Ephesians - Finding our Identity in Christ
Ephesians 1:15-23
Pastor Jefferson M. Williams
Chenoa Baptist Church
03-01-2026
Patrick Prays for Me
Maxine’s step-father, Patrick, was one of the wisest men I’ve ever known. He was kind and passionate about his bride and His Savior. And he was a man of prayer.
For four decades, he had a group of five other men that prayed for each other daily. He prayer-walked the large auditorium of his church before each service, asking God to use His Word to do mighty things. He and Maxine’s mother would stay up all night praying for missionaries and other friends.
And Patrick prayed for me. Every morning. For more than thirty years. Patrick believed in praying God’s word back to Him.
Every morning, Patrick would pray the verses, from memory, we are going to study this morning for me. Every single morning. Much of what has happened in my spiritual walk is probably directly connected with Patrick’s prayers.
What is it that Patrick prayed for me?
Let me read you the prayer and then we will begin.
[Read Ephesians 1:15-23]
I’m so thankful that Patrick prayed for me. Do you have someone who prays for you every day? Do you pray for anyone specifically every day? ?
Turn with me to Ephesians 1 (page 1818 in pew Bible)
Prayer
From Blessings to Prayer
In the first section of Ephesians 1, we learned
v. 3-6 God the Father has chosen us
v. 7-10 God the Son has redeemed us
v. 11-14 God the Holy Spirit has sealed us
Paul is going to transition from praising God for the blessings that He gives us to thanksgiving and prayer. He often does this in his letters. But Ephesians is a little different.
In many letters, he spends much of his time putting out fires in the church. (We are looking at you Corinthian Church!). But in Ephesians, Paul has a much broader view and wants to help the believers to live for Jesus in a lost and dying culture.
This section, like the last, would make your English teacher lose his or her mind. It’s another long run-on sentence, 169 words in the Greek! But Paul gets excited about prayer and wants them to know that he is thanking God for them and that he is praying for them, specifically and regularly.
John Calvin gives us six biblical reasons to pray like Paul prayed:
to learn to depend upon our heavenly Father
To purify the desires of our hearts
To be content with whatever He provides
To appreciate more deeply His generous faithfulness
To enjoy without guilt the many gifts He provides
To trust Him to consistently provide for our daily needs.
Thanksgiving
“For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.” (V. 15-16)
Paul blesses God for having blessed use in Christ. Then he prays that God would open their eyes to understand the fullness of the blessing.
Looking back to the blessings, for this reason, he transitions to thankfulness.
Paul had a hand in starting the church at Ephesus but hadn’t been there in a few years. He heard through others about their faith in the Lord Jesus and their love for all God’s people.
If you wanted a very simple definition of what a Christian is, you couldn’t do much better than this - Love God (vertical / Love others (horizontal).
To Paul, faith and love always go together. It’s what makes a healthy Christian and a healthy church body.
He writes to the Christians in Thessalonica:
“We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing.” (2 Thes 1:3)
When he heard of their faith and love, what was his response? Overwhelmed, continually thankfulness! He is so thankful that in the midst of a pagan and dark culture, the Ephesian believers were holding firm to Jesus and to each other.
In fact, the Apostle John wrote that if someone claims to be a Christian but doesn’t love other Christians, is actually an unbeliever:
“We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death.” (I John 3:14)
Was their faith and love perfect? No, but Paul recognized spiritual growth and cheered them on.
Notice that he thanks God for their faith and love. Why? Because faith is a gift of God (Ephesians 2:8) and love is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). Neither faith nor love are natural responses. Thy only happen when God moves in our hearts.
This isn’t about outward behavior but inward belief:
“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” (Galatians 5:6)
Paul’s thankfulness triggered another response - prayer.
Can you imagine how people were on Paul’s personal prayer list?
Also can you imagine how encouraging this must have been to the believers in Ephesus that Paul, now in prison, prays for them every time he talked to God?
Do you have anyone that you pray for every day? Maybe it’s time to pick someone who needs your prays, like your son-in-law, and be consistent in praying for them.
No matter the circumstances in my life, I was always encouraged to know that Patrick had prayed for me that morning.
I Want to Know You More
“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.”
Paul doesn’t stop there. He tells them what he asked God to give them.
Notice that he is praying to the “glorious Father.” The better translation is the Father of Glory. Verses 3-14 is about the blessings that God gives us and it is all based on God’s glory:
Verse 6: “…to the praise of His glorious grace”
Verse 12: “…for the praise of His glory.”
Verse 14: “…to the praise of His glory.”
This prayer is designed to make seeing God’s glory possible.
He asks God to give them the “Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better.”
We need the Spirit’s help to grasp the greatness of God, the supremacy of Christ, and the promises of the Gospel.
We need wisdom in order to live out what we learn and revelation to discern what God is saying to us.
When we are born again, we are sealed with the Spirit. This is the Spirit that illuminates us and helps to understand the Gospel.
Without the Spirit’s help, we do not have the antennae to hear, understand, accept, delight in, and live out the Gospel.
Paul wrote to the Corinthians Christians:
“The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.” (I Corinthians 2:14)
What’s the purpose of receiving the Spirit of wisdom and revelation? To know God better.
D.A. Carson writes,
“What is the greatest need of the church today? The one thing we need in Western Christianity is a deeper knowledge of God.”
Paul wrote the Christians at Philippi:
“What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:8-10)
Jesus made it clear:
“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:3)
The only way we can know God is by God revealing Himself to us through Creation and through the Bible.
“All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” (Matthew 11:27)
The word knowledge means understanding by experience.
I’ve said before that I know a lot about Barry Manilow but if I rang the bell at his gate and said it was Jeff, they might call the police. I know about Barry, but I don’t actually know him.
H.B. Charles says, “It’s one thing to know Psalm 23. It’s another thing to know the Shepherd.’
Sadly, this is so true of many people who claim to be Christians in our culture today. They may know about God, but they have no personal relationship with Him.
Ligonier ministry recently released the results of a survey of “evangelical Christians (us) in the US. The results were shocking but not surprising:
31% said science disproves the Bible
33% said that is a choice
38% said that Jesus was not God
62% said that God accepts all religions
62% said that the Holy Spirit is a force
66% said that people are good by nature
75% said that God created Jesus
There are people that claim to know God but actually, by their lives, prove they don’t:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” (Matthew 7:21-23)
How do you get to know God? Just like you would anyone - spend time with them.
I asked on Facebook how people have gotten to know better through their years walking with Jesus. Here are some responses:
Several people listed listening to faith-filled music has helped them to get to know God better. I can resonate with that. Artists like Steven Curtis Chapman, Rich Mullins, Michael Card, and Andrew Peterson have been the spiritual soundtrack to my Christian life.
“The older I get... the more I appreciate the growth that comes from solitude and silence... I've decided that maybe when I pray.... I talk too much and don't listen enough. For me there is great strength in "being still and knowing (listening to) God." The Holy Spirit seems to remind me of scripture for the present situation but also He reminds me of people to pray for without really knowing why... But obviously He knows.”
Patience in prayer after losing so many siblings. Reading how beautiful heaven is, and how we will be in a better place when he calls us home.I can hardly wait to see my Savior’s face and hear him say...well done my child.
Getting myself out of my comfort zone and pressing into testimonies and practices of others.
Listening to different sermons, read books from Christian authors. [On Wednesday, I gave the Bible study a list of books that every Christian help benefit from reading. Those are available on the table on the way out]
Retrospect of suffering. Looking back and seeing the ways He was good even in the midst of “bad.” The difficulty and hardship that life brings is often where I see Him most. The same can be true for the retrospect of joy too. I’ve seen Him in thoughts of past joys that I didn’t notice in the present. In both, I’ve been taught to recognize His presence in the moment I’m in.
There have been times when I completely had to put my life and trust in Him. what I learned was that "when" times were the darkest, He didn't leave me, He guided me like a lighthouse on stormy seas. That's how my life felt. I had no control over many things in my life and had to completely give it over to Him.We will go through trials, over waterfalls, through fire and float in the seas of despair, but.... I also learned that He will give us the strength to overcome when we trust Him and stay in His word.
Going out on the mission field myself.
Journaling. Using the interlinear bible to look further into meaning of Scripture/words. Trying to learn Hebrew and Greek (this is hard!)
J.I. Packer writes:
“We are cruel to ourselves if we try to live in this world without knowing about the God whose world it is and who runs it. The world becomes a strange, mad, painful place, and life in it a disappointing and unpleasant business , for those who do not know God.
Disregard the study of God, and you sentence yourself to stumble and blunder through life blindfolded, as it were, with no sense of direction and no understanding of what surrounds you. This way you can waste your life and lose your soul…our Ian in studying the Godhead must be to know God Himself better. Our concern must not be to enlarge our acquaintance , not simply with the doctrines of God’s attributes, but with the living God who attributes they are.”
What does the knowledge of God lead to?
Jesus said,
"Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:3)
Open the Eyes of My Heart
Paul continues his prayer:
“I pray 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 his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.” (Verses 18-19a)
Paul gives them, and us, a "peak under the hood” of his prayers.
He uses a very unique phrase here - “the eyes of our hearts may be enlightened.”
In the Bible, the heart is the center of our physical and spiritual being - our intellectual understanding, our personal affections, and moral judgments.
Before the Spirit comes into our lives, our hearts are darkened:
“They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.” (Ephesians 4:18)
Paul is praying that their dark hearts would be flooded with light so they could know God’s greatness and glory:
“For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6)
What is it that Paul prays for them, and us, to understand? Three important realities:
the hope to which He has called you
Do you know, if you are in Christ, what you have been called to by God?
according to His purpose (Romans 8:28)
to salvation (Romans 8:30)
saints by calling (1Cor 1:2)
both Jews and Greeks (1Cor 1:24)
having been called "with a holy" (2 Timothy 1:9)
heavenly calling (Hebrews 3:1)
out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9)
to walk worthy (Ephesians 4:1)
by grace (Gal 1:6)
not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles (Romans 9:24)
through the "gospel" that we "may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2Th 2:14)
and be brought "into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord" (1Cor 1:9)
and return in triumph "with Him" at the end of this age (Revelation 17:14).
There are two types of people in the world. Those that fill up their gas tanks when it hits half full (like Maxine) and those who drive until the low fuel light comes on (like me).
Maxine has never run out of gas. I have…several times.
The solution to an empty gas tank is easy - fill the tank at the gas station.
Running out of gas is frustrating but can I ask you another, more personal, question?
Have you ever run out of hope?
Maybe it’s a financial situation, a health issue, an addiction, a wayward child or grandchild, depression/anxiety, fear of the future, hurt from your past, an unfulfilled dream, or a lingering question of whether you want to keep living at all.
Maybe you are wondering where God is and if he cares about the craziness that is going on in your life.
What do you do when your hope tank is running on fumes
Where do you look when you are sick and tired of being sick and tired?
Just this past week, actor Robert Carradine, Martin Short’s daughter Kathrine, football player Rondale Moore, and rapper Lil Poppa all committed suicide.
There is hope. Hear me. There is hope. It’s not in a program or a plan. It’s in a Person - Jesus Christ.
The word “hope” is used 52 times in the New Testament - enough hope for each week of the year.
In Scripture, hope is not wishful thinking. Hope is a future certainty grounded in a present reality. Or another way of saying it - hope is waiting for God to do what has already promised us.
One theologian calls hope, “faith standing on tiptoe.”
Before we believed in the Gospel, we were without hope:
“…remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.” (Ephesians 2:11-12)
Paul then takes a pause and writes of the hope that we have:
“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” (Ephesians 2:13)
On behalf of the Hoerner family, I wanted to thank everyone who came to the visitation or the celebration of life, brought food, called or texted or sent cards in honor of Missy.
Losing a loved one is hard, but, because of the hope that we have, we grieve differently from those who don’t know Jesus:
“Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.” (I Thessalonians 4:13-18)
We have the hope of heaven:
Paul writes from a prison cell:
“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18)
The future’s so bright, we need to wear shades!
John MacArthur made the point powerfully:
”Until we comprehend who we truly are in Jesus Christ, it is impossible to live an obedient and fulfilling life. Only when we know who we really are can we live like who we are. Only when we come to understand how our lives are anchored in eternity (Hebrews 6:18-19) can we have the right perspective and motivation for living in time (1John 3:2-3). Only when we come to understand our heavenly citizenship can we live obedient and productive lives as godly citizens on earth (Philippians 3:20-21).....It is truth too magnificent for words to describe, which is why even God’s own revelation requires the illumination of His Spirit in order for believers even to begin to understand the marvelous magnitude of the blessings of salvation that exist in the sphere of the saints..... There is nothing more to seek, nothing more to be given or received. We have it all now, and we will have it throughout eternity."
the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people
What does this mean? Is this our inheritance like we saw in verse 14? Or are we God’s inheritance?
Commentators are split on this. Obviously, Paul has already written about our inheritance that is waiting for us in heaven - the final redemption of our bodies.
But here, Paul makes the staggering claim that we are in fact God’s inheritance!
It’s not the first time that Scripture has painted this word picture:
“For the Lord’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance.” (Deuteronomy 32:9)
“But they are your people, your inheritance that you brought out by your great power and your outstretched arm.” Deuteronomy 9:29)
Jeremiah wrote of the same idea:
"He who is the Portion of Jacob is not like these, for he is the Maker of all things, including Israel, the people of his inheritance— the Lord Almighty is his name.” (Jeremiah 10:16).
Richard Coekin writes:
“Isn’t it staggering? God Almighty, who could have provided anything He wanted for His enjoyment in eternity, has chosen to enjoy forever with saved and sanctified sinners, like us! …He’s chosen, redeemed, adopted, and sealed sinful wretches like us as His children, to become the Bride for His beloved Son! And His plan is to bring us all on vacation into the glories of His stern rest - to enjoy our company and shower us with abundant blessings forever as His inheritance!”
I love what the prophet Zephaniah writes:
The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”
I love Dennis Jernigan’s translation of Zephaniah 3:17. Hebrew is a language of rich word pictures and Dennis translates it this way.
[read]
If you ever wonder how much God treasures you, look to the cross! He was willing to give His Son to bring you back to Him.
his incomparably great power for us who believe.
Paul uses a word found here only in the New Testament - incomparably great power.
It means to “throw beyond the usual mark and figuratively means to excel or surpass. It refers to a degree which exceeds extraordinary and thus excels.” God’s power is beyond any other power. It’s in the present-tense which means it continually surpassing all other powers.
Let me ask you a question - do you have big problems and a small God or a big God and small problems?
Christians can face opposition to their faith in Colosse, and in Chenoa, by claiming the power available to believers by the Holy Spirit:
“For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.” (I Timothy 1:7)
God’s power helps people overcome addictions and it heals marriages. It can take a convict and make him a preacher and take a prostitute and make her a missionary. It can give you courage to share your faith with that neighbor and it can help you heal from the trauma of past abuse. That’s the power of God!
Charles Spurgeon said, “The very same power that raised Christ is able to raise the drunk from his drunkenness, the thief from his dishonesty, and the Pharisee from their self-righteousness.” That is the power of God!
Paul’s prayer basically ends here but he just can’t stop telling them about Jesus!
Communion
* Christ’s Resurrection
“That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”
If you were going to try to explain God’s power to someone using your Bible, where would you start? Creation? The Exodus / Red Sea account?
There is no greater example of power than the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead!
Because of Jesus’ resurrection and exaltation, that power is available to those who believe.
Chris Tomlin wrote a song that celebrates this truth:
You called me from the grave by name?You called me out of all my shame?I see the old has passed away?The new has come
Now I have resurrection power living on the inside?Jesus, You have given us freedom?No longer bound by sin and darkness?Living in the light of Your goodness?You have given us freedom
* Christ’s Exaltation
Paul prays for these believers to know the sure hope they have in Christ. He prays that they would understand their worth and the significance of God’s choosing them. And he prays that the eyes of their hearts would be open to understand the incomparably great power that raised Jesus from the dead and seated Him at the right hand in the heavenly realms.
Paul is probably alluding to Psalm 110:1, where David writes:
“The Lord says to my lord, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” (Psalm 110:1)
To sit at the right hand is to hold a place of privilege, honor, favor, and victory.
This position belongs to Jesus and Jesus alone. God raised Him up so He could sit Him down.
The writer of Hebrews also tells us that Jesus is seated at the right hand of God:
“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. (Hebrews 1:3; Mark 16:19)
In that time, when priests ministered at the Temple they never sat down because their work was never done. There were always more animals to slaughter, more sacrifices to be offered.
But Jesus, the last and greatest sacrificial lamb, went to the cross to pay for our sins.
“Our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand” (Heb 10:12)
And on the cross, He yelled, “It is finished!” This is actually one word that is an accounting term meaning, “Paid in full!”
He could sit down because His work was done.
* Christ’s Supremacy
Jesus is “far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.”
The Christians at Colosse came out of a pagan background. Paul wanted them to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Jesus is above creation. He is above satan and his system. He is supreme over every title and name.
In the Christ Hymn in Philippians 2, Paul writes:
“Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:6-11)
Lenny LeBlanc wrote a very popular worship song back in the 80s called Above All:
Above all powers, above all kings
Above all nature and all created things
Above all wisdom and all the ways of man
You were here before the world began
Above all kingdoms, above all thrones
Above all wonders the world has ever known
Above all wealth and treasures of the earth
There's no way to measure what You're worth
Christ’s Headship
And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”
Paul is making clear that no only is every power inferior to Christ, they are also subject to Him. (I Corinthians 15:25-27; Psalm 8)
Jesus is the head of the church, His body here on earth. He is the authority and supplier of power for the church.
I am just in a long line of associate pastors here at First Baptist Chenoa. Jesus is the Senior Pastor and always will be!
Jesus fills the church in a special way with grace and gifts to build His kingdom in this lost and dying world.
