God’s Revelation
Ephesians 1:15-23
September 29, 2019
As most of you know this week, the democratic party is beginning the process of attempting to impeach President Trump. I am not, and let me repeat, I am not making a political statement about any of this.
What I want to say to get us going a little this morning is this - - “can any of you tell me the truth about what is happening in Washington D.C.?” I mean, does anyone know the entire story, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Sadly, we don’t, and we never will. We will hear a lot of spin doctoring by both sides, so that the public, you and I will hear what they want us to hear. And the media will portray what is happening according to their political leanings. We can all have our opinions, but our opinions really aren’t based on facts, just on opinions from those we listen to.
With that in mind, I want to talk about a different revelation. Not the revelation of political or social news, but the revelation of God, in Jesus Christ.
For the past few weeks, we’ve been looking at Ephesians 1, and today, we’re going to make it through the remainder of the chapter. In this section of scripture, Ephesians 1:15-23, Paul talks about the revelation of Jesus as our starting point.
If we are going to be followers, believers in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, then we need to have a clear understanding of who He is - and who we are in Christ.
If we don’t have a clear understanding, or at least a basic understanding of who Jesus is, then we can’t fully understand who Jesus is, nor can we really experience the power of God in our lives. We become ineffective and weak when it comes to knowing Him.
So, let’s look at what Paul is telling us as we move about through these verses. Paul prays for the people of Ephesus, writing - -
16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him,
When you say yes to Jesus, it means more than living by a set of rules and regulations. It’s more than a code of conduct. When we said yes, we enter into a relationship with Jesus. So, we need to realize and believe –
Jesus is not just our teacher, He is our Lord and Savior. He is not just powerful, He is All-Powerful. He’s not just wise, He’s All-Knowing. He isn’t just loving, He is Love.
When we connect to Jesus, we connect to the power above all powers. We're often held back by a limited view of who God is. It's really, really difficult to rise above your situation if you're not fully convinced that God is bigger than your situation.
It's impossible to experience power when the fear, doubt and sin are winning the battle. If you're not fully convinced that God has the power and the desire to deliver you from darkness, it’s going to be really tough to overcome the darkness.
It's impossible to experience the abundant life if you're not fully convinced that Jesus came to give you abundant life. In order to fully experience God, you have to know Him.
So, Paul prays that God, the Father of glory, would give the people spiritual wisdom and an understanding of who Christ is.
Paul prays that we might understand His power. He wrote in 1:19 –
19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His great might
Paul talks about the immeasurable greatness of Jesus power toward us who believe. That’s so cool! Think about what God is telling us. When we stop and think about it, do we really comprehend what is the God’s power. It’s immeasurable. We can’t quantify it, we can’t measure it, we can’t figure it out. His power and greatness is above our ability to comprehend.
This is why the resurrection is so powerful. Because the one thing that no person can conquer, Jesus has conquered. The resurrection is the greatest miracle of all, because not only does it prove that Jesus is who He said He was, it proves that He has power that no one else has.
Whatever it is that is creating craziness in your life, know they are not the ultimate power. They can't control life and death. Only Jesus can. Some of you believe that your life is subject to the power of the economy, or the power of your employer, or the power of public opinion, or the power of the government or political enemies — none of these have power over death.
Your boss can only fire you. The public can only criticize you. The economy can only bankrupt you. None of them can take away your eternal destiny. None of them can destroy the life that has been given you in Christ Jesus. None of them can separate you from God.
Remember Paul’s words from Romans 8:38-39 –
38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
That’s great news! Jesus is the ultimate power in the universe. He is more powerful than any force, any person, any presence, or any thing at work in your life. Your enemies are no match for His power. Your fears are no match for His power. Your problems are no match for his power. Your sin is no match for His power. He has the power to conquer death, and through Him you have the power to conquer life.
Paul also tells us we need to understand His honor.
Paul wrote - - 20 that God . . . raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, - Ephesians 1:20
You see, Jesus was placed in the seat of honor. He gave His life for you and I. He was willing to come into this world and die a shameful, humiliating death on the cross for you and I. And because of that, God raised up Jesus and as Paul said in Philippians 2:9, God gave Jesus the name that is above all names.
The writer of Hebrews said it well - -
2 that we look to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him,
endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. – Hebrews 12:2
That says it wonderfully and powerfully what Jesus did for us. Jesus could demand our honor because of who He is. Instead, He chose to earn our honor because of what He did. He wants us to freely come to Him.
We need to grow in the knowledge of Christ for this reason: if we truly know Him, we can't possibly refuse Jesus, His rightful place in our lives. At the center.
It’s easy to come up with lots of reasons for rejecting Jesus. There is a blanket rejection of Christianity, because the person never knew Jesus. Maybe they knew someone who didn’t emulate Jesus well, and that’s their view of the faith, or they were hurt by someone in the church or they didn’t like the pastor, or they didn’t like the music, or they were too conservative or handled snakes!
In the end, they have no idea who Jesus is and what it means to be His follower.
This is why we need to know Christ. When you know Jesus, honoring Him becomes almost a reflex. He is worthy of honor. He deserves our honor. And though he has every right to demand it, by His death Jesus earned a place of honor in the heavens.
Along with that Paul tells us we need to better understand the authority of Jesus.
Paul says God has placed Christ...
21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
These terms — rule, authority, power, dominion, name — could refer to both spiritual beings or to human authorities; scholars debate the issue. Paul's point, however, as Klyne Snodgrass says, is that...
...whatever powers exist — real or imaginary, human or nonhuman — they are all subject to Christ. [NIV Application Commentary of Ephesians, p. 77]
Every authority, ruler, and power must ultimately submit to Christ. Paul finished off the Christ hymn in Philippians 2 by stating - -
9 Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. – Philippians 2:9-11
Isn’t this great!! Ultimately, every knee will bow before Christ! Ultimately, everyone will call him Lord.
There’s only one thing that will last for eternity . . . Jesus! We think we can find it through materialism, or pride, or pleasure, only to realize that we’ve invested ourselves into something which cannot endure.
Only one thing, a person will last forever, that’s Jesus Christ. He is above all else.
When we know who we are in Christ — when we have the spirit of wisdom and of revelation of Jesus, then we can better understand who we are in Him.
Part of Paul’s prayer for the people was to - -
18 have the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you,
Paul’s prayer is for the people to simply open their hearts, in that metaphorical sense open the eyes of your hearts. See Jesus, know Jesus, love Jesus. And when we really know Him, we will better understand the hope we have in Him.
It’s a hope that will not end. It’s a hope that will not disappoint us. We may not get all we want, and how we want it, but we have an everlasting hope in Jesus. We also have the promises of Jesus that He will never fail us, never forsake us. He will always, always be there for us. And no matter how bad it gets, no matter how bad we get, He will be there.
It’s what we talked about the first couple of weeks - -
He has CHOSEN us
CALLED us before the world was created
He has ADOPTED us into His family
We have FULL RIGHTS and privileges
We are considered HOLY / BLAMELESS
We receive the FULL INHERITANCE
We are SEALED by the Holy Spirit.
That’s all from God! That’s part of the great hope we have in Him.
Finally, we get to experience His power!!
Paul’s prayer includes the fact that we can experience his power - -
19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of His great might 20 that He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,
Did you hear that? The same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is available to you. Because, Paul says - - 22 And He put all things under His feet and gave Him as head over all things to the church,
God's power is available through Christ for the benefit of the church.
Who is the church? You, me, and everyone who else who has given their lives to Jesus Christ. God's power is available for our benefit. Every believer can be sure of this - -
If you need God's power to do right, it’s yours. If you need God's power to be holy, you got it. If you need God's power to overcome sin, you can have it. If you need God's power to do His work, or to do His will, you can have it. The very same power that raised Jesus from the dead is available to you and I.
We would all like that resurrection power, but I also realize that to experience the resurrection power of Jesus, we need to experience death, pain, suffering. Just as Jesus endured these things on the road to His resurrection, we can expect to endure them, too. God's power will not save you from suffering, but His power will get you through it. You can count on it.
God's power didn't save Joseph from prison, but God's power got him through prison — and through His power Joseph rose to prominence in Egypt and his family was restored.
God's power didn't prevent Moses from spending years exiled in Midian, but through God's power Moses was able to stand up to Pharaoh and lead God's people out of Egypt.
God's power didn't prevent Nehemiah from becoming a slave to King Artaxerxes, but through God's power Nehemiah was able to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and help bring about revival in Israel.
God's power didn't prevent Bartimeus from being born blind, but through God's power his sight was restored.
God's power didn't prevent Paul and Silas from being beaten and thrown in jail, but through God's power their chains were broken and salvation came to the house of the Philippian jailer.
God's power didn't keep Paul out of prison, but through God's power he wrote the letters that have inspired millions in their spiritual life for the last 2000 years.
God's power is available to you — His resurrection power.
It is available for our benefit — to make us a little more like Jesus. That's because you are God's treasured possession.
