For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power 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, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, -to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
NRSV
How many have ever been to New Hampshire?
I never have, but they say that this state has some of the most breathtaking scenery of any state.
However, it will cost you. The state needs money. It does not have an income tax, nor a general sales tax. It does, though, have a property tax, and a while back some officials came up with a novel way to increase revenue from property taxes.
These officials considered the scenery you could enjoy from your home as adding to the value of your home, just as a finished basement or attached garage would add value. And if the value of your home goes up, guess what else goes up? Your property taxes.
For example, Bennett Nicholson lived in Winchester, New Hampshire, in a house that overlooked a valley through which the Connecticut River flows. In 2002, his house and land were appraised at about $98,000. In 2003, after the tax assessor calculated a value for his scenery, his house and land were appraised at $273,000. His property taxes more than doubled.
He had planned on living there his whole life, but he couldn’t afford it. He put his house on the market, and moved to Canada.
Beautiful landscapes. They’re valuable—so valuable that they can be taxed.
We all have a desire to live in a place that has a beautiful view.
Paul, in today’s passage, must have been writing from such a place. The words you’re about to hear are so uplifting, beautiful. He must have written them from the back porch of his home in New Hampshire, overlooking the White Mountain National Park.
No doubt he had just finished his bowl of Grape Nuts; drank his freshly squeezed orange juice; and took a sip of freshly brewed Starbuck’s Pike’s Roast coffee as he penned these words:
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power 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, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
NRSV
What a beautiful passage! He uses words like “riches,” “love,” “fullness of God,” “accomplish abundantly.”
Imagine Paul putting down his quill, satisfied with his words, and breathing in the fresh mountain air. He gets up, takes another sip of coffee, and decides to go off for a hike, accompanied by his faithful collie, Pal.
Do you believe this is the backdrop of Paul’s writing this passage?
Of course it wasn’t.
He was writing these gentle, beautiful words of grace, not from his back porch, but from…
…a prison cell.
Amazing! We rely on beautiful scenery to inspire us, perhaps to relax us. It’s taxable scenery, according to New Hampshire. But here is Paul expressing such inner strength while looking through prison bars—scenery that is not exactly desirable.
He had inspiration from within. It didn’t matter to him if he were looking at the White Mountain range in New Hampshire, or at a rat crawling across the jail floor: he was able to be at peace, he was able to see beauty.
How could he have this inner inspiration?
HE STOPPED WORRYING ABOUT HIS OWN NEEDS.
When he was struck down on the Damascus Road that time, and Jesus encountered him, he would never look at life the same way.
He, the worst of sinners, had been loved, forgiven, given a second chance.
He, the redeemed sinner, was commissioned by Jesus himself to preach the Gospel.
He now had a higher calling. And he didn’t care what happened to him. He didn’t care if he were in prison. He didn’t care if people insulted him. He didn’t care if people lied about him. He didn’t care if he was sick. He didn’t care if he was whipped and beaten. HE DIDN’T CARE.
So deeply, intimately had he encountered Christ, that nothing else mattered any more—other than Christ. Christ would take care of him. So, what was important was doing what Christ called him to do.
What we would call a catastrophe, he’d call an opportunity—to proclaim Christ. What we’d call ugly, he’d call beautiful—because Christ was alive and active there. What we would call jail, he’d call freedom—because he’d experienced Jesus with him in that cell. Remember—another time when he was in a dungeon, with his feet in stocks, he was singing hymns to God in the middle of the night.[Acts 16]
Funny thing happened because of this. When he stopped worrying about his own needs,
…HE STARTED SEEING THE NEEDS OF OTHERS.
I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.
If Paul was only concerned about his health, clothes, food, etc., then he’d be miserable in prison—and there’d be “I’s” all over the place: “I was treated unfairly, I am upset, I am angry,” etc.
But I only see one “I” in that passage, and it goes, “I pray.” There are no “me, my, mine’s” either. There are only “you” and “your.” When you trust Christ with your needs—when you commit to the higher calling of following him, making him happy: THEN is when you’re able to see the needs of others.
I like what Rick Warren said in his book, The Purpose Driven Life:
This is true humility: not thinking less of ourselves but thinking of ourselves less…When we stop focusing on our own needs, we become aware of the needs around us … When was the last time you emptied yourself for someone else’s benefit? You can’t be a servant if you’re full of yourself. It’s only when we forget ourselves that we do the things that deserve to be remembered.
—Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2002), 265-266.
We’re talking today about sharing our faith through loving acts. So, let’s follow Paul’s example today, shall we? Let’s not be so full of ourselves. Let’s not be so focused on our own needs and problems.
You might have come in here today burdened with your own problems. It’s like you dragged in here a bag full of pain, worry, and uncertainty. Life looks bleak, because the bag is heavy.
TRUST THE GOSPEL TODAY! Believe that Christ has lifted your burdens, that Christ will deal with your problems better than you can. Let loose of the bag for a while—you can always come back to it. Instead, focus on lightening the burdens that other people are lugging around.
If you believe that, you can get away from the “I, me, mine” words, and focus on the “you” and “your” words.
You’ve let go of your problems for a while—you’ve trusted Jesus, like Paul did.
Now, WHO has problems you know, who needs help? Who needs their load lightened? You can now see them more clearly, feel their pain more tenderly. Who needs to be touched by the healing love of Christ?
1—Someone you live with?
The economic crisis has taught us the importance of being diligent about keeping a house. But have we been as diligent in making a home inside the house?
Do you know the hurts and the hopes of the people you live with? Do you have the grace to set aside your worries, and get lost in the world of the people you share four walls with? Do you have the grace to set aside your attitudes and assumptions, and be with that other person? Christ demonstrated unconditional love to us. The truest witness of our faith in him is to demonstrate that same type of love to the ones closest to us.
You cannot be a parent without accepting the messes that go along with that job.
Likewise, you cannot be worthy of the title Christian without being willing to accept the messes that go along with loving unconditionally those you see every day. The sloppiness of their lives will spill over onto you. Good. Accept sloppiness as a badge of honor!
Who needs to be touched by the healing love of Christ?
2—Someone you feel for?
Is their someone you encounter, perhaps regularly, who touches your heart? If you set aside your needs, and follow your heart, what would happen?
A woman reflected on her childhood. She’d grown up in poverty, and remembered her father’s philosophy: money marries money; good things happen to those who can afford them; life is something one must endure until it is over.
As a girl, this woman had wanted to be a Brownie, but her father denied her this. Her teacher, who had become aware of the situation, intervened. She pulled some strings, got the girl into the program, bought her a uniform. Months later, the girl and father went to the daddy/daughter banquet; he said at the end of it, "When I look at you, my little Brownie, I can believe in miracles." The woman said that the kindness of that teacher had transformed not just her life, but even that of her bitter father.
Who tugs at your heartstrings?
Who needs to be touched by the healing love of Christ?
3—Someone you’d avoid?
It was Ghandi, I believe, who said that the problem with Christianity is that there are so few people who really practice it. What he was meaning is that if God “so loved the world” in all its ugliness, so must Christians.
Take the poor. It’s easy to avoid them. But William Booth’s heart bonded with society’s poor, and he founded the Salvation Army. Mother Teresa’s heart went out to the impoverished in India, and she founded the Sisters of Mercy.
Take the sick. In our health-obsessed culture, it’s easy to avoid them. Yet there was Albert Schweitzer, who gave up a life of privilege in order to doctor the diseased poor of Africa. And there are those in the hospice program who dare even hold the hands of the dying.
There are people all around we can avoid. But we have the duty to look at them, and not see ugliness, but beauty.
The distinctive mark of the Christian has always been that where others run away, Christians run to. [Hom, 7/30/06]
Who will you run to?
Who needs to be touched by the healing love of Christ?
WHO, indeed?
Do you want to see a beautiful landscape every day—and not have to pay a cent of property tax for it?
Develop Paul’s eyesight for beauty. Whatever is your concern about yourself, let loose of it for a while. [By the way, when you pick it back up, you’ll be amazed at how lighter it feels!] Be more concerned about the bags other people are dragging around. Perhaps even as you leave this place, you’ll encounter someone who moves your heart, and will move you to action.
THEN you’ll discover just how beautiful life is—regardless of where you are.
As that old poem goes,
“Two men look out the same prison bars: one sees mud, the other, stars.” [Frederick Langbridge]
