DSG | Daily Reflections | Ephesians 3.14-21
MONDAY
the fourth posture
Reflect
Original Date February 22, 2016
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. Ephesians 3.14-15 | ESV
Receive So when I think of the wisdom of his plan I kneel humbly in awe before the Father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, the perfect Father of every father and child in heaven and on the earth. Passion Translation
Watchman Nee in his brief tome on Ephesians says we can understand the letter by appreciating the three postures it presents to us: sitting (we are seated with Christ in heavenly places), walking (we are challenged to walk worthily of the calling we have received), and standing (we are encouraged to stand when the evil day shows up on our doorstep). This is an excellent way of grasping the basic flow of the letter, but there is a fourth posture: kneeling. After celebrating and elaborating the work of Christ in canceling our natural and multiplied hostilities and creating in himself one new in sync humanity, Paul turns to pray, gets sidetracked when he is caught up in a rapturous epiphany of the mystery of God in Christ, and then returns to the prayer. And he moves to his knees. Kneeling isn’t required for prayer to “work,” nor does kneeling somehow put a special halo around the moment. The body simply reflects the heart. How the body moves reflects how our inner world is moving – at least when there is the freedom given and received for the body to move! The fact is, not all of us are physically able to kneel – at least, perhaps, not like we used to. But the bigger question revolves around those inner, soulish movements that kneeling would reflect. I really like what Eugene Peterson says about the dynamic of kneeling in his book about Ephesians (Practice Resurrection): The physical act of bowing “my knees before the Father” is an act of reverence. It is also an act of voluntary defenselessness. While on my knees I cannot run away. I cannot assert myself. I place myself in a position of willed submission, vulnerable to the will of the person before whom I am bowing. It is an act of retreating from the action so that I can perceive what the action is without me in it, without me taking up space, without me speaking my piece. On my knees I am no longer in a position to flex my muscles, strut or cower, hide in the shadows or show off on stage. I become less so that I can be aware of more – I assume a
posture that lets me see what reality looks like without the distorting lens of either my timid avoidance or my aggressive domination. I set my agenda aside for a time and become still, present to God. This posture is not in vogue in a world in which the media, our parents, our employers, our teachers, and perhaps most demanding of all, our egos are telling us to make the most of ourselves. On his knees before the Father, Paul prays…
Reverence. Voluntary defenselessness. Vulnerable. Willed submission. Yielded ego. It’s time today to assume the position—to take up the fourth posture within and without. It’s time to be on our knees…
Relate How often do you find yourself – literally or at least internally – in the “fourth position” of kneeling before God? What has your experience been with this fourth posture?
Respond Abba, in the deeper recesses of my soul, teach me, once again, the art of kneeling. Plant me firmly on my knees today. Let me humbly serve from that place of reverent, vulnerable submission to your will and to the agenda of your kingdom. Impart to me the grace to begin developing significant calluses on my knees. Through Christ.
T U E S D A Y
the prayer: effulgence
Original Date February 23, 2016
Reflect [I pray] that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3.16-19 | ESV
Receive And I pray that he would pour out over you the unlimited riches of his glory and favor until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with his divine might and explosive power. Then, by constantly using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of his love will become the very source and root of your life, providing you with a secure foundation that grows and grows. Then, as your spiritual strength increases, you will be empowered to discover what every holy human being experiences—the great magnitude of the astonishing love of Christ in all its dimensions. How deeply intimate and far-reaching is his love! How enduring and inclusive it is! Endless love beyond measurement, beyond academic knowledge—this extravagant love pours into you until you are filled to overflowing with the fullness of God! Passion Translation
This is Paul’s second landmark prayer in the Ephesians letter. His first prayer at the end of the first page of the letter was centered around inward illumination of the heart so that we can really get it when it comes to what God in Christ has and is doing in and through us. It’s a mind-blowing prayer. And this is another one. If I were to select one word that summarizes the centering core of this second prayer, it would be the word effulgence. Effulgence occurs one time in the entire Bible, and that’s in Hebrews 1:3 in which Christ is said to be the effulgence of God’s glory (at least in older translations). Effulgence – and the Greek word it translates – means, essentially, an inward radiance that outwardly dazzles the eye. This would be contrasted with a mere bright, external reflection (which would be a refulgence, technically speaking). The point is, Christ was radiant with all of God’s goodness and glory, i.e. with the divine nature, from the inside out. When he was transfigured before the disciples, he didn’t merely reflect God’s presence like Moses’ fading facial reflection of the divine glory to which he was exposed. Christ radiated the divine nature from within. Effulgence. It’s a good word to add to our vocabulary – and it’s one crucial to our spiritual well-being, and is at the core of this prayer in Ephesians 3.
Unlimited riches of his glory poured out. Supernatural strength flooding your innermost being. Divine might and explosive power. Life of Christ released deep within. A secure foundation that grows and grows. The great magnitude of the astonishing love of Christ in all its dimensions. Deeply intimate and far-reaching love. Endless, extravagant love beyond measurement. Overflowing with the fullness of God. This is the vocabulary of effulgence. It is the vocabulary of the fourth posture of Ephesians. On our knees we not only see the Glory, we radiate it as we get in touch with the deeply embedded reality of Christ in here (not just “up there”). And since this can be such a revelation to so many of us – even those who have been walking out their faith for years – we are taking the next three days to keep this prayer before us in its totality in the hopes we will see, perhaps for the first time, that it’s not just “this little light of mine” that I have to shine, but the effulgence of God himself in Christ not to spark, not to discover, but to release. It’s time to add effulgence to our experiential vocabulary…
Relate Is most of your energy spent trying, like the foolish virgins in Jesus’ parable, to trim your little light with oil you don’t have? Or have you begun to experience the deeper, other-worldly light of Christ already within you? What can help us to switch gears?
Respond Abba, pour out over us the unlimited riches of your glory and grace until your divine strength floods our innermost being with your divine might and explosive power. Release the life of Christ deep within, and let the resting place of your love become the very source and root of our life together, providing us with a secure foundation that is ever expanding. Empower us to discover what every holy human being and circle experiences—the great magnitude of the astonishing love of Christ in all its dimensions, your endless love beyond measurement, beyond academic knowledge. Pour this extravagant love into us until we are filled to overflowing with the fullness of all that you are – and then let us be that fullness to the world. Through Christ.
WEDNESDAY
the prayer: the Goodness Glue
Original Date February 24, 2016
Reflect [I pray] that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3.16-19 | ESV
Receive And I pray that he would pour out over you the unlimited riches of his glory and favor until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with his divine might and explosive power. Then, by constantly using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of his love will become the very source and root of your life, providing you with a secure foundation that grows and grows. Then, as your spiritual strength increases, you will be empowered to discover what every holy human being experiences—the great magnitude of the astonishing love of Christ in all its dimensions. How deeply intimate and far-reaching is his love! How enduring and inclusive it is! Endless love beyond measurement, beyond academic knowledge—this extravagant love pours into you until you are filled to overflowing with the fullness of God! Passion Translation
The goodness of God fills all the gaps of the universe, without discrimination or preference. God is the gratuity of absolutely everything. The space in between everything is not space at all but Spirit. God is the "Goodness Glue" that holds the dark and light of things together, the free energy that carries all death across the Great Divide and transmutes it into Life. When we say that Christ "paid the debt once and for all," it simply means that God's job is to make up for all deficiencies in the universe. What else would God do? Basically, grace is God's first name, and probably last too. Grace is what God does to keep all things God has made in love and alive--forever. Grace is God's official job description. Grace is not something God gives; grace is who God is. If we are to believe the primary witnesses, an unexplainable goodness is at work in the universe. Richard Rohr
Richard Rohr might not have written these words as direct commentary on Paul’s prayer, but he may as well have. There is an unexplainable, unstoppable goodness at work in the universe, and Paul’s prayer is that followers of Christ would, of all people on the planet, be those who know it – and who actively live and labor from that assumption. How sad that we believers can be the last to really believe it! We can be more filled with cynicism, pessimism, and a dour outlook that would be hard pressed to brighten the corner of a closet let alone a whole room. We tend live daunted by Satan in perpetual spiritual “bear” market that breeds a deepening inner poverty as we hunker down in Helms Deep awaiting the next Orc onslaught. We tend to be much more defined by original sin and its effects than we are the original blessing spoken over all creation that in Christ is actualized and taken to the nth degree. “Where sin abounded, grace has super abounded.” Paul’s prayer is that those words may move off sacred page into hearts seized up with fear and uncertainty, replacing our obsession with the sticky mess in which we see ourselves and the world enmeshed with a fresh confidence in the “Goodness Glue” that holds all things together and moves them (and us!) forward with a purpose worth waiting for.
This is the “aha moment” waiting for us again and again, with deepening levels of satisfaction, in the fourth posture of Ephesians. Positive self-talk will not get us there, nor will even the rote repetition of Scripture. This is the fruit of a deeper, prolonged inner soul work. It is the work of prayer – which is ultimately the means of absorbing the reality of God into every layer of our psyche. Which is why we are hovering over this Ephesians prayer the rest of this week…
Relate What about you? Do you tend to be defined by a pessimistic outlook on yourself and the world defined by the notion of original sin, or by a gushing anticipation of the unexplainable Goodness at work in the universe? Why?
Respond Abba, pour out over us the unlimited riches of your glory and grace until your divine strength floods our innermost being with your divine might and explosive power. Release the life of Christ deep within, and let the resting place of your love become the very source and root of our life together, providing us with a secure foundation that is ever expanding. Empower us to discover what every holy human being and circle experiences—the great magnitude of the astonishing love of Christ in all its dimensions, your endless love beyond measurement, beyond academic knowledge. Pour this extravagant love into us until we are filled to overflowing with the fullness of all that you are – and then let us be that fullness to the world. Through Christ.
THURSDAY
the prayer: aggressive forgiveness called grace Original Date February 25, 2016
Reflect [I pray] that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3.16-19 | ESV
Receive And I pray that he would pour out over you the unlimited riches of his glory and favor until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with his divine might and explosive power. Then, by constantly using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of his love will become the very source and root of your life, providing you with a secure foundation that grows and grows. Then, as your spiritual strength increases, you will be empowered to discover what every holy human being experiences—the great magnitude of the astonishing love of Christ in all its dimensions. How deeply intimate and far-reaching is his love! How enduring and inclusive it is! Endless love beyond measurement, beyond academic knowledge—this extravagant love pours into you until you are filled to overflowing with the fullness of God! Passion Translation
Another Rohr quote: I think grace, arising from God's limitless love, is the central theme of the entire Bible. It is the divine Unmerited Generosity that is everywhere available, totally given, usually undetected as such, and often even undesired. In the parable of the watchful servants (Luke 12:35-40), God is actually presented as waiting on us--in the middle of the night! In fact, we see God as both our personal servant inside our house and the divine burglar who has to "break through the walls of [our] house." That's really quite extraordinary and not our usual image of God. It shows how much God–the "Hound of Heaven," as Francis Thompson says–wants to get to us and how unrelenting is the work of grace.
In Romans 5:20, Peterson in his Message translation speaks of “the aggressive forgiveness we call grace.” We need that definition to seep into our souls underneath the door locked with our doubts and bolted with multiple deadbolts of guilt. How marvelous to contemplate a God who doesn’t just stand at the door and politely knock, awaiting (finally!) our compliance, but as the Divine Thief who digs through the walls of our house in the middle of our night – and then serves us a long overdue dinner. The story is told of a German soldier in the aftermath of World War II who is about to be executed by newly liberated French citizens. Before stringing him up, his captors showed him the mercy of last rites by a local priest. The young man openly confessed his many sins, including his frequent liaisons with numerous young women. “Are you sorry for your sins, my son?” asked the priest. The wide-eyed young German after but a moment’s reflection blurted out, “Well, no!” Needing some sign of sorrow or penitence on which to proceed, the priest quickly replied, “Yes, but are you sorry you’re not sorry?” “Yes,” emphatically nodded the condemned man. And that sufficiently cracked the door for the priest to continue.
This is the zone of the “height and length and height and depth,” the region of the love that surpasses comprehension. It is the realm of scandalous mercy – the kind that pardons a guilty terrorist after he’s been crucified next to you, that, bending down to write in the earth, disarms a mob bent on stoning a guilty woman, or that finds the most narrow access point for mercy in a soldier condemned to die. This is the zone of the fourth posture, the realm we can enter whenever we join Paul on our knees.
Relate Do you tend to see God’s forgiveness as grudging and hard won or aggressive and scandalously given? Why?
Respond Abba, pour out over us the unlimited riches of your glory and grace until your divine strength floods our innermost being with your divine might and explosive power. Release the life of Christ deep within, and let the resting place of your love become the very source and root of our life together, providing us with a secure foundation that is ever expanding. Empower us to discover what every holy human being and circle experiences—the great magnitude of the astonishing love of Christ in all its dimensions, your endless love beyond measurement, beyond academic knowledge. Pour this extravagant love into us until we are filled to overflowing with the fullness of all that you are – and then let us be that fullness to the world. Through Christ.
FRIDAY
scarcity or abundance?
Original Date February 26, 2016
Reflect Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3.20-21 | ESV
Receive Never doubt God’s mighty power to work in you and accomplish all he would in you. He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagination! He will outdo them all, for his miraculous power constantly energizes you. Now we offer up to God all the glorious praise that rises from every church in every generation through Jesus Christ—and all that will yet be manifest through time and eternity. Amen! Passion Translation
ὑπερεκπερισσοῦ Who-per-eck-peri-sue. Three words for the price of one. First word ὑπερ (from which we get “hyper”) means “above”; second word, ἐκ, meaning “out of”, and περισσοῦ meaning “exceeding some number or rank or need,” “above and beyond,” “over-the-top abundance or excess.” περισσοῦ by itself is overflowing. ἐκπερισσοῦ is overflowing in the extreme. ὑπερεκπερισσοῦ is just getting ridiculous. “Immeasurably more” seems so understated when the progressive weight of excess in the word is duly felt. From the vantage point of the fourth position, we live and love in a world characterized by the unrelentingly lavished love of a scandalously Prodigal God. Permit me one more Rohr quote to finish out the week: The flow of grace through us is largely blocked when we are living inside a worldview of scarcity, a feeling that there's just not enough: enough of God, enough of me, enough food, enough mercy to include and forgive all faults. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that the mind is apparently unable to imagine anything infinite or eternal. So it cannot imagine an infinite love, or a God whose "love is everlasting" as the Psalms continually shout. A foundational abundance within reality is clearly exemplified in all of the "multiplication" of food stories in the Gospels, when Jesus feeds a crowd with very little (for example, Matthew 14:15-21). The real spiritual point is grace and not some mere physical miracle. Notice in almost every case, the good old apostles, who represent our worldview of scarcity, advise Jesus against it: "But how will two fish and five loaves be enough for so many?" Jesus is trying to move them from their worldview of scarcity to a worldview of abundance, but does it with great difficulty. In the end there is always much food left over, which should communicate the point: reality always has more than enough of itself to give, it is an inherent overflowing.
This is the vista opening up before us from the vantage point of the fourth position: A foundational, fundamental abundance within reality. Off our knees, we are again choking in the inversion of scarcity that can only see a limited grace in the clutches of a stingy god. Such is a soul-shrinking existence. This prayer let’s fly the window and the door and, from our knees, lifts our souls to see an inherent overflowing, a “good measure, pressed down, shaken together” not merely poured into our laps, but burying us in an absurd abundance of Divine goodness and grace we can’t even begin to tabulate. Oh the things we can see when perched on our knees…
Relate Do you tend to see and operate from the assumption of an inherent scarcity in all of reality or an inherent abundance? Why? What is your most significant “download” from Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3?
Respond Abba, pour out over us the unlimited riches of your glory and grace until your divine strength floods our innermost being with your divine might and explosive power. Release the life of Christ deep within, and let the resting place of your love become the very source and root of our life together, providing us with a secure foundation that is ever expanding. Empower us to discover what every holy human being and circle experiences—the great magnitude of the astonishing love of Christ in all its dimensions, your endless love beyond measurement, beyond academic knowledge. Pour this extravagant love into us until we are filled to overflowing with the fullness of all that you are – and then let us be that fullness to the world. Through Christ.
