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Would you open your Bible with me please to the book of Ephesians and we'll begin looking

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tonight in verse 15.

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I want to talk tonight about how to pray for your church family.

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It seems to me that evangelical churches like ours face a danger.

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And that danger is becoming hangouts for Bible teaching addicts.

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You see, Bible teaching is like spiritual medicine.

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It can be used to heal and strengthen, resulting in spiritual vitality and health.

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But on the other hand, it also can be abused to obtain a certain kind of high feeling that

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prevents one actually from facing reality in his life and fulfilling responsibility

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in his world.

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I think that we observe such addicts running from one Bible conference to another following

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their favorite Bible teacher celebrity.

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Or if they have no means to do that, they buy stacks and storehouses of cassette tapes

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by which to follow the favorite Bible teachers.

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It seems paradoxical, but it's true that those who are Bible teaching addicts are often the

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loudest complainers and the most vocal critics who heap disdain upon other believers who

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don't have as much quote knowledge of the word, close quote, as they themselves think

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they have.

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In actuality, while they may fill a seat in a church, they are as bad as good to the society

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of the church as ruggies are to the society of the world.

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What I'm talking about is not only a concern to me, but is a concern to hundreds of pastors

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and Bible teachers for that matter across this country.

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I want to repeat, churches like ours face a danger and that danger is becoming hangouts

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for Bible teaching druggies.

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You can never satisfy such people who always want more, but strangely the more you pump

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into their spiritual veins, the more spaced out and useless they become.

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Frankly the devil doesn't mind a bit if a Christian studies his Bible or listens to

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somebody's cassette tapes for 24 hours a day, as long as he does nothing with what he hears.

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And I believe that's exactly why the Apostle Paul pauses for prayer after his first sentence

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in the book of Ephesians.

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Verses 3 through 14 contain some of the heaviest, deepest truths to be found anywhere in the

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revelation of the word of God.

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We learn here what the work of God is.

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What he has done for us, that he has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in verse

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3.

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He has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world.

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He has predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself.

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In verse 7, he has redeemed us through the blood of Christ.

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Verse 9, he has made known to us the mystery of his own will.

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In verse 13, he has sealed us with the Holy Spirit of promise given to us as a pledge

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of our inheritance.

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And so we have a fabulous statement of what God has done on our behalf.

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And as clear as he interweaves the truths, that all of this is done by his grace and

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for his glory alone.

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And how such concentrated, powerful truth as this needs to be absorbed.

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And Paul knew that.

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It was not enough for them simply to know these things intellectually.

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They had to get a hand on them.

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They had to be able to apply these things to their lives.

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And so he prayed.

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Listen to how he prays.

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For this reason, I too having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among

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you and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you while making mention

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of you in my prayers.

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That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit

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of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him.

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The eyes of your heart having been enlightened.

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There's a better rendering of that.

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So that you may know what is the hope of his calling.

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What are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints?

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And what is the surpassing greatness of his power toward us who believe?

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These are in accordance with the working of the strength of his might which he brought

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about in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the

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heavenly places.

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Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion.

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And every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come.

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And he put all things in subjection under his feet and gave him his head over all things

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to the church which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

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As we look at these verses we learn something in how to pray for our church family.

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Paul opens his heart here to God and to the Ephesians.

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After expressing his thanks to God for them and his confidence in them, he prays on their

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behalf.

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Notice of his assurance that they are genuine believers because of the faith in the Lord

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Jesus and the love toward the saints.

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Both a vertical and horizontal test.

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How do we know that these people have genuinely trusted Christ because of the faith that they

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still exhibit toward Christ and the love that flows out of that toward other believers?

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Faith and love go together.

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Paul says, I do not cease giving thanks to God, I make mention of you in my prayers.

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The sum of Paul's inspired prayer I think can be found there in verse 17, the first

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part of verse 18.

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And I think basically it's this, he prays that they might know God better.

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He prays that they might know him more intimately.

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Paul does not pray that they might have more theological facts at their fingertips.

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He has given them those things in verses 3 through 14.

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But what he really wants is for them to go beyond the theological facts and outlines

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to a personal intimate acquaintance with the living God.

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Now they're saved people remember.

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They have faith in Christ, they love their brothers.

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And Paul prays that they might have a greater understanding of God.

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That they might have a full, complete, well-rounded knowledge of him.

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He did not want them to stop with the theological truths as important as they are and as foundational

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as they are.

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And he wanted them to go beyond that to knowing God better.

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Warren Mersby said to know God personally is salvation.

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To know God increasingly is sanctification.

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To know God perfectly is glorification.

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It is to the second point that Paul now focuses his praying.

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To know God increasingly.

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As he says to the Philippians about himself, that I may know him in the power of his resurrection.

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The fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable to his death.

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Paul knew the Lord as his savior, but he longed that he might know him in the same sense that

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he prays the Ephesians may know the Lord.

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Do you want to know how to pray for this church?

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Pray that we might know the Lord better.

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How do we do this?

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How is it possible for us to know him?

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Well, he tells us that he may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the

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knowledge of him.

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The full knowledge of him.

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There are some who understand the word spirit there to refer to the Holy Spirit, that he

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may give you the spirit, Holy Spirit of wisdom and revelation.

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It is true that the Holy Spirit is the fullness of wisdom.

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It is true that he is the agent of revelation.

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But I don't believe he's talking here with a capital S on spirit.

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Nor do I think he's talking about a human spirit.

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By the way, they already have the Holy Spirit as he said in verse 13.

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So he wouldn't pray that God would give them the spirit of wisdom and revelation in verse

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17.

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Nor does he need to pray that they might receive a human spirit.

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They've already got a human spirit.

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The word spirit can also mean a disposition or an attitude.

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I believe that he's saying here, I pray that God, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the

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Father to whom all glory be, the Father who possesses all glory, I pray that he may give

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to you a disposition, an attitude of wisdom and revelation.

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What he's really saying here is that I pray that God will give you an attitude of insight,

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a disposition of perception that penetrates who God really is.

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The eyes of your heart, he says, having been enlightened.

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The Holy Spirit certainly is involved in that because the Holy Spirit is the one who teaches

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and illuminates us.

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He is the one who enlightens us in verse 18.

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He prays that the eyes of the heart may be enlightened.

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What is the heart?

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We use that term today usually in speaking of our emotions.

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Our hearts are stirred, we're moved with emotion.

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But that is not what the Greek New Testament means when it uses this term.

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When the apostle Paul spoke about the heart, he was thinking of more than just the emotions.

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He was thinking of the mind, the understanding, the will.

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What is the real person, the personality of the individual?

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He says, I pray that your eyes, the eyes of the real you, the deepest part of you, your

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inner man, may perceive the greatness of God.

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I pray that you may know him better and have insight into his dealings, into his person.

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When God answers that prayer, it seems to me that Paul points out that there will be

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three results.

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He says in verse 18, the eyes of your heart having been enlightened so that you may know.

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And here's what he prays that we might know.

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Here are the results of our knowing God better.

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We might know in the first place, what is the hope of his calling?

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Secondly, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints?

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And third, what is the surpassing greatness of his power?

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That you may know what, what, what.

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Do you notice the outline there?

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When we pray that our church may know God more intimately, when we pray that we might

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have true eye spies, not just during a 50-day adventure, but every day that we live, when

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we pray that way, we are praying that there may also be three results that will take place.

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First of all, that we as a church may know the hope of our calling.

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That's a phrase that he uses again in chapter four in verse four where he says, there is

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one body, one spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling.

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The calling refers to the past calling of God to us, resulting in our salvation.

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Turn back into the book of Romans, for example, and look in chapter one and verse six.

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Here it's in the noun form.

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Now let's back up to verse five.

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He says, through whom, that is through Christ, we have received grace and apostleship to

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bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for his namesake, among whom,

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that is among the Gentiles, you also are the called of Jesus Christ.

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So there is a name for we Christians.

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We are not only children of God and saints and believers and all of those, but we are

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the called of Jesus Christ.

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This same thought is found again in chapter eight and verse 30.

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But here it's in the verb form.

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And again for the context purpose, start in verse 29 with me where it says, for whom he

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foreknew, he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his son.

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That he, the son, might be the firstborn among many brethren, by whom he predestined and

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whom he predestined, these he also called, and whom he called, these he also justified,

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and whom he justified, these he also glorified.

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Now there are many other verses that we can look at in the New Testament.

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But the point is, the Paul is talking about that time when you and I were called into

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the fellowship of Jesus Christ.

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He describes this calling act of God as a holy calling, a high calling, a heavenly calling.

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It is a calling that is totally by the grace of God, apart from any human merit.

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It is a sovereign calling of God to be a part of the body of Jesus Christ, the church.

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That's our calling.

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The point that he comes to in Ephesians, going back there, is the hope of our calling.

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That we might know what the hope of our calling is.

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Hope is a word that looks forward.

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Calling tends to look backward into the past action of God.

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But he links here a word that looks to the future.

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He speaks about the hope of your calling.

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Hope refers to something that we anticipate, that we expect.

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It is our destiny as those who are called of Jesus Christ.

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Our hope is the fullness of our salvation, which we will one day experience.

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It is the victory that we will have with the Lord Jesus Christ over sin and death.

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That hope is grounded in the promises of God, of which we sang earlier.

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Standing on the promises of Christ, my King.

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The hope of our calling does not rest upon us, but it rests upon the promises of him

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who has called us.

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Foot back a few pages to the book of Ephesians and look in the sixth chapter.

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You know it's interesting when most people look at chapter six of Hebrews, they stop

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with the first few verses and scratch their heads and close their Bibles.

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So what does all that mean?

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How much better if they would simply go down to the end of the chapter and read some more?

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Look in verse 17 for example.

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Hebrews 6, 17, in the same way God, desiring even more to show to the errors of the promise

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the unchangeableness of his purpose, interposed with an oath in order that by two unchangeable

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things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have strong encouragement.

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We who have fled for refuge in laying hold of the hope set before us.

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Goes on to say this hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast

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and one which enters within the veil where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us.

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The Lord Jesus is here called our forerunner.

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What does that mean?

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Well, the word obviously means one who has gone before, we can see that.

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It is a term that was used in that day of a herald who announced the coming of someone.

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Now what the writer of Hebrews is saying is this, that we have one who has gone to the

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very presence of God as our forerunner.

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And what he has done is announced our coming to the Father.

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Isn't that a great hope?

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The fact that the Lord Jesus Christ has already gone into the presence of the Father and is

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there announced you by name and said Father this one is coming and there is anticipation

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for your arrival in heaven.

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The hope of your calling.

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It is a heavenly calling.

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You say what kind of an assurance do we have about that?

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Is Jesus going to get to heaven and announce you and then someone else say oh Father just

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a minute, he's going to forget that one, let's go down to the next one on the list.

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Is that what he's going to do?

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No.

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In fact he says here this hope we have as an anchor of the soul.

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I like the picture of an anchor.

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The idea that he seems to picture for us is this, that you and I are at one end of this

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long rope.

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Maybe we're standing on board the ship of salvation so to speak.

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The rope of the anchor goes down and out and eventually up.

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The anchor does not rest on the bottom of the sea but it rests up there at the very

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throne of God.

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You and I are secured by the promise and the oath of God.

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The hope of our calling is so certain it's as though we were already in heaven but we

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aren't yet in our experience.

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But nonetheless there is tied about us a rope and there is an anchor that goes out into

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the heavenlies and which is anchored to the very throne of God.

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You see that anchor is sure and steadfast, the hope is sure and steadfast and one which

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enters within the veil of the holy of holies.

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That is where the anchor is placed that keeps us secure in Jesus Christ.

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The hope that we have is grounded in unchangeable promises given by God to us.

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Before we were saved we were a people without hope.

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Ephesians 2, 12 says that, we'll study that eventually.

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But now in Jesus Christ because we have been called into him we have a living hope.

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We have the hope of glory.

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We are a part of the church which is said to be a glorious church without spot or wrinkle.

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That is our hope.

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And one day we will be in the very immediate presence of Christ even as now we are in his

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spiritual presence.

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Paul prays all that you might know God and that knowing him you might understand that

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you might be able to lay hold of the hope of your calling.

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Now there are some practical ramifications to that.

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In the first place it produces a purity in our lives.

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When we understand the hope of our calling what we have been called to, what our destiny

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is then we will purify ourselves even as he is pure.

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First John 3, 3.

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It produces purity in our lives.

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We do not want to be tainted by sin.

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We do not want to stumble and fall into the mud puddle of disobedience because we have

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that destiny before us.

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That hope, that calling in Jesus Christ.

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It also produces perseverance.

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Perseverance in our service.

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Perseverance in our suffering.

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When you and I understand the hope of our calling.

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Do you want to pray for our church?

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Then don't use the cliches that are so often used.

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Pray Bible thoughts and pray that we might be given a disposition of insight and understanding

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that we might have the full knowledge of God.

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Our eyes being opened to perceive the hope of our calling.

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But not only that, also that we might understand and know the riches of his glorious inheritance

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in the saints.

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Now there are two ways to read this.

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Reading it one way it says that we have a glorious inheritance that is laid up for us

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in heaven.

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And oh that we might know that and realize it and live in the light of it.

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And that's certainly true.

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And there are other places in the Bible to speak about the inheritance that we receive

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from God.

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But it seems to me the language here suggests something else.

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The idea is not the inheritance that we have.

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But the idea seems to be the inheritance that God has in us.

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He says that you might know the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.

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It's not our inheritance, it's his inheritance.

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The wealth of a great man brings honor and fame to him.

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So we, by the grace of God, are the objects which God has chosen to manifest his wealth,

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the wonders of his person.

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We are his glorious inheritance.

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He has called us to share his glory.

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We usually think what we're going to receive.

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As Ruth Paxson said, how seldom we think of what we are to God.

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Do you understand what you are to him?

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You are the love gift that God is bringing to his son to present to him.

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We are his glorious inheritance.

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And we grasp what God's design is in our eternal election and choice in Christ.

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It must, it must cause us to humble ourselves and then to serve him with everything that

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we have been given.

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Someone has said God was not satisfied in possessing sons and stars.

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He wanted sons and saints.

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And that's what he has called to himself.

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You want to pray for our church?

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Pray that we might understand and get a hold of what we are to God.

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Not that that should give us any cause for boasting, it does not.

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But it gives us great cause for wonder and praise and humility.

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As we understand that God has designed that we are his inheritance, that he has chosen

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to call us to himself that throughout eternity to come, he might show the wonders and the

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glories of his person in us.

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He's going to talk more about that a little bit later in Ephesians.

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A third result as we pray the way the Bible tells us to pray for our church is that we

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will know what is the surpassing greatness of his power toward us who believe.

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There are four words that Paul pulls out of his vocabulary here to describe the truth

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that he wants to get across to us.

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Notice that he talks in verse 19 about power, about working, about strength, and about might.

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Power is the word dynamis.

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We get our word dynamite or dynamo from this word.

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It refers to a living dynamic force.

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Working is our word energy, the Greek word energeia.

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It is the operation of God's power on our behalf.

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Strength is kratos.

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It is a word that is related to the idea of rule or dominion.

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We see it in our word democratic, kratos, democratic, the rule of the people.

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The idea in this kind of a context is the abundance of power that is God's to achieve

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the end that he has in mind, his strength to rule, to have dominion.

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And then might refers to the latent ability that is his or the idea of the reserves of

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power that are God's.

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The idea really isn't that we should distinguish between these I think, but the point is this.

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Paul is accumulating words.

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He is just throwing out every word he can think of to make us understand the surpassing

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greatness of the power of God.

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This word surpassing is one of Paul's coined words.

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The surpassing greatness literally means to throw beyond.

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The idea is a home run.

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In a home run in baseball what happens?

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The ball goes over the boundary, goes over the wall.

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Paul used the word here to talk about something that is beyond measurement.

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It's thrown beyond what can be described.

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He says the surpassing greatness of his power.

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And notice that that power is toward us who believe.

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It is a power that is measured by Jesus Christ's resurrection and ascension.

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You know in the Old Testament the power of God is described or measured by the creation

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of the world.

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It is measured by what he did for Israel in delivering the nation from Egypt at the Red

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Sea, parting the waters and so on.

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How he caused the Jordan to dry up before the people.

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How he caused the walls of Jericho to fall down and how he gave them the conquest of

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the land.

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All of those are descriptions or measurements of the power of God to the Old Testament people.

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Now those are certainly measurements still for us today as God's people in this age.

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But there is a new more wonderful measurement and that measurement is found in the resurrection

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of Jesus Christ.

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He says that this surpassing greatness of power are in accordance with what he did when

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he brought about the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead.

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Many say there are people who were raised from the dead in the Old Testament and yes

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that is true.

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But those people who were raised from the dead in the Old Testament and before Christ's

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resurrection died again.

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The Lord Jesus Christ is the first of his kind in resurrection.

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He is the first fruits, 1 Corinthians 15.

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There was not one before him who was raised from the dead as he was, new and glorious.

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The same person, the same body but different, glorified, never again to be subject to death.

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That glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ is our measurement of the power of God.

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Coupled with his exaltation to the very right hand of God, his enthronement there to the

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place of full acceptance, the right hand of God, the place of ultimate favor and supreme

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power.

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He describes his enthronement as being in the heavenly places and remember that that

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is a key phrase in Ephesians.

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It refers to the realm of spiritual things, a realm which is superior to the realm in

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which we live, a realm which controls the earthly realm in which we live.

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The Lord Jesus Christ is enthroned in the heavenlies.

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Far above, it says, are rule, authority, power, dominion and every name that's named.

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Interesting.

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The apostle Paul here uses words that seem to refer primarily to the spirit world.

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Not that they don't refer to the human realm as well, but he talks here about rule, he

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talks about authority, he talks about power and dominion.

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These seem to be levels of spiritual beings that are in the heavenlies.

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The most powerful ones being those that are called the rulers, then those who are in authority,

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those who are in power, those who are in dominion.

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There seems to be a descending scale of power in his mind.

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He says far above, not just above, but far above them all is the Lord Jesus Christ seated

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at the right hand of God.

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Far above any potential rivals, far above any potential enemies, our Lord is already

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seated in the place of victory.

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But then he brings in the most wonderful truth of all and that is that he says that we, you

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and I, are in union with Christ.

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That we, as he will say later in chapter two, are seated with him in that place of authority

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and victory.

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We share in his saving work, his death, burial and resurrection.

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We share likewise in his enthronement in heaven, ascended with him and seated with him at the

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right hand of God.

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He says that God has put all things in subjection under his feet, an oriental expression, meaning

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that everything is below him.

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He is the authority over it all, the victor.

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And he gave him, an interesting expression, he gave him as head over all things to the

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church.

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Notice that before when he talks about our being his inheritance, the idea is what he

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is going to receive in us.

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But now he says that he has given to us something.

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He has given to us Christ, the exalted glorified God man who is head over all things.

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Not just head over the church here, notice, but head cosmically over everything that is.

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He is the one who is supreme in all of the universe of God.

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There is not one who is above him.

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And he has given him to us, whom he describes as his body, the fullness of him who fills

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all in all.

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Further depth in those words, he says that we who are in Christ's body, we believers,

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are the fullness of him.

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The amazing thought here is this, that there is some sense in which he, Christ, is not

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complete without us.

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For we are the fullness of him.

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We are his body.

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On the other hand, he is the one who fills us.

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For he is the fullness of all things, including we who are his body.

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He fills all in all.

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Now because we are in union with this one who is incomplete without us, and certainly

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without whom we are incomplete, because we are in union with him, there is surpassing

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power that is ours.

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We may draw upon that power.

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We have access to the spiritual resources and wealth that is in Jesus Christ.

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It is not available to some select group of believers, but it says here it's available

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to all of us who believe.

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All of us who believe, but notice it does say those who believe.

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Believing is the response on our part in receiving the power that God has made available in the

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Lord Jesus Christ.

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As Warren Rimsby said, it is grace that supplies the wealth.

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It is faith that lays hold of it.

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There are some of us, and I suppose all of us from time to time, who pray that we might

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have more power.

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Have you ever prayed that?

430
00:37:21,920 --> 00:37:25,160
Oh God, give me power to witness to my neighbor.

431
00:37:25,160 --> 00:37:29,800
Oh God, give me power over this temptation.

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Oh beloved, that is not precisely the way to pray.

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God cannot give us more power than we already have in Jesus Christ.

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What he prays is that we might know him, and as we know him, then that power will be released

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in our lives.

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So don't pray that you might have more power.

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Pray that you might know him, for when you know him, the power will be released.

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There are some people who see the Christian life as sort of battery operated.

439
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You kind of turn it on and you go out and do your thing, but as you go through it, you

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00:38:26,320 --> 00:38:27,320
get drained.

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If you're not careful, the battery runs out, so you turn off at a certain time and you

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go back for a recharge.

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You plug in again to that power pack so the batteries can be recharged, then you can go

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back out again.

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That isn't the way the Bible describes the surpassing greatness of the power.

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For we're not battery powered, we are dynamo powered.

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There is a dynamo within us in the person of the Holy Spirit.

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The very energy of God that caused the body of the Lord Jesus to be quickened and changed

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in that tomb in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, that very same energy is in you and in me.

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It's dynamic.

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It's always there.

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It does not need to be increased.

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It can't be increased because it's already exceeding, exceedingly great, surpassingly

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great.

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All it needs is to be plugged into.

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Number of years ago when I was on a, I think a tour with a singing group from one of the

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schools where I attended, we were invited by one of the hosts to go to his place of

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employment.

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He was an engineer who worked in an electrical, hydroelectric dam.

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I don't even recall now where it was.

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But I remember going there and seeing this huge lake backed up by a dam.

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And we walked out onto the dam and through a door and down inside that thing.

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The thing that overwhelmed me was the amount of water that was right out there just a few

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feet away.

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But as I went through this plant, this power plant, I was impressed with these huge, monstrous

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dynamos, these generators.

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What happens is the water is brought in through certain channels through that dam and through

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these generators.

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The result of that is that power is produced as the water flows through.

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I think that that's a much better picture of the surpassing greatness of the power that

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is in us than a battery.

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For you see, the Holy Spirit is there, constantly producing this power in our lives.

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But what we need to do is to have that power released, to be turned on, to be plugged into

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that power.

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You say, well, what do I need for that?

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Do I need the baptism of the Holy Spirit?

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What experience do I seek?

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Don't need any of that.

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What you need is to know Him.

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And as you know Him, the byproduct is the power is released.

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We don't want a church of Bible teaching druggies.

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Rather, I see our church as an army, a living organism for Jesus Christ.

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How do we pray for one another?

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Very simply, we pray that we might know God better.

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And as we know Him better, then we will know the hope of His calling.

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Our lives will be purified.

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We will persevere in our suffering.

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We will persevere in our service because of what we've been called to be.

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We will know the riches of the glory of His inheritance in us.

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And knowing what He's called us to be in Christ, and that we're being given to Christ as a

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love gift from the Father to the Son.

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It will produce in us humility and faithfulness.

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As we know Him, we will know the surpassing greatness of His power.

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Not just intellectually, not just theologically, not just in some theoretical realm, but as

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we know Him, that power will be produced.

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The more that we as individuals know Him, the more powerful we will be as a church collectively.

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The power of this church, dear people, is not in the pulpit.

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Please hear that.

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The power is in you.

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And as we know Him, by His grace, we will experience the fullness of His power and will

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be a fruitful church.

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Lord, open our eyes.

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Give us understanding that we might know You.

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Deliver us, each one of us, I pray, from the danger of having theoretical Bible knowledge.

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Deliver us from being able to quote intricate, detailed facts from the Bible and not knowing

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the fullness of Jesus Christ, whom the Bible reveals.

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Make us more than a Bible school where we come and learn about the Word.

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And give our hearts understanding that we might know You, the Living God.