One Hope

Glad that you're with us today. We are uh going to look at Ephesians chapter one. Ephesians chapter 1. I'm going to have a weird beginning that has nothing to do directly with this message. And you're going to go, why is he starting this way?

And the answer is very complicated. It's because I want to. Um Uh uh So I want to explain why we have an online feed. And so if you're watching the online feed, I want to say something about our online feed to you. Yeah.

We have an online feed. specifically for people who are unable to come here. Because of physical issues or because of life issues, sometimes because of traveling, life circumstances. Um In a post-COVID world, There's been a tendency And it hasn't been a good one for people who normally were here. Three, four weeks to be here, one or two in person.

And I'm not saying that to chide anybody. I'm saying that because. There's actually recent studies that have even come out that talk about the struggle we face in life. Um Depression, anxiety, things like that. And it points out that.

Church. Actually, church goers navigate depression and anxiety better than those who don't. Go to church. Interestingly, there is no benefit in those studies for people who are unable to be in the body. Here.

And I thought, that's an interesting sociological Sort of dynamic. And I thought, why is that? And the reason is that there's something about being with people. There's something about connecting. If you're watching and you're unable to connect, know that we have people who would love to come visit you.

We have people who'd love to come sit with you in your home. We have people who'd love to come spend time with you. There are people in this church that do that on a regular basis, believe it or not. And if you'd like to do that on a regular basis and you're here, we'd love for you to be a part of that and go sit with people who want to be here but can't be here because of physical reasons, right?

So I just want to encourage you: if the habit has become to hang at home, it's not a rebuke, it's just a plea. it would be good for you to be here physically. All right?

Now I'm going to switch gears. Go to Ephesians 1, and I'm going to ask you a question as we begin. Remember the context we've come out of in Ephesians, Paul has given this, like a eulogy, we call it, a good word. And the good word has been that God has blessed us, so we want to return praise to Him for what He's blessed us with. And namely, that he came and he chose us, he adopted us, he redeemed us, he has this master plan for us, and he dispenses the Holy Spirit to us.

Those five blessings show up.

Okay. And now he shifts and he does what actually he almost always does in his letters at the beginning. In his letters at the beginning, normally he greets, and then he says something that he's thankful for. Save Galatians, where he's kind of hot under the collar about the gospel and doesn't have a lot to say thank you for. But all the other letters, for the most part, he gets to a thank you.

But in Ephesians, interestingly, he puts this set of spiritual blessings and benefits in between a greeting and a thanksgiving. And now he's going to shift to this thanksgiving, which he actually turns to a prayer, and it's one of several prayers that he's going to highlight as he is praying. Particularly, there's another one in chapter 3 where he goes into even more depth of how he prays for the church.

So I thought we could ask this question as we think about, I call this one hope, and in some ways we'll see how that connects as we kind of go along. There's a text in... Ephesians 4 that talks about us being called to one hope because we have one Lord and one faith and one baptism and we're brought into this unity. And he's going to talk about hope here. As we think about this church, Collective, and as you think about your part in it individually, it's a simple question: do you pray?

for this church. Do you pray for this church? And I'm curious. If you do, and I hope you do. What is it that you pray?

for the church. And I think that's an important question. To ask, what is it that you pray for the church? I think there's probably a propensity and kind of a survivalist mentality in a lot of our lives that we're doing pretty well if we can just pray for us and the immediate circle around us and our family to sort of navigate the world. I want to challenge you this morning that we need to be thinking about what it means for us to pray for this church, but also to be a praying church.

And maybe to learn from Paul this morning how we should pray. for the church. And to think that how we should pray for the church may or may not be. What we do pray, or if we don't pray, then I would say to you: let today begin a process in your life of what it looks like for you to begin praying for the church as the bride of Christ. In fact, praying for the church ends up really being prayer for yourself in direct ways.

What is it that God wants for you? From us. In the whole kind of picture of our microcosmic molecularness as we come together into this body.

So. We're going to think about that, and as we do, you've got some notes there. We'll look at three observations, and you say, about God's revelation.

Well, yeah, it's going to be about God's revelation. Why?

Well, because when we ask the question, what does Paul pray for the church? The answer is. that they would see God. The answer is that God would reveal himself to them. The answer is that that revelation would have certain effects.

From it, that would be indelible in their lives as He has revealed Himself to them. They would leave completely different, changed from a gathering like this as the church.

So we want to think about that. And I'd like you to look with me in verse 15 as we begin. For this reason, because I have heard of your faith. in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints. I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.

Now, he's going to say what his prayers are. But the for this reason in verse 15 is not actually, it doesn't seem looking back, it's actually looking at the next clause. For what reason?

Well, namely, because. I've heard of a couple of things about you, right? I've heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints.

Now, Paul. Spent two and a half years of his ministry living in Ephesus. planting a church. Establishing what you could call the first kind of, that we're aware of at least, the first kind of school of discipleship, it would seem, at the Hall of Tyrannus, Ephesus being a kind of local epicenter. He probably extended his ministry out from there in that two and a half years.

So in some ways We might wonder, well, why is it that he says, I've heard of your, almost like he's. Unacquainted with them. It's the language I might use if I wrote a letter to a church that I haven't been to before.

So why does he say that? And the answer is because he hasn't been there in a long time.

So he's saying, I've heard you're continuing. I've heard that you guys have a deep faith, your vertical relationship with the Lord as a corporate body is happening, and your love here is happening with each other. And these, of course, form this kind of axis that is the ground of what good community is. You only get the latter because you have the former. You only get relationships because you rightly orient yourself to God.

You only can understand your social standing and where you're supposed to be and how you're supposed to be if you understand exactly who you are before the Lord.

So that's one of the reasons why at Lifeline. We talk about this. Brad and I in particular spend time thinking about this and talking about this, that the worship service is about what? What is it about? Is it about all the people who are out there that we hope come to Christ?

Well, I want people to come to Christ. That's not what this is about. That's not what it's about. Is it about You fellowshipping and connecting with one another.

Well, I hope you fellowship. I hope you hang out in a lobby so long we got to boot you out of here. But that's not what it's about. That's not what it's about. that this event each week is about the exaltation of God.

That we would see a big God who would ask. Big things of us, and our heart would be reoriented to Him so that then the outflow of our fellowship and our impetus to reach out to people to say, Have you seen the God I worship? would be to draw them back in. But the starting point is this is about God, toward God, and for God. That's the entire focus.

of all of it.

So we have to be rightly ordered first, and then the flow of our life, our love, flows out from that. And Paul says, this is the way you guys are, and I'm really thankful for it. I don't cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.

So, one of the things you pick up from that. is a thing that we should take in, and that is Paul regularly. Praise for the church. He regularly prays for the church. Do you regularly Pray.

for the church. Um So Having uh Jennifer and I moved here, planted the church in February 21st. It'll be 20 years ago that we moved here. And One of the things that 20 years out is the biggest thing on my heart and the biggest concern that I have for the church, and I've shared this with some of our staff. is that I, and I was actually talking with a friend this week about this.

I I don't see the church collective. as having prayer as a high watermark. A high watermark. Meaning like the thing that I look at and say, we're great at. It's we are constantly Thinking about prayer.

And I think about that and I think that's my fault. In some ways. I have to own that. Prayer has had not a significant enough exalted status. in the life of our church.

And we have to change that. We have to change that. All power comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. All our hope. is hidden in him.

So, in some ways, this whole dynamic of pressing forward in our life. only has to do with whether or not we're anchoring back. Hook'em back, hook'em back, hook'em back. And so we're going to be the first church a hooking back up. With the Lord.

Okay. And that's an important thing for us moving forward as a church, to become a church that prays. A church that prays. A praying church.

So As the Lord leads us, I'm hopeful that this message, at least, just looking at this text, will give us a couple of things to think about to that end.

So Paul prays and What is he after?

Well, he's after the revelation of God.

So let's think about three observations dealing with the revelation of God. The first is the most obvious thing you've ever read on this screen. God reveals himself to us. But is it that obvious? What are you doing?

Searching for God. Good luck. Pray that the Lord reveals Himself. to you. Pray that the Lord reveals himself to you.

That is the only way you will see him. You will not find God. Look at Bobby. His life was changed. He found God.

Like God was hiding in a closet. You pull the clothes back. You're it. He didn't find him? God revealed himself.

God revealed himself. The only way. That God will be encountered. is when God discloses himself.

So you and I Need to plead with God. that he would disclose himself to us. That he would reveal that when you open the pages of Holy Scripture, you would go, that stuff I've never seen before. God, reveal yourself in your word to me. Show me things I've not seen.

Show it to me in ways I've not seen it. Help me to see how to apply it in ways that heretofore I have not understood. Show me things about this day and how you can show up. Show me what faithful presence looks like for me today because I need you to reveal yourself to me. Look at your text.

I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Father of Glory. May give you the spirit of wisdom. and of revelation in the knowledge. of him.

The knowledge of him is the knowledge of the Father. The knowledge of the Father, that God, this Father, who is the one of glory, that is, this set of Perfect, pristine, infinite attributes put on display that the Father of Glory would say, This is who I am.

Now, how will He do that? He tells you, right? He'll do that. He'll do that. As he gives the Spirit.

So the Father is the great revealer, but he gives the Spirit. as the re as this One who is the instrument from the Father to yield revelation.

Now, why is that? That's because. Think about where you sit right now in your life. Uh you every like if bubbles went above everybody's head. That told about their life, everybody's life is different, right?

I greet a bunch of you when you come into the door. I could say some things, not a lot, but I could say some things about your individual lives right now. That would be true. of things either you're going through What's happened this week to you? Things that are weighing on you, things that astonished you, all different kinds of things.

But everyone is different in that way.

Now, this is the beauty of how God reveals Himself. Instead of a grand vision of glory. which could be a way God could reorient in our lives and order us before him. Instead, He Through the power of the Spirit, reveals his himself to you in the midst of your life. In your daily grind, as you open his word, as you worship him, as you linger in prayer, as you go throughout your day God aware and God conscious, and he reveals himself in his uniform, True?

Abiding, unchanging, immutable character that's true for everybody in this room, but he reveals it to you uniquely. for what you're going through. And where you are at. And what you need in that moment, in those situations. That's why it comes via the Spirit, because He's placed His Spirit within you, a deposit guaranteeing your inheritance in the saints, the Bible told us, right?

Previous text last week. And now That spirit says If you will linger. If you will seek the face of your Father, I'll begin to reveal wisdom. I begin to reveal insight. I'll begin to reveal something, apocalypse.

Yeah. Apocalypsis, that's what it is. Apocalypse. Apocalypse Now, Robert Duvall, right in your chest.

Okay? Then he'll reveal himself, right? Kaloops this idea of hidden. Apo, from, to take away from hiding is the idea of revelation. That's what the word means, to take away from hiding.

He's going to put himself on display in your life. And he's going to do that in a number of ways, but he does that through the revelation of the Spirit. Let me give you a few texts to think about as we process this. Deuteronomy 29, 29. The secret things belong to the Lord our God.

But the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

So there's some stuff God doesn't reveal. And some of its stuff I want to know. There's a lot of whys that sit out here. And Some of them maybe you'll find out. Most of them you won't.

And most of them are a bit of a rabbit trail anyway. It wouldn't make a lot of difference if you knew. But He holds things. And then he reveals things. My job is to pursue him in the things revealed, so I need to do that.

My job is to seek him in things that might now be hidden. that he might want to reveal. in my life. He's given me his revelation. It doesn't mean that he's giving some new binding authoritative revelation.

It doesn't mean one of you is going to go, I have now, I have Proverbs 32. And I'm going to stand up and speak Proverbs 32 and give you all Proverbs 32 of wisdom that you should abide by. It's not that. It's that God reveals how his word applies in the unique nuances of your life. in very specific and concrete ways.

Through the power of his Spirit. And your job is to seek him for that. It's to seek him for that for this church. It's to seek him for that for one another, that he would reveal himself in those ways. Last week we mentioned some texts in John 14 and 16 about Jesus.

Uh and the power of the the promise rather of the Spirit. When we look a little deeper in that text, we find out some other things. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all. That I have said to you, it's not just that he's promised to come, it's that he will be the one to teach. He'll be the one to help.

He'll be the one to guide. How do I know that it's him teaching? Isn't that a great question? How do I know that it's not the chili I had last night? How do I know that it's him?

Here's how you don't know. Listen carefully. Here's how you don't know. As a member of a partner with and a tender with lifeline, never say this.

Well, I just know, and if you knew like I knew, you'd really know. Oh, heaven's sakes. You don't know because you double down and you're just positive. And you know, well, the Lord and I have talked like this for years, and you just don't get it quite like I do. He and I have a special, unique relationship that's unavailable to everybody else, but I know.

No, no, how do you know? You know because you test it. You know because you bring it to the Word of God and you say, This is map on. You know, because you take it to the community and you say to people, I sense the Lord's been moving in this way in my life. Is that what you see?

Does that cohere with what you understand God's Word to say? You test it. and you begin to walk things out. That's how you know. You don't know because you have a direct line that's unassailable.

Beware of the person. Who knows that they know that they know, and no matter how many people disagree with them, they know. They're soon to have a following and they're soon to move out to the desert. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak on his own authority. but whatever he hears to speak.

And he'll declare to you the things that are to come, and he will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. That is, he's going to take, and it's like this kind of exegesis kind of thing. He's going to take from a hidden reality and he's going to say, This is what I want for you. This is what the Lord would like for you. This is what he wants you to do in this situation.

This is who he'd like you to be. In this context, the Spirit is the revealer. 1 Corinthians chapter 2, verse 7. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. He's talking about the gospel here.

None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory, but as it is written, what no eye has seen. Nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him. Him. These things God has revealed to us. Look at it.

Through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person which is in him?

So, also, no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit. of God.

Now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who's from God. that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. In other words, The Spirit speaks the language of God and is given to you as an internal interpreter of what it is that God is saying. What it is that God desires.

So when you pray Do you pray? That the Spirit of God would reveal the will of God to you. That God, through the power of His Spirit, would open you to receive from Him, and He would disclose to you things that right now you don't see clearly. And do you do that for our church? The Spirit is The revealer.

Third piece here. Salvation has opened our eyes to receive the revelation of the Spirit. How is it that I could even have the kind of disposition where I'd be open to receiving from and be able in that way to hear, as it were, the language of the Spirit?

Well, look at your text. Yeah. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation and the knowledge of Him. Having the eyes of your hearts. Enlighten.

Now that is a perfect Passive participle and you said that is so wonderful, Brian.

So happy that's a perfect passive participle. I know you are.

So am I. And here's why you should be happy that it's a perfect passive participle. Yeah. Because You're not enlightening your own eyes. That's the passive.

The perfect is It's already happened in the past in your life if you're a believer. And it has ongoing effects that you're not the one who's at the wheel dictating, so you don't have to sweat it out. It's already happened to you, and it's a participle, so it keeps on happening. It's a perfect passive part of something. It's happening.

You We're enlightened, what?

Well, when? From the work of God in bringing you to Him. Choosing, adopting, redeeming, purposing, indwelling spirit. Five benefits He already mentioned. He did a work in your life, and now from that posture, you have eyes to see.

Because he has in that way enlightened your eyes. We jump right back. We're kind of where we left off in 1 Corinthians 2. Look at this. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he's not able to understand them because they're spiritually discerned.

The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one, for who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. If you're a believer, Then you have been given the spiritual linguistic tools. To be able. to receive From the Lord.

You have seen, as Paul says in that verse I love to quote up here, you have seen the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. You've seen it. The scales have been removed. And you have seen it. That doesn't mean you're all-knowing, and it doesn't mean you're unassailable, and it doesn't mean you're never wrong.

But it does mean that there is now a kind of light available to you that before wasn't. And now is, so that you read this not merely as object, but you sit under it now and you love sitting under it. Your heart embraces the authority of the word. You resonate with that authority of the word and you celebrate the authority of the word because your eyes are open, looking, wanting, desiring what it is that God might reveal. To you.

Well Let's think a little deeper about this revelation. His prayer is that God would reveal through the Spirit. the knowledge of himself.

Now It seems to show up, though, in three Kind of, I call them vital realities. And what you're going to see is one is a past thing that you have received if you're a believer. One is a future something that you get to look forward to, and one is a present reality that is available.

Now.

Okay. Past five. Future and then present. Look at it. Number one, that you may know this is what he, that this, I'm praying that God will reveal himself so that what?

You could know What is the hope? to which he has called you. When you pray for this church. Pray. that we would be a people.

who wake up in the morning. And look at the day. with hope. Pray. that we would be a people.

who look at our lives in this world. with hope. Pray. That we would be a people who that world sees living not above the fray, but in the same muck and mire. But with a heart that is disposed radically differently.

Who are filled with hope. Here's a Christian. A Christian is a very good thing. is someone Who goes through incredible difficulty and suffering like everyone? Who has trials and tribulations and difficulty parenting, who has hard marriages.

who has jobs that don't satisfy. who have live in a Political situation that they don't like. Who endures having less money than they'd like to have? Who walks in the midst of broken relationships. And who has hope.

That's the fundamental difference.

So do you have hope? Because he has called you. All of these things that I mentioned. Don't dictate your identity, nor do they have a final say. And so you can have hope, the hope to which he's called you, past tense.

You came to Christ. And he never promised it would be easy. Instead, he said, it'll probably be really hard, and you'll probably lose family. That's what Jesus said. You probably lose family.

You probably won't have as much money as you would otherwise. Things will probably go south. But But You'll be changed on the inside. You'll be of a different constitution. You'll be of a different ilk.

You'll be able to. Yeah. Hope. 1 Peter 1:3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to what? A living Hope. Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, which is an important theme, by the way, because it's exactly where this text ends up going. Um Let me say something about this word hope and then give you a few points. Hope in this text is not Objective.

Sometimes it is in the Bible, meaning it's that hope that's coming. And it's not actually what this text is talking about. It's not primarily looking and saying, You'll go to glory one day. That's actually his next point. But that's not his point yet.

The hope that he's talking about is a subjective hope. It is the hope. of the manifest presence of the spirit within your inner life. that is witnessing to your identity that you are his. And that allows you to maintain.

a sense not just of sanity. But of faith in the midst of difficult circumstances. A subjective hope. Let's think about hope. I thought about this.

I thought, what do I see that when we just study the word hope in the Bible? that hope sort of yields to us. How does it help us? Let me give you four things real quick. Number one, it helps us be patient.

It helps us be patient. For in this hope we were saved.

Now, hope that's seen is not hope. For who hopes in what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it. with patience. The fact that I can have hope.

That both it's objective and subjective, and the subjective experience is witnessing to the objective reality, allows me then to say, okay, I can sit in the waiting room for a while. I'm not going to lose my mind. Sitting in the waiting room. It'll be okay. Reading a great book right now.

Give you a book recommend. How about that? It's real short, too. It's called Just Get Out of Bed. It's by a philosopher.

named Alan Noble. is fantastic. Fantastic. His whole point is Life is hard. And it might be In fact, he would say it is.

that the bravest thing that you can do is get out of bed. The bravest thing you can do is get out of bed. And sometimes the only way that you can do anything is to see that the bravest thing you can do is to get out of bed. We have hope, and it lets us wait when things aren't changing. You know, relationship, but it's not changing?

It's not. And if you're honest, you don't want to be. It sounds like you're being pessimistic, but if you're honest, you go, I'm not sure it's going to for a while. You might be right. You might be right.

That doesn't mean you can't have hope. You can have hope while you wait. Secondly. Hope gives us reason for joy and peace in that waiting space. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing in faith.

But not just to survive in faith, not just to cling to it, not just to hold on, not just to sort of hang on to the edge of the cliff by your fingertips.

So that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound. In hope. to abound in hope. Filled with joy and peace. But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.

You grieving? Loss? You don't have to grieve like other people. grief. You get to grieve.

You get to grieve. But you get to grieve as a people who have hope. Because that's not lost for good. Instead, it's just waiting. That's it.

You're just in the waiting room a little longer. And then finally. Hope makes us bold.

Now, this context, I've put this up here, but you got to get the context around this verse. It's a context where Paul is comparing the glories and majesty of the gospel of the new covenant. To the glory of the old covenant. And he talks about Moses' face coming down the mountain, how it shined, and he's saying that was filled with a lot of glory. But As amazing as the reception of the law was and Moses seeing in that way the afterglow of God and having that written down by the finger of God, the text tells us onto those tablets.

As amazing as that was, and as good as the law was in giving a standard of righteousness. And godliness out of the character of God. He says, this new thing that rescues us from our sin, that gives us hope, it is more amazing still. Since we have such a hope, Since we have a gospel that doesn't Have us keeping up with the Joneses that rescues us from everything, past, present, and future. What are we?

He says we're really bold. We're really Bold. Are you are you that way? You live your life that way. Like a risk-taker?

Not a foolish person. But somebody who is says, I'm not going to be captive. To fear I'm gonna step out and I am gonna live because the gospel has set me free It's like David Jeremiah said years ago and I've always loved this statement He said the man of God or the woman of God is immortal until the day God's done God has things to do. And hopefully.

Well, that you'll look back at your calling and say, okay, he rescued me for a purpose. He saved me for a reason. I can live with boldness. I don't have to be tentative and tenuous. I can be bold in the kingdom of God.

Hope has an impact in our lives. Secondly, the future. Look at your text. Having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he's called you, what are the riches. Of His glorious inheritance in the saints is like the third time we've talked about this.

He keeps coming back to us a third time in these short 18 verses. But here it's very clear: what is the inheritance? It's that you're his inheritance. His Glorious inheritance. God's glorious inheritance.

in the saints. That you would see the riches of this. The riches of what this church is. the riches that one day All of us will be in that way one family of God. dwelling with him.

For eternity. It reminds me later in this little letter in Ephesians 3, verse 20 and 21. He says, Now to him who's able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us. To him be glory. In the church.

And in Christ Jesus, throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. When we come together and we exalt him and our worship is for him and toward him. And be for him. We're just beginning.

To be little harbingers in that way of greater things to come. This is just a foreshadowing. This is a pre-screening of the grand eternal movie, so to speak, of our lives oriented properly to Him. And we're to live anticipating that, that we have the riches of inheritance and that we are His inheritance. I am His and He is mine.

And thirdly, what is the immeasurable Greatness. of his power toward us who believe according to the working. of his Great might. Let me take you through a couple of things in this little phrase here. The immeasurable greatness of his Power.

His dunamis. It's the word.

Now we get the word dynamite from it, but you can't load that back in. It's not like they had dynamite that they're setting off in the first century. But the idea is the It's it's it's uh potential power. is kind of the idea. It's loaded up.

in that sense. See the word it says toward us who believe according to the working see that It's another word for power. Energia, we get our word energy from it.

So dunimis tends to speak of potential power. Energia speaks of active. Power, and by the way, every time it's used in the New Testament, it is always used of supernatural. Power. Supernatural active power, the working of his great.

The word there is another word actually for power. It's the word kratos. Think of theocracy. Autocracy Democracy. Who's in Power.

God's in power. People are in power. A certain set of people are in power.

So, kratos has to do with this idea of a kind of, also, it's always used of supernatural power, but specifically it tends to speak of like dominating or mastery. Mastery. Great. That's what's translated great. The working of his great might, a fourth word.

For power. Iscus. And that means possess power like the inherent strength. Here's do you think he might be one to talk about power? Four different words for power.

He he literally Like we could translate it this way, according to the power of the power of his power. That's what he's saying. Wh why that emphasis? Because that's what you and I need right now. That's what I need.

I need His dunamis. His energia. I need his kratos. I need His His Dynamic Power. His iscus working in me.

Somehow When I get up in the morning. To go through the things that I have. Do you have an addiction you're fighting? You need his power. You need his power.

Are you lazy? I mean, if you're just dead honest, are you late? You need his power. Are you depleted? Discouraged?

You need his power. Are you living in the residual effects of a lifestyle that you chose before, that you want to get out of, but man, it keeps coming back to get you? You need his power. Are you living? As the victim of somebody else's sin.

You need his power. Listen. You won't do it by the force of your will. But you will buy his power. The immeasurable greatness of his power.

Harold Hohner, in his commentary on Ephesians, gives an illustration, and I was going to just read you what he said, because I thought it was a good way of bringing these four words together to speak about their different aspects. He says the following. By way of illustration, a bulldozer has the ability, capacity, and potential of rooting out trees, dunimus. By looking at it, one senses its inherent strength. Iscus.

But when its engine roars and it begins to move, its power of mastery becomes obvious. Kratos.

However, when it comes to a tree and knocks it over, one sees the activity of its power. It's Energia. Let me Read an illustration. of how power can show up. in a way that's very germane to our lives.

Um Mark Buchanan writes, I know a lady whose husband walked into the house after a lengthy business trip. She stepped forward to kiss him in greeting, but then stopped.

Okay. His body, stiff shoulders, slack leg told her that something was wrong. He stood there. His travel bag and attache case clutched tight in his hands as if he were leaving. Not arriving.

He looked away from her at the wall. He looked downward at the floor. He never looked in her eyes. Is something the matter? she asked.

I want a divorce. He said, flat voiced, still not looking at her. This was after 25 years of marriage. This was after they had given birth to and raised three healthy children. This was after they had traveled many places together.

suffered many trials, seen many wonders, lain side by side in a hundred different beds. This was after they had learned to carry, tucked up deep inside their own skin, the other's secrets and sorrows. They'd laughed and cried so often over the same things that the crucible of shared emotion had molded their face into a likeness, a resemblance like kinship. After all this, he wanted a divorce. Why?

What happened? she asked. I'm not happy. He said. Then I'm with a kind of childish imperiousness I deserve.

to be happy. Their God is their stomach. He had met someone else, it turned out. She of course made him happy.

So he divorced his wife of 25 years and he married the woman who gave him what he deserved. That was ten years ago, and guess who's not happy now? Within a short time he was divorced again. He lives now in loneliness and regret. It's a dangerous thing to insist that you get what you deserve.

To insist on your own happiness, to make your God. Your stomach. Their destiny is destruction. His former wife said this to me, and this is why I wanted to read it to you. How does a woman handle that?

Mark, in the first year or so after he left, there were many things I thought of doing. selfish, sinful things. But you know what kept me from doing them? thinking that one day I will stand before God in heaven. and have to explain to God why living for him by his strength wasn't enough.

May God keep us. from not actualizing the immeasurable. greatness. of the working of His great might. in our lives.

Look at your text. Final point: God's revelation of his power is best seen in the resurrection and exaltation of Christ. Yeah. And that verse 19, we'll read it again. And what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe according to the working of his great might?

That he worked in Christ.

So what you see immediately is... If I want to know what God's power can look like in my life on a daily basis, in the difficulty I face, Where do I go?

Well, I go to what he's going to talk about, namely, he's going to talk about the resurrection. and the exaltation of Christ. According to the working of his great might that he worked 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 above every name that is named.

Not only in this age. but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. Oh. I want you to look at this text with me.

I'm just going to read through it with you. Yeah. as we kind of wrap up and and I'll show you a few things here. But what I want you to see is Paul. Is passionate in his life to experience the power of the resurrected Christ.

To understand what that means. For him, the idea of experiencing the power of the resurrected Christ, the one that overcomes death, the one who I can take my daily dying in and, in a sense, recapitulate the burying of myself and the rising up with power again on a daily basis. Paul wants that kind of life ebbing and flowing through him. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. And of course, that gain was religious standing, social standing, educational treasuring.

Indeed, I count everything as lost because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For his sake I've suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish. in order that I may gain Christ. And be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ. He's keen, by the way, right, to recognize that I come to Christ and I'm happy to do it, and I'm happy to count everything else as dung, is what the word means, as crap.

I'm willing to count it all as garbage for the sake. of Jesus. It's wonderful for me that I get to do this, is his disposition, the righteousness from God that depends on faith, because I've done nothing to deserve it, that I may know him and what? The power of his resurrection. That's what he wants.

He wants the intimate knowledge of what it means to go deep into his own pain, to bury it with Christ, to rise in resurrection power. And share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by me, any means possible I may attain the resurrection. Yeah. The dead. I'm going to put these up here, and you'll just see them.

I read down through the text. But you can just see. Let's let your eyes go down through. Verse 20 and 21. What he worked in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, seated him above all, at his right hand in the heavenly places, the spiritual realm, the heavenlies, far above all rule, authority, power, and dominion.

Christ's exaltation places him over all spiritual beings. There's no temptation that has taken you that will overcome you if you're in Christ. That's why at the end of Ephesians he'll talk about spiritual warfare a bunch. It's not because now you've got a sort of Gut it up and figure it out and get after it and live a persevering life. It's because He's given you everything for victory.

Because he is the one who rules over all. It says, and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but in the one to come. Every kind of authority, whether that's spiritual or whether that's earthly. Whether that's governmental Whether that's civic Whether that's familial, whatever that is, the point is this. Christ is overall.

There's no power so abusive that it gets to define you. He is the one who is exalted. And he put all things under his feet. And gave him as head over all things to the church, all things under his feet. It reminds us of Psalm 110, where he makes the earth his footstool.

It also, though, is even more militaristic in some ways than that. It's like in Joshua 10, 24 and 25. They kill five kings, and what do they do in the ancient world after they slay the rulers? They put their foot on their necks. Stand in victory.

Hey, Vinny. Can you get a snapshot of this? Get a Polaroid of us with Foot on a king's neck score like that. Victory. And he's saying there's nothing.

that will stop the exalted Christ from having ultimate victory. That's true of what stands in the way of the church. That's true of what stands in your life. His exaltation places him over the church. He's leading his church.

That's why we have to seek his face. What does he want us to do? How would we know? We have to go to him. And his exaltation positions him to empower the church.

It's a confusing phrase. Look at it in verse 23, which is his body, the fullness of him. who fills all in All. Hohner says, and I think he's right, a better rendering would be something like this: if we take the Greek, the fullness of him who is being filled entirely, that last all. It's about entirety.

What does that mean? The fullness of him was being filled entirely. Here's the picture. God The father. Fills in that way the sun, who then fills the church as the Spirit reveals His will to us for our lives, and this Trinitarian operation in the life of the church.

Here emphasized through the exalted Christ positions us to be victorious in every way. Friends, pray. For your Church. Pray that God will give us hope. Pray that God will let us see that we are His inheritance and revel in that.

Pray that God will give us the immeasurable greatness of the working of His great might, the power of His power, of His power.

So that we can move forward in our lives, in a world and in a culture that will be less a friend to us tomorrow than it is today. Father, thank you. For your word. And we do pray for your church. We pray that Lifeline would be a place where people Serve where people meet you.

Where people engage you, where people come to gather, where people seek your face, where people long to know you, where people fellowship in joy and gladness, where hope reigns fresh, where you are revealed to be one Holy Spirit who gives us hope. Who gives us the riches Of the expectation of being your inheritance, who gives us the power needed to walk in our lives in service to you. Lord, would you fill us and feed us with these things for your glory? In Jesus' name. Yeah.

Amen.