Ephesians 1:15-23
About 1,950 years ago, Paul wrote a letter from his prison in Rome. Since he was confined to his cell with a chain and guard, he wrote to the churches in the area of Ephesus with what he would have said if he had been there. As a consequence, we benefit from what Paul intended to be a blessing to the people of his time. He wrote the letter, leaving blank the name of the city where the letter was to be read, so each city could insert their own name. So we read Paul’s letter this way: (Ephesians 1:1–2)
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
To the saints in Rabat, the faithful in Christ Jesus:
2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
We finished three sermons on the opening eulogy in Paul’s letter and this morning we will look at the prayer he prayed for those who heard his letter read. This prayer has encouraged followers of Jesus for nineteen and a half centuries and I trust we will be encouraged this morning as well. This is Paul’s prayer for us.
15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.
Paul had such a rich experience of Jesus in his life and such a clear understanding of what God wanted for us, that he rejoiced when he saw new communities of followers of Jesus develop. There was nothing more important to Paul than discovering we are loved by God and growing in faith in a community of fellow believers. Paul was thankful for the news he received as he sat in his prison cell and he prayed continually for these communities.
Families rejoice when babies are born into their family and delight in watching these babies grow from infancy to adolescence to teenagers to adulthood. Paul delighted in seeing his brothers and sisters in Christ born into the family of God and growing in their faith.
This past week I heard of a community of followers of Jesus in the south of Morocco who meet and worship, singing praise to Jesus in their native language and musical style. I believe Paul is continuing to be blessed by news of these new communities as they develop and grow.
I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
Paul began his eulogy by saying Christ has “blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing.” (Ephesians 1:3) Now Paul prays that they may open their minds and hearts to grasp the implications of these blessings.
Spiritual truth is spiritually discerned and so Paul prays that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, will be given to us so we can grow in our appreciation of all God has done for us.
Paul wants us to know God better. How do we do that? We could memorize Ephesians 1:3-14. We could memorize the names of God as he is described in the Bible. If we memorized the entire Bible and were able to quote any of the verses of the Bible in a conversation about God, would that mean we know God better? Do we need to pray more? Fast more often? Give more?
First of all, we need to know that as much as we know about God, we have barely scratched the surface. The deepest that we have been able to drill into the earth is 12.262 kilometers (7.5 miles). If the earth was an orange, this would mean we have not completely been able to get below the orange color of the peel.
God is far more than we are able to comprehend. God has revealed himself to us, but our knowledge of him is very limited.
I read a book by Robert Capon, The Supper of the Lamb: a culinary reflection. This is a great book which has as a plot device, cooking three meals for eight people from one leg of lamb. In this book, Capon has one entire chapter on appreciating and cutting an onion.
I can ask you, “Do you know how to cut an onion,” and you will say, “Yes.” But read this chapter and you will discover you know very little about an onion and cutting it. Capon tell us in this chapter to spend an hour observing and cutting an onion.
I can ask you, “Do you know God,” and because you go to church, read your Bible, and pray, you can tell me, “Yes.” But do you think there is more depth to God than an onion? Do you think that you will ever really “know” God?
When you get to heaven, do you think you will then “know” God? What part of the God who pre-existed the creation of this universe for an eternity do you think you will ever completely know?
Paul had a much more powerful experience of Jesus than I have had. I had a sense of God’s presence that brought me to repentance. Paul had much more than a sense of God’s presence when he came to faith. Paul shared his faith story in Jerusalem. (Acts 22:6–11)
6 “About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me. 7 I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, ‘Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?’
8 “ ‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked.
“ ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied. 9 My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me.
10 “ ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ I asked.
“ ‘Get up,’ the Lord said, ‘and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.’ 11 My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me.
Paul met Jesus in an intense light from heaven and heard the voice of Jesus speaking to him but this was not the end of his intimate relationship with Jesus. In 2 Corinthians 12:2–5, in the process of defending his calling as an apostle of Jesus to the Corinthians, he talks about himself in the third person:
2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. 3 And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— 4 was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell.
However we understand or don’t understand this experience of Paul, what we know is that he had special knowledge of God. Like Moses who hid behind a rock and saw the presence of God pass by him, Paul saw what few other men or women have seen.
With all of Paul’s experiences with Jesus, what is recorded in Scripture and what is not recorded, did Paul say that he knew God? (Philippians 3:7–14)
7 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. … 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Paul did not say, “I know, he said, “I want to know.” He did not say, “I know more than anyone else,” he said, “Not that I have all ready obtained this.” He said, “I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.” When Paul prays for us to know God better, this comes out of his experience of knowing God and realizing how much more there was to know. His desire for us to grow in our knowledge of God was matched only by his own desire to know God better. And so Paul strained toward what is ahead. He pressed on toward the goal.
This is why we continually pursue our relationship with God. This is why we read the Bible and reread it. This is why we pray. The eternally existing creator of the vast universe, of which we are such a small part, wants us to know him, wants us to live in his eternal kingdom. He sacrificed himself for our benefit, was born a baby, died alone and cut off from his eternal relationship with the Father and Spirit, and then broke the power of death by raising to new life. The more we think about this the more we realize we are not close to understanding how this could be that we are loved so powerfully.
This past Monday I read a book by Tullian Tchividjian, Surprised by Grace: God’s Relentless Pursuit of Rebels. He writes that:
the spiritual poverty in so much of our Christian experience is the result of inadequate understanding of the gospel’s depths. The answer isn’t to try harder in the Christian life but to comprehend more fully and clearly Christ’s incredible work on the cross, and then to live in a more vital awareness of that grace day by day. The main problem in the Christian life, in other words, is not that we don’t try hard enough to be good. It’s that we haven’t thought out the deep implications of the gospel and applied its powerful reality to all parts of our life.
Paul prays for us to know God better. I hope that is our heart desire as well.
Paul continues in his prayer.
18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe.
This is a prayer that comes out of the eulogy he opened the letter with. We are heading toward our eternal home, we are part of a rich community as we make our way, and we have the power of God working for us as we make our way. Let me take them one by one.
18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you,
I quoted Randy Alcorn a couple weeks ago, let me do it again. He said:
You are made for a person and a place.
Jesus is the person, and Heaven is the place.
You were not created so you could spend 80 or so years on this planet. You were not created so you could generate wealth and accomplishments and perhaps a listing in history books. You were not created so you could get a university degree and a job. You were created so you could have the opportunity to choose to submit to God, live a life growing in faith, and then enter into your eternal home. God will use the things you do on earth for his purposes. They are important, but they are not the end. You will leave them behind when you die your physical death and head out for eternity.
Many people live life as though that is all there is. The difficulty with this approach is that this life is unfair, unjust, cruel, and unpredictable. No matter how hard you work or how well you live, a coup or revolution, a war, a thief, a hurricane or typhoon, an earthquake, an illness, an accident can turn your life upside down.
We start off in school, competing for grades, a good seat in the social hierarchy, and a spot on the sports team. We aim for the best school we can and continue competing to be good enough to get the job we want. No matter how far up the ladder we go, there are others waiting for us to stumble so they can take our place. Our lives are full of stress and anxiety as we make our way through life. We have successes and failures. We make mistakes. We get lucky and other times are unlucky. Sometimes our hard work is recognized and other times ignored and sometimes someone will take credit for the work we did.
But the good news, the great news, the unbelievably wonderful news is that you live this life with hope. However you end up in this life, it will not be the end. When you die you will begin life, real life, eternal life.
This means that this life is a practice run. If you don’t earn a lot of money and you don’t get the job or promotions you want, your life can still have significance. The world is not our judge and the world will not determine our future. Mistakes will be forgotten. Failures will fade away. Successes will become insignificant. The most impressive obituaries will pale in comparison to those who quietly, consistently loved God and his people. Those who are most appreciated in heaven will most likely not be the people who were most recognized on earth.
We will not be defined by how successful the world judged us to be. We will be viewed in heaven by how well we clung to Jesus through all the ups and downs of life and how well we loved one another. When we realize this, it can take the edge off the stress we experience in our studies and careers.
I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
We walk though life with the hope that we are heading toward our eternal home, but we do not walk alone. God created us to be in community and we discover in our community how wonderfully God created our sisters and brothers in Christ.
When I began my following of Jesus in university, I joined Park Street Church in Boston and became part of a fellowship of students that numbered about 600. I still have many friends from those days. We worshiped together, studied the Bible together, reached out to those who were not followers of Jesus together, had fun together. I delighted in this community and so when I read through the psalms in these early days of my walk with Jesus, I underlined this verse from one of David’s psalms: (Psalm 16:3)
As for the saints who are in the land,
they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight.
This was my experience then and it continues to be my experience now.
When people ask me why I have stayed in Rabat for more than fourteen years, I tell them it is because I continue to meet the most extraordinary people. When I think back over these years, names and faces come to mind and I continue to pray for people who left in my first few years at RIC. One of the most painful parts of being at RIC is having to say goodbye to so many people and every year when people leave, I have a sense of despair because I don’t know how I will be able to find friends like this again. But I have to remember that the people who are leaving, for the most part, were not here three or four years ago. There is a continual stream of incredible people who come to RIC.
Why is this? Is RIC so special that we keep getting blessed in this way? The reason we feel so blessed is because the people who come to RIC have been drawn into God’s family and are being taken safely through this life to their eternal home. We are the result of the work of God in our lives. The Holy Spirit is at work in us, transforming us. The creative work of God who loves diversity, created unique individuals who are being molded into the image of Jesus.
A friend who left RIC told me he did not know what he would do when he returned home. He told me he did not have friends in his home church like his friendships at RIC. I told him that going to a church that lifts up Jesus and encourages people to grow in faith is a great place to find extraordinary people and good friends.
As wonderful as the people are who make up the community of RIC, wait until you meet them in heaven where they will be revealed as God intended them to be. Do you think I am a good person? Wait until you meet me in heaven. I will knock your socks off. Do you think I am irritating? Be patient, God is not finished with me yet and when you meet me in heaven, you will really like me.
C.S. Lewis wrote about this:
It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ‘ordinary’ people. You have never talked to a mere mortal.
Here at RIC, I hope we all have put our faith in Jesus and are following him. I pray that we are all cooperating with the work of the Holy Spirit to transform us into the men and women God intends us to be. We are wonderful because God is at work in us and we will be even more wonderful as time goes on because God is at work in us.
We have flaws. I have flaws. We are not perfect, but we are moving in that direction. Enjoy the riches of God’s glorious inheritance in the saints.
I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe.
We are heading toward our eternal home so we have hope. We are surrounded by incredibly wonderful people who are going to be far more wonderful when we arrive home. As we make our journey, the power of God that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in us to bring us safely to our eternal home and to transform us along the way.
Next weekend I will be traveling to Marrakech to climb Mt. Toubkal with a couple friends from church. Toubkal is the highest peak in North Africa at 4,167 meters (13,671 feet). We will start from Imlil but will still have 2,427 meters to climb to get to the summit. I am eager but apprehensive. How will I handle the altitude sickness many people get hiking at those elevations? Will I be strong enough to make it? Will I fall and get injured? I wonder if I will be able to complete the hike.
We are heading to our heavenly home but there are difficult climbs in front of us. We will face disappointments and betrayals. We will face fears and doubts. We will face distractions and what seem to be shortcuts but lead us into trouble. We will have to heal hearts broken in relationships. We will be wounded by the suffering of our friends and ourselves. The devil will work though all the events of life to cause us to drift off the path to heaven. We will be tempted to advance our careers with a bribe here and a bribe there. We will be tempted to rationalize our behavior so we can quiet the voice of the Holy Spirit and do what we want to do. We will be lulled into lethergy by the constant appeal to the pleasures of the world. We will be pulled by the continual bombardment of worldly values. There is a spiritual battle taking place and we are being fought for.
With all the uncertainties of life, it is comforting to know that the power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in us to keep us safe as we make our way to our heavenly home and to transform us as we make our way forward.
We walk through this life with the power of God for us. Not just present with us. Not against us. For us. The power of the all-powerful creator God is for us. This is what Paul prays for us. This is what I pray for you.
When we hold on to these truths, we are different people. When someone betrays us, we are slow to condemn and eager to be reconciled because we are all being transformed by the power of God in us. We are making our way to our eternal home in a community of imperfect people who are slowly being made perfect. Knowing this helps us to be patient with each other.
We seek reconciliation in relationships because God created us to live in community. We hold each other accountable because we want others around us to walk with us to our eternal home. We meet together to read the Bible and discuss what it means to us because we are together making our way home.
If you are walking alone, make sure this week that you sit down with a friend and ask them if they will walk with you. Meet to pray together. Encourage each other. Don’t try to do alone what you are meant to do with others.
If you are feeling beaten down by the world, worried about who likes you and doesn’t, remember that you are on the way to the King of the Universe and all that exists outside of this universe. You have a personal invitation and are heading home. The world can reject you. The world can think you are insignificant. The world can dismiss you, but you are loved and wanted by the all-powerful creator. He is on your side. He is working for you. He is preparing a home for you in heaven.
Allow the desire in you to know God more continue to grow. Allow yourself to be astounded by all God has done and is doing for you. Grab on to the hands of friends and keep heading toward the home Jesus is preparing for you. Don’t give up. Don’t be worried or anxious. Relax. Allow yourself to feel loved – because you are loved.
