Sermon Tone Analysis

*Preparing to Live*

*Living Requires Christ at Home*

(Ephesians 3:17)

 

A man and his wife are having their nightly tiff, with the husband waxing poetic about all the things his wife does that he finds irritating.

The wife says, “I tell you what – make a list of all the things I do that bother you.”

About ten years later, as they are about to start watching television, the wife says, “Listen, ten years ago, you said you were going to make a list of all the things I do that aggravate you.

Where’s the list?”

The husband says, “I’m working on it, but so far I’m only up to the M’s.”

I think it’s safe to say that that husband and wife did not feel very much at home with each other, wouldn’t you?

What do we mean when we say that we feel right at home somewhere?

Well, we mean we’re comfortable; we can be ourselves; that we feel secure, safe, wanted, compatible with the surroundings.

We’ve all said, “Nice place to visit; wouldn’t want to live there.”

We didn’t feel at home, right?

The food was different, the customs were unfamiliar and uncomfortable.

We saw interesting things, but we were not at home.

Now, I have a question for you this morning.

Is it possible that Jesus Christ your Savior is saying about you, “Nice place to visit, wouldn’t want to live there?”  */Is that possible?/*

In the passage before us this morning we are faced with a very fascinating, challenging and largely unrecognized truth of the Christian life and that is that it is possible to have invited Christ into your heart and life – possible to truly be a Christian and /yet for Christ not to be indwelling your heart./

You say, “That’s not possible.

Why that’s contrary to everything I’ve ever heard or been taught.”

But I tell you, it /is/ possible, and it’s taught right here in our passage.

Look at Ephesians 3:17.

Paul prays, “ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.”

Why in the world would Paul pray that?

Aren’t these already Christian people?

Yes, they are.

He addressed his letter to the saints in Ephesus, and has assumed their salvation all along, so there is no question that he is praying for people here who are already in Christ.

And if  they are “in Christ”, is it not true that Christ has been invited in?  Yes, that’s true.

The Bible says in John 1:12, “But as many as received Him, to them he gave the power to become the children of God.”

All who have accepted Christ have Him in their life.

They have received Him in – but having done so, many of us turn and immediately put severe restrictions on Him – some purposeful, some not, but we limit this wonderful Savior and it is Paul’s prayer that these Ephesian believers get beyond that and take their Christian experience to a whole different level – one where Christ can truly feel and be at home – *one where /He/ is in control and not /self/*, one where He finds that which is familiar, acceptable, comfortable, pleasing, desirable – one where our will is subordinated to His.

This is the */second rung/* in the ladder of Paul’s prayer that these believers learn to live with a capital “L”.

It is an */audacious/* prayer aimed at focusing the attention of the Ephesians at the absolute highest of possible spiritual heights – even while still living here in this world.

Rung one of that ladder was that we might be strengthened on the inside to bear what is coming.

Rung two is that Christ will dwell in our hearts by faith – a rich, rich request.

Let’s look at it in three parts.

What is Paul praying here?

\\ \\

*I.                   **He prays for Christ to be at Home*

* *

To get the message of this passage, we must first understand the word “dwell.”

It is the Greek word κατακοιεω.

The Greek word οικος means house.

The verb form of that, οικεω, means to abide or dwell in.

Now, there is a Greek word, παροικεω, that means to dwell in as a stranger.

That word describes the condition when we go visiting and are given our bedroom, but we would be uncomfortable to go just /anywhere/ in the house.

We are there as a guest.

But Paul’s word is κατοικεω, an intensified form that means to settle down and really feel at home – free to go anywhere in the house.

Big difference, Folks.

This is why it’s possible for Christ to be in our heart – but not really indwell, in the sense of being very at home.

One way to think of this is that when you accepted Christ, you truly desired that He forgive your sins and become your Lord and Savior.

You’re not  a Christian if you have not opened yourself that way to Him.

So, He came in.

He became a part of your life.

But now, you have reverted in many ways to your pre-Christian ways, wants, desires, habits, and interests.

*/Far from being about seeking the kingdom of God, your life is about getting by with as much pleasure and ease as possible.

No sense of mission attaches./*

In essence, you have confined Christ to a single chair in the formal living room or even on the porch.

You visit him there occasionally – perhaps on those Sunday’s when you are feeling good and there is nothing else to occupy your attentions – and once in awhile when life really implodes on you, you may, as a last resort, come to him to meet your need with never a further thought for */His/* desires, for /His/ will, for /His/ purposes – and certainly with */no desire that He move from that seat/*.

“Please God, do not come into the remainder of my heart house.”

He is *παροικεω* in our lives (dwelling as a stranger), but He’s surely not *κατοικεω*.

What is the problem?

Oh, folks, that answer is /very /simple, and it revolves around that same word οικεω.

Paul says this in Romans 7:18: “18) For I know that nothing good dwells (there is our word, *οικεο*) nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.

For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.

See, what Paul is describing in Romans 7 is exactly what we are looking at – the experience of a true Christian, but one not living in the power of the Holy Spirit, and so he is controlled by the remnants of his /old/ life, by the sin and self that still remain – wanting in a sense to do good (wouldn’t be a Christian if at least the desire weren’t there), but giving in quickly to the old desires, living in accordance with a very visible physical world and confining Christ to His single, little chair.

*/Christ is in the life, but He is certainly not at home.

/*

 

I saw a cartoon not long ago.

It showed a fisherman and a game warden standing together on a dock.

The fisherman is holding a line behind his back with a fish attached, obviously trying unsuccessfully to hide it as the warden says, “When I said, ‘Throw it back,’ I also meant cut the line.”

A lot of us haven’t cut the line, folks.

*/We’re still hanging on for all we’re worth to pre-Christ lifestyle.

/*

 

Let me give you a picture.

The Lord, in company with two angels, visited Abraham one day as recorded in Genesis 18. Abraham, sensing that this was the Lord, begged them to stay, to wash their feet and to rest while he brought a morsel of bread.

They agreed and notice what Abraham did starting in verse 6, “And Abraham went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quick!

Three seahs of fine flour!

Knead it, and make cakes.”

7) And Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to a young man, who prepared it quickly.

8) Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them.

And he stood by them under the tree while they ate.”

What a picture.

He couldn’t do enough to make them feel at home and they did, and so you will see later in the chapter the Lord shared His heart with Abraham.

But contrast that with Genesis 19.

This same heavenly group is actually on their way to Sodom and Gomorrah and they show up at Lot’s house in Sodom, on a mission to destroy this most evil society that Lot has chosen to live among.

Lot is a believer; we are so told in II Peter 2:7, and there are indications in Genesis 19 as well.

He invites them to come to his home rather than stay in the city square where he knows full well they will be assaulted by neighbors given to licentiousness.

He feeds them and tries to protect them.

He’s a believer.

*/But notice, the whole travel contingent didn’t get to Sodom/*/.

/The Lord dropped out and sent the angels on alone.

Though Lot was a believer, */His Lord would never have felt in the least at home at Lot’s place/*.

In fact, He had to completely destroy Lot’s place, with Lot barely escaping himself.

Now I suppose at some level, Lot thought he liked his life in Sodom; he didn’t dislike it enough to leave it, that’s for sure.

But later, in the light of eternity, when he compared with Abraham, when the cheap, tawdry thrills of this life were over – how do you think he felt then?

So, the question is, Beloved, just how at home is Christ in your life?

Can He truly settle in and be at home?  */Is our heart more like Abraham’s place or more like Lot’s?/*  Let’s look further at Paul’s prayer.

*II.

**He Prays for Christ to be at Home /in Their Hearts/*

* *

The next important word in our text is the word “hearts”.

Paul prays that Christ may dwell – be at home and settled – /in their hearts.

/When the Bible uses the word “heart” it is not just referring to the emotions.

Rather, the entire inner person is in view – mind, will and emotions.