Ephesians 3:14-21 Be filled with all the fullness of God.
Have you ever felt "spiritually out of joint?" An extreme sense of this loss of purpose and meaning in life is found in the writings of French secular philosopher, John Paul Sartre "That God does not exist I cannot deny; that my whole being cries out for God I cannot forget." One is left with a sense of emptiness and distress when this position is deeply contemplated. Over recent years a more individualistic sense of meaning and fulfilment and its associated core issue of "how, indeed, can life be fulfilling?" has become the feature of Western culture and society. When pursued as a personal, self-oriented, self-actualised goal, fulfilment may appear to be incredibly ego-centric. And so self-destructive. The pursuit of selfish goals seems to undermine all of our best endeavours, and bring its own bag of frustrations.
In our study last year of the book of Ecclesiastes, we came to understand that the opposite to the desire for 'fullness' is something deeply embedded in the Old Testament concepts of sinfulness and personal frustration which every person "under heaven" endures, whatever age, whatever belief structure, whatever may be the community to which they belong. The author of Ecclesiastes, the Preacher, contrasts fullness with a deep emptiness. Human lives often find meaning and purpose by focussing around one or more important elements which become the main focus and factor of individual lives and corporate communities. The Preacher called some of these focussing factors "trivial pursuits," when he said after an examination of the factors of his life "Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity." The Hebrew term hebel, translated vanity or vain, refers concretely to a 'mist,' 'vapor,' or 'mere breath,' and metaphorically to something that is fleeting or elusive. Perhaps it is comparable to the Rolling Stones song: "I can't get no satisfaction, though I try and I try and I try, but, I can't get no satisfaction."
The problem with the things that people focus upon to give them fullness, meaning and purposefulness is that they are, as Tim Keller wrote, "counterfeit gods!"
They promise much but when finally and totally relied upon give depression and distress. The job promotion, cannot meet that need for fulfilment when the person has to defend his spot on the mound against all comers, and then discovers he is standing on a mound! It is just dirt! He comes to retirement and his life is now meaningless because all his life was about defending his position and his power.
Another counterfeit god is the dollar! He who has the most houses when he dies wins. And so he loses relationships with family and friends because of his desire for money. He is consumed by it and finds it to bring nothing.
A person focuses on a romantic relationship to give them fullness, and the person exhibits selfishness and cannot meet that deep need. Folk are unfulfilled. Mainly because they were not designed to fully fulfil each other completely. Our aspirations for fullness are denied by the very things that we hope will bring fullness.
And these counterfeit gods are no less addictive than the counterfeit gods of drugs, alcohol and sensuality. But they do not bring ultimate fulfilment.
The apostle Paul confronts us with the greatest of experiences that you can ever have! Fullness!
γνῶναί τε τὴν ὑπερβάλλουσαν τῆς γνώσεως ἀγάπην τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἵνα πληρωθῆτε εἰς πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα τοῦ θεοῦ
The Fullness of God Provision
ἵνα πληρωθῆτε εἰς πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα τοῦ θεοῦ
The divine filling contrasts with the need and emptiness of the world. The New Testament uses the term in a transferred sense to denote 'rich fullness.' In the Septuagint (the Old Testament in Greek translated about 200BC) plēróō occurs some 70 times. It carries the meaning of 'satisfied,' 'intact,' 'overflowing,' 'full,' 'fully covered,' and 'complete.'"
The concept of "fullness" is an underlying motif of New Testament Christianity; it is presented both as a goal to be attained and a gift to be received, something found only in relationship with Christ; a gift from Christ, the summation of a person's relationship with Christ, and the integrating factor of a Christian's life providing resilience in times of distress. It is also viewed apocalyptically by the apostle Paul, as the term signifying the culmination of world history."
John writes in the prologue of his gospel "of His fullness we have all received and grace upon grace." Paul writes of fullness in an experiential, extravagant way in Ephesians 3: "and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. A.T. Robertson, a renowned scholar of the Greek New Testament defines fullness: "Fullness of God is the fullness which God imparts through the dwelling of Christ in the heart; Christ, in whom the Father was pleased that all the fullness should dwell (Col 1:19), and in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead (Col 2:9)."
The concept speaks of a total fullness, something that dominates the individual.
There is an association of the term 'filling' with the imagery of the Old Testament Tabernacle and the Temple terminology. At significant times the Temple is described as being "filled with the glory of God." Ezekiel 36:22–27. "God promises a new covenant entailing the giving of a "new spirit," even "my [God's] Spirit."
The Old Testament often alludes to a temporary 'filling' of individuals occurring for an historical purpose.
And here in Ephesians 3 the apostle Paul prays that this fullness, this being filled with all the fullness of God is for all of us. All of us filled with the fullness of God. Not just for pastors, or missionaries. Every single one of us.
Some of the most serious ailments of Christians today are dryness, depression, and despair; and if we could take a census of people gathered here we should find that these things exist in many hearts. Dryness. Somehow you are still outside what you know God is longing to give, and you are still conscious of dryness. Some of you came here with depression because of the dreariness of your life. You have heard much of what God is waiting to give you but you are even more depressed. I wonder if there are some here who are almost despairing? Well, here is God's picture of what He wants of you, and the picture of the place to which He wants to bring you.
John 7: 37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'"39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7:37-39. Fullness! Filled up with all the fullness of God!
THE DIVINE PROVISION: "Out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water . . . the Spirit." That provision of God is meant for daily living. There are people who seem to imagine that when the Scriptures speak of the fullness of God, that it is only something for ministers in pulpits or missionaries on the foreign field. No! It is for your daily living. The fullness of God is for you in the everyday. The fullness of the Spirit is for you, friend, in your practical daily job, that you may make up the books better; that you may turn out the work from your hands in a way that pleases Him; that you shall be thorough in your work. A friend of mine has written over her sink: "Divine service held here three times daily"
There is a fullness of God that is to be experienced daily, even in the most frustrating of situations.
The Fullness of God Obessession
Are you thirsty for the fullness of God? When you are thirsty you don't sit and argue.. If you want to sit and argue about theological opinions, you are full of yourself. But God's requirement is thirst: "If any man thirst, let him come . . ." not, "If any one wants to sit and argue and beat theological drums." When you are thirsty you do not merely think about it, you desire nothing else but God's blessing, because you know a deep thirst, a deep dryness, a deep despair in your heart. And God says to you, "Are you really thirsty? Have you discovered the barrenness of your life, the dryness of your soul? Are you thirsty? "If any man thirst . . ." and when a person is thirsty it is because of their utter need.
It is when a man or woman comes in utter need that he is received. The thirsty man says, "It is water only that I must have, for my tongue is parched and dry, and I cannot go on for another hour: I must have water." If you have come to the place like that, where you are really thirsty, you will get Him in all His fullness.
Ab Simpson wrote a hymn: Once it was the blessing, Now it is the Lord; Once it was the feeling, Now it is His Word; Once His gift I wanted, Now, the Giver own; Once I sought for healing, Now Himself alone.
Be Thou my Vision O Lord of my heart Naught be all else to me Save that Thou art
Thou my best thought By day or by night Waking or sleeping Thy presence my light
The Fullness of God Direction
Be Thou my Wisdom And Thou my true Word
I ever with Thee And Thou with me Lord
The Apostle Paul was not trying to give the Ephesian Christians some mystical delight, or some interesting metaphysical problem to unravel. He did not write in order to stimulate them to argue about doctrine; he wrote his Epistle in order to help them in their daily life and living. Something essentially practical, a concrete reality, is here before us.
Charles Taylor speaks of self-transcendence "as calling for a radical decentering of the self in relation with God." Self-Transcendence is a theme of the New Testament.
Viewed negatively self-transcendence is a forgetting of one's self.
"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him." John 12: 24-26.
The cryptic statement "whoever loves his life loses it" highlights an implicit problem: if someone seeks fullness in order to be "self-actualised" or in some way better in their experience, they miss it! To seek fullness for one's self is to be denied it, for that is the attitude of self-centredness. To lose one's life, through not focussing on selfish or self-oriented fixations, is to achieve self-transcendence and fullness. To have an outward focus necessitates self-transcendence through fixation on 'God' .
Victor Frankl spoke of self-realisation actually being self-forgetfulness and self-transcendence. Taylor uses terms 'brought out of self', 'transcending the self', 'decentering the self', going 'beyond the self', 'self-overcoming', as a means of attaining fullness or fulfilment. 'beyond self-related desire;
Are you thirsty because you know you cannot get on without Him? Thirsty because you know that back there in that job, back there in your home, perhaps with that difficult child or that awkward mother-in-law, you will be back in the same old grind, and you say, "I cannot face it." Then, friend, are you prepared to come thirsty, conscious of your desperate need, and take God's blessing for your need? I hope, as you are thirsty, you do not come here in despair; for God knows, and God is waiting to bless, and He says to you today, "If any man thirst." Filled with all the fullness of God.
The Fullness of God Possession
Thou my great Father I Thy true son
Thou in me dwelling And I with Thee one
Eph5: 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart,20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
We are 'in Christ'; and Christ is 'in us'. Do not try to understand this, for it 'passeth knowledge'. The New Testament tells us that we are joined to Christ, that we are 'in Him'. In the fifth chapter of this same Epistle we find the Apostle saying that we are 'members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones' (v. 30). This indicates the nature of the union. In order that we may have some idea of how this works, let us turn to some of the most glorious statements that are to be found in the entire Bible. The Apostle John in the prologue of his Gospel writes: 'And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace' (v. 16). Our Lord had taught this truth in the days of His flesh, when he said: 'I am the vine, ye are the branches' (John 15:5). Such is the relationship—that of a vine and its branches. This helps us to understand how we can be filled with the fulness of God. Already, in the first chapter of this Epistle to the Ephesians, referring to the Church the Apostle says: 'Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all' (v. 23).
The fulness of God, therefore, can reside in me in exactly the same way as the fulness of the life of the vine is in every individual branch and twig. The fulness of the vine, the essence, the life, that element in the sap that makes the vine the vine, is in the branches also. All the fulness of the vine is in the branches because of the organic connection, the vital union of all its parts.
Being strengthened by God's Spirit in the inner man, Christ dwelling in our hearts through faith and being filled up with all the fullness of God means that the glory of God dwells in us.
And greater yet, everything about us speaks of the glory of God.
Drink, or receive. "Come unto me. and drink"—come unto me, and receive. You say, "How can I receive this fullness of God? "
The Fullness of God Suppression
Riches I heed not Or man's empty praise Thou mine inheritance Now and always
Thou and Thou only First in my heart High King of heaven My treasure Thou art
Fullness implies sufficiency. Fullness implies superabundance.
It implies that all our fleshly sinful "needs" are superabundantly catered for in a new relationship in Christ. Filled with all the fullness of God means that those deep internal needs for love, compassion understanding self-esteem etc are met in a relationship with God. He fills up where has sin has taken from us in our personality. He fills up where in had previously destroyed. He remakes us.
There is not only the self forgetfulness, a reorientation away from our selfish ego needs, there is also the outward focus on loving others and loving God. It means putting aside other counterfeit gods to know the true and living God. The old is gone the new has come!
"The Spirit Strengthening us in inner man. Christ dwelling in our hearts by faith.
that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."
It means that God dwells in us in such a way as to control us and each part of us, God controls the whole of our life. He controls our thinking, and our feelings, and our outward actions.
Frances Ridley Havergal, Take my life, and let it be … Take my intellect, and use Every power as Thou shalt choose.
The man in whom all the fulness of God dwells is controlled by the love of God. This is seen supremely in the case of our Lord Himself, and as He dwells in us, it becomes characteristic of us. Not only is the inward focus the selfishness gone in self-forgetfulness, we now have an outward focus of love to God and to others.
William Cowper says: Lord, it is my chief complaint That my love is weak and faint.
He longs to love God more truly and to love Christ more.
O Jesus Christ, grow Thou in me And all things else recede.
Be thou my vision oh Lord of my heart, nought be all else to me save what thou art
Thou my best thought by day or by night, thou in me dwelling and I with Thee one
The Fullness of God Completion
In fact Paul represents "fullness" as being not only the completion of God's apocalyptic purposes, but also the completion of all things. It is the reason for meaning, and meaning is found only in the harmony of the fullness found in Christ, developed in the believer and fulfilled in the true meaning for all humanity
Ephesians 1:8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.
High King of heaven My victory won
May I reach heaven's joys O bright heaven's Sun
The Fullness of God Decision
37, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'"
That is the invitation that God gives you today. Why? Because all things are now ready. That is the grand truth of the Gospel for us. "Come," because Christ has died, "Come," because in all your need and all the consciousness of your shortcoming and failure, all the consciousness of the darkness of the parts of your life where Christ has not been glorified, the Saviour is ready to come if you will invite Him. Come to Him with your need and say, "Lord Jesus, come. Thou has died for me and shed Thy precious blood; come in now, and cleanse my life. Come in, Lord, and do the work which Thou alone canst, of breaking down the barriers, of cleansing away the sin, and of purifying the heart." Come, then, as you are willing to glorify the Saviour. Will you come because you dare to believe that His love and His grace are for you; that you can possess the gift of the Holy Spirit to-night? That is the second step: you must come.
Heart of my own heart Whatever befall
Still be my Vision O Ruler of all
But is it too good to be true? That we can be perfectly satisfied with the fullness of God?
The doxology says consider His Power. He can do that! This can be your experience. 3:20, 21. that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
It is not for super Christians but for every Christian to be filled with the fullness of God!
We limit God. Is anything too difficult for the Lord? He wants you to be filled with all the fullness of God. He wants you to be a godly person! Can you be a godly person? He wants that to be your experience and He can make that your experience. If Christians know this power, they must not stagger in unbelief, or doubt or hesitate when he tells them that they may 'be filled with all the fulness of God'. The power which has brought them from death to life will bring them to know 'the love of Christ which passeth knowledge', and cause them to be 'filled with all the fulness of God'.
to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
John Piper writes in Providence pg 39 In Ephesians 1:11–12 he says that we have been "predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory." Existence for the praise of God's glory! And two verses later, he says that the Holy Spirit is "the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory" (1:14). Inheritance for the praise of God's glory! God's goal from before creation was that what we are and what we have would give rise to praise for his glory. So in this first chapter of Ephesians, we see God choosing us for his glory (1:4), predestining us for his glory (1:5), adopting us for his glory (1:5), destining us to be for his glory (1:12), and securing our inheritance for his glory (1:14). Or, to be more clear and precise, his goal, expressed three times, is not simply "God's glory" but "the praise of his glory" (1:6, 12, 14).
God wants you to be filled with all the fullness of God for a reason: to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
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