Intro
No less than a few years ago, you would have looked suspiciously at people walking down the street talking to themselves. You might have even crossed the road to avoid them. Today, however, we immediately assume that such people are on their cell phones and using a wireless Bluetooth connection. The guy talking to himself is no longer crazy -- now he’s really important. How quickly age-old perceptions can change
- Without the knowledge of bluetooth connections, you may think the person talking to themselves is a little loony
- But with the knowledge comes a greater perception
1. A Matter of Knowing (Perceiving)
v.18 Paul prays that the church may “know”
- We can know “about” something & it may have no effect on us
- In the NEWS, you may learn about stuff that is totally unrelated to your life – it is mind junk
- I learnt this week that Jessie Metcalfe from the show “Desperate Housewives” has checked himself into Rehab to be treated for alcoholism
Q. How has that bit of NEWS changed or effected me in a positive way?
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- The issue here is that the “knowing” of God has more to do with “perceiving, grasping” to the point that it has an impact on your life
- If your knowledge of God has not impacted your life, then you have to ask whether you have perceived, grasped that knowledge
- It not only implies understanding, but acceptance
- Remember, Paul says, that the “eyes of your heart be enlightened”
- That the lights come on & you say, “now I get it”, & it changes your life for the good
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- We may ask, “What is the point of having this knowledge of God
Q. What is the point of this Spirit wisdom & revelation of God?
- Last week I suggested to you that change was the reason
- Well that was rather general, but it is still true
- Positive change is what we all need
- Paul describes this as a glorious change
2 Co 3:18 .. 18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
- Change is good & means that God is at work in our lives
- Constructive pain is also good – though we don’t like it at the time – it is good because God uses it to grow us
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In Eph. 3 the point of knowing richly & fully about what God has done in Christ helps us in many ways
3:16 – that we would be strengthened in the inner man
3:17 – that we would be rooted & grounded in love
3:19 – that we would be filled with the fullness of God
- In Col. 1:10 – that we would walk in a manner worthy of the Lord – to please Him – bearing fruit in every good work
1:11 – that we would attain steadfastness & patience - & that we would joyously be giving thanks to the Father
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- The way you live depends a lot on what you think about God
- In your mind, if God is a tyrant, then you’ll keep your distance from Him
- If God is a loveable cosmic teddy bear, then you won’t care how much you sin against Him or others, because there is nothing to fear from a big loveable teddy bear
- If people think that God expects you to be absolutely perfect before He’ll accept you into heaven, then many will give up & “go home”
- If people think God doesn’t expect them to bear fruit – to bring Him a return – then they will just lay back & take life & His commands easy
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Q. Can you see how important it is to have a thorough knowledge of God, not only to know about, but to perceive and grasp in the heart – in the inner man – the wonderful riches of God
Ps 119:18 .. 18 Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law.
- For the church, His riches are our resources
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- Paul prayed specifically for the Ephesians to know...
1. The hope of His calling
2. The riches of His Glorious Inheritance
3. The Surpassing Greatness of His Power
- Today we will be dealing with this last point
2. To Know the Surpassing Greatness of His Power
- This is fascinating & I often wonder how many Christians truly grasp this topic
- This passage means that there is no reason for a Christian to live a defeated life
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- Remember the song that goes... “Jesus Loves Me, This I Know! For the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong. They are weak but He is strong!”
- Little ones who haven’t been corrupted & seared by the realities of adult life, joyfully take to heart that He is strong & that He is looking after them
- It’s the adults that struggle to rejoice in the fact that He is strong & that He is looking after them
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Q. What is the big deal about the greatness of His power?
- Understanding, perceiving, grasping the greatness of His power, enables us to know that He is in control & that our future is safe with Him
- Change in our lives happen when we realise these facts
1. To Understand Resurrection Power
- For man, death is unconquerable
- Graham Greene wrote sadly, “We are all of us resigned to death: it’s life we aren’t resigned to”
- When Dylan Thomas wrote about death, you sense his disdain for it in this poem
“Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage, against the dying of the light.”
- Yet while he talks about raging & fighting against it, it still swallows everyone
Q. Can God conquer death? Can anything stand in His way?
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- The general view of people was that Jesus was a loser & a phoney
- His first coming was in absolutely humble circumstances
- He was born in an animal stable, lived humbly, was crucified by men, dead & buried
- From everyone’s perspective, the story was over
- Not so! For God can do the impossible
- The One who created the heavens & the earth exalted Jesus, raised Him from the dead & seated Him as His right hand
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- Paul prays for the church to know the reality of the resurrection power of God
- A Jews daily prayer viewed God’s ability to raise the dead as the ultimate expression of His power
- For Paul too, the supreme proof of that power was the resurrection
- It proved that God’s purpose cannot be stopped by any action of men
- And in a world which looks chaotic, it is great to realize that God is in control
“The greatest single distinguishing feature of the omnipotence of God is that our imagination gets lost when thinking about it” –– Blaise Pascal
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- This same power – resurrection power - is available to the church
Q. Is change possible? Are we depleted of God’s resources?
Eph 3:20 .. 20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,
- If God changed Jesus’ position from death to life, then surely He can change us into the person He has made us to be
2. To Perceive His Absolute Authority
Q. Who are the controlling forces of the world?
- The United Nations? The USA? China & her great economy?
Eph 6:12 .. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
- The Scriptures indicate that spiritual forces of wickedness are the influencing factors on the world scene
- That they are what is behind the humanist, Antichrist positions of the nations
Re 20:1-3 .. Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. 2 And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3 and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.
- The chief of evil spirits leads them in deceiving the nations
- So really, while we may battle against evil legislation by ungodly governments, in reality, it is not them that we are odds with, but the demonic spirits that direct them
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- So many people live in fear of the spirit world & its influence
- The concept of a spirit world is becoming popular again because of New Age thinking which believe very strongly in the influence of spirits
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- People use many elaborate rituals & magical works to try & control the spirit world
- Exorcists used magical techniques to cast out demons. They would invoke higher spirits to cast out lesser ones. According to magical theory, exorcists could coerce a deity or spirit to do their will by invoking its name (I call upon...)
- Magicians would attempt to utilise the spirits to perform either good or evil acts for or against others
- The bondage people felt to the spirit world was very great
- Missionaries to PNG, Africa etc. could tell you about the bondage to evil spirits that exist among the nationals
- Even in civilised society the bondage is there
Eph 1:19-22 .. [that you may know]...what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might 20 which He brought about 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 every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet
- Jesus has been elevated way above the spirit world
- In fact, there is nothing that is not subject to Him
- The right-hand of God was a position of great honour & authority
Ps 110:1-2 The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.” 2 The Lord will stretch forth Your strong scepter from Zion, saying, “Rule in the midst of Your enemies.”
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- Now the obvious question we would ask is this: “Why are the nations not in subjection to Christ”? Because subjection is in process!
- This was not an unknown issue in the NT
Heb 2:8-9 For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him. 9 But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.
- The message of God works through the world like yeast in dough
- The submission of the world to Christ is in God’s timing & it will happen
- Unlike, the ways of the world, God does not act by force, but in love & grace
- The result, like the song we’ve been singing, is that “every knee should bow in heaven & on earth & under the earth & every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father”
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Ac 19:11-13 .. God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, 12 so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out.13 But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, “I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.”
- They tried to exploit the power of Jesus by invoking His name, but He would not be exploited & the demon-possessed man gave the Jewish exorcists a licking
- This created quite of stir of repentance among the Ephesians
Ac 19:18-20 .. 18 Many also of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices. 19 And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver [$7,000,000]. 20 So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing.
- The point is, we have nothing to fear from the spirit world
- Christ has control over them!
3. To Grasp that His Fullness dwells in the Church
Eph 1:22-23 .. [God] gave Him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
A young boy travelling by aeroplane to visit his grandparents sat beside a man who happened to be a seminary professor. The boy was reading a Sunday school take-home paper when the professor thought he would have some fun with the lad. “Young man,” said the professor, “If you can tell me something God can do, I’ll give you a big, shiny apple.” The boy thought for a moment and then replied, “Mister, if you can tell me something God can’t do, I’ll give you a whole barrel of apples!”
- What a blessing for the church! We are in such a unique position
- The Church is His body (He directs it); the Church is His fullness (He fills it)
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- It answers the question: “How close are we to God”
- Christ may be ruler of the Cosmos, but what interest has He in us?
1. We are His body
Q. How close is your head to your body? Not only is the body the closest thing to the head, but it is literally connected
- As His body, we have Christ’s life in us
2. Christ is at the right hand of God
- If we are in Christ (as His body), we are likewise there with God
- The Christian is said to be “in Christ”; to be clothed with Christ; we are also said to be “sealed for the day of redemption”
Eph 2:5-6 [that God] made us alive together with Christ and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
Q. How closer to God can you be? We are seated with Christ
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- This raises us up to a position of confidence in the future
- As beloved children of God we must remember that we are in Christ & in God
- It is through His power that we have become what we now are in Christ – through that same power which raised Christ from the dead
Conclusion
On May 28, 1972, the Duke of Windsor, the uncrowned King Edward VIII, died in Paris. On the same evening, a television program recounted the main events of his life. Viewers watched film footage in which the duke answered questions about his upbringing, his brief reign, and his eventual abdication.
Recalling his boyhood as Prince of Wales, he said, “My father was a strict disciplinarian. Sometimes when I had done something wrong, he would admonish me, saying, ‘My dear boy, you must always remember who you are.’”
- The prayer of the apostle Paul speaks to us in the same way: “you must always remember who you are.”
- As you gain in the true knowledge of God & of what He has done in Christ, then not only will you remember who you are, but you’ll act & live according to the new person you are in Christ
- When you grasp the power of God, you’ll understand that change & growth are more than possible, they are certainties
