The Hope The Glory The Power

Christian Living Series 8 of 9

  1. Knowing Jesus Better
  2. The Vessel Formed
  3. Mystery
  4. The Church as Community
  5. Keeping Power Switched On
  6. Real Solutions to Real Problems
  7. Don't You Know There is a War On
  8. The Hope The Glory The Power
  9. The Dynamic for Holy Living

November 1, 1987

Ephesians 1:15-23

[Introduction]

As we near the end of this series in Ephesians we look at another prayer of Paul. We began with a goal (3:19)- that we might be filled up to all the fullness of God. We are nearing the close with an over-view (1:15-23)- a look at the almost incredible resources that are ours if we want to do God's will.

These resources are unlocked from three words that represent great grace: these words are 'HOPE' and 'GLORY' and 'POWER'.

I. First, HOPE:

  1. Hope is NOT a weak word. IT IS HOPE THAT MAKES LIFE WORTH THE LIVING! ("I hope so..." means much LESS than Bible terms express) Hope is FAITH looking into the future. (In many respects HOPE is almost indistinguishable from FAITH, except that HOPE is confident in what God is YET GOING TO DO!) Hope is confidence that LIFE IN THE WILL OF GOD IS GOING SOMEWHERE!
  2. Hope can/must be translated into the way we LIVE. If we live our lives in a day-by-day rat-race, an endless cycle of schedule without God/prayer/submission/HOPE— then how we live agrees with the atheistic humanism and materialism we "intellectually despise."

    It is possible to DISAGREE with the enemies of God with our HEADS, while our LIVES AGREE BY DEFAULT! If we live at the same cadence, for the same goals, by the same rules, THEN WE ARE NOT LIVING BY HOPE!

    And it is LIVING BY HOPE THAT MAKES THE DIFFERENCE!

  3. HOPE acknowledges that there IS a war going on! That is the whole idea! We wouldn't NEED hope if there were no battles! The battle is for real! The stakes are eternal! Our sons, daughters, neighbors— our very lives are in conflict with evil!

    This does not mean we never rest— never smell the roses— but we must live with eternity in view— and with a strong HOPE that God's way is the ONLY winning way!

  4. Hope says: LIFE/TIME IS NOT AN ENDLESS SPIRAL!

    Creation speaks of order, not chaos, chance. History will prove to be HIS-story! God has the last word! The God we serve INTERVENES IN HUMAN HISTORY! He came (in JESUS, specific! place!.) He is COMING AGAIN! (Just as literal! Soon!) He COMES into personal, individual lives!

GOD WANTS YOU TO BE CERTAIN THAT YOUR LIFE IS GOING SOMEWHERE!

II. Second, GLORY

  1. Our HOPE is tied to another concept: HOPE "goes with" GLORY! And Paul was deeply concerned that the Ephesians see how very wealthy they were as children of God.
  2. John 1:12 "(by receiving Jesus we become children of God)" We tend to "not hear" the GLORY of being God's children: "O well, we are adopted children. Only JESUS is God's Son!" But to be ADOPTED by God and being JOINT HEIRS WITH JESUS is sheer glory!

    In R.T. Kendall's latest book (Once Saved, Always Saved) he tells of attending an adoption procedure in a court in Florida. I'd like to read a brief account verbatim:

    "A few years ago my wife and I witnessed the adoption of a child in a Fort Lauderdale, Florida, courtroom. We listened to the judge as he spoke to the adopting parents in gravest tones.

    "'Before I sign my name to this document,' he warned them, 'I need to know you realize what you are about to do.' In a room of sobering silence in which you could hear a pin drop, that judge looked each parent straight in the eye and said, 'If I sign my name to this document, it means that this child is yours, legally yours, as though he were your natural son. There is no guarantee how he will turn out. He may disappoint you. He may turn to drugs as a teenager. He may develop a serious illness and you will be responsible to care for him. If I sign my name to this document, that means this child is yours from this day forward. He is protected by the laws of this state. You cannot turn him back once I sign my name to this document. Do you understand this?'

    Those parents did not hesitate to answer. 'We understand,' they responded. 'Then it is your will that you become the parents of this child?' the judge asked. 'It is,' they replied. The judge signed the order.

    In what I thought was a rather unusual gesture, he got off his seat and walked round to the two parents and congratulated them. Every eye was filled with tears. The judge then revealed that he too had been an adopted child." (p 114 ibid,)

  3. We say: "Thine is the kingdom and the power and the GLORY!" And rightly so! But God SHARES that GLORY as He brings us into His family! We are precious to HIM! And that is glory!

    Too often we have been living, NOT as adopted children, but as FOSTER children— afraid God is going to "send us back to the orphanage" instead of taking full advantage of being FAMILY WITH JESUS!

III. Finally, THE POWER!

Paul wants us to see that God's will for us is not just a beautiful, ivory-tower theory— a wonderful, glorious PLAN— but that there is adequate POWER to do ALL that God leads us to do!

  1. We focus on the CROSS, and God's LOVE. That is good. But, [with the New Testament church as our example], we ALSO need to focus on the EMPTY TOMB, and God's POWER! That certainty is what gave the disciples mighty authority and power!
  2. We can re-discover God's mighty POWER toward us:
    1. It is resurrection power (1:19b-20; 2:5"even when we were dead—(Christ)— made us alive together with Christ") We not only will live again after we die physically; but we live with a new quality of life here and now!
    2. It is also authoritative power (1:20; 2:6 WE are seated with Christ (positionally) in the heavenly places ) Our prayers carry HIS AUTHORITY as we abide in HIM and HIS WORDS abide in US! As we said when we were speaking about "HOPE," there IS a war going on! But as Christians we have the POWER necessary to be "more than conquerors through HIM that loves us!"

      In his controversial (but wonderful) new book, Desiring God, John Piper likens prayer to a walkie-talkie set tuned to the frequency of headquarters, for the purpose of reinforcement in battle. Nothing will be spared to support us as we carry out God's will. But too often we use the walkie-talkies to ask headquarters to send a servant around with cold drinks, or something for our comfort or convenience. But properly used, we have all Christ's power of authority!

      [Conclusion:]

    3. IT IS LIVING POWER! God's power is in the fact that God has given the Church JESUS CHRIST, HIMSELF, AS OUR LIVING HEAD! (1:22 God put all things under (Christ's) feet, AND GAVE HIM AS HEAD OVER ALL THINGS IN THE CHURCH, WHICH IS HIS BODY! " God's mighty POWER for Christians is centered in the FACT that we have a living, loving, all-powerful Leader!

And (1) we can seek, find, know HIS MIND! (2) What He says, GOES! His command is also His enabling! (3) But, too, what He says is never "an option!" IF WE WOULD KNOW THE POWER OF HIS MIGHT, THEN WE MUST SEEK TO BE OBEDIENT TO HIS REVEALED WILL AND COMMAND!

So there we have it: HOPE! GLORY! POWER! Beautiful words! Great "ideals!" But God has the reality they represent available without limit for every one of us, and for this church!

AMEN!

#409 Singing I Go