Wealth and Power

Ephesians 1:18-23

The Right Power

Jono and I, Invincible vs. Invisible super powers. I would let him go first and he would choose “Invisibility.” Then I would smugly choose “Invincibility” and his eyes would go wide with realization and frustration and he’d shout “That’s what I MEANT!”

Wrong power every time.

Then we’d fight. It’s really hard for “Invisible man” to beat “Invincible man.”

Gospel of Wealth and Power

There is a gospel of wealth and power or wealth and prosperity. There is a line that says that God is going to make you rich and solve all your problems. If your unhappy, or unwell or slightly dissatisfied, just believe more (and donate more) and you will get more wealth and power.

Here is what is so sneaky: God is a God of wealth and He does have riches in and for His people. God is a God of power and He does have power for His people.

And I am still interested in wealth and power. If I can be invincible, I want that. Even if I can only be invisible, I want that.

What is the wealth and power that God makes available to us?

Scripture

Ephesians 1:15-23

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.

The Sentence so Far

Recall from the previous weeks: because Paul has heard that the churches in and around Ephesus have the necessary foundation of faith in Christ and love for one another, he prays that God will take them to the next step. In particular, that God would give them His Spirit of wisdom and revelation, and that experience feels like God opening up the eyes of the heart, an inner window, a realization, and they would be able to see three things.

First, they would be able to see, to know the hope of their calling. Because they know the One who is calling, there is hope in the calling, no matter the circumstances. Jesus is calling… so you know it’s going to be better.

His glorious inheritance

Next, the eyes of the heart have been opened, and so you can know “what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints.” This is a funny one. It isn’t your inheritance, it is His, but that inheritance is “in the saints.” This phrase draws on an Old Testament tradition of God speaking of the people of Israel as His inheritance. God’s people are God’s treasure, His wealth.

In other words, as we get to know God, we get to realize how much He treasures us, how much He loves us. We are owned… and yet, this idea of inheritance echoes back up to verse 14, the Holy Spirit is a deposit of our inheritance, until the redemption of those who are God’s possession.

So we are part of the inheritance as God’s possession… but also partakers in the inheritance, as if God found a way to make His treasure, His inheritance internally recursive, infinitely more valuable and… then to His greater glory, as the rest of verse 14 says.

So we are to realize we are God’s possession, but we are treasured and enriched in Him.

His powerful powery power

And, the third thing we see as a result of the eyes of our heart having been opened, as a result of God giving His Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation: we “know his incomparably great power for us who believe.”

This isn’t just God’s power, in particular this is God’s power for us who believe. “For” or “into” or “towards” us, for our benefit, and maybe a bit, in us. The sentence continues, “according to the working of his great might…”

It’s a little awkward phrasing, because what Paul did here was gather up every synonym for power in the Greek language and smash it together. It’s a very Hebrew kind of move, he says his “powery power power.” That power, power, strength, might, capability, ability, capacity is…

It is a particular kind of power. It is typified, it is exemplified in a very particular way, and this says a lot about the power of God that is for us.

Types of Power

If I was bragging about how much power I had, I might use an example, and by that example, you would know what kind of power I was talking about.

“Yeah I get 10 Kilowatts a day off those solar panels…” I am talking about electricity.

If I kept bragging about the almost free Gigabit bandwidth at my house… Levi, you might know I was talking about Internet power!

If I said “I can Bench about 300…” you would know I was talking about muscle power. You would also know I was a liar, by the way.

I could speak of political power, military power, power of influence, magical powers, mental powers. Feats of Strength or Strength of Feet!

What kind of power are we talking about here?

Resurrection Power. Glorification Power. Church Power.

Of all the things God has done. Creating the Universe (that would my go-to power claim, by the way), the great miracles of Biblical history, the cross, forgiving the sins of all humanity… The example of the powery power power that God has for us is…

Verses 20-23

The resurrection of Jesus from the dead…

And seating Him at the right hand of God above every power… (this age, age to come, all things under His feet)

And putting Him as head of the church…

For one thing, it says that I don’t quite understand the resurrection and glorification of Jesus. There is more to it than I understand. There was more going on. It may be that the divide between death and life was greater than the divide between the nothingness and emptiness before Creation and the everything-ness of the Universe. Raising Jesus to life and glorifying Him above all others. Bigger than Creation, at least when it comes to the power God has for or towards us.

A Different Kind of Power

It also speaks to a different kind of power.

Of all the powerful moments of God, how subtle was this? It was a big deal… but it was not the most public, not the most obvious of miracles. People didn’t see the Resurrection happen, five hundred or so saw the Resurrection Jesus.

And then He ascended… and was placed above every power, every spiritual authority and power, and every earthly name… but in such a subtle way, that the earthly kings didn’t even blink. They didn’t know that Jesus’ name had been elevated above theirs in that moment.

Which says that it was a different kind of authority. A different kind of power. A resurrection power.

For Jesus was placed “head over everything… for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way…”

Jesus was placed at the head of the church, the ekklessia, the called out ones. A few hundred losers with a crazy story. This doesn’t sound like a power to shake the world. This doesn’t sound like it should even place in God’s top 10.

But Paul is privileged. He got to see, he got to be a part, as that church, that Kingdom of King Jesus, spread and grew. One story at a time. One act of Resurrection, one life in the name of Jesus at a time, the Kingdom grew. It spread, hundreds of miles away. South down into Africa, East into Asia, West into Europe.

We are privileged. We see stretched out through history, we saw Rome’s Emperor bow at the name of Christ. We live on the other side of the planet from where that miracle occurred in a continent unknown to Paul… but we know His Resurrection Power. We glorify His name above every name. And we know that power is for us.

It isn’t like any other power. God’s power for us seems to be one that works slowly in the hearts and lives of men and women who follow Him. It mainly doesn’t bend reality around itself. It doesn’t act like physical or electrical or political or military power.

But the Kingdom grows.

And He does it through His body, through His church, through Us. We are somehow, “the fullness of Him who is all in all.”

Know Him, Know His power in His people

You want wealth. You want power. And that is what God is offering.

But it’s a different kind of wealth. It’s a different kind of power.

God doesn’t promise to make your life easier by giving you wealth and riches. You are going to be wealthy only as part of His wealth, part of His inheritance.

God doesn’t offer His power to warp reality around you, making your life slightly easier. It isn’t about open parking spaces when you’re late… though you can go ahead and thank Him for those. It isn’t primarily about you achieving your dreams and ambitions… though you can certainly take those to God too.

This power is expressed for His church, through His church, which is His body, the fullness of Christ who is our Head.

We know Him, through His spirit of wisdom and revelation, we know His wealth and power, and the fullness of that Resurrection Power is made full and real in the church.

The church knows the Hope, Wealth and Power of God as it knows God. As it apprehends God.

The Power to Grasp Love

Now it still may be a little unclear what exactly this resurrection power is. What can I do with it? How do I use it? What does it give me?

I can see it operating on the stage of history… but how does it express? How does the power that resurrected Jesus and glorified him and placed him as head of the church… I see how it operates in my new life and my future resurrection, but how does it operate now?

To give a little clarity, I will steal from later in Ephesians. Paul uses this phrase again, the power, and speaking of Jesus as the fullness of God, and us grasping His power, also in the context of His prayer. It is the closing bookend to the theology section of Ephesians where this long prayer is the opening bookend. And I will leave us with this:

Ephesians 3:14-21

14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

That you may have power (ability, capability, capacity, energy, strength enough, will enough, be strong enough, be mighty enough)… to grasp (holding desperately onto…) the love of Christ. How wide is it, how deep is it, how long and high…

Fill me with the measure, fill us with the measure of power. A different kind of power. Resurrection power, glorification power, power to grasp God’s love and, as His church, to be the very Fullness of Christ, His body now on earth, His Kingdom. That is hope and wealth and power.

We are rich as His beloved, His inheritance.

We are given the power to grasp that love, to share that love, and to be the love of Christ.