160904 Paul’s Prayer for the Ephesians (2)

Ephesians 1:15-23 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.

Paul did not cease to give thanks for the Ephesian church and the saints located there. He asked the Father of glory to give them a Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Christ. Paul further spoke of the hope that God has called believers to. Today, we go on with the prayer that Paul offered for those so long ago that remains so fresh and real to us today.

When we are reminded of the hope that God has called us to in Christ we must remember that we were not born that way. In fact when we were born we inherited, not just the tendency toward sin and separation from God but we inherited sin itself. Paul tells us in Romans chapter 5 that sin came into the world through one man and death through sin. Paul is not talking about the sins that people commit every day of their lives but he is showing that all of us have the same guilt as Adam. All of us inherited death. There was no law to disobey in the years between Adam and Moses. Even so, all mankind died because of the inherited death of Adam.

In contrast believers have inherited…

The riches of Jesus’ inheritance. Look with me to Romans 8:15-17. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Having come to faith in Christ — believing in Him — we now inherit the Spirit of adoption as sons. We did not inherit a spirit of fear. When a person believes in the Lord Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit comes into that person (1 Corinthians 12:13). He (Holy Spirit) does an initial work of cleansing in our lives. The Holy Spirit purifies us and gives us the ability to grow in grace. As sons we are able to be familiar with God the Father. Now that we have placed our trust in Jesus we are included in Jesus’ inheritance. He inherits us and we inherit Him! That is far too unbalanced for me. Yet it has been the program of God since the beginning of time — and before!

The Spirit of adoption that comes into our life releases the fruit of the Spirit within us! The fruit of the Spirit include a set of qualities that reflect the character of God. Those qualities include, but may not be limited to, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). As God reflects Himself in our lives as our Father we are constantly being shaped like Jesus.  In point of fact John tells us. “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).

We are told that a sculptor was once asked how he knew what to cut away in the large block of stone before him in order to produce a horse. His reply was short and simple, “I look at the stone carefully and then I chip away everything that doesn’t look like a horse.”

That is an apt illustration of what God is doing in our lives. All of the bumps and scrapes we experience in life serve God’s plan to shape us like His Son. He uses all the events of our life to cut away everything that doesn’t look like Jesus.

God does the work of shaping us into the image of Christ, not by our strength, but instead by…

The greatness of Jesus’ power. Look with me at 2 Corinthians 4:7. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

We need to remember that God is not looking for special abilities, silver or gold when He looks at us. For that we can thank God because we are not much to look at nor are we capable of living out the godly life in our own strength. We are not great marble vases we are instead clay pots. If we had ability within ourselves to live the life that God has planned for us Jesus would not have needed to go to the cross. If our abilities would cover our need God would just look to us to do our best in service to Him.

As we grow in grace and the knowledge of the Lord our bodies become more useful to God and more responsive to His will and the desire of the Holy Spirit.

Of course, physical weaknesses will inevitably come with old age, and sometimes earlier due to infirmity, but this can be consistent with increased sanctification as God’s power is “made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Paul clearly teaches this when he tells us that we have this treasure in clay pots and, “We do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day” (2 Corinthians 4:16). We must look to…

The measure of God’s power. Look with me to Romans 11:36. For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

God the Father is the only being in the universe that exists by virtue of his very nature. He was never created and he never came into being. He always was. We can see from this passage of Scripture that everything came from Him.

Psalm 90:2, tells us that God existed before there was any creation! “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” God’s existence and His character are determined by Him alone. If God had not created everything that we see He would still be infinitely loving, infinitely just, eternal, all knowing, etc. etc.

The power of…

God the Father raised Christ from the dead. Look with me to Romans 6:4.  We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

When a person is baptized they are illustrating the fact that they have died to their old way of living with Christ on the cross and have been raised with Him by the same power that raised Christ from the grave to glorify the Father.

That power, released in us, enables us to walk (live) in a new way. There’s a chorus we used to sing from time to time. It goes like this

I have a new way of living; I have a new life divine;

I have the fruit of the Spirit and I’m abiding, abiding in the vine.

Not only did God the Father raise Christ from the dead therefore demonstrating his power over life…

He seated Him at His right hand. Let’s look to Acts 7:55-56 and see the conclusion of Stephen’s experience as he was about to be executed for his faith. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ⁵⁶ And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

The very first evidence of Jesus being seated at the right hand of the Father was the vision that Stephen saw. He had just given a complete spiritual history of Israel beginning with Abraham and coming forward to Christ. Then he saw Jesus standing in heaven.

Why was Jesus standing when other references have him seated? Jesus was standing to welcome His faithful servant who was about to be murdered for his faith. In the same way that one of us might stand to greet a friend coming to the door. Jesus stood to welcome His good and faithful servant. When John saw Jesus, as described in the book of Revelation, He was so glorious that John fell at his feet in awe.

We need to remember that Jesus did not temporarily become man! Instead, Jesus permanently united His human nature to His divine nature. Paul reminded Timothy that “there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,” (1 Timothy 2:5). He did that for our sake! Jesus, in order to bring the grace of God to mankind left heaven’s glory for Earth’s gloom permanently! He stepped down in order to complete the plan that had been set into motion before time began. As a result of His reduction in rank the Father raised Him…

Above every power and dominion. Look with me to 2 Corinthians 10:3-5. For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. ⁴ For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. ⁵ We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.

When the power of death was broken Jesus reflected the power of God by being raised from the dead. He could not be held by death. As a consequence Jesus gives all believers the authority to rebuke all spiritual forces that stand against God. There is no spiritual force that can stand against His people!

James tells us that we are to “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7) Peter adds to it “Be sober minded, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking some one to devour. Resist him firm in your faith,” (1 Peter 5:8-9). We must live our lives every day recognizing that we have victory in Jesus! When God raised Jesus up above every power and dominion…

God gave Him to the church as Head. Look with me to Colossians 2:9-10. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, ¹⁰ and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.

The primary message of the book of Ephesians is confirmed in most of the other letters written by the apostle Paul. Jesus is Head of the church! In Him God’s own nature is present to bless and manifest his character completely.

His Headship over the church provides us with all the resources we need to serve Him. We will see later in Ephesians that “Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her so that He might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she may be holy and without blemish.” (Ephesians 5:25-27)

As Head of the church Jesus enables the church to do its work on earth by His power. It is from the head that our bodies receive direction, protection and emotional stability. You see…

The church is Christ’s fullness. Look with me to Ephesians 3:20-21. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Christ is able to do more than we can imagine or ask for! He does this by the power that works in us from the Holy Spirit. The church is the Body of Christ. We are His hands, His feet, and His voice in the world. Jesus is the fullness of the Father and we are the fullness of Christ in the world today.

Jesus is coming again for His church. The church is very important to Christ. He gave his life for her and, I believe, He desires that we give our lives for the church. In the next few weeks we will be blessed by the book of Ephesians and this church will be made stronger.

“The church”, in the book of Ephesians, refers to all true believers of all time. God’s plan, made long before the beginning of time, includes Christ seated at the right hand of Power in heaven. “Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25). Jesus Christ Himself builds the church by calling His people. Jesus had promised that He would build His church and the gates of hell would not be able to stand against it. (Matthew 16:18). On the day of Pentecost Luke recorded for us that “the Lord added to their number day by day those who are being saved” (Acts 2:47). This is Jesus’ work in the world today. Have you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you been obedient to Him? Today is the first day of the rest of your life, make it count!

All scriptures quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.