Thank you so much for your holy word, all of it God breathed
useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training and
righteousness. So thankful for your servant
Paul, carried along by the Holy Spirit to write these specific
words, your words to the church at Ephesus, Your words still
feeding us, the living word still doing its work, causing us
to become more and more like our Savior Jesus.
As you, Holy Spirit, illuminate the text.
Do that even now. For your glory and our good.
We pray in the name of Jesus, Amen.
We're returning to the book of Ephesus, where we've been in
since the first of the year. I will be reading beginning at
chapter one, verse 18 through 21.
This is in the middle of Paul's prayer for the Saints in
Ephesus. This letter is written to
Christians, to those who have professed faith in Jesus, and
he's already spoken of this unceasing praise that he gives
to God for their faith in the Lord Jesus and for their love
for one another. And I moves into particular
petitions asking that the Lord would enlarge the eyes of their
heart, that they may know three things, and each of those things
begins with the Word. What?
So pay attention now as I read from verse 18 through 21, 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, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His
power toward us who believe, according to the working of His
great might, that He worked in Christ when He raised him from
the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly
places, far above all rule, and authority, and power and
dominion, and above every name, that His name not only in this
age, but also in the one to come.
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God, please be
seated. Before we jump into the text,
there's something I just want to share because this has never
happened and might not ever happen again.
And that is that present with us this morning are two men that
grew up with me in the same exact neighborhood.
Now, I'm not going to have them stand or raise their hand and
I'm not going to ask you to applause, but I just want you to
to hear this. The very first gathering at PCPC
that I was ever a part of was when my lifelong childhood
friend Steve McConaughey married member of this community, Mary
Lou Dreyfus. It was the year 2000.
Pete Dyson is the one who officiated the wedding in the
Chapel. And I was here just to do the
homily and to be a part of this wonderful ceremony with my best
friend, 2000 Steve and Mary Lou. They're here today, but also a
gentleman named Tommy Bob. Tommy grew up in the same
neighborhood with me. And what's significant about
Tommy is that Tommy is the first peer that I remember telling me
about Jesus. I've shared this before in a
sermon. I spoke of it last summer before
I went to our 50th year reunion. Jumping on my trampoline, Tommy
told me about Jesus. He told me that if I didn't
trust Jesus, what the consequences of that were, all
straight from Scripture. And he scared me to death,
really, truly. And I didn't want any part of
that conversation. We continued to be friends,
graduated high school together in 1985, but until last August,
I hadn't seen him in 40 years. And one of the highlights of
that reunion was telling him that story.
And he had no idea. He had no memory of that.
And I promise, all through all those years, he never thought he
would see me in a robe, find a pulpit, or that he would be
present. So these two men have meant so
much to me in my journey in life.
So I just wanted to take a moment to praise God and also
children. That was 6th grade when Tommy
told me about Christ. It was three years later that I
professed faith in Christ. You have a mission field in
elementary school and in middle school, in high school and
college, in your places of work. I could never get to your
missionaries, to places many of us could never go.
Never be afraid to give a reason for the hope that you have in
Christ. That seed was planted, Tommy, in
my life. So grateful.
OK, let's look at this wonderful prayer.
Many Christians say they struggle to pray, and I
understand that prayers and means of grace that God has
given us, and it's very powerful.
Satan doesn't want us to pray. So that's one of the reasons
it's difficult. When we come across prayers in
Scripture, specific things that the Holy Spirit made sure was
recorded in Scripture, It's really important to pay
attention to them because they show us the importance of
prayer. Here's Paul who planted this
church in Ephesus, who knows these people well, though many
have been added to the number since he was there and he's
praying for them. He's already praised God for
their faith without ceasing. I praise God because you have
faith in the Lord Jesus and you have love for all the Saints.
Listening to their prayers shows us the importance of prayer.
It teaches us how to pray, and it also helps us evaluate our
prayers. So Paul comes to this text,
verse 18. He's praying that the eyes of
their hearts, and therefore our hearts as well, would be
enlightened. That you may know three things.
What is the hope to which he's called you?
To what are the riches of his glorious inheritance and the
Saints? And what is the immeasurable
greatness of his power toward us who believe?
So Paul's praying for hope. He is praying for inheritance
and he's praying for power specifically, that they would
know those things. And the reason he's praying for
these things is because if the Holy Spirit doesn't enlarge in
the eyes of their heart, they will not see them.
And so this is not Paul just giving exhortation.
He's praying to God to do something that only God can do
today, Like every Sunday and like every day you and I wake up
thinking and probably saying to ourselves or to someone else, I
hope, and not just Christians say that the whole world says
it. It's a sign that we're in a
broken place. It's a sign that things aren't
the way they're supposed to be. It's a sign that their desires
that God has given us for things to be right and they're not.
We say things like I hope not, I hope so.
We can only hope. We say I hope to get the job.
I hope he asked me out. I hope it doesn't rain.
This is a bride planning an outdoor wedding while a farmer
prays. I hope it rains, and I hope it
rains hard. I hope he gets accepted to the
school he wants to go to. I hope she makes the team.
I hope he makes the shot. I hope the wars end soon.
I hope my child returns to the faith.
I hope the suffering will soon end.
I hope the scan is clear. Whatever you was spoken of even
this day regarding hope you likely brought into the
sanctuary, understandably is something that could even
distract you now because the weight of that is heavy.
I hope the depression will lift. I hope the relationship can be
reconciled. I hope she will forgive me.
I hope he will forgive me. But the way the world thinks of
hope versus the biblical hope that Paul is praying for could
not be more different. When the world meaning those who
are not in Christ, who don't know Christ, when the world says
I hope their focus comes from inside them.
It's not anything really more than a wishful thinking, feeble
optimism, or a positive mindset. And if I can keep my mind
positive, if I can be optimistic, if I can have wishes
that are good, then the chance of those things coming true are
better or the state of my health will be better.
But there is no certainty. There's no measurable power.
There is no guarantee right now in hospital rooms and in
hospital waiting rooms, in bars, as people sit alone in front of
their TV in their living room. All over the world people are
saying I hope. I hope.
But if it's not in Christ, then it's nothing more than just
wishful thoughts, feeble optimism, or a positive mindset.
What Paul is asking God to give is far different.
It is centered on certainty, security, confidence.
It has a past, it has a future, it has a present.
But where it starts is easy to miss because Paul uses a word
and language that is very interesting.
Let's go back to the text. Having the eyes of your hearts
enlightened that you may know what is the hope to which he has
called you. So hope, biblical hope, Christ
centered hope, Gospel hope doesn't start from within us, it
starts from outside us. Paul's been preaching as he, as
he writes this letter. So it's a sermon through words.
He has been preaching, teaching about election all the way back
to the beginning of the first part of chapter 1.
And when he says that you may know what is the hope to which
he has called you. He is setting apart this
biblical hope apart from any other kind of hope, because this
is a hope that we receive as we're called by God.
This has to do with effectual calling.
It has to do with God taking a heart that was dead, alienated
from him, that didn't belong, that could never choose him, and
then suddenly causing that heart to beat.
When Tommy first told me about Jesus, there was no illumination
taking place in me. Though I was scared, I wasn't
willing to receive that. Three years later I say to
another Tommy, Tom Miller, the old man who led me to Christ.
I simply said something's wrong with my life.
The Spirit of God behind the scenes was moving and effectual
call was taking place. Effectual call means it has its
effect. God wins, He summons, we
respond, we receive. And so when we talked about
biblical hope, it's not destroying a verse or two at a
bad situation. Our hope is centered in a
calling and therefore our hope is centered in a person.
It's not just the idea, it is a true person.
Christ himself having the eyes of your hearts in light and that
you may know what is the hope to which he has called you.
Now this is important. The people who made-up the
church at Ephesus were not those who are part of the Jewish
history. These were Greeks mostly in a
very modern city, in a place that was very sensual, where
idols were made and idols were worshipped.
So Paul in just a a few verses into chapter 2, verse 11, he's
going to say this about them. I want you to hear this to the
Saints in Ephesus, he says, therefore remember that at one
time you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision.
So they did not belong to Israel by what is called the
circumcision. That's the nation of Israel,
which is made in the flesh by hands.
Remember that at one time you were at that time separated from
Christ. This, this language is so
powerful. You were separated from Christ,
alienated from the Commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the
covenants of promise. This is true of all of us before
we're in Christ. Now listen to this word.
Having no hope and without God in the world having no hope.
What a terrible place to be. But this is who they were.
But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been
brought near by the blood of Christ.
That's why we celebrate the cross, and we celebrate what was
accomplished, and we celebrate the crisis and dawn it.
And so this calling was from death to life.
This calling was from no hope to true hope.
This is awesome. So Paul, who has already
expressed unceasing gratitude to God for their faith in the Lord
and their love for one another, knows that this side of heaven,
they're going to be attacked by the world, the flesh, and the
devil. He's going to talk about the
spiritual battle later in the book of Ephesus.
He's going to talk about spiritual armament that we need
because he knows what's coming against them and what's coming
against them is coming against us.
And it will until Christ returns.
And so, like Paul, we need to be praying for one another that the
eyes of our hearts would be enlarged, enlightened that we
may know the hope to which he has called us in the book of
Hebrews, this small church that was under tremendous
persecution. We don't know who the author
was, but it really is a sermon. In chapter 6 of his sermon, he
writes about the certainty of God's promise and gives us one
of the great verses in that book.
He says in verse 19, chapter 6, we have this as a sure and
steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner
place behind the curtain where Jesus has gone as the forerunner
on our behalf, having become a high priest forever.
After the order of Melchizedek, our high priest, the last high
priest, it is finished. That phrase, an anchor of the
soul is Speaking of the hope that we have.
What's the purpose of an anchor? How would they have understood
an anchor back then? Well, they were on the sea all
the time, and anchors in those time periods were basically
large stones that have been drilled through and ropes tied
around them. Later on they would be wood that
was dipped in some heavy metal. But the purpose was always the
same, to steady a boat, to secure a boat, particularly in
rough waters. Now the largest anchor ever
made, the largest in the world was on a ship called and it was
the largest ship in the world. Sea wise, what a great name.
Sea wise, the largest ship ever made.
It was an oil tanker that was converted to lots of other
things. It was so massive it couldn't go
through certain channels and certain canals.
The anchor of this ship weighs 36 tons.
It's on display in Hong Kong. The purpose of that anchor was
to drop and to set to secure that ship.
Like all anchors in New Zealand, there's a company called Manson
Anchors, and it's part of their slogan as they speak about the
anchors they make for sailboats all the way to Navy ships.
Their slogan is drop, set, forget, drop anchor.
Let it set deep and it's going to be so strong.
You can forget. I love that except for the word
forget, we need to drop anchor. We need to set deep, deep in His
word all the time. We need to pray the kind of
prayers that Paul is praying for this word to be illuminated so
the eyes of our hearts can be enlarged.
We need to constantly be seeing the power of the living Word,
but we need never forget. We need to remember.
We need to continue to remind one another of these truths of
all of God's word drop, set. Remember, the hope that Jesus is
to us is a hope to which we've been called, and that's the
thing that separates it from all other hopes among other things.
But that's the big one. But other hopes call also the
world, the flesh, and the devil, constantly going all the way
back to the Garden of Eden. False hopes, untrue hopes,
lesser hopes, false securities. We are always being tempted to
put our security and insecure things and everything other than
Christ. And I'm saying this exactly how
I mean to Everything other than Christ is going to break,
disappear, fall apart this side of heaven, everything.
So whatever you're attempted to put your security in that is
other than Christ, it will not satisfy.
But the illusion of what the world can offer, the power that
is promised, the certainty that is displayed is all false.
And this is important for us where we live because a lot of
us know that we should not Amen to the truth that Jesus is the
anchor. But the question must be this.
Is Jesus your anchor? Or is he just an add on?
Are you really putting your hope in many other things?
But you know, at least you need to add a little bit of Jesus.
This is not the kind of hope that Paul's praying for.
Paul's praying for the people who know Christ, the Saints of
Ephesus, to have their hope anchored in Jesus.
This is the hope that we've been called to in Christ.
Next he moves to another petition.
Still in verse 18. He says having the eyes of your
hearts and light, and that you may know what is the hope to
which he's called you? What are the riches of his
glorious inheritance in the Saints?
This is a really interesting phrase.
Every commentary I consulted which probably was 15 or more
said the same thing about this passage.
They said it either means that Paul is talking about the
inheritance God has in US. What that means is quoting Old
Testament Psalms and other parts of the Old Testament.
There is this biblical theme that runs through Scripture
where God's people are his heritage, they are his
inheritance. And that's true.
Psalm 33 speaks our 3312 speaks of this, a people he has chosen
as his heritage. The last book of the Bible,
second to last chapter Malachi chapter 317.
God says they, his people shall be mine in the day when I make
up my treasured possession. So the way you can translate the
Greek is to see that what Paul is talking about here is the
inheritance God has in US. And it's a beautiful thought
because it's a true thought. If you're in Christ, he's your
heavenly Father. If you're in Christ, he rejoices
over you with loud singing. If you're in Christ, you're his
heritage. But it can also mean, in other
words, the Greek could be translated this way, that Paul
is focusing on the inheritance God has for us, the the
inheritance that's really beyond description with unmeasured
riches. Well, it can also be translated
that way. Every commentary I looked at
said the same thing. Those that are ancient, those
that are more modern, it can be translated either way.
And then they would usually show their hand one way or the other.
And those who see it differently, it's not huge
differences because both of those things are true, is
scattered people that are often in the same camp aren't in the
same camp on this, yet they all say this should be celebrated.
Sinclair Ferguson, I think was the most helpful in seeing how
they are essentially two sides of the same coin.
Ferguson says Paul's reference could be either to the riches we
have in God or to the remarkable biblical revelation that God
regards his people as his treasured possession.
Going back to Malachi 3, since God's inheritance in us and our
inheritance in Him are really two sides of the same coin,
either interpretation implies the other.
So here's the encouragement. Think of both.
Think upon what it means to be God's chosen, His heritage, His
inheritance, and think about the inheritance because of that
being true, that we have to look forward to in the future and
something of it even now. One way that's important to try
and understand this is when Paul speaks of the inheritance, he
speaks of riches. I want you to hear something.
There is not a person in here today that given enough time and
given enough experts that every penny that you own could be
counted. It could be tabbed, it could be
identified from the person who has the least, who doesn't even
maybe have a checking account or a bank account, to the one who
has more money than they know what to do with.
Every cent can be counted. When Paul speaks of riches, he
is referring to something that can't be counted.
What we have and are able to achieve and collect this side of
heaven can always be measured, but not the riches of what we
have in our inheritance with God.
That's amazing. That's amazing.
I want you to think of it this way.
When the Holy Spirit moved through the city of Ephesus and
people who were strangers, alienated, dead to God, came
alive just like you did if you're in Christ.
This was an interesting group of people as the church began to
grow in Ephesus, there are a large number of those who
practice magic arts. Practicing magic arts was
actually lucrative. This wasn't a sideshow, this was
their career. This is how they made their
money. So when they came to faith, they
were so captivated by the good news of Christ that they knew
the books that they used to practice sorcery and magic
needed to be destroyed. And Acts chapter 19, verse 19,
it says this. And a number of those who had
practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned
them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of
them and found it came to 50,000 pieces of silver.
One translation, the New Living translation, says that was
millions of dollars. It was a lot of money.
It was their livelihood, it was their way of making money and
their way of saving for their inheritance.
How beautiful it must have sounded when Paul, the one who
planted the church, the pastor who started the church, says you
have inheritance of riches so glorious to look forward to.
And we do, We do. Let's move to the last petition,
verse 19, after praying for hope that they've been called to eyes
to see it, understanding the inheritance, whether it's
Speaking of God's inheritance and us or what we have from him
for all eternity. Paul then praised one final
petition in this section, verse 19.
And what is the measurable greatness of His power toward
us, who believe, according to the working of His great might,
that He worked in Christ when He raised him from the dead and
seated Him in his right hand in the heavenly places?
How encouraging this must have been to this small church in
Ephesus. They could not have felt like
they had any power anymore. But they have all the power
because when we are in Christ and Christ is in us through a
spirit, we have the one who we heard about last week, who at
the very end of Matthew's gospel said all authority, all
authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
That means authority over every person, everything, everything
that we can see, everything that only microscopes can see,
everything that microscopes and telescopes don't have the power
to see. Everywhere, always is under
Christ. Every person, everything,
everywhere, always under Christ. We can measure power.
We can measure the power of a lawnmower or a leaf blower.
We can measure the power of a storm, a hurricane, an
earthquake. We can measure the strength of a
human being by how much they can lift.
But we cannot measure the power of God carried along by the Holy
Spirit. Paul prays that your eyes and
your heart be enlightened, that you may know what is the
immeasurable greatness of his power toward us.
And it's the same power that was used to raise Jesus from the
dead. And then Paul goes on this long
list of descriptions describing that power.
If you're in Christ, he is your hope.
If you're in Christ, he is your inheritance.
If you're in Christ, he is your power.
This isn't wishful thinking, this is certain.
This is secure, now and forever. This gives us great confidence
to face whatever comes our way. I need to be careful though.
This doesn't always give us what we want.
We can pray for things to happen and the Lord says no, it's not
my will. And sometimes we can pray that
prayer so long and the very thing we dreaded most happens
and it even hurts to hope. Well, God never promised to take
away pain in the sight of heaven, but He did promise to
give us himself. And who is he?
He's the one who sat all authority on heaven and earth.
In heaven and on earth have been given to me.
Yesterday I had two encounters with two different women about
two hours apart. One of them was in front of my
house in our neighborhood, a woman I know well who told me of
two surgeries that one her daughter had gone through and
then her husband and so difficult because they were only
a number of days apart and we're not expected.
And she is a believer in Jesus. And she spoke of the peace that
she felt is she said over and over again, I rely on God.
I rely on Christ. I rely on his peace.
A few hours after that, I went to Lowe's.
I was doing a little bit of yard work, a little bit, and I saw a
woman walking out to her car pushing a basket and it had a
lot of things in it. She had a cane as well.
As I'm walking up to go into the store, I just think I need to
see if she needs help. And so I just simply asked, can
I help you get this stuff into your car?
And I wasn't even sure how she was going to do it because she
was in a sedan. She says, thank you so much.
I'm always looking for passions, and I'm always looking for pain
as opportunities to share the gospel.
So she opens her trunk. I see the largest bag of dog
food I've ever seen. Tell me about your dogs.
So she does. Oh.
How long have you had them? Listening for passion, Listening
for pain. I had them since my son's died.
I said, oh, I'm so sorry. Tell me about that.
Yeah, both my sons, adult sons died.
You're not supposed to bear your children.
I can't imagine that pain, and I know some of you can because
it's your story and it's all of our fears.
She then began to talk about hope.
Hope and her grandchildren and great grandchildren.
But as she talked about hope became abundantly clear that
it's not the kind of hope that Paul's been praying for and it's
not the kind of hope that I've been preaching.
And I hope for the opportunity for it to be clear enough for
her to say I want that hope. But it didn't happen.
So I pray for her. I'm praying that the eyes of her
heart would be enlightened, that she who is alienated and a
stranger would come to know the same Jesus who's the only one
who can give her the hope that she was.
She's ultimately hungering for her.
The Word of God tells us to be ready to give a reason for the
hope that we have. The reason that burst matters is
because when we in Christ live anchored in Jesus and we are
able to withstand the waves and the storms, people notice.
But for many who claim Christ, their life doesn't look like an
anchor soaked deep in the sea, dropped and set and remembered.
Their lives look more like a bobber, something very light
that just floats and bounces along with every wave.
And it has to do with hope. Because when we seek to put our
hope in something other than Christ, that's really what our
life will look like. But when we put our hope in
Christ, I hope we've been called to, we're settled, we're strong.
And so today, as we come to this table, there's no greater
picture of what has been described.
This table of hope, this table that signifies our inheritance,
this table that symbolizes the power of God, the table that
represents the past and the future and the present is for
you. If you're in Christ and it's a
table you need and I need and you're invited to come, it's not
a Presbyterian table. It is a table for all who have
trusted in Jesus for salvation. But today, if you know you're
not in Christ, if you've never trusted Jesus, if these things
are all new to you, we pray. This would be the moment that
you would cry out to the Lord. Lord, save me, I'm a Sinner in
need of a Savior. If that happens today and you
pray to him, please tell somebody that you've come with,
but don't come forward and partake of the elements.
Instead, let this moment be a time for you to reflect upon
what you've heard. But for those who are in Christ,
come hungry and expectant, You've been called to a hope.
And the hope is not an idea or a wishful thought or just a
mindset. It is a person.
That person is our inheritance, and that person is the power
that you and I need desperately. Father, thank you for your word.
Thank you what you gave Paul to write, and thank you for the
table that we're about to come to.
Lord, feed us, causing us to want even more of the security
that is ours already in Christ, To know it, to see it, to
believe it. Take the person in this
sanctuary who feels furthest from you and bring them close
for your glory and their good. We pray in the name of Jesus,
Amen. Please stand.