God's Power Towards Us Series

INTRODUCTION

Two weeks ago it was Easter Sunday. So, do you suppose that we’ve now said goodbye to Easter until next year? Well, we haven’t! The season of Easter doesn’t FINISH on Easter Sunday! It actually STARTS on Easter Sunday and continues for seven weeks after that. That means that it’s fine for me to continue with Easter themes for a bit longer! Today, I thought I would go to a passage which refers to the resurrection. It’s Ephesians 1:15-23.

But before we take a look at this passage, let’s remember that we have already had one talk about the resurrection and what it means. On Easter Sunday, we looked at 1 Corinthians 15. I looked especially at the first two verses and the last verse. In verses one and two, Paul talks about ‘the gospel … by which you are being saved, if you HOLD FAST to the word I preached to you’. Paul wants to encourage the Christians in Corinth to HOLD FAST. He then starts to talk about Jesus’ resurrection – and he talks about it for a long time. 1 Corinthians 15 is 58 verses long!

At the start of the chapter, Paul urged the Christians in Corinth to HOLD FAST. At the end of the chapter, he writes ‘THEREFORE, my beloved brothers…’ THEREFORE means, ‘in view of all that I’ve been saying about the resurrection’, ‘Therefore, be steadfast, immovable’ – that’s much the same as ‘HOLD FAST’. Then Paul adds, ‘always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labour is not in vain’ [1 Corinthians 15:58].

Why should we HOLD FAST? Because we have a wonderful future if we do. We can all be tempted to give up. But because there’s such a prize at the end, because there’s a resurrection, it’s worth keeping going, completing the course.

And also because there’s a resurrection, there’s every reason to work hard. Our work has value. If we’re engaged in the work of the Lord, it can transform people’s situations ETERNALLY!

That’s what we looked at on Easter Sunday. So, one thing the resurrection means is that we should stand firm and work hard. It’s a good message. It’s logical. I don’t want to seem unhappy. But something a little more encouraging would be nice! The passage in Ephesians which we’re going to look at today comes into that category.

There’s a kind of movie called an ‘inheritance movie’. The basic premise is that someone suddenly becomes rich beyond their wildest dreams – and they try to get their heads around that fact. ‘Mr Deeds’ is a movie like that. Mr Deeds is the owner of a pizzeria. Then he inherits $40 billion from his deceased uncle. Life changes completely for him and he realises that he has the power to impact people’s lives in a way he never had before.

In Ephesians 1, Paul says that as Christians we’re in a similar situation. But there are differences. Mr Deeds came into money. Christians have come into power. Mr Deeds grasped how wealthy he’d become. But lots of Christians don’t understand the power that is available to them.

THE PASSAGE

Let’s now take a look at the passage. It is, I think, a bit difficult to digest! In Ephesians 1, Paul wrote a couple of REALLY long sentences. Verses 3-14 are all one sentence in the Greek. That’s an EXTREMELY long sentence! But verses 15-21 – the passage we’re looking at – are also one sentence in Greek. That’s also quite long!

The UK government is trying to promote ‘Plain English’ in its communications. I don’t think they would approve of such a long sentence! But I don’t think it’s actually too bad. Let’s take a look. I’m going to use the ESV, the ‘English Standard Version.’ Let’s start from verse 15.

‘For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love towards all the saints, I DO NOT CEASE TO GIVE THANKS FOR YOU, REMEMBERING YOU IN MY PRAYERS…’

Paul is praying for the Ephesians.

‘…that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF HIM, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened…’

If I was a member of the church in Ephesus and I read Paul’s letter I would be very happy that Paul is praying this for me! It’s a great model for us to use as we pray for each other!

Paul’s theme is the Ephesians’ knowledge of God. His prayer is that God would give them a spirit of wisdom and of revelation and that ‘the eyes of their hearts’ would be enlightened. We don’t come to a knowledge of God with scientific instruments. We need God’s help.