The odds weren’t just in their favour—the bookmakers called it “unfair”. Before the tournament even began, the pundits and analysts said it would be a coronation rather than a competition. One headline even boasted, “Is there any point in the other teams even showing up?”
This team had 3 future MVPs, multiple scoring champions, each player was an All-Star, their combined salary was an eye-watering 200 million dollars, and they had placed first in each of the previous 3 tournaments—decisively.
Their fans settled in to watch them dominate the field again and bring home their fourth gold in a row. But when the buzzer sounded at the end of their finals-qualifier, they had the strange and unfamiliar feeling of watching the other team celebrate. And in the locker room after that semifinal loss, you could hear a pin drop. No shouting. No tears. Just silence. The kind of silence that says everyone knows exactly what went wrong—but no one wants to say it out loud.
They didn’t win the gold. Somehow, shockingly, they didn’t even compete for gold. They walked away with third place—and were lucky to get that.
Who was this team? Why did they fall so far short? What was missing that all the talent and money in the world couldn’t buy? We’ll find out at the end, so for now, let’s stick them in our pockets and turn to Ephesians 3:14-21.
Ephesians 3:14-21
(Ephesians 3:14-21, NRSVue) 14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. 16 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 17 and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. 18 I pray that you may have the power 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, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 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, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Prayer
Father, as we open Your Word today, open our hearts to receive it. Help us see not just what Paul prayed for the Ephesians, but what You are praying over us right now. Give us eyes to see how desperately we need each other, ears to hear Your call to unity, and hearts willing to be rooted together in Your love. Speak to us, Lord. We’re listening. In Jesus’ name, amen.
14-15 God is the definition of family
(Ephesians 3:14-15, NRSVue) 14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name.
Paul starts off with “for this reason,” so we know he’s continuing to build his case from the previous section. What was that section? It was where he encouraged the Ephesians not to lose heart because of Paul’s imprisonment. And he continues that thought by letting them know that he prays for them.
But before he gets into the prayer, he adds this curious phrase:
I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name.
What? Is Paul telling us that God assigned all of our family names? Smith, Jones, Jefferson, Singh, Salazar… all from God? And what exactly is a family “in heaven”? Like, dead people? Angels? You’d be excused for reading this passage and thinking, “What does that mean?”
I’ll be honest—it took me a fair amount of reading and re-reading and referencing scholars to try and figure this out. But what I came away with is something I think is actually pretty cool. So let’s get into it.
The first thing to note is what gets lost in translation from Greek to English. In Greek, the word “Father” and the word “family” are remarkably similar. There’s almost certainly a wordplay happening here. The Greek words are pater (Father) and patria (family).
So what is a family? The word patria shows up three times in the New Testament, and it’s used flexibly—sometimes for a nuclear family, sometimes for a clan or lineage. It’s not locked into one narrow definition. Paul’s using it broadly here.
I think Paul is using family in the Fast & Furious sense of the word—”family” isn’t just blood; it’s whoever you’d go to war for, whoever shows up when it matters. Whether you define your family by marriage, by blood, by intimate friendship, by membership in the same body of believers, or any other framework—that’s what Paul’s talking about. And I think this is made clear by the “in heaven and on earth” modifier. Because we—as a church—are bound together as a family in the heavenly places. We’re a spiritual family. My wife and my boys are bound together by covenant, and we’re an earthly family. But the key here is that both come from God.
And that needs to be explained. How do my earthly family and my heavenly family both derive from God? Church, this is the cool part. It’s because the very idea of family comes from God.
God created marriage in the garden. The whole institution finds its origin in the Lord—it’s not defined by the state or some legislative body or even the church. God Himself inaugurated the institution of marriage.
What about other unions? Friends? Churches? Special interest groups? These are communities—and community is even more fundamental than marriage. Because community eternally exists within God Himself. The Father, Son, and Spirit have been in perfect relationship forever. That’s not something God created—it’s something God is. And because we’re made in His image, that desire to belong, to connect, to find unity? It’s baked into us from the start.
So when Paul says every family derives its “name” from God, he means literally the name—the idea, the concept of family, unity, and community—finds its source in Him. Basically, Paul is saying he’s praying to the God through whom the unity he’s been talking about for the last three chapters is possible. God is the reason we seek family, the reason we need family, and the reason we find family.
If there’s something we really want or need—like unity within the church—then we should go to the One who created it and seek the greatest possible version of it. There ought to be no greater, more loving, more hopeful, more inspiring community on the planet than those who are unified by the One from whom the very concept of unity originates. That is, sadly, not always the case. But we can strive to change that, church. If we pursue the Lord with all we have, I think the love that will spill out of this community will be like a siren song to a world looking to belong.
So with that context, let’s keep reading to see what Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians is.
16-17 The Spirit sustains the individual
(Ephesians 3:16-17, NRSVue) 16 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 17 and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.
Again we see Paul highlight “the riches of God’s glory.” Remember, James tells us that every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father. God is the source of every good thing. We’ve already seen how family and community are founded in Him. And remember, church—God’s riches are inexhaustible. God will never be tapped out. His well never runs dry. If we’re willing to trust Him, He will not leave us disappointed. I promise.
So then, Paul prays that out of the infinite supply of God’s riches He would strengthen our inner being with power. Again, this is in light of Paul’s own imprisonment. So why is he so concerned about strengthening the believers in Ephesus just because he’s in prison? Because Paul recognizes that either our circumstances, or the circumstances of others, might lead us to become discouraged. If a road looks hard, there can be a temptation to abandon the journey. But we mustn’t allow ourselves to fall into that trap.
When we allow doubt to become fear, it turns into a good attack vector for Satan. And he will do everything in his limited power to pry us away from the saving love and fellowship of Christ. But if, in this moment of sober reflection, you feel that poke of the Spirit—that maybe you’re wavering—you’ll hear no condemnation from me. What I will say, though, is that you should take heed of that Holy Spirit gut-check and ask Him to change your heart. If we stop fighting with the Holy Spirit and really begin to yield our will, He will give us everything we need to sustain us and to empower us boldly for the cause of the Gospel.
And this is where the rubber meets the road: Why is it so critical that we draw on the inexhaustible riches of Christ to strengthen us in this world of discouragement? So “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.”
Some of you just had a “Wait… what?” moment. Because Paul is talking to Christians as though Christ is not already in their hearts. Now what does this mean? Isn’t Christ already taking up residence within me? Didn’t I invite Christ into my heart already? If you’ve confessed with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, then yes—Jesus is already in your heart. So how do we make sense of this?
The word “dwell” in the Greek uses the ongoing tense. It’s an action that continues to happen. So what Paul is praying is that Christ would continue to dwell in our hearts through faith. Jesus is there, and the Spirit is witnessing within us. That being the case, I contend that Paul must be worried about apostasy. Paul is worried that these Christians might renounce their covenant with Jesus—effectively issuing an eviction notice to the Lord.
Let’s just pause a moment and think about the weight here, church. Our decisions do not just affect us.
There’s a famous story of a man whose friend comes to him and says, “I know what the Bible says about adultery and divorce. I know it’s wrong. But I also know about grace—that God’s love is unconditional and there’s nothing we can do to make Him love us less. So, if I do this, God will forgive me anyway, right?”
The man struggled with how to respond. After thinking it over, he went back to his friend and said, “While God’s grace is infinite, sin still has devastating consequences on earth that grace does not automatically erase in the physical or relational sense.” He pointed out that the consequences are far-reaching—beyond just the man and his wife. Their children, friends, coworkers, and others would be wounded by the shrapnel.
And it’s true, isn’t it? When you see the fall of Steve Lawson, or Bob Coy, or Ravi Zacharias, it hurts. To see someone who walks with the same God we do—someone who can preach the Gospel—be revealed as living from a heart filled with lies… it shakes us. In fact, the man who told that story is Philip Yancey, who just confessed, this very week, to an eight-year affair with a married woman.
These stories can shake our foundation. But this is a good thing. Because it means we can re-evaluate that foundation. If there’s someone in that place who is not Jesus Christ, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, then we need to get that person out and yield that space to Jesus. Because people will fail us. Every leader is human. Every teacher is fallen. Every pastor—no matter how faithful—carries feet of clay. So please, build your foundation on Christ alone. Follow Jesus, not personalities. And then when someone disappoints you—because eventually, someone will—your faith won’t collapse with them.
With Jesus as our foundation, we are rooted in love. Let’s keep reading to explore what Christ’s love is, and how it can be most fully experienced.
18-19 God’s love is fully experienced together
(Ephesians 3:18-19, NRSVue) 18 I pray that you may have the power 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, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Remember: the context of this section is being “rooted in love” from the end of verse 17. And Paul builds on this thought by asking the Lord to give the Ephesians the power to comprehend that love.
That word “power” means strength, ability, or resolve. Paul prays that the Lord would give us His mercy in the form of strength because we are first rooted in His love. But what really makes this interesting to me is this next clause:
with all the saints
With. Together. There’s something about the shared experience that bolsters and encourages, isn’t there? Remember at the beginning we talked about how every community exists thanks to the God who designed us to want them—because community is where we flourish most richly.
Here’s the thing about community: it works like the giant sequoias of California. These trees are absolutely massive—some growing more than 300 feet in height and weighing over 2 million pounds. But their roots only grow 6 to 12 feet deep. That’s deep enough to get the nutrients they need to survive, but how does this 300-foot tree survive winds and storms when it’s so top-heavy?
Get this, church: their roots grow outward up to 200 feet. That’s an acre! So this tree wraps its roots around the roots of other trees, and when the storms come, they are literally able to weather those storms only together. Individually, they would almost certainly fall.
We need to be the sequoia. We draw life from being rooted in Jesus, and those roots also connect us to other believers who will stand with us when the trials come. Ever since COVID, it’s been trivially easy to isolate ourselves thanks to so-called “online church.” But church, that’s not community—that’s consumerism. Not only are you depriving yourself of the church—you’re depriving the church of you. Those conversations over coffee, those invitations to lunch, those times of prayer—you don’t get those things when you aren’t here. And that piece is what will allow you to stand firm when the winds of life come to try and push you down.
Because while we can absolutely experience the love of Christ all by ourselves—alone in a room, just us and Jesus—we cannot experience it fully. To fully understand Christ’s love, we need to experience His church. His community of believers.
That’s when we grasp the “breadth and length and height and depth.”
The breadth of God’s love—because it extends far enough to cover any sin we are willing to admit, repent of, and seek forgiveness for. No matter how wide your failure, His grace is wider.
The length of God’s love—because it extends farther than we can run, whether in shame or rebellion. You cannot outrun the reach of God’s mercy.
The height of God’s love—because it extends beyond anything our imagination can grasp. The highest aspirations of human love are still only shadows of His.
The depth of God’s love—because it extends into the deepest parts of us to root out the gunk and replace it with His holiness. No pit is too deep for Him to reach into.
And after Paul extends the metaphor of God’s love in all three dimensions, he underscores the value of knowing a love that surpasses knowledge. And at first blush, this might feel kind of confusing—like, how can we know something that “surpasses knowledge”?
When I was growing up, my mother used to warn me about the trap of thinking you’ve got it all figured out. I’m not sure how old I was, but I’m going to guess about 14—that feels like the age when the average teen has figured out the secret of life, the universe, and everything. Anyway, she used to tell me that the sages of the ages all share one observation: “The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know.”
Essentially, the more we know of the love of God, the more we appreciate how vast it truly is. It’s like standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon. You can see it. You can describe it. You can even hike down into it. But no photograph, no description, no measurement will ever fully capture the experience of standing there. That’s what Paul means. The love of Christ can be known—but it will always exceed our capacity to contain it.
And what is the value of knowing this love that we are rooted and growing in together, church?
that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
What!? This is mind-blowing! We can share in the infinity of God’s riches? There is a deep and abiding joy here that can sustain us through anything—especially if we are shouldering the load alongside other Christians, which we need to do to experience the fullness of this blessing anyway!
But the best part is what we are to do with all this strength and love! Because God doesn’t fill us just so we can feel full—He fills us so we can overflow. Let’s keep reading!
20-21 God’s power is revealed through the church
(Ephesians 3:20-21, NRSVue) 20 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, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Now to him who by the power at work within us is able. Church. Hear me, church. There is nothing—somebody say “nothing”—there is nothing that our God cannot do. God’s ability is never the problem. Now, it might be that we’re praying or seeking our own will and trying to insist it belongs to God. And the problem might be that our imaginations are stunted, and so we see only what is, rather than what can be.
When we read that God is able, and when we read that we have the Holy Spirit at work within us—powerfully at work within us—why don’t we believe Paul when he tells us that God can accomplish more than we can ask or imagine? No, wait—far more than we can ask or imagine. No, wait again… abundantly far more than we can ask or imagine! No, wait, that’s still not it. Let’s read it again, slowly.
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
Do we actually believe this? Or do we make timid requests because deep down we’re hedging our bets—asking for small things so we won’t be disappointed when God doesn’t show up the way we hoped?
Church, let’s stop playing small. Let’s stop treating God like He’s a genie with limited wishes or a cosmic vending machine that might be out of stock. He’s God. He led the Israelites with a massive pillar of fire every night! He walked with three men in the bowels of a fiery furnace! He got up out of the grave!
So let’s pray like people who actually believe He’s able. Let’s ask for the impossible. Let’s expect that when we show up unified, rooted together in love, moving as one body—God will show up in ways that blow our minds. Not because we’re special, but because He is.
And He will… as long as we are moving as a community in unity with the goal of bringing glory to His name. And how do we bring Him glory? I think that, broadly speaking, there are four avenues that bring the Lord glory.
1. Worship – Praise to Him to whom it is rightly due
Worship is the act of declaring God’s worth. It’s not just singing songs on Sunday morning—though that’s part of it. Worship is when we orient our entire lives around the truth that God is supreme, that He is worthy, and that nothing else comes close. When we gather together as a church and lift our voices in song, we’re declaring to the heavens and to the powers of darkness that Jesus is Lord.
And here’s the thing: worship is contagious. When one person worships with abandon, it gives others permission to do the same. When we worship together, we create an atmosphere where the presence of God is tangible, where the discouraged find hope, where the lost see light, and where the enemy flees. Worship is not passive—it’s warfare. It’s the church declaring, in unison, “Our God is able!”
2. Thanksgiving – Appreciation for what the Lord has already done for us
Thanksgiving is worship with a memory. It’s when we stop and recount the faithfulness of God—not just in the big moments, but in the small ones too. It’s remembering that time He provided when you didn’t know how the bills would get paid. It’s recalling the moment He brought healing when the diagnosis looked grim.
When we gather as a church and share testimonies of God’s goodness, we’re not just reminiscing—we’re building faith. Because when I hear how God showed up for you, it reminds me that He’ll show up for me too. Thanksgiving is the fuel that keeps our hope alive. It’s the antidote to despair.
Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Not give thanks for all circumstances—but in all circumstances. Even when it’s hard, even when it hurts, we can look back and see His hand. And when we do that together, we magnify His glory.
3. Acknowledgement – Recognizing who He truly is in all His might, power, and grace
Acknowledgement is when we stop pretending we’ve got it all figured out and simply declare the truth about who God is. He is holy. He is just. He is merciful. He is powerful. He is sovereign. He is good. And He is present.
Too often, we live like practical atheists—believing in God on Sunday but living like He’s irrelevant on Monday. Acknowledgement is the act of bringing God back into the center of everything. It’s saying, “You are Lord over my finances, my family, my future, my fears, and my failures.”
When we acknowledge God corporately—as a church—we remind each other that we’re not on our own. We’re not winging it. We’re not hoping for the best. We’re walking with the King of Kings, and His kingdom is unshakable. Acknowledgement shifts our perspective from scarcity to abundance, from anxiety to confidence, from defeat to victory.
4. Confession – Admitting where we have fallen short of His glorious standard of perfection
Confession is the humbling act of admitting we’re not enough—and that’s okay, because He is. It’s when we stop pretending, stop performing, and stop hiding. Confession is the moment we say, “I messed up. I sinned. I fell short. And I need Your grace.”
And here’s the miracle: God doesn’t respond to confession with condemnation. He responds with compassion. 1 John 1:9 promises us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Every single time. No exceptions. No limits.
But confession doesn’t just happen in private prayer—it happens in community too. When we’re honest with each other about our struggles, when we admit our failures and ask for prayer, we create a culture of grace. We disarm the enemy’s greatest weapon: shame. Because shame thrives in secrecy, but it dies in the light.
James 5:16 says, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” Healing happens in confession. Freedom happens in confession. Glory happens in confession—because it’s in our weakness that His strength is made perfect.
And you might ask, “Why is community so critical to all this?” Paul says it right there: his glory comes through the church in Christ and throughout all generations.
The glory due to God comes through the church—His Bride—as we seek to shine His light in this dark world. And through Christ and His saving work that shows the unfathomable love of God on full display in this: that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And this will be true from generation to generation, from one day to the next, until Christ returns again for His Bride.
But we have to be a community rooted together in His love if we’re going to be a beacon to a dying world—calling them to seek shelter from death within our walls. Which brings us back around to the third-place team we put in our pockets at the beginning.
Closing: Not So Dream Team
So who was this team that had everything—talent, money, experience, dominance—and yet walked away with bronze instead of gold?
It was the 2004 USA Men’s Basketball team at the Athens Olympics.
This wasn’t just any team. This was supposed to be the most dominant collection of talent ever assembled. Tim Duncan. Allen Iverson. LeBron James. Dwyane Wade. Carmelo Anthony. Three future MVPs. Multiple scoring champions. Every single player was an All-Star or would become one. Their combined salary was over $200 million. And they had won gold in 1992, 1996, and 2000—decisively.
But in Athens? They lost to Puerto Rico. They lost to Lithuania. They barely lost to Argentina in the semifinals—and then barely eked out a win in the bronze medal game—a rematch against Lithuania.
So what happened? What was missing?
Chemistry.
They had all the talent in the world, but they didn’t play like a team. They played like a collection of individuals. There was no cohesion. No unity. No shared rhythm. No trust. Each player was used to being the guy on their NBA team, and when they came together, they couldn’t figure out how to be a guy on this team.
Larry Brown, their coach, said it afterward: “We had great players, but we didn’t have a great team.”
And you know what the kicker is? After that embarrassment, USA Basketball completely overhauled their approach. In 2008, they assembled a new team—not just based on talent, but on chemistry. They trained together for years. They built relationships. They learned to trust each other. They became a team.
And they won gold. Then they won it again in 2012. And again in 2016.
Same country. Same talent pool. Different result. Why? Because they learned to play together.
Church, we are not short on resources. We have the Spirit of the living God dwelling within us. We have the riches of God’s glory at our disposal. We have the power to accomplish abundantly far more than we can ask or imagine.
But if we’re going to see God move in this community—if we’re going to be a beacon to a dying world—we cannot do it as isolated individuals. We cannot do it as consumers showing up when it’s convenient and disappearing when it’s not. We cannot do it as a collection of lone rangers who worship alone, serve alone, and struggle alone.
We have to be a team. A family. A community rooted together in the love of Christ.
So here’s my challenge to you this week—and it’s practical, and it’s uncomfortable, and it’s absolutely necessary:
1. Show up.
Not just on Sunday. Show up to that small group. Show up to that prayer meeting. Show up to serve. Show up to that coffee invitation. Because the sequoia doesn’t survive the storm alone—and neither do you.
2. Be honest.
Stop pretending you’ve got it all together. Confess your struggles to someone you trust. Let the light in. Let the church be the church for you—not just you being the church for others.
3. Believe big.
Stop hedging your bets with God. Stop asking for what feels safe. Start believing that when we show up unified, God will show up in power. Expect the impossible—because our God is able.
4. Worship together.
Sing like you mean it. Pray like you believe it. Give thanks like you’ve experienced it. Talk about God like He’s right here, right now—because He is!
In short: let’s be the church God designed us to be. One family. One body. One Bride. Rooted in love. Empowered by the Spirit. Moving in unison for the glory of God. Because when we are? When we’re unified in love and purpose and mission? There is no force on earth—and no force in hell—that can stop us. Amen?
Let’s pray.
Father, thank You for calling us into community. Thank You for designing us to need each other, to strengthen each other, to stand with each other. Forgive us for the times we’ve tried to go it alone. Forgive us for the times we’ve treated church like a service to consume rather than a family to belong to.
Lord, we want to be rooted together in Your love. We want to experience the breadth and length and height and depth of Your grace—not just individually, but together. We want to be filled with all the fullness of God—not for our own comfort, but so that we can overflow into a world that desperately needs to see You.
So strengthen us in our inner being. Deepen our roots. Unite us in love. Empower us by Your Spirit. And accomplish through us abundantly far more than we can ask or imagine—to the glory of Your name in the church and in Christ Jesus, to all generations, forever and ever.
Amen.