How to Pray for This Church - Part 6

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We certainly live in interesting times. If you doubt that, pick up the newspaper, check out the internet, watch the television news, and see what's going on around us; whether you're talking about in the world at large or whether in our own country in the pursuit of the presidency this fall. There are a lot of interesting and at times even confusing things happening around us.

The same is true in the Christian world as well. In fact, as biblical Christianity continues its sort of slow death in our culture, there's a lot of confusion among Americans (and particularly even among evangelicals) on the most basic of questions. There are questions about truth. Can we know the truth? Is there absolute truth? And if there is absolute truth, can we know it in any meaningful way?

There are questions about salvation. On what basis can a man stand before God and be called right? On what basis can a man be right with God? There are even questions and a great deal of confusion about who God is. There are many illustrations of this in the culture. One insightful illustration comes from a very popular book, today. A book that you may have seen or heard about, or perhaps even read. It's a book entitled The Shack.

Six months ago, its author, William Paul Young, was working three jobs just to get by and pay the rent. But back in 2005 his wife had asked him to write an account of his eleven-year "crisis of faith. A crisis that was precipitated by his extramarital affair with his wife's best friend. So, over the last several years, he has written that book. And earlier this year, perhaps toward the end of last year, he and a couple of friends tried to get it published. But no publisher would take it, so instead, these friends banded together, and using their own credit cards, self-published ten thousand copies early this year. By April, this book, The Shack had sold more than a million copies, and as of the last issue of Newsweek, it was up to 3.8 million copies. Now, if you haven't read it, (and if you haven't), I certainly don't recommend it.

But in the book, just to give you a synopsis, in the book Mack is a man who is grieving over the murder of his daughter. And Mack is supposedly called by God to the scene of the crime, the scene where his daughter was murdered. Let me pick up from there with Newsweek's synopsis. They write, "There he meets (there's no delicate way of putting this) the Trinity. The Father is an African-American woman named Papa who likes to cook. Jesus is a Jewish man wearing a carpenter's belt. The Holy Spirit is an illusive Asian woman named Sarayu. Together, over a long weekend, these characters force Mack to face his anger and his emptiness. Mack eats delicious feasts. With Jesus he takes a walk on the water, and finally, God convinces Mack of His deep everlasting love."

You know, as I read that, and read more about this book, I was reminded of Voltaire's supposed famous comment in which he said, "God made man in His own image, and ever since then, man has tried to return the favor." The Shack is the latest popular level attempt to redefine God into man's image. But that's not really the story of the Bible at all. In fact, if you go back to the very beginning, the Bible starts, in Genesis 1 and 2 with God, the eternal being who is Trinity, making man in His own image.

But then, soon thereafter, in Genesis 3, just the third chapter in this great story, that amazing image of God stamped on every man is fatally and irreparably marred by what theologians call "the fall", when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden of Eden. So that, man today, the people around us and ourselves, bear only the faintest resemblance to that image and what it once was. We can only see in the people around us faint glimpses of the residual image of God. The rest of the Bible, starting from Genesis 3 through the rest of the Bible, is the story of God, for His own glory, seeking to make a new humanity, a redeemed humanity into His image, and into the image of His Son. Not God in man's image, but man made and fashioned into the image of Jesus Christ. That, as we will see this morning, is what Paul prays in his final great request for the church in Ephesus.

I invite you to turn with me again to Ephesians 3. Those of you who are visiting with us, for more than a year now we have been studying our way through this incredible letter of Paul's to the church in Ephesus. We find ourselves at the end of chapter 3. The prayer we're studying is found in 3:14 to 21. And in this prayer we are discovering the foundational principles of effective prayer for the church. We're considering the fourth principle that we've uncovered together.

The fourth principle is this: pray for spiritual growth. If you want to pray like Paul, then pray for spiritual growth. In verses 16 to 19 that's exactly what Paul does. His requests of God are all about the spiritual growth of the Ephesians. Specifically, he makes three requests. The first request is found in verse 16, that He would grant you to be strengthened.

The second request in the middle of verse 17, that you may be able to comprehend and know the love of Christ.

And the third request is found in the middle of verse 19 that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Based on the structure of the Greek text, those are the three primary requests, and everything else sort of flows out of those three, or it elucidates and illumines those three. Now, we finished our look at the first two requests.

The first request was that you may be strengthened with God's power in the inner man.

Last week we finished our look at the second great request Paul makes, that you may comprehend the love of Christ. The focus of that request is personal knowledge. The object of the request is that you may know experientially the love that Christ has for us. The love that God has for us in Christ. Paul wants us to get, (to grasp) the vast dimensions of the love of Christ for us.

Now, today, we come to the third and final request that Paul makes for their spiritual growth. And Paul's third request is in the middle of verse 19, "That you may be filled with all the fullness of God." That you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. That's an incredible request, and one that I don't hesitate to mention to you is an incredibly difficult one to understand and get your arms around. But it's my hope to help you do that this morning. It is really an incredibly audacious request as well. One author, J. A. Robinson, has written, "no prayer that has ever been framed has uttered a bolder request."

Think about what Paul is saying. God, I want you to fill these people with the same fullness that You have; filled with the fullness of God. Now, to help us understand this, fortunately a similar expression is used in two other places of Christ. And if we look at those uses, I think we'll have a better understanding of what Paul is praying for here.

So, turn over with me to Colossians 1, Colossians 1:19. As Paul defends the person of Christ against the heretics there in Colossae, he makes this point about Jesus. Colossians 1:19, "For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness [there's our word] to dwell in Christ." To be at home in Christ. Now, what fullness are we talking about here that dwelt in Christ?

Well, Paul explains a little more down in Colossians 2:9. Here's the answer to "what fullness dwells in Christ." Verse 9 says, "For in Christ all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form." In other words, everything that is true about God dwelt in Christ in a body. So, while that will never be true of us (we will never be all that God is, as Christ was) whatever Paul's prayer for us is, it was one true about Christ in perfection, and in a way that it will not be for us. But there are similarities.

So, let's look at then what it means to be filled with the fullness of God. Now, before we look at what it means, it's important for you to understand what it doesn't mean. Because there's a lot of confusion, a lot of fuzzy thinking among Christians. Let me tell you what this doesn't mean.

Number one. It does not mean that all of God's essential being fills us, as if all of God could somehow force its way into us. That isn't what it means. The Bible very clearly teaches that God cannot be contained in anything created. He cannot be contained in you; He cannot be contained in this building; He cannot be contained in temples made with hands; He cannot be contained in the entire universe. Our God is uncontainable. And so, it doesn't mean that somehow all of God is going to reside in you.

Secondly, it does not mean that you will ever possess one or more of God's attributes to the same extent or degree that He does. You may possess some elements of something that's true about God, but you will never possess them to the same level, to the same degree. that He does.

Thirdly, it does not mean that God becomes us. That's pantheism. God sort of absorbs all things and all things are part of God. That's not Christianity. That's pantheism. That's not what this is talking about.

And fourthly, this does not mean that we can become like God in every sense. There are those who teach that. You can turn on your television and watch the false teachers (that are often on there) talk about your becoming Gods. Yesterday my family and I were eating lunch in the restaurant where we were. There were a group of young men who came in who were obviously Mormons. Mormonism teaches that what God is, you can someday become. That's not Christianity. That's paganism.

Christianity teaches that you are thoroughly human. Someday, in God's grace, you will be perfectly human, but you will still be human. Perfect, but human. So, that's not what it means. So, then, what does it mean? It means that you and I can enjoy some of the fullness of God's moral attributes, —those truths and perfections about God that have morality attached to them, you and I can enjoy them. We can be like God morally. We will come to share what theologians call "the communicable attributes". That is, they can be communicated. They can be shared. They can be shared with us.

Now let me show you some examples that I think will help make this clear. Turn back with me to Matthew 5. Matthew 5, and we find ourselves at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus' famous sermon. He's talking to His disciples about kingdom living. If you're going to be a part of My kingdom, He says; if you're going to live under My rule; if I'm going to be your Lord, then this is what living for Me looks like. And in verse 43 He gets down to brass tacks. He says, in chapter 5 of Matthew, verse 43,

"you have heard that it was said, YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR [so far so good] and hate your enemy." That's what you've been told and taught, if not verbally, at least by example. "But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? [Don't] … even tax collectors do the same?" [The most morally despicable people do that.] "If you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even the pagans do the same? Therefore you are to be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect."

Now, what's going on here? Jesus is saying, here's how your Father is. Here is one of the moral perfections of God. He is loving toward all, including His enemies. He does good to all including His enemies; therefore, you are to embrace that moral perfection of God, and you are to love like that. This is what it means to be filled with the fullness of God. It means we share the moral attributes of God; in this case, love.

Let's look at another one. Turn over to John 17. John 17:13. Jesus is just before His betrayal. He is either in the garden of Gethsemane or on His way to the garden of Gethsemane where He'll be betrayed by Judas, and He prays this amazing high priestly prayer. And listen to what He prays for His disciples, for us.

He says in verse 13—remember now, He's talking to God. He says, "But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they [that is, My disciples—all those who follow Me] may have My joy made full in themselves." Jesus is saying, God, I have this overwhelming effervescent joy that's inside of My being. What's remarkable about this is, Jesus is about to be betrayed, and He knows that; and put to death, and suffer everything He's going to suffer, and yet there is in the heart of Christ this overwhelming joy. And He says, God, I want You to share My joy, to pour out My joy into My disciples' hearts so that they have the same kind of joy. That's what it means to be filled with the fullness of God. It means we share His moral qualities, His moral attributes.

One more example. Turn to 1 Peter 1. First Peter 1:14, Peter says,

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former cravings which were yours when you lived in ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, YOU SHALL BE HOLY FOR I AM HOLY.

You see what Peter is doing? He's doing the same thing that Jesus did in those two previous passages. He's saying God is like this, so you be like this. You embrace and exhibit the same moral qualities that are true about God. In this case, holiness, separateness from all those things that defile, from sin, and all that's connected to it. That's what it means to be filled with the fullness of God.

Now, this same idea is sometimes referred to as being renewed in God's image. That's another New Testament expression of it, same idea. In fact, in Ephesians chapter 4, where we'll eventually get, Paul touches on this. Ephesians 4:24, as he's talking about the believer's sanctification (the process of becoming holy) he says, I want you to put off certain things. I want you to be renewed I your thinking, verse 23, and I want you to put on the new self. In other words, put the clothes that belong on the new person that you are. And then he says this, verse 24, "This new self is created in the likeness of God." The new person that you are, Christian, was created to be like God to share His moral qualities. This is part of what God had in mind.

Colossians 3, Paul makes the same point. Colossians 3. This idea of being renewed in God's image is here as well. Verse 10, in the same context of sanctification, he says, I want you (you have already put on, to some degree, the new self, and this new self, notice, is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created Him. You're being renewed so that you have the image of the One who created you. That new self is going to look like God.

Second Peter 1:4, Peter says that when we became Christians, we became partakers of what, the divine nature. That's what he means. The moral qualities that are true about God. So, if we take and put together all that we've learned, when Paul says, I want you to be filled with all the fullness of God—listen to how William Hendricksen describes it. He says, "Paul means that all of those divine communicable attributes of which God is full, love and wisdom and knowledge, etc. are poured into the believer. And we, as believers, begin to manifest those same qualities in our lives."

The Pacific Ocean is the largest body of water on earth. It covers more than a third of the earth's surface. In fact, it is so large, (the Pacific is), that if you could take all of the land masses, all of the continents on earth and put them into the Pacific, you would still have room left over to put the largest continent, Asia, in a second time. It's huge.

Imagine for a moment that I was standing on the edge of the Pacific, as I often had the opportunity to do when I lived in California, there in Los Angeles. I'm standing there on the edge of the Pacific looking at that vast trackless body of water, and I have in my hand a little jar. And I take that little jar, and I carefully fill it up with water from the tide, water from the Pacific Ocean. The water in my little jar will share the same attributes as the rest of that vast ocean. It can share the fullness of the Pacific. But I can never get the full Pacific into that tiny jar.

In the same way, my soul can never hold all of God's character. But I can be filled up with the same attributes, the same character as God. My tiny soul can share some of the same attributes, just as that tiny jar can share some of the Pacific. I can be filled up by God's fullness.

But to make my illustration more accurate, what if, instead of a jar I had instead, an old leather wineskin. And I filled that leather wineskin to its fullest. Well, after I'd filled it completely, you know what'll happen. The weight of gravity, the flexibility of that leather will expand so that there's more room. There's a little more room for it to be filled a little more, so I add a little more water. And it continues to expand, and then a little more. That's a picture of how it is with us. In the same way, as we are filled with the moral perfections of God, the capacity of our tiny souls increase allowing us to grow even more into the likeness of God.

Now, you're probably beginning to see that what we're looking at here (this idea of being filled with the fullness of God) parallel to being renewed in the image of God. Those concepts are in reality equivalent to another familiar New Testament concept. The concept of becoming like Jesus Christ. The concept of Christ-likeness. That's what Paul is really praying for here. That you and I would bear the character of Jesus Christ.

And if you doubt me, let Paul make it clear for you. Turn back to Ephesians 3. In Ephesians 3:19, his prayer is that we would be filled up with all the fullness of God. But glance down at chapter 4, because here he makes it a little clearer. In 4:11, he reminds the church in Ephesus that God has given gifted men to the church. Verse 12, for the purpose of equipping the saints so they do the work of service, so that the entire body of Christ is built up. And what is the goal of all that building up? Verse 13, "Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God [here's the goal] to a mature man to the measure of the stature [literally of the fullness] of Christ."

The ultimate goal is that you and I would become mature and that we would bear the stamp of the fullness of Christ. That is, that we would be full of Christ; that our characters would reflect His own; that our moral qualities would reflect Jesus' moral qualities. It means to be like Jesus Christ. You see, in Christ, the divine character belongs to us, but what is ours in promise begins to become ours in reality. To be filled with all the fullness of God means to share those attributes of His that human beings can share. It means to be like Jesus Christ—to reflect His character. That is what Paul is praying for the Ephesians.

Now, I don't think we understand how important this is. Do you realize you were not saved in order to keep you out of hell? That was not the end goal God had in mind. In fact, the Scripture is clear, that if you go back to election; if you go back to God's sovereign choice of you in eternity past; God's decision to set His heart upon you, that was based on a goal He had in mind. And that goal was, according to Romans 8:29, those whom He foreknew, He predestined. That is, He determined their destiny beforehand.

And what was their destiny? To be conformed to the image of His Son. When God chose you in eternity past, He decided to do so because ultimately His purpose was to make you like Jesus Christ.

It was God's goal in salvation. Ephesians 4:24 says, "our new self was created as a new self that it might bear the image of God." God didn't save you so you could live however you want and do however you want. God saved you with an express purpose in mind, and that is to make you into His image; to make you into the image of Christ.

It's God's goal in sanctification, that process by which we become holy. Romans 13:14 says, "put on the Lord Jesus Christ." Or perhaps better yet, Galatians 4 Paul says this to the churches in Galatia. He says, "I am in labor until Christ is fully formed in you." I want you to bear the character of Jesus Christ.

It's the goal someday of our glorification, our being made fully like Christ in body and soul. You remember what the apostle John says in 1 John 3. He says "what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should become the children of God. And he says, it's not yet clear what we will be, but we know this, when He appears we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is. This is Paul's request. That you and I would bear a moral likeness to Jesus Christ.

Now, because this is so important, I want us to briefly consider the other details that Paul cites here that sort of fill out our understanding about this likeness to Christ. There are other details we can glean from this prayer, this brief phrase in Ephesians 3 verse 19 about bearing a moral resemblance to Christ. Let's look at them together.

First of all, this request for Christ-likeness is cumulative. It's cumulative. Notice, it begins, :19, "that". It begins with that little word that. Or in order that. And it's building on the prayers he's already offered. Remember, there are clearly three requests here, but they don't stand alone. They build on each other like the rungs of a ladder. The first rung (the first step) is to be strengthened with God's power in our souls, and he prays for God to do that.

And when that happens, we can step to the second rung, to comprehend the love of God for us in Christ. But that's only possible after we've stepped on the first rung, after we have been strengthened in our souls.

The third and final request is the top of the ladder. It builds on the other two requests. Our souls have been made strong and only then can we begin to grasp the love of Christ for us, and we begin to grasp the love of Christ for us in order that we can then be filled with all the fullness of God.

So, the third request builds on the first two. Think of it as a building. You can't build the third story until you've built to some degree the first two floors. The third floor can only exist if there's a first floor and a second. So, Paul has been building to this third and final request. It's the climax. It's the zenith, the summit. It's the most important, but it can only be a reality in our lives to whatever extent the first two are true. Now, don't misunderstand me. I don't mean that you have to have a perfectly strong soul, and you have to perfectly understand the love of Christ before you can start bearing any resemblance to Jesus Christ. That's not what he's saying. That's not what I'm saying.

If you're building a building (back to that analogy) if you're building a building, you don't have to completely finish the first floor before you start the second. You don't have to completely finish the first and second floors before you start the third. In fact, that's not usually how a building is built. However, the third floor can only be completed to the same extent that the first two floors have already been completed. And in the same way, you can only be like Christ to the same extent that your soul is spiritually strong, and that you understand (that you get it) that you grasp His love for you. So, this third request is cumulative.

Secondly, it's also comprehensive. Who is this prayer for? Notice what he says. "That you …" As I noted last time, the pronouns for "you" throughout this prayer are plural in the Greek test. The problem is that, in English, you can't see that, because the pronoun, the English pronoun "you" is used for both singular and plural. And there's no way in English to show that "you" is plural. Now, [chuckle] after I said that last Sunday, several of you came up and corrected me. And you told me that proper English does have a plural form of the pronoun "you" and any self-respecting Southerner would know what it is. It's y'all. Since I failed to mention that last week, Jackie Stanford even questioned whether I had actually ever lived in Alabama. I assured him that I had, but I'm still recovering from my sixteen years in Los Angeles.

So, Paul's prayer here is for all of the Ephesians. For you-all. He prays that every single Christian may experience this. This should be our prayer not only for ourselves, but for every Christian we know. That we would be filled with all the fullness of God. That we would look like Jesus Christ morally. None of us in this life will ever arrive at a perfect likeness to Jesus Christ. But let me say this. If the people around you don't see any of His likeness, then you aren't a Christian. Even the people that hated those first century followers of Christ, they couldn't help but notice that the followers of Christ acted like Jesus. They sought to follow His teaching and His example. That's why the pagan people in Antioch called believers what? Christians. Christianos. Because they resembled Christ. Moral likeness to Jesus Christ is the destiny, pre-determined by God for every believer without exception. It's comprehensive.

So, this request, this third request is cumulative, number one. It's comprehensive, number two.

Thirdly, it's tentative. It's tentative. Notice the form of the verb here, may be filled. "May" be filled. In Greek, as in English—you're going to get an English lesson for the price of your admission this morning. In Greek as in English there are different moods in which verbs appear. There is the indicative mood. It's the mood of reality. It simply states what is. For example, if I say, "I learned English". That's the indicative mood. It's the mood of reality. It just states the truth—the reality.

There is secondly the imperative mood. It's the mood of command. It demands what should be. If instead of saying I learned English, I say Learn English. That's the imperative mood. That's the mood of command.

Another grammatical mood in both English and Greek is the subjunctive mood. It's the mood that expresses possibility. If I didn't say "I learned English", the indicative. If I didn't say "learn English" the imperative, but instead I said "I might have learned English if I'd studied harder". That's the subjunctive. It doesn't describe what is. It doesn't demand what should be. Instead, it states what may or might be. It's not the mood of reality or command, but of possibility.

Now in Greek the subjunctive has a particular form so it's easy to spot. And that's what Paul uses here for all three of these requests. It's in the subjunctive mood. It's not yet a reality, but it's a possibility. But what do we learn from this? While likeness to Christ will ultimately happen to every believer either at the point of death or when Christ returns, it doesn't automatically happen to us in this life. It's tentative. In Paul's words, it's contingent (or in Paul's thought), it's contingent upon his prayer for them and God's response to that prayer. The point is this: don't take this for granted. Don't just assume this is going to march on. You'd better pray that God will produce in you likeness to His Son.

The fourth detail that he adds here about this request is that it's passive. "May be filled'. May BE filled. That's another one of those passive uses of the verb so common in Ephesians. It's a divine passive. We're not told who's performing the action, but the clear reference is to God. God is doing this. God's filling us. In this case, the context makes this clear since this is a prayer. He's saying, may God fill you. This is a work of God.

Specifically, this is a work of the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is universally identified as the member of the Trinity who applies the work of Christ to the heart and life of the Christian. In 2 Corinthians 3:18, we're told we're changed into His image by the Spirit. In Galatians 5:22 the Spirit produces the fruit of virtues that are Christ-like. In Ephesians 5:18 the Spirit fills us and then produces the behavior and attitudes of Christ. So, filling us with the fullness of God, or making us like Christ is something that God must do. You cannot do this. You understand that? You cannot make yourself like Jesus Christ. This is something God has to do. That you may be filled, and God must work by His Spirit.

Number five. This request is progressive, progressive. Notice how he says it., "That you may be filled up to or literally filled into all the fullness of God." The idea here is that this filling doesn't happen all at once in a moment's time. It's like filling a pitcher with iced tea. You do it slowly. It fills from the bottom up. There is a process involved. It's a gradual process of growth that's described here. It's movement toward a goal.

There was an article in the Discipleship Journal which told the story of a woman who went to a weight loss center in order to lose some weight. The director of this particular weight loss clinic took a most unusual approach. On her first visit he stood her in front of a full-length mirror that was, as she learned later, to be her mirror throughout her entire exercise process, and weight loss process. He stood her in front of that mirror, and then as she stood there and looked at her own reflection, he took a magic marker and just inside of her own image cast on that mirror, he drew a corresponding smaller image. A smaller figure. He then explained to her, when he was done, that at the end of her weight loss program, he wanted her to be like that new smaller image that he had just drawn there on the mirror.

Months of intense dieting and exercise followed. Every week, the woman would come again and stand in front of the mirror, often discouraged that her own bulging outline didn't conform to the image on the mirror. But she kept at it. And finally, one day, to her great joy, she stood in front of the mirror and realized that her own image now perfectly reflected and conformed to the image that was drawn on the mirror.

That's how it is with us in likeness to Christ. It is a slow process, but eventually, for every Christian, it will happen. I don't know about you, but I find it very easy to get disappointed about my own heart and life, and my own conformity to Jesus Christ. How little I actually look like Christ in terms of how I think and how I act. Holy discontent is a good thing, but we can't be unrealistic either. We're in this for the long haul. Let me encourage you to do something. If you ever get discouraged as I do, something that I do occasionally. When I find myself getting discouraged about how little I look like Jesus Christ, for a moment I stop looking forward at what I ought to be, and I turn and look back at what I used to be. And thank God, that while I'm not even close to what I someday want to be, by His grace I'm no longer close to what I used to be either.

Likeness to Christ doesn't happen overnight. It doesn't happen over a month, or a year, or even a decade. This is a long process, a slow process of growth. Be content with where you are spiritually today, but don't ever become satisfied. Paul prays that we would be filled up to all the fullness of God; that we would bear His image; that we would reflect His character. It's really a prayer that we would be like Jesus in the moral qualities that were true of Him. And folks, this is so important.

This is, in many ways, a wonderful and reliable test of the genuineness of your faith. As you sit here this morning, ask yourself this question. As I hear Tom talking about this and resembling Christ, and how I think, and my attitudes about life, my attitudes toward other people, what I say, how I live, the priorities in my life, I want to be like Jesus Christ.

Can you honestly say that this morning? Do I really want to be like Jesus? Ask yourself that question. I'm not saying, do you want to be rid of a particular sin or a particular habit or a particular problem in your life. There are lots of unbelievers who would love to be rid of one particular controlling sin or habit or trouble. That's something entirely different than truly wanting your whole life to have the stamp and image of Jesus Christ. To think like He thought, to speak like He spoke. To act like He acted. To live as He lived. Is that what you want? Can you honestly say as you sit here this morning--that in your deepest heart of hearts is what you want?

If you don't, then don't imagine for a moment that you're truly a Christian. Whatever prayer you may have prayed, whatever may be in your past; confirmation, whatever habits you may have done in the past, whatever-- however often you may come to church, however often you may read your Bible. This is the truest test. Charles Haddon Spurgeon said there is no truer test of the person's faith being genuine than a personal overwhelming desire for holiness, that is, for likeness to Jesus Christ. If you really do long to be like Him, then it's a good test of the genuineness of your faith.

And if you are a Christian, you understand that only God can make us like Christ. You understand that. But are there responsibilities that you and I have in this process? Are there ways that we can co-operate with the work that ultimately only God can do? Scripture identifies steps that we can be involved in. Scripture identifies three practical steps that we can take toward Christ-likeness. We can't change ourselves, but we can be involved in three activities that God the Holy Spirit will use to make us bear more of the image of His Son. Let me give these to you briefly for you to think about, meditate on, and practice this week. Three activities that God will use to change you into the image of Christ.

Activity number one: Intercession, intercession, prayer. That's what Ephesians 3 is talking about. What's Paul doing? Paul wants these people to be like Jesus Christ, and so what does he do? He prays. You understand how important this is? If this is something only God can do, have you ever asked God to do it. I don't mean once. I mean on an ongoing basis, as your prayer. God, conform me to the image of Your Son. Let me love like He loved. Let me hate the things He hated. Let me live with the priorities He had. Intercession. Join Paul and pray that God would fill you with His fullness.

The second activity (there's intercession, number one) secondly: observation. Observation. Turn over to 2 Corinthians. This one may surprise you. Second Corinthians 3. If you want to be like Jesus Christ, Paul describes how right here.

Second Corinthians 3:18. Paul writes (this is one of my favorite verses), and I hope you'll commit this one if not to memory, at least that you'll make it an important one, and meditate on it, think about it. Second Corinthians 3:18. But we all (notice he's talking about all Christians now, he includes himself) Paul does. We all (every Christian without exception), with unveiled face [now in the context here, he's been talking about that before Christ people's face was veiled from really seeing the glory of God in the Scriptures. That's no longer true. In Christ, the veil's been removed, so we now can see clearly.] But we all (all of us Christians) with unveiled face are beholding as in a mirror.

Now, the idea here (the emphasis here) is not on the fact that a mirror reflects your own image. In the ancient world mirrors were not made out of the same materials we use today. Most mirrors were made out of polished metal. And so, to really see them, and you've done this perhaps with the back of your iPod. That's my favorite mirror if I need it. And—you look, you look at yourself, you've got to get it close to see that image. That's the idea. More than reflection, it's getting it close. It's an intimate look. So, we all (all of us Christians) clearly, looking into Scripture, are beholding closely and intimately, the glory of the Lord, the glory of God, the character of God.

In fact, down in verse 6 of chapter 4, we learned that the knowledge of the glory of God is found in Christ, in the face of Christ. So, what he's really saying is, we take the Scripture, and we look closely at it, and we look at God. We look at Christ. We stare, as it were, at the qualities of God and the qualities of Christ. And as we do that, he says in verse 18, we all are being transformed. The Greek word is the word from which we get the word "metamorphosis". If I can coin a term, when we do this, when we stare at God in the Bible, when we look at Him, when we think about Him, we are metamorphosized into the same image. We're changed into the same image we're looking at; from one level of glory to the next; from one minor resemblance to Christ to a little greater resemblance of Christ; to a little greater resemblance of Christ, and on it goes through life. Folks, if you want to be changed into the image of Christ, begin with intercession, and follow it up by observation. Commit yourself to staring at God, at the qualities that He betrays and portrays of Himself on the pages of Scripture.

Number three: imitation. Intercession, observation, and imitation. If you want to be like Christ, imitate Him. Turn to Ephesians 5. Ephesians 5:1, "Therefore [Paul writes, in light of the commands I've given you] be imitators of God as beloved children." You know, our young children love to copy their parents. They don't always do it perfectly, but you can find them there next to you, even-- my little girls, trying to shave. You know, as I'm shaving, they want to imitate. That's what Paul's saying. I want you to imitate your Father. Copy Him. Verse 2, "and walk in love … as Christ has loved you." Copy Christ. Do what He does, what He did. Live like He lived. Try to play out in your life the way Christ acted toward people. The decisions He made. Imitation, if you want to be like Christ, you can't change yourself into His image. But these are three activities that, if you'll engage in, the Holy Spirit will use to change you more and more into His image. Intercession, observation, and imitation.

Christian, take a hard look at yourself in the mirror. Can you honestly say that you are more like Jesus Christ today that you were a year ago this time? Can you honestly say that you're more like Christ today than you were five years ago? If not, why? What are the reasons? Are you failing to pray for Christ-likeness? Are you failing to stare at Christ and God in the Scripture, at their character? Are you failing to attempt to imitate those things that are true about our God that we can imitate? Resolve this morning to do what you can do, and then pray that God will do what only He can do. Oh, God, fill us with the fullness of Your character.

Let's pray together.

Father, thank You so much for this incredible request. We would never have imagined to pray this ourselves if You had not shown us Paul's example; if You had not urged us to do this. But, oh God, we do pray that You would fill us with Your fullness. May Your character fill us and may we live it out. Father, may we resemble You in terms of those moral qualities that are true of our souls. May we look like Jesus Christ in the sense that we love as He loved, we hate what He hated, we speak as He spoke, we love and serve You as He did. Oh, God, work this in us.

Help us Father to pursue these things by intercession, by praying that You would do it. By observation, by staring at You and Your Son as You've revealed Yourself in the Scripture. And then by imitating what we find there. But God, we acknowledge that we can do all of that and nothing more because You have to change us. We pray that individually and as a church, You would do that. May we more and more bear the image of Jesus Christ.

Father, I pray for those here this morning who don't bear that image at all, and who are painfully aware of that, because You've made them aware of it. Lord, help them to see that it's as simple as being willing to turn from their sin and in faith, putting their entire lives in the hands of Jesus Christ; to follow Him, to love Him, for Him to be their Lord. Lord, may this be the morning when that happens in the hearts of some here.

We pray it for the glory of Christ so that they can begin to bear His image and bring Him glory. Amen.