Ephesians 3:14-21 is the conclusion of a long list of superlatives regarding the grace of God. These first 3 chapters of Ephesians are chocked full of the celebration of God's expansive love. Now, the writer concludes this section of the letter with a witness to the end result of all this abundance: we are filled with all the fulness of God! On this 10th Sunday after Pentecost in the Year of Mark, it will be the preacher's privilege to celebrate this.
(The following questions are meant to help uncover the way the Word functions in the text. This is so important to determine since the way the Word functions in the text is the way the sermon must function. This is particularly crucial to Law and Gospel preaching. For more on this method and on Law and Gospel preaching in general, see my brief guide, Afflicting the Comfortable, Comforting the Afflicted, available from wipfandstock.com and amazon.)
1. How does the Word function in the text? This text is a prayer and a testimony. It testifies to the amazing love and grace of God in Christ. As such, it is the Word functioning as Gospel, announcing what God is doing out of love for the world.
2. How is the Word not functioning in the text? There is no word of Law here, no announcement of our need for a Savior, no call to repentance.
3. With whom are you identifying in the text? We are the audience for this text, struggling to comprehend the love of Christ, thankful that God's love is so beyond our imagination.
4. What, if any, call to obedience is there in this text? This text is a celebration of God's activity in the world, not a call to emulate that. The call to respond to God's amazing grace is not present here.
5. What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text? Without any Law component here, we will have to construct some couplets. Some ideas: weak/strengthened; ignorant/comprehending; rooted in fear/rooted in love.
6. Exegetical work: Note the requests of two prayers: Verses 16-17: "I pray...that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith." Verses 18-19: "I pray that you may have the power to comprehend... the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fulness of God." This final ina clause gives the reason for this prayer: that we might be filled with all the fulness of God. Kittel says it this way: "Eph. 3:19 could be taken in the same way: So that you may be that which is wholly filled by the manifold work of God." (Theological Dictionary of the NT, vol. VI, p. 304).
7. Consider the insights of the pioneers of the New Homiletic? Eugene Lowry noted that a sermon must have tension and release, equilibrium and disequilibrium. In this sermon it might be important to lift up what's at stake when we fail to believe in a God of abundance (disequilibrium), and then how Christ frees us to have faith in this abundant grace of God. (equilibrium.).
Blessings on your proclamation!
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