05.21.23

Scripture Reading - Ephesians 1:15-23

Message “”

Every once in a while, I make a mistake. I know, hard to believe right? Well, I did it this week. When I was looking at passages from the lectionary, I came across this one from Ephesians. But I didn’t realize at the time that it was actually a recommended text for Thursday, because that was the day according to the Christian calendar marking Jesus’ ascension. The day on which Jesus returned to His Heavenly Father. But before I realized it, it was in the bulletin and it’s the text we will be dealing with this morning.

Now, the book of Ephesians is a great book. It’s probably one of my favorite 66 books of the Bible. And one of the things I like about it is how it gives a clear picture of the New Testament church. As a matter of fact, it has been said that Ephesians is the clearest picture of the New Testament church we have. But this particular section of the book, the one we just read together, comes right at the beginning.

Nearly every New Testament letter begins the same way. First, it identifies the author. In the case of Ephesians, it’s Paul. It identifies the intended audience. “God’s holy people in Ephesus”. And a brief greeting of well wishes. “Grace and peace to you.” After this traditional way of beginning a letter, the author can move in any direction he feels necessary.

In some letters of the New Testament, the author has a pressing need to answer a question, resolve some tensions, or reassert his authority. But that’s not the case in Ephesians. This is simply a pastor sharing his heart with people he knows and loves. It was during his third missionary journey that Paul came to Ephesus and worked there for just over 2 years, getting the church established and ministering to the people of that community. 8 years have come and gone, and Paul is in prison in Rome and he pens this letter, and his love for these people is obvious.

Someone has brought Paul good news about the church located in Ephesus. The church is demonstrating faith in Christ and love for the people around. In other words, they are in practical ways living out the Great Commandment. And there is no “fix” for this. This is what every pastor wants from the church they are serving. Or to hear about the churches they used to serve.

And so Paul tells this church that he prays for them. And his prayer is a specific prayer. He actually spells out for them the things he is praying for.

He prays that they receive the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, and he says “so that they may know Him.” You see, even solid Christians like these, people whom Paul loved could know God better. Sometimes we think we can graduate from knowing God. Sometimes we think we’ve walked with God long enough that we know all that there is, but the reality is, no matter how long we walk with God, there will always be more to learn, more to understand, more to know. Isaiah 40:28 says, “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.” To the church in Corinth Paul wrote, “the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom.”

Paul prays that the heart of the Ephesians may be enlightened, and that being enlightened, they may know the hope to which they have been called. So many people, even among those who call themselves Christians live without hope. Now a life completely devoid of hope will cause despair, but some people live a life of “I hope tomorrow is better than today.” Or, I hope next year has fewer problems than this year.

But Paul is praying for God’s people to a life filled with hope. Not just hope that we’ll somehow make it through this life and into the next, but that even in our everyday life, we have hope. Let me read this verse again from the Message paraphrase, Paul prays they “grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for his followers, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him—endless energy, boundless strength!”

He prays that they may be enlightened to know the riches of his glorious inheritance. Sometimes with God, we are a lot like the older brother in the story of the prodigal son, we complain about the things we haven’t gotten but our Heavenly Father wants us to know they were ours all along.

He prays that they may be enlightened to know the power of God. I know a lot of people who can say “nothing is too difficult for God” but who refuse to actually believe it. They say, “our God is an awesome God” but their actions say, “our God needs my help.” But Paul prays for the church to be enlightened to the power of God. The power that brought Christ up from the dead, who seated Christ at the right hand of the Father, who places everything under Christ’s feet, and makes Him head over everything. And the power that raised the church and who fills it completely.