READ THE BANKBOOK
The Riches of God’s Grace • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Eph.1:15-23
We discovered that we were “born rich” when we trusted Christ. But this is not enough, for we must grow in our understanding of our riches if we are ever going to use them to the glory of God. Too many Christians have never “read the bank book” to find out the vast spiritual wealth that God has put to their account through Jesus Christ.
Paul desired the Ephesian Christians to understand what great wealth they had in Christ.
Paul knew of their faith and love was real, and in this he rejoiced.
The Christian life has two dimensions: faith toward God and love toward men, and you cannot separate the two.
But Paul knew that faith and love were just the beginning.
The Ephesians needed to know much more.
This is why he prayed for them, and for us.
In the prison prayers of Paul
(Eph. 1:15–23; 3:14–21; Phil. 1:9–11; Col. 1:9–12),
We discover the blessings he wanted his converts to enjoy.
In none of these prayers does Paul request material things.
His emphasis is on spiritual perception and real Christian character.
He does not ask God to give them what they do not have, but rather prays that God will reveal to them what they already have.
Before we study Paul’s four requests in this “prayer for enlightenment,” we must notice two facts.
First, enlightenment comes from the Holy Spirit.
He is the “Spirit of wisdom and revelation”
(Isa. 11:2; John 14:25–26; 16:12–14).
With his natural mind, man cannot understand the things of God.
He needs the Spirit to enlighten him (1 Cor. 2:9–16).
The Holy Spirit reveals truth to us from the Word, and then gives us the wisdom to understand and apply it.
He also gives us the power—the enablement—to practice the truth (Eph. 3:14–21).
Second, this enlightenment comes to the heart of the believer
(Eph. 1:18
18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
We think of the heart as the emotional part of man, but in the Bible, the heart means the inner man, and includes the emotions, the mind, and the will.
The inner man, the heart, has spiritual faculties that parallel the physical senses. The inner man can see (Ps. 119:18; John 3:3), hear (Matt. 13:9; Heb. 5:11), taste (Ps. 34:8; 1 Peter 2:3), smell (Phil. 4:18; 2 Cor. 2:14), and touch (Acts 17:27).
This is what Jesus meant when He said of the people: “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.” (Matthew 13:13)
The inability to see and understand spiritual things is not the fault of the intelligence but of the heart.
The eyes of the heart must be opened by the Spirit of God.
I. That They Might Know God -
I. That They Might Know God -
Ephesians 1:17 (NIV84)
17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
This, of course, is the highest knowledge possible.
The atheist claims there is no God for us to know,
and the agnostic states that if there is a God we cannot know Him.
But Paul has met God in the person of Jesus Christ, and he knows that a man really cannot understand much of anything else without a knowledge of God.
This willful ignorance of God led mankind into corruption and condemnation. (Psa 19 and Rom.1:18-21)
In Romans 1:18ff, Paul describes the stages in man’s devolution: from willful ignorance of God to idolatry (substituting a lie for the truth) to immorality and indecency.
Where does it begin? It begins with an unwillingness to know God as Creator, Sustainer, Governor, Saviour, and Judge.
The believer must grow in his knowledge of God.
To know God personally is salvation (John 17:3).
To know Him increasingly is sanctification (Phil. 3:10).
To know Him perfectly is glorification (1 Cor. 13:9–12).
Since we are made in the image of God (Gen. 1:26–28), the better we know God, the better we know ourselves and each other.
It is not enough to know God only as Saviour.
We must get to know Him as Father, Friend, Guide, and the better we know Him, the more satisfying our spiritual lives will be.
Surely there are times when we use God’s Word as a sword to defeat the enemy, but that is not the primary purpose behind the writing of the Bible.
As Psalm 42:1 says:
“ As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.”
What does the deer pants for the water mean?
This psalm expresses intense desire to know God intimately. The psalmist compares his thirst for God to a deer's thirst for flowing water. The Hebrew term translated "pant" or "panting" implies an intense experience. This is not simple thirst, but rather a desperate need for something vital.
So Paul prays:
That They Might Know God
II. That We Might Know God’s Calling (Eph. 1:18a)
II. That We Might Know God’s Calling (Eph. 1:18a)
Ephesians 1:18 (NIV84)
18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
The word called is an important word in the Christian’s vocabulary.
The word church is a combination of two Greek words that mean “called out.”
Paul never tired of testifying that God called him “by His grace” (Gal. 1:15); and he reminded Timothy that the believer has a “holy calling” (2 Tim. 1:9).
We have been “called out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9),
and have even been “called to eternal glory” (1 Peter 5:10).
God calls us by His grace and not because of any merit that we may possess.
Paul wants us to understand the hope that is ours because of this calling (Eph. 4:4).
Some callings offer no hope, but the calling we have in Christ assures us of a delightful future.
Keep in mind that the word hope in the Bible does not mean “hope so,” like a child hoping for a doll or a bike at Christmas.
The word hope carries with it “assurance for the future.”
The believer’s hope is, of course, the return of Jesus Christ for His church (1 Thes. 4:13–18; 1 John 3:1–3).
When we were lost, we were “without hope” (Eph. 2:12); but in Jesus Christ, we have a “living hope” (1 Peter 1:3) that encourages us day by day.
Dr. Kenneth Chafin, a well-known Baptist author, tells about the pastor and deacon who were visiting prospective members and drove up to a beautiful suburban home surrounded by a velvet lawn and gorgeous landscaping. Two expensive cars stood in the driveway, and through the picture window, the men saw their prospect, lounging in an easy chair and watching color TV. The deacon turned to his pastor and said, “What kind of good news do we have for him?”
How prone we are to confuse prices and values.
Ephesus was a wealthy city.
It boasted the temple of Diana, one of the wonders of the ancient world.
Today, Ephesus is an archeologist’s paradise, but all of its wealth and splendor are gone.
But the Christians who once lived there are today in heaven, enjoying the eternal glory of God!
The hope that belongs to our calling should be a dynamic force in our lives, encouraging us to be pure (1 John 2:28–3:3), obedient (Heb. 13:17), and faithful (Luke 12:42–48).
The fact that we shall one day see Christ and be like Him should motivate us to live like Christ today.
1.That We Might Know God
2. That We Might Know God’s Calling
III. That We Might Know God’s Riches (Eph. 1:18b)
III. That We Might Know God’s Riches (Eph. 1:18b)
Ephesians 1:18 (NIV84)
18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
This phrase does not refer to our inheritance in Christ (Eph. 1:11), but His inheritance in us.
This is an amazing truth—that God should look on us as a part of His great wealth!
Just as a man’s wealth brings glory to his name, so God will get glory from the church because of what He has invested in us.
When Jesus Christ returns, we shall be to the praise of his glorious grace.” (Ephesians 1:6)
God deals with us on the basis of our future, not our past.
He said to cowardly Gideon, Judges 6:12, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.””
Jesus said to Andrew’s brother, (John 1:42)
“You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter, stone).”
Gideon did become a mighty warrior, and Simon did become Peter, a rock.
We Christians live in the future tense, our lives controlled by what we shall be when Christ returns.
Because we are God’s inheritance, we live to please and glorify Him.
This truth suggests to us that Christ will not enter into His promised glory until the church is there to share it with Him.
He prayed for this before He died, and this prayer will be answered (John 17:24).
Christ will be glorified in us (2 Thes. 1:10), and we will be glorified in Him (Col. 3:4).
Knowing this should lead the believer into a life of dedication and devotion to the Lord.
1.That We Might Know God
2. That We Might Know God’s Calling
3. That We Might Know God’s Riches
IV. That We Might Know God’s Power (Eph. 1:19–23)
IV. That We Might Know God’s Power (Eph. 1:19–23)
Ephesians 1:19–23 (NIV84)
19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength,
By making us His inheritance, God has shown His love.
By promising us a wonderful future, He has encouraged our hope.
Paul offered something to challenge our faith: “ his incomparably great power for us who believe.” (Eph. 1:19).
So tremendous is this truth that Paul enlisted many different words from the Greek vocabulary to get his point across:
dunamis—“power” as in dynamo and dynamite;
energeia—“working” as in energy;
kratos—“mighty”;
ischus—“power.”
Ephesians 1:19
He is talking about divine dynamic, eternal energy, available to us!
After all, what good is it to have wealth if you are too weak to use it?
Or if you are so afraid of robbers that you cannot really enjoy it?
John D. Rockefeller was the world’s first billionaire. It is said that for many years, he lived on crackers and milk because of stomach troubles caused by worrying about his wealth. He rarely had a good night’s sleep, and guards stood constantly at his door. Wealthy—but miserable! When he began to share his wealth with others in great philanthropic endeavors, his health improved considerably and he lived to be an old man.
We Christians need power for several reasons.
To begin with, by nature we are too weak to appreciate and appropriate this wealth, and to use it as it should be used.
“The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matt. 26:41).
To turn this vast spiritual wealth over to a mere human being, living by human wisdom and strength, would be like handing an atomic bomb to a two-year-old.
God’s power enables us to use God’s wealth.
But there is a second reason why we need God’s power.
There are enemies who want to rob us of our wealth (Eph. 1:21; 6:11–12).
We could never defeat these spiritual foes in our own power, but we can through the Spirit’s power.
Paul wants us to know the greatness of God’s power so that we will not fail to use our wealth, and so that the enemy will not deprive us of our wealth.
The power is seen in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
In the Old Testament, people measured God’s power by His creation (Isa. 40:12–27) or by His miracle at the Exodus of Israel from Egypt (Jer. 16:14).
But today, we measure God’s power by the miracle of Christ’s resurrection.
That power is like the working of his mighty strength,(Eph 1:19).
20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.
Much more was involved than merely raising Him from the dead, for Christ also ascended to heaven and sat down in the place of authority at the right hand of God.
He is not only Saviour; He is also Sovereign (Acts 2:25–36).
No authority or power, human or in the spirit world, is greater than that of Jesus Christ, the exalted Son of God.
He is “far above all,” and no future enemy can overcome Him, because He has been exalted “far above all” powers.
But how does this apply to you and me today?
In Ephesians 1:22–23, Paul explains the practical application.
22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
Because we are believers, we are in the church, which is Christ’s body—and He is the Head.
This means that there is a living connection between you and Christ.
Physically speaking, the head controls the body and keeps the body functioning properly.
Injure certain parts of the brain and you handicap or paralyze corresponding parts of the body.
Christ is our spiritual Head. Through the Spirit, we are united to Him as the members of His body.
This means that we share His resurrection, ascension, and exaltation. (Paul will amplify this later.)
We too are seated, in the heavenlies (Eph. 2:6), and all things are under our feet.
No wonder Paul wants us to know
"the incomparably great power for us who believe"
Apart from this power, we cannot draw on our great wealth in Christ.
A wife try to get her husband to sign a paper that would authorize her to draw on his private checking account so she could pay his bills. The man was so weak he could not sign the paper. She finally had to get witnesses to verify his “X” on the document. His weakness nearly deprived her of his wealth.
The power of the Holy Spirit, through the resurrected, ascended Christ, is available to all Christians—great power for us who believe” (Eph. 1:19).
It is grace that supplies the wealth, but it is faith that lays hold of the wealth.
We are saved “by grace, through faith” (Eph. 2:8–9), and we live “by grace,” through faith (1 Cor. 15:10).
In the four Gospels, we see God’s power at work in the ministry of Jesus Christ, but in the Book of Acts, we see that same power at work in ordinary men and women, members of the body of Christ.
What a transformation took place in Peter’s life between the end of the Gospels and the beginning of Acts.
What made the difference? The resurrection power of Jesus Christ (Acts 1:8).
The greatest power shortage today is not in our bank account or our structure. It is in our personal lives.
Will Paul’s prayer be answered in your life?
Will you, starting today, begin to know by experience God—God’s calling—God’s riches—and God’s power?
Conc.
We may not like to admit it, but the truth is we are always looking for more. We pray for grace, strength, light, peace and love, when all those things have already been provided to us in great abundance.
• We have been promised sufficient grace, 2 Cor. 12:9.
• We are told that we can do all things through Christ Who is our strength, Phil. 4:13.
• We have all the light we need in the Word of God; we merely need to follow it. We have been given peace that surpasses all our understanding, Phil. 4:7; John 14:27.
• We have been given an ocean of love in our hearts; we merely need to let it flow from us to others, Rom. 5:5.
What we really need is to understand what we have already been given in Jesus. What we need is to understand what we have in Him and how to appropriate those things in our lives. That is what Paul talks about in these verses. His prayer for the saints is that they will grasp who they are and what they possess in Jesus Christ.
(Last week) There is a story told about William Randolph Hurst. He was a multi-millionaire and an avid collector of expensive and rare works of art. He read about a particular painting and he became determined to acquire it for his collection regardless of the expense. So, he sent his agents out all over the world to find this painting. His search costs him thousands of dollars and lasted several months. When his agents reported back to Hurst, they told him that the paining has been found, but that he already owned it and that it had been stored in one of his many warehouses for years. He was searching for something he already possessed.
That sounds like us doesn’t it?
We are always looking for the next great thing, the next great feeling or the next great experience.
We search for spiritual fulfillment and contentment and wear ourselves out looking for more.
Yet, we fail to understand the truth that everything we think we want and need is already our in Jesus.
That is what Paul wants the Ephesians to understand and that is what we need to grasp as well.
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