(text and audio)
Title: Perceiving vs. Hearing
Intro:
Jesus’ Spirit or Jesus’s Spirit?
Puppies’ food (correct)
Silas’s food (correct)
“Therefore”
Whenever you see a “Therefore” You need to look back and see what it’s THERE FOR. (Place what Paul is ABOUT TO SAY in the context of what he’s ALREADY SAID..)
The opening chapter of Ephesians is a very long salutation, and now we will see why: Paul is impressed with the Church of Ephesus.
A very “broad stroke” way to look at the first 14 verses of Ephesians is that Paul outlines everything Jesus has done for them in verses 1-11, and then in verses 13-14, we see Paul explain how the Ephesian believers have responded to Jesus’s graciousness.
1. The Ephesian Church trusted Jesus after hearing the word. (v. 13)
2. They believed in Jesus’s promise and were therefore sealed in the Holy Spirit. (v. 13)
It is on the basis of these two characteristics that Paul writes what he writes next: (read v15-17) and PRAY
“after I heard”
The Greek here is “akouo” where we derive the English word “acoustic”
and the definition is a bit more specific that just to hear about something.
Definition: to attend to, consider what is or has been said, to understand, perceive the sense of what is said.
So, for example, Andy is a small business owner, and if I read and article online that said the Federal government is considering significantly raising taxes on small business owners and I say to Andy, “Hey, are you aware of this Andy?”
And Andy responds, “Yeah, I’ve heard about it.”
Well, in that case, Andy may have heard the information, but not “attended” to the information or “considered what has been said”
If Andy did full perceive the sense of what was said, what might I see Andy do? (Meet with his accountant, seek counsel/prayer, make changes)
At the conclusion of today’s services, we are going to be baptizing Josh into the church, and all of you who have gone through the process here of becoming a member know that I take a slow burn approach with that. I do not rush it.
Why? (take answers)
A: I need to be convinced that you have not just heard the gospel, but that you have in fact perceived its importance (akouo), and made a decision of commitment to Christ and the Church on the basis of how important that information is to you.
POINT: To not just hear, but to PERCEIVE the meaning of something, means you DO SOMETHING about that information.
And that’s the sense of Paul’s use of the word “akuou” here.
Paul is saying, “It’s evident to me, that you heard the word, perceived its importance, and RESPONDED to Christ with trust, love, and faith. For this reason, I both THANK GOD FOR YOU and REMEMBER YOU OFTEN in my prayers.”
What does Paul pray for when he thinks of them?
So the last thing we must address is this question. We know why Paul prays for them, he’s explained that clearly, but now we turn our attention to the question: What is Paul specifically praying for, when he mentions them in prayer?
Now, we can’t cover everything that Paul prays for, that’s for next week’s sermon, but if we look to verse 17 we do get a bit of an outline and introduction to what Paul is asking God for the Ephesian church.
“…that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him…”
- Paul acknowledges that God the Father is not only OUR LORD, but Jesus’s LORD as well.
Why is this important?
a. Jesus sets the example of Godly submission for us when we see him submitting to the Father’s will. (Garden of Gethsemane)
b. Jesus is God’s Son, as such he legally claims an inheritance of the Father’s riches. We are adopted sons and daughters through Jesus’s blood, and therefore, lay claim to the same inheritance.
2. Paul calls God “The Father of Glory”
Why is this important?
Because our entire definition of what is glorious should begin and end with our understanding of who God is.
(When Mary and I were in Hawaii, my favorite thing to do on the first morning is go out on the balcony at 4AM, because it still feels like 10AM to our bodies, and watch the sun, the colors on the horizon over the ocean, the sounds of the animals and wild birds in the jungle, and when dawn hits, I exclaim, “What a glorious morning!” Well, what am I actually giving glory to? The morning itself, or He who could imagine, and then create and design a thing so wonderful, so awe inspiring that I can’t help but be in awe.)
(Any of you been in awe of God creation, the Grand Canyon, Niagara, etc?)
3. Paul asks that God give them “the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him”
Now, we will certainly dig into this in more detail in the coming weeks, but for now, let me close with this thought:
Paul is asking that the Ephesian Church be blessed with a deeper wisdom and revelation of their already established knowledge. What they already know, he wants them to know more deeply.
Why? Well part of it is appreciation.
Generally speaking, who appreciates the engineering of a car more, Eva or Silas? Silas or me? Me or a mechanical engineer?
POINT: Greater knowledge in something means greater appreciation for something…which leads to greater DESIRE for something. (Ben and his Tesla)
Close:
Paul knows something incredibly powerful: The greatest gift God can give us is MORE of himself, and the greatest punishment is Him withdrawing from us. (And isn’t that the chief characteristic of hell; the absence of God’s presence?)
So his prayer is that the Ephesian Church would continue to endeavor to know God even more intimately, that they would desire Him more, that they would seek him more.
Closing Challenges:
- If you say something matters to you, do your actions reflect that, or betray that?
- How do you pray for those you love? (That they would get “stuff”, or that they would fall more deeply in love with God?)
- Do you praise the creation or the creator?
Close/Q&A