Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity
Ephesians 3:13-21

The Badwater Ultramarathon is possibly the most grueling race in the world. The competition begins at 282 feet below sea level, in Badwater, the lowest place in the United States. It's called Badwater because there is, in fact, a nasty pool of water there. From Badwater the route winds 135 miles across Death Valley, over two mountain ranges and up Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the continental United States.

The marathon takes place in late July, the hottest time of the year. The fastest runner takes nearly 30 hours to finish. The temperature at the race start is around 125 degrees. This year powerful Santa Ana winds made the elements even harsher. One runner said that it was like running against a blow dryer. A woman from Tucson, Arizona has won the last two contests. This year she crossed the finish line, lay down, vomited, and took a nap.

The Epistle lesson this Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity refers to a certain kind of exhaustion and discouragement. St. Paul writes the Ephesians, "I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you." The apostle is in prison. The believers are losing heart because of this and other reasons. What does it mean to lose heart? When an athlete is in an endurance contest of some kind, he presses on and on, though his legs begin to turn to rubber and his breath comes heavily and he experiences real physical pain. But he keeps on going, and when he finishes, we say, "The man has heart! He has the morale, the stamina, to go on." When you lose heart you lose stamina, you lose hope. You come to the place where you say, "What's the use? Why keep going? I can't make it," and you give up. St. Paul sensed that that was about to happen in Ephesus. They were ready to give up, so he says, "I am concerned. Don't lose heart." He proceeds to give some reasons why they should not lose heart. They are good principles for us today.

Starting in verse 14, the apostle prays for his fellow-believers to hold on. He prays in earnest. "For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" (v. 14). The normal posture for prayer among the Jews was standing. It was only when something was of deep, intense concern that they bowed or prostrated themselves before God. This is the posture Paul takes. We should follow the apostle's example. We address our Heavenly Father on our knees, with dread and reverence.

The apostle prays in verse 16 that the believers be strengthened in the "inner man." What does it mean? It has to do with our spiritual growth and development, our relationship to the Lord and our enjoyment of Him. Why is it important that we be strengthened in our inner man? The inner man is our inmost being, our inner nature. We need a strong inner faith in order to hold up under trials and tribulations. Remember, the believers of Ephesus were on the verge of losing heart. They needed a boost in the inner man in order to go on and not give up.

The immune system that we have in our bodies may be a good analogy. The inner man is like our immune system, white blood cells and all the rest. We have an inner resistance that helps us fight off infections and sickness. Sin and evil and Satan and all the forces that would get us down, and depress us are like diseases. They are like attacks of germs and microbes and viruses that are very potent, and even capable of killing us. Two people can get the same flu bug. One person has a very strong immune system; the other is short on natural resistance. The one person recovers quickly; the other suffers for a couple weeks, or even dies. This takes place on a spiritual plane too. We need to be strong in the inner man, so that when we are taken by temptations and suffering we will be able to endure.

A strong inner man helped St. Paul hold up in prison and he knew it would help them. Of course, your environment is important. God created you a body and soul unity. Therefore, your external circumstances play an important role in how you feel. You cannot ignore your surroundings. Having said that, the external is not primary. St. Paul gives priority to what is in the heart. The Christian can overcome less than ideal physical surroundings. If the apostle could overcome the gloom and stench and confinement of prison you can too. You can be satisfied living in cramped quarters, or in an unpleasant neighborhood, or working a tough job. The secret is to strengthen your inner man with prayer, fellowship, faith, the Eucharist, and God's Word. A strong inner man can help you conquer sickness and suffering too. Keep this in mind when self-pity and complaining start to make you miserable in your present circumstances.

In verse 17 St. Paul goes on to pray that Christ may live in their hearts. I pray "that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith." How are we to understand Christ dwelling in the heart of the believer? John chapter six says something similar. Let us read John 6:53-57. [Read them.]

That is a profound piece of teaching; certainly, difficult to understand. We read later, "many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?" Indeed, many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more" (John 6:60, 66). They could not follow this teaching; it had gone beyond their comprehension. Many stopped following Him after this.

The notion that Jesus Christ is capable of dwelling in a person is a concept that strains our understanding. Nevertheless, we must try to grasp it. Christ does indeed dwell in you and me. We can well imagine a widow remembering her deceased husband. His memory and influence stay with her. The Bible's teaching goes beyond this. Christ dwells in the believer not merely in His teaching or by means of the Holy Spirit. There is more. It is Christ Himself dwelling within you in a mystical relationship. Why call it a mystical relationship? Because, really, nobody can understand it thoroughly. It is an experience that is beyond understanding. Our bodies, we are told, are "temples of the Holy Spirit who is in us" (1 Cor. 6:19). The Holy Spirit is in Heaven; but He is also in me. The Lord Jesus Christ is in Heaven; but He is also in me. The indwelling of Christ is a thing of degrees. Partaking of the Eucharist is the primary means for receiving the humanity of Christ. This can only be described as a mystical relationship. We do not minimize it. We give it full weight. If we fail to do so we are cutting down the Scriptures.

What else does St. Paul pray for? He prays that we would be rooted and grounded in love. The words "rooted" and "grounded" stand for two different pictures. Rooted makes us think of a tree, and grounded suggests a building. We should think of the majestic oak trees that grace the hills of Central California, or the redwood giants of Northern California. Their roots go down into the depths of the earth, spreading in many directions and taking a firm hold of earth and rocks. A healthy tree also exudes life and vitality and beauty. For the other picture we should imagine a great cathedral or a medieval castle. As you stand and look at St. Paul's Cathedral in London you are impressed by this idea of permanence and strength. The oak tree and the cathedral describe the love in the life of the mature Christian. We ourselves should be rooted and grounded in love. In other words, love should be the predominating and prevailing element in our lives and conduct and experience. The controlling factor of our actions is our love for God, our love to the Lord Jesus Christ, our love towards fellow Christians, and our love for the Church and her mission. This is a permanent aspect of our personalities. (v. 18) Let's continue on in these prayers of St. Paul. He wants us to comprehend the width and length and depth and height of the love of Christ. Width, length, depth, and height; how does Christ's love shine forth in these four dimensions? Is it merely a rhetorical flourish on Paul's part? Probably not. Although there is little consensus among the commentators, there are some things we can say. The Church Fathers saw here a reference to the cross. Its upright pole reached down into the earth and pointed up to Heaven, while its crossbar carried the arms of Jesus, stretched out as if to invite the whole world. That is a picture of the width and length and depth and height of the love of Jesus.

Let's venture to say more about the four love dimensions. The width of Christ's love points to the full scope of redemption. The Kingdom of God will one day embrace all nations throughout the universe. The creation itself will bloom like a rose as the knowledge of God fills the earth as the water covers the sea. The doctrine of cosmic redemption has a wonderful wideness to it. The length speaks of the endless character of the love of Christ. It is long; it is everlasting. His love will always be the same and it lasts forever. The depth points to Christ's passion. Contemplate the Lord's humility, the soldiers who nailed Him upon the tree. The thirst and pain He suffered. The blood He shed. Our sins were laid upon Him. He descended into Hell. The passion displays the deepness of the love of Jesus. The height? Maybe it refers to our blessings. We are blessed higher than the stars. We already are united to Christ in His death and resurrection. More, we reign with Him now. We have risen to sit together with Him in heavenly places. These are some of the dimensions of Christ's love for us.

Have you been feeling sorry for yourself? Do you feel spiritually cold and lethargic? Have you been bored by worship and prayer? Have you allowed the world the flesh and the devil to depress you? Are you tempted to give up? The remedy for these things is to meditate upon the love of Christ. Have you realized its width, its length, its depth, its height? These thoughts are transforming. The knowledge of this love is what makes us strong in the Lord.

The next part of Paul's prayer is startling. "That you may be filled with all the fullness of God." How are we filled with the fullness of God? False religions offer up false mysticisms. There are those, for instance, who talk about the possibility of our being dissolved or lost in God. Final salvation means absorption into the Eternal. Pantheism teaches that God is in everything, and that therefore, in a sense, everything is God. We simply must accept that all is one, God is one and we are one. The ancient Greeks spoke of a series of gradations between man and God, and how man could ascend from one level to another. Is this what St. Paul had in mind when he prayed that believers would be filled with all the fullness of God? No. These views break down the Creator/creature distinction. God spoke through the prophet Hosea in these words, "I am God, and not a man" (Hosea 11:9). To be as God is for a Christian a sheer impossibility.

How are we filled with the fullness of God? Theology provides an answer. Theology divides the attributes of God into two groups: the communicable attributes and the incommunicable attributes. What is an example of an incommunicable attribute? Eternity is one. God has no beginning, nor any end. He is eternal. Obviously that attribute belongs to God alone. The same goes for immutability. God cannot change; man does. Omnipresence is another incommunicable attribute. God is everywhere. He is in Heaven; He is on earth; He is everywhere. Omnipresence pertains solely to God and is never communicated or transferred to any creature. We could also speak of omniscience and omnipotence. These things separate God the Creator from man the creature.

Nevertheless, there are communicable attributes. They are ethical rather than metaphysical. These can be given to us, and God does graciously bestow them upon us. What are they? Holiness is one. God is holy; yet it is He who commands us to be holy: "Be holy, for I am holy" (1 Peter 1:16). So holiness is communicable. The same applies to righteousness, goodness, love, mercy, compassion, and patience. Actually, the fruit of the Holy Spirit sums up the communicable attributes: "Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control" (Galatians 5:22-23). God possesses an infinite treasure of these attributes and He fills us up with them. We are filled with the fullness of God as we mature morally, as we grow in faith and obedience. Now we begin to understand something of the meaning of this phrase. Getting filled with the fullness of God should not be taken in an absolute sense; and yet there is a sense in which it must be taken literally.

The prayer of St. Paul is for your encouragement today. The Christian life is difficult. Don't be surprised by that. You will be tempted to give up. Your Holy Father tells you how to stay on course. Come now to the Holy Communion and ask that God would strengthen you in the inner man. Seek a higher degree of the indwelling of Christ as you partake of the Lord's Supper. Check your daily walk to be sure it is rooted and grounded in love, and seek to be filled with the fullness of God.

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