So a few years ago, we got to take a big family vacation to Disney World.  And on one of the days we went to Epcot and we came across this ride called Mission Space.  And we noticed that there were 2 of them: there is an Orange Mission which simulates journeying to Mars and there is a Green Mission where it simulates orbiting the earth and is supposed to be less intense than the Orange Mission.  Well, I am no sissy so of course I’m going on the Orange Mission. 

And so we walk into the ride and it tells you that you are going to experience something like 2.5 or 3 G’s and then the experience of weightlessness.  Now, I took a high school physics class when I was a senior, and I remember learning that there was such a thing as G force and this weightlessness effect that astronauts experience when they go into space…but of course I really didn’t know it from and experiential level, but I thought “how bad could it really be?” you know? 

Well, I should have known that I was in trouble when we started passing all of these warnings on the way (and there were more than a few) about the possibility of feeling disoriented and nauseous and motion sickness…but I figure that they just have to put those up so they don’t get in trouble…but that’s for the sissy’s you know?  But the moment I knew I was in trouble was when I got into the ride and right next to my chair was a vomit bag!  I’m like, oh my, what did I just get myself into? 

And then all of a sudden we take off!  And let me tell you that it took everything in me to concentrate on not pulling out that bag and vomiting my guts out!  And I got off the ride and saw immediately that I wasn’t the only one who wasn’t doing so hot…Natalie and my brother and his wife and my mom and dad all had this kind of pale and light green look on their face and were walking around in a daze.  And listen, the kids were fine, but all of the adults were done.  Thank God there was this little play area right outside the ride that the kids could entertain themselves in b/c all of us adults just sat down on the floor for like 20 minutes trying to pull ourselves back together. 

I learned that day that there is a big difference between knowing something about G-forces and weightlessness and actually experiencing them…

It’s possible to know something about Christianity but not ever experience becoming a Christian.  It’s also possible though to know you are a Christian but never truly experience Christ as your Life.

And one of the reasons for many of us that this is true is b/c we really don’t know how full of life we really are in Christ…and it’s impossible to experience fullness of life if you don’t even know that you have it, right?

And so that is why all summer long, we’ve been talking about our identity & looking at what Script. says is true about you & all that you have in Christ.

And based on Scripture, here is what David Needham says is true about you in his book titled, Birthright:

At the moment (you put your faith in Jesus for salvation) a new person came into being who had never existed before.  You are not a repaint job, but a brand new creature.  The old you was crucified on the cross with Christ.  The new you was born of the Holy Spirit and has been raised with Christ and seated with Him in the heavenlies.  You were dead spiritually; now you are alive spiritually.  For the first time you are alive the way God meant you to be alive.  In your spirit you are a completely new creation.

This is who you are in Christ if you have placed your faith in Jesus for salvation…but many of us never knew that…and as we said a second ago, it’s impossible to experience who you really are in Christ if you don’t even know who you are in Christ.

But…I think it’s also possible to know something about your identity in Christ but not really KNOW it.  I knew something about G force and weightlessness for 20 something years, but I really came KNOW G force and weightlessness when I experienced it on that ride at Disney World.

It’s possible to know something but not really grasp it…to not really own it or experience it in your life.  It’s possible to know who you are in Christ, but not walk by faith that it is really true.

My prayer today, is that you will not leave this series just knowing something about your identity in Christ but that you will experience your new identity & what is true of you in Christ…& it is Paul’s prayer for you too.  Look at Ephesians 2:14

14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.

For what reason?  Why is Paul about to pray for the Ephesians?  Well, what you need to know is that Paul has just taught them so much about their identity… I mean for the first 2 chapters, Paul is just dropping identity truth after identity truth after identity truth about who they are now in Christ…what is different about them now that they had placed their faith in Jesus for salvation.

I mean let me show you some of what Paul says (and many of these are things we’ve looked at all summer long)…Eph. 1:13…

13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. (Eph. 1:13-14)

Again, at the moment of belief something happens…the Spirit comes and dwells in us and unites to our spirit making us a new creation, as Paul would show them in the 2nd chapter…

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins…4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ… 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:1,4-6)

We were dead (we had one identity) but now we are alive (a new identity, a new person) and even already spiritually seated in heaven…as part of our new identity we are citizens of heaven…and being made alive and in a spiritual union w/Christ, could lead Paul to say what he did in Eph. 1:3…

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ (Eph. 1:3)

With this new identity, you are not lacking anything…you have every spiritual blessing in Christ…all that you need.  Also as part of your new identity you are completely forgiven…Eph. 1:7

7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins

As a matter of fact, we are no longer identified as sinners but saints…

1 To the saints who are in Ephesus (Eph. 1:1)

Your identity is not that of a sinner saved by grace but rather a saint who sometimes sins.  But not only are you a saint, you are a masterpiece…

10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. (Eph. 2:10)

You are a work of art in Christ & He can take your personality/talents/gifts & work through you to manifest Himself to the rest of the world…You are a masterpiece!  But, you don’t just have a personal identity…Eph. 2:19

19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (Eph. 2:19-22)

There is a togetherness found in our new identity…we are a family…we are a building…we are the body of Christ…we have a place to belong

And so there are all of these identity statements that Paul makes the church at Ephesus aware of…teaching them about how different they are, and as a result he could even say this in 3:12…

12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. (Eph. 3:12)

This new identity we receive allows us to be able to walk in a deep/intimate relationship w/the Lord…& b/c of that it leads Paul to pray this prayer just a few verses later…

He has unpacked all of these identity truths about who they are…they now KNOW so much more about their identity and Paul says…14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.

But what does Paul pray?  Let’s see, look at v. 16

16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

Now wait…I thought Christ already dwelt in our hearts?  I mean, we already read that Scripture earlier where Paul said that the Holy Spirit was deposited in us?  So why is he praying for Jesus to come dwell in us if He already dwells in us?

Remember all summer long we’ve been looking at these diagrams of how we are made up of a spirit, soul, and body…

But we have learned that we are spiritually dead b/c of sin…

However, just like Paul said in Eph. 1:13 that when we accept Christ the Spirit comes to dwell in us and unites to our spirit, making us spiritually alive and filled with His power…

So in our “innermost being,” in our spirit, Christ does dwell in us…we are united to Him in a spiritual union…

So when Paul is praying for Christ to dwell in our hearts, he is not praying for Jesus to come live in us but to move through us!

The word translated “heart” here in Greek is “kardia” which is defined in Greek dictionaries as figuratively referring to thoughts and emotions.  One commentator says, “the heart is the center of the personality, and it controls the intellect, emotions, and will.”

So if you remember our diagrams, this is referring to our soul…

And Jesus of course again, already dwells in us at the spirit level…And so Paul is praying that Jesus would move from just dwelling in them at the spiritual level to an experiential level…

“I am praying that you will begin to experience the new you that you’ve become in Christ in your thoughts and in your emotions and through your choices…that it will change everything about your life and the way you live each and every day!” And notice how Paul says this will happen…

17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

Not through your trying and your striving…through your works…NO “through faith”…through trusting in who He says you are and what thoughts, emotions, and behaviors line up with who you now are…through living by faith in His power to work these things in you and through you…

Okay so this is what Paul is praying for them/us…that we will walk by faith that what is true about us in Christ is actually true and begin to experience Him throughout all of our lives…but Paul isn’t done…

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,

Underline that (being rooted/established in love)…Paul writes that in what’s called the perfect tense which indicates a past action with continuing results.  You have been rooted and established in love at a specific time in the past (at the moment of salvation) and it has lasting results.  So Paul says, “I pray that SINCE you’ve been rooted and established in love” as part of your new identity that…V18

18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

So Paul says, “you are already rooted in this love,”…it’s already there deeply entrenched in you and your new identity but now I’m praying that you don’t just know it or know something about it…but that you will “GRASP IT”…that you’ll begin to experience the love He has for you…

And remember this is what Paul said was the basis for changing us and making us alive in Christ…remember in ch. 2 when Paul said we were dead, BUT GOD OUT OF HIS GREAT LOVE FOR US MADE US FULLY ALIVE IN CHRIST. It was out of His great love for you and me that He changed us and brought us this new identity…so that we could experience His love through a relationship with Him…

And so Paul prays that we’ll truly begin to grasp his love…to not just know something about it, but to KNOW it in an experiential way…Paul prays…

That you will think about how much He loves you, that you will FEEL the emotions of how much He loves you, and that His love for you will influence your choices and behavior and all that you do…that “you’ll be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God!”

And then look how  Paul closes out his prayer in v.20-21

20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Paul says, “Jesus, we know YOU can do this in us and through us! B/C you are able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine! 

It’s your power at work in us as your Church…as your people…as the ones you have birthed into new creations and united together as your family…

So all glory and honor to You as you work your love in us and through us and as we get to walk in freedom and confidence with you and enjoy an intimate relationship with you forever and ever, Amen!”... So, this is the prayer that Paul prays for the Ephesians after teaching them about their identity…

So THIS is Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians after he taught them about their identity and who they were as sons/daughters and as a Church family… that they would know it and own it and now begin to experience it in their everyday lives…

And THEN Paul begins to get into more specific applications and commands of “do this and don’t do that” as the letter goes on…

But do you see how you can take those differently now?  If you just start with the do this and don’t do that then it makes it all about rules and striving to be better…

But if you start with this is who you are…then now you see that the “do’s and the don’ts” are there to show you and I the outward behaviors and actions that line up with who we already are…

And so it’s not, “I’m striving to do this and be better to change to be more like Christ,” it’s “I am like Christ and this is how He will work in me and through me as I begin to experience more and more of Him as I walk by faith!”

So that is why knowing our identity is so important…and then why beginning to walk by faith in who God says we are is so important as well.

In the 1920’s there was a man by the name of Ira Yates.  And Mr. Yates owned a great deal of land out in west Texas.  And on all of this land, he raised sheep which didn’t produce much financially for him…he was living in poverty as a matter of fact.

But one day, even though almost everyone including himself thought the land was worthless, he hired an oil company to drill on his ranch just to know for sure…and when they began drilling they struck the largest oil deposit at that time to be found on the entire North American continent… I mean it produced something like over 80,000 barrels of oil every day!

And so guess what?  All of a sudden, he became rich!  He was worth millions…Ira Yates, a sheep rancher, became a multimillionaire overnight…

Or did he?  See, if you think about it…Mr. Yates had actually been worth millions the moment that he first acquired the land…I mean the oil had always been there…but he just didn’t know it…

He was experiencing financial poverty in his daily life completely unaware of the incredible riches he had…

And many of us do the same thing as Christians every single day.  We walk around in spiritual poverty, not knowing what we already have in Christ.

You now know what you have in Christ…so go live in the fullness of the spiritual riches that you have in Christ and the new identity you have in Him!