Live In His Power
Ephesians • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Intro
Good morning Bethel Church, and good morning to our network of rural churches that are joining us live on YouTube. And if you are new here, I want to extend a special welcome to you. If you would, there are “i’m new” cards in the seat in front of you. If you would fill that out, we would love to get in touch with you and discuss how to get connected to our church family.
Today we will be continuing our study of Ephesians chapter 1, where Paul will conclude his opening section regarding what God has done for us. If you are reading out of the Bibles in front of you, our passage can be found on page 976.
Pray
Opening Illustration
Has God ever worked in your life when you did not know how to keep going?
I was early in my full time ministry, and Ashley and I got married. God clearly brought us together, and we were excited to start our life together.
When we came back from our trip to Cancun, one of the elders came into my office at church and he informed me that I was being put on probation. Essentially, many of my volunteers were frustrated with my lack of organization, my lack of communication, etc. and the message was clear “you’ve got a few months to shape up or you’re out.”
I was crushed. Suddenly I could not provide stability, we had no idea where we would be living in a few months, if I could provide, if I would last in ministry. The future was a big question mark, and all the pressure fell on me to fix it.
So, I did what many people do in this situation. I started looking for other jobs, I got angry and defensive, I started blaming and pointing fingers… but thankfully, through lots of prayer and conversation with my wife of about two weeks, I snapped out of it. And I said to God, “Ok. I need you to help me here. I need you to grow me up, because if I run away my problems will just follow me to the next place.”
I made a plan. I started reading books and listening to podcasts on leadership, organization, systems, etc. I started getting together with an elder who had lots of business experience, and could help me grow in those organizational leadership skills.
All the while I was praying like never before. My prayer was essentially one of being totally dependent on Him.
And you know what? I look back on that time, and I’ve told the men who put me on probation… thank you. I needed that. God used that time to grow me up and prepare me for where I am today. In that time, I learned how powerful God can be in and through me when I am at the end of my rope. It is in that place that the Spirit of God brings maturity.
TRANS: This is the heart of our next passage in Ephesians today. Paul finished his opening section in our passage last week, and turns to pray for the church in Ephesus.
This is Paul’s purpose for this prayer:
Paul’s prayer asks that God would continue to work in, encourage, and grant power to the Christians in Ephesus.
Book
Book
All of this is based upon Jesus. We will see that Paul’s prayer bases all transformation upon the work of Jesus and through the power of the Holy Spirit in us. But Paul starts with gratitude because of what he has heard in the Ephesian church.
15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers,
This is a Doxology. You may have some familiarity with this word, especially if you have a background in a more liturgical church. Doxology means “a brief expression of praise, primarily to God or to other members of the trinity.”
Notice how Paul begins with “For this reason.” He is referring back to all that God has done, and this is leading him to give thanks to God. One commentator said this,
"The way God has worked to accomplish salvation motivates both Paul’s praise and his intercession. The intent of this prayer is that people will know in their own lives the benefits mentioned in the doxology.” Snodrass
The deep theology of the first section of chapter 1 is not meant to be just fodder for conversation. It is the good news that leads to transformation. God pursues, he purchases from slavery, and he seals with the Holy Spirit — signifying new ownership. Being brought from death into life, slavery into freedom, spiritual poverty into a promised spiritual inheritance.
How do we then change from the inside out? Try harder? No. By trusting in the Spirit’s work in us. Let’s read on:
17 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, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
Have you ever noticed that some Christians, or maybe you’ve noticed this for yourself, don’t always grow? Stagnation seems to happen more than we’d like to admit?
I remember being in Bible college at Grace University, and I asked my professor this question “Is growing in Christ automatic? Will God simply do this work in us over time?” And his response was perfect. He said “I wish.”
Paul says the Spirit brings growth. Then why doesn’t this just… happen? That’d certainly be nice. So I’m going to make a statement and then I’m going to explain what I mean. Here it is:
The Holy Spirit produces maturity when we are dependent on Him.
Think about the story I opened with. Could God have taught me what I needed to know without that trial? I don’t think so.
Think about times in your life when you’ve taken great steps in your faith? Was it when you’ve felt pretty good about your life? Was it when you’ve felt on top of things? Was it when times were for the most part good? I suspect not.
You might say, “but Richard, I’ve grown in up and down times. It doesn’t have to be trials that I grow?”
You’re right. God can use any time that he wants to grow us, no matter our circumstances. However, the question we should be asking is “am I living as one that is dependent on God, regardless of my circumstances?”
For most of us, we would not say that we don’t need God when things are good, but we *act* like we believe that. Many of us function from a place of independence from God in our normal daily life, and treat God as though he is a therapist when our life goes into crisis.
If God is my therapist, I can make an appointment, meet a few times, fix the felt problems, and then call again when I need him.
But this is NOT what Paul is modeling for us in this passage. He doesn’t cease to pray on their behalf, because Paul knows that constant communion with God is how we grow.
Pay attention to what is above me. Two circles that interlock with one another. Do you want to know how you grow as a Christian? It is when we are interlocked with Jesus by the power of the Spirit.
God isn’t our firefighter, therapist, or emergency contact, he is our Source.
He is our Source. He supplies all our needs. He is more like food, drink, air. He *isn’t* those things, but he is like those things in that if we do not constantly meet our needs with them we will die. This is why the phase “it’s YOUR breath in our lungs, so we pour out your praise” is such a powerful lyric. It is a picture of our dependency upon him.
And God does not supply our needs so that we will go off and do our own thing, God being our source is a reorienting process. Notice Paul’s emphasis on Hope, Calling, and the riches of inheritance. All of these concepts are directional. They point to the future God has made for us. Certainly in heaven with Him, but also the future God is calling us to now on earth.
And God will supply the power. Watch where Paul goes next:
19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,
Again, Paul puts the focus on God as the one who supplies power for all who believe. And Paul illustrates the magnitude of this power by referring to Jesus resurrection from the dead.
Now here there is some meaning that is lost in translation. One commentator notes that “The Greek text actually uses the plural, “from the dead ones” (as do most passages in the New Testament referring to Christ’s resurrection). The point is not that Christ was raised from a state of death, but that he was raised out from the dead ones. This is an important difference, for it suggests that his resurrection was not viewed as an isolated event, but as the first stage in the future resurrection. His resurrection is an inauguration of the final resurrection. Cf. Acts 4:2; 1 Corinthians 15:20–24.
1 Klyne Snodgrass, Ephesians, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1996), 75.
The same power that rose Jesus from the dead lives in you.
“What I’m going through is too much.” God’s resurrection power lives in you.
“You don’t know what i’ve gone through.” God’s resurrection power lives in you.
“I’ve struggled with this same habit or addiction for years and year.” God’s resurrection power lives in you.
“I feel helpless and hopeless. Life has worn me down.” God’s resurrection power lives in you.
“I’m unsure about the future. Things just seem to keep getting worse.” God’s resurrection power lives in you.
Ryan Miksch story
God has the power to sustain you, transform you, and give you hope no matter your circumstances.
Depend on Him. Fix your eyes on what Jesus. And where is Jesus now? Paul goes on.
21 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. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
Paul likes to use what’s called “stacking terms” to emphasize a point. “rule and authority and power and dominion and title” do not refer to five different things or beings. One commentator said,
“Without doubt, the five terms in 1:21 refer to spiritual beings, as the further development of the idea in 2:1–3 shows. But do they include human rulers as well? M. Barth affirms that these terms refer to spiritual beings, but he also writes, “Paul had in mind at the same time both visible, specific governors and the invisible authority exerted by them; concrete conditions and manifestations of life and the invisible mystery of the psyche.” By this he means the very structures of life, whether they be political, financial, biological, or historical.17 Walter Wink in his three volumes on the powers takes a similar approach, arguing that “principalities and powers” refers to the inner and outer aspects of any manifestation of power.18 117 17 Barth, Ephesians, 1:154, 174–75 (italics his).”
18 18 Walter Wink, Naming the Powers, vol. 1, The Powers (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1984), 5.
1 Klyne Snodgrass, Ephesians, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1996), 77.
Very likely Paul is referring to the whole corpus of authorities that are contrary to the will of God. That oppose God’s Kingdom. And where is Jesus? Above them all.
All of these things are under his feet, a call back to the promise that the messiah would crush the head of the serpent in Genesis 3.
Application
Application
Practice prayer.
Flows from what God has done.
Based on the power and authority of God.
Acts
Adoration
Confession
Thanksgiving
Supplication
Choose hope.
It’s a choice before it’s a feeling.
Acknowledge fear
Acknowledge control
Remember Jesus.
We forget where Jesus is. We forget what is true about what God has done. We forget what is to come.
OT emphasis on “remember.”
Put all of life’s circumstances under the context that Jesus is on the throne.