March 2, 2008
Morning Worship
Text: Ephesians 1:15-23
Subject: Paul’s Prayer for the Church
Title: Who Are You In Christ?
One of the things that mankind has always sought for was the meaning of life. Who are we and what are we doing here? I suppose every one of us has asked that question in one form or another. Now, since I am talking to the church the question you might ask is, “Lord, what do you want for my life?”
I want to ask you today, “Who are you in Christ?” The better question would probably be, “Who can you be in Christ?”
When I was in high school back home, being the brilliant student that I was, (you can laugh now) I enjoyed biology class. I wasn’t too crazy about my teacher, but I loved science and biology. I remember studying about the characteristics we have and how some of them are inherited and some of them are acquired. For instance, your physical make-up, hair color, height, the color of your eyes etc. are determined by you ancestry. But there are many things about you that may have been influenced by your environment. Your family life as a child was not a happy environment so you may not have joy in your life. Your parents were smokers so you smoke. You were raised in church so you go to church. In some cases we have things that are inherited that we have allowed to be altered by our environment.
Your spiritual life operates in very much the same way. When you become a Christian you have a specific inheritance – things that are guaranteed. Yet because of your environment you have not become everything that God intends for you to be.
Where I want to take you today is to the place where you can see who you are in Christ. In the process we will also show you what God desires you to be.
Get ready! God is going to do something great in your life today. Listen, because faith comes by hearing! I’M GOING TO LISTEN BECAUSE I WANT TO HEAR. Faith is coming!
I. YOU CAN HAVE WISDOM AND REVELATION (17) I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation… I want you to notice this – Paul didn’t tell the church in Ephesus that they were lacking in this area, but he knew they needed it. You can be a Christian without wisdom and revelation. But he knew they would be more effective in ministry is they would receive the Spirit of wisdom and revelation. Paul went to the right source. It is the glorious Father who gives revelation and wisdom. Now because Paul wrote that he was praying for these two things for the church, it does not mean that they were to get them in that order or that one is more important than the other. One without the other is incomplete. If you receive a revelation from God and don’t have the wisdom to know what to do with it what good does it do you. This wisdom is spiritual wisdom that gives spiritual insight to spiritual things. Those spiritual things are God’s revelation of Himself to His people. 1 Corinthians 2:9-10, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” 10but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit… What is Paul’s reason for praying this way for the church? … So that you may know him better! So that your faith will be increased. Knowing God the way He wants to be known helps us to understand His nature – His awesome power, His eternal being, His power, His understanding of all things… When we understand His nature our faith increases because we know that because of who He is, He is able to respond to our faith according to His nature. Now, how is it that God reveals Himself to us? It’s through the word, so if you want to receive revelation you need to be in the word, and when you are in the word your faith will increase. Romans 10 doesn’t say, “faith might come by hearing and hearing by the Word of God” but he says, “Faith comes by hearing…” The truth is that you have been given the Spirit of wisdom and revelation. What is lacking is that many times we don’t put it to use. In the natural you may be gifted with a good voice or a winning personality but if you don’t sing or stay cooped up in your house what good do those things do? If you are a child of God you have His Spirit in you so you have the Spirit of revelation. But for that Spirit of revelation to do you any good you have to read the word. God is waiting to reveal Himself. What are you waiting for?
II. YOU CAN BE ENLIGHTENED (18) I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened… Once again, God’s desire for you to be enlightened is not simply so you can obtain some spiritual high. There is a concrete purpose for it. Before I go into that I want you to see what some of these words mean in the original Greek. 1) eyes of your heart… In the King James this is translated “understanding”. It literally means, “deep thought”. 2) enlightened – “to shed light upon; to make see. So God wants make known in the deepest recesses of our hearts, by His Spirit, all the things that God has made available to all believers. First, He wants to enlighten you to the hope to which He has called you. This call to hope has already taken place yet is an ongoing process, which culminates with the second coming. Titus 2:11-13, 11For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ… Second, He wants you to know all the benefits that you have available to you. …the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints… OK, I know that I have eternal life in heaven with Jesus waiting for me. That’s awesome! But that’s not all. God wants you to be enlightened to everything that is available to believers; the baptism in the Holy Spirit, blessings, signs and wonders… Now wait a minute, I don’t believe that all those things are for now. That’s like getting hired at a new job. You agree to a salary and the boss says you can start Monday. Oh, by the way we have insurance, dental and optical, we have a 401K, you get five weeks vacation and 25 sick days every year. And you have a guaranteed five percent raise every year. And you say, “No thanks, I just want the paycheck.” How crazy is that? Paul specifically used these words to get his point across. Even though we are not natural children of God, we have been adopted into His family, in the Roman culture that Paul lived in the adopted child had the same rights as the natural child. The three things that I mentioned are just the beginning of God’s inheritance for you but let me give you scriptural reference so faith can come by hearing the Word of God. Luke 3:16, 16John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. John 1:16, From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. Mark 16:17,18 - 17And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” The third thing in which Paul prays that you would be enlightened is to the power that is available to you. 19and his incomparably great power for us who believe… the word that is translated believe is the same word that is often translated “faith”. So when your faith is increased your power should be increased.
III. YOU CAN HAVE GOD’S POWER IN YOUR LIFE. Verse 19, and his incomparably great power for us who believe… That power is like the working of his mighty strength. Power is “dunamis” (dynamite). It’s not just explosive power but is incomparably great power. “strength” in the NIV is translated as “power” in the KJV but carries the idea of “dominion” or “authority”, so it’s not just authority but His Mighty strength or authority. And who is this power available to? for us who believe… Paul is speaking of the power in Christianity that is often overlooked in mainline churches. It is the baptism in the Holy Spirit. I want you to understand something. Everything that I have spoken of thus far is available to every believer. You are supposed to be blessed. You are supposed to work signs and wonders. You are supposed to increase your faith. But when the baptism in the Holy Spirit comes the Lord takes that twelve-volt control circuit that is flowing through you and turns it into two-twenty. Everything is magnified. You begin to operate in the power of His mighty strength. It is the same strength, the same power, the same authority 20which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms… Romans 1, Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God—2the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, 4and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. Now let’s go on to see that this power is also authority in our lives. 21far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. “Rule, authority, power, and dominion” speaks of the ranks of the demonic hordes that are active on the earth today. Mathew 28:18, Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Paul said that this authority is not just for when we get to heaven but it is just as much for today, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.
IV. YOU CAN HAVE FULLNESS IN YOUR LIFE (22-23) And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. Jesus is the head. We are the body. Notice that it says that the body is the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way! Is your faith growing? Faith, come on! The church is intended to operate in all the authority and all the power the Jesus has – not what He had, but what He has now. Colossians 2:10, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority… John 14:11-14, 11Believe (have faith) me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. 12I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. Church, that’s fullness and it is for you. That includes healing and blessing and provision and authority.
Easter is three weeks away. It is the death and resurrection of Christ that has brought us to this place today. When Jesus suffered and died on the cross He took our sins upon Himself. When he rose from the dead He gave us victory. When He returned to the Father He gave us power. That is the fullness that is offered to us today. It’s like having a twenty - dollar bill tucked away in your billfold and forgotten about. It’s still yours. It’s still available to you, but until you use it, it has no value. Everything that Jesus accomplished was accomplished for all men, but until you repent of your sinful life and ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior the cross and resurrection is just a historical event. Until you receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit, power is a light switch waiting to be turned on. Unless you receive Christ there is nothing – no wisdom, no revelation, no enlightenment, no hope, no inheritance, no power, no fullness. But in Christ you become a new creation and it is all available to you. For those who are in Christ, all these things are yours.
By the things that you inherited from your earthly parents you are a sinner worthy of death. But as an adopted child of God you have life.
Now the stage is set for change. You are in a church that believes in the fullness of the gospel. You are surrounded by people of faith. You have just heard the Word of God and faith comes by hearing the Word of God. Your environment will be an environment of change.
Let me close by saying this. The faith that you have inside of you – the faith that comes from hearing the word and believing the word – needs to be set in motion. If you keep it in you it does nothing, like the twenty-dollar bill in your billfold. But when you put your faith into action you release it to accomplish God’s will on the earth. You share your faith – God’s word will never come back void but will accomplish that which it was sent out to do. You lay hands on the sick and they will get well because you are now releasing God’s power into the world to accomplish His healing. You step out in faith to give a message in tongues or an interpretation or a word of prophecy or any of the gifts of the Spirit, even though you doubt yourself, and you build up the church. This church is an environment for spiritual change and authority and power.
Now, who are you in Christ?
