Prayer for Knowledge
Ephesians 1: 15 – 23
The Christians that first received this letter had a great reputation. Eph 1:15, 16 For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers;
This would be a great thing for any church to have said of them that they had great trust in Christ and a great love for each other.
These beginning verses say such wonderful things about what God has provided us in Jesus Christ. God has chosen us from the beginning of time to be a part of His family. That God sent His own Son to be our ticket to heaven by His death on the cross. (Risen Lord) That God has poured out on us wisdom and insight and that we are part of a great inheritance, culminating in the glories of heaven. That God through Christ as implanted in our very being a part of His divine essence through the presence of the Holy Spirit. It is all enough to make you jump up and yell- Hallelujah!
Paul knew we were a great distance from being perfect but in Christ we are set on the road to eternal greatness. We should not get the big head about all this – in reality it is very humbling because we are so undeserving.
Some of the people receiving this letter were veteran Christians; they had developed much in their knowledge of God and in Christian character; their reputations were wide spread.
Yet on of the things we learn from these verses is that no matter how long we have been Christians, spiritual growth is always of vital importance. If you are satisfied with your present spiritual growth as a Christian then you could be on the road to spiritual death!
We should never be satisfied with our present condition- there is always more to learn, more to do, more to be, more people to reach out to, more lives to be changed, more creative opportunities to dream, more ground to cover, more challenges to accept to and more devil behind to kick! Amen?
It is very difficult to summarize the thoughts expressed in the 1st chapter of Ephesians. For purposes of simplicity and in an effort to understand this chapter it has been divided into two sections.
The first section – verses 1- 14 has been called
Paul’s Praise of Christ
The 2nd section – verses 15-23 is
Paul’s Prayer for the Church
Paul realizes the need for regular growth within any church and mentions this in his prayer for them. Paul’s 1st prayer request is this
Eph 1:17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.
Paul does not pray that they have wisdom to carry on business activities or the knowledge to achieve great things for themselves or how to solve the economic problems of the Roman Empire. He initially prays that they might know God better.
The Ephesians along with many other Christians at this time came out of a heathen background. They had a very limited knowledge of the one true God. The minds of the Gentiles was filled with foreign gods and philosophies ( lit. love of wisdom)
They not only needed to grasp the new knowledge about Jesus but the needed to unlearn and disregard they pagan ideas and thought patterns. Wisdom and knowledge from God were of great need to the early church. They did not have a NT like we do today. They had to depend on the Apostle’s teachings, some circulated letters and orally transmitted stories. (Bible)
For us today the wisdom and revelation of God has been delivered once and for all- we simply call it the Bible. We do not need anything else. We do not need any extra revelations, visions, opinions, books or hidden false gospels. We do not need the Koran, or the Book of Morman, or some TV evangelist that acts like he or she has a direct line to God.
Here is something real important- and horribly misunderstood in many corners of Christendom.
We do NOT need a spirit of revelation because we have the revelation of the Spirit in the Bible. (on top of Bible)
Our faith is not and should not be based on a person’s personal experience of God. Your personal testimony and mine are NOT the revealed word of God. Our faith is based upon the Bible and the Bible alone – not church tradition, not a person’s opinion, not on visions, impressions, intuition, feelings, or spiritual fits, or some seemingly dedicated saint be it Mother Teresa, Father Time, Brother Bubba or Sister Sledge.
Jude 1:3 Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.
2 Peter 1:3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.
Revelation 22:18, 19 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.
Do not mess with the Bible, is doesn’t need anything added to it or taken away from it!
Next Paul prays that these Christians might be aware of 3 things. #1 The hope of God’s calling #2 The riches of the glory of God’s inheritance in the saints and # 3 The greatness of God’s power toward us.
#1 Eph 1:18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
The Hope of God’s calling could refer to many things, we have been called for a number of things. The Bible says we are called by God.
Eph 4:1 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called
Col 3:15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.
1Thessalonians 4:7 For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification.
2 Thess. 2:14 It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
1 Peter 2:21 For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps,
#2 Be aware of the glory of God’s inheritance.
Eph 1:18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
( Church crowd) This is an awesome thought- God considers Himself rich with us as His people. It is with utmost love that God is able to say of us, “They are mine.”
As a kid I felt special when either of my parents introduced me to someone. It was like they were saying I was special, I was important to them. Remember this – You are special to God. That also means other believers are special to God as well. When we tear each other down, we are messing with someone that God’s considers special. I’m not talking about joking and kidding. I am talking about when we are malicious and cruel.
If I say my kid is an imbecile, idiot or nuts – I am talking about someone I love. You call my kid the same thing and I may not be real happy to hear about it. Well, we are God’s children and He may know all about us-including the bad stuff- but He may not take to kindly to hearing us talking trash about each other.
# 3 We should realize the surpassing greatness of God’s power to us.
Eph 1:19 and 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
All of God’s power can be used for our well being. God cares for us. It is by God’s power we are saved. It is by God’s power that we will be raised from the dead. Nothing is more powerful than the Jesus we serve.
Listen to this description of Jesus.
Eph 1:20-23 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, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
I don’t care what you might think of the Florida Gators- I don’t give a hoot about them or any other team. But I sure liked it when that quarterback, Tim Richard Tebow at the end of the game thanked his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
His parents were Baptist missionaries in the Philippians and in that time while pregnant with him, his mother, Pam suffered an infection with a pathogenic amoeba, and an abortion was recommended by her doctors. Thank God she knew abortion was murder of your baby! By the way he was home schooled. There are members of 1st Baptist of Jacksonville, FL.
Here is what his pastor, Jerry Vines said of him, “I am confident he will maintain his Christian ideals in the college football arena and will lead many others to a personal faith in Jesus Christ.”
Tim says this, "I plan to have my quiet time every day. I try to stay humble and realize that just because you play football you’re no more important than anyone else.”
Tim was named after the Timothy of the Bible. So let me conclude with Paul’s exhortation to this young man.
1Timothy 4:12 Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe.
Thank God there are young people out there who are unashamed to give thanks to God in front of a stadium of 70 plus thousand and millions on TV.
Young people- and old alike- let us take to the field of life because we serve the one with all the power. He is coming back to rule this “sin soaked” world and gather all the nations to Himself and I want to be on the winning side. And if take the blows, tackles and tumbles of this world to get there then count me in- what about you?
Let us stand up and before we sing lets us say to the world like Tim Tebow – I Want to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
by Richard Vartenisian
for Power Point
RVarten@aol.com
