Knowing God Ephesians 1:15-23 November 9, 2014 Aaron Reyes, Lead Pastor

Transcription

1 Knowing God Ephesians 1:15-23 November 9, 2014 Aaron Reyes, Lead Pastor For our first sermon series as a church, we are journeying through the Letter to the Ephesians. Ephesians is such an important book for the church because it is a letter written to the church about the church. This letter was written by the apostle Paul to the church in Ephesus to explain the nature of the church and what the church is supposed to do. Over the last two weeks, we learned that the church is a holy people in two locations and that the church exists for the glory of God. Today, as we continue in the letter, the focus turns to our growing knowledge of God. What I want us to take away from the sermon is this: we must grow in our knowledge of God. It is vital for you as Christians to grow in your knowledge of God. You must have the right knowledge of God. You must know who He is and what He has done. And this knowledge will transform your life. To arrive at this thesis I want us to retrace through the passage in four stages. In the first stage we will identify the thesis of the text. And then in the latter three stages we will uncover how we grow in our knowledge of God. These three aspects pertain to what God s glorious salvation has accomplished for us, the church I. Grow in Your Knowledge of God: The Thesis vv a Let us first identify the thesis, namely, that we need to grow in our knowledge of God. In our passage, Paul specifically prays for Ephesian believers For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. The apostle constantly lifts up rich, Godcentered prayers for them. So how does Paul pray for them? What does he ask God to do? Paul prays, 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. Paul s prayer is telling. Paul is not praying that these Ephesian believers would grow in health and wealth. He is not even asking God to make their lives easier. No, the apostle prays that the heavenly Father would impart the Holy Spirit to increase the believers knowledge of the Father. Since the Holy Spirit dwells in every believer, the apostle wants the Father to direct the Spirit to work in believers by giving wisdom and revelation. The ultimate goal of the Spirit s work is knowledge about the Father. The text is not saying that we should grow merely in intellectual knowledge. In the English language, this is often what knowledge refers to. We think of knowledge as information. However, when the biblical writers talk about knowledge they mean something richer and deeper. When the Bible speaks about knowledge of God, it means to be in a close relationship with God. It means that one learns God s heart, God s ways, and God s word. It is not the type of knowledge that is based on facts. God is not a distant deity that can only be known by spare

2 facts. No, God has chosen to reveal Himself, and because He has, He can be known. Thus, to know God means to be in a dynamic, active relationship with Him. This God offers and He beckons us to know Him. The NIV captures this idea perfectly. The NIV reads, that the Father may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better. This is precisely what Paul prays for and what he desires for believers. At this point you may be thinking: I ve done that already. I have studied the Bible. I know what it says about God. Check. But there s so much more than that. The reason why the apostle prays for growth is because he knows that personal knowledge of God is not a fixed quantum. Knowing God is not equated to cramming for an exam. Nor we do just learn about God once and then we are finished. The same is true for people. We do not grow in our knowledge of a person at one time. The only way that we get to know someone is by constantly being in their presence, by observing their actions and behavior, and by listening to them speak. For a relationship to be healthy these are required. I have experienced this firsthand in marriage, I have been married nearly five years and there are still things I am learning about Michelle. This is because she has feelings, desires, a past, and a present she is a human being. And every day I must be intentional to getting to know her better. I do this to strengthen our marriage the more I know her, the more I know her likes and dislikes, how to encourage and help her etc. Now imagine a relationship with the infinite and eternal God. In order to grow in our knowledge of Him it will require more than a single day; it will require an eternity, and even then we will not fully grasp how magnificent He is. Obviously, a relationship with God is slightly different from a marriage. But similarly, in learning more of God, we will know more of His likes and dislikes, and how to please Him and glorify Him. This we must do constantly because God is an infinite Being. We must also grow in our knowledge of God because we are prone to forget God. Since we are still spiritually distorted by sin, we are prone to wander from God. We are quick to doubt God s existence. We are quick to doubt God s power. We are quick to doubt God s love. Some of you in here may be in this boat. So if we are not growing in our personal knowledge of God, we will put ourselves in danger of forgetting Him, of walking away from Him. The writer of Hebrews articulates it this way, Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. That is what is at stake. These are two reasons why we must grow in our knowledge of God. Next, look at how the Spirit allows us to know God more having the eyes of your hearts enlightened. Believers can know God more because the Spirit enlightens and opens the eyes of our hearts. Here Paul turns to the imagery of sight. As the Spirit works within us, it will be as if we see God more. Our spiritual eyes will open wider and thus we will perceive God more. This is a fitting imagery because this is what happens to people when they believe in Christ. The biblical writers often talk about faith in terms of scales being removed from the eyes so that one can see God for the first time. Well once believers can see by faith, the Spirit enables the eyes of our hearts to widen so that we can see more of God. The Spirit strengthens the ears of our heart so that we can listen to God better. This is what the Holy Spirit does for us and it is a

3 glorious thing. So let me reiterate Paul s main point. Believers must continue growing in our knowledge of God. And by extension, believers must grow in our relationship with God to please Him and to guard ourselves from falling away from Him. This is what the apostle Paul prayed for on behalf of the Ephesians. II. Growing in the Knowledge of God s Hope v. 18b The next question that arises is How. How do we grow in our knowledge of God? To know God more there are three aspects of what He has done that we must know more of. These three aspects are identified by the phrase, what is. First, we must grow in the knowledge of God s hope that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you. The first step, the first aspect that the apostle mentions is that we must grow in our understanding of God s hope. The way to know God more is to know more about His hope. Look at how the apostle makes this connection. In verse 17, Paul asks God to cause the Spirit to grow believers knowledge of God. The goal of the Spirit s work here is to enable us to know God more. But then in verse 18, Paul states another goal having the eyes of yours enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you. This time the Spirit is given so that believers would grow in their knowledge of God s actions. Paul s point in highlighting these two goals is to make a connection between them, namely, the way to know God more is to know more about God s actions. To grow in our knowledge of God means we grow in our knowledge of God s actions. Now this may seem odd. You may be wondering, So Aaron, you are telling me that we must know God more and the way we do it is by knowing more about God s hope? Paul s answer is, Yes! For the apostle Paul, the way to know God more is by knowing more about His ways, actions, and purposes. We do not know more about God by sitting quietly in a dark room. Paul does not say that we have to stroll through the Rocky Mountains to know God more. We do not need to partake in certain exercises to know God. No, we need to grow in our knowledge of His actions. The first of which is the hope of God s calling. What does this mean? What is the hope to which He has called believers? Let us first grasp what Paul means by hope. In Ephesians 2:12 listen to what Paul says about hope, Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. In this context, hope refers to being in relationship with God. Before Jesus, Gentiles, that is non-jews, did not have relations with God. Paul calls this, having no hope. So to have no hope means to have no relationship with God. Therefore, according to Paul, to have hope means to be in relationship with God. Next, let s look at what Paul means by call. In Ephesians 4:1-5 the apostle says, I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing

4 with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call one Lord, one faith, one baptism. Paul commands believers to live up to their calling. What is informative for us is call is used in the context of faith and a relationship with God. Every believer, Paul says, has been given the same call. So what is this the hope to which God has called believers? It is the fact that God has pursued sinners, people who are alienated from God, and who do not even seek after God, and has turned them into His people. God has chosen to save, rescue, and restore believers. As a result, these people now become God s children, they are part of God s people, they have relationship with God, and they are saints. This is the hope of God s calling. And this is what the apostle wants believers to understand with increasing measure. Paul wants us to grow in our amazement of God that He would call us, wretched, self-centered sinners and bring us to Himself. So let me say this, for the believers in here, stand amazed at the hope of God s calling. God pursued you; you did not pursue Him. He called you; you did not call Him. While you were living for yourself and pursuing your own agenda, God came after you. He lovingly hunted you down so that you could know Him. Because of God s actions in Christ, you can know Him personally. You not only get eternal life, you get to be in relationship with Him. Let us stand amazed! Let us be grateful! And let us grow in our knowledge of God s calling and of His hope. In doing so, we will know God more III. Growing in the Knowledge of God s Inheritance v. 18c The second aspect of God s actions that we must grow in knowledge of is God s inheritance. We must grow in the knowledge of God s inheritance what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints. Last week when we talked about inheritance, we learned that believers have a glorious inheritance in heaven. And this inheritance is the joy of being in God s holy, loving presence. Believers get to be with God and enjoy Him forever. Believers will get to see God face to face. This is the believer s inheritance. Yet, there is another aspect of God s inheritance that we have yet to talk about. I intentionally didn t address it last week so I could talk about it today. Whenever the Bible talks about inheritance and God in the same context, it oftentimes refers to what God gains. Let me give two examples. In Deuteronomy 9, Moses reflects over how he interceded on behalf of the Israelites because of their sin. Listen to how he describes the Israelites: And I prayed to the LORD, O Lord GOD, do not destroy Your people and Your heritage, whom You have redeemed through You greatness, whom You have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand For they are Your people and Your heritage, whom You

5 brought out by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm. Deuteronomy 9:26, 29 Moses describes God s people as God s inheritance. (Here the term heritage is the same for inheritance. ) They are God s treasured possession; that is what is meant by inheritance. The psalms also refer to inheritance in the same way. Remember me, O LORD, when You show favor to Your people; help me when You save them, that I may look upon the prosperity of your chosen ones, that I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation, that I may glory with Your inheritance. Psalm 106:4-5 Here we see again that God s people are called chosen ones and they are called God s inheritance. The biblical writers often used God s inheritance as a synonym for His people. And this is glorious! God s affections for His people is so great that He calls them His inheritance, His treasured possession. Those who trust in Christ have been claimed by God as His prized portion. This news is so glorious that Paul describes God s actions as rich and glorious. F.F. Bruce, a New Testament scholar, says this about God s inheritance: That God should set such a high value on a community of sinners, rescued from perdition and still bearing too many traces of their former state, might well seem incredible were it not made clear that God sees them in Christ, as from the beginning He chose them in Christ. 1 The apostle desires greatly that believers would grasp the extraordinary value which God places on them. So let me say this to the believers in here. God calls you His treasured possession. His love and affection is upon you and it will never depart. So know that this is how God views you in Christ. However, lest we think too highly of ourselves, let me also make the following comment. God was not compelled to pursue us. We did not have some inherit value that God would lose if He didn t come after us. We are not great and valuable in ourselves. What makes this action of God so spectacular is that God made us His inheritance despite who we are. Despite our rebellion, our sin, our brokenness, despite everything that makes us unlovable, God sets His love and affection on us. He changed our identity from unwanted to treasured. This is all because that is the kind of God He is. So may we stand amazed and be grateful at God s actions to make us His inheritance. Let us stand in awe at God that He would make us His treasured possession. So let us grow more in our knowledge of God s inheritance. Let us know more about the riches of God calling us His inheritance. IV. Growing in the Knowledge of God s Power vv F.F. Bruce, The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1984), 270.

6 The third aspect of God s actions that we must grow in knowledge of is God s power. We must grow in the knowledge of God s power and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His great might. Knowing more of God s power is so vital that the apostle spends the rest of the passage on it. Five verses are devoted to God s power; this is no accident! So let s investigate God s power. Paul begins by describing God s power as immeasurable greatness. God s power is so great that it is immeasurable, it is incomparable. But then Paul says that this power is directed at a particular group of people toward us who believe. God s power works on behalf of believers. This is stunning! The immeasurable greatness of God s power works on our behalf amazing! I want to unpack what this means but let s first dig deeper into God s power. After stating that God s incomparable great power works on behalf of His people, Paul then says that God demonstrated His power according to the working of His great might. We can know that God s power is incomprehensible because He showed it off. God exerted His power and made it known. To show this, the apostle gives four dramatic instances in which God s power was forcibly shown. First, God s power was exerted when He raised Christ from the dead that He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead. God demonstrated His great power by raising Jesus from the dead. We often forget this because we are so used to talking about Jesus resurrection. But dwell on this with me. Jesus was dead His heart had stopped, His brain had stopped operating, His lungs had not inhaled for days, at a molecular level His cells were dying off. Jesus was dead. You and I know that when someone dies they are dead; there is no bringing them back. There is no technology or medical practice that can bring someone back from the dead. Once a person is dead, they are dead. Jesus was dead. Yet, because God is the Creator of all things, because God generates life, He easily raised Jesus from the dead. God told Jesus heart to begin breathing, His brain to begin firing again, His lungs to inhale and exhale. God told Jesus cells to generate again. God brought Jesus back from the dead. Talk about power! God certainly demonstrated His power by raising Jesus Second, God s power was exerted when He seated Christ at His right hand 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. Not only did God raise Jesus from the dead, He also seated Christ at His right hand. This is a profound gesture. The imagery is that of an enthronement. After Jesus rose from the grave, God the Father set Jesus beside Him on His throne. Just as God the Father reigned as King over the universe, so too does Jesus now reign beside the Father. Thus, Jesus has been given unparalleled honor and universal authority. This is why the apostle says that Jesus is now far above rule, authority, power, dominion, and above every name that is named. He is the King who stands infinitely above everything. Jesus is greater than all the presidents of the United States. He is greater than the emperors of Rome. He is greater than Alexander the great. He is greater than all the kings of the earth. He is greater than spiritual enemies. He is greater than Satan. Jesus is greater because He sits as universal King. Now God s power was demonstrated in that He took

7 Jesus of Nazareth, who was poor and lowly by the world s standards, who was treated and condemned as a criminal, who was killed in the most gruesome and humiliating way, God took this Man and exalted Him to the place of King. Talk about power! Only God s power could do this. God demonstrated His power by seating Christ as His right hand Third, God s power was exerted when He put all things under Christ s feet 22 And He put all things under His feet. Paul again uses the imagery of kingship. This time it is used in relation to what is under Jesus. In the ancient world, whenever a king would take over a new land, he would say that this land is now under his feet. The phrase essentially meant that the king had dominion over a new territory. Paul uses this phrase to talk about what Jesus has dominion over. What does the apostle say? God the Father put what things under Jesus feet? He says, All things. All things in heaven and on earth are under Jesus feet. He has dominion over everything. Abraham Kuyper, the Dutch theologian, famously said this about Jesus dominion: There is not a square in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine! Kuyper is right! Jesus has dominion over every single inch in the universe, every star in the night sky belongs to Jesus, every comet that passes in the heavens belongs to Jesus. Every creature on earth belong to Jesus. Everything molecule belongs to Jesus. Jesus has dominion. Jesus even has dominion over the whole earth. Jesus has dominion over Austin, over Texas, over America. Jesus has dominion over North Korea, over Iran, over Europe. He has dominion over ISIS, over Boko Horam, over Al Quada, over the Ayatollah. He has dominion over the Dalai Lama and over every religious leader. All things have been put in subjection under Jesus. God certainly demonstrated His power by putting all things under Christ s feet. Fourth, God s power was exerted when He set Christ as head over all things for the church 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. Because God has given universal kingship to Christ, Christ is head, He is ruler over all things. Now the particular emphasis here is on who it is done for. God makes Christ head, ruler over all things in order to benefit the church. The reason why the church benefits is because the church is Christ s body. The fullness of Jesus dwells in the church. This is why the church is called the body of Christ. God demonstrates His power by setting Christ as head over all things for the church. And with this the apostle concludes his words on God s power. We have seen that Paul wants believers to grow in knowledge of God s power. V. Bringing It Together So let me summarize, let me bring these points together. The purpose of this passage is to push believers to know God more. This is Paul s prayer and his thesis. Now the way we grow in our knowledge of God is to know more about His actions. And there are three particular actions we are to know more about. We must continue knowing more about the hope of God s calling, about God s inheritance, and about God s power. The reason we do this is because we will gain a

8 deeper understanding of God s heart, His intentions, His desires. The more we read and meditate on these actions of God, the more we will hear God speak, the more we will see God. In other words, the more we will know God. VI. Three Final Comments Now as we conclude I want to make three final comments. First, I want to give tangible steps on how we can know more of God s actions. In an age that prioritizes speed, if we want to know more of God and His actions, we must make time to meet God. We cannot have a drivethru quiet time. We must make time to read God s word. It is there that we will hear of God s actions. As we read the Old and New Testament we will learn more of God s redemptive actions, we will learn more of God s character and heart. When it comes to reading the Bible, we don t just find time; we have to make time. Therefore, I challenge each of you to spend at least minutes per day to read the Bible. And that s just the minimum! It would be even greater for you to be spending minutes each day, and the rewards of that time would be even greater. Why do we try to get the most significant part of our day over in five minutes, and for what? So we can spend three hours watching TV, being on Facebook, shopping, etc. 15 minutes a day is not that much time; we can do it, you can do it. It can be done in the morning before your day begins, in the afternoon while you re taking a coffee break, or at night after your day settles down. Whatever the case, we must devote ourselves to God s word. And it s more than just reading God s word: it s about studying it, reflecting on it, memorizing it and applying it daily to your life. And I promise you, as you commit to this, you will find yourself knowing more of God. Your faith will strengthen and your love for others will deepen. All this because we learn more of God s redemptive actions. Second, may we pray this prayer for ourselves and for each other. It is no accident that our text is a prayer. The apostle Paul is also giving us a rubric of how we should pray. We should pray that God would enable us, by His Spirit, to know Him more. We should pray that Church of the Violet Crown would know God more. To know more of the hope of His calling, to know more of Him calling us treasure, that He sees you as beloved and worthy. And to know more of His incomparable power. And we should pray that God would open the spiritual eyes of nonbelievers in our lives that they might see who God is in His actions. Let us pray like this. Third, I want to mention how God s power benefits the church. I said we would talk about this and this how I want to end the sermon. The reason why Paul devotes fives verses on God s power is because he wants us to know that this power benefits us. It benefits the church so that believers would grow in holiness. You see, God s power enables believers to overcome sin, to say no to our sinful impulses. Because God s power surges through believers, we stand up against our sinful flesh. So know that know that you can combat your sin, you have God s power in you to overcome sin. We are no longer slaves to sin; we are free and can fight for our holiness. God s power also benefits the church so that believers do not have to fear evil powers.

9 While Satan and his demons are real, we need not fear them. This is because Jesus had made them His footstool. All demonic forces are subjected to Jesus. He is over them because His power is greater than theirs. So if you have lived worried about evil powers, worry no more because now you know that God s power is greater and Jesus sits as King over all things. Jesus is Lord; God is King. And it is this God that we get to know with increasing measure and as we do He will change our lives forever!