Ephesians Series - #2 - Knowing Christ
Ephesians 1:15-23
Knowing Christ. What does that look like? And What is it that we need to know so that we can continue on in growing in Him and being used by Him?
Love – Evidence of Knowing Christ (v. 15-16)
Know Him More (v. 17)
Know more of His Hope (v. 18a)
Know more of His Riches (v. 18b)
Know more of His Power (v. 19-23)
Intro
Slide
So glad to be enjoying some nice weather finally! We started our summer series through Ephesians last week and we talked about all of the blessings we have in Christ.
We saw that we have been blessed with
a New Identity,
a New Freedom,
a new Purpose and
a new Power.
God has provided all of these to us who are “in Christ.”
We are going to jump right in today and take a look at the rest of chapter 1 and we are going to see how excited Paul is that the Ephesian saints are “in Christ” and we are going to take a look at what Paul prays for these saints who are in Christ.
And even as Paul prays this for the saints in Ephesus, this is a prayer that does not only apply to them, but is a prayer for every believer in Jesus Christ through the millennia even to today for you and I!
So turn with me to Ephesians 1:15-23
Slide
I want us today to learn what Paul has to say and to pray and so that we too might live out our faith in the Lord now and forever as we continue to know Christ better and learn what it means to know Him more.
Now Paul has just finished telling the Ephesian Christians about all the blessings they have in Christ and he goes on beginning in Ephesians 1:15 and says…
Ephesians 1:15-23
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. 17 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. 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. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far 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. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
Pray
Ok Paul starts out this passage saying, “For this reason.” He is going back to what he previously spoke to them about which was the blessings they have in Christ and He is confident that they have been included in Christ.
Question
How can Paul, or anyone for that matter, be confident about someone else’s faith?
I mean, isn’t faith invisible? Is there some sort of mark that would tell us who is of faith and who is not?
Well, for starters it is important to understand that real faith isn’t invisible.
Real faith in Christ is visible in a person’s life.
How is it visible? What is the evidence that someone knows Christ? - Love
Love is the evidence of knowing Christ
Slide
Ephesians 1:15…ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints
The Ephesians love for the saints is evidence of their faith.
Their visible love for others is the evidence that they know Christ.
This is not the only place we read about this. It is the clear teaching of Scripture throughout the Bible.
Jesus says in
Slide
John 13:35 - By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
It is the Ephesians love for people that Paul is excited about and the reason he cannot stop giving thanks for them.
Love is the first fruit of the Spirit and should be evident in our lives.
Apply
Let me ask you, would Paul be able to stop giving thanks for you?
Is your love for others visible?
I am sure that some of you may have heard this before, but if someone were to look at your life, would they be able to identify you as a Christian by your love for people?
And that leads to another question, what does love look like?
Well, it looks like caring about someone’s long term (eternal) best interest.
And our long term eternal best is not always comfortable in the short term.
This is where people get confused.
They think if you love them, you will make them feel comfortable.
Sometimes love means not making a person uncomfortable in the short term so their future is better.
Illustration – Candy for Dinner
For instance, you can’t have candy for dinner because even though it would taste good now, it is not good for your long term.
Speaking Truth is not always comfortable
Speaking truth does not always make someone feel comfortable.
Sometimes speaking truth to someone can be painful for everyone.
But, many times, truth is the thing that a person needs, so they can avoid long term hardships.
Truth, as the Bible tells us, is what ultimately will set you free.
To really love people, we have to speak truth to them.
Jesus spoke truth even when that is not what a person wanted to hear.
In the story of the Rich Young Ruler, Jesus didn’t tell the man what he wanted to hear, but spoke truth because he loved him.
This man came to Jesus living an outwardly righteous life.
He had no visible sins and worked at keeping the letter of the law, but Jesus didn’t say, good job.
Listen to what it says.
Mark 10:21-22
Slide
21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
22 At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
Jesus looked at him and loved him, spoke truth and the man went away sad. Jesus didn’t tell the man what he wanted to hear, but he spoke truth to him even if it caused him to walk away.
Our following of Jesus, our faith in Him, will be displayed by our willingness to love people. I want to love people with truth, but I want to speak truth in love as well.
The Ephesians were loving people and it was evident to Paul that their faith was true and displayed by their real love of others.
Apply again
Are you truly loving people?
Not just acting nice to them, but loving them with the truth of the gospel?
We need to share truth with people.
When Jeremy spoke a month or so ago, he showed a video of Penn Gillette, who is an atheist, but who spoke of a man who shared a Bible with him.
And even Penn recognized that this man cared about him to tell him this and he said something very interesting.
He said, how much do you have to hate someone, to believe they will be going to hell if they don’t trust in Jesus, to not tell them about Him?
Love people with the truth.
That is an evidence of us truly knowing Christ.
Transition
So the Ephesians know Christ. That is awesome. But Paul doesn’t end his letter to them here. They know Him but that is far from the end, for the Ephesians and for us.
Because while it is important to know Him, it is just as important that we continue to
Know Him More
Slide
Look what Paul prays for the Ephesians after he talks about the evidence of their knowing Him by their love for others.
He says in Ephesians 1:17 “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.”
Knowing Christ is only the beginning
When we come to Christ and come into that knowing relationship with Him, our journey is only beginning, it has not ended.
We see in the Great Commission that we are to make disciples and then baptize them and then to continue teaching them so they might know Christ more.
We see in Hebrews 5 that while many people who were a part of the church from a Jewish heritage had come to know Christ, but they were failing to grow in their knowledge of Him and it was affecting their lives.
The author warns them that this lack of growing in knowledge of Him is not good for them and says
Slide
Hebrews 5:11-12
you are slow to learn. 12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!
The Hebrew Christians were failing to grow in their knowledge of Him.
Don’t be like them.
At Hickory Creek, it is our desire to help you grow in this knowledge of him
by teaching the truths of God’s word.
by asking questions about how is word should be lived out in our lives
By offering opportunities to gather with others to study
By encouraging you continually to be reading His word
By praying that God’s Holy Spirit would continually
Convict us of sin
Cleanse us as we confess and
Open the eyes of our heart to His truths
Are you seizing the opportunities to know Him more?
As you do, your faith is going to become more visible as you realize the love of Christ more and are enabled to love others more.
Know Him more!
That is Paul’s encouragement to the Ephesians and he goes on to explain some of the things that will help them know Him more.
He says that He wants them to
Know more of His Hope
Slide
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,
What is this hope and how do we know more of it?
Well the hope that we live in and that he has called us to is the knowledge that there is a day coming when we will no longer have to endure the suffering that is caused from the sin in this world, it is the hope of our eternal life.
Illustration
Do you ever have days when life gets you down?
I do.
There are days that you feel like you just want to run away from everything and not deal with anything.
I was having a time like that about a week ago and my wife sent me one of the memes like this.
Slide
But the reality is that running way is not the answer because you can never run away from sin in the world.
You are going to have days of suffering, days of discouragement.
That answer is not running away.
The answer is knowing the hope we have more and more!
When we are struggling, remember that
there is a day coming when we will be with our Lord and see Him face to Face
There is a day when He will wipe away every tear and
there is no more pain or suffering
for the old order of things has passed away.
This is not a hope that I wish for. This is a hope that I Know is coming because I know Him, and that affects me in how I live now and how I experience life!
This is the hope that Paul wrote to the Corinthians about when he spoke of the resurrection, saying that
Slide
“If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.” (1 Corinthians 15:19)
This is the hope he wrote to Titus about in
Titus 2:13 saying that “we wait for the blessed hope — the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ”
This is the hope we need to be growing in, the hope that Jesus is true to His word and we will be with Him soon and forever!
And as we do, as we know Him more, and as we focus on and know this hope more, we live in joy more!
Transition
But hope is not all we need to know more of.
Paul goes on to say that we need to
Know More of His Riches
Slide
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened that you may know…
the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
The riches here are not the riches of our inheritance in Christ, but the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints!
Come again?
What does that mean?
While it is true that we have a great inheritance in Christ, this is speaking about the riches we have because God has chosen us as His inheritance!
One author I read put it like this.
“we are God’s possession, purchased by the blood of Christ. Thus we are His portion or inheritance which He will finally and ultimately possess throughout eternity.”
In the OT, Israel was spoken about in this way, in Psalm 33:12
Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance.
Now in the NT, we see that we have been grafted in and now His inheritance is in the saints, the church, both Jews and Gentiles on equal footing in Christ.
This is incredible when you begin to think about it.
That the God of all creation, has saved us, people who still struggle with sin, by valuing us who have been created in His image, as worthy by sending His own Son to make us His inheritance!
It is difficult to comprehend.
From my view, we are just a bunch of disobedient, sinners, with nothing to offer the God of the universe.
But from God’s view, we are the pinnacle of His creation, created in His own image, and he has placed a value on us that equals the price of His Son!
The Old Violin
There is a poem written by Myra Brooks Welch called
The Old Violin
It speaks of an old and worn violin that is up for auction but the auctioneer doesn’t think it is worth much. He starts the bidding at a dollar and asks for 2 and then three, but before it is sold, a man from the back approaches the old violin. He picks up the bow and tightens the strings and plays the old violin with a sound as sweet as an angel.
When the music stops, the auctioneer begins the bidding again, saying
What is the bid for this old violin?
This time though, He begins the bidding with $1000 and it quickly rises from there.
Some in the audience said we don’t understand
What changed the value of this old violin?
And as the poem ends, it says that “It was the touch of the Masters Hand.”
We are like the Old Violin
We are much like the Old Violin, all worn out and worthless from life’s sins and worries
But in Christ, we are changed, from worn out and worthless, to experiencing the riches of being part of God’s inheritance in the saints, all because of the touch of the Master’s Hand, because we are in Christ
We are rich, solely because we are “in Christ” and have been touched by the Master’s Hand, and we are his possession, we are His inheritance!
As we know and understand those riches, knowing Him more, we are truly and continually transformed in Him.
Transition
And that is not all! It goes on to tell us that we know Him more as we
Know More of His Power
Slide
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened that you may know…19 his incomparably great power for us who believe.
We too often live life in the weakness of our flesh because we fail to know the power that is available to us.
God has filled us with His Spirit.
He has given us the power to be able to live for Him
This power, Paul goes on to say as he continues in verse 19-21 of Ephesians
is like the working of his mighty strength, 20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far 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.
The Power He has given us is the same power that raised Jesus from the dead!
This is the power that will raise you who believe and this is the same power that will enable you to really live now!
Don’t be deceived when Satan comes and says you can’t do it!
It’s a lie!
You have been given the power that is above all rule and authority, above Satan’s power and dominion!
“Get the behind me Satan in the name of Christ Jesus my Lord!”
We have the power to overcome and stand firm against the lies and temptations of the Evil one!
And we have the power, together, as the church, as the body of Christ, connected to Christ as the head, to see Him glorified and His Kingdom expanded!
The chapter ends saying
Ephesians 1:22-23
22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
Oh Thank you Lord Jesus!
Conclusion
Do you know Him?
And are you knowing Him more!
As we know Him more, we can
live in the hope,
take joy in the riches, and
access the power
that enables us to truly live life!
I am going to close in prayer.
I am going to lead in a prayer of confession for those here who may never have received Him yet.
Turn to Him and repent of your sin and receive Him as you confess Jesus as Lord.
I am also going to pray what Paul says here for the Ephesians.
I want to pray this so that we too can live for the glory of God.
Oh, glorious Father, may You give us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that we may know You better.
I pray also that the eyes of our hearts may be enlightened in order
that we may know the hope to which You have called us,
that we may know the riches of Your glorious inheritance in the saints,
and that we many know your incomparably great power for us who believe.
Amen
The Old Violin
The Touch of the Masters Hand
'Twas battered and scarred,
And the auctioneer thought it
hardly worth his while
To waste his time on the old violin,
but he held it up with a smile.
"What am I bid, good people", he cried,
"Who starts the bidding for me?"
"One dollar, one dollar, Do I hear two?"
"Two dollars, who makes it three?"
"Three dollars once, three dollars twice, going for three,"
But, No,
From the room far back a gray bearded man
Came forward and picked up the bow,
Then wiping the dust from the old violin
And tightening up the strings,
He played a melody, pure and sweet
As sweet as the angel sings.
The music ceased and the auctioneer
With a voice that was quiet and low,
Said "What now am I bid for this old violin?"
As he held it aloft with its' bow.
"One thousand, one thousand, Do I hear two?"
"Two thousand, Who makes it three?"
"Three thousand once, three thousand twice,
Going and gone", said he.
The audience cheered,
But some of them cried,
"We just don't understand."
"What changed its' worth?"
Swift came the reply.
"The Touch of the Masters Hand."
"And many a man with life out of tune
All battered and bruised with hardship
Is auctioned cheap to a thoughtless crowd
Much like that old violin
A mess of pottage, a glass of wine,
A game and he travels on.
He is going once, he is going twice,
He is going and almost gone.
But the Master comes,
And the foolish crowd never can quite understand,
The worth of a soul and the change that is wrought
By the Touch of the Masters' Hand.
- by Myra Brooks Welch
