Ephesians 1:15-20 New Living Translation
15 Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God’s people everywhere, 16 I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, 17 asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. 18 I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. 19 I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power 20 that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms.
With what attitude are we beginning this new year? Are you beginning the new year with positive or pessimistic expectations? Or with an “whatever attitude”? For some people the starting of a new year represents new beginnings, the blackboard (white board) is wiped clean and we start new all over again. On New Year’s Day some welcome it with festivities and with personal dreams and goals for the new year. For others, a new year is just a marker or reference point in the calendar and what was happening at the end of last year will continue this year.
However, as a Christian, considering either one of these viewpoints, we cannot ignore what the Word of God teaches us about how we are to live our lives with Christ and what we have in Christ today in addition to what we anticipate of what we have yet to experience.
Our view point of a new year, new month, new week and or a new day should always be based on what the Word of God tells us about who God is and how we are to experience that reality every day in our relationship with Him. If we are either welcoming in the new year with enthusiastic expectations, or with a mindset of a continuation of the “same as before”, are we basing this on what God’s word tells us about what we have in Christ Jesus? Do we really know and are we diligently seeking what is ours as a child of God?
The following is an excerpt by Warren Wiersbe which helps us to understand the apostle Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian Christians and what they should experience in their relationship with Christ no matter what time of the year it is.
We discovered that we were “born rich” when we trusted Christ. But this is not enough, for we must grow in our understanding of our riches if we are ever going to use them to the glory of God. Too many Christians have never “read the bank book” to find out the vast spiritual wealth that God has put to their account through Jesus Christ. They are like the late newspaper publisher, William Randolph Hearst, who invested a fortune collecting art treasures from around the world. One day Mr. Hearst found a description of some valuable items that he felt he must own, so he sent his agent abroad to find them. After months of searching, the agent reported that he had finally found the treasures. They were in Mr. Hearst’s warehouse. Hearst had been searching frantically for treasures he already owned! Had he read the catalog of his treasures, he would have saved himself a great deal of money and trouble.
If we are beginning this new year with great expectations, that is wonderful, but what are they based on? Do you know what you are bringing into this new year from last year? How important are these things to our maturing experience in our relationship with Christ? The things that I am referring to are not material but have to do with our character as followers of Christ or as the Bible teaches us the fruit of the spirit.
John 15:1-5, 1 “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. 3 You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. 5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.
John 15:8, When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.
Paul points out two points of the Ephesian Christian’s characteristics that indicate a maturing relationship with Christ, it was their testimony, it was what others were telling him that they noticed that was happening in the lives of the Ephesians. Verse 15, “…I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints…”. This is an important question we should be asking ourselves, is my faith and love for other Christians growing and noticeable?
The type of faith that Paul is referring to in this verse is NOT the faith that Jesus talks about in Matthew 17:20-21, 20 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”. The faith that Paul is referring to is their relationship with Christ, their commitment to Him as it is expressed to and experienced by other Christians.
The second point of verse 15 is their “love for all the saints” which is a characteristic of the fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5:22, But the fruit of the Spirit is love. This love is expressed by a Christian’s actions, words and attitude, which it is experienced by others. Love is also a natural expression of the fulfillment of Jesus’ command in John 13:34-35, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”. There is nothing wrong with having expectations of many new things and experiences in our lives for the new year, but these should never become more important than our relationship with Christ and with others.
In Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian Christian’s lives, he does not desire that they have good health, material blessings or a happy life, even though there is nothing wrong with these. Paul’s desire is that God would give them “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation”. Have you ever asked God to give you “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation” or even prayed this for another believer?
Notice who is the source of this “wisdom and revelation”, it is the Holy Spirit. What point is there to receive spiritual insight and even understanding about who God is when we read His Word or when praying if we do not have the wisdom to apply it to ourselves? That is why Paul tells us the reason why he is asking God to give us “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation” which is “so that you may know him better.”. If we would desire and or have any expectations for ourselves and even for another Christians, as believers in Christ, shouldn’t we want and ask for the Holy Spirit to give us and others what we all need to know God better? “It is not enough to know God only as Savior. We must get to know Him as Father, Friend, Guide, and the better we know Him, the more satisfying our spiritual lives will be.”
In the previous illustration of William Randolph Hearst, the point that was made really makes me think, do I really know all that I have in Christ Jesus? Am I searching for or wanting something that I already have in Christ Jesus? Again, I am not referring to material things, even though there are many material blessings we can receive from God, but I am referring to those same things that Paul prays for the Ephesians. Please note the personalization in the parentheses; “….that the eyes of (my) your heart may be enlightened in order that (I) you may know the hope to which he has called (me) you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe.
Are there more or better things we as believers in Christ could continue to desire and or seek God for this new year?
Pastor John
