A Church Rooted in Love | Becoming A Praying Church, Week 2 | Rob Hall | New North Church Full Service

Hey, welcome to the New North Church podcast.

It's great to have you listening in with us.

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So if we can help you in any way at all, just reach out to us.

The email address is hello at new north.church.

With that, let's go right to this week's message.

Good morning, church.

It's great to see all of you.

Um, I don't know if you've been following the news, but I have my uh wife and my oldest son.

We're supposed to go to Uganda uh next month, and clearly that trip has been canceled because of the uh Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and uh Congo and Uganda.

And so we have uh missions partners there, church planners that our church supports.

One of them is a guy named Daniel.

And uh so I just woke up this morning, just burdened uh for our brothers and sisters there.

Um, I reached out to um uh to uh Mark Tyler at 360 Serva, an organization we support.

Listen to what he wrote me back.

He said, Hey Rob, it's worse than what our news is sharing in Uganda.

He says, Many homes are in forced lockdown.

We are sending emergency funds to Daniel to help church planners and the many families who need food and water, so your offering comes at a perfect time.

So I just feel led and our elders agree to take a special offering.

We're gonna give it all to uh Daniel and his team in Uganda.

They support many church planners, they support about 400 orphans in an orphanage.

So I'm gonna invite the ushers to pass the buckets.

Um, you can also give online, most of you do.

Uh, if you go on to our website, just hit give, and there's a pull-down menu, and give your funds if you feel led to to our missions partners.

What it says missions partners glow, which is our global local outreach.

And so, as that's happening, let's just pray for Daniel and the pastors in Uganda and the and also in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

So, Father, we um our hearts are grieved at this outbreak.

Um, these are our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Um, God, so we pray for their families.

We pray for the children who are suffering.

God, would you help scientists quickly create a vaccine for this new strain?

We pray for all the first responders, the nurses, the doctors that are on the ground floor even right now.

We pray that the church of Jesus Christ around the world would come together and we would be people who pray and who give sacrificially because, as your word says, when one part of the body suffers, we all suffer.

So we pray especially for Pastor Daniel and the work that you've called him to do.

A dear friend who's doing incredible work.

God bless and multiply this offering.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Hey, thanks for giving if you feel led.

Uh, we are week two in a new mini-series where we're looking at the Apostle Paul and his prayers in the New Testament.

And what we realized is that his prayers are not just for individuals, they are for the church.

And so let me give us a little backstory if you don't know what the book of Ephesians is about.

Uh, Paul, who wrote this letter, it's very short, he wrote it to Christians in and around the city of Ephesus, a place you can go see today.

I've been there.

He wrote this about three decades after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Now, if I could take you back to the ancient world and we could go to Ephesus, you're not, it's not, you're not gonna see some little, you know, redneck hillbilly town on the outskirts of town.

I know that may be offensive, sorry.

Um, this was a big city, the fourth largest city in the ancient world.

There were impressive structures and like a bustling city, that all the different problems that we have in our cities today.

And so one day, a guy named Paul arrives in this town and he begins to preach and talk about the grace of God and sending Jesus.

And the Jesus movement is started in in Ephesus.

And he, Paul, stayed there and lived there for about three years, and he raised up elders, and he taught and discipled the church, but then he left and he went on to Macedonia.

And so what happened is he heard about what was going on, and so then he writes them this letter, and here's what you're gonna see about about Christians living in Ephesus.

They had new faith in Jesus, but they were new hearts with old habits.

Can anyone relate to that?

New hearts.

I love you, Jesus, I want to walk with you, Jesus, but oh man, I am struggling with my past.

And that I think describes our church and many churches today.

Maybe God has done a great work in your life and you're thankful and you're grateful, but you've just found yourself drifting back into things or into people or into places that is that have hurt your relationship with God.

Or maybe you're trying your best to walk with Jesus, to grow, to mature, but man, there's just some temptations or just some habits that just keep tripping you up.

The Ephesians know all about that.

For them, they were drifting back into the vices of idolatry, worshiping things rather than creative things rather than rather than the creator.

They all came from pagan backgrounds and they found themselves going back into those ways and gossiping and slandering the church.

They even, watch this, they even fell back into prostitution.

So a handful of years later, after Paul left, Paul wrote them this group of Jesus followers from a Roman prison cell, and he and his main goal was really to give them a refresher course on what it meant to be followers of Jesus, followers of the way.

And that refresher course is what we have called the letter of Ephesians.

So here's another good question.

If God had already saved them in Jesus, if they were Christians, why in the world were they still struggling with sin?

Why do we?

Like if we truly belong to Jesus and we want to honor Him and follow Him, like how does God help us mature and grow spiritually?

And so Paul's gonna answer that in a prayer.

And his answer is not more guilt, it's not more religious rules, it's not even willpower.

Here's what Paul does he gets on his knees and he prays.

And this prayer is so powerful.

He what he prays for, I believe, really reveals what every church and what every Christian desperately needs most.

He's gonna pray for three things.

And I want you to notice here before we read the passage, you know, Paul doesn't pray for God to change their circumstances.

He doesn't pray that God would protect them or provide for them.

He prays, firstly, for strength, but not physical strength, not political strength or power.

He prays for spiritual strength for the for the Ephesians and really the deepest part of who they are.

And so if you have a Bible, turn with me to Ephesians chapter 3.

Ephesians 3 · chapter mention

We're gonna look at the second prayer in the book of Ephesians.

Ephesians chapter 3.

Ephesians 3 · chapter mention

Oh, nope, that's Acts.

There you go.

Ephesians chapter 3, starting in verse 14.

Ephesians 3 · chapter mention

I'm gonna read three verses.

Ephesians chapter 3, starting in verse 14.

Ephesians 3 · chapter mention

Here he, this is what Paul prays.

He says, For this reason, notice his posture, I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.

I pray that out of his glorious riches, he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

Let's stop right there if you're taking notes.

What we see here is that Paul prays for this church, the Ephesians, to be strengthened with power in and through the work of the Holy Spirit.

He starts this way, he says, for this reason.

So whenever you read the Bible and someone says that, or therefore, you should ask yourself, what reason?

What is he talking about?

Paul is reflecting back on all three chapters already, all the things he's been talking about, all that Christ has done because of his death and resurrection.

What has he done?

Paul's told us God is at work, he's saving sinners like you and me through Jesus.

Jew and Gentiles have been now united.

They are the people of God.

They are now the church.

God is now dwelling with his people again.

He's given us the Holy Spirit, He's revealing His eternal plan to unite all things under Christ.

Paul sees all that God is doing, and it makes him not right any longer, but get on his knees and pray.

And I want you to notice something.

Maybe you didn't know this, but Jewish people back then, even today, they don't get on their knees when they pray, they stand when they pray.

Most Jewish men, especially back then, would stand and even raise their hands when they pray.

But Paul was a Jewish thinker, a rabbi, turned Christian.

He was so moved by what he was writing that he gets on his knees and he prays.

Why?

Because kneeling shows humility.

It's a posture of reverence, it's a posture of awe, it's really a posture of desperation in light of all that God has done in Christ.

Man, Paul just can't stand in his, stay standing in his cell.

He gets on his knees and he prays.

Now I just want to encourage you this week.

Man, let's get on our knees a little more this week and pray.

I'll be honest with you.

I'm a little older.

It hurts me to get on my knees now.

It used to be very easy.

It is not.

You know, uh, but there's something I'm learning about our physical posture when we pray or when we worship that connects us to God.

Like when Leanne encourages us to raise our hands in prayer, it's because there's something about an act of surrender.

When we raise our hands, we say, Jesus, I am all here, I am all in.

That's why when we pray, we get on our knees as an act of humility, as an act of dependence.

Why do we get on our knees?

Because if King Jesus walked into this room and we actually believe he's here right now, what do you do?

You don't run up and high five, high-five him.

You get on your knees.

You bow down in his presence.

And I think that's what's happening in Paul's heart.

He's overwhelmed and he begins to pray.

He says, God is the Father of us all.

And then look at what he prays.

He says, He says that out of his glorious riches, he may strengthen you.

Let me stop here.

This is where it's really helpful to know the original language.

Or now though, we all have tools that AI so you can look it up.

And so I so I was researching, I realized, okay, it's better translated according to his riches rather than out of his riches.

Let me explain.

If a billionaire wanted to give you out of his riches, he could pull 20 bucks and give it to you, and honestly, you'd be bummed.

That's not a financial sacrifice for her at all.

But if that same billionaire gave you some money according to his riches, that sum better be a whole lot more than$20, right?

Because it's according to her riches.

That's what Paul's saying.

That God has given us not out of his riches, according to his riches, that your heavenly father, the king of the universe, he gives to his people not stingingly, but according to his riches.

And so what Paul's doing here, we're going to look at all this, is he's praying for massive spiritual generosity in the life of the church in Ephesus and in the church of Jesus Christ today.

So he prays according to God's riches that we, that the church in Ephesus will be strengthened.

That word means empowered, it means made strong, it means fortified.

But all this is happening on the inside.

It's God is doing the strengthening.

This is a supernatural act of the Holy Spirit.

Paul says that he prays that we will be strengthened in our inner being, in our inner person, in our hearts, the really the deepest center of our spiritual lives on the inside.

And he says, all this is a work of the Holy Spirit.

You can't like manufacture this strengthening or muster it up on your own.

How does this happen?

Man, as we as we surrender more of our lives to the Holy Spirit, as we become people of worship and prayer, man, the Holy Spirit supernaturally strengthens us from the inside out.

And that's what Paul's praying for, that we would be strengthened from the inside out by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Here's another fun question.

Why does Paul pray this?

Like, why does Paul pray for Christ to dwell in our hearts for us to be strengthened if we're already Christians?

So he's not talking about becoming a Christian again or getting saved again or getting baptized again.

Remember, he's writing to Christians.

He's praying for those of us who've placed our faith in Jesus to experience really a deeper reality with Jesus.

He's praying for us to get beyond the surface level, to stop drinking spiritual milk and to grow deeper, more intimate, closer with Christ as the Holy Spirit strengthens us within.

And let me be clear: you can't do this by striving.

You can't do this by having some emotional experience.

Paul's clear, this happens in and through faith.

You know, my family and I uh we love watching Survivor, the show.

We've been doing it for years.

Any Survivor fans?

There was like two in the first service.

Okay, there's three here.

Wow.

Okay, so you guys all read your Bibles at night and pray.

Good for you.

Well, my family watches shows, um, and um Survivor 50 was just on, it was fun.

Um, but here's what I've learned, and I was super into like, you know, alone and naked and afraid, and all these like what, you know, survival shows.

Um, here's a couple things I've learned.

One, uh, you can live for for pretty long with just a little bit of food, surprisingly long.

But you can't live very long without water.

And what all these shows remind us is you can't survive at all without breathing.

Right?

People pass out all the time, people even die on some of these shows.

Like, and I say that because the Holy Spirit is often described as breath, as wind.

And I think what Paul's getting at is he knows that the church in Ephesus won't survive very long without the strengthening wind, without the strengthening breath of the Holy Spirit.

And by the way, the church in Ephesus is dead today, it's no longer around.

And so Paul kneels in a posture of dependency to pray for this church that he loves.

He prays for a source of strength for the Holy Spirit to come on them again and breathe on them and again and fill them again.

He prays for the Holy Spirit to strengthen them.

He prays for Christ to dwell deeper in their hearts, that they would go deeper in the things of God.

That's how he begins his prayer on his knees.

And as a matter of fact, I want to pray that over our church now.

Let's pray together.

Father, we pray right now in the name of Jesus that you would strengthen our church, strengthen every believer in this room in the power of the Holy Spirit, that you would come breathe new life on us, that you would fill us again, that we would listen to you, hear from you, and walk with you, Holy Spirit.

So would you come now in power and strength and fill your church to the brim?

In the name of the Father, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.

All right, let's keep reading now.

Uh verse 17 goes on, and Paul says, and I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power.

There that word is again, together with all the Lord's holy people, have power to do what?

To grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.

Man.

So now again, Paul's praying not for the church only to be strengthened, but that our church, the church, will be rooted and established in love.

Be rooted in not just any love, but the love of Jesus Christ.

In my backyard, um, we have this massive oak tree and it's on a hillside.

So when we first bought the house, um, our home inspector said, hey, one of the first things you need to do is get that thing inspected, get that thing trimmed, because it's like gonna fall into your house one day and I'll go, oh, that'd be bad.

And I can't afford that.

So this guy in our church who's a tree trimmer called him and his dad.

They came out on a rainy day, inspected it, trimmed it.

It was fun.

I was watching them, I hold this humongous chainsaw.

I'm like, can I use this?

So like, no.

Um, I'm like, come on.

Um, and uh and they told me some interesting things about the tree, and and and and here's here's what's happened.

Do you remember the other day when it was super windy?

Remember that day?

Like, I was not worried about that tree at all any longer.

Because what's important is not what I can see, it's what I can't see.

That tree has massive roots.

It goes way down, all over the place.

That tree, man, that thing is an OG.

It is destroyed, it has survived decades of drought, of, of, of uh wind, of ferocious storms, and even those wild, crazy squirrels that I drive me nuts.

Anyway, that tree is not going anywhere, especially now that it's trimmed.

And that's what Paul is getting at.

He's using a tree metaphor to describe what he wants to see in the church, that we would have, it's not important what we see in a church, it's what we don't see.

He's praying for the Holy Spirit to strengthen us and really in the soul of our church, for us to be rooted and established in love.

It's interesting he says, established, that's actually an architecture word.

He's talking about our foundation.

So he's talking about our roots, he's talking about our foundation.

He says, for the church of Jesus Christ, our roots and our foundation is on love, not just any love.

Paul would never say love is love.

It's the love of Jesus Christ.

He wants the church of Jesus Christ to be rooted and established, not in our popularity, not in our political power or might, not even in the knowledge of God.

He says the church needs to be rooted and established in love of Christ.

Love is our foundation.

Love is a soil for our roots to grow.

And I'll be honest with you, this fascinates me as a pastor.

There's a lot of things Paul could have prayed for for the church, but he doesn't pray for more knowledge because knowledge is not enough.

He doesn't pray for us to have, you know, more influence and impact in our culture.

He doesn't pray for more political power or even ministry effectiveness.

He doesn't pray for any of those things.

He prays for the church to be rooted and established in love.

Why?

Oh, I'll tell you why.

A church can have spot-on amazing theology and be terribly mean to people.

A church can have incredible worship, like wow, and be cold to outsiders.

A church can have jam-packed services, align out the door and be shallow.

A church can have a super popular, gifted leader and be wildly unhealthy, you guys.

But when a church is rooted and established in the love of Christ, when Christ is dwelling in our hearts by faith, everything begins to grow in a healthy direction.

It doesn't mean they won't have problems.

It doesn't mean there won't be issues, but when love is our foundation, the love of Christ is what holds us together when the storms of life, when the winds of culture beat down on our house.

And this is why I think Paul connects what he's praying for, not just for the church in Ephesus, he says this happens together with all the Lord's holy people.

He's connecting us to the global sea church.

He's telling us that that there are dimensions of the love of Christ, watch this, that you can't experience or discover on your own in your little quiet time before you go to work.

Why?

Because you and I can experience the love of Christ when someone forgives you or when someone shows.

Up for you in your time of desperation and need.

You experience the love of Christ like when your community group or your table prays for you, when you're struggling, you experience the love of Christ when we gather together as the family of God to worship, pray, to take communion, to hear the word of God preached.

Like here's the point.

Paul had like no understanding of a Christian who says they don't go to church or who's committed to a local church.

He had that was not even, he didn't, that's not even possible in Paul's theology.

So why should we care about this?

I think we should care about this because it takes all of us, along with the global church, together, he says, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep the love of Christ.

Like you and I will never get to the summit of God's love and go, I made it, I got it, I'm here, I figured out.

Even in the eternity, throughout all eternity, we're gonna be learning more and more and more about the love of Christ for forever.

Forever.

See, the love of Christ is wide enough to welcome every sinner and every prodigal son and daughter back home.

The love of Christ is long enough to hold you and sustain you for your entire life on earth.

The love of Christ is deep enough, Paul says, to reach you at your worst and pull you out of the pit.

The love of Christ is high enough to lift you and bring you into the family of God and keep you there.

Can someone say amen to that?

Matter of fact, let's pray this over our church now.

Father God, we pray that our church will be deeply rooted in the love of Christ.

That we will be deeply established in the love of Jesus Christ.

Father, would you help our roots to go down deep into you?

Help us to be loving and not just fluffy love, but love of Christ.

The full impact of both grace and truth.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Alright, let's keep reading verse 19, man.

And to know this love, this is interesting what it does here.

He says, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge.

So he's playing around with words here.

He says, You can know this love.

Oh, I can't see you, but it surpasses knowledge.

That you may be, and here it is, see, this is his prayer, that you may be filled to the measure, to the brim, to the top, with all the fullness of God.

And then I'm gonna come back to this.

Now to him, that's Jesus, who is able to do immeasurably more.

So filled with to the measure, because Jesus is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine according to his power.

There that word is again that is at work in us.

To him be the glory in the church in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.

And God's people said, Amen.

It's so interesting.

Paul now prays not only for us to be strengthened, not only for us to be rooted in love, but that we will be filled to the brim with the fullness of God.

That we're so filled with the love of God, we're so filled with the grace of God, it's our cup is like running over.

And so let me just backtrack real quick.

Where does our strength come from?

Paul's clear.

From the Holy Spirit.

What are we rooted in?

Paul is clear, the love of Christ.

And his third prayer point, he's answering, what kind of people does God want us to become?

And he tells us a church full of God, people who reflect his character and nature.

He prays for us to be filled.

What does that word mean?

It's an interesting word.

It means to be complete, it means to bring to maturity, it means to bring to fullness.

It's like the idea of you're pouring water into a vase and you're pouring it all the way to the very, very tip top.

And again, Paul could have told us to be filled with a lot of things.

But he wants us to be filled with the fullness of God.

Now, some cults and some movements will say that you will then become like God.

You will become God.

That is not what he's saying.

He's praying for us to be filled with God's presence.

He's praying for us to be filled with God's character, his nature, to be so soaked in the life of God, when people get around you, they go, man, what's different about you?

You don't act like me, you don't talk like me, you don't think like me.

What's going on?

And here's his thinking.

If the church is the dwelling place of God, if God is here, then his point is kind of obvious.

Shouldn't the church look and act and even feel like God?

That's what he means.

So let me be very clear for us.

And I I'm I'm I'm very fired up about this.

So just just just come with me.

The Church of Jesus Christ, despite what the IRS says, is not a business venture with buildings, bodies, and bucks, the three B's that I learned early on.

The Church of Jesus Christ is not a brand or an empire to build.

The Church of Jesus Christ is not a platform to use for personal or political gain.

The church is not a museum for saints to hold on until the end, and the church is certainly not a country club for good-looking, nice people to get together before they go out to the brunch.

No.

The church of Jesus Christ, according to Paul, is the literal dwelling place of God.

It's his house, he's in charge, and it should reflect his character and nature.

Come on, please.

And I appreciate that, but here's what's sad: the great tragedy of the Christian life, the great tragedy of the American church today is we settle for so much less.

We settle for knowing about God instead of experiencing God.

We settle for attending church once a month instead of being the church.

We settle for religion of do's and don'ts instead of a life-giving and empowering relationship.

We settle for higher attendance, larger budgets, and a and joining the Christian speaker surrogate instead of going after God in his presence.

It's no wonder why Paul prayed about this.

It's no wonder that he looked at his church and said, they need God, not more programs, not more initiatives, not even more money.

They need God.

And so please, church, let us not settle for good music and a TED talk on a Sunday.

Let's not settle for good-looking people who hang out together before we go off to brunch.

Let's not settle for being a church that has words without action or some tame version of the church.

God has so much more for us and his church.

And so honestly, the hard question for me, for us, for our church, is does this describe us?

And I think in a lot of ways it does.

I had someone come up to me like, Rob, this is our trajectory.

I know, I know.

But are we growing more loving and more kind and more compassionate and more generous and more gracious and more holy and more forgiving?

We haven't arrived, but is that our trajectory?

Here's the thing I think about a lot.

When someone comes to our church for the first time, what are they experiencing?

Do they feel welcomed and loved?

Do they experience the grace of Jesus?

Do they see humility in our leadership and hope in our people?

Do they see people who are, man, becoming more like Jesus?

I think that's happening.

I hope that's happening.

And so let me again do, let me just be clear.

I do not care about having the best show in town.

I do not care about having all the best programs.

I do not care about being an influential or famous pastor.

I don't care.

I want a church and a people filled with the presence and the character and the nature of God.

I want a church where people walk in and go, whoa, what is going on in this place?

I want a church where people are experiencing not a good sermon, but they're experiencing Jesus and learning how to walk with Him too.

Do you want that too, church?

And uh what I love about Paul, man, is I think like me, he's overwhelmed.

By writing about the love of God, by thinking about his church, that he stops praying.

I don't know if you know that.

And he breaks out in praise and worship.

This last line of this prayer, theologians call it doxology.

It's a hymn of the church.

And I think he's overwhelmed thinking about all his church and the love of God and all that he wants for the church.

And he says, To him be glory in the church and in Jesus Christ through all generations, forever and ever.

Amen.

He's moved from prayer to worship.

He's moved from his knees to lifting up his heart to God.

And again, I think the more Paul thinks about Jesus, he just can't help himself to give Jesus the praise and the honor and the glory that's due his name.

Matter of fact, let's pray about that as well.

Father, we pray that our church would be filled with the fullness of God.

That we would all reflect your character and your nature, God, that we would be loving and kind and compassionate and generous and we would just be patient with one another.

We would be people who pursue holiness, God, that you would fill us up, God.

So strengthen us, root us, and fill us up, Lord.

That is who we want to be.

Amen.

Hey, I want to end with just plugging two or plugging one thing, praying for one thing.

Um, this uh Monday we kick off.

Uh we're opening up our upper room that's upstairs, and that's our prayer room.

So every Monday from here on out, our prayer room is gonna be open from 12 to noon.

It'll be staffed by some of our uh our our staff and volunteers and prayer people.

I just want to encourage you to mark it on your calendar.

Uh make it once this summer.

Um, take your lunch break.

Come and join us for prayer.

If you've never come to a prayer room experience before, you'll be fine.

You don't even have to pray out loud.

You can just come sit, soak it in.

We won't force you to pray, but I'm telling you, I'm really excited for what God's gonna do as we continue to invest deeper into becoming a church of prayer.

And then lastly, we want to pray for a church today, and on every Sunday we preach these passages.

So I want to pray for CPC today, our sister church, and Kevin Sneed.

It was his birthday this week.

I text him and said, bro, we're praying for you.

It's like, good, we need it.

So let's pray for CPC today.

Father, I do pray for Kevin and for his team and for Central Peninsula Church in Foster City.

That they would be strengthened on the inside, that they would be rooted deeply in love, and oh God, that you would fill them to the fullness of God.

That anytime someone steps into that auditorium, God, they would say, Wow, God is here.

I want to meet Him.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Hey, thanks for being with us, and we really pray that God spoke to you through his word today.

And we want to stay connected, so don't forget to subscribe to this podcast, and that way you'll be notified the moment we have new content go live.

And if you'd like uh more resources or to donate to our ministry, just simply go to newnorth.church.

Thanks again for joining us.

God bless you, and we'll see you right here next time.