Sermon Tone Analysis

*God is Working in You*

Ephesians 1:17-19 

HCC – 5.6.2007

Intro: We have all heard the axiom, “It’s not what you know it’s who you know.”

Like all axioms this is not an absolute truth but it certainly has some truth to it.

-          It’s true for the majority of voters.

The political movers and shakers know that it’s the politician the voter feels they know the best that gets their vote.

-          It’s true when you are lined up waiting to get in to a movie or a store and someone you know comes up and because they work there let you in through the side door.

-          Its often true for people who find gainful employment, many times its based on the relationship rather than the data on ones resume.

This axiom is never more true than when it comes to ones eternal destiny, and the effectiveness of ones spiritual life.

(John 17:3) "“This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent."

(Jeremiah 9:23-24) "Thus says the Lord, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the Lord."

As we come to our text this morning in Ephesians 1:17-19 we find the Apostle Paul praying to the sovereign God on behalf of the Ephesian believers that God might give to them a deep knowledge of Himself.

Last week we focused on the first part of his prayer which was - *Thanksgiving for the evidence of Sovereign Grace - vv. 15-16.

*We saw from vv. 15-16 that remarkable faith, remarkable love and remarkable prayers are the evidence of God’s sovereign grace and testify to the reality of true saving faith.

Today we will be looking at Paul’s: *Intercession for the work of Sanctifying Grace - vv. 17-19a We will examine his passionate requests to God on behalf of these people.

His requests are universal and essential for you and I if we are to be all that God has called us to be.

Paul knows well another axiom, “Only what’s done by God will last everything else will soon be past.”

Unless God is at work in your life transforming and molding you into His likeness you will simply be spinning your wheels and going nowhere.

Paul knows ultimately that you need to know and be known by God so that you might maximize your life for Him.*

 

READ: Eph 1:15-19.

*PROPOSITION*: Four Passionate Requests to know God [by sanctifying grace] so that by knowing Him we will truly know Who We Are.

[Repeat]

 

The first passionate request Is that…

*I.                   **That You Might Know God Experientially v.17*

/ /

The world with all its philosophies says, “Know yourself”, but Christianity says “Know God.” “The fool has said in his heart there is no God to know.”

Yet he does this by suppressing the evidence of the invisible attributes of God which is evident in creation.”

Paul in this verse prays that the believers might not just know about God but that they might know God experientially.

The word for know here is not just the common Greek word “gnosis” meaning knowledge about something or someone – it’s the word *evpi,gnwsij *and means full knowledge, it is a powerful, a strong term.

It doesn’t convey a casual or flippant knowledge but rather deep personal knowledge of God in experience.

Now we tend to shy away from experience because we see the folly of living our Christian life based upon experience as if this is the measure of truth.

As Christians we are not to be living our lives judging everything based on our experience and thus making our experience the basis for testing what is true or false.

This is a dangerous thing to do!

We are not to be settling in our Christian life for some mystical, emotional, superficial, religious experience and equate that with true spirituality.

No! I understand that, that kind of life is an inch thick and mile wide.

Yet this does not mean that our spiritual lives are to be cold and unfeeling, no we are to live our lives to know God both intellectually and emotionally or experientially.

In the context of this verse there is a definite link between being all that God wants us to be and all that He has called us to be in vv.

3-14.

Paul prays that they might have a true knowledge of God.

This means that to be this dynamic, distinguished community of people vv.

3-14 it is not enough to know some facts about our salvation but we need a personal, intimate, full, profound, experiential knowledge of God.

This experiential knowledge reflects a growth towards maturity in the faith.

Have you ever tried to *back a truck with a trailer* hitched behind?

This skill begins with someone instructing you as to what to do so that the trailer goes in the direction you want it to go.

Then you get behind the steering wheel and try yourself.

When you first try to do the task the knowledge from the instructions, although helpful, don’t make you good at the task straight away.

However, as you grow experientially in your knowledge by practice, learning what happens when you turn the steering wheel a this way or that, it is not long before you can truly say, “I know (experientially) how to back a truck and trailer in a straight line.

Paul’s prayer is directed to:/ …the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, /and /the Father of glory, /This is a designation of God that links Father and Son in essential nature as deity.

That is they are both God.

To know God is to know Jesus Christ.

(cf.

v. 3a; Rom.

1:5, 6; 1 Cor.

1:3; Phil 2:9–11; 1 Pet.

1:3; 2 John 3).

The one to whom all glory belongs is the same in essence as the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus speaking to His disciples said,/ " //“If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.” //Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”

//Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip?

He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

//“Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me?

The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works.

//“Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves."

(John 14:7-11)/

 

The designation /the Father of glory/ leaves us in no doubt as to whom Paul is praying to.

Paul is not praying simply to a glorious Father but to the Father of all that is glorious.

/Glory/ by definition is the reflection of the essential nature of ones being, the summation of all ones attributes.

We sometimes say of a stunning sunset, “It was glorious” and we mean that by nature the Sun radiated it essential nature of light in such a way that it amazed us.

In the same way God has revealed Himself in such a way that he displays splendor, power and radiance, and in the context of this letter Paul has just listed some of the glories of God in such amazing acts as election, predestination, redemption, revealing his will, and sealing us with the Holy Spirit.

So if it is true that the Father is glorious by nature and the Son is of the same nature then it should also be true that the Son is glorious.

John 1:1-5, 9-14; Matt 17:1-2; Heb 1:1-4

 

O, my friend do you know this one who is glorious.

You see if you are to know this glorious God experientially you must first know His glorious Son, the one whom He sent into this world to die in your place.

You cannot know God without the Son.

The one who rejects the Son rejects the Father who sent Him and the one who loves the Son loves the Father who sent Him.

Paul asks God, on behalf of these believers for a gift and it *is not* the gift of salvation, they already had that; they were already declared saints v.1, faithful v.1, in Christ Jesus v. 1, the called out by God v.4.

No! The gift Paul is asking God for is two-fold firstly he asks on their behalf for the gift of  /a spirit of wisdom and of revelation /and secondly, that /the eyes of your/ [their]/ heart may be enlightened.

/Both of these requests are for the purpose that they might know God - /in the knowledge of Him./

 

/Paul asks for - Wisdom/ begins with the fear of the Lord Prov 9:10 and is used here not of human knowledge but of divine knowledge which enables one to have insight into the true nature of things as they relate to Gods purposes in this world.

Wisdom is not just the accumulation of knowledge (the devils have this and even tremble – James 2:19).

Rather Paul prays for a knowledge that flows from a reverent fear of God and so is applied to life in such a way that pleases God.  

 

/Paul asks for - Revelation/ speaks to that which is uncovered, unveiled, and when this word is used in the NT it always has theological significance and refers to the unveiling of things which are hidden in God and unattainable to the human mind and natural investigation.

For something to be revealed it has to be uncovered by God.

For the believer the means of gaining this revelation is by the indwelling Spirit who illuminates God’s Word the Bible and God’s character and attributes to us.

Paul speaks of this sovereign work of revelation in 1 Cor 2:10 when he says, "For to us God revealed */them/* through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God." (1 Corinthians 2:10).

The “*them*” refers to the things God has prepared for those that love Him – things which are hidden to the natural mind, to the rulers of this age.

*##* Back to our text - It is one thing to have in your head a list of all the great blessings that God has given you in Christ but can you say you know the giver?

Imagine that you had a secret admirer who kept sending you awesome gifts in the mail.

You could tell others about these wonderful gifts, and the gifts would tell you something about this giver, but wouldn’t you more than anything else want to meet this person and get to know them experientially?

In the same way as one who has experienced the wonderful gifts of mercy, the forgiveness of sins, and unmerited grace, isn’t it just natural that you would want to know the giver of all these good gifts.

Well that’s what Paul is praying for!

*The Christian life is not just about being saved and entering into the gift of salvation, but it is about growing in a full, personal, intimate, experiential knowledge of God as you live your life.

*

/ /

 

This brings us to the next request of Paul, He prays…

/ /

*II.

**That You Might Know Hope through God’s Calling v. 18a *

/I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened.

- so that you will know what is the hope of His calling,/

 

Now before we consider our Hope we must understand the phrase “/I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened” /The perfect tense of the verb enlightened means it should read, “since the eyes of your heart have been enlightened.”

These people are no longer in spiritual darkness but have been bought from darkness to light, from blindness to sight.

When Paul refers to the heart he is not referring to the heart that pumps blood as if it has eyes.

The heart here is used metaphorically and refers to the center of knowledge, understanding, thinking and wisdom.

It is the seat of our mind, and will rather than our emotions.