LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS
Thanksgiving and Prayer
Ephesians 1:15-23
INTRODUCTION
For 9 years, I took off one day and spent time with Linda Harrelson's 5th-grade English classes and did a C.S. Lewis presentation. During the presentation, I acted like I was C.S. Lewis and explained to the children why "I" wrote The Chronicles of Narnia. One thing I insisted on: that they treated Linda Harrelson with great respect. In fact, I opened the presentation by calling her "Your royal highness, Lady Harrelson." That really opened their eyes. I then acted surprised that they wer surprised by my calling her that. When I asked them who was the mother of Lucy and Susan (the main female characters in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe), they answered, "Eve." When I asked them who was the father of Peter and Edmund (the main male characters), they answered, "Adam." According to The Chronicles of Narnia, being a son of Adam or a daughter of Eve makes a person royalty. For the rest of that day, the children would call Linda, "Ma'am" or "Lady Harrelson." What's even better is that after I start calling each of the children, "Lord Tyler" or "Lady Kimberly," they straightened up and started acting royally. So many of these kids were already being beaten down by life. It was wonderful to see them getting a true taste of who they truly were in Jesus.
At this point, the secular world jumps in and cries: "I'm OK; you're OK!" First of all, this is not what Christianity teaches. We shall see in chapter 2 that originally we are NOT OK, that something actually is radically wrong with us. Second, even personal experience tells me that I am not OK, you're not OK. All the division and disunity in the world indicate that you and I and everybody else are not OK. Something is wrong. Rather, Ephesians teaches that because of our relationship with Jesus Christ, we are now more than OK. Christ has radically transformed us into sons and daughters of God whose destiny right now is almost beyond all imagination.
THANKSGIVING AND PRAYER REQUEST (Eph. 1:15-19a)
| 15 For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers ; 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe (Eph. 1:15-19a). |
With the sole exception of Galatians, Paul follows his greetings ("Grace to you and peace") with a word of thanks and a prayer in all his letters (this was the custom of first-century letter writing). What is interesting is that this is not just a simple word of thanks and a simple prayer. Both are highly charged theologically. He is not only thanking God and praying for the Ephesians, he is also communicating something to the Ephesians through the thanks and the prayer.
Look at his thanksgiving. He thanks God that he has heard not only of their faith in the Lord Jesus but also of their love for "all the saints." I am not sure that love was a dominant characteristic of the Ephesian church. In fact, the apostle John later warned the Ephesians that they had left their first love (Rev. 2:4). The fact that there was disunity among the saints demonstrated that love had been a casualty in the Ephesian church. This does not mean that there was a total absence of love; however, love was not dominating the church there. By thanking God for their love for one another, Paul is encouraging them to grow in love.
Next, Paul prays that God may give the Ephesians a spirit of wisdom and of revelation of Him. Paul prays that the Ephesians grow in their knowledge of God the Father Himself. Note that Paul prays that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ give us this spirit of wisdom and revelation of God the Father. Why doesn't Paul just pray that God the Father give us this wisdom? Why does Paul call God specifically the God of our Lord Jesus Christ? First, because Jesus is the Divine Administrator, the Father does everything through Christ. Second, Jesus is the reveal-er of God. You want to know what the Father is like? Just look at Jesus. Jesus is such the spitting image of His Father that when Philip asks Jesus to show him the Father, Jesus replies: "Have I been so long with you and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father!" (John 14:9). Paul elsewhere claims that Jesus is the treasure-chest of knowledge and wisdom about God His Father (Col. 2:2-3).
Moreover, Paul prays that the eyes of the hearts of the Ephesians "be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe."
At first, what Paul writes doesn't seem to have anything to do with the purpose of this letter—to create unity in the Ephesian church. Actually, though, it does. Big ideas, big moments can really bring people together in unity. On Tuesday, September 11, something HUGE happened to this country—we entered into the 21st century and experienced for the first time the terror that so many other nations have lived with for decades. This nation came together because of the largeness of the event. Even some of the bitterest political enemies stood on the steps of the Capitol in Washington D.C. that evening locked arm-in-arm and sang "God Bless America." On Tuesday Nov. 4, 2008, most Americans stood united, excited that racism in this country has been so eradicated that an African-American could become president. Big ideas, big moments can truly unite us.
Too often, though, disunity is based upon pettiness; the petty destroys unity. Milton Cunningham tells the story of H.E. Butts, founder of HEB Food Stores. His church had ordained him to become a deacon. At his first deacon's meeting, the hot topic of debate was the color of the carpet for a new building. After an hour of debate, Butts got up and said "Enough with it" and left the meeting. The reason the church can be so disunited is that it focuses on the color of the carpet. How sad that the church of Jesus Christ, the church Christ died to give life to, can get bogged down in such pettiness. God has something wonderful in store for us, something huge, something greater than we can even imagine; therefore, we need to take our eyes off the petty things and concentrate on the great, the big things. This will result in greater unity.
THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST RELEASED THE POWER OF GOD--RESURRECTION POWER!!!"
Paul's Prayer for Power
In his prayer for the Ephesians, Paul prayed that they might know "the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe." Now Paul explains that power.
Note that Paul uses four different words for "power" in the Greek In order to stress the power God has unleashed in Christ:
| what is the surpassing greatness of His power [dunamis] toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working [energeia] of the strength [kratos] of His might [ischus] which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet (Eph. 1:19-22a). |
Two of these 4 words for "power" have worked their way into our own language: dunamis has become "dynamic" or "dynamo"; energeia has become "energy." We are talking real power here in Christ.
So what power brings about this glorious inheritance in the saints? What kind of power will transform our bodies so that they conform with the glorious resurrected body of Jesus Christ? What kind of power will radically transform the universe so that it becomes a suitable dwelling place not only for the transformed sons and daughters of God but also for God the Father Himself? RESURRECTION POWER!!!!!!!!!!!
Too often when we think of the tremendous power of God, we look to His creation. It is indeed marvelous. Just look at our earth itself. Tornadoes can sweep through a town, devastating it for years to come. A category 4 hurricane can hit a major U.S. city, leaving it half-populated for over 5 years. A tsunami hits a major European city in the mid 1800's (Lisbon), killing over 100,000 people in just a few minutes. That is just our earth alone.
Look at the rest of creation. This earth is a dwarf compared to the sun. Yet, in comparison with other stars, our sun is small. There are billions upon billions of stars in our universe. We cannot even begin to imagine the power in our universe. If a few atoms can be split to form an atom bomb, wiping out 2 major Japanese cities, then just think how much more power there is in the entire universe. Our God is a God of great power.
Yet as powerful as creation is, it is nevertheless limited; it is dying. Astronomers and physicists warn us that it is only a matter of time before our sun goes out (not in our lifetime, but it will go out). The Second Law of Thermodynamics is "an expression of the universal principle of decay observable in nature." Everything is moving towards entropy; that is everything is going to break down eventually.
This is a dying universe. Does this mean God's power is limited? No! A power greater than the power which created the universe is at work. The RE-CREATIVE power unleashed by Christ at the time of His resurrection is now working. This power took the body of Christ, raised it from the dead, and radically transformed it into a glorious body. It was still His body as evidenced by the fact that He could still eat fish and drink liquids; however, it was radically transformed. While the disciples were in hiding Easter Sunday night, locked away in an upper room, Jesus materialized out of thin air. Now THAT is radical transformation of the body. Moreover, that same body 40 days later ascended to the right hand of the Father in a state of absolute glory and power. Now that same power has been operating in you since the day Christ came into your heart.
Right now this power is working among the saints, already beginning the work of changing into the image of Jesus Christ. As C.S. Lewis puts it, one day the power of that glory already operating in us will overflow and also transform our bodies. Moreover, it will overflow onto the rest of creation, making it more glorious words cannot describe.
No Excuses!
What I am about to say does not apply simply to you; it applies also to me. In fact, I felt like the Lord spoke to me about ME before I wrote this to you. In light of the fact that Christ has power beyond all imagination and in light of the fact that this all-powerful Christ lives in me, I absolutely have no excuse for sin in my life. I know that I will sin; however, there is no excuse for sin because this all-powerful Christ lives within me. I, not Christ, not you, nor anybody else, is responsible for the way I act. No one can make me do anything. No one can make me angry; no one can make me sin. If I sin, if I live in anger, if I do anything, it is because I chose to do those things. Period. We live in a time in which everybody is considered a victim. This idea flies completely in the face of Christianity. This is a religion which not only teaches that I am totally responsible for myself but also gives me the power to respond properly to Jesus. There is absolutely no excuse for me bringing disunity and division in the church of Jesus Christ.
GOD'S GIFT TO THE CHURCH--HIS SON, THE EXALTED CHRIST
This Christ, the Father has exalted to the position so that He is exalted "above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come." Only the Father Himself has not been subjected beneath he feet of Jesus (1 Cor. 15:27).
It is probably by no means an accident that Paul describes this exalted position to Jesus in the letter to the Ephesians. Ephesus was known throughout the ancient world as being the seat of the Temple to he goddess Diana (Artemis). It was listed as one of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World. The Temple of Diana/Artemis was destroyed in 356 B.C. (the year Alexander the Great was born) and had not yet been rebuilt when Alexander conquered the city years later. When he proposed to rebuild the temple, he was rejected by the Ephesians because they claimed, "A God can not built a temple for another God." Alexander used this occasion to proclaim his deity to the ancient world. The great Alexander, though, is an imposter, especially compared to Jesus, very God of very God.
Why has the Father exalted His Son to this exalted position? Because of His utter humiliation. Because Christ humbled Himselt ot the greatest extent at he command of His Father, His Father has exalted Him to the highest station in the universe.
THE CHURCH--THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST IN THE WORLD
Because Christ is the exalted, all-powerful Son of God, it is by no means a surprise that Christ is omnipresent. Whereas Christ as God the Son is omnipresent, that is present everywhere, He is especially present in the church. In fact, the church is nothing less than the body of Christ Himself.
I used to pooh-pooh Christians who really got excited about experiencing God in creation--UNTIL I went to the Canadian Rockies and saw an aspect of God I had never seen before, His utter magnificence; UNTIL I went to the Cotswold of England and teared up when I saw some of the loveliest countryside in the world, sheep grazing upon the rolling hills. It is hard NOT to experience God in such places.
HOWEVER, and this is a huge HOWEVER, Paul claims that as much as Christ fills the universe, He especially fills the church. Whether or not we are aware of His presence in the church has nothing to do with the fact that Christ fills the church more than He fills the rest of the universe. The universe is only His creation; the church is nothing less than His body. The Christian sitting next to you in church is part of the body of Christ. That person may be the hands of Christ, the feet of Christ, the voice of Christ, etc. Whatever part of Christ's body that Christian is, he IS part of the body of Christ.
This concept of the church should radically transform the way you view church and the way you view people in the church. Whereas there are institutional aspects to the church, whereas there is a business element to the church, do NOT reduce the church to being nothing more than an institution or a business. It is the body of Christ.
C.S. Lewis claimed that he would really have preferred to have read a good theology book on Sunday mornings rather than being subjected to some of the sermons he had to sit through. Lewis lamented that the hymns of his day were made up of 5th-rate words and 6th-rate tunes. If you visit Holy Trinity Church near Oxford, the church Lewis attended weekly, you will see the pew where he sat. The pew is located behind a pillar in the church. Lewis couldn't help but roll his eyes at some of the things preached from the pulpit; the pillar shielded Lewis from the eyes of the preacher.
So why did Lewis attend church? Because of the people sitting around him. The old farmer who attended church in his dirty boots and who lustily sang the hymns was part of Christ's body. That farmer was so united with Christ that he was nothing less than Christ Himself to Lewis. (Paul in 1 Cor. 6 says the same thing when he claims that the Christian is so one with Christ that if he enters into an illicit sexual relationship with a prostitute, he has actually dragged Christ into that illicit relationship.)
In case you think it is extreme to think of the person sitting next to you in the pew as "Christ", just consider what Sunday mornings are like for many Christians. Lewis, who lived with his brother and housekeeper, got up early every morning of the week. No problem EXCEPT on Sundays. When he got up on Sunday mornings at the same time he got up the rest of the week, all heck would break loose from others living in the house. How easy is it to sleep in on Sunday mornings, whereas on Saturday mornings you are up and at 'em in a heartbeat? That should tell you right there that you staying away from church is important to Satan. How many parents get to church absolutely worn out from arguing with their children about going to church or from experiencing every kind of disruption on Sunday mornings.
Satan is our enemy. In fact, Ephesians is going to spend more time on Satan than any other book in the Bible with the exception of Revelation. Why does Satan attack Sunday mornings? Because when you enter the church, you literally come into the presence of Christ. Moreover, if keeping you away from church on Sunday mornings is important to Satan, think about this: why does any enemy attack certain positions in a war? For example, why did we knock out Saddam Hussein's center of communications right at the start of the Iraqi war in 2003? Because we considered it important during time of war. Apparently, Satan our archenemy considers church to be significant in God's war against him. (See Eph. 3:10.) Well if my enemy considers attending church as an important point of attack, then I should wise up and make sure that whatever I did on Sundays, I at least attended church.