Ephesians 3:7-21 This is a beautiful passage that reveals Paul’s heart as a pastor. In the first part he’s confessional (and a little self-deprecating) “I am less than the least of all God’s people.” For the Ephesians and for us it’s easy to elevate Paul, he wrote all these letters that became part of the Bible and he started all these churches. He endured so much for the sake of the Gospel. Most of us never dream of being an evangelist that could change the world. But he’s quite clear “hey, I’m a nobody! By myself and on my own, I don’t even rank.” BUT….God gave me a gift to preach and share about
Jesus. That’s not about me. That’s about God. Paul is clear that he’s only able to do what he does because of God at work in him. And his purpose is to serve God and grow the kingdom by sharing the good news of Jesus.
And then he goes on, because of God I get on my knees to pray and I pray for you.
1) I pray God strengthens you from the riches of heaven, with the power of the Holy Spirit sent straight to your core.
2) I pray that you would be rooted and grounded in love and in so being that you could see the endless and abundant love of God.
3) And in knowing that love that you would be filled to the brim with the fullness of God.
Can you imagine what might happen if we took those words to heart? If we [rayed them for ourselves as a congregation? And believed they could be true in us? What if we believed that God’s ability could go far beyond anything we’ve ever seen or imagined? What if we believed that power could extend to us giving us the possibility of doing more than we thought we could? What if we could have the strength of the Holy Spirit filling us from our head to our toes? What if we could be so filled with love that the only way we could possibly relate to others was with love? And what if in knowing and believing those things we could then be filled—to overflowing—with the fullness of God?
I don’t know about you, but for me, that sounds amazing. And if it doesn’t sound amazing I’d venture it’s because we’re like the impala behind a 3’ fence. Which isn’t a crime. Just like the impala at the zoo, we likely don’t believe because we’ve never witnessed anything different. We simply believe what we know.
We believe we are limited by our own capacity. We believe we are so overrun with prejudice and ignorance that we couldn’t dare have only love. And we believe God has failed us—either because God is powerless or because God simply doesn’t care to answer our prayers. Are we the former or the latter? Are we full of hope or full of despair?
I am in no way denying the truth of our reality these days. The news is bleak and ost of us feel pretty powerless in the face of violence, hard-heartedness, and prejudice. We think “Who am I to make a difference? I’m not an organizer? I’m not a public speaker? I’m not a law maker? Who m I to make any kind of lasting difference?”
But the Gospel of Jesus says, “who are you not to?” Don’t let desperation and despondency win. You don’t have to be the best! You don’t even have to know exactly what you bring to the table. You just have to be willing to try—to serve the gospel and say “God, use me! Work through me. Do what you do best in me. Not because of who I am but because of who you are.”
It is God who is infinitely more able but God can’t work alone. God gave us free will, which really means God shared God’s power with us. God gave us the power to make a difference in the world. In essence, for God to be fully powerful, God needs us to bring our power back to the table. God needs us to participate in changing this world.
And we don’t have to know what all God will do—we don’t’ have to see the end game. After all, if we rely on our own imagination or understanding we’ll still be limited. We do have to surrender to the incredible power of God saying “use me. Fill me with love so I can share only love. And while I can’t even wrap my head around it…fill me with the fullness of God.” Do something bigger and better in us and in this world—something that can only be attributed to you so that your goodness might be revealed.
Honestly, I don’t really know what this looks like. I’ve seen the manifestation of God’s power at different times in my life and it’s pretty awesome. And it feels kind of scary to say, “God unleash your power.” But I know God is good and operates out of love since God is love. And I know that we need more than us to transform the darkness of hatred and apathy that are taking hold in our country.
I’m willing to say, God, I don’t really have much to offer, but what I have is yours. Use me. Guide me. Tell me what to say and what to do so that the one who is able to do infinitely more might be glorified.
We each get to decide if we’re going to let God use us if we’re going to submit and listen and then do what God suggests. But we should also recognize that Paul’s prayer isn’t in the third person singular. It’s in the third person plural, which means his prayer sounds more like “I pray that y’all will be strengthened by the Spirt and y’all will be filled with love in a way that helps you see how great God’s love is, and that y’all, being filled with love, would only be able to act with love.” It’s a collective thing. God needs each of us to decide if we’re willing to participate, but Paul knows it’s really a community thing—may God work through all y’all!