Eph 1 : 15-23
Notes
Transcript
Thanksgiving and Prayer
Thanksgiving and Prayer
15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
Ephesians 1:15-23
right at the beginning of this book paul prays for spiritual sight and being able to see. because nothign he is going to explain even if said perfectly none of it will make any sense or any difference If you think about it sight is something that none of us would ever choose to live without right. If you think of lighthouses what is their function? to be able to see and to navigate a harbor even in the darkest or stormiest of situations
The great theologian Johnathan Edwards said spiritual sight is the best gift that God can give to you. its like tasting honey for the first time. Imagine if you made it to this day never tasting honey and that first bite you take and the sweetness of honey burst alive in your mouth for the first time. you may have understood the concept of sweet before but until you tasted it you couldn’t have known what it meant.
its the same thing with the gospel. we can understand with hour minds but until God makes the gospel know to you and it bursts alive with the sweetness in our hearts. so we do more than understand them we feel them. paul is saying there is so much more to christianity its when you come alive in your love for God and your relationship with God.
do you often feel dry spiritually do you feel cold in your heart as if something is missing you feel like there ought to be more in your relationship with God? pauls answer is there is much more, you need for what you know in your head to come alive in your heart. thats what this prayer is about, prayer for spiritual sight. This is a prayer I pray for my family, for this group and myself.
then the apostle paul gives us this prayer in the beginning of the letter to the ephesians. of a model on how we can and should pray for others. there are specific 4 things paul is praying that we can see.
HOPE
18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you
in english the word hope, means i want this to happen but I’m not exactly sure its going to happen. I hope the browns make the playoffs. and they won’t choke again...
biblical hope isn’t something that you aren’t sure about but but something that you are very sure about something that hasn’t happened yet more so something you are looking forward too. something that is going to reshape you. and what does paul say our hope is? that we are going to be face to face with God being filled with him and we are going to be like him. it gives us a reminder how God is using our pain. it reminds us of the tapestry from last week.
2. Our worth to God.
18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
honestly people often read right over that portion, as some religious mumbo jumbo
who’s inheritance is this? not ours not yours, God has an inheritance coming to him. what does God not already have? his glorious inheritance in the saints.
what kind of gift do you give to rich person who has everything they already want? what do you give to God who can speak anything into existence? the answer is you and me. we are what he wants and his inheritance. paul says when you see how precious you are to God and how much he wants you that is totally going to transform your life. It’s interesting here paul gets so excited that he loses his words. Paul is generally one who just says here is the info just shut up and deal, but he loses his words. the love of christ surpasses my knowledge and my ability to describe it. and he starts going on about length and hight and breadth and depth. how long is gods love for us. in verse 4 it says its from all eternity and for all eternity. which means there has never been a time when God didn’t know us and love us
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
if you want to measure God’s love for you you need to get out your telescope. look out into the stars look out into the universe that is the measure of the intensity of Gods’ love for you. how wide is gods love? it literally controls every molecule of the universe marshaling the pursuit of Gods good purpose in your life. how deep is God’s love for us that he would reach down into the filth of sin and the grave of death and make a wretch his treasure, literally becoming sin and death for us dying in our place so we didn’t have to. this love surpasses our ability to comprehend let alone describe it, even as an inspired apostle i can’t describe it. i want you to i know in your heart that love and to feel it.
3. Power
19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,
God wants us to know the power that is working around us that is working in us. There is great power working in us. Where does that power come from? That power is made known in the resurrection. Honestly I would use creation as example of God’s power. Literally creating everything out of nothing, to speak a word and 3 billion stars into existence, each one as powerful as 1 trilion atom bombs, each with enough power each to power the US for 1000 years. every second!
Paul says, that the resurrection is more powerful, creation is life out of nothing but resurrection is life out of death. It is easier to give birth to babies than to raise the dead. by invoking th power of the resurrection he is not only saying that God has the power to make us into something, somebodies out of no bodies. and bringing life from death, he not only can do that but he can take the bad things in our lives into good things, and that is good news. because for many of us our lives are marked by mistakes, addictions, broken relationships, death.
if god brought life out of death with jesus, he can bring life out of the mess you’ve made in your life. do you realize the power that is avail to you? what if we really believed that the power of the resurrection was avail to us? to our heart? to our marriage? to your relationships
4. finality
4. Finality of Jesus Rule
22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,
i pray that you see that the battle is won and that jesus is on the throne.
when the show 24 came out, i didn’t watch it out, i binged it. there are times when things looked really bad for Jack Bauer, like there is no way that he will get out of it alive. but then i remember that I’m in season 2 of his face is on 3 and 4. soooo not sure how this is gonna go but i know he is gonna make it out.
Paul says I have seen the resurrection, I’ve seen jesus on the thrown I know that he wins. now I get to sit back and watch and see how this unfolds, further more Paul wants them to see that the main thing jesus is doing is building his church. the church is focal point of everything God is doing in the world. The church is not just and event that you attend on th weekend it was the family of faith that you built your life round. it was the place where God was, where his glory flowed, God is ready to pour out the power of the resurrection to complete the mission of the church in the world.
there are 6400 unreached people groups, what Paul is telling us is that there is not a shortage of God’s love and power to save them, its not that Jesus is not willing and powerful enough to save them. but that God is waiting on someone who will believe what he said he wants to do and then ask him to do it.
do you believe the power that God has placed at our finger tips. Paul prayer here is also mine as you hear this that you would see the hope that God has given you in the gospel, that you see that he is in control and that would would see your great worth to God that you would recognize the power that God has put inside of you and that you would extend that power through you to people all over the world who have yet to hear.
Hope
worth to god
power
finality of jesus rule
When we feel distant, and that we only know God I pray that you would feel God’s relentless love. That as high as the heaven above, so is God’s love for you. That you are Jesus’ great inheritance and that he has placed in you the power that can raise life from the dead. That God can take this mess of a life you have and give you hope, that he isn’t done with you yet. and like Jack Bauer we know He ultimately wins. Jesus is running after you chasing you because of the great worth he has placed in you and he proved that by taking the penalty of sin and dying on the cross for you.