A dwelling place for Christ (Ephesians 3.14-21)
At evening church we’ve been looking at Ephesians and last night I preached on Ephesians 3.14-21. It’s a fantastic prayer asking God to change us from the inside out to make us a more suitable dwelling place for him. I had a question on the tear off slips asking about whether we can be fit for God to live in us and thought I’d share my response to a wider audience.
I think the prayer in Eph 3.16-17 is that we continually be made a more and more suitable dwelling place for God (see also Eph 2.22). This means that though God’s Spirit now lives in us, he is continuing to change and shape us to be more like Christ. ie filled with the fullness of God (3.19).
Does it mean we can be perfect? No. I don’t think so. I do think we will be made perfect on the last day. However, in the meantime, we are to keep praying that God keep changing us.
Can we fully comprehend Christ’s love? Again, I don’t think so. However, we grow and mature as Christians, as we appreciate and know better his love for us.
It is the love of Christ that will motivate us to seek to be more like Christ. It is the love of Christ that will drive us to more prayerful dependence on God. And, it is the love of Christ that will drive us to want God to be glorified in all things.
PS I thought about blogging about the sermon after reading a Sydney Anglican article on exactly that.