How to Pray for This Church - Part 3

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We are studying together what may be Paul's greatest recorded prayer in all of Scripture. It's found in Ephesians 3, and I invite you to turn there with me again as we continue our study of this wonderful letter of Paul's. Ephesians 3, and let me begin by reading it to you yet again. I hope that the phrases and the expressions of Paul are beginning to be more than simply words on a page. I hope they are beginning to fill out with meaning, so that each time as we read this, it means more to you and the truth of it grips your heart more deeply than it has before. Ephesians 3:14, Paul writes,

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

Well, in this wonderful prayer of the apostle Paul, we're discovering that there are, contained within it, foundational principles of effective prayer, for the church; foundational principles. Let me just remind you of some of those principles, as we've discovered them already together.

The first principle we found was that we are to pray according to revelation. Verse 14 begins "For this reason …." Paul is praying in response to the revelation that he has just poured out of his heart to the Ephesians. And you and I ought to be spurred by what we discover in the Word of God to pray. That's how it worked so often with apostle Paul and with others in Scripture.

The second principle that we discovered here together is that we are to pray with humility. Pray with humility. Paul says, "… I bow my knees before the Father …." He uses a very interesting expression for prayer. Instead of just saying, "I pray" he says, "I bow my knees." It pictures a subject bowing before a king. And it reminds us that when we come to God in prayer, we come to Him with respect for His greatness and a recognition of our smallness and insignificance. We come with humility.

The third principle that we have discovered together in this prayer is that we are to pray according to God's character. As Paul introduces his prayer, a number of foundational attributes of God just sort of spill over from his soul. And it was those attributes that served as the foundation from which his prayer sprung, and if you and I are going to pray like Paul, then we have to also understand God in some way as Paul understood Him. And we looked at those attributes that are here in some detail.

The fourth principle that we have uncovered from this prayer of Paul's which serves us as a model for our own; the fourth principle is pray for spiritual growth. Pray for spiritual progress. And this really begins in verse 16 and runs all the way down through verse 19. This fourth principle is the heart of this passage because here we meet Paul's specific requests for the Christians in Ephesus. Last time, we looked at those requests sort of generally, trying to make some general observations about what he prays for, and we discovered three things about Paul's prayer.

We discovered the priority of Paul's prayers is always spiritual. The priority is always spiritual, not physical. Not that it's wrong to pray for the physical. It's not. But the focus, the priority, I should say, of Paul's prayers was always spiritual.

Number two, we discovered that the focus of Paul's prayer was not for a change in his or the Ephesian's circumstances. That's what we most often want (to change the environment in which we find ourselves) to change the circumstances. That wasn't Paul.

The third observation we made is that prayer is essential to spiritual growth. If you want to grow, prayer is absolutely essential to that.

Now, with those general observations in mind, we began to look at the specific prayer requests. And I gave you a little outline to help you see the requests Paul is making here, and in the Greek text, it's a lot clearer. The structure of this prayer is a lot clearer than it is in English. It's marked, each request, by a little Greek conjunction. "Hina" is the Greek word. It's translated in our English translations as "that". So, let me show you the three requests Paul makes.

The first request is at the beginning of verse 16. "… that He would grant you … to be strengthened…."

The second time the word "hina" occurs is in the middle of verse 17 "… that you … may be able to comprehend with all the saints … and to know the love of Christ" and so forth.

The third time "hina" occurs is in the middle of verse 19, "… that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God." So, those are the three requests. That He would grant you to be strengthened, that you would be able to comprehend and know the love of Christ, and that you would be filled up with all the fullness of God.

Everything else around those expressions modify and explain and fill out their meaning. But those are the three basic requests Paul makes. Last Sunday morning we began to examine his first request, and this morning, I plan to finish our study of just the first request that Paul prays. And let me remind you, I won't come close to Martyn Lloyd-Jones who preached seventeen messages on this prayer.

The first request that Paul had for the Ephesians was, "… to be strengthened in the inner man"; to be strengthened in the inner man. Look at verse 16. "… that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man." Now, last time we looked at just the heart of this request: to be strengthened in the inner man. We started by saying, what is the inner man? Well, the inner man is defined by Paul in another place in the New Testament, in 2 Corinthians 4:16, when he contrasts it with the outer man. He says our outer man is decaying, but our inner man is being renewed. So, therefore, the inner man is the Christian's soul. It's the real you. It's the immaterial part of the Christian. And Paul is praying that that inner man would be strengthened.

And to put together what we learned last week; we could put it like this. The point of Paul's prayer here is: that we must pray for ourselves and for other Christians, that as they exercise their spiritual muscles, God, as a gift of His grace, would cause their true inner selves to grow strong. Before Paul lays out all the commands of chapters 4 - 6 he first prays that God would cause us to grow strong, so that we can live out what we've come to know. I mentioned last time Augustine, in his famous prayer in his Confessions that so angered those who were not as strong in the sovereignty of God. He prayed "… give me the grace, O Lord, to do as You command, and then command me to do what You will. O Holy God, when Your commands are obeyed, it is from You that we receive the power to do them." That's the heart of what Paul was praying. God, in the real me, in my soul, give me strength. Make me strong as a gift of Your grace as I exercise the spiritual muscles that You have given me.

Now that we understand the heart of Paul's request, I want us to notice the modifying phrases. There are several words or phrases in verses 16 and 17 that fill out our understanding of this first request. They deepen our understanding of what it means to be strengthened in the inner man. Just to sort of organize our discussion of these companion phrases, I want to put them in the form of questions, because they really do answer several important questions that come to our minds when we think about this whole idea of being strengthened.

So, let's see if we can ask them and answer them together, or see how Paul answers them. The first question is, strengthen to what extent? Strengthen to what extent? How strong am I going to be when God does this? What does this look like? You see, I think we're tempted to wonder what the true extent of spiritual power is that is available to us in this life. We look at ourselves; we look around us. We see many weak Christians, and we're tempted to say, is it really all that strong? To what extent are we really going to be strengthened? I mean, after all, wasn't it even the apostle Paul who lamented his weakness in Romans 7?

You remember Paul's prayer there in Romans 7? He says in verse 14, describing, I believe, himself after conversion. He says, "For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate." And so, he comes to this conclusion in verse 24, "Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?" That's the apostle Paul. If that's Paul, then what chance is there for the rest of us mere mortals? I think sometimes we think like that. But you have to put Romans 7 in the context of the rest of the New Testament. Yes, those realities are there. They are present in my heart. I can resonate with those words, as I'm sure you can. But that's not the end of the story. That's not all there is.

And look at Ephesians 3. When you come to Ephesians 3, the same apostle Paul who wrote Romans 7 wants us to know that he expects God to generously answer his request to strengthen the Christians in Ephesus. Notice what he says in verse 16. … that He would grant you to be strengthened according to the riches of His glory, according to the riches of His glory. Now, that phrase isn't just about the first request. It really describes how God's going to respond to all three of these requests. But Paul wants us to know that when it comes to the strengthening of our souls, there is no shortage of generosity with God. God's got plenty of strength. And Paul expects God to give it. He expects God to be generous.

Maybe you're tempted to be skeptical. I want you to do a little spiritual exercise for just a moment. I want you to dream a little. I want you to think about what it would be like. If you're in Christ, you have a desire to grow and be spiritually strong. I want you to think for a moment what that would look like in your life. Imagine what it would be like to love God, to love the Scriptures.

You wouldn't be perfect. The Scriptures tell us there's no perfection in this life. But there would be an increasing pattern of righteousness and a decreasing pattern of sin. You would love the Word of God more. You would be more faithful in all of the disciplines of the Christian life. There would be joy in your heart regardless of the circumstances that came. You would see a decreasing pattern of those controlling sins in your life, and an increasing pattern of righteousness. You would be plugged into the church, serving others, finding joy in the worship of God. Imagine what that would be like.

You say, well, I can imagine, but it'll never happen. Listen, it's possible. Look at Ephesians 4, Ephesians 4. We'll get here, and here Paul explains just how possible that picture of you as a spiritually strong Christian is. In Ephesians 4:12, 11 and 12 he explains that God has given gifted men to the church. And He's given those gifted men to the church for a reason. Verse 12,

for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, [that is, to equip you to do the work of service, … [so that the whole body of Christ is built up." And the goal, verse 13, watch this, is that] … we all attain to the unity of the faith, … the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.' [Wow, that's quite a goal. Wouldn't you love to be truly characterized by that verse?] Verse 14, As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by the craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up … into … Christ, from whom the whole body is fitted together, … every … [part supplied what it's supposed to supply.] [Notice the end of verse 16. Which] … causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

Now folks, that is a very complex passage, but I don't want you to miss the big picture. The big picture is, Paul expects the church as a whole to grow, as it functions as he lays down, and individuals within the church to grow. That means you. This is what happens. This is possible. It is possible for you to grow into a mature Christian. If you're still skeptical, look at how Paul ends his prayer. You know, he's praying for you to be strengthened so that you might grow into some measure of Christlikeness.

Notice the end of Paul's prayer, verse 20 of Ephesians 3. We usually detach this verse and sort of quote it on its own, but this is the end of his prayer. He says, "Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us." Folks, do you see what Paul is saying? He's saying, God can answer my prayer to strengthen your souls beyond what I can even think to ask, even beyond what I can imagine. God can strengthen each of us spiritually in keeping with the riches of His own glorious nature. And He can do it to such an extent that we wouldn't even think to ask God for that level of strength. And we couldn't even imagine it. Do you believe that about God? Paul did. It's possible.

That brings us to a second question about this strengthening. Strengthened with what? We've seen strengthened to what extent, but strengthened with what? Verse 16, notice what he says, "… that He would grant you to be strengthened with power." Here is the instrument God uses to strengthen us. It is power. It's not our power. It's God's power. He strengthens us with His own power. Now, that's an overwhelming thought, because we're talking about God almighty. We're talking about the one the Scripture calls God Almighty, the one who has all strength, all power. Charles Spurgeon wrote,

God's power is like Himself: self-existent, self-sustained. The mightiest of men cannot add so much as a shadow of increased power to the omnipotent one. He sits on no buttressed throne and leans on no assisting arm. His court is not maintained by His courtiers, nor does it borrow its splendor from His creatures. He is Himself the greatest central source and originator of all power.

We live in an amazingly powerful universe. If you've studied any science, you understand the power that's contained even in the smallest atom. And yet, all of that power originates in the only One who is power, and that is God Himself.

Now, in Ephesians 3 he says He's going to strengthen us with God's own power. As I pointed out to you last time, this Greek word translated power here is a word that literally means capacity to act, capacity or ability to act. So, it speaks of God's capacity to act. What is God's capacity or power to act? Well, you remember Jeremiah 32? God says to Jeremiah, "Behold, I am … [Yahweh], the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?"

Or, in Matthew 19 our Lord said, "… with God, all things are possible." Listen, God's power to act is only bounded by His own will. Whatever God chooses to do, He has the capacity to do it. Imagine that. Imagine wanting to do something, and at the wanting of it, to have absolute power to carry it out. That's God. And the amazing truth is, folks, that God strengthens our souls with His own power; His own capacity to act.

Perhaps nowhere is this more clearly shown and developed than in Philippians 2. Turn there with me for just a moment. I want you to see this. If you can grip this passage, it will change your life. Philippians 2. In verse 12 Paul writes, "So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;"

Now, understand what's going on here. Paul is writing to Christians—those who've already come to faith, who are already in a pattern of obedience in their lives, and he says to them (to Christians) work out your own salvation. So, this isn't about earning your salvation. They're already Christians. They're saved by grace through faith, as he teaches in Philippians and other places throughout the New Testament, everywhere. And so, they're Christians, and now they're commanded as Christians to work out the salvation they have in fear and trembling. In other words, they're to obey God. They're to work in obedience.

That's our responsibility. That's our job. Why? Now notice verse 13. "… for [because] it is God who is at work in you…." It is God who is at work (literally the Greek text says) the one working is God. Work out your own salvation, for the one working is God. It reminds me of Philippians 1 where Paul told the Philippians that God who began a good work in you would be faithful to complete it. The one working is God. Notice, he goes on in verse 13 to say, "in you". Inside of you, the eternal God of the universe is working inside of you. God is using His mighty power, not on the surface, but to do something down in the depths of your soul.

What is God doing? What is this work that God's about? Well, notice how he describes it. Verse 13, for it is God who is … [working, inside] you, both to will and to work. There's what God's doing. There's the work God is doing. He is both to will and to work….

What does that mean? Well, I studied this in great detail when we went through Philippians. If you want the fullness of it, go back, go to the internet, listen online to the message, but let me give you the thumbnail version. Here's what Paul is saying.

To will; God is working in us to will. That is, to change our wills. He is working in us to persuade our will by changing our desires. God is literally giving you the will or desire (the willingness) to obey. God is at work to do that. And to work. And to work. That means, that God not only is empowering our wills, but God is empowering our doing, our work, our spiritual activity. Do you understand the magnitude of what this verse is teaching?

Listen carefully. Here's what it's saying. Every time that you have a desire to pursue spiritual things (just the desire) those desires are from God. They are a work of God. When you make a decision of your will to act on that desire, that decision is ultimately God's doing. He's the one strengthening you to do that. And then when you actually follow through and act out that decision of the will and do it, God is the one who is providing you the power to carry that decision to fruition. God is at work in you, both to will and to work. Why? Look at verse 13 again. "… for His good pleasure." What's the goal God has in mind? God does this for His people simply because it pleases Him to do so. And it delights God because He delights to be the rescuer, the Savior. It delights Him because it delights us. So, God strengthens us. Listen carefully. God strengthens us in the inner person (in the soul) with nothing less than His own power; His power to will and His power to act.

You may be tempted to say, well that sounds too good to be true. I don't know. Maybe God can do that, and maybe He does that for other Christians, and maybe He does that for famous Christian leaders, but I'm not sure He can do that for me. Let me give you a couple of my favorite expressions. Two verses, Genesis 18:14. You don't need to turn there, but you remember the context of Genesis 18? Our Lord, the second person of the Trinity shows up in a pre-incarnate form as a man with two angels with Abraham and announces that in fact, Sarah is going to have a child. And they laugh. You remember? And listen to what He said. "Is anything too difficult for Yahweh? [Is there anything I can't do?] At the appointed time, I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son." There's nothing that I choose to do, the Lord told Abraham, that I can't do.

Numbers 11:23. The LORD … [says] to Moses, "Is the LORD'S power [is Yahweh's power] limited? Now you shall see whether My word will come true for you or not." You know what God told Moses? If what I've told you doesn't happen, then that means that My power is limited, and that's an impossibility. Take those two passages together. You know what the point is? Listen carefully. God will accomplish everything He has promised to do for you regardless of how unlikely it may look. He strengthens us with His own power. So, we're learning to let Paul answer these questions for us. Strengthens to what extent? According to the riches of His glory. Strengthened with what? With God's own power, His power to will and His power to act.

That brings us to number three. Strengthen how? Strengthen how? Verse 16, he says that you would be "strengthened with power through [or by] His Spirit" That's how. The strengthening of our souls is something that is accomplished by the indwelling Spirit. And that's really not surprising to us. Paul has already shown that God's power is to be mediated to believers through the work of the Spirit. Back in chapter 1, you remember, verse 13, we were sealed with the Spirit. Chapter 2:22, we're being built together into the dwelling of God in the Spirit. And now, here we learn, that it's the work of the Spirit to strengthen every part of every individual believer. He is the instrument in God's hands, using God's own power to strengthen our souls—to will and to act.

Now the final question that Paul answers here is found in verse 17, and it's strengthened with what result? Strengthened with what result? Verse 17, "… so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith;" Now, in some English translations this first part of verse 17 is almost made a separate request, but in the Greek construction it's far more likely that this phrase is not a separate request, but is part of this first request, to be strengthened. So, God strengthens us for this purpose. He strengthens us so that (and notice what he prays for) that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith….

Now, that's an odd statement, don't you think? Because if you're familiar with the Bible at all, you know that according to the New Testament (the rest of the New Testament) if you're a Christian, the Spirit of Christ already dwells in you. In fact, He came to dwell in you at the moment of salvation. There are a lot of passages that come to mind, but one is 2 Corinthians 13:5 which says, "Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?" In other words, if you're a Christian, you're going to pass the test, and that means Jesus Christ is in you. To be a Christian is to have the Spirit of Christ living within us.

So, why then does Paul write to a bunch of Christians in Ephesus and tell them that he wants them to be strengthened so that Christ can dwell in their hearts? Well, there's a clue in Ephesians 3. Because the word "dwell" [do you see the word "dwell" in verse 17?] That is a different Greek word than the normal word for the indwelling of the Spirit. This word is the opposite of visiting somewhere. It means to reside, to live somewhere, to inhabit, to settle down, to be at home. That's what it means. This is a fascinating statement.

Paul's prayer, then, is, that God will strengthen us in the inner man so that Christ will literally come to be at home in our hearts. What does that mean? Well, stay with me because this--this requires careful thinking. In Paul's view, there is no significant difference between the indwelling of Christ and the indwelling of the Spirit because they're both meant to accomplish the same thing. So, either expression can be used interchangeably.

Turn to Romans 8, and you'll see this. Romans 8:9. Paul here is talking about unbelievers and believers, and he's contrasting them. And he says in Romans 8:9,

However, you are not in the flesh [an unbeliever] but in the Spirit [a believer], if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you…. [Here, he says if you're a Christian, the Spirit of God the Holy Spirit dwells in you. But notice how he (in the midst of his explanation) changes and uses a different expression.] But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. If Christ is in you, though the body because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. [And then in verse 11, he switches back.] But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, [in other words, the Holy Spirit] He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

You notice how he flips back and forth. He uses these two expressions synonymously, the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit of Christ. And the reason for that is that the result is the same. Whether the New Testament speaks of Christ dwelling in the heart or the Spirit dwelling in the heart, the result is the same. And that is, to conform the heart to the likeness of Jesus Christ.

Let me show you two passages that make that point. In one case, using the Spirit, and in the other case using Christ. Turn to 2 Corinthians 3. When we're done, you'll understand why Paul—what Paul was praying in Ephesians 3. Second Corinthians 3:17,

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

Now I don't have time to unpack all of that for you. Let me just give you a 30,000 foot survey of that passage.

Basically, Paul is saying this. As believers, you and I are indwelt by the Spirit of God. We take the Word of God, and we see Jesus Christ, as it were, reflected in a mirror. We see Christ, and as we look at Christ (as we gaze at Christ) we by the Spirit that indwells us, are changed into the same image as Jesus Christ, the same character as Jesus Christ from level—one level of glory to the next. In other words, in growing patterns of likeness to Jesus Christ. That's what he's saying, and notice who's doing that, the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit is making us like Jesus Christ.

Now, turn over to Galatians 2. The same idea, but this time it's Christ who's accomplishing this. Verse 20 of Galatians 2, " I have been crucified with Christ; [that is, the old person I used to be—the old man—the person I was before Christ died,] … [so that] it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me." Paul is saying, listen—he's saying the same thing. He's saying, now that I'm in Christ, (now that I'm a new creature) Christ lives in me, and the life I live has greater and greater conformity to Him, to His character.

So, you put all that together, and this is what Paul is praying for the Ephesians. He's saying, I want Christ to dwell in your hearts. In other words, I want Christ to be so at home in your hearts that you begin to think like Christ. You begin to speak like Christ would speak. You begin to act like Christ would act. In other words, you begin to bear the imprint of His character. You begin to live the life that He would live, or you would begin as 2 Corinthians 3 would put it, to grow into the same likeness, from level—one glory of level—or level of glory to the next. So, in other words, Paul is saying, I want Christ to be so at home in your hearts that you look more and more like Jesus Christ. That's what he's praying for the Ephesians.

Let me give you how several commentators put it. Lincoln writes, "… greater experience of the Spirit's power will mean the character of Christ increasingly becoming the hallmark of believers' lives. The character of Christ should increasingly dominate and shape the whole of their lives." Peter O'Brien says, "The more the Spirit empowers their lives, the greater will be their transformation into the likeness of Christ." Harold Hoehner, in his excellent commentary puts it like this, "… that Christ may be at home in, that is at the very center of or deeply rooted in believers' lives. Christ must become the controlling factor in attitudes and conduct." So, in other words, to be strengthened in the inner man, to be made strong by God so that increasingly, Christ is at home in our hearts. That is, He makes a home there so that our lives begin to radiate Christ to other people. That's the prayer.

So, let's put this entire first request, and all we've learned, together. We could paraphrase it like this. We should pray that God would generously give us the gift of spiritual strength in our souls in keeping with His own greatness, and that He would accomplish this by the work of His Holy Spirit in us so that through our growing faith, we would have a greater experience of Christ being at home in our hearts, or of mirroring the character of Christ through our lives to others. And the only way all of that can happen is in answer to prayer.

This week, I read about the disaster on K2. Most of us have probably heard about Mt. Everest, but the second highest mountain on earth is simply called K2. It's located in the Himalayan range on the border between China and Pakistan. Climbers find it to be a greater challenge to climb than Everest. There are a number of routes that climbers use to ascend K2, but all of the routes share three great difficulties: extremely high altitude which results in a lack of oxygen. In fact, there's only a third (at the 28,000 foot summit of K2 there's only a third) of the oxygen as at sea level.

A second problem is the extreme storms that can last for several days, unrelenting storms. They caused many of the deaths on the peak.

And the third difficulty is that all of the routes are steep and exposed, and so there's almost no way to retreat if you find yourself in trouble. But even if climbers conquer those three great difficulties, those who have climbed K2 tell us that they aren't done yet. Because the last major obstacle that climbers face comes only about 1500 feet from the 28,000 foot summit. It's a narrow passage, or corridor, called the bottleneck. And the bottleneck places climbers dangerously close to this wall of ice cliffs which often shear off, and in fact, that was part of the cause of some of the deaths in the recent disaster. So, you have this narrow corridor—this narrow passage above 26,000 feet and this passage not only is narrow, but it's on an incline of between 80 and 90 degrees. On each side: on one side is this ice cliff, on the other side is a precipice and a sheer drop. Danger on both sides. Climbers tell us that it's the most treacherous part of the mountain; the bottleneck. And on August 2, just a few days ago, eleven mountaineers from international expeditions died. The worst single accident in the history of K2 mountaineering. And at least ten of those who died lost their lives on the bottleneck.

As I read about this this week, and I was thinking of course about our study in Ephesians 3, an analogy came into my mind. I was reminded that our spiritual ascent to sanctification and maturity is in the same way fraught with some very real dangers. And in places, as we climb, there is only a narrow ledge of truth on which to pass. And on each side are extreme spiritual dangers. On each side of the truth there are two extremes that are both a great risk to our spiritual progress, and even to our souls. Let me identify them for you.

On one extreme is the mystical approach to spiritual growth. This position holds that my sanctification is entirely up to God. It's the Keswick view, it's sometimes called, or it's often called the deeper life or the victorious life in some of their writings. Watchman Nee is probably the most famous writer of this position. The most common expression of this view, and you may have heard it is "let go and let God." Let go and let God. They argue that you have to stop trying to live the Christian life altogether. They'll say something like this: You know the problem is that you are trying to do something. Instead, you've got to come to the realization that you can do nothing. You must realize that your sanctification is entirely up to God, so stop trying to do anything. Seek God and just wait for God to do something to you. Wait for that spiritual zap. At some moment in time you will go from a spiritual flatline to some great height of spiritual maturity, and it'll happen in a moment by some decision you make.

Listen folks. That is not what the Bible teaches at all. In fact, that teaching (I can tell you both theologically, biblically, and by personal experience), is spiritually debilitating and even dangerous. Because in the end it prompts us to blame who for our lack of spiritual growth? To blame whom would actually be more correct I suppose. God. It prompts us to blame God. I don't understand it. You know, I've asked God to do it, and nothing's happening, and I don't understand it. One of these days God's going to do something, but until then—you get the point. That's one of the precipices on each side of the narrow biblical track.

On the other extreme is the position that believes that my sanctification is entirely up to me. This view says, if I just work hard enough; if I just get up early enough; if I just have enough personal discipline; if I just read the Bible enough; if I-- if I use all the right spiritual resources, I can bring true to change to my heart. Folks, that's not Christianity. That's Christian self-help. That's self-reformation. The biblical teaching about spiritual growth (the narrow passage that will ensure our safe ascent to holiness) lies between those two extremes. The biblical view holds two truths in constant balance. On the one side, the Bible teaches us that our spiritual growth is entirely a work of God. It's: we're told the Father does it; we're told the Son does it; we're told the Spirit does it. Our spiritual growth is of God. We cannot produce the biblical change in ourselves. You can't do. You can change your behavior, but you can't change your heart. And you know that if you're honest with yourself.

But the other side of what the biblical teaching is (not only is it completely a work of God), but on the other side the Scripture says, it involves maximum human effort. Entirely a work of God, involves maximum human effort. Spiritual growth is not something merely to be received.

Second Corinthians 7:1 says that you and I are to cleanse ourselves and perfect holiness in the fear of God. It's something we have to do. First Timothy 4:7, we're to discipline ourselves for the purpose of Godliness. Our effort doesn't earn it. It doesn't achieve spiritual growth. It's still a work of God's grace. But listen, how do you balance those two? It's entirely a work of God. It involves maximum human effort. How do you balance it? Listen carefully. This is a phrase you ought to remember. You ought to write down. You ought to keep in your mind.

We expend the effort, and God produces the change. We expend the effort, and God produces the change. So, it makes sense that in Ephesians there are three chapters of commands—of imperatives for us of what we must do. But at the same time, before Paul gets there, there is a prayer that God would do these things in us.

So, what should you do in response to all of this? You should work as if it all depends on you. And you should pray like it all depends on God—because it does.

Some of you have grown little vegetable gardens. When I was growing up, we had about a half-acre behind our house that my dad and I planted and grew. And in growing a crop there are things the farmer has to do. You have to prepare the ground. You have to plant the seed. You have to make sure it gets enough water, particularly at this time of year in Texas. But when you pick those vegetables, you better not take any credit for them. You don't cause those vegetables to grow. You don't even understand the processes involved, much less have the strength to make them grow. God grew those vegetables.

Well, it's the same way with our spiritual growth. There are things you and I must do. God's not going to read your Bible for you. God's not going to pray for you. God's not going to put you in a situation where you are in fellowship with other Christians so that you can grow. God's not going to do those things He's demanded that you do. He's demanded that you work at obeying the Scriptures. God's not going to do that for you. But as you and I do what we're supposed to do, God does what we can never do, and that is, He changes us at the heart level. That's why it's so important to pray for our spiritual progress. Because we expend the effort, but it's God who produces the change. God, Paul says, strengthened them in the inner man.

Let's pray together.

Our Father, keep us from those extremes. Don't let us fall off either side. Father, I pray that You would help us to constantly remember and hold in balance those two great truths that You have demanded that we expend the effort to do what You have required of us; that we seek to obey You; that we give ourselves wholly to the pursuit of obedience; that we discipline ourselves for the purpose of Godliness.

But Father, we freely acknowledge that, having done all of that, we cannot change ourselves in the heart. Only You can do that, and we thank You that You can strengthen us in the inner man so that Christ and His character becomes more and more evident to those around us. O God, I pray that You would work this in our lives.

We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen