The Power
Ephesians 1:15-23
Focus: Paul prays for the Ephesians to open their eyes to the source of their power.
Function: to open the eyes of our church to the incomparably great power found in Christ!
Opener: Have you ever felt “empowered”?
A friend of mine recently told me of a time when he felt empowered. He had
been a lower level employee with little to no power over his organization or
decisions being made when his boss called him into his office. His boss had
only recently taken over the department and told my friend, “I want to make
this department the best and in order to do that I need to bring in the best
people. But I don’t know the best people out there, you do. Go out there
and get them to join our team.” My friend all of a sudden felt empowered to
make things happen for his organization- where he never had before. And
he did. He went out and began bringing in some of the very best in the field
to join their organization.
That power didn’t come from his position -he was a low level employee.
That power didn’t come from his personality -I would describe him as
particularly charismatic. That power didn’t come from his own power- he
had nothing to offer himself! That power came from above . . . well, his boss.
This morning we’re going to talk about POWER.
We’ve been looking at the book of Ephesians and seen that one of Paul’s
key emphases in the book is the changed life. Life “in Christ” looks different
than life “in the world.” But Paul also knows that the transformation of
lifestyle is sometimes a difficult one for people. We don’t change overnight .
. . and a lot of that has to do with motivation. Many of us became Christians
out of guilt or out of fear . . and I don’t believe that those are motivations that
sustain a changed life for very long. Paul doesn’t motivate that way . . . look
at 1:3 again
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed
us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.”
He then goes on to unpack this treasure trove of blessings . . . he has
chosen us . . . he has planned for our adoption as His sons/ daughters . . .
he has freely bestowed upon us His glorious grace . . . he has redeemed us
& forgiven us . . . he has revealed his will to us . . . he has planned us for a
purpose . . . he has marked us with the promised Holy Spirit guaranteeing
our inheritance! I believe THAT is a motivation that will stick! If I can
constantly remember WHAT God has done for me, I will want all the more to
LIVE for Him!
But, Paul also knows that motivation is simply not enough. Even the best of
intentions sometimes fail . . . as many of you may be experiencing with your
New Year’s Resolutions now that we’re in the fourth week of January. I
remember a saying from not too long back, “The road to hell is paved with
good intentions.” “Yes, Lord, I know that I need to make things right with my
wife, but if she’ll just give me a few more days, I’ll make it up to her.” “Yes,
Lord, I know that I need to mend my relationship with that person, I’ll get to it
tomorrow.” “Yes, Lord, I know that I need to be more involved at church. I’ll
sign up for a new ministry as soon as I finish this project at work.” “Yes,
Lord, I know I need to be more available to my kids. As soon as things settle
down at the office, I’ll be able to.”
Sometimes simple motivation is not enough to live the Christian life. We
need to be empowered from above! Paul knew that this was true for the
Christians to whom he was writing and so that is why he offers the prayer to
them that he does- Remember, we observed that while Ephesians doesn’t
talk a lot about worship or prayer, there sure is a lot of both in it!
Eph 1:15-16
15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and
your love for all the saints, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you,
remembering you in my prayers. (NIV)
Paul continues his opening to the letter by saying, “There’s two things I’ve
heard about you that make me proud!” (1) your faith (2) your love for the
saints What a neat observation! I would go so far as to say that faith in
Christ unavoidably leads to love for your fellow brothers & sisters in Christ.
How could you have faith and not love your brother? Faith & Love are two
fundamental, foundational and critical elements in being the church! What
are WE known for at Washington St.? If Paul were writing this today to this
congregation, what would he have heard about us? Folks, we MUST be
known as a fellowship of believers who (1) have immense trust in Christ and
(2) practice love for each other
Paul says that he remembers them in his prayers and then goes on to name
specifically what he prays for the Church. What do you pray for Wash. St?
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.
“I want you to know God,” he says! “Better than you do now!” ...“and I pray
that the Holy Spirit reveal God to you so that you can know him better!”
Remember, believers already had received the Holy Spirit and part of His
functioning in the life of a Christian was to reveal God. And so, Paul is
saying, “I want you to understand what God has given you so that you may
know him better.”
18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened
That the “inner eyes” will receive light by which to see. In other words, Paul
prays that the lights will come on inside people so that they know God and
understand what He has done!
This understanding and enlightenment will then bring about a three-part
knowledge of God
1. Paul says (vs. 18), the first thing we need to know is the HOPE
to which he has called us.
Hope is a tricky word for us in the 21st century, but a very important one in
the Bible! Since the lottery just passed in TN, let’s use it as an example.
Some poor fellow might go into a convenience store, lay down his money for
a ticket and walk out saying, “I hope I’ve got the winning number!” But what
REAL hope will he have? One in a million? Worse than that! He probably
stands a better chance of being hit by lightning! And really, does he really
think he’ll win? Probably not. But that’s what we typically think of when we
think of ‘hope’. “I don’t expect to win that jackpot, but it sure would be nice if
I did.”
Folks, that’s NOT Bible Hope! God has called us to a different Hope! I sure
‘hope’ that when I say ‘the hope of Heaven’ you don’t think, “Well, I don’t
expect to go to Heaven, but it sure would be nice if I did.” Bible ‘hope’ is
“confident expectation.” Paul says in Rom 5:5 that “Hope does not
disappoint.” God keeps his promise! If he has called us to a Hope of
Heaven . . we can rest assured that’s exactly what we’ll get!
When you were a kid, why did Momma call you for supper? Because she
wanted for you to be there! God has called us to Heaven, because he wants
for us to be there with him! We were created to live with him forever-
predestined to spend eternity with him (vs. 11)! Doesn’t this good news,
then, give us the impetus as the church to go out into the world and tell
people that God has called them . . . if they’ll only come?!! Doesn’t that
empower us? We can tell people for certain that when they come to know
Jesus, when they put their life in Christ, then they can know for certain
where they’re eternity will be spent!
2. The second thing (also vs. 18) we need to know is the riches of
his glorious inheritance in the saints
What is the future of the Washington St. church? Do you know what God
has in store for us? Now, none of us may know what is going to happen to
this congregation next year, next month or tomorrow . . . but we know what
will ultimately happen to the church, don’t we? The church if going to be with
God! WE are a great and glorious inheritance! Notice the language closely.
The inheritance Paul is speaking of is God’s, not ours! God is on the
receiving end of this glorious inheritance and WE are it! That’s just what he
means when he says ‘inheritance in the saints.’ The inheritance that
consists of the saints! Paul is pointing to the tremendous glory that is
present when God inherits the people he has set apart for himself! Did you
ever think of yourself as an inheritance? As something worth inheriting?
Doesn’t that make you feel good, though? Doesn’t that ‘empower’ us as a
church to know that God is expectantly awaiting the final day when he will
receive us to himself? That should empower us to more boldly face an
increasingly un-Christian culture with the good news of Jesus!
3. The third thing (vs. 19) we need to know is his incomparably
great power towards us who believe!
Here Paul introduces a new and important them in the letter . . . ‘Power’.
Ephesians emphasizes power more than any other NT letter. In vs. 19
alone he uses four different words for power. Here the apostle emphasizes
what God’s power has accomplished in the resurrection of Christ and
exaltation to God’s right hand. He wants believers to know that this great
power is available for them! The church is strong! Mighty! Powerful! Not
because of position or personality, but because it has the power of God’s
salvation behind it! That’s the greatest power source in the universe!
That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 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.
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. (NIV)
That’s POWER!
The amazing thing is that this power which raised Jesus from the dead,
which seated him at the right hand of God just as the Bible said back in Ps.
110 hundreds of years prior, and placed him as head over all things– is
available to you and me! Why was Jesus placed at the right hand of God
and as head over all things? “For the church” (vs. 22) God did it for the
church!
Isn’t it amazing what you can pick up by simply overhearing someone’s
prayer? Of course the Holy Spirit made sure that THIS prayer of Paul’s was
written down and passed along to us because it is a prayer for the 21st
century church as much as the 1st century church! Have we fully taken hold
of the power that is available to us? Are we doing everything we can to take
the good news of Jesus to the world? Have our lives been truly transformed
into counter-cultural Christ-followers?
Conclusion: One of my grandfather’s favorite stories to tell is when
President Franklin Roosevelt came to Chattanooga in 1940
to dedicate the newly constructed Chickamauga Dam.
As a part of the newly created TVA, the dam had been constructed to
provide electricity/ power to the Tennessee Valley. I’m told that this new
source of power greatly changed the economy of the valley. The ready
availability of power drew new industry, which rapidly began to overtake
farming as a primary way of life. But it was the image of President
Roosevelt, the most powerful man in the world at that time one might argue,
riding in the back of an open car and giving his dedication speech there at
the that left a lasting impression on my grandfather.
When I thought of power, I thought of this occasion back in 1940. The world
was in chaos and countries all over the globe were locked in conflict over
power. And it struck me that Pres. Roosevelt may have been the most
powerful man in the world in 1940, but having been crippled by polio many
years earlier, he couldn’t even stand on his own power. The immense
power that he wielded came because he had been empowered by the
people who voted for him (eventually four times!)
Some of us have been crippled by the horrendous effects of sin in our lives.
We don’t have the power within us to stand. But God does! And He wants
to give us that power! This morning, are you plugged in to God’s power
source?
Do you have the salvation, the Hope of Heaven? Are you a part of this
glorious inheritance that God is SO looking forward to receiving some day?
If you’re not in Christ, then your answer must honestly be no. How can we
encourage you to come to Christ today? Commit your life to him in baptism,
turn away from your sins?
It also struck me that the power that the new Chickamauga dam provided
the Tn. Valley wasn’t really new power at all. If you’re just the least bit
familiar with how those dams work, you know that all they do is convert the
energy of the river into a different kind of energy- electricity. The power was
there all along. All the dam did was harness that energy so that it could be
used. I don’t remember much from Physics class in High School, but I was
reminded this week that the definition of Power is the ability to act.
God has provided for us a tremendous source of Power! For those of us
who are Christians, it has been there all along! It has been there for us!
Have we tapped into the POWER? How will we take that power of God’s
salvation and harness it in our lives to DO something about it?
Maybe you’re like the Tn. Valley this morning. You’ve had the power there
all along, but you’ve never harnessed it in your life- you’ve not taken hold of
the power to do mighty things for God! Let me tell you- God has given us
this power for a reason! He wants us to live changed lives and he wants us
to make a difference for Jesus in the world around us!
Are you going to do it?
