Fill'er Up!

...that you may be filled with all the fullness of God (Eph 3:19).

Back in a previous millennium, there was an ancient institution called the full-service gas station.  My grandfather told me about it.  OK, I admit it.  I remember it too.  Here’s how it would go down.  You would pull your car up and the attendant would run out to pump your gas, check your oil and wash your windshield.  To top off your tank, you'd tell him to "fill'er up!"  That's what Paul is praying for here.  Not for a full tank of unleaded.  But that God would pour Himself into every available place among his friends in Ephesus.  He prays "that you may be filled with all the fullness of God" (v19).

Fill'er up!!

From the slammer in Rome, Paul prays for the folks in Ephesus.  As a matter of fact, it doesn't take much to understand this entire letter is a written prayer for this church that he knows so very well.  He knows them because he spent three years in the city being used by Jesus in one of the greatest spiritual upheavals in recorded history (Acts 19).  The apostle never stops praying for this church (Eph 1:17).  He asks God to shine His light of revelation on their hearts so they could get a glimpse of everything they already have in Jesus (Eph 1:18-23).  He prays that God's Spirit would strengthen them (Eph 3:16) and that Christ would make Himself at home in their hearts (Eph 3:17).  He prays that the Ephesians would try to wrap their brains around the massive scope of Jesus' love for them (Eph 3:18-19).  He continually prays that they would continually pray (Eph 6:18).

Specifically, the apostle asks God to fill these believers "with the fullness of God" (v19).  He literally asks the Lord to fill them with the filling.  The verb here plero'o, which means to supply fully, bring to completion, make full and fill up.  This is the same term Jesus used when telling about a net so full of fish that it was about to burst open (Mt 13:48).  Dr. Luke pulled out this verb in describing how the roar of God's Spirit filled the entire house at Pentecost (Acts 2:2).

Don't miss that this verb is passive.  Paul's NOT asking his buddies back in Ephesus to fill themselves with God's fullness.  Not possible.  God alone does the filling.  He's not some supernatural vending machine that provides a full tank of His presence whenever we feel like we need it.  God fills.  We receive.  

Paul pleads with the Father to fill the Ephesian believers with His fullness.  Don't leave any space without His divine presence.  No wasted space.  Fill every last inch.  Wall to wall.  Top to bottom.  Side to side.  

Fill'er up!!!

The apostle asks God to fill the Ephesians to the brim with "fullness of God" (v19).  The term here is pleroma, the noun cousin to the verb we just looked at.  It means that which fills up, abundance, completeness, overflowing amount or wealth.  Paul understands that we simply need more of God.  Flip ahead in this letter and you'll see that he prays for a trinitarian filling for Jesus' followers.  In v19, it's "the fullness of God."  Next, it's "the fullness of Christ" (Eph 4:13).  Finally, it's being "filled with the Spirit" (Eph 5:18).  We desperately need more of God filling our lives.

Fill'er up!!!

OK, so how does this work?  How can I be an active recipient to "be filled with God's fullness."  Think of it this way.  In order to get more of God's fullness filling my life, I need to get everything else out.  And by "everything," I mean my own selfishness and pride.  Less of me.  More of Jesus.  That was EXACTLY John the Dunker's desire.  "He must increase, but I must decrease" (Jn 3:30).  But that's easy to say but hard to do.  The problem is that I'm full of myself.  Full of my own agenda.  Full of my own wants.  Full of my own flesh.  That's why there's the constant need to get my eyes back on "Jesus, the Founder and Perfecter of our faith" (Heb 12:2).  Only then do I realize how unfulfilling I am to myself.  I need to be filled with the fullness of God.  And that doesn't just happen once.  It happens daily.  Hourly.  By the minute.  By the second.  Less of me.  More of Jesus.

Fill'er up!!!