The goal of the Christian life is to become more and more like Christ. This is the aim of what Paul writes to the Ephesian church. His aim is that we would become more and more like Christ as we sit securely, walk obediently and stand firmly.

Sit, walk, stand. These are the three major themes of Ephesians. We are to sit securely in our identity in Christ, walk obediently to the commands of Christ and we are to stand firmly in our war against the power of Satan, sin and the world. And as we sit securely, walk obediently and stand firmly, we become more and more like Christ. More and more filled with the fullness of Christ.

Look at Ephesians 3:14 – 21 paying special attention to verse 19…

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in Heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith – that you being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 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, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

The goal of everything we do as a church family is to help one another become more and more like Christ. Preaching, music ministry, prayer gatherings, coffee and greeting ministry, kids and nursery ministries, setup team, the Emcee team, communion servers, gospel communities, leadership development strategies, outreach events, budgets, bank accounts, membership classes, visitor care, follow-up systems… all of these micro-ministries of our church family have one goal in mind.

That goal is to help people become more and more like Christ. When we say that we want to be a gospel-centered family of missionally engaged disciples who are running a rescue mission within a yard of hell we are saying that we want to help people become more and more like Jesus. This is the goal that we are aiming for. But what does it mean to become more and more like Christ? How will we know if we are pursuing the right goal line?

You may or may not be a fan of the game of football. But whether you are a fan or not, I want you to imagine yourself at a football game for a minute. Two teams are lined up in the middle of the field. Each team has one goal in mind when they are playing offense. The goal is to get the football to the goal line.

Now imagine the team with the ball. The quarterback gets the ball, steps back into the pocket, finds a receiver down the field and launches the ball towards him. The receiver catches the ball and the fans go crazy with anticipation of the impending touchdown. People are cheering so loud you nearly go deaf. And then to everyone’s horror the receiver gets confused and begins running in the wrong direction towards the wrong goal line.

He’s so disoriented he doesn’t even listen to the crowd or the other players around him and just keeps chugging his way down the field towards the wrong goal. The goal looks deceptively the same as the right one. There really isn’t anyone standing in his way because the defensive players are now playing offense and the offensive players are now playing defense so both teams are now playing for the wrong goal. Everything’s a mess. The game to a casual observer might look the same. But the results are catastrophic.

This is a picture of what it looks like when we get confused about the goal of the Christian life. Randy preached this really well last week when he said that the goal of the Christian life is not to be successful but to be fruitful instead.

When I begin to think that the goal of my life is to be a successful parent, spouse, employee, employer, friend or minister then I begin to run towards the wrong goal line. Thank God for the godly people around me though. Just like a stadium full of fans at a football game, I am blessed to have a community of godly people around me that will shout, yell and all out tackle me to get me headed towards the right goal line.

And the right goal line that Paul prays for here in verse 19 is that we would “know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” This verse is the apex or the mountaintop of all that Paul has been praying for in these verses. It is the goal that every piece of his prayer has been leading to all along.

He prays that we would be strengthened with the power of the Holy Spirit from deep within us according to the vast wealth of God’s glory. He prays that Christ would have free reign deep within our hearts as we are rooted and grounded in his love through faith.

He prays that we would have the same experience of Christ’s never ending, unconditional, immeasurable love that every saint is expected to have. He doesn’t pray that we would become successful. He prays that we would become fruitfully filled with the fullness of God.

#1: Paul prays that we would know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge…

To become successful is to become unfruitful. But to become fruit-full (full of fruit) is to become like Christ. It’s to become full of the love of Christ. Paul prays that we would experience the love of Christ at the heart level, which surpasses the head level. He wants us to move past our experience of love as a mere feeling that demands immediate gratification.

He wants us to move past the quick fix of figuring things out and past the quicker fix of reducing love to a feeling that’s needs fed. He wants us to know the love of Christ that God’s Word teaches us about. He wants us to experience this love personally.

The love of Christ is slow to anger and overflowing with steady, patient and trustworthy love. His love is powerful enough to save you from your sin and it causes the Lord to rejoice over you. His love is powerful enough to silence the roaring waves of anxiety in your heart as he sings love songs over you. (Ps. 86:15; 136:26; Zeph. 3:17)

Christ’s love drove him to the cross so that you could receive the gift of everlasting life. He has loved you with the love of the heavenly Father. His love is evident in the fact that he didn’t demand your perfection before extending his love to you. He bought your perfection because of his great love for you. (Jn. 3:16; 15:9-11; Rom. 5:8)

There is nothing that can separate you from the love of Christ. The penalty for your sin was paid in full at the cross of Christ. His purchase of you was completely finished on the cross of Calvary. Because of the Father’s vast wealth of mercy he has loved you even when you were dead in your sin. (Rom. 8:37-39; 1 Jon. 4:9-10; Eph. 2:4-5)

What goal line are you praying for? What does your heart cry out for when you come to God in prayer? These are some of the ways I’ve been praying lately in light of the fruit of the Spirit. Father, you love the unlovable. Your son, Jesus, was filled with joy to die for me. You paid the price of peace between us. You have patiently loved me since before the foundations of the world. Your kindness and your goodness in the cross of Christ have enabled me to come close to you. Your faithfulness is unshakable. Your gentleness is unexpected. And your powerful control is unexplainable. Help me; Father, to know the love of Christ. Help my heart to experience the love of Jesus. Please produce fruit in my life that flows from my experience of the love of Christ. Help me to become more and more like Jesus.

Help me to love the unlovable. Help me to resist momentary happiness. Help me to chase lasting joy in the presence of Christ. Help me to fight for true peace amidst all of the chaos and conflict of this world. Help me not to hide from frustration but please give me patience. Help me to be kind and good instead of running towards the goal line of selfishness and evil. Help me to be trustworthy. Help me to be gentle yet firm. Help me to be captured by Christ’s love and controlled by his Spirit. Help me to become more and more like Christ. What goal line are you praying for?

#2: Paul prays that we would be filled with all the fullness of God…

Someone who is filled with all the fullness of God will look a lot like Jesus. If my identity is rooted in the pursuit of power then weakness will produce anger in me. If my identity is rooted in the pursuit of acceptance then rejection will produce despair in me. If my identity is rooted in the pursuit of control then chaos will produce fear in me. Anger, despair and fear don’t look a lot like Jesus.

Paul prays that we would be filled with all the fullness of God. Zoom out for a minute and think about where we are in this letter to the Ephesians. We are at the very end of the theme of what it means to be seated securely in our identity in Christ. Chapter four begins with the words “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.”

Paul is getting ready to instruct us to walk obediently. But we will not be able to do this unless we are seated securely in our identity in Christ. Our doing flows out of our being. What we do is a reflection of who we think we are and who we want to be. And if we are filled with all the fullness of God then we will want to be like Christ.

We will want to walk obediently like Christ. We will want to stand firmly like Christ. We will want to be like Christ because we are seated securely in Christ. Someone who is seated securely in Christ is being filled with all the fullness of God. If you are being filled with all the fullness of God your goal lines have been rearranged. Have your goal lines been rearranged? Is it your goal to become more and more like Christ?

Are you praying like the apostle Paul in Philippians 1:9-11 that “your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” Have your goal lines been rearranged? Is it your goal to become more and more like Christ?

Are you able to say with the apostle Paul in Philippians 3:12-14 that even though you haven’t “already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Have your goal lines been rearranged? Is it your goal to become more and more like Christ?

Do you welcome the words of 1 Peter 1:14-16 where he says “do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’” Have your goal lines been rearranged? Is it your goal to become more and more like Christ?

Does your life reflect the words of Psalm 1:1-3 where the author says, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does he prospers.” Have your goal lines been rearranged? Is it your goal to become more and more like Christ?

If you are being filled with all the fullness of God then you are becoming more and more like Christ. And if you are becoming more and more like Christ then your goal lines have been rearranged. You want to be like Jesus now. You want your capacity for love, knowledge, discernment, purity, blamelessness and the fruit of righteousness to grow so that God is glorified through you.

You want to leave behind the old goal lines of Satan, sin and the world and you want to press on towards the new goal line of a godly life. You want to live obediently to God’s Word. You don’t want to be shaped and molded by your old shameful, ignorant desires. You want to be holy and set apart for the special purposes of God. You take pleasure in meditating on God’s Word and your life is like a strong oak tree that gets stronger and stronger with every passing day. Have your goal lines been rearranged? Is it your goal to become more and more like Christ?

Some Practical Application…

As you meditate on these questions you might look back over the last year of your life and you might say some of the following things:

  • I don’t pray very much because I’m too busy or I don’t know what to say.
  • I’m not sure the goal lines have been rearranged in my life. What does that mean anyway?
  • I really want to be more and more like Christ but I’m not sure what that looks like. How do I do this?

#1: Praying for goal lines takes discipline…

This prayer that we’ve examined over the last 13 weeks wasn’t just a one-off prayer for the apostle Paul. As I read more and more of Paul’s letters I meet a man who was extremely disciplined. As I study Jesus’ life he often withdrew intentionally to quiet places of solitude to pray. The discipline of prayer is hard. There’s nothing easy about it. But the Christian life will lack any semblance of power without it. An undisciplined Christian will be a weak Christian.

I often think of prayer like two-a-days in sports. The reason sports programs utilize a two-a-day strategy is to get their athletes into the discipline of training their bodies to handle the physical stress of the sport they play. The way I translate this into the discipline of prayer is two times of prayer per day. Two times a day I pull away into the solitude of a quiet place and I pray through the highs and lows of my day inviting the Spirit of God into those things. Praying for goal lines takes discipline.

#2: God’s Word will rearrange your goal lines…

If you don’t read God’s Word regularly you are defining the goal lines on your own terms. The only way to stop defining the goal lines of your life on your own terms is to invite the Word of God to rearrange the goal lines of your life according to God’s terms. Once again the two-a-day discipline has radically changed my life and forced me to get my nose into the ink of God’s Word on a regular basis. God’s Word will rearrange your goal lines.

#3: Praying God’s Word will fill you with the fullness of God…

Sometimes I don’t know what to pray for. After I’ve prayed through all of the highs and lows of my day it’s hard to know what to pray. So I put the two disciplines of praying and reading God’s Word together. I literally turn God’s Word into a personal prayer.

If it’s a passage of praise I pray it as praise to the Lord. If it’s a passage of prayer I turn it into a prayer to the Lord. If it’s a passage of instruction I ask the Lord to help me be obedient to his instructions. If it’s a story I ask the Lord to help me to either be like the character of the story or to help me to learn from the mistakes of the character in the story. In this way, the disciplines of prayer and God’s Word have begun to shape me into a man who is being filled with the fullness of God. Praying God’s Word will fill you with the fullness of God.

Conclusion…

What goal line are you praying for? Have your goal lines been rearranged? Is it your goal to become more and more like Christ? Is it your goal to be filled with the fullness of God?