Part 11 of Ephesians: Filled with the Fulness of God

Ephesians 6:19-24 (CSB)

19 Pray also for me, that the message may be given to me when I open my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel. 20 For this I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I might be bold enough to speak about it as I should. 21 Tychicus, our dearly loved brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you all the news about me so that you may be informed. 22 I am sending him to you for this very reason, to let you know how we are and to encourage your hearts.

23 Peace to the brothers and sisters, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Grace be with all who have undying love for our Lord Jesus Christ.

We’ve reached the end of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. There are only six verses to look at today, and not only do I want to look at them, but I want to review what we have learned from this whole letter. Before we do that, let’s look at these last few verses.

Paul asks his readers to pray for him. He says in verses 19-20, “Pray also for me, that the message may be given to me when I open my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel. For this I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I might be bold enough to speak about it as I should.”

He says, “pray also,” because earlier in verse 18 he instructed the believers in Ephesus to, “Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints.” So, as part of their prayers, he requests they include prayers for him. Paul knows he needs their prayer support so he can continue to be a mouthpiece for the Lord, for he views himself as an ambassador in chains. He also asks for prayer that he “might be bold enough to speak about it as I should.”

I appreciate that Paul asks for prayer. It shows us he knew he needed help to do all that the Lord was calling him to do. I think it’s natural for us to view Paul as a superhuman mouthpiece for the Lord- view him as someone who had no problems doing all the things the Lord had him do. But he, too, needed fellow believers to lift him up and help him. We see here that the best way to help one another is to lift each other up in prayer.

Then in verses 21-22, he informs his readers that, “Tychicus, our dearly loved brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you all the news about me so that you may be informed. I am sending him to you for this very reason, to let you know how we are and to encourage your hearts.” Acts 20:4 tells us that Tychicus was from Asia and was a companion of Paul. He is also mentioned in three other letters of Paul’s: Colossians, Titus and 2 Timothy.

Finally, Paul concludes this letter in verses 23-24, which say, “Peace to the brothers and sisters, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all who have undying love for our Lord Jesus Christ.”

I really like that blessing of peace, love with faith, and grace. The blessing of grace is for those who “have undying love” for Jesus. How does one come to possess “undying love for our Lord Jesus Christ”? I think we must first experience the love of Christ. We love Him, because He first loved us. I think of what Jesus said in Luke 7:47 when describing the sinful woman who washed His feet with her tears. He said, “Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; that’s why she loved much. But the one who is forgiven little, loves little.” Those of us who know that we do not deserve God’s love and kindness, but who have been forgiven and redeemed, we have undying love for our savior Jesus because we have experienced the love of Christ.

Paul really understood how important experiencing the love of Christ is, for Paul started off chapter 3 by letting them know he is in actual prison for preaching the Gospel, then in chapter 4, he makes it clear he is a prisoner of Christ, whether in actual chains or not. But he reminded the believers that they should not be discouraged by his trials, for the trials are for their benefit, for that is part of the mystery of God’s grace. Paul was literally an “ambassador in chains” to these believers. Knowing how much Christ loved him was the thing that sustained him and comforted him while he was imprisoned. The same can be true of us: the more we understand just how much God loves us, the more we can trust God, even when experiencing trials.

As Paul said, there are many mysteries of God, but He has revealed them to us in His Word. It is a mystery how God uses suffering to draw us to Him. It’s a mystery how trials are turned to gold, as that old song of Keith Green says. It’s a mystery because at first, we don’t know how trials could possibly be a blessing, but trials are opportunities to receive more of God’s grace. If we could see from God’s perspective, we’d see how He uses trials to give us more grace. Trials can draw us closer to God. But for it to work like that, we have to understand how much God loves us. If we believe He loves us and is taking care of us, then we will surrender ourselves to Him and trust Him. If we do that, then He can fill us up with “all the fulness of God.” And part of that fulness includes the armor of God.

After careful study of this whole letter, I think this is Paul’s ultimate goal for these believers. Back in Ephesians 3:16-19, Paul had prayed for these believers. He said, “I pray that he may grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power in your inner being through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

He is praying for them to tangibly know the love of Christ, so they will “be filled with all the fullness of God.” God, by His grace through our faith, has given us the Holy Spirit. He is helping us to live more like Christ, in whom the fullness of God dwells. For Jesus, being the head of the body of the Church, is the headwaters who fills all of us with everything we need, including the “armor of God.” We should pray this for ourselves and each other. We should pray for Jesus to fill us “with all the fulness of God.”

I think this prayer is the key to this whole letter, especially when we look at it in light of all that we have studied in these last three chapters. Paul’s prayer was that they would experience everything that Jesus is: all His qualities. Colossians 2:9 says about Jesus, “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.” That means that Jesus, because He is God, is the full expression of God. He is the perfect, complete, total picture of God. We, as mere humans, cannot attain to that measure. But we see Paul praying, even so, that the believers would be filled with the fullness of God. For he is praying that all the qualities and attributes of Jesus would fill up the believers. I think this would include the Fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. This fulness also includes all the armor of God we looked at last week. By being fully clothed in this armor, then we can wield the weapons of God’s Word and faith-filled prayer. It all goes together.

But because we cannot perfectly embody all that is God, like we see in Jesus, because He is God, we receive the fullness of God, rather than attain it. In John 14:23, we read, “Jesus answered him, ‘If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.’”

That, I think, is what Paul is talking about when he says that his prayer is for Christ to dwell in the believer’s heart. He is praying that God would make His home with them, dwelling with them, taking up residence, thus filling the believer with the fullness of God. Then, through the power of the Holy Spirit, all that God is, expressed in Christ, overflows from His presence, into the life of the believer.

I remember hearing someone pray in time of corporate prayer, a prayer that went something like this. The pastor prayed that God would ‘stand up’ inside of us, so that He would take up all the room inside of us and completely fill us. That image of God ‘standing up’ has stuck with me. It created such a clear visual in my mind. Rather than God merely filling my ‘heart,’ I imagined Him standing up and filling me in such a way that His ‘hands’ filled out my hands, His ‘feet’ filled my feet. I’ve found myself praying that same prayer over the years. Praying that God would stand up inside me, and take up all the room, shoving my sinful nature aside.

The goal of every Christian should be this: to be “filled with all the fullness of God.” We see this theme and directive all throughout Scripture, and in Ephesians 5:18, we are told “do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.” Our goal as believers is to let the Holy Spirit fill us so fully that He transforms us more and more each day into better reflections of the God who dwells inside us.

The good news is, God promises to do this exact thing if we allow Him to. He will be faithful in doing this work inside of us, molding us more and more into His image. Philippians 1:6 says, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”

These are the good works that God has prepared for us to do, as Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.” The only way we will be able to do these good works and follow the instructions of the Bible is if we are being filled with all the fulness of God. As chapter 4:1-3 began by saying, “Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” We won’t be able to do this unless we are filled with the fulness of God.

Nor will we be able to do what verse 17 says, when Paul says, “no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thoughts.” Paul also mentions watching our speech: that includes using foul language, taking the Lord’s name in vain. He also mentions lying, stealing. We can add to that any other sins we may have “normalized” due to our hard hearts because we live like the world: getting drunk, sexual activity outside of marriage, etc. How can we put away the old self unless we have been renewed and filled? How can we get rid of all sexual immorality and impurity, and walk in the light, unless we are paying careful attention, as chapter 5:15 tells us to do: striving to fill our minds with God’s word, hymns, and thanksgiving? And how could we ever hope to submit to one another in love unless we have determined to make God’s will our priority and focus?

This is our goal: to be filled with the fulness of God, fully equipped with the armor of God, so we can “walk as children of light,” as Ephesians 5:8 said, and take no part in the works of darkness, but rather expose them as 5:11 adds. In MacLaren’s Commentary on that verse, he writes, “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. This task is laid on the shoulders of all professing Christians. A silent abstinence is not enough. No doubt, the best way, in some circumstances, to convict the darkness is to shine. Our holiness will convict sin of its ugliness. Our light will reveal the gloom. The presentation of a Christian life is the Christian man’s mightiest weapon in his conflict with the world’s evil. But that is not all. And if Christian people think that they have done all their duty, in regard to clamant and common iniquities, by simply abstaining from them and presenting a nobler example, they have yet to learn one very important chapter of their duty. A dumb Church is a dying Church, and it ought to be; for Christ has sent us here in order, amongst other things, that we may bring Christian principles to bear upon the actions of the community; and not be afraid to speak when we are called upon by conscience to do so.”

He also added, “But how is this to be done? Well, of course, there is only one way of abstaining, and that is, to abstain. We do not walk as children of the light unless we keep ourselves from all connivance with works of darkness, and by all means at our disposal reprove and convict them. ‘Come out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch no unclean thing, saith the Lord.’”

This, of course, is easier said than done, but it is not impossible. Paul said in Ephesians 3:20, “Now to him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us,” which means God will do far greater things in us than we can even think to ask for. Not only can He provide for us, take care of us, do greater things through us than we could imagine, if we allow Him to work through us, but He can also do more in transforming us into His image than we might think possible. If we let Him. Habits, hang-ups, patterns of thought, fears, short-comings, whatever doubts and flaws we find within ourselves, He can heal us and transform us and set us free from all these things and more. If we let Him fill up all these places within us. He can work miracles beyond our limited imaginations if we let Him.

Like Paul was explaining when he said we must put on the full armor of God. When we put on the righteousness that is given to us by faith in Jesus, we must also put on righteous acts. Each day, we must resist the “evil” of that day and take up the weapons of spiritual warfare the Lord has given us. We cannot claim to have the righteousness of Christ if we are not striving to live righteously. Christian righteousness is not an abstract idea, it is lived out in everyday practical ways- expressed by how we do not live like the world, but walk in the light and submit to one another in the fear of Christ. Our outward actions must reflect the inner spiritual transformation, or we need to stop, repent, and begin again to follow Jesus. 

I thought what MacLaren writes about this summarizes this very well. He says: “Life is ours mainly in order that, by faith in Jesus Christ, we should struggle, and do, and by struggles, by sorrows, and by all that befalls us, should grow liker Him, and so fitter for the calm joys of that place where the throb of the pendulum has ceased, and the hours are stable and eternal. We live here in order to get ready for living yonder. And we get ready for living yonder, when here we understand that every moment of life is granted us for the one purpose, which can be pursued through all life-viz. the becoming liker our dear Lord, and the drinking in to our own hearts more of His Spirit, and molding our characters more in conformity with His image. That is what my life and yours are given us for. If we succeed in that, we succeed all round. If we fail in that, whatever else we succeed in, we have failed altogether.” 

This is exactly what Paul is telling us in this letter. Our goal as believers is to allow the Lord to fill us so completely with His presence that He transforms our hearts and minds, helping us to experience His deep love for us on an even greater level than ever before, so that the love of God will overflow from us and we can share that love with everyone we meet, so they too might be filled with the love of God.

It all flows from the love of God. If we begin from any other place, it doesn’t work. Then we end up with legalism or a work-based faith, thinking we need to earn God’s love. But when we begin from a place of God’s love, knowing that He loves us and has died on the cross to give us His righteousness, then we have a clearer understanding of Who God is, and then we can understand why He has given us these commands in His Word to follow. Then, these instructions are easier to submit to. For we see there is a greater purpose to all this. He gives us these commands in order to help us, because He loves us. If we see ourselves correctly, then we can lay aside any pride we have. If we understand that our purpose here on earth is not to make ourselves great, but our purpose is to look more like Jesus and serve other people the way that Jesus served and loved others, then the battle to defeat our self-interest becomes a little easier won.

Remember what was said at the beginning of this letter? Ephesians 1:18-19 says, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the mighty working of his strength.”

God has a greater purpose and calling for our lives than the ideas the world offers us. What is success in the eyes of the world compared to the wealth of His glorious inheritance if we follow Him? As Jesus said in what Mark 8:36, “For what does it benefit someone to gain the whole world and yet lose his life?”

I want to tell you something profound that I am only beginning to understand. It’s okay to lay down your will. It’s okay to no longer care what other people think when you behave contrary to the world. It’s not only okay, it’s far better. We don’t have to worry about making ourselves successful or popular. We can let go of our need for recognition. We don’t have to concern ourselves with what other people are doing. Things aren’t fair? Your boss is a jerk? Your spouse doesn’t help out equally? Nobody appreciates the good job you’re doing? If any of those things are true, then rejoice. For you have an opportunity to follow the way of Christ. Now you have a chance to be rewarded by Your Father who sees all things. 

Oh, how we need our hearts to be enlightened! The way of Jesus is the exact opposite of the way of the world. The world tells us to be proud, to do whatever it takes to get fair and equal treatment. The message is: get what’s yours, strive to be number one. That is not the way of Jesus. He tells us to lovingly serve others.

In Jesus’ kingdom, there is no unequal treatment: there is no difference between Jew and Gentile, slave and master, no male and female. We are all one in Christ: one body of believers with Jesus as the head. This is all true. But Jesus said in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.” Our job is to seek the kingdom of God, not to seek these things for ourselves. He tells us, I have a greater calling for you. He said, in Luke 9:23, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.”

But when you are mistreated, when you are rejected, when you are treated unfairly and are not recognized, it’s really hard to do this. It’s impossible in fact, unless you are filled with the fulness of God and are wearing His armor. When you are equipped with the armor of God, then you find that it suddenly doesn’t matter anymore if you are not recognized or thanked by anybody, because you know Jesus sees you and He has a greater calling for your life.

It doesn’t matter what others do, as long as we focus on doing what Jesus has called us to do. If someone treats us unfairly, we don’t need to retaliate- we are to try and bring peace. That’s why we need those shoes of peace. If society decides certain sins are ok, we don’t need to participate- we are to have nothing to do with the works of darkness. That’s why we need that breastplate of righteousness. If so-called Christian leaders try to change God’s Word, we don’t need to agree- we are to stand our ground and speak the truth. That’s why we need that Sword of the Spirit, so we rightly discern Scripture. We need the full armor of God so we can do the works that God has called us to do.

Whatever station in life God has placed you in, follow God’s mandate to us from Ephesians: submit to one another in love, speak the truth in love, keep yourself from sin, strive for unity with other believers. Don’t think you are better than others- for we are all one in Christ. Accomplish these goals by putting on the armor of God, so you can defeat the enemy when he tries to prevent you from following the way of Jesus. And, above all, pray at all times in the Spirit to be filled with the fulness of God.

Just as Paul asked his readers to pray for him so that he would be bold, we too must pray for the Church. Let us pray that the Holy Spirit will make us bold to share this mystery He has revealed to us. Let us pray that we will be bold enough to speak, too.

Pray: Heavenly Father, please help us be bold in sharing this message of peace. Help us to be “bold enough to speak about it as we should.” Please forgive us for the times we’ve sat on the sidelines. Please empower us to speak the truth, and please teach us to pray at all times, making better use of the tools of prayer that You have given us. We pray for Your Church that we would join together and battle against the evil of this age. So that more and more people would find salvation and join us in the hope of salvation we hold. We pray, too, that by Your power You would stop the plans of the enemy and that Your will would be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Please cause this letter to the Ephesians to come alive in our hearts and minds, so we put into practice all that You have taught us. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.