Firmly Grounded in God’s Love 1

Ephesians 3:17b

Sermon Transcript by Rev. Ernest O’Neill

One of the things that has meant most to me through the years has been when either a theologian or
somebody else says something that takes you beyond where your own mind has been and you suddenly see
something that you know what it means but you’ve never thought out in that area at all. And old
Karl Barth is like that, he kind of surprises you at times with the things that he says. And one of
the things that he says in his early volumes is this not just you remember, what Fromke deals with
in Unto Full Stature where he says, “What did God do before the creation?” But Barth says, “Does
God know himself? Is he able to get outside himself and see himself?” And you kind of think to
yourself, “Oh, I’m lost in that one, I mean, where can you go with that.” And then he says that is
the meaning of the Word.

The Word is not just God making himself known to us through his living Son, who is the living Word,
but Jesus is God projecting himself outside himself and manifesting himself to himself and it just
is amazing. And I never thought of course, of Jesus, I always – typical of our egocentricity, you
know, I’ve always thought, “Oh Jesus is God’s Word, yes to us.” I knew there was something not
quite right about that, that the reason for Jesus must be us, that didn’t seem right but yet that
was what I thought was the meaning of Jesus being God’s word. But I never thought that it was a – I
knew it had to be, I knew God had his Son Jesus irrespective in a way of us, but I never could
understand exactly what the significance of that was and Barth says, “That is the amazing miracle
that God actually projected himself outside himself and could see himself and his Son Jesus is the
expression of him himself in infinite eternity.” And of course, what has come home to all of us is
that it gives meaning to the statement that we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus,
because if Jesus is God projecting himself outside himself, then if we are made inside Jesus we have
been made inside God himself and that’s our existence.

That’s the importance of our existence and in that way, of course, you can see too that when God
conceived of his Son he conceived of him not only as a projection of himself in eternity, but he
conceived of him as the first-born of all creation. And so at that same moment, or a second after
it must have been, God conceived of the creation and of not popping it into a little Yorkshire
terriers, and little fleas, and little insects, and just little bits of stone, but projecting into
it himself, his own dear beloved Son as the first-born of all creation. Not only in other words,
did God do what Barth was referring to at the beginning, project himself outside himself in infinite
eternity but that projection of himself he made also a creation and indeed the first-born of all
creation and indeed so that Jesus would be the first-born among many brethren.

So of course, you can see the more you think of this, the more you realize how we came into being,
and what kind of creatures we are, the more you see that we are bits of God. We are bits of God you
know and infinitely, infinitely precious and eternal. Eternal and probably is the reason why the
worst human beings in this world still have some kind of a feeling that they’re valuable in some
way, or that they will go on existing in some way, and we can say of course, “Oh they’re mislead,”
and perhaps they are, we don’t know the whole story, but you can see why there’s some bit of them
that keeps on thinking, “I’m meant to live forever. I’m meant to live beyond this world,” and
however wrong they may be in their ideas of heaven and however light hearted and superficial maybe
their understanding of eternity and how to enter into eternity, yet you can see why in some way they

think that, in some way they feel that and why, even though you know, you wonder if Schweitzer
didn’t get too philosophical and too general in his idea, that all life is precious you remember, in
the leper colony that he started. He wouldn’t let them even squash a fly because all life is
precious, but you can see where that comes from.

It comes from the fact that everything is part of the first-born of all creation, part of Jesus.
And of course, that’s what Paul is getting at in Ephesians. You remember, if you look at it, what
I’d like to do is just bring us all together with Raleigh in this study of Ephesians and I apologize
to you for not getting, because I had trouble with my sound in Raleigh, not getting to you the
sermons, but that’s where Paul starts, you remember, in Ephesians 2:10, he says, “For we are his
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should
walk in them. Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh,” you were once
separated but now you yourself, in 2:21, “In whom the whole structure is joined together and grows
into a holy temple of the Lord; in whom you also are built into it for a dwelling place of God in
the Spirit.” And so Paul is saying, look, we were all created and Jesus and you Gentiles, you were
created in Jesus too and you’re part of him. And that’s why he goes on in 3:1, “For this reason I,
Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles.”

For this reason, the reason that you also were made in Christ Jesus just as the Jews were, you were
part of Jesus and I, Paul, have been called to bring this home to you. And he says, that’s the
reason I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles, it’s that reason you were all
made in Christ Jesus. And then he goes on in verse 13, “I ask you not to lose heart over what I am
suffering for you, which is your glory,” because your glory is that you are made in Christ Jesus.
You are part of him and so, “For this reason,” in Verse 14, “I bow my knees before the Father.” So
it’s all tied up with that and Paul says of course, really what is the glory, “Well the glory is
Christ in you. You were made in Jesus and Jesus himself is in you.”

I think in the early years the Catholic Church somehow tried to hold on to that concept. I mean, we
may all say, “Well, now when they eventually end up kind of looking rather condoningly at the mafia,
they’ve carried it too far.” Yes, but in some way the early church was brought up to sense all of
us are created in Christ Jesus and therefore in a strange way, the church and it seemed particularly
the Catholic Church or maybe the early Orthodox Churches held onto that idea, that’s where the idea
of Parrish came from. So even today in England they talk about, “Oh you’re part of this Parrish,”
in spite of the fact you’ve never been to church since you were born you know, yet you’re part of
this Parrish.

The idea that all of creation was made in Jesus and in actual fact the church therefore is
responsible for all mankind, and that was preserved for many years and there was a good truth that
was being held onto there I thought, particularly by the Catholic Church in recent years. And then
of course, we all know how it was abused. Then they began to think the important thing is you’re a
human being, you’re part of Christ, you may not manifest it in anyway, you may not respect him, you
may not love him, you may not obey him, but you’re part of him so it all was diluted into a general
feeling of respect for you as part of the community. And of course then, the Protestant Churches
and particularly the Evangelicals went to the other extreme and they said, “No, no, we’re not all
the same. Some of us obey Jesus and believe in him and some of us don’t.” And whatever was your
origin, what is important now is your attitude to Christ.

But then you can see how that goes to the other extreme because they get preoccupied with their
little formula for determining whether a person loves Jesus or not, and they become preoccupied with

those formulae and now of course, that tends to dominate everybody’s attitude. So of course, the
people that you visit week-by-week would say, “Oh, I’m not a Christian.” I mean, some of them may
say, “Oh yeah, I’m Christian as opposed to Muslim,” but most of them will say, “I don’t know
anything about Christ. I don’t have any belief in him. I believe somewhere there’s a God but I
don’t see how I – he would have anything to do with me.” And so the problem nowadays is to convince
a person that Jesus would have any interest in them and you can see the tragedy of that.

The tragedy is that Christ is bearing them day-by-day. Christ is bearing all their sin every day.
He is bearing the pain of it, the agony of it. He is bearing the dreadful things they have in their
heads and their hearts. And so of course, you can see what our task is, it is to enable them in
every way we can, to see that. And that’s where I would point you to point you to the only way,
it’s in 14, and Paul expresses this as the height of his ministry. In Ephesians 3:14, “For this
reason,” because of all these things, because this is all true, all the things that we’ve just been
saying, “For this reason I get you more books that will explain this to you. I encourage you to
think this way so that it’ll become real in you. I try to persuade you to read more of Andrew
Murray. I try to get you to repent of your sins and to confess. I try to get you to go onto our
Internet and look at some of the things that are said there by the writers.” And you see it, none
of those things.

“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is
named, that according to the riches of his glory,” riches of his glory are in Christ. In Christ he
has made each one of you, he has crucified each one of you, he has raised each one of you up, “So in
my Son Jesus you have all been changed and transformed.” So, “According to the riches of my Glory
in Christ he may grant you to be strengthened with might through his Spirit in the inner man.”

There’s no way you can bring that about by more books, you know. There’s no way you can bring that
about by them just getting onto the website. And Paul makes it clear in the very words he uses, he
prays, “That according to the riches of his glory, God the Father, may grant you to be strengthened
with might,” “dunamis”, with all mighty supernatural power, “Through his Spirit in the inner man.”
Not in the outer soulish man where the mind and the emotions play, where people read books and think
through things, but in the inner man in the spirit deep where only God can touch that God, “May
grant you to be strengthened with might through his spirit in the inner man, and that Christ may
dwell in your hearts through faith.” And that’s the only thing that we can really do.

Do what we’re doing with the Internet, do what we’re doing with radio, because God told us to do it
not really because of what that will bring about, but because God has told us to preach the gospel
to all nations. That’s why we do that. But the work, the work that enables them to glimpse that
they are actually part of Jesus, and that what has happened to them in Jesus can be manifested
inside them, that is brought about by revelation of the Holy Spirit, and that comes about by us
praying for them. That’s the only way. And so it’s our expressing the truth plainly in the
Internet, and the radio, and the books but it’s primarily our praying for them. Our wanting and
yearning for them to realize that they are in Jesus. And of course, it ties up with us ourselves
because obviously you can only pray what you believe and you need to settle in your own heart that
these dear people that we meet day-by-day are part of our Savior and in a sense part of us and he is
bearing day-by-day all their sin, and all their sickness, all their errors, and all their harshness
and their hardness, all their indifference to him and we need to love them into him in our own
hearts and our prayers. And of course, that’s really where we finished I think last day that the
only way that that can come about is if verse 17a comes about, “That Christ may dwell in your hearts
through faith.”

The word “dwell” is take up his abode. Not just come in but come and stay, come and dwell, “That
Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith,” that he may find himself at home in your hearts
through faith. And that means that we ourselves would think and feel things that Christ himself
would be comfortable with. And I don’t know about you, but I do think all of us have that
experience. We come to the end of a day and we think, “I’ve been so occupied with the business,
I’ve been so occupied with getting that car around the corners, I’ve been so preoccupied with all
the things that I’ve been trying to remember to do Christ never entered my head.” And so far from
living in Jesus’ presence moment-by-moment, there are times when you haven’t thought of him even,
let alone lived beside him. And I don’t know loved ones, it seems to me that’s the key to it and it
seems to me that’s the key.

I think when you walk through a store – when you walk into a store and you say, “Good morning,
Mrs.,” at that moment you you’re either utterly preoccupied with Mrs. So and So, and with making
sure you don’t trip over the step or whatever, or you’re going in saying, “Lord Jesus, Lord,” and
he’s in your heart and your head and when you’re speaking to the person you know that he’s listening
and there’s a restraint because of that. Not a restraint that you put on, not a tenderness or
sweetie sweetness that you put on so that you look like a good Christian, but just a sense that he’s
there and therefore a restraint in your voice and a kindliness that comes from that. But it seems
to me that you either walk moment-by-moment in Jesus and he is able to dwell in your heart, or he is
pushed from your heart by the hardness and harshness of the tone of your voice and your
preoccupation with the things around you.

So it does seem to me there is some relationship you know. It’s not – if you say to me, “Oh, is
that what causes it? Is that what causes them to be influenced because I have a nice tender
feeling, because I am thinking of Jesus?” No, no, no it’s done only by God. That’s why Paul prays
that God may grant you to be strengthened. This is a supernatural work that takes place by the
power of the Holy Spirit whereby God, through his Spirit, strengthens the Spirit of the person so
that they are able to see more clearly and more really and vividly the spiritual world than they are
preoccupied with the physical world around them. So it’s a mighty work of God that brings that
about.

But in relationship to ourselves, Christ himself is at home in our hearts when we live according to
his presence. And it seems to me that’s something just worth thinking about, is he really at home
in my heart? Is he comfortable here or is this kind of an alien atmosphere to him that makes him
feel this is the last place he wants to be? So it is a great privilege we have. You can see the
connection of course, Christ in you and Christ in the other person, you can see that. You can see
there’s a consistency comes into the spiritual world when you yourself are living in Jesus’ presence
as he lives in you and then he, in the other person, is manifesting himself inside them and you can
see there’s a drawing of those two spirits together that takes place. You can see the way all of –
I suppose it’s true of the universe, that in some deep way we’re all drawn together and spirit
speaks to spirit. And indeed that’s true in 1 Corinthians somewhere, you remember, comparing
spiritual things with spiritual things and spiritual things speaking to other spiritual things. And
so there is a miracle that takes place when Christ is living and respected by you inside you and he
is also working to bring a life and awareness to the other person and those two spirits speak to
each other. So it is something holy and something miraculous. Let us pray.

Lord Jesus, we thank you that you have called us to a miraculous ministry. We thank you Lord, for
the jewelry and we thank you for some reason to be in that store, but we see Lord that once we’re in

you have us there for miraculous transactions that you alone can bring about and yet you give us the
privilege of experiencing some of it. So Lord, we come to you this morning to ask you to give us
awareness and consciousness of you and of the desires of your heart so that we may exercise our
wills in accordance with your will and you may align our spirits with yours, and with the working of
your Spirit in our friends and associates, our customers and our clients.

Now the grace of our Lord Jesus, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with
each one of us now and evermore. Amen.