(text and audio)
Title: That You May Know (Part Two)
Intro:
As you recall, last week we looked at two of the five things that Paul prays for the Ephesian Church as he closes out his opening salutation to them. The first two blessings occur in verse 18, for a refresher, here they are:
- “That you may know what is the hope of his calling”
Essentially, Paul prays that they would know more intimately the object of their hope, which is, of course, the hope of salvation in Jesus Christ.
2. “(That you may know) what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance”
Matthew Henry reminded us that, yes, while we await our heavenly inheritance, there is also a present reality to the inheritance right now, because the gift of Grace in Christ doesn’t wait until we get to heaven to begin to change our lives. In fact, the entire concept of sanctification is that we grow more Christlike with each passing year after we’ve surrendered our lives to His Grace and Mercy.
So let’s re-read our passage and ask the Lord to bless our time together this morning.
(read 18-23/pray)
3. (That you may know) what is the exceeding greatness of His power (v.19)
Now, in a moment, we are going to look at the example of this very power that Paul is talking about, and how it ought to effect us, but, for the moment, let me just ask this question:
DQ: Why do you think it’s important to Paul that the believers understand the greatness of God’s power? Also, why do you think it’s important to us today, to also have an understanding of God’s power? (Take answers)
A: To be reminded of Supremacy of The One True God over ALL THINGS.
DQ: What sorts of things or situations does the Enemy use to make us forget God’s power? (Not that we forget it altogether, but we do fail to remember it, and therefore act like defeated Christians instead of what we are, victorious Christians!) (take answers)
- The general busyness/stress of life
- The lie of the power of serious sickness
- The shame of our past failures
- Scoffing from the world (and sometimes even from other believers)
- Unbiblical/unhealthy views on the world and cultural events
- Time that has passed since the last time we were REALLY aware of his power. (You see why Paul wants us to be reminded of God’s power?)
4. (That you may know) this power was on full demonstration when God the Father not only raised Christ from the dead, but then also seated him at the right hand of the Father, above every other power. (v.20-21)
DQ: By what power was Christ raised from the Grave?
A: By the Father.
DQ: And why is that so critical to understand?
A: The Father raising Christ is the most critical piece of evidence that Christ’s mission was a success, that he lived a sinless life, and that his sacrifice was approved and accepted by God.
But Paul reminds us here that the Father did not just raised the Jesus, which shows his approval of Christ’s completed mission, but then seated Christ at his rightful place next to the father, to rule over every other power we could fathom.
Jesus is seated where he should be: above all things in creation.
5. (That you may know) that God put all things under Jesus’s feet, and made Jesus the head of the Church. (v.22-23)
Finally, Paul completes the thought by reminding us that God has placed “all things” under Jesus feet, and most importantly, Christ is the established head of the Church.
Let’s talk about this as we wrap up this morning.
DQ: What does it mean that the church is Christ’s body?
A: 1. ACTION: We are the hands and feet (front line soldiers) of Christ’s mission.
2. IMAGE: We are what the world “sees” when they look for Christ.
3. EVIDENCE: We demonstrate the power of Salvation in Christ, not only in how we are saved, but in how we come together (despite MANY differences), to find joy only in His mission for us.
Close/Pray