Rivers and ponds have one thing in common. They must continually receive rain waters from the heavens in order to sustain their existence. They must continually be replenished by their sources and fed by their tributaries. If they are not continually filled they dry up and cease to exist, at least for a season.
But notice a major difference between ponds and rivers. When filled, a pond retains everything it receives. It never gives. The rain water that flows into a pond rarely flows through a pond or beyond its borders. A pond is stagnant and it has no movement. It's a bowl. It's fixed, motionless, inactive, and lifeless. In contrast, a river is constantly receiving and giving at the same time. In the same moment that it is being filled from heaven, it is filling everything around it. It is living and dynamic, full of movement, energy, sound, excitement, and surprises.
When Paul looked at the church in Ephesus, he didn’t see a pond. He saw a river. He saw people who were continually being filled, receiving all the good things that God had in store for them through faith in Jesus Christ. They had been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ. They were chosen, holy, blameless, adopted, graced, redeemed, forgiven, included, and marked with God’s Holy Spirit.
But there was another dimension to their existence. As freely as the Ephesians received God’s blessings through faith, they gave in love to others. They refused to grow stagnant or to become an end in themselves. They refused to become a retention pond and let moss grow over all they received from God. In Ephesians 1:15-16 (NIV) Paul writes to them saying, "For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.”
Flourishing in Faith and Love
If you look closely at this verse you will notice that Paul, "heard" about their faith and love. Have you ever noticed that rivers make a lot of noise? Ponds are silent! A Christian who is full of faith and love makes noise. The apostle Paul heard the waters of the Ephesians’ faith in Jesus Christ churning, and he heard about their love for all the saints. He spontaneously gave thanks for them, remembering them in his prayers.
Have you ever noticed that there are certain Christians you continually thank God for? You find yourself thinking about them more than about others. You always hear about their faith. Their love is contagious. They are full of good works. They give. They serve. They sacrifice. They encourage. They comfort. They pray. They invest in people. They are such a blessing that you cannot get them off of your mind! Whenever you see them you spontaneously think, "Thank you, God."
But then there are those Christians you never hear or notice. Their faith is stagnant. There is moss growing over everything they have received from God. Their faith isn’t being translated into love and good works. They rarely give, or serve, or sacrifice, or encourage, or comfort, or pray, or invest in others. They just receive. It's not that you aren’t thankful for them, but you just don’t notice them! They're silent. They're not much of a presence for God. They're not filling anything beyond themselves!
But praise God for those Christians who are always receiving and giving. These are the Christians who have faith and love and who are being blessed by God, but are also blessing others. I have not stopped giving thanks for you. I’ve not stopped remembering you. Because I have heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints. What kind of Christian are you? Are you a river or a pond? Is anyone apt to hear about your faith and love? Or will they just have to assume you are a Christian because you go to church, or because you have been baptized, or because you have an "I love Jesus" bumper sticker?
I believe that everyone in this room wants to be known for his faith and love. It is extremely important that we learn how to pray for another in this regard and to thank God whenever we see evidence of faith and love in a person’s life. In James 4:2 we're told that we do not have because we don’t ask. This is often the case in prayer. We are missing out on some of God’s blessing because we do not seek it in prayer. Faith in Christ and love for people are too important to miss in prayer.
Read Ephesians 1:15-23. In Ephesians 1:17-19 we find Paul asking God to increase the Ephesians' faith.
Flourishing in Wisdom and Revelation
Ephesians 1:17 (NIV) says, "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." I am really excited about what we are doing tonight at the church. We are going to have a live nationwide broadcast piped into this room which outlines the case for a creator. For the first time in their lives, there are going to be people in this room listening to a well-reasoned defense of Christianity’s claim that, "In the beginning God created..." Genesis 1:1 (NIV).
There are atheists around us everyday who deny that God does exist. There are agnostics around us everyday who believe we can’t know if God exists. There are antagonists around us everyday who need to seriously consider the case for a creator. I want to encourage you to make some last minute calls this afternoon and get your unchurched friends and family members here before 7 PM tonight. As a follow up, we will be organizing a small group for seekers-only to discuss the content of tonight’s presentation. All of this is an attempt to reason with people and to help people know God better.
But as important as tonight is, there is something we must do that is even more important. We need to ask God to give people a spirit of wisdom and revelation. In 1 Corinthians 1:21 Paul explains how the world in its wisdom doesn’t know God. The gospel is foolishness to those who are perishing. It is suspect. It is dismissed.
But in 1 Corinthians 2:10-14 (NIV), Paul describes how, "the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned."
We do not have because we do not ask. The natural mind doesn’t grasp the things of God. There are people who will never know God because we do not ask God to give them his spirit of wisdom and revelation. There are students and professors at our local University and Community College. There are students and teachers in every public school system in our country. There are people working in your office, working with you on the construction sight, working in your building, living in your neighborhood, perhaps even living under your own roof, and there are people in this room now who do not know God or have remained only partially convinced because we have never asked God to give them a spirit of wisdom and revelation.
In our Life Groups we have put together some discipleship training journals to guide people into praying for this important thing.
Flourishing in Hope and Power
Ephesians 1:18-19 (NIV) says, "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, and his incomparably great power for us who believe."
I think that this pair of verses is just as important for us to understand as Ephesians 1:17. Paul is praying for the eyes of their hearts to be enlightened. A lot of times, we wrongly think that people reject Jesus Christ for intellectual reasons. Sometimes this is the case. But more often the problem lies deeper, in the heart. John 3:19-20 (NIV) says, "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of the light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed." Jeremiah 17:9 (NIV) says, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?"
Often the heart has reasons all its own, reasons no mind could ever understand. These aren’t rational objections to the Christian faith, but rather moral objections. People, even Christians, do not want to repent from sin. The thought of forgiving someone or of reconciling a relationship, of healing past hurts, of maintaining sexual purity, of not being controlled by liquor, of breaking a habit, of cleaning up filthy language, of telling the truth, or of changing entertainment choices is morally objectionable to them. Their sinful hearts blind them to all the excellent reasons why loving God is better than living a life of sinful rebellion against God. Thus, the need to pray for God to enlighten the eyes of one another’s heart becomes very important. God can cause the mind and heart to see things they otherwise would not.
These are great things to pray for, not just for unbelievers, but for ourselves and other Christians. In the Church, we can be so quick to write one another off. These prayers remind us that God can do in one another’s thoughts and heart things that we cannot. Give them a spirit of wisdom and revelation. Enlighten the eyes of their heart.
Now let’s go back. Notice the explicit purposes for which Paul is praying these things. He is concerned that the Ephesians know four things. See if you can identity them in these verses.
Ephesians 1:17 (NIV), "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.”
Ephesians 1:18-19 (NIV), “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, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.”
Here is what Paul wants the Ephesians to know:
- He wants them to know Jesus Christ better.
- He wants them to know the hope to which they’ve been called.
- He also wants them to know the riches of their glorious inheritance.
How can a person live a new life in Christ morally if he/she doesn't know what lies beyond the grave? Will I be forgiven? Will I have fellowship with God? Will there be a bodily resurrection? Will there be eternal rewards? Why should I renounce a life of sin? Why should I repent? Why should I pay the price of living a righteous life? Why not live for pleasure? Why not follow my own passions and desires?
- Paul wants them to know God’s incomparably great power.
How can a person live a life of faith if he/she doesn't understand God’s power? Can God do what he promises? Does he have power over life and death? Can his power truly change my life? Can his power raise my body from the grave just as it raised Christ’s body on the third day? Can his power break down Satan’s strongholds in my life and in my world?
Paul thanks God for the Ephesians' faith, but essentially prays for their faith to increase. Give them a spirit of wisdom and revelation. Open the eyes of their heart. Help them to know Jesus better. Help them to know the hope to which they’ve been called. Help them to know the riches of their glorious inheritance. Help them to know God’s incomparably great power. I’d say this is a pretty good start for those interested in praying for impact.
In Ephesians 1:19-23 (NIV), Paul gives us his most compelling argument for praying for faith. Faith unlocks the power of God in our lives. "That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way."
Why does God want us to have faith? Why does God want to give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation? Why does God want our hearts to be enlightened? Why does God want us to know him better, know our hope, know our inheritance, and know his power?
Through the Church, through those who believe in Jesus Christ, God is seeking to fill everything in every way. The Church is the fullness of God in the world. God’s power in our lives is evidenced in the way we fill our world. The greatest evidence for God’s power in our lives isn’t in what we know, but in how we live. It’s not in what we receive, but in what we give. It’s not primarily in the faith we profess, but in the love we show. Paul thanks God for the Ephesians' faith and love, but he prays for God to increase their faith. And he prays for them to be the fullness of the one who fills everything in every way.
Paul prays that the Church would be a mighty river that waters all of the earth, instead of just making a small part of it soggy and damp. Faith--- but also love.