November 15, 2012 Ephesians 3:14-17A

Ephesians 3:14-17a   ¹⁴ For this reason I kneel before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. ¹⁶ I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. 

If you ever visit the Rountree neighborhood after a strong wind or heavy freezing rain,  you will notice many large limbs or possible whole trees in a horizontal, rather than vertical, position.  At first glace an observer might wonder just how strong must the winds have been or how heavy the ice to have broken or toppled such large chunks of timber.  But on closer inspection, the reason becomes obvious.

The Rountree neighborhood is populated with many silver maples which can look good on the outside, but may have whole sections of internal rot.  It is this lack of internal strength that causes the dramatic breakage during ice or wind.

Verse 16 reminds Christians that our strength and power come through the Holy Spirit who is "in your inner being".  

I am struggling with what Paul is trying to tell believers in today's reading.  One issue is that the reading starts with verse 14, "For this reason. . ."  However, "this reason" is not present in the set of verses.  Verse 13 lets the reader know the reason Paul is praying for the Ephesians is so they will not become discouraged because of his suffering.   Now that "this reason" is apparent, Paul's message becomes a bit clearer.

He is concerned that his suffering will be a source of discouragement for the young church at Ephesus.  Perhaps our take-away from Ephesians 2:14-17 is twofold.

1.  Our strength comes from the Holy Spirit and that strength lives within us.  It is not something we have to don like Batman's suit every time the Riddler comes calling.

2.  We have to be on guard that it is not only our personal suffering that can discourage us, but the suffering of others also.  I have felt this at times during my work with the homeless.

One other thought. . . Paul is praying for the church members at Ephesus, but he is not praying for their physical needs.  His prayers are for their spiritual needs.  It would be an interesting study to see how many of Paul's letters/prayers are offered for spiritual vs physical needs of himself and others.  Hmmm. . .