Sunday Worship Service February 2, 2025

Prelude
Call to Worship Exodus 29:45～46
Hymn JBC #102 Marvelous grace of our loving Lord
The Prayer Time
The Lord’s Prayer
Hymn JBC # 384 I love to tell the story
Offering
Scripture Ephesians 3:14～20
Prayer
Sermon “Christ dwells in our hearts”
Prayer
Hymn JBC # 94 We are called to be God’s people
Doxology JBC #672
Benediction
Postlude


Today's passage (Ephesians 3:14–20) begins with the words, "For this reason I kneel before the Father."
The author of this letter, Paul, states that he kneels before the Father, that is, God, in prayer.
In the following verse 15, Paul writes, " from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name."
These two verses reveal how profoundly Paul was transformed before and after coming to faith in Christ.
Before encountering the risen Jesus Christ and becoming a follower of Christ, Paul was a devout Jew, known for his zeal, as recognized by both himself and others.
As we have shared several times in our recent worship messages, Paul fiercely persecuted those who believed in Christ before his conversion.
　How was he transformed, and how is this revealed in the words of the first two verses of today's passage?

Firstly, at that time, standing was the usual posture for prayer in Judaism.
In Luke 18:9-14, there is a parable titled "The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector."
The Pharisee, known for strictly observing the laws of Scripture, “stood” and prayed in his heart as follows.
"God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get." (Luke 18:11-12)
On the other hand, the tax collector “(he too “stood”) at a distance, not even willing to lift his eyes to heaven. Instead, he beat his chest and said the following.

"God, have mercy on me, a sinner."

Jesus said, “It was the tax collector who was justified (found righteous by God) and went home, not the Pharisee.
There, both Pharisee and tax collector “stood” and prayed.
Paul was so rigorously educated in Judaism that he studied under a scribe (teacher of the laws).
Therefore, I imagine that Paul too, before believing in Jesus, must have “stood up” (proud in his heart as well) and prayed like the Pharisee we have just read about in the Gospel of Luke.
But Paul, having met Jesus Christ and having been transformed by Him, is now a man who kneels before God in prayer.
To encounter Christ is to be informed that “there is nothing in myself that I can boast of with confidence before God.“
Knowing that we have nothing to boast about before God, and like the tax collector in Jesus' story, who could only say, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner,” and ask for God's mercy and forgiveness, isn’t that the true prayer we can offer to God?

And, I believe that the attitude of kneeling in prayer also expresses humility before God and gratitude, “I am not qualified to ask or pray to you, but by the grace of Christ, I am permitted to pray to you.”
By believing in Christ, Paul was transformed into one who prays with such a humble heart, and such his broken heart was accepted by God.
The words in verse 15, “from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.” also indicate a significant change that has occurred in Paul's faith.
At the time, the people of Israel believed that God's salvation was available only to the Jews.

From that viewpoint, the idea that “every family in heaven and on earth derives (has been given) his name [the name of Jesus Christ]” is a great change.
It was a faith that was clearly demonstrated through Jesus that God saves not only Jews, but anyone who repents of their sins and seeks to turn to God, Jews or not.
The faith that “I am saved in the name of Jesus Christ. And that salvation through the name of Jesus Christ is available not only to the Jews but also to all people, to all nations, and to all who believe” greatly changed Paul from what he had been before that.
The faith that God's salvation was given to this sinful me, and that God's salvation is given to all peoples other than me, other than the Jews, made Paul an evangelist to the Gentiles (foreigners) other than the Jews.

We, too, as forgiven sinners, wish to humble ourselves before God (whether or not we actually kneel in prayer), and with broken hearts, we would like to be the one who prays fervently, with gratitude for our salvation, for other people as well as ourselves,

Paul's prayer for the Ephesians was as follows. (verses 16-17)

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. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,
We are truly strengthened when our “inner being” is strengthened by the Spirit of God.
I think it is well to say that the “strengthened inner being” is “spiritual new life given to the heart and soul of a person through a spiritual relationship with God, regardless of outward strength, beauty, or outward appearance of faith”.
We become truly strong only through our relationship with the true God. It is not through our own experiences or self-discipline that we gain strength.
We are strengthened by being nourished through God's Word, conversing with Him always in prayer, and receiving the power of the Holy Spirit.

Then, through faith in God, He causes Christ to dwell in our hearts and firmly establishes us upon the foundation of Christ’s love.
Even though I am weak, God’s strength and Christ’s love uphold me from beneath, even when I lack love. This unshakable foundation in Christ’s love is the peace given to believers.
Paul prays that “the Father: God, through faith, may cause Christ to dwell in your hearts”.

The prayer here is for Christ to “dwell” in our hearts. The word "dwell" does not mean a temporary stay but rather a permanent residence.
Here, it means that Christ may permanently dwell in your hearts, making His home within you.
And, "through faith” Christ may dwell" means that God does not forcibly open our hearts or compel Christ to reside within us.
No so, but it means that we respond to God's calling, willingly open the door of our hearts by our own decision, and receive Christ into our hearts. That is the meaning of "through faith."
To be a Christian means to respond to God's calling and invitation, allowing Jesus Christ to dwell in our hearts permanently.
Jesus Christ dwells in our hearts through faith not only when we come to church and worship but also as we go about our daily lives outside the church.
As long as we open our hearts and welcome Jesus, He will always dwell within us and establish us upon His love.

May we never let go of this faith, but by humbling ourselves before God, and we wish continually to pray together that Christ may always dwell in our hearts.
And, since Christ always dwells in our hearts, let us walk each day without fear and without losing love, holding firm to this assurance.

Let’s read verses 18-19.

18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

　The width, length, height, and depth of Christ’s love are so great that we cannot fully comprehend them.
However, the greatness of God's love is undeniable, and it is clearly revealed in the fact that Jesus Christ was crucified and died for us.
And the fact that the salvation brought by Christ’s cross continues to sustain us with great hope and joy assures us that "God’s great love is (even though we cannot fully understand it) certainly real."
We "together" come to know such love of God, "together" partake in His overflowing fullness, and "together" are filled with His love.
Paul, in today’s passage, is praying for the believers in the Ephesian church, addressing "you" (plural). He is not praying only for one individual.

The love and salvation of Jesus Christ are shared first within the fellowship of the church, among believers who share faith in the same God.
As the church, the body of Christ, may the prayer "that we may be filled together with God's overflowing love" become our shared and united prayer among one another.
I believe that the grace of God's love filling us together, of God's love being shared, is truly a gracious privilege given only to the Church.
In today's verse 20, Paul describes God as "the one who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us."
Our God is the one who hears our prayers and desires through Jesus Christ.
And God is the one who, "according to his power that is at work within us," is able to fulfill far beyond what we pray for, seek, or imagine.
The One to whom we now offer our worship is the One who works His divine power in us (human beings) and through it accomplishes works far greater than we can ever hope or think.

Through Jesus Christ, we are made known the true God who is so great and so loving that He gave the life of His Son, Jesus Christ, for our salvation.

And each of us, and our church, as the body of Jesus Christ, is also to be used as a vessel through which such great divine power can work within it.
Such a precious and surprising work is entrusted to us, the believers in Christ, and to the Church. What an honor and what a work that brings us strength and joy.
Let us therefore walk, day by day, for God's power to be increasingly manifested and for all glory to be returned to Him.