Series Name: Ephesians (Mornings)
Page 1 of 4
Date: 21st August 2016
Series name: Ephesians (mornings)
Sermon # in series: 4
Sermon Title: ‘Open the eyes of my heart’
Bible Reference:Ephesians 1:15-22
A disclaimer from Pastor Stuart
My role in the church here is to feed and care for God’s people the best I can. Key to that, in my opinion is teaching and preaching from the Bible; but that is not all a pastor has to do! In fact after the emails, staff admin, hospital visits, community visits, leadership meetings, etc, etc, there sometimes seems to be little time for sermon prep! Years ago I used to agonise over trying to come up with two, often three, totally original sermons each week. But I’ve found that, for me at least, that is impossibility. I’ve learned to be grateful for and to use the gifts God gives to help me – not only the Holy Spirit, but other Bible teachers and preachers.
Over the years I’ve discovered that if something teaches, inspires and excites me it’s likely to do the same for those I speak to. So I admit that sometimes I find myself depending heavily on other people’s ideas, at least to ‘prime the pump’ and therefore I claim originality for very little in these sermons. If you look hard enough and wide enough you’ll probably find who I’ve been reading and learning from! I never knowingly plagiarise, but if you find I have, then I apologise. It must have been that what was said was just too good not to use!
I am particularly indebted to the likes of John Piper, Sam Storms, Wayne Grudem, John Ortberg & Rick Warren. The Lord regularly uses them to get my spiritual pulse racing. I’m also indebted to many who kindly make their sermons available on the likes of sermoncentral.com and preachingtoday.com. Others who help me include ‘The Doctor’ (Martyn Lloyd-Jones), C.H Spurgeon and any of the Puritans.
These sermons are not made available because I think they’re good but in the hope and with the prayer that they may be used by the Holy Spirit to bless others as they have blessed our own church here in Ipswich, UK.
Unless otherwise specified, all scriptures are taken from the HOLY BIBLE NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Hodder and Stoughton Limited.
Open the eyes of our heart, Lord.
Ephesians 1:15-23
We’re in Ephesians 1 and have been looking at all the wonderful things God in his grace and mercy has done for us (Xians).
Here in v15 he starts a new section with these words – ‘For this reason’. In other words, because God has chosen us, called us, adopted us, forgiven us, sealed us with H/S. Because God has done these wonderful things and thus made them Xians Paul prays they may know/experience everything that comes to them with this.
Now, before we look at his prayer I just want to pause and point out something really important here. How does he know God has done these things? what makes Paul so sure they are believers? Well apart from the seal of the Spirit which he witnessed firsthand he heard two other things about these people that give him confidence that they really are Xians – things that show reality of conversion and should be seen in us also. V15 - reports kept coming to him about
- Theirfaith in Jesus. Not just going to church, but their faith in Christ. By which he meant that he’d heard how they had turned from old behaviours, attitudes and were now willing to take the consequences (often costly) of identifying as a follower of Jesus. He’d heard about their about turn. Do people see that in you?
- Theirlove for all the other Xians. This is a key evidence of real faith/commitment to Jesus. Jesus himself had said ‘Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” Jn 13:35[NLT] Their devotion to Jesus changed their relationships. Note ‘all the saints’, not just some, but all! The unlovely as well as the lovely! If your profession of faith is genuine then you will be becoming a more loving person to all the believers. Here’s one of the evidences of true faith. (Ps: believers who don’t love ‘church’?Hmmm?)
These two things are things which say to Paul that these people really are Xians. And because of this Paul says that there are some very specific things that he prays regularly for them to know.
Let me tell you about this man - William Randolph Hearst. He was like the Rupert Murdoch of the first half of the 20th century. Huge publishing and journalistic empire and was incredibly rich. He had a vast collection of art and other valuables and one day he read about some valuables that he decided he just had to add to his collection. So he sent his men out to get them. They hunted and hunted and eventually they located them – in one of his own warehouses! He already owned them but didn’t know it!
Now, says Paul, my prayer for you is that you will know and enjoy all that God has given you in Jesus, all the things that are yours now because he has adopted you. He doesn’t want you to miss out, to look wistfully at others and think ‘I wish I had that’ when you already do!
He prays for 3 things: that they may know -
- The Hope to which God has called us – v18. God called us to a hope! If we forget this then it won’t be long until we feel the weight of the crosses and consequences we carry for Jesus begin to weigh us down and cause us to stop. Hope has a galvanising effect – seen with this little fellow – Picture of mouse!In one laboratory study it was found that a mouse in water would give up swimmingquite quickly. However, if, when it was near exhaustion, it was picked out and given a rest it would swim for much longer! The hope of being picked up and rescued kept it going for longer!
It’s not surprising then that the first thing Paul prays for these people is that they will know the HOPE to which God has called them – and us. Our hope is one of the key things in helping us keep going and not lose heart so it’s essential we have a good sense of it.
There are two parts to our hope: Future and present.
- Future – We live in bodies and a world that is constantly in the process of decay Rom 8:18-25). Everything in the universe is declining, deteriorating. But as Xian’s we look forward to the great and glorious day when Jesus returns and everything is made gloriously new. Satan will be dealt with no more to spoil things & the new heaven and earth will be ushered in. So don’t give up!
- Present -‘That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits arebeing renewed every day.For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!2 Cor 4:16-17.[NLT]. God is working something in us and for us right now through these trying times. He assures you that they are not ultimately meaningless. What is happening right now, and the way we react to it right now will affect us in eternity. That is the hope of our calling! The 2nd thing
- The riches of God’s inheritance in the saints.
Note very carefully what the Bible says here! This isn’t about what you will get, your inheritance, this is about God’s inheritance! And that inheritance? It’s you – you are part of God’s inheritance!Tells you that you are valuable and precious to him; the idea of an inheritance is that you look forward to it – so God is looking forward to you with him in heaven! Have you thought about that lately? He’s actually looking forward to you being with him! You are one of his precious, treasured possessions. Paul prays that you might know and understand this, and experience something of the force of this reality in your heart and mind.
This is precious because so many people think they are not worth much. Well if that’s you look at this and be thrilled by it! You will be Jesus pride and joy, that which he’ll hold up as his great prize and in whom he’ll delight! You are God’s trophy of grace! You might not feel like it or value yourself – but to God you are precious.
The 3rd thing Paul prays for us to know is
- The Power of God that is for us:
I wonder how often you find yourself thinking or saying something like – ‘I want to do this/that or stop doing this or that – but I just can’t, I haven’t got the power’. If you’re like many others of us it’s probably quite often! Well here’s the remedy, the antidote, the anti venom to that lie of Satan – God has incomparable power for you! Gk wd is ‘dunamis’ – ‘dynamite’! God’s ‘mighty strength’ is working for you! How big and strong is his mighty strength? Is there anything that gives us some idea of how strong and mighty God’s power for you & me is? Ideas? Resurrection & ascension; creation, etc.
This power is available to you! And it is this power that will help us overcome temptation, fight off the devil, to overcome the inclinations of our human nature and cravings, to keep going when we feel like giving up. Remember this – you don’t have to do life alone: God didn’t save you and say ‘right now get on with it’! He’s given you the H/S, you have him. So my prayer for you all is the same as Paul’s – that you’ll believe and call on his wonderful power he has available to you.
Put these three things together and we have some mighty, wonderful things to help us – hope, love, power; three energising, enabling things at our disposal, to receive by faith.
Now to conclude:
- Have you been feeling jaded? Little joy, struggling, weak? Have you been lacking motivation? I suggest that it may be because you’ve lost sight of the hope you’ve been saved for and the way God is at work in your life. Go back and thank God again for what he has done, all the has given you, and he is doing, all he will do.
- Feeling small and unimportant? Well yes in some ways we all are! But not to God! You are his inheritance! He gave Jesus to have you as his own – that is how precious you are to him.
- Feeling weak, tired in the struggle to do right, to resist tempt? Well here’s good news – God has incomparable power for you. Come to him, humble yourself before him and ask him for that power.
Prayer:
Sing: