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Knowing God
Eph 1:15–23
*Introduction **– *On January 6, 1822, the wife of a poor German pastor had a son, never dreaming that he would one day achieve world renown and great wealth.
When Heinrich Schliemann was seven years old, a picture of ancient Troy in flames captured his imagination.
Contrary to what many people believed, Heinrich argued that Homer’s great poems, the /Iliad/ and the /Odyssey,/ were based on historic facts and he set out to prove it.
In 1873, he uncovered the ancient site of Troy, along with some fabulous treasure, which he smuggled out of the country, much to the anger of the Turkish government.
Schliemann became a famous, wealthy man because he dared to believe an ancient record and act on his faith.
We discovered that we were “born rich” when we trusted Christ.
But this is not enough, for we must grow in our understanding of our riches if we are ever going to use them to the glory of God.
Too many Christians have never “read the bank book” to find out the vast spiritual wealth that God has put to their account through Jesus Christ.
They are like the late newspaper publisher, William Randolph Hearst, who invested a fortune collecting art treasures from around the world.
One day Mr. Hearst found a description of some valuable items that he felt he must own, so he sent his agent abroad to find them.
After months of searching, the agent reported that he had finally found the treasures.
They were in Mr. Hearst’s warehouse.
Hearst had been searching frantically for treasures he already owned!
Had he read the catalog of his treasures, he would have saved himself a great deal of money and trouble.
Paul desired the Ephesian Christians to understand what great wealth they had in Christ.
Paul knew of their faith and love, and in this he rejoiced.
The Christian life has two dimensions: faith toward God and love toward men, and you cannot separate the two.
But Paul knew that faith and love were just the beginning.
The Ephesians needed to know much more.
This is why he prayed for them, and for us.
In the prison prayers of Paul (Eph.
1:15–23; 3:14–21; Phil.
1:9–11; Col. 1:9–12), we discover the blessings he wanted his converts to enjoy.
In none of these prayers does Paul request material things.
His emphasis is on spiritual perception and real Christian character.
He does not ask God to give them what they do not have, but rather prays that God will reveal to them what they already have.
Before we study Paul’s four requests in this “prayer for enlightenment,” we must notice two facts.
First, enlightenment comes from the Holy Spirit.
He is the “Spirit of wisdom and revelation” (Isa.
11:2; John 14:25–26; 16:12–14).
With his natural mind, man cannot understand the things of God.
He needs the Spirit to enlighten him (1 Cor.
2:9–16).
The Holy Spirit reveals truth to us from the Word, and then gives us the wisdom to understand and apply it.
He also gives us the power—the enablement—to practice the truth (Eph.
3:14–21).
Second, this enlightenment comes to the heart of the believer (Eph.
1:18).
Literally this verse reads, “The eyes of your heart being enlightened.”
We think of the heart as the emotional part of man, but in the Bible, the heart means the inner man, and includes the emotions, the mind, and the will.
The inner man, the heart, has spiritual faculties that parallel the physical senses.
The inner man can /see /(Ps.
119:18; John 3:3), /hear /(Matt.
13:9; Heb.
5:11), /taste /(Ps.
34:8; 1 Peter 2:3), /smell /(Phil.
4:18; 2 Cor.
2:14), and /touch /(Acts 17:27).
This is what Jesus meant when He said of the people: “They seeing see not, and hearing they hear not” (Matt.
13:13).
The inability to see and understand spiritual things is not the fault of the intelligence but of the heart.
The Spirit of God must open the eyes of the heart.
*That They Might Know God (Eph.
1:17b)*
This, of course, is the highest knowledge possible.
The /atheist/ claims there is no God for us to know, and the /agnostic/ states that if there is a God we cannot know Him.
But Paul has met God in the person of Jesus Christ, and he knows that a man really cannot understand much of anything else without a knowledge of God.
This willful ignorance of God led mankind into corruption and condemnation.
In Romans 1:18ff, Paul describes the stages in man’s devolution: from willful ignorance of God to idolatry (substituting a lie for the truth) to immorality and indecency.
Where does it begin?
It begins with an unwillingness to know God as Creator, Sustainer, Governor, Saviour, and Judge.
The believer must grow in his knowledge of God.
To know God personally is salvation (John 17:3).
To know Him increasingly is sanctification (Phil.
3:10).
To know Him perfectly is glorification (1 Cor.
13:9–12).
Since we are made in the image of God (Gen.
1:26–28), the better we know God, the better we know each other and ourselves.
It is not enough to know God only as Saviour.
We must get to know Him as Father, Friend, Guide, and the better we know Him, the more satisfying our spiritual lives will be.
A believer said to me one day after a Bible lesson, “I’m sure glad I came!
You gave me two good verses to use on my wicked neighbor!”
Surely there are times when we use God’s Word, as a sword to defeat the enemy, but that is not the primary purpose behind the writing of the Bible.
As the familiar hymn puts it: “Beyond the sacred page ~/ I seek Thee, Lord.
~/ My spirit pants for Thee ~/ O living Word.”
*That We Might Know God’s Calling (Eph.
1:18a)*
The word /called/ is an important word in the Christian’s vocabulary.
The word /church/ is a combination of two Greek words that mean, “called out.”
Paul never tired of testifying that God called him “by His grace” (Gal.
1:15); and he reminded Timothy that the believer has a “holy calling” (2 Tim.
1:9).
We have been “called out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9), and have even been “called to glory” (1 Peter 5:10).
God calls us by His grace and not because of any merit that we may possess.
Paul wants us to understand the hope that is ours because of this calling (Eph.
4:4).
Some callings offer no hope, but the calling we have in Christ assures us of a delightful future.
Keep in mind that the word /hope/ in the Bible does not mean “hope so,” like a child hoping for a doll or a bike at Christmas.
The word carries with it “assurance for the future.”
The believer’s hope is, of course, the return of Jesus Christ for His church (1 Thes.
4:13–18; 1 John 3:1–3).
When we were lost, we were “without hope” (Eph.
2:12); but in Jesus Christ, we have a “living hope” (1 Peter 1:3) that encourages us day by day.
Dr. Kenneth Chafin, a well-known Baptist author, tells about the pastor and deacon who were visiting prospective members and drove up to a beautiful suburban home surrounded by a velvet lawn and gorgeous landscaping.
Two expensive cars stood in the driveway, and through the picture window, the men saw their prospect, lounging in an easy chair and watching color TV.
The deacon turned to his pastor and said, “What kind of good news do we have for /him?/”
How prone we are to confuse prices and values.
Ephesus was a wealthy city.
It boasted the temple of Diana, one of the wonders of the ancient world.
Today, Ephesus is an archeologist’s paradise, but all of its wealth and splendor are gone.
But the Christians who once lived there are today in heaven, enjoying the glory of God!
The hope that belongs to our calling should be a dynamic force in our lives, encouraging us to be pure (1 John 2:28–3:3), obedient (Heb.
13:17), and faithful (Luke 12:42–48).
The fact that we shall one day see Christ and be like Him should motivate us to live like Christ today.
*That We Might Know God’s Riches (Eph.
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