Talk 3 - Ephesians 1 v15-23

0:00 So let's get into our passage for this morning. Let's read from Ephesians 1, and we're starting in verse 15. For this reason, and that's what Al's been talking about this morning, everything that precedes what Paul has just said already in that outpouring of praise. For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God's people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking I keep asking that's interesting it's not a one-off prayer over and over and over again 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 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know this the hope to which he has called you the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead. And not only that, and also seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age, but also in the one to come.

1:31 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. For the last number of years, I have found all of Paul's prayers in his letters to these different churches fascinating. I remember a time a number of years ago, an early elders meeting I was sitting in, and Gilbert was sharing with us, we were looking at Philippians together, and he was sharing with us how he used the prayer in Philippians 1 of Paul's so often to model his own prayers on as he prayed for people in this church. And maybe I was naive, but for whatever reason, that had not struck me really before. It was revelatory to me to think of them in that way and to start using them in that way and to start looking at them in that way. And I find them fascinating for a couple of different reasons. I find them fascinating for what's included in them. And we'll talk about that, obviously, with this one this morning, but I also find it fascinating for what's not included.

2:54 It's an interesting exercise to look at that. And actually I've asked you to do that in the questions ahead of tomorrow night before you meet up as home groups to maybe take a look at a few of his letters, see what's in there. See what is not. Because for me, as I've looked at these, as I've spent time in them, I've realized that there's so much I have been praying for, so much that I pray for, often and often over and above everything else that I realize that Paul just doesn't seem that interested in when he prays for these churches. Notice he doesn't ever pray for their happiness. He doesn't pray for their comfort. He doesn't pray for their security. He doesn't pray for their escape from a situation or a circumstance.

3:42 And that doesn't mean he doesn't love them. Actually, he loves them deeply, but that's not what he's praying for, and that's interesting. Now, that doesn't mean that we shouldn't pray for what is on our hearts, because there are many other prayers in Scripture, including the Psalms, where that is done, but I just find it interesting that none of those things, as Paul prays, are in his heart. It's just something to reflect on. And the more time that I've spent in these prayers, the more I've realized the truth of what Tim Keller sums up in his helpful book on prayer where he says this, "Paul does not see prayer as merely a way "to get things from God." How often do we see prayer that way? But as a way to get more of God himself. That purpose is at the center of each of his prayers for these churches, and for himself.

4:41 And we'll see that's exactly his purpose in this prayer that we're looking at today. Their growth in their knowledge of the living God. And in one sense, I find this prayer deeply challenging. To see Paul's heart on display here. To see his love for this church on display. To see his faith on display in the scope and the breadth and the depth of what he asks for for them as I hold up my safe and cautious and small prayers beside them and weigh them up. But on the other hand, I find this prayer deeply, deeply encouraging because Paul the apostle who wrote all these letters, Paul himself knows that in spite of his best efforts to sum up all of those spiritual blessings that he has done in such an articulate way in those first verses in 3 to 14,

5:48 that all of those will just be lovely sounding words on a piece of papyrus or a piece of paper unless the spirit of wisdom and revelation lifts them off the page and makes them real. He knows that even in how he is able to articulate them. And so he says, I keep asking, I pray over and over and over again that God would do this because that's the only way the truth that I'm talking about here will be made alive in hearts. And I find that deeply encouraging. Deeply encouraging as someone who at times gets into scripture and struggles. Or deeply encouraging as I stand up here and try to articulate something of this. Or as I encourage others to get into scripture for themselves that Paul knew that the spirit was needed and that we have that same spirit available to us now today. So deeply challenging, deeply encouraging.

6:51 I hope you find things in it this morning on both those fronts for you. Let's make our way through this prayer then together step by step. I'm just going to work through it in that way. So Paul begins, for this reason. For this reason. Because he says everything in that opening benediction of praise that Gilbert looked at last week in verses 3 to 14 is true. That all these spiritual blessings in the heavenly realms are yours in Christ, Paul says. And especially that last bit that Al was talking about this morning.

7:28 that you have been given the spirit as a guarantee, as a mark, as a seal. Imagine how amazing that would have been to Paul, his mission to the Gentiles, and he sees these people who have been brought in, who have been included in the promise, who have been included in salvation. For this reason, he says, that all of this is true, yes, but also on the other hand, that all of this is so complex and so difficult for our finite brains to get our heads around. Because of that, I've not stopped giving thanks for you on one side, for your faith, for your love for one another. But that doesn't mean I'm satisfied with where you are. I want you to understand this and grasp this more and more and more. So I keep asking, I keep asking. And here's what he asks.

8:25 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. Here it is. Praying not to get things from God, but to get more of God himself. That you may know him better and that you may know him better through the gift of the spirit of wisdom and revelation. Paul's taking vocabulary there from the Old Testament, from Deuteronomy and Isaiah, that talks about the Holy Spirit of God. And he isn't asking for more of the Holy Spirit here. He's already said we have the Holy Spirit indwelling us as that mark, as that guarantee. He's asking for more of the Spirit's illuminating work in them.

9:23 That's what he's praying for. That the things that he's been talking about already might become more real to them. And notice this. Notice what the Spirit actually does do. It brings wisdom and revelation, not general wisdom and revelation. This isn't about understanding algebra more. It's not about being able to articulate the most obscure plays of Shakespeare. This is about wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God himself.

9:58 That's what he's talking about. And so he says, I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened. Now maybe we've seen this, maybe we've missed this. He prays the eyes of your heart. Not these physical eyes, but the inner eyes of our heart. And of course in Paul's day, The heart was a symbol of the whole inner self, of our mind, our thinking, our heart, our emotions, our will, the whole gamut. So the eyes of our heart are those inner eyes that impact all of that together. This isn't just about rational thinking.

10:39 It's far more than that. It encompasses our feelings, our emotions, our whole inner being. And Paul prays that it's those eyes that would be enlightened by the spirit of wisdom and revelation. On the opening night of Young Adults Home Group that is now being in our house for you, the guys are sitting over here, I led a little icebreaker that asked everyone, and you can use this over coffee afterwards if you're talking to somebody you know or if you're talking to somebody new. It's a very revealing question to ask. I asked them this. If you were only allowed to keep three apps on your phone and you had to delete all of the other apps, which three would you keep? Now, it is a little bit worrying how many of these people under 25

11:35 mentioned that they wouldn't be able to navigate their local area without Google Maps on their phone. That's a slight concern that it takes Google Maps to get them to Tesco. But also equally worrying on reflection as I shared mine was that I gladly gave up 13 years of photos, of memories of my children and all of those different things, so that I could keep an app that tells me how many yards I am from the green while playing golf. That's on reflection not a great idea. But also on reflection, I did realize there was one app that I didn't mention that I absolutely should have. And that, and I'm sure a lot of people over a certain age might be able to empathize with this. What would I do without the torch app on my phone? How did people over 45 get through life before this thing was invented?

12:31 Its use is often accompanied by certain sounds. Ah. Oh. and other monosyllabic type utterances as well. As the object is illuminated in all its clarity or glory, or more likely the text is illuminated in its clarity and glory. And I've got to say the things that I have found in my home with the help of the torch up and hard to find places that I would never have found without it are innumerable. Now I'm not suggesting for one minute that a torch app on a phone is an adequate analogy for the power of the Holy Spirit of wisdom and revelation, but it might help us in grasping how God has given us his spirit as an indwelling gift to help us see things about God that we simply could not see with the limited natural ability of the eyes of our heart. and when you reflect on this for a moment

13:44 do we see what a gift that actually is that the living creator God has chosen to reveal himself to us by his word and not only reveal himself to us but give us help and understanding and seeing what it is he is revealing to us as we seek and as we strive and as we study and as we get into his word that we have that help. And here's the truth though. That seeking and that striving and that really getting into God's word for ourselves, that is an absolutely key part. He'll not reveal to us what we're not looking for. let me give you another analogy picture me sitting at home on the sofa a dog on my lap and a question that is asked quite often in our house chris have you seen the garage door key anywhere it goes missing a lot and until two weeks ago we actually thought we only had one key so it was a quite a scary question when the thing went missing and then it went missing for a long number of days we actually found we had a second so that was that was a bonus of that but it's a question is asked quite a lot. And if I was to stay on the sofa with the dog on my lap and lift the torch, my phone out of my pocket and turn on my torch, but not actually move, not actually go looking, you can imagine the response that would come back from my wife if I wasn't even trying at all.

15:21 And in the same way, and this is so important that we get this, We need to be people. We need to be a church who are striving and seeking and desiring to know God better through his word. And at the same time then praying for the spiritual illumination as we spend that time and spend that effort in his word. And the thing is this, according to how we're wired, some of us will love getting into the word and leave no time for prayer because we just want to do this in our own strength. while others just want to be hit over the head by stuff and don't want to make the effort of getting into God's word by ourselves and it's actually both of those both in balance and intention that we need to find. And this prayer of Paul's then gives us such a clear indication of what it is we should be looking for. When I get up tomorrow morning what should I be asking as I open my Bible or click on the screen and open my Bible, whatever it is, what should I be praying?

16:29 And this prayer gives us a really good indication of that. What treasures of God should we be looking for with all our mind and all our heart and all our strength to know and understand and become wise about? As we seek to learn, as we seek to grow, that trusting and with expectancy that we have his spirit of wisdom and revelation indwelling us and that his spirit can and will enlighten the eyes of our hearts and reveal things to us that we would not see on our own. So here are the three things. We're gonna take them a turn. Where to go expectantly searching and striving to grow. And this is wherever our starting point is.

17:22 this is a universal prayer for all of us whether we've been a Christian for five minutes and this letter of Ephesians is honestly it's so confusing to us or whether we've been a Christian for 50 years and we know every word we're familiar with every word but each of us wherever our starting point are to go expectantly striving to grow striving to grow in the wisdom of the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people and his incomparably great power for us who believe. Go searching while at the same time praying, Father, by your spirit, open my eyes to see this in a way that I can't see it by myself. So let's have just a brief look at each of these in turn. I'll only get the touch on them. You can unpack them in your conversations over the course of the week. So the first one, in order that you might know the hope to which he has called you. So it's the first one.

18:29 And it's got its focus in the past. I've been really interested and intrigued as I've listened to the responses of our conversations in that home group over the first couple of weeks to this letter. And there's absolutely no doubt that the one big thing that has struck so many in our group as we've talked about this so far has been this revelation that God created the universe so that he might have us, that Gilbert's been talking about, so that we might be before him for his pleasure and his glory. That has blown minds in our group and it has stirred hope to know the truth and the reality that we were on the pages of this story all the way back before Genesis 1-1, that we were in the mind of God before the creation of the world, that we, me, and you were in the mind of God as the story unfolded through the Old Testament, through his people, that we were in the mind of God as he sent his son, that we were in the mind of God as he poured out his spirit on the church, that we were in the mind of God as this story and are in the mind of God as this story progresses towards everything being brought to fulfillment and unity in Christ. We look back at all he has done

20:06 and as we delve into that big story and we soak our minds and our hearts in it and we pray at the same time for the spirits enlightenment, it then goes to strengthen our conviction that if he is the one that has done the calling, and if he is the one that has done all of this in the past, well then we can be absolutely certain without any question that he is going to fulfill his plans and his purposes in the future. And that is the hope to which we have been called. And so we wanna find out what is this hope? And as we find that out, then that conviction grows in strength and then so do our plans and our purposes begin to more and more find their place in his plans and purposes as we see the hope to which we've been called. We see and we get excited about it and we get passionate about not just what we've been saved from And thank God that he has saved us from our guilt and condemnation and all those things. But we get excited about what we're saved for. Delving into his word to find out what that is and asking the spirit to open our eyes to that. Then we have the riches of his glorious inheritance.

21:30 If the hope to which we have been called is about the past, then of course, inheritance, as Gilbert talked about last week, is all about the future. the future that is guaranteed to us by the indwelling of the spirit in us and Paul's prayer for the recipients of this letter and then by extension us Gentiles included in Christ when we heard the message of truth is that they is that we would grasp more fully we would come to see more clearly by the spirit's enlightenment the vastness of the riches of our inheritance and to not see the reality, to not understand, to not grasp the inheritance that is yours can lead to tragically short-sighted choices and decisions. At the end of the day, isn't every sin a short-sighted decision that doesn't actually understand our inheritance or see it properly? When I was thinking about this, I was reminded of a story I read a couple of years ago about a computer engineer in Newport in Wales, who back in 2013 accidentally threw away a hard drive containing 8,000 bitcoins, which when the story was written were worth more than 150 million pounds. He chucked it out in a clearing out his office.

23:01 He now then has spent the last decade trying to get permission from the local council to carry out AI-powered searches of his local landfill site, financially backed by hedge fund venture capitalists who will, if they find it together, obviously take their cut. That would keep you awake at night, wouldn't it? If only, if only he had known the value of his inheritance before he threw out his hard drive. And I've not done this experiment, but I would imagine, and parents of very young children can tell me whether this is the case or not, if you were to show a three or a four-year-old a new shiny two-pound coin in one hand and in the other a hundred-pound note and tell them that they can choose whichever one they want, I would imagine that because it's shiny, because they think it's got gold and silver in it, even though it's actually only got nickel and brass, that they would choose, with their unenlightened eyes, the two-pound coin over the hundred-pound note, because this one's shiny, and this one's just a fancy piece of paper. But isn't it the reality, too, that this image can be true of each of us in some way. That so, so often we're far more interested in the shiny things in front of us, which are of far, far less value than the inheritance that is ours in Christ. And it's these things that occupy our minds, it's these things that we obsess about, it's these things that we are captured by, and they shape our decisions and our choices.

24:54 And even those of us who think we've got such vision, you know those ones who are going to be able to retire at 42 because they've saved enough through all their different investments and so on. But actually the reality is, even that's short-sighted in view of the inheritance they have in Christ. And that's of course because we haven't grasped enough. Or at some point, we've lost sight of what we did grasp once, of the immeasurable inheritance that is ours in Christ together as his holy people. Where is God taking us? Somebody, again, in our group on Monday evening said, this life is training for reigning. I'm sure they heard that somewhere before, but training for reigning, I quite like that. They thought it was cheesy, I quite like that.

25:48 Because that's the reality, what is our inheritance? Paul wants us to dive into God's revealed word and search out and read and meditate on and sing about and talk to each other about and get excited with each other about the inheritance that is ours together in Christ. To find out all that we can about what's in the will. About what's in the will for Jesus because we are in Christ, so what's in the will for him is what is in the will for us. And then together to pray fervently and expectantly as we do that. But that by the Spirit's illumination he would help our minds and our hearts to grasp the infinite worth of that inheritance. And that it would capture our hearts. And that it would capture our vision.

26:38 And occupy our minds. And drive our decisions and our choices in increasing measure as we come to have our eyes enlightened. that more and more as our lives in him progress, that we'd be choosing the 100 pound note over the two pound coin. Because we get the value. Our eyes have been opened. And at the same time then, Paul wants us to grasp another aspect of this too. With the Spirit's help that we, God's holy people, are not simply inheritors, but we are also an inheritance. We are, as his holy people together, God's inheritance.

27:29 And to know that more and more, that that's my value, that that's our price tag. Again, surely that changes so much of how I think about myself, of how we see ourselves, of the choices we make in life? Do those choices come from a place of being deeply valued, or from a place of needing to find that value in other places? On my wedding day, I always talked about his engagement. On my wedding day, a few years later, 2nd of September 2000, I was given an inheritance

28:15 I have a girl that I love and that was amazing. But what was equally amazing and equally wonderful was to know that she loved me and that she valued me so deeply and that she wanted me so much as her in her. That was equally amazing. God loves you and values you so deeply that he wants you. He wants us together as his inheritance and it's only through the Holy Spirit working in the eyes of our heart that we're gonna grasp even the edge of the wonder of that. And then thirdly and finally, Paul wants his readers and he wants us and to know his incomparably great power for us who believe. And the rest of the prayer, the rest of the verses are focused on this point that we would know his incomparably great power. And this isn't like the inheritance about the future.

29:30 This is about now. This is about the present. And as his church, this is something that we need to get our heads around more and more. as we do is transformative. Imagine for a moment the people that Paul was originally writing to in and around Ephesus in the Asia Minor area at the time. Think of the context. Surrounded by and living under the mighty power and authority of the Roman Empire. Ephesus is an outpost of that power.

30:04 That sense of living totally powerless and impotent in the face of the might of the emperor and his kingdom. On the wall of an excavated house in Ephesus, this phrase was found on a piece of graffiti. It says, this room, the ruler of all, your power will never die. Now, we know that history tells a different story to that, but you can totally understand why the people living in that house at the time might have come to think that Rome's power would be eternal. And it's into this context that Paul is saying and that Paul is praying, I want you to know the power that is ours in Christ, the incomparable, the immeasurable, the exceedingly great power that far surpasses, far outstrips, far exceeds the power that you have witnessed and been subject to by the emperor of Rome. I want you to know this more and more. I'm praying that you come to know this more and more.

31:19 The power available to you in Christ is greater than the power of what you've experienced in this empire. And the way you'll come to see this more and know it more is to set the eyes of your heart on what that power has achieved already in Jesus. So first of all, you need to, as you pray, set the eyes of your heart on Jesus' resurrection. Keep going back there again and again and again. The power that is available to you in Christ is the same victory power that defeated death and raised Jesus from that tomb to a new, glorious, immortal, transformed, eternal body. And it's that power, it's that power that according to Romans 6 is available to us to free us. And maybe some of us need to hear this afresh this morning, to free us from the enslavement of sin and enable us to walk in newness of life.

32:30 This isn't an ostentatious power. It's not a power that's worked out in the way the emperor's power is worked out. It's a power that is worked out spiritually on the inside. A power that transforms and that frees from slavery. Set the eyes of your heart on his resurrection, Paul is saying, and with the spirit's help, you'll be able to grasp the power that is yours in Christ. And as a church, we need to do that and understand that because as we do, it will transform who we are and what we think is possible as his church. Set the eyes of your heart too on Jesus' current location. If I and my friends could show you where Jesus was, it would show you a map of the heavenly realms and would show you the resurrected Jesus seated, metaphorically, of course, at the right hand of the Father.

33:34 This imagery taken from Psalm 110 that communicates to us in no uncertain terms that Jesus rules over every realm and every power and every power broker and every name. All things, again, taking imagery from another Psalm, Psalm 8, have been placed under his feet by the Father. That's the way it is right now. and that's the way it's gonna be into eternity and that power that placed him there is the same power that is ours in him today at this moment. So we need to be continually going back to that, setting the eyes of our hearts on Jesus' current location and position and praying for the Spirit's help to help us grasp what does that mean for us today, right now? in our fears, in our anxieties, in our fight against the schemes of the devil in our life? What does the reality of the fact that Jesus is on the throne right now mean for us in our little lives?

34:46 And then ask God to help us see that it is the victor's power that is ours in the fight. And then thirdly and finally, to set the eyes of your heart on how we are together, connected to and filled by Jesus. What Paul says here, again, it's so difficult to get our heads around. That's the whole point of this, isn't it? The one who is head over everything in the whole cosmos, in the realm that we can see, in the realms that we cannot see, He is the empowering and directing head for us as his body. And he has been given this headship for us, the church. And Paul wants them and he wants us in the power of the spirit to begin to grasp.

35:36 What does that mean? That he is our empowering and directing head and that we have been given the privilege to be his body. His hands and his feet. that we have been given the responsibility and the privilege to display the manifold wisdom of God to those powers watching from the spiritual heavenly realm. Set the eyes of your heart on the truth that he is our head, that we are his body, that he fills us with all of his fullness just as the Father fills him with all of his fullness. lots of prayer needed to grasp something of that lots to unpack there in our groups this week but as we do spend time in this prayer let's together invite God by his spirit to allow it to guide both the content of our prayers that we use this prayer to guide what we pray for, but also to inspire the expectancy of our prayers.

36:55 Let's pray expectantly like Paul is praying here, but also as well then to guide our posture towards our engagement with God's word. That the reality that we've been given the spirit excites us to do the work even more because we know the help is available to us. And so many of us can testify to that help being given to us in the past. Because remember at the heart of all this what this is all about. This is about knowing the living God better. And that can't be done with a Google search to answer a Bible study question so you don't look stupid in your group tomorrow night. Or with a chat GBT prompt asking about the attributes of the character of God. This isn't about getting to know about God.

37:47 This is about getting to know God. That is the purpose that we've been given. That's why he's created us. So that we can do that. So we need to be people searching to know him more. But we need to be prayerful searchers. and on the other hand we need to be searchful prayers put it to those two things together because the reality is this as Al's already mentioned as we praise together that there is no greater quest there is no greater purpose in life all of the other things of life should find their place in this purpose of knowing the living God more and encountering the living God more because that is why we have been made for the praise of his glory.

38:50 So let's make this quest for that treasure the central one of our lives in the enlightening power of his Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for this prayer. and what it teaches us and how it encourages us and how it challenges us. Thank you too for the words that Al read earlier from your son in the Gospels. Now this is eternal life that they know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. This is eternal life. Father thank you that we have heard the message of truth and that you have included us in your salvation purposes.

39:57 We pray for those here this morning who have not responded to that truth yet. We pray that you would open the eyes of their heart to respond. And we pray for ourselves. This prayer, really simply, that you would enlighten our eyes by your spirit to today, to this week, to this year in ever increasing measure. See, the hope to which we have been called, the glorious riches of our inheritance of the future that you have laid up for us in heaven. and the incomparably great power that is available to us right now today in Christ. Father, working out the eyes of our heart, by your spirit we pray in Jesus' name.

40:57 Amen. Amen.