In this section, Paul shifts from preaching to praying, from declaring the spiritual riches that are ours in Christ, to praying that believers will comprehend our glorious future inheritance, and the awesome power that has made it possible for us to believe the gospel.
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Teaching Notes:
Ephesians 1:15-19a
Intro:
In Ephesians 1:3-14 we learn that we should praise God because He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ. We have been Chosen by Father, Redeemed by the Son, and Sealed with the Spirit. Was according to the Good Pleasure of His Will, and To the Praise of His Glory. Now Paul is going to move on from preaching to praying. He has described these spiritual blessings. Now he will pray that God would open the eyes of their hearts to see them for themselves! There are 2 parts to this prayer. First, the Thanksgiving. Second, the Supplication.
1. Paul’s Thanksgiving: 1:15-16
A. Who Does Paul Thank? Notice Paul gives thanks for them, not to them. He’s not giving thanks to them, but Someone else. Who? The same one he is praying to. God.
B. Why Does He Thank Him? Obviously because He had something to do with them becoming followers of Christ!
For This Reason: for what reason is Paul giving thanks for them? You would naturally look back to find a previous reason, but in this case I think he gives us the reason afterwards. Because they possessed Faith and Love. Why would Paul thank God after he heard that they possessed faith and love? Because God is the one who granted faith which works by love!
I too: there must have been others who were thanking God for them. While Paul has been sitting in a prison cell in Rome, he has communicated with them. Now he too joins them in giving thanks to God for them.
Having heard: this is interesting because Paul spent 3 years in Ephesus seeing firsthand multitudes come to Christ. “Ephesians” must be a circular letter written to many churches Paul had only heard about. Evidently, as a result of God’s powerful work in Ephesus through Paul, others had taken the gospel to outlying cities and villages and other churches had been planted.
Faith in the Lord Jesus: Paul emphasizes that their faith was in the LORD Jesus. No one can be saved who refuses to submit to Christ’s lordship. Not enough to “accept Him as your personal Savior” if you reject His lordship. You can’t cut Jesus up into pieces, and take the ones you want, and leave the rest. When you receive Christ, you receive all of Christ, for who He is. He is not only the Savior – He’s the Lord!
Love for all the saints: love is “a self-sacrificial commitment to do another good.” All the saints, not some or most.
C. When Does Paul Give Thanks? He doesn’t cease giving thanks. He’s always doing it. Whenever he prays for them, he gives thanks for them!
Application:
1. Faith and Love are the 2 Essential Marks of a True Believer: in true conversion there will be both a vertical and a horizontal response. Vertical: faith. Horizontal: love. Gal.5:6. These are 2 prominent birthmarks of a saint.
2. Whenever We Find These 2 Marks We Should Thank God: faith is his gift, and love is the natural outflow of faith in Jesus. God is to be praised for these 2 marks. They prove that he was chosen by the Father, redeemed by the Son, and sealed with the Spirit.
3. Our Love Should Be For ALL The Saints: not just the saints in our church, denomination, or clique. Whenever and wherever we find a saint, we love him. He might believe a bit differently than you, but when we find God’s image in a saint, we must love him!
2. Paul’s Supplication: 1:17-19a
What Does Paul Pray For? Vs.17-18: wisdom, revelation, knowledge, enlightenment. What do all these words have in common? They all have to do with spiritual understanding. Vs.17 seems to be the thesis statement, like vs.3. Then Paul will unpack it in vs.18-19.
What Does Paul Not Pray For? Not for freedom from persecution, trouble or pain. Not that they would have riches, honors, worldly pleasures or physical health. Not that God would protect them and keep them safe. I don’t believe it’s wrong to pray for these things, but Paul was consumed with their spiritual growth and health. Col.1:28-29. What do you pray about? We need to start thinking and praying like Paul. The more spiritually-minded we are, the more spiritual our prayers will be. When we have our Wed. night prayer-meetings, let’s keep this in mind. If we are consumed with asking God for protection, successful surgeries, financial blessing, etc. we will miss out on the true riches. See how Paul prays in other letters: Phil.1:9-11; Col.1:9-12; Eph.3:14-19.
Who Does Paul Pray For? Notice first that these are genuine believers. They already possess faith and love. They’ve been sealed with the Spirit. They are headed for heaven. Paul thanks God for what He has done, and then asks Him to do more. He gives thanks for the foundation God has laid, then asks God to keep on building the superstructure until the building is finished. These believers knew God, their hearts had been enlightened. They could not have been saved if that had not happened. We might think there is no need to pray for them – they are doing great. But Paul is anxious that they go on in their Christian life to increased spiritual knowledge. The same is true for us. We must go in our Christian lives to seek a greater knowledge of God and His truth. The word “disciple” means “learner.” We are life-time learners. If we spent hours every day studying the Bible for the rest of our lives, we would never exhaust all the treasures of truth it contains. Beware of growing complacent. “I’ve read it before!” Like Paul, we need to pray for believers, that they would be given revelation and knowledge of spiritual truth!
Where Does Spiritual Understanding Come From? God! Paul prays that God will give them a spirit of wisdom and revelation. He prays that the eyes of their heart would be enlightened. This is passive. It happens to us. Evidently then, we can’t get it merely by reading Scripture alone. God must speak through His Word. We won’t be able to have this spiritual wisdom and revelation by our human intelligence, or diligence alone. It can’t be attained by natural means. That’s why we must PRAY for light whenever we pick up this book! If it were a natural book, there would be no need to pray. We would just use our minds. But it is a supernatural book, requiring light from its author in order for us to understand. God must open our eyes, just as He opened the eyes of Elisha’s servant in 2Kings 6:8-17. God didn’t make the horses and chariots appear. He just enabled the servant to see what was already there. Paul is praying that we understand what God has already done in Christ.
What Does Paul Pray For Specifically?
1) The Knowledge of God’s Inheritance: “the hope of His calling, the riches of the glory of His inheritance.” 1Pet.5:10; Rom.8:28-29. What is this hope of our calling? It is absolute flawless holiness, the glory of God’s eternal kingdom lived out with Him. It is shine like the sun in the kingdom of our father. What is meant by “His inheritance”? Similar expression “His calling”. This refers to the calling He issues. Likewise, this is the inheritance that He grants. Some believe this is teaching that we are God’s inheritance which make Him rich. But previously “inheritance” has been used of ours in 1:11,14. How often do you think and meditate on heaven? It would do all of us a world of good! How would it change anything? It would support us in our afflictions if we knew they were producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison. It would keep us from laying up treasures on earth if we really believed we were laying up treasures in heaven. It would make us zealous to serve God now if we believed our service would be rewarded there. It would make us flee from sin here if we knew we were going to a holy heaven then!
2) The Knowledge of God’s Power: Paul uses the words “surpassing greatness, working, strength, might.” He heaps up word upon word, trying to describe the greatness of power which is working on our behalf. The only thing he can relate this power to is the resurrection, ascension, and enthronement of Christ. What kind of power did that? Omnipotence! The literal rendering here is “and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the working of the strength of His might…” How does someone come to believe the gospel? Only Almighty God can accomplish it. He certainly doesn’t do it on his own! But how do we know we will continue to believe until the end? Each new day I wake up and say, “Lord, You did it again! I’m still a believer!” Left to ourselves, we would defect and run into vice and sin. But God doesn’t leave us to ourselves – His power is at work in us until we make it to glory! Eph.3:20-21; Phil.2:13; Col.1:29. Think of it! All the power in the universe is working on your behalf. God lives in you! We say, “I just can’t lick this sin.” Yes you can. I just can’t endure this trial. Yes you can. I can’t love my wife. Yes you can. I can’t raise my children in the nurture and discipline of the Lord. Yes you can. You can do anything God wants you to do! Someone might say, “I just can’t hit a baseball.” But what if the spirit of Babe Ruth entered into you. Would you be able to hit a baseball then? You bet! The Holy Spirit of God has entered into you. You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you! Set your sights high. Don’t settle for a mediocre Christian life.
Conclusion:
The story goes that William Randolph Hearst invested a fortune collecting art treasures from around the world. One day he found a description of some valuable items that he felt he had to own, so he sent his agent abroad to find them. After months of searching, the agent reported that he had finally found them. They were in Mr. Hearst’s warehouse! Mr. Hearst had been searching frantically for treasures he already owned. If he had just read the catalog of His treasures, he would have saved himself a lot of money and trouble. As Christians, we can be a lot like Mr. Hearst – always searching for something more in the Christian life. But what we really need is for God to open our eyes to see all He has already given us. If He did that, we wouldn’t have time to be discontented with what we don’t have. Let’s begin to pray that God would open our eyes to what we already have, and then appropriate them.
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