Ephesians 1:15-19
15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that 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. 18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe.
With what attitude are we beginning the new year? Are you beginning the new year with 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 all over again. On New Year’s Day they welcome it with festivities and with personal expectations. 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 or the what we have in Christ today but 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 of 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 understand the apostle Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian Christians of what they should experience in their relationship with Christ.
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 expectations that is wonderful but what are they based on? Paul points out two points of the Ephesian Christians characteristics that indicate a maturing relationship with Christ, it was their testimony, what others were telling him that was happing in the lives of the Ephesians, “…I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints…”. Is my faith and love for other Christians growing and noticeable?
The type of faith here 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 and their commitment to Christ.
The “love for all the saints” 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 one’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 but these should never become important than our relationship with Christ and with others.
In Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian Christians lives, he does not desire that they have good health, material blessings of a happy life, even though there is nothing wrong with these. Paul desire is that God would give them “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation”. Have you ever asked God to give you more of “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 gives 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 strive for at lest 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 earlier 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? 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.
In this new year, what more or better things could we as believers in Christ in our relationship with Him need than to continue to desire and or seek God for but to know Him better intimately each day.
Pastor John
