This is the fifth and final sermon in the series "Growing Deep Growing Strong" In this sermon we consider the growing hunger for an experience of "fullness" in a frenetic culture that drains us. This sermon explores the promise of pantheism to deliver this "fullness", how pantheism falls short, and how the God of the Bible delivers true "fullness" through Christ.

2. Experiencing the
Fullness of God

3. Series Verses:
Ephesians 3
14 For this reason I kneel before
the Father, 15 from whom his
whole family in heaven and on
earth derives its name.

4. Series Verses:
Ephesians 3
16 I pray that out of his glorious
riches he may strengthen you
with power through his Spirit in
your inner being,

5. Series Verses:
Ephesians 3
17 so that Christ may dwell in
your hearts through faith. And I
pray that you, being rooted and
established in love,

6. Series Verses:
Ephesians 3
18 may have power, together with
all the saints, to grasp how wide
and long and high and deep is
the love of Christ,

7. Series Verses:
Ephesians 3
19 and to know this love that
surpasses knowledge — that
you may be filled to the
measure of all the fullness of
God.

8. “Filled with all the
Fullness of God”
“It’s not a one-time filling. It’s a constant
refueling. Why? Because we have a
constant need. There are always things in
our life which are draining us, challenging
us and wearing us down.”
Pastor Mark Roper

9. First Point
Pantheism is a
defective view of the
“Fullness” of God.

10. Eastern Roots of
Pantheism: Hinduism
Brahma is “an eternal,
unchangeable, absolute
being, the soul of all beings,
who … willed to produce
various beings from his own
divine substance.
-- Laws of Menu

11. Eastern Roots of
Pantheism: Taoism
There is a thing, formless yet
complete. Before heaven and
earth it existed. We do not know
its name, but we call it Tao. It is
the Mystery of Mysteries. (Lao
Tzu)

12. Pantheism vs.
Panentheism
Pantheism Panentheism
God is the tree/
The tree is God
God is in the tree/
God is beyond the tree

13. Pantheism Enters the
West
•Proposition 5: Two separate
substances cannot share the
same attributes.
•Proposition 11: God has every
actual and possible attribute.
•Proposition 14: Thus, no other
substance can exist.Benedict
Spinoza

14. Pantheism Popularized in
America
“I am nothing! I see all;
the currents of the
Universal Being
circulate through me; I
am part or parcel of
God.”Ralph Waldo
Emerson

15. Scientific Pantheism
“I believe in Spinoza's God
who reveals himself in the
orderly harmony of what
exists, not in a God who
concerns himself with the
fates and actions of human
beings.” –1928
Albert
Einstein

16. Key Question
The Green
Movement
Why is pantheism gaining in
popularity in our culture?

17. Jill Carattini on
Pantheism
“In seeing all things
divine, divinity itself
is expelled from the
world entirely.”

18. Second Point
God is the one who fills the
universe, and Jesus is the
bodily expression of God’s
fullness.

19. Ephesians 1:22-23
22 And God placed all things
under his feet and appointed
him to be head over everything
for the church, 23 which is his
body, the fullness of him who
fills everything in every way.

20. Ephesians 4:10
10 He who descended is the very
one who ascended higher than
all the heavens, in order to fill
the whole universe.

21. The Image
Colossians 1:15 He is the image (εἰκών)
of the invisible God, the firstborn over all
creation.
•εἰκών / ācōn = exact image
•ὁμοίωμα / homoiōma = similar
appearance.

22. The Creator
Colossians 1:16 For by him all things were
created: things in heaven and on earth,
visible and invisible, whether thrones or
powers or rulers or authorities; all things
were created by him and for him.
•Notice that Jesus, in his role as creator, is
distinct from creation, not one with
creation.

23. The Preexistent
Sustainer
Colossians 1:17 He is before all
things, and in him all things hold
together.
•He is before all things.
•He actively sustains creation.

24. The Firstborn
Colossians 1:18 And he is the head of
the body, the church; he is the beginning
and the firstborn from among the dead,
so that in everything he might have the
supremacy.
•Arian Heresy
•Proper Understanding

25. The Fullness
19 For God was pleased to have all his
fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him
to reconcile to himself all things, whether
things on earth or things in heaven, by
making peace through his blood, shed
on the cross.

26. Third Point
As we mature in Christ, we
experience God’s fullness.

27. Ephesians 3:19
…and to know this love that
surpasses knowledge — that
you may be filled to the
measure of all the fullness of
God.

28. Ephesians 4:11-13
11 It was he who gave some to be
apostles, some to be prophets, some to
be evangelists, and some to be pastors
and teachers, 12 to prepare God's people
for works of service, so that the body of
Christ may be built up

29. Ephesians 4:11-13
13 until we all reach unity in the faith and
in the knowledge of the Son of God and
become mature, attaining to the whole
measure of the fullness of Christ.

30. Ephesians 5:18
Do not get drunk on wine, which
leads to debauchery. Instead, be
filled with the Spirit.

31. πληρόω / play-
ro-ō
1. Filled to the
brim;
overflowing; to
flood.

32. πληρόω /
play-ro-ō
Often used of the
wind billowing
the sails of a
ship and
providing
impetus to move
the ship across
the water.

33. πληρόω / play-ro-ō
Also conveys
the idea of
permeation as
of salt’s
permeating
meat in order to
flavor and
preserve it.