The Christian’s Spiritual Life, Part 1
By Pastor Matt Black
20 May
2007
Lord's Day morning
Ephesians 3:16
Introduction: Open your Bibles to the book of Ephesians 3. The title of this morning’s message is “The Christian’s Spiritual Life”. Once you’ve found Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, won’t you stand with me out of great reverence for God’s voice to us this morning?
We’ll be focusing on verse 16, but let’s read verses 14 through 19, “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.”
Ephesians 3:16, “That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened [empowered!] with might by his Spirit in the inner man”.
Paul as an apostle could pray for anything he wanted. He was in prison. He didn’t pray for himself or his own circumstances. He was writing to some people who had serious problems. He didn’t ask God to change their circumstances. Circumstances change. He didn’t pray for his own living conditions to become more comfortable. There was something way bigger than all the things of this life in Paul’s mind. He was asking that God that his brothers and sisters in Christ would be gripped by the bigness of living life in the power of the Spirit of God. That they would be gripped by eternity and the presence of God.
I. First let us see the Magnitude of our Spiritual Life. Having this life is worth more than having all the money in the world.
A. We need to Assess what is really important in life. What is really BIG to you right now?
v You know the big thing right now is that gas is $3.30 a gallon. People can’t afford it. Prices are going up on everything because of it.
v Another big thing for some is your job. The job is stressful, and if I could just get out of this job, my stress level would be more manageable.
v Something really huge is our status in life. Some are married, and you might be oppressed right now living with the person you live with. Maybe you know that you yourself are hard to live with. You want to change. You want your spouse to change. You can’t handle it. Then there are some here this morning who are seeking marriage, and you are waiting for that perfect person to arrive on your doorstep. By the way that will never happen, because the perfect person doesn’t exist!
v Finances sometimes are huge in our lives. We need a bigger paycheck, a house that doesn’t need repairs, a car that doesn’t need repairs. These things are all huge to us at times.
v Another thing that is huge in our lives are emotional struggles: maybe you struggle with loneliness, and if you could just find some good fellowship. Perhaps you are fearful, and if you just could get peace in your heart. Maybe you’ve had some hard things happen to you in your past, and if you just knew how to deal with those things, but they dominate your thoughts. Maybe you are frustrated with life right now with life. Nothing’s going right. It could be that you are burned out. You are just tired. You’re reaching out for help, and no one seems to be there. These kinds of emotional battles in your soul are real. And sometimes they seem bigger than the world!
Now think of all the things I’ve just named: gas prices, your job, your status in life, financial burdens, and emotional struggles. These things seem big. But I want to do a little comparison.
Hymnal Illustration: I want you to take the hymnal in front of you. Pick it up. Measure it. How big is it? About six inches wide? Nine inches across? How heavy is it? Less than a pound? It’s not very big is it. Look around you at this room. This room is big isn’t it. If you go outside today, this hymnal is nothing compared to the size of this city and this world and this universe.
Now look at that hymnal. Let’s pretend that hymnal represents all our stuggles and burdens and problems and difficulties in life. This hymnal represents the gas prices, your job, your status in life, financial burdens, and emotional struggles. Now take a look at that small 6X9 inch hymnal. Take that hymnal and put it in front of your face. How big is that hymnal now? It’s bigger than this world! It’s bigger than your life. You know that is exactly what we do with problems. We are masters at making small things really BIG!
Now I want you to take that hymnal and put it back where you got it from. Put it away. And I want you to open your eyes clearly and look around you at all the people in this room. These people have eternal souls. The person you are sitting next to is going to live somewhere forever.
Now that we’ve assessed what is important in life, we’ve come to a conclusion right? What is that?
B. Your spiritual life ought to be BIG on your radar screen.
Explanation: Paul was aware of the bigness of eternity. When Paul prays, he prays for the truly big things. Listen to our text again in Ephesians 3:16. He says to his brothers and sisters in Christ, “That he [God] would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened [empowered!] with might by his Spirit in the inner man”.
Paul was totally eternity conscious. This morning, it is the unquestionable absolute will of God that you today stop living for this world, and start living for eternity.
How big is a person’s spiritual life in the inner man? Would you say that that should be pretty big on our radar screen? Yet how often do we really cultivate our souls for eternity? How often do we grow in our inner spiritual life? How much time do we spend getting ready to live forever?
1. Application for the lost: If you are here today and have never come to eternal life, you need think about starting a life transforming relationship with God. A Christian is not someone who comes to church. Any heathen can come to church. Entering a church does not make you a Christian any more than entering MacDonald’s makes you a hamburger. You need to enter a spiritual relationship with God. You will never have a relationship with God with all the sin in your life. Your biggest problem right now if you are lost is not your own personal happiness. Your biggest problem is not that you are not happy. Your biggest problem is that you are not righteous.
If you die without God’s life in you, you are in big trouble. Jesus is Life! He wants to put His Spirit of life into you. Your biggest problem right now all stems from your lack of life in God. God is not flowing in you and through you. You need to be born again and raised to spiritual life.
Has there ever been a line of demarcation in your life where you’ve passed from spiritual darkness to the Kingdom of God, and where you became absolutely addicted in your love for God? If not you are living in death. The wages of sin is death—eternal death in hell. You have a death sentence on you.
You are like all people a guilty sinner. You’ve cheated in life. You’ve shifted the truth. You’ve been angry and hateful at times in your life. You’ve lusted and looked and enjoyed pleasures reserved for marriage. You are a filthy sinner and you have to face a righteous God on Judgment Day. That ought to be BIG on your radar screen!
a. Only perfect people in heaven.
You see God will only accept perfect people into heaven. That’s right. He says “be holy as I am holy” and “be pure as I am pure”. If you want to enter heaven you must not have one sin in your life. One sin will send you to hell. God cannot have sin in His presence.
b. The great exchange (imputation)
But God has done something wonderful for you so that you will not have to go to hell. He’s come to give you righteousness. He’s come to wash away and erase all of your sins! Christ died on the cross and suffered the wrath of God for your worst sin!
c. Repent and believe.
If you will put your dependence and trust in Jesus—you will give Him absolute control over your life and destiny, he will put all of your sin upon Himself on the cross, and He will erase all your sins from His records in heaven. Then He will take all the perfect sinless life of Jesus that He lived on this earth, and He will put that on your account, and He will write your name in the book of life! If you want that, then you must reject your life completely. Throw all your earthly goals out the window, turn from your self-centered, sinful, and lawless way of living (repent!), and start living as a 24-7 worshipper of Almighty God through Jesus Christ (believe/trust)!
2. Application for the Christian: Perhaps you’ve already crossed that great divide. You are on the road to your Father in Heaven. You have had a relationship with Him. There was a time when life was exciting, but now your spiritual life has reached a plateau. There is nothing more important right now if you are a Christian than cultivating your spiritual life. God saved you to worship Him in the inner man. He didn’t save you to get you out of hell. Wanting to get out of hell won’t save anyone. God saved you to be a worshipper of Him through the power of the Spirit and the payment of Jesus Christ to take away your sin and make you a holy worshipper of God with clean hands and a pure heart.
Therefore, if you are saved, there’s really only one thing you need to know.
a. The Christian life is simple: you need Grow in Christ: if God’s planted the seed of the Gospel in your heart and He’s brought life in your heart, then God’s first command to you is: “Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). Many who profess Christ experience very little of the fulness of God in their life. Now, there is nothing wrong with being a babe in Christ. We all start off that way. But there is something seriously wrong when we do not grow in Christ.
b. Baby Illlustration: If you see a little baby who can’t do anything, it is the sweetest thing in the world right? That little baby is precious. But if you see an adult who should be walking and talking, but their growth has been stunted, that is the saddest thing in the world isn’t it? Where are you in your spiritual life? Are you addicted to the life of God in your soul, or are you addicted to this world’s media? What do you love to do? That defines who you are. A Christian is defined as someone under the absolute authority of Jesus Christ. If you are a Christian Jesus Christ owns you, and you may be a babe in Christ, but you can’t wait to grow up! You are growing up into Christ.
c. Get out of basic Discipleship mode! Start discipling someone else! You can’t remain stagnant in your Christian life!
If you are saved, my desire for you is that you would grow and come to maturity in Christ!!!!! Maybe you are here today, and you can’t get out of the basic discipleship mode. Maybe you’ve been saved a while, and you are still being spoon fed. Maybe you don’t know how to get answers directly from God and counsel directly from the Word of God. The first thing you need to do is recognize it. If you don’t see it as a problem, it will never change.
d. Be relentless in your pursuit of growing in Christ. If we are going to grow in Christ, we need to be serious minded about it. We need to take up our cross daily and recommit our lives as followers of Christ daily.
Listen, every one here daily needs to examine our priorities of living every single day. What are we making first in our life? Today we don’t need to be putting possessions, problems, or people first in our life. I think we need to listen to the perfect counsel of God’s Son this morning: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). Seek first a spiritual life in a spiritual kingdom, and God will take care of your physical needs. Putting anything or anyone in the place of God is not safe!
C. Review: Is your life characterized by an eternal perspective? Is God and eternity BIG to you, or do you have messed up and misplaced priorities?
(Pick up the hymnal) How big is your spiritual life on your radar screen? Have you let small things become huge? You will live forever somewhere. Where will it be?
Transition: Everything on this earth is a shadow and a vapor. Don’t put if first. Don’t depend on it. Cars break. Houses fall apart. Clothes wear out. People change. We all are going to die. Today 150,000 people will die. Everyone here in this room and in the world will live forever somewhere. Don’t live for the things of this life. It’s all going to vanish. Are you living for eternity today? That’s a BIG thing.
We see the great magnitude and need of having an inner spiritual life.
II. Now I want to look at the Miracle of Spiritual Life in the inner man. God alone can grant this life. Look at our text again: Ephesians 3:16, “That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened [empowered!] with might by his Spirit in the inner man”.
A. You cannot humanly give yourself this awesome life.
Sears Tower Illustration: Have you ever seen the Sears Tower? My son Will did not build that building. If I told you that my three year old son Will built the Sears Tower, you would probably laugh at me. And rightly so. Some of the best engineers this world has ever seen built the Sears Tower. It was not built by a novice. Will can do a pretty good job with Lincoln Logs and Legos. But he simply could not have built the Sears Tower. Aside from the fact that he cannot transport himself back in time to build it, the main reason it is unbelievable to think that Will built the Sears tower is because of his inability.
To be united with the sinless Son of God is a miracle. Only God can impart life. It cannot be manufactured. The Christian life cannot be sustained by play acting. The work begins at the initial moment of salvation, but it carries on until you get to heaven. This is truly the secret to progressive sanctification. If you are have been born again, you must constantly be connected to God to be able to live the Christian life. You cannot do it in the arm of the flesh. Every moment of the Christian life is a miracle. It is nothing less than resurrection life.
B. Your greatest need is God’s power. Your greatest need, the reason you were created, is to be connected to God through Christ and live out His will, not your own agenda on this earth. You need a miracle. This life is totally miraculous! Are you living a Holy Spirit empowered life at this moment? It is “according to the riches of his glory”. You are in need of the supernatural presence of God.
This life is not just temporary power and strength for living. Oh, it is that, but it is more than that. God’s life in your soul is the life that will give you eternal life. It will carry you to heaven and sustain you for all eternity.
So listen, if you are not saved today, you need to come to God for a miracle. God is a miracle working God! God still works miracles today! I know because He worked a miracle in me! I see some people that have been raised from the dead. I’m looking at some people who were born blind from birth—dead in sins—But Christ has given you new sight. He’s given you new life! Salvation is a miracle. I believe God can work miracles today. Don’t you want to see the dead raised today?
Is there someone here without Christ this morning? I think this is a good morning for a resurrection. You need to listen to the voice of the Son of God. Stop living for the temporary plans of this world. Haven’t you realized by now that you can plan all you want, but plans change? But I know someone in Heaven who never changes. He is Alpha and Omega, Beginning and Ending, the First and the Last! He can give you the water of life so that you will never thirst again!
C. But this is not some mystical power: it comes from a Person! God’s Life and Power are always connected to a Person. Paul prays that we might have the full strength and power of a spiritual life in the inner man. But where does this life come from? It comes from a Person. Look at verse 17. The whole purpose of this spiritual life is that you would be connected to a Person. Verse 17 says the whole purpose of God granting you life is “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith”!
D. God wants to do a miracle in your life right now!! Christ came not into the world to condemn the world. He came that you might be saved. If you don’t have Christ, God doesn’t need to condemn you. Your own sins condemn you. You have a death sentence on your life. Jesus said in John 10:10, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” Get your eyes off this world. It will never satisfy you. The way of lying, lust, power, possessions, and politics is all empty! It will not give you life but will steal your very life. What are you giving your life to right now?
Conclusion: As we close this morning, let me ask you, is God first in your life? Are you trying to make your life on earth better, or are you preparing for eternal life and fleeing from the wrath to come? The answer to that question will determine how you will spend eternity. My hope is that after today’s message eternity will be BIG on your radar screen.
Maybe you are discouraged in your walk with God. You need to reconnect with Jesus. He’s our Saviour. Rekindle your love for Him. Put aside the legalism and fall in love with Jesus all over again. If you love Him you will be radical for Him. You will stand alone.
Illustration: I like to think of our spiritual life like putting on Clothes. The Bible uses this language.
“Put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him” (Colossians 3:10).
Romans 13:14 says it well what I’ve tried to say this morning. Turn over there. We read:, “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.”
You cannot live the Christian life in your own power. Trying to do that is like going into outer space with a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. It’s not gonna cut it! There is specialized clothing that will help you jump into the realm of the cosmos. You can’t walk on the moon in your Nike Tennis shoes. Nike Tennis shoes were not make for space walking.
In the same way, this body of flesh was not made to endure the rigors of the Christian life. This is a body of sin that will not help one bit on your journey to heaven. Paul says that “they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:8-9). You need supernatural clothing. You need to be filled with the Spirit. You need to be filled with all the fullness of God! I’m praying with Paul that God “would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened [empowered!] with might by his Spirit in the inner man” (verse 16)!
Closing Hymn: 418 Trust and Obey
Next week we are going to look into the Might of our Spiritual Life, the Master of our Spiritual Life, and the Maintenance of our spiritual life