiritual reliance and spiritual strength and spiritual, if you will, feeding off of Jesus. So this understanding of this homemaking, this spiritual homemaking process, is a process or this activity of the Lord, this spiritual homemaking, is something that, as I said before, we want to be very careful to understand. We want to be careful not to misunderstand, because the Scriptures say to us that there is an indwelling of the Lord, there is an indwelling, of the Spirit of Christ, that is a once and for all, and eternal, lasting indwelling that occurs, and if you want to call that a persevering indwelling. But then there is another type, that the Scriptures speak about. So let's, let's look with me at Galatians chapter two in verse 20. Here's one place that I think that this becomes apparent for us. Galatians two and verse 20, here's what Paul says: I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. So that speaks of an occurrence, of a happening. I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer Paul who lives but it is now Christ who―and there's the dwelling language―lives in men. So that speaks of something that has occurred, that doesn't occur on an ongoing basis. It's not something that Paul does every day. He's not crucified with Christ every day in that sense. But then he goes on to say, in the remainder of his thought, he says: And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. So there you see, put right together, these two aspects, the aspect of conversion, regeneration: I have been crucified with Christ, the old Paul is dead, I'm a new creation in Christ. Yet there is this daily ongoing thing that happens by faith, that is that I'm going to suggest is the same thing that Paul is praying for to the for the Ephesians, that Christ would really, really dwell in your hearts by faith. But another place that comes through I think a little bit more clearly is Galatians chapter four and verse 19. Here Paul says this: My little children, for whom I am again, in the anguish of childbirth, until Christ is formed in you, until Christ is formed in you. So that speaks to us, of Christ in us in a way that is a lifelong formation process. In a sense, in which is not just a do indwelling that occurs at the point of faith and repentance and, and conversion, but in the sense that this formation of Christ in us is a lifelong process. Likewise, Paul says, a similar thing in chapter four and verse 13, of the letter to the Ephesians. Here's what he says in verse 13: Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. So there's an aspect in which (chapter one, verse 13): when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation and believed you were sealed. There's that aspect. But then there's also the aspect of: until you attain the fullness of Christ, the full measure of mature manhood in Christ. Or to the Galatians: until Christ is fully formed in you. That is something that happens when we see him. When we are finished with this life, and the remaining sin is removed and we are glorified as we see him, that fullness of Christ is attaining then, but Paul is speaking of this as an activity in our life of a really finding his home in us are really deeply finding abode in us.

Part 3

Self-reliance and faith are always in conflict with one another.

So Paul's making this request: It is my request, I pray a bow my knees, this is his earnest request, that according to the riches of his glory, you may be strengthened with power, outside of yourself, strengthened with power through the Spirit in your inner man. And, so that, in order that, to the effect that, Christ may really find home in your heart, through faith. So let's think for just a minute about the context of the request, the context in which Paul is saying that you may, that Christ may find this real abode, that he might find this deeper home in your heart, this more comfortable home in your heart. The context is the strengthening of verse 16: that you may be strengthened with power through the Spirit. So last week, we talked about how it is that God strengthens us. And God strengthens us, not by making us stronger, as we said earlier, but God strengthens us by removing our reliance upon ourself. We are strengthened, because the Lord is our strength. And the more that we rely on the Lord, the more that we look to the spirit for his power, the more we are strengthened, because we're not the ones being made strong. We're the ones being made weak. So Paul is praying that the Ephesians would be weakened in their self-reliance, so that they would be strengthened in their Spirit-reliance, to the effect that Christ would really, really find home in their hearts. You see the connection? See the flow of his of his thought? If you don't see that yet, you'll see if you think about the necessary conflict that exists between the self-reliant heart and the heart of faith. Because all this happens, Paul says, through faith. The context of this deeper abode of Christ, of this really finding a home in your heart, the context of that is the context of faith. Now, what is biblical faith? Biblical faith is not just belief. Biblical faith is belief, plus trust. You've heard the analogy―everybody’s heard the analogy of the chair. Now you can believe that the chair will hold your weight but until you sit in it, you don't really know that, that kind of thing. Or other stories that we may have heard. One of my favorite is the story of Charles Blondin. Charles Blondin was a French Acrobat in the 19th century. And he was just this fantastic tightrope walker. Well, in 1859, the summer of 1859, Charles Blondin had a tight rope connected across the Niagara Falls. So from the American side to the Canadian side, he connected this tightrope from one side of Niagara to the other. And he spent the summer putting on tightrope walking shows there at Niagara Falls. He would walk across from the American side to the Canadian side and back across this tightrope, he would then make a little bit harder by carrying a sack across, and then he would walk across on stilts, even would one time carried a stove, halfway across, and then halfway between the two sides, he cooked himself an omelet. I mean, he was an extraordinary sort of tightrope walker. Well, the show's just gotten more and more phenomenal and more and more fantastic. Well, as the story goes, he was about to put on another show. And this time, he was challenging the audience. He says, who believes here that I can put a person inside a wheelbarrow, and push that wheelbarrow across the Niagara Falls? And of course, the crowd says, Yes, of course, do it, do it. You can do this, to which she said: Alright. I need somebody in the wheelbarrow. And of course, nobody got in the wheelbarrow. That's the difference between belief and biblical faith. Biblical faith is not just belief, it's belief plus trust. So can you see how it is that biblical faith is the antithesis of self-reliance? The self-reliant heart is a heart that faith struggles to find life in. Whereas the heart that's described as a heart of faith is a faith that has, to some measure, rid itself of self-reliance, because the two are polar opposites. Self-reliance and faith are in conflict with one another. To the extent that you are self-reliant, is the same extent to which faith cannot grow in your heart, to the extent in which your heart is dominated by faith, is the same extent to which you have turned from self-reliance. So can you see now why Paul makes his request in the way that he does? I pray that you'd be strengthened with power through the Spirit in your inner man―in other words, that God would continue and in fact, even ramp up his work, behind the scenes of your life, to rid you of your self-reliance, so that Christ may really find dwelling in your heart through faith. Because his deeper fellowship in your heart, his more connected community in your heart requires your self-reliance to be battled against, to be removed, to be, at least in a process of in your life, through the power of the Spirit, being shown the parts of your life in which you are relying upon self, so that they can be confessed and turned from, and through the power of the Spirit, be replaced with reliance upon God, or to use another word Biblical faith. So you see the connection of Paul's prayer? It's really beautiful once you see it. And once you see, once you understand, this is what Paul's asking for, then it makes perfect sense why he asked for the first before the second. Paul's not praying that you'd be strengthening your inner man so that you can be converted. Paul's praying that you'd be strengthened in your inner man, so that through God's gracious and loving taking from you those strongholds of self-reliance, you then increasingly turn to the Spirit, and increasingly make your home a comfortable abode for God. Because self-reliance and faith are always at odds. Remember from last week, what we read from Second Corinthians chapter one. Paul's talking about these afflictions and the sufferings that God brought upon him: So that Paul says, to make us not rely upon ourselves, but upon God who raises the dead, you see, there's two options. Paul says, rely upon self or rely upon God. So Paul says these afflictions came to remove that self-reliance, so that I would rely upon God instead. Or to put it another way that my home would be made a more fitting and more comfortable abode for God. Now, this faith connection, this is how we not only come to have the indwelling of Christ in our hearts, but it's also the same method in which Christ increasingly takes dominance over our hearts, and increasingly finds more comfortable abode in our hearts, it’s through the same measure to the measure of faith. So this is why Paul will say to, for example, the Colossians and Colossians chapter two, verse six and seven: as you came to know the Lord, so also walk with Him in faith, rooted and grounded in faith. You came to know the Lord in a saving way through faith, that sane way is how you come to increasingly fellowship with Him, and increasingly make your life and your heart, a comfortable home for God, an abode for God. Second Corinthians five or seven, Paul says: We walk not by sight but by faith. So ultimately, what Paul is praying for is this. At the end of the day, Paul's praying, through these first two requests, you be strengthened, and that strengthening, Paul knows, is going to come through God's efforts of removing self-reliance, so that your heart will increasingly turn in trust to the spirit, making an increasingly comfortable abode for God. So that Christ would feel more and more at home in your heart and more and more comfortable in your heart. And again, just to be really careful―Jesus doesn't be need to be made to feel comfortable. God's not a man like we. But we talk about this in anthropomorphic ways, in order to understand, how it is that we, through the power of the Spirit, are granted increasingly close communion and fellowship. Okay, so we just use this term of making Christ more comfortable in our heart, knowing that that's a weak term in itself. But this is what we're using to express that. So this making Christ more comfortable in our hearts is something―occurs by faith―but ultimately, the request is this. The request is not so much that Christ be made comfortable in your heart. But instead that you would increasingly know that your heart is not your heart, that your heart is in fact, his heart. That your heart is in fact, his kingdom. How is it that you truly make someone at home, let's say as a guest? You know, we all have guests come over. And we always say: Make yourself at home. Mi casa es tu casa, right? Make yourself at home. And when you're a guest in someone's home, you know your guest, right? And you try to make people comfortable. And if we came over to see you at your home, you’d do the same, you'd say the same. Just―you want us to be comfortable. You wantus to feel at home, right? But ultimately, you don't. Because you're a guest, right? There's an ancient Welsh proverb that goes like this: The good host endeavors to make the guest feel at home. The good guest never forgets that he's not. Isn't that a beautiful picture of just a good visit? A really good visit, in which the host does everything to make the guests feel like they're at home. But the guest never forgets that this isn't my home. I mean, that's just a nice sort of symbiotic visit, right? But that's just the thing: It’s a visit. To make someone truly at home, how would you do that? How would you make somebody feel at home? You'd serve them, right? Can I bring you some coffee? Can I make you something can I bring you something to eat? Or you know, if it's an overnight guests, you know, make sure that they know here's the towels, here's the linens, you know you, this is your house, you just do what you want, right? But ultimately, the there's only one way that a guest is going to truly feel at home. There's only one way that you could have me over to your house, and make me truly feel at home. And that's if I took out my checkbook, and I wrote you a check. And home was mine. So that's ultimately how Christ is made to really, really dwell in our hearts, through our turning from self-reliance, and turning to the spirit, we're increasingly made aware that we are his. He's not our guest. We're not inviting him in so to speak, to say, let me share with you my home, Jesus. But instead, we're increasingly made aware―our heart is his kingdom. He has bought us with a price. We are not our own. We are his. He has bought us once when He created us, and he's bought us a second time when he redeemed us. And so as the scriptures will teach us―in many places, and in many ways―do everything as unto the Lord for it is it is truly all his. All of our life is truly His. All of our heart is truly His