Why Settle for Anything Less?
Praying Through
Ephesians 3:13-19
Pastor
Craig Ledbetter
DATE: 31
August, 2008 AM
PLACE:
BBC Ballincollig
I.
Introduction (Ephesians
3:14)
A.
The theme this month is
Bow the Knee as Disciples – The need to become like our Master – like
Jesus. There is much for us to learn!
B.
There are some spiritual
building blocks that are needed to make us more like Him
1.
They are not physical, but
spiritual in nature
2.
Jesus walked this earth with
only the clothes on His back, and yet lived the greatest, more rewarding life
imaginable – so much so that countless millions throughout history have
unashamedly decided to follow Him, and have never regretted it for 1 minute!
C.
That is what a disciple is – a
follower, a copy of the life of Jesus Christ!
D.
Discipleship begins with
change
1.
From physical emphasis, to
spiritual
2.
Not to the outer man, but in
the inner man!
E.
The apostle Paul prays for
five things in the live of every believer that would revolutionise their lives
if they were allowed to take effect
1.
For Strength in the Inner Man
2.
That Christ would dwell in our
hearts by faith
3.
That We would be rooted &
grounded in love – last week
4.
That We would know and
experience the love of Christ
5.
That We would be filled with
all the fullness of God!
F.
Each prayer is a step for us
to bring us to spiritual maturity – to a satisfied kind of life that blows us
away with God!
G.
Paul is praying for to not
miss the most important parts of our Christianity
1.
Not with our health, or our
accomplishments
2.
But with our relationship with
Jesus Christ
3.
Every one of the five requests
build on each other – necessary for the next request to come true, with the
greatest accomplishment being full of the fullness of God! What a thought! We
will have to save that thought for the last Sunday in this series!
II.
Background –
A.
Our Desire
1.
The desire for fullness of
life and longevity is built into all of us. God did not create mankind to die,
but to live. Only the entrance of sin caused death to become a part of our
existence. And, Christ came to overcome that problem, so that all may live not
only in the here and now, but live for ever (John 3:16).
2.
Fullness of life is that which
everyone desires. God Himself desires it for every person! Jesus said, " The
thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that
they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10).
3.
The question is not do we want
it - the question is how do we achieve it?
4.
To possess eternal life
requires that you make a personal commitment to following Jesus Christ as
Saviour from your sins (Romans 10:9,10).
5.
To LIVE that new life to its
fullest, requires living in the opposite direction of where the world is
heading.
B.
The Path
1.
Salvation – not more religion
2.
Spiritual Growth – Getting
stronger inside instead of only on the outside
3.
Surrendered Heart – Christ
dominating your heart, instead of bitterness, or lust, or sorrow
4.
Settled Mind – Resting in
Christ’s love, no matter the storm
5.
Searching Senses – Getting
often overwhelmed by His awesomeness
6.
Satisfied Life – A full life –
Why Settle for Anything Less?
C.
This morning, let’s see if we
can put everything together from these few verses and set our course for the
abundant, full, rich, satisfying life that Jesus said was ours for the taking.
Not wealth, or health, or problem free, but rich, and full, and sin-free!
III.
Message
A.
The Meaning
– To Be Filled with All the Fullness of God
1.
Our Nature - We naturally seek
to be filled with every substance and feeling that we can – to be spoiled rotten
a.
We find it hard to just eat
small portions, and leave our tables hungry – we want Full bellies
b.
This country is a drunkard
country – more money spent on drink than on food – people are Full of drink
(Ephesians 5:18)
c.
The western cultures are Full
of lust and adulteries (2Peter 2:14)
d.
From the youngest age, we seek
to have a life Full of things, possessions, money (Luke 12:15)
1)
Big house
2)
Big car
3)
Big, fat bank account
4)
Big plasma TV
5)
Big satellite dish
e.
We seek to become
burned-out/numb from an overabundance of things – to most people, life is dead
with only a small amount of such things, so they keep “piling it on!”
f.
And, we become deaf, numb,
disinterested to the things of God (Matthew 13:15)
2.
The fullness of God is the
exact opposite of what we naturally seek for (Romans 8:5) “For they that are
after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the
Spirit the things of the Spirit.”
a.
We naturally “mind” (think
about) the things of the flesh, or our outer world, of the things we see and
feel
b.
The Bible teaches us to “mind”
(seek) the things of the Spirit – the things of God, of eternity – of the things
that are really true
3.
God is full, in every way –
there is nothing lacking in Him. Have you ever so wanted something, and worked
hard to get it, and when you got it, you found that you were not satisfied? That
is how you know it wasn’t God! He is FULL, and when you get HIM, you get
satisfied!
a.
He is the fullness of love
(1John 4:8)
b.
He is the fullness of light
(1John 1:5)
c.
He is LIFE itself (John 14:6)
d.
He is all
e.
He is all knowledge –
everything we learn points back to Jesus
f.
He is everything a heart could
ask or seek for
4.
To be Full of God’s Fullness
Means…
a.
That God seeks to give us His
best – His fullness, not His leftovers
b.
That God seeks to give us more
than we could ask or think (Eph 3:20)
c.
God fills absolutely
everything – fills it up (Psalm 139:7-10)
d.
That God offers to us the only
kind of life worth living…
1)
Full of the Spirit, instead of
2)
Full of Joy, instead of
Regrets (Psalm 16:11; John 15:11)
3)
Full of Peace, instead of
Worries (Romans 15:13)
4)
Full of Confidence and
Boldness, instead of Defeat (2Corinthians 2:14)
5)
Full of HIMSELF, instead of
only SELF (John 17:26) – what an empty life, when lived without God
e.
All of that is found ONLY IN
JESUS (1John 5:12) – without Jesus, you and I have nothing but shadows of life!
B.
Some Examples of God’s
Fullness:
1.
The Tabernacle in the Old
Testament (Exodus 40:33-35)
a.
He FILLED the Tent that the
1)
A simple, skin covered tent
that was always on the move
2)
It had three sections: outer
court, holy place, and holy of holies
3)
Whenever the people
worshipped, and obeyed the Lord, He would meet there with Him, and would FILL
that simple tent with His glory
b.
If anybody passing by had seen
the tabernacle, they would not have been impressed – very plain looking on the
outside
c.
But it was meant to be FILLED
by God’s fullness
d.
And when GOD was present, His
power was present, and no enemy could defeat them, and no problem could stop
them!
e.
Oh that
2.
The Lord Jesus
a.
In the plain looking body of
Jesus was the FULLNESS of the TRINITY (
b.
He, bodily, is the FULLNESS of
everything we seek for (
c.
He had the Holy Spirit,
without measure (John 3:34)
d.
When we talk about the love of
Christ, it is full, complete, unending, perfect love – not a fake, fraudulent,
e.
When we talk about the full
life, and the best life, we are only talking about Christ’s life!
3.
The Christian
a.
Many religions have holy sites
and ornate buildings, but the God of heaven has chosen someone like you to be
His dwelling place, if you are willing.
b.
The God who created the
universe is not impressed with our buildings and our gold covered shrines.
c.
The LORD says in Isaiah 66:1,2
“Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool:
where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? For
all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the
LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite
spirit, and trembleth at my word.”
d.
The Lord is looking for a
person who is humble before Him and who takes His word very seriously, even to
the point of obedience. God in His fullness will live inside of that kind of a
person.
e.
Every believer has already
“tapped into” His fullness (John 1:16)
f.
The key is to seek to not just
“tap into” that fullness, but to become full yourself
C.
Signs that We Are Full of
God’s Fullness.
1.
Spiritual growth in the inner
man
2.
Surrendered heart to the work
of God, no matter how painful or hard
3.
Settled mind, resting in the
love of Christ, and
4.
Seeking to experience the
limits of the love of Christ, instead of the loves of this world and only of the
flesh
5.
Satisfied with your life –
beyond satisfied! Better than imagined!
D.
Hindrances to becoming Full
of All the Fullness of God.
1.
You can’t ever experience the
fullness of God, until you are empty – poor in spirit, repentant of sin in your
life
2.
You can’t experience the
fullness of God until you truly want it - hungering and thirsting after God like
you would water in a desert
3.
You can’t experience the
fullness of God as long as you accept counterfeit experiences: full bank
accounts, good health, big car, big house. None of those things are wrong, but
they easily get into the way of God’s fullness!
IV.
Conclusion
A.
It’s Our
1.
The desire for fullness of
life and longevity is built into all of us. God did not create us to die, but to
live. Jesus said, " The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to
destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more
abundantly" (John 10:10).
2.
The question is not do we want
it - the question is how do we achieve it?
B.
We have looked at Paul’s
prayer for believers in Ephesians 3:14-19 and seen a path everyone, absolutely
everyone must be on
1.
Salvation – not more religion
2.
Spiritual Growth – Getting
stronger inside instead of only on the outside
3.
Surrendered Heart – Christ
dominating your heart, instead of bitterness, or lust, or sorrow
4.
Settled Mind – Resting in
Christ’s love, no matter the storm
5.
Searching Senses – Getting
often overwhelmed by His awesomeness
6.
Satisfied Life – A full life –
Why Settle for Anything Less?
C.
The Meaning of such a Full,
Satisfied Life
1.
That God seeks to give us His
best – His fullness, not His leftovers
2.
That God seeks to give us more
than we could ask or think (Eph 3:20)
3.
That God offers to us the only
kind of life worth living…
D.
The Source of such a Full Life
is Jesus (1John 5:12)
E.
Some Examples of the Fullness
of God are shown
1.
In the Old Testament
Tabernacle
2.
In the life of Jesus
3.
In the life of a Christian –
at least it should be shown
F.
There are some things that
block and hinder such fullness
1.
Not being empty
2.
Not wanting God’s fullness
3.
Settling for the things of
this world only
G.
What will you settle for?
1.
God offers to absolutely
everyone on this planet the fullness of Himself, not just bits and pieces, or
leftovers that angels don’t want, but HIS BEST
2.
Some people want the best, but
they think they can skip by Jesus, and not come to God through the cross – they
think their religion is good enough, and their faith is all they need, when they
do not have Christ, and they do not seek only God
3.
They may have so much that
this world offers, but they have nothing in the world to come without Jesus
4.
That’s why Jesus said, Ye must
be born again – life begins with salvation: saved from your sins, and saved from
sin’s punishment!
5.
Could anything be better?