If you have just tuned in to us here at St. Paul's, we just started last week journeying our way through the book of Ephesians, discovering who is the church.
And that is really the foundational, crucial question. We're looking at who we are as we look forward as a church to what God is calling us to in the next five to 10 years of our life and ministry together here to our neighbours.
Ephesians really helps us to break out of the modern concept of just this personal relationship with God that sees the church as more as a what than a who.
The church, God's called out and blessed people, is not just central to God's plans.
It is, in fact, in the book of Ephesians, at the centre of God's heart.
The Bible overflows with imagery of God's affection, his love for his church, the church being the bride of Christ.
The church is beautiful to God.
As I said last week, the 18th century American pastor and theologian Jonathan Edwards said that the whole grand scope of scripture leads you to believe that God created all things in the material universe so that the eternal son of God might be provided with a spouse.
That is God's plan for all of history.
And in the next phase of life and ministry together, my prayer is that ultimately our affections would be awakened for who God's church is and why she exists.
As Charles Spurgeon preached, nothing in the world is dearer to God's heart than his church.
therefore being his let us belong to it that by our prayers our gifts our labours we may support
and strengthen it and so in summary our plans whatever they might be for the next five to ten
years are to beautify the bride of christ which is some paul's chats with so uh we journey into
ephesians i've got three points uh this morning um as we move forward as a church our our our uh
goal is to grow as the bride of christ so three points the first one uh blessed to grow uh we saw
last week in the first pit or the first bit of ephesians one uh that god is the source of every
spiritual blessing in jesus christ god has poured out his sovereign grace through the lord jesus
and brought together and is bringing together his eternal family his bride his church his people
and the first thing that paul does as we move into the second bit is that in verse 15 is that paul
prays he gives thanks that the ephesians have in fact received every spiritual blessing in christ
they're adopted they're redeemed they're forgiven they're saved they are christian and helpfully what
he does in verse 15 is he gives us two markers to test whether or not we are in fact blessed that
we've received those blessings he mentions faith in the lord jesus and love for all god's people they're
the two tests they're the evidence when paul says i heard about these things i went ah yep those those people
are in two so the first test here is faith in the lord jesus in other words it's it's what we believe
is the first test faith is primary in fact in the bible it is always more important what you believe
than how you live it is always more important
this is crucial crucial if i stop there you'd be all it's all it'd be controversy
um what makes a person a christian is first of all primarily first and foremost what they believe
not how they live what they believe the belief that makes a person a christian is faith in the lord jesus
specifically the lordship of jesus now this is if you like the opposite of the common view of christianity
most think these days it is entirely irrelevant what you believe
it's how a person lives that really matters
but the bible says that what we believe is primary in fact the bible leads me to conclude
that the view it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you live a good life
you know uh depends on you know matters what you that that view is is illogical in fact
you see because what we truly believe deep down inside us determines how we live it determines what we do with
our lives it's in fact impossible to separate belief and life a christian believes that the bible is god's
self-revelation to humanity and as such it is true and reliable but we don't become a christian by believing that
the christian believes that obediently following jesus means a life of service and generosity and
and truthfulness and forgiveness and and a heap of other but we are not saved by a life
of service and generosity and truthfulness and forgiveness
a religious life of diligent obedience and doing the things the bible says and trying really hard can
in fact be evidence that you have no faith in the lord jesus but in fact faith in yourself
faith in your goodness faith in your ability faith in your morality
to have faith in jesus christ is to admit that you can't trust in your own strength that the bible is true and
reliable but you can't live a life of service and generosity and truthfulness and forgiveness
you can't do any of those things but you can't live the life that god has called you to
and so you finish you rest in the finished work of the lord jesus that is what it means that faith in him
you see the only reason a person is a christian is because they have trusted they have believed they
have rested in jesus christ not because of years of attendance at church or because of good doctrine or
because of bible knowledge that's the first test the second test the second marker is love and particularly
in love for all of god's people for all of god's people all of god's church so when you put these together
this is filling out the first point if you like faith in jesus is primary
love for all of god's people is necessary
primary primary necessary faith in the lord jesus will lead to a life of love for what god loves
and the implications for this are going to be explored as we go further into ephesians i'm not
going to unpack it all here the the principle though is faith is primary but practice is necessary
you see if you truly believe something in life if it if it you truly hold it as a as a deepest
sense of value and world view something that it will shape the choices that you make
but it will shape it over time it's like faith in the lord jesus is an immediate
certain thing and the life it produces it gradually shifts over time so is it possible to have faith in the
lord jesus and be inconsistent yes
is it possible to have faith in the lord jesus and do some terrible things yes
yes
so what that means is that if we are ever judgmental towards a professed christian who has failed
it means that in that moment
we've forgotten the gospel
judgmentalism towards another means that we've forgotten the gospel
and we've started to lean in on our self
faith is primary but practice is necessary what that means is that if faith is primary what it means
is you trust jesus and and you trust what the bible reveals and what it's calling you life is calling you
to
and and and that life is calling you to you will spend a lifetime of shifting that and growing into
that and what that means that if you're christian uh and you are having sex outside of marriage which
the bible says you shouldn't uh or if you are being uh if you're not being generous or if you're
gossiping and slandering or if you're not forgiving someone and growing in bitterness towards people
you should not say ah it doesn't matter that stuff doesn't matter i am saved by faith in the lord jesus christ
because faith is primary you should not say it doesn't matter
instead what you should do is you should say if my life is not changing do i really have faith
now i'm not saying that if you're you're continually battling sin in certain areas i'm not saying you're not
christian i'm just saying that you shouldn't be sure that you have faith in the lord jesus at that point in
your life that you're trusting him at that point in your life that's what i'm saying
that's an area for growth that's an area to go deeper
you shouldn't be confident you shouldn't be sure unless you are on a repentant growth track in that
area of your life
so a new life starts by faith this is what paul's doing here for us in the very first section a new
life starts by faith in jesus christ and that life grows over time that life changes us to into the image of
the lord jesus and paul starts here by giving thanks that the the ephesians have started that they are in
christ and now he prays that they will grow grow into that and that they would grow into who they already
are in christ that's the trajectory of the christian growth growing into who or who we already are
i keep asking verse 17 i keep asking 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 and i pray that the eyes of your heart
might be in light you see growth in the christian life is growing deeper
it's growing deeper it's growing deeper it's not growing in doing it's growing in who we are
as god's much-loved father the children and so therefore it is uh growing deeper knowing our
glorious father in a deeper way in a more intimate way let me try and illustrate this a little bit uh
when prince george was born to um uh william and kate uh in 2013 uh that baby little george was like
every other baby born he had no knowledge of his parents at all
uh or if you like very little knowledge of his parents he kind of knew where the milk was
that's you know uh but there's so much more to know isn't there
he had virtually no knowledge of his parents and yet when he was born he was born prince george
he was rich he had a title he had privileges he had unknown he had his future mapped out for him and he
had absolutely no idea of that when he was born and yet it was his the moment that he was born he had no
idea who his father was he had no idea who his grandfather was
and what his future was
he was second in line to the throne and yet all he cares about is the milk
and it will take a lot he's like 12 years later he's still growing into that he has more awareness
now of who he is and that he is different and that there is a future that his life is right now from the
moment he was born his future was being shaped in him
getting ready for the day that he takes the throne
that's the picture of the christian
it's a life of knowing of growing into knowing who our father is
and what that future is for us in him
and that's what paul prays here that they would know the father better and for as they grow in the
knowledge of the father their present life will be shaped based on their future
so what is the dynamic in the christian life that will affect this growth in us now it's kind of the
same for little george um he was born his future is determined and from the very get-go
his life is shaped towards that future
and so here's the dynamic of the christian life verse 18 the future that shapes our present i pray
that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope
hope is the dynamic of the christian life
that faces that that affects
our christian life now that shapes our life you see the real dynamic of the christian faith is hope
verses uh 13 14 tells us that that uh that the christian and the church receives the holy spirit
as a deposit from the future the holy spirit is the first installment of the future redemption of the
universe coming into our life right now bringing that that redemption that hope that regeneration
into our life right now shaping us now for that future it's the deposit it's the installment
now in our day the word hope is not so strong it carries a sense of uncertainty well you know i
hope it's true i hope it works out um in the new testament the word hope means a life
shaping certainty about something that is yet to happen but you know it will
now hope is not just the dynamic of the christian life it's the dynamic of the human life
you can't live without hope hope is the engine room of our lives
how we live the choices we make what we give our time and energy to how we handle our circumstances
are all shaped by our perceived future hope is the change dynamic for the christian
and the more we grow into the glorious father what happens is the more we understand the hope that we have
in him
that's specifically why paul uses the word here or the statement the glorious father he gives us an idea
of what the hope is of what the hope is by using the term we already need to say the father of our
lord jesus christ the glorious father the word glorious father the word glory there is most often in the new
testament attached to the domain of god where god resides where he is
our hope is with god in all of his glory and so we are being changed moment by moment into his glory
now paul mentions three things about this hope that i want to uh unpack firstly we're being called into
this hope verse 18 i pray the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope
to which he has called you this is simply saying that the whole goal the whole purpose of of a christian being
saved is this future hope the whole reason for salvation is future hope and the hope here
is the part of the salvation plan of god in jesus christ that we've not yet received we've received all
these other things in the first verses three to fourteen received all those things this is the bit that
we've not yet received but we are looking forward to and as we have guaranteed received everything that's in
verses three to fourteen this is guaranteed too and this hope is nothing less than life in the new heavens and the new
earth in the presence of the glorious father or as romans five puts it the hope of the glory of god and it's the
hope of sharing in that magnificence
now the second thing about this hope that is included in paul's prayer
is that it's a rich hope verse 18 i pray the eyes of your heart may be enlightened or that you may know
the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people now some english translations will take holy people and
say in his saints uh now holy people there is a reference to god's set apart people
it's it's it's a reference to all christians everyone who has faith in the lord jesus it's not a special
category of of christians you know like sometimes people will say like you know i would say my wife you
know natalie's just a saint um and uh what they mean by that is just a remarkable person um
it's true of her in two ways um both remarkable person but also in christ uh but that that's that's
not the reference here holy people saints is a reference to everyone who has faith in the lord jesus christ
and that means that this hope is for everyone in christ and what is for all christians is the riches
of his glorious inheritance uh the the word inheritance here as it really is for in our way of thinking it is
the substance of your wealth it is your entire value is is your inheritance
it's what you would leave behind when you die all of it everything
now what is astonishing here in this verse is that this isn't referring to the the inheritance that the
christian receives
it's referring to the inheritance that god receives
what
this is what god receives
his church
the plan of god to bless humanity through jesus christ and to make a new people for himself
to share in his glory for all of eternity is god's inheritance
that's how it's expressed here
that should blow our mind
let me try and illustrate it for you if i can
elon musk is the richest person in the world his net worth apparently is worth something around
670 billion us dollars uh which is nearly a trillion australian dollars depending on what the markets did on friday
um
so imagine this task you get a phone call from spacex headquarters
um steve uh your elon musk would love you to buy him a birthday present that's just going to blow his socks off
that's your one task
what do you do with that i mean how can i afford that i mean what what do you what do you get him
what do you buy how do you buy it how do you what do you do for someone who who's got the resources to access
anything in this world what could you possibly get him where he opens us on his birthday and he is broken
to tears by it and goes oh my goodness
this is more valuable to me than than my stake in space x
this is my most treasured possession
i have no idea
and so paul is referring to something here that just impossible to imagine
this is the god who owns everything in the universe his worth is displayed by the grandeur of it all
but that's not his inheritance
the swiss alps is not his inheritance the depths of the ocean the vast is the space
what is more valuable to god than everything more than the stars and the galaxies and the solar systems
his church
his people
and in case you're unsure of that
the last verse the last sentence here it just just blows your socks off
the church which is his body
the fullness of him who feels everything in every way
now what paul's doing here is using paradoxical language to get us to try and get us into the depth
of this astounding truth the church is the fullness of him who fills the entire universe
the church
fills up
christ
who is the one who fills the universe in every way
how can jesus who created the universe who is
is
its head of the church
who fills everything in every way
be filled up by his church
and so the answer to this paradox
is in the metaphor of the body here
the head and the body
a head is incomplete without the body
this
astounding
i know is a word too often probably but this really is astounding
right
this astounding wonder here
calls
the theologian
john calvin to exclaim
in his
commentary on ephesians
this is the highest honor of the church
the church
that unless
he
christ
is united to us
the son of god reckons himself in some measure
imperfect
or
the language he meant there
was not only that he is imperfect but incomplete
what an encouragement for us to hear
that not only he has us
us as one with himself
is he he is complete in all his parts or does he wish to be regarded as whole
so sorry let me say what an encouragement for us to hear that not until he has us one with himself
is he complete in all of his parts or does he wish to be regarded as whole
he is praying here that god's people would be captivated by our value to god
as one commentator wrote here the whole purpose of this prayer is that god wants us to be smitten
with how rich god feels when he looks at his church
now
with all its faults now
because he sees the beauty and the majesty of his son
the glory of his son and to the degree that we understand this hope as being profoundly
personal and intimate is the degree that we will exercise self-control over sin
that we will grow into the life of obedience to christ that we've been called into and until we are
astounded by how rich god feels when he looks at us
our value to him
as his holy people his church
then we will not live the life that we are called to live as his people
we won't have the hope the joy the satisfaction
there's one t-shirt that i nearly bought recently except this i just don't agree with it
but it is funny because most other most people would agree with it it's a it's a t-shirt it's
produced by a christian company of all things
there's a picture of jesus there on the front of it with him
arm stretched out looking down at his church and the caption is disappointment the lot of you
it's often how we feel but it's not what ephesians 1 is telling us
at all
it's also important to emphasize that the christian hope is not just personal intimate
divine love uh it is it is also a material hope um we get a glimpse of that in verse 19 where there's
a quick reference when he raised christ from the dead in other words the future hope that we have
uh it is is an intimate personal relational physical hope as jesus christ is raised physically on the
third day imperishable so is the christian that is our future that is our hope it is not a spiritual
realm it's not clouds it's not harps it's not floating you see one of the remarkable differences
between the christian faith and every single other religion and philosophical system in the history of
humanity is this one only christianity declares that heaven comes down to restore and perfect the
material world when jesus was resurrected very clearly in the gospels he walked he cooked he ate he talked
he laughed he could be seen he could be touched and the christian hope therefore
is not a consolation prize in that in the end our hope is a hope where suffering is undone
our hope is a restoration of everything that we dream for in this life it is not a consolation prize
the christian hope is a restoring a very real restoring of the material life that we are so
fixated with and created to enjoy everything that we've ever wanted in life every longing every desire
of the heart comes back to us physically materially a million times over in a perfected world it is glorified
and god is working everything
because he is smitten with his church
he's in love with his church and he's longing to be with his church to embrace her to walk with her to
laugh with her to enjoy her in perfect unity
and that's why paul wants us to know the third thing
including this prayer that our hope is a confident hope because of the power of god
to bring it about not because our ability to keep in step with it but because of the power of god
paul prays the eyes of her heart might be light and so that we might know his incomparably great power
for us who believe and he says that power a bit further down is the same power as the mighty strength
exerted when he raised christ from the dead it's the power that seated jesus at the right hand of the heavenly realms far above all
rule and authority power and dominion where where god placed everything under his feet
which what that means is that jesus was resurrected triumphant placed in the position of power which means that he rules everything in the spiritual realm in the physical realm
and it's the power that he was appointed to to be head over everything for the church
what that means is that the power that jesus is exerting in ruling everything in heaven and on earth and under the earth
is to bring the church to its inheritance
every power he's exerting is for you that you might receive your inheritance
god is bringing his power to bear on absolutely everything in history for his people
to be his inheritance he's exerting his sovereignty over everything in your life and my life
that we might get our hope that he might get his church
so how do we grow in hope let me just really quickly this one i could just expand upon more and more
but let me try to be quick real quick um how do we grow in the exact same way as paul is doing here for
the ephesians pray this prayer pray that god may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you
might know him better and pray that the eyes of your heart might be enlightened
pray this prayer for yourself pray it every single day pray for the spirit of god who has been
given to you from the future and giving you a foretaste of the future that this spirit will give you
wisdom revelation that will open up to you your hope
pray for the eyes of your heart to be enlightened
that you might see and you might taste of the lord is good
of all the things that paul could have prayed for
in in in in in the new testament in his letters this is the one thing that he keeps praying for
that you would know your father better he could have prayed for their poverty and release from prison and
for safety but he prays that they would know their father better because in knowing him they know their hope
so pray and then direct your gaze to christ
um let me just he's praying for a spirit of revelation and we get that is specifically in god's
revelation what he has revealed to us in his word let me tell you as someone um i don't just have to
fight i've got adhd and i don't have to fight my adhd every day with medication i've got to fight my
spiritual adhd every day and we've all got spiritual adhd
every single day so easily distracted i've got glory in front of me in the scriptures
waiting to be unpacked waiting to be seen and i'm oh there's a bird
oh hang on a bit my calendar oh that email oh youtube oh funny thing i've just seen let me just forward that
to
immediate trivialities and glories distracting me
from real glory
my eyes are gazed and fixed on the temporary and distracting me
the way to grow as a christian is by fixing our eyes on christ and away from sin
you don't defeat sin by fixing your eyes on it you defeat sin by fixing your eyes on christ
we kill hope
by fixing our gaze on our temporary riches
because what we fix our eyes on is what we give our hearts to
meditate on christ
and your hope regularly in the scriptures fix your eyes there and ask god to exert his power
it's a spiritual exercise ask god to exert all of his mighty power so that you will not just say fixed
gazed in his revelation but that when you are
! you will see glory
fight for your hope
when you read a passage of the bible ask god ask yourself how how would i be different if i
truly believe this to be true and the knowledge will come the wisdom will come a vision of glory
will come not always not immediately but it will come pray this prayer here for yourself
constantly gaze on god in his word with jesus at the center because that's ultimately the power that will melt your
heart it will build your hope in the gospel is when you see jesus
if i might view it like this
when you pray that prayer for yourself
view it as jesus praying this prayer for you
now he didn't actually use these words but he did a very similar thing in john 17
jesus prayed that the father would call us to himself
he prayed that we would be his valued treasure
and that we would have his power and that god would exert his power to bring him to himself
and for and here's the thing for us to get all of that for us for for john 17 to be fulfilled
for for for this prayer to be fulfilled for the ephesians
jesus had to be rejected so that we could be called
he had to be cast out so that we could be called he had to be treated as worthless
so that we could be god's inheritance
he had to be broken by god's power
so that by god's power we could have life and brought to our hope
hebrews 12 says for the joy that set was set before him he endured the cross
the joy
when jesus looked to his future
he saw joy
what was that joy
us
us coming to life and hope through his death
and his despair
having his church with him for all of eternity his bride
that was his joy
he did that for us
so gaze in on god in his word
pray that you would know the glorious father
that light would break into your heart
that you would be overwhelmed by his love
and the future hope that he has in store for you
as of