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Ephesians 1:15-23

Let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to Ephesians 1, again. This is our third (and final) Sunday in Ephesians 1. When we’re finished this morning, we can finally turn the page to chapter 2. As you’re finding your place let me share with you some common interests between me and our boys.

So, Parker and I have a common interest in cars. I’ve been able to pass along the Norris fascination with automobiles to him. He’s able to pick out most makes and models just based on their design queues and badges. We often play games with one another. We’ll pause a TV commercial and leave only a small part of a vehicle in the image and take turns guessing what it is – and I’m not talking about pausing Ford truck commercials or Mercedes-Benz commercials. I’m talking about pausing any commercial with a vehicle (close-up or in the background).

Anyway, it’s not uncommon for us to be eating dinner or unwinding after a long day and one of us say something like, “Hey, I saw a (fill in the blank) today.” And then describe everything about that encounter. Sometimes, the car that we spot is super rare or even exotic, and in those instances it’s not enough to say, “Hey, I saw a Ferrari today.” You have to have photo evidence. If you don’t have a photo, then it doesn’t count. For example, just the other day Parker was out with my mother-in-law over near Cabela’s on Woodruff Road, and they saw a McLaren. Sure enough, Parker knew he had to turn around and snap a pic, otherwise his sighting wouldn’t count.

So that’s one of our little father/son connections. Jordan and I both enjoy fishing. We like to talk about different baits and rods and reels and all the other accessories that come along with the sport of bass fishing, right. Well, in a similar fashion, if we’re fishing together the catch doesn’t count unless you get it in the boat. You can’t just pretend to set the hook and have your rod tip bent over – after all, you might just be hooked into a nice ole “tree pounder” instead of that trusty old “three pounder.” Even if the fish jumps out of the water as you’re getting him to the boat – if he throws the line and he doesn’t make it into the boat, then it doesn’t count.

If you’re fishing solo, guess what? You have to snap a pic, otherwise you didn’t catch anything. It doesn’t matter what kind of details you offer. You could come back to the house missing a leg and claiming Jaws bit it off. And the neat thing about snapping a pic with today’s smartphones is that it captures the date/time/location of the photo. So no going online to find some guy holding a 10-pound bass and cropping the dude out so that only his hand and the fish are in the photo. Nah, it’s got to be the real deal.

Why am I telling you this? Because there’s a little detail in John 20 where the resurrected Jesus appears and shows Himself to Thomas, remember? Thomas says, “Hey guys, no offense, but unless I can touch Him and see His hands and side, then I ain’t believing.” And lo and behold, eight days later Thomas gets his snapshot, right? Well, John 20:29 is one of those little places where you and I are given a personal compliment by Jesus, “Jesus said to [Thomas], ‘Have you believed because you have seen Me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’”

So, what does this have to do with Ephesians 1? Well, in today’s text, Paul, like Jesus, offers the Ephesians (and you and me) a compliment. He doesn’t snap a photo with a smartphone, but he does the first-century equivalent – he prays that the eyes of their hearts might be opened to the reality of who they are because of Jesus’ resurrection. And in the process of having their spiritual eyes opened, they also gain a glimpse, a snapshot of Jesus, whom they’ve never seen with their physical eyes. And that’s my prayer this morning – that you and I might gain a glimpse, be it ever so fleeting, of Jesus because the eyes of our hearts have been opened.

¹⁵ For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 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, ¹⁸ having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, 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, 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. ²² And He put all things 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.

Father, we pray for the help of the Holy Spirit as we study now, to illumine the printed page, to quicken and energize our thinking, so that in thinking properly we may come to know You, and see You through the eyes of faith, and to love You more deeply. For we pray in Christ’s name. Amen.

If you’ve ever wanted to see or hear a prayer that’s recorded in the Bible, then this is one of those passages to mark. Paul offers us a snapshot of his prayer for the Ephesian believers. And I want to break it down into two parts.

Paul’s Reason for Prayer

He begins by stating his reason for prayer, in verse 15. His reason is because he’s “heard of their faith in the Lord Jesus and their love towards the saints.” In that one sentence alone are two of the key marks for any healthy church. If you want to know whether Mountain Hill is a healthy church, then compare us to verse 15.

First, do we have faith that is centered on/in the Lord Jesus? Of course, every Christian church (including this one) “claims” to be Christ-centered, but does the teaching, does the preaching, does the ministry of that church shine a spotlight on Jesus and what He’s done for us, or is the spotlight somewhere else. You ask, “Where else would it be, if not on Jesus?”

Well, some tend to suggest that their faith is in a particular agenda or political affiliation. Walking through the halls you’re more inclined to hear conversations about Republican or Democrat, rather than sinner and Savior.

Some might emphasize denominational association a little too much – almost to their detriment. I think all of us can appreciate church denominations, whether Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, etc.. And we’ve all been in those churches, but sometimes the ethos and the DNA of the church is so tightly bound to the church’s denominational concerns that you almost don’t hear the gospel of Jesus. It’s always “the association says…” or “the presbytery says…” or “the diocese says…”, rather than “Jesus says…”

Some tend to set other biblical personalities on the same level as Jesus. And I’m not just thinking of the Catholic church and her elevation of Mary, as is often the case, though that is a major concern that continues to hinder certain cooperation between Protestants and Catholics. The same preoccupation among personalities can be felt in other churches too. My dad’s family was strongly reformed in their theology and at least half of my seminary education was at a Presbyterian school. And while I’ve been influenced heavily by Reformed teachers and have a great deal of respect for them, sometimes I scratch my head because you’d think that their faith is in Martin Luther or John Calvin or some other stalwart reformer rather than Jesus. Do you understand what I’m saying?

The first question to ask of any church is whether or not their faith is in the Lord Jesus, and is it evident in the preaching, teaching, and ministry of the church. It’s a great question to ask of this church? And I encourage you to help me keep us Christ-centered, or move us back in that direction.

The second mark of a healthy church is does it demonstrate it’s love of Jesus by loving others? However orthodox a church is, however pure its theology, and however noble its worship and liturgy, it’s not a true church in the real sense of the term unless it’s characterized by love for others. A church’s faith might be centered on Jesus, but if there’s no expression of that faith in love towards others, then the church is unhealthy. And just as a precaution, be careful that you don’t overlook some of the things we say (either verbally or non-verbally) that might suggest we’re guilty of not loving others as much as we think we do. You ask, “How have we hated others? When did we express hatred rather than love?”

I won’t ask for a show of hands, but let’s all be honest, how many times have we said or heard things like this in the halls of churches across our nation: “I hate liberals, or I hate conservatives. I hate Republicans or I hate Democrats. I hate fundamentalists or I hate progressives. I hate Catholics or I hate Protestants.” Let’s not be too self-righteous. We probably didn’t mean “hate” in the strictest sense of the word, but we’ve said, heard, or felt that kind of rhetoric within the body of Christ.

In fact, just a few weeks ago someone notified me of a prayer written in a devotional book titled A Rhythm of Prayer: A Collection of Meditations for Renewal. This particular prayer was contributed by an associate professor of practical theology at Mercer University and the prayer begins with these words: “Dear God, Please help me to hate White people…”

Now, in full disclosure, the remaining three pages of the prayer attempts to display honest and vulnerable pleading before God, as some of the imprecatory psalms do. But there’s a distinct difference between reading the imprecatory psalms in church and praying that they be applied to those who disagree with us. The point is simply this, we’d do well to remember every now and then that the love of Christ and love of others cannot exist without each other.

That brings us to the heart of today’s text and today’s message and that’s

Paul’s Requests in Prayer

There are four things that Paul prays for specifically on behalf of the Ephesian believers, and it would be interesting for you and me to consider whether our prayers often include these kinds of requests or not. If we’re honest, probably not.

The first is found in verse 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,” Now we know that the Ephesians Christians, like you and me, had already received the Holy Spirit because that’s one of the blessings we looked at last week, which Paul mentions in verse 13. So, Paul isn’t praying that they would receive the Holy Spirit. Rather, it seems that Paul is praying that the work of the Holy Spirit would increase in their lives. And he prays for this increase to be manifest in wisdom and revelation leading to an increase of knowledge in Jesus.

God wants us to go beyond a devotional reading of the Bible, even though there’s value in that. He wants us to know Jesus more intimately through reading His Word. We can breeze through the Bible and never enter into the experience of revelation – where God speaks to us through His Word in a deep and life-changing way. The word that Paul uses here is not simply the Greek word for “knowing,” it’s a special word (epignosis) meaning “knowledge gained through first-hand relationship.”

Husbands/wives, consider your spouses for a moment. If you’re not married, then think of a very close friend or perhaps your parents. Husbands, when your anniversary rolls around, do you have any idea what kind of restaurant or food your wife likes, or do you just hit up KFC or Papa John’s on the way home? You probably have a specific restaurant in mind and maybe even a specific dish in mind. Why? Because you’re intimately familiar with your spouse in a way that others aren’t. That’s what Paul is saying here.

Here’s another illustration. I know that our president is Joe Biden, but I don’t know him personally. If I met him on the street (besides the presence of Secret Service), I would recognize him, but he wouldn’t recognize me. That’s how a lot of “so-called” Christians know Jesus. For them, Christianity is a religion not a relationship. Do you know Jesus in name only, or are you intimately familiar with Him because of your knowledge of His Word and His life?

Paul was praying for the Ephesians something he prayed for himself: “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death” (Philippians 3:10). And this is what we should desire, as well: a deepening walk with the Savior based on wisdom, revelation and knowledge.

The next three prayer requests that Paul makes are all under the heading of “having the eyes of your heart enlightened.” And before we look at them, let me just make a quick remark here about this phrase. The word “heart” is used over 800 times in the Scriptures, but never once does it refer to the physical organ that pumps blood through the body. This word always refers to our minds, our emotions, our intentions, our wills – it’s our deepest self. What Paul is asking is for the Holy Spirit to come in and shine a light of understanding in our minds, our emotions, and our wills, that will ultimately lead to us receiving and embracing these last three prayer requests.

The second thing that Paul prays for is found in the middle of verse 18, “that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you…” If I may, let me make one more quick observation otherwise we might miss it. Paul often speaks of the triad: faith, hope, and love. Well, it’s here, too – faith and love are in verse 15, and hope is here in verse 18. Just thought I’d mention that.

The word “hope” makes us think about the future, the fact that God didn’t save us just to let us sit, soak, and sour. He saved us to a glorious hope. 1 John 3:2 says that when Christ comes again, “We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” That’s part of the hope of our calling. But Paul also writes this in 1 Corinthians 2:9, “…no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.” That’s the hope to which we’ve been called.

The third thing that Paul prays for is in the last part of verse 18, “[that you may know] what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints…” Last week we talked about our inheritance in Christ, but here, Paul says that we’re God’s inheritance. We’re His special treasure. We’re His special inheritance.

Psalm 149:4 says, “For the Lord takes pleasure in His people; He adorns the humble with salvation.” No Christian should struggle with self-esteem from God’s perspective. He loves you and me so much that He views us as a worthy inheritance for His own Son. And Jesus loved us enough to purchase us with the price of His own blood. That kind of love should be enough to establish a proper perspective of our value to God.

The fourth and final thing that Paul prays for is found in verse 19, “[that you may know] what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe…” And Paul uses Jesus’ resurrection as an illustration of this power. You want to know what kind of power is available to a person who’s placed their faith and trust in Jesus – it’s none other than the power that raised Jesus from the dead (v. 20a). But not just resurrection power, also ascension power. Jesus was raised, but He didn’t remain here on earth. He ascended. And Paul, also in verse 20, says that Jesus was seated at the right hand of God the Father. Not only does Paul refer to the power of Jesus’ resurrection, or the power of His ascension, but He also refers to the power of Christ’s exultation in verse 21 when he says that Jesus was set, “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.”

In 1997, a worship leader by the name of Paul Baloche penned a simple little chorus based on these verses. The title of the chorus is “Open the Eyes of My Heart.” We’re going to do it a cappella. And for those of you that aren’t familiar with it, I’m going to start and invite you to join me.

Open the eyes of my heart, Lord.

Open the eyes of my heart,

I want to see You ,

I want to see You.

(Repeat)

To see You high and lifted up

Shinin’ in the light of Your glory

Pour out Your power and love

As we sing holy, holy, holy

Holy, holy, holy

We cry holy, holy, holy

You are holy, holy, holy

I want to see you.