Section two: 1.15-23

Rev. Stanley L. Derickson Ph.D.

Copyright 2004

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15 Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,

Those that suggest that this epistle was not written to the Ephesians use this verse as part of their base. Paul would have known of their faith had he meant the Ephesians because he was with them for more than two years. However, since communications were poor at best, in this day it is not hard to believe that he hadn't heard from them in a number of years and had just gotten a recent report of the goings on in the church.

Imagine your faith, your faith so great that other Christians are talking about your faith, be it corporate or individual. What sort of faith produces talk about it in another city? It must have been a great faith. I assume this is a corporate faith of the congregation at Ephesus, and that their faith had been so great in some area that the apostle had heard about it in another city or country. It is probable that some coworker of Paul's had reported to him of the condition of the church, but even then, the faith was great enough to deserve mention.

I would guess that this faith may have been in just in the fact that they still existed as a church in such a perverse city. We don't have it quite so bad in this country, but there are many countries in the world where it is a great act of faith to even meet for a service. In some countries, even to meet in secret takes great faith. Not so many years ago in Romania they baptized believers blindfolded so they could not identify the person that baptized them. It was illegal to baptize in the country. Most baptisms were performed in bathtubs in the secrecy of people's homes.

This might be a good goal for us as believers. To have a faith that will be mentioned abroad. Not that we want the attention, but that we want to serve the Lord in such a way that our faith is obvious to the observer.

This faith is not something that we can muster up to impress people; it is a part of a Godly lifestyle. Paul walked by faith when he walked across the countryside. He had no pension to live on; he had no supporters back home sending him a large portion to live on. He went from place to place looking to the Lord for his provision. At times he received assistance from the churches, other times he worked at tent making to support himself. At other times he allowed the Roman government to supply his needs by being their prisoner. You see, faith may be living on supply from God via many different sources.

Faith may be in the area of giving. The widow that cast in her mites was held as a great example of giving by faith. She gave all that she had and trusted God to provide what she needed. Faith may be in the area of serving. Giving a lot of time to the church to assist in the ministry of the church. Faith may be in the area of witnessing. Certainly to talk to a stranger about Christ takes a lot of faith - faith that the word you share will be received, faith that the Lord will nurture that word you share within the persons heart and faith that the Lord will bring forth fruit as we sow the seed.

Faith is not confined to the huge things either. We can have faith in the little things - things most people would not even pray about. Just trust God to do for you in all things not just the big things. If you can handle the little stuff, go for it, but if there is a need, God can take care of it for you.

This is not to say we just jump out into oblivion and trust Him to catch us, but as we walk with Him and as He leads us, we can be confident that all will be taken care of - He will provide.

Many are the times that we have prepared to move cross country to a new ministry/location at the Lord's leading that we had to do so entirely on faith. When heading off to college, we had some near new appliances that we could not take with us. We advertised them and all but the refrigerator sold. As the move neared we still had the refrigerator, not only was it too big to take with us, it was a good portion of the money that would keep us going through the move and finding a new job. Each day was another day with this refrigerator looking back at us.

The day before we were to load up and leave, we received a call and before the evening was up we had the cash in hand. We had trusted all to the Lord and He provided.

That wasn't quite the end of it, because when we headed to the next town to overnight at my wife's folk's place we discovered the car did not have enough power to pull the trailer that we had so tightly stuffed. We struggled to the next town in second gear and backed the trailer into the folk's driveway where we unloaded and gave away about half the load.

It was of interest; we called our home church and asked if there were any needy families in the church that could use some stuff. Several came over and the Lord allowed us to supply some of his children with their needs out of our surplus.

Faith is an interesting thing. At times we wonder if we have any, and at others we so easily display it because that is just the natural thing to do. Faith normally doesn't take a lot of effort. God asks us to do something and we say yes, and the faith is there to meet the need of the moment. When there is no need, then we wonder if we could ever muster enough faith to do anything for God.

Faith is not a commodity; it is a decision of the mind. It is simply a belief and trust in God and what He says. Faith in Christ is simply trusting that God is correct when His word tells us that the sacrifice on the cross is sufficient work for our sin. It is taking God at face value and living your life in accordance with that belief.

This is what the Ephesian Christians were doing. They were living a godly life in an ungodly civilization - much as we must do today. We must stand against that sinful world, but we must also operate within it and trust God to take care of us in all our needs within that ungodly mess.

It is trusting Him to care for your children in the ungodly humanistic school system (do not take that wrong, I know there are believers in the school system, but there are many ungodly corrupt teachers in the system as well). It is trusting that we will have financial provision in a very unstable economy when your job is not very secure, when corporations with no ethics are raiding their employees and customer’s accounts. It is putting our trust in God for all your life's needs; it is looking to His overabundant ability to supply your every need in this life as well as the next.

Paul also mentions their great love for all the saints - ALL - all the saints. This is the agape, or self giving, love not the brotherly love. The Ephesian believers loved all the saints with a self sacrificing love. That is quite a statement of Paul's. It is not even too easy to love all the saints in your church with a brotherly love, much less a love that would cause us to sacrifice for all believers in our church.

This is another strong statement of the bond believers should have among one another in our churches today. I am not sure how you foster this sort of love in a church of any great size however. We are to care for one another. A good study of this subject would change your church. Just sit down with a concordance and list all the references where the phrase "one another" is listed then read each passage and note how we are to treat others in the church.

If you don't want to take the time to do it yourself, I have a short study on the subject on my website.

16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;

"Thanks" is the Greek word "Eucharisteo" which simply means thanks, or to give thanks, or be thankful. It is the word that eucharist comes from. The eucharist is the "body" that the Roman church offers - the actual body of Christ that it offers often in the mass, that literal actual body, in their minds, that they offer.

It is of note in my mind that Webster in his 1828 dictionary uses the term in a positive protestant way. "The sacrament of the Lord's Supper; the solemn act or ceremony of commemorating the death of our Redeemer, in the use of bread and wine, as emblems of his flesh and blood, accompanied with appropriate prayers and hymns." He also lists the thought of giving thanks.

Giving thanks for the Lord's sacrifice would be the thought of the term. This brings to mind a question that only history can answer. Did the church through the ages consider the Lord's Table a table of thanksgiving? Was the purpose of the Lord's Table thanksgiving?

Since the Lord called it a remembrance, then I would think if thanksgiving is a part of it, it is a lesser part than remembrance. In all the observances I have been to, the prayers always reflect a thanksgiving for the shed blood and broken body of the Lord, but where does that come from within the context of a remembrance observance?

The term is always, as far as I can tell, related to thanking God in the New Testament. It is used in relation to the Lord's Table observance. Thus, it would seem that it should be an integrated part of that observance. We are to remember the sacrifice of the Lord, and this would almost automatically bring us to a point of thanksgiving for what He has done for us.

This brings another question to mind. Why was Christ giving thanks when observing the Lord's Table with the apostles? He had no reason to thank God for his broken body and shed blood. Or did He? Since God the Father would give all the redeemed to Christ, He might have been looking forward to the completed work and the knowledge of what He had provided for all those that soon would be His.

First of all the term is not exclusively used with the Lord's Table. It is used at the miracle of the fish and loaves in Matt. 15.36 which relates only to thanksgiving related to the food table, so to speak.

The fact that the word is used elsewhere in situations not relating to the Lord's Table, it would seem that giving thanks for items received at the food table is the natural thing for us to do. At the Lord's Table there is special significance and it certainly moves one to thank God for Christ's provision. We thank Him for food at the food table, so we should thank Him for what we receive at the Lord's Table, the juice and bread that remind us of the Lord's sacrifice for us.

Paul knows of their faith and prays for them. He mentions his requests in the next verse, but at this point considers what it would be like to have someone like Paul praying for you. Not only is he thanking God for them, he is interceding on their behalf as well. That would be a big confidence builder to me to know he was thankful for my assembly and that he wanted to pray for it.

Years ago I stopped in at a small church for a meeting. A church that I was totally unacquainted with. After the meeting I was standing at the back door greeting people and an old couple walked up. The man opened his Bible and displayed one of our prayer cards and said, "We are still praying for you."

I was unable to talk to the couple over and above a short greeting and thank you. I often wondered about two things. First, where they had gotten our prayer card, as it was about three years old, and I don't think that I had ever met them. Secondly, I wondered at length what it was that caught their attention with us to cause them to pray for us for three years without having any current information about us. They were not on our prayer letter list so had no real contact with us.

At any rate, I have to tell you I was so greatly encouraged with that simple comment, "We are still praying for you." What a boost to my week to know that I had that old couple on my side before the Lord. What a ministry they had to me and I did not even know it.

17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:

Now, to the specific prayer requests. That they would be given a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God. Spirit of wisdom seems easy enough, the spirit or way of life that is wise - living wisely. As to the revelation in the knowledge of God, I would assume that they would have a knowledge of God from the revelation they have, both natural (Romans one) and written, the Old Testament. The New Testament had not been gathered at this point and the letters were recognized as only letters at that time.

There is nothing in the original language to change that assumption. The term for revelation is the normal word that would indicate information revealed to them. Some in our current society would say that God is still in the revelation business but this is not so.

I had an email recently from someone that had been told by those that had prophecies from God that God was going to appear to the young person. As time went on the young person became quite fixed on the coming revelation and overworked and under fed himself into exhaustion. This resulted in a lot of fear and confusion. Does that really sound like something God wants for His children? Not in my understanding of God.

He is not the author of confusion and that is usually what comes when people claim that He has revealed something to them. Indeed, isn't that spirit of wisdom supposed to fit in here somewhere - if the people used the Word wisely they would not make these foolish statements to others.

Revelation is complete and in the Word for us in this day. That revelation has all He wants us to know in this life, other than His will for our lives and this information, many times comes from the Word as well. He does lead and guide via the Holy Spirit through the Word and peace.

I must wonder where the spirit of wisdom is in our day in the church. This week I saw one of the major evangelical preachers hocking a series of studies on an infomercial. How to succeed at life, for the viewer was the promise. The lost cannot understand the Word of God so why hock the Lord's wares to the world? God is in the business of preparing His people not the Devils.

The confusion in the church today is so great I wonder if we will ever dig our selves back to a proper Biblical base. Now and then I see indication that some are finding their way out of the quagmire and back to a Biblical footing, but so many are just tumbling into the mess.

It is hard to distinguish a conservative church from a charismatic church anymore. I told a young mother that was praising the work of one of the major Charismatic evangelists that the man was a charismatic and the shock on her face was revealing enough; she had no idea that her children were involved in a charismatic organization.

Her church, a conservative church according to their name was recommending these organizations to the parents as outlets for their children. I am sure that some of the church leaders had little idea of the charismatic nature, or else they did and did not care that they were mixed up in the confusion.

Another leading charismatic was having a national prayer day push and had talked most of the major evangelical preachers into signing on - confusion is rampant - how will these evangelicals’ followers know that they shouldn't contribute, listen to and support these charismatics? They won't and then the evangelical leaders will wonder why there is confusion in their churches.

I have a study on wisdom on my website if you want to see what the Bible says Paul was praying God would give to the Ephesians. It was one of the most wonderful gifts that he could request for them, from the Lord. Wisdom is pictured in the word as to be desired, it is pictured as more valuable than all those things we often seek after.

Wisdom is what is needed in our churches today. Wisdom would lead us out of the confusion we call worship today, it would lead us out of the shallowness of our Bible studies, it would lead us out of the questionable doctrines that are being embraced.

Some would question my comment about the shallowness of Bible study in the church, but just go and listen carefully to most any sermon today, most any television message or most any Sunday school class. Go to any Christian book store and look for a reference or a commentary or a theology section. If there is one it will be stocked with little in the way of real information.

Scholarship used to indicate deep study and time involved in the Word, but today it indicates a surface look at a verse or two and a lot of "thoughts" from the author. Scholarship used to indicate honest study; it used to indicate proper footnoting of resources, it used to indicate honest straightforward study and footnotes. Today a proper footnote is an option to many preachers. I have seen discussions on internet boards where people feel quoting without footnoting, use of outlines, even complete studies by other men as your own is all right.

One man mentioned a guest speaker that used the church copier to copy the morning’s message he was going to deliver from a book of sermons. He preached, or rather read from the copied pages. This is terrible in case anyone out there cares! It is illegal, it is not spiritual and it is unethical. How many more ways must it be wrong to catch someone’s attention. This man was a part of the confusion that we call Christianity today. Maybe we should call it Confusianity, because there is little Christian about it any more.

Might I be so bold as to point out that the way out of the confusion is the wisdom and knowledge mentioned in this verse? The knowledge seems to be knowledge of God and that is where many today are in a mess, they know little of the God that they purport to serve.

The church today truly needs the wisdom of the God that they serve, and they need to get to know Him that they would serve. A proper knowledge of God and His Word would go a long way toward clearing the confusion of today.

Indeed, this seems to be the implication of the following verse. The wisdom and knowledge should bring light to the understanding or the mind. Wisdom from and knowledge about God, will clear the fog that is in your mind. You will be able to see more clearly.

I mentioned a woman that had been seeking the charismatic super blessing that finally was saved out of her lost condition. Her vision was suddenly twenty twenty when she got the fog out of the way. She immediately started growing in the Lord.

Only by knowing Him can we understand and serve Him.

18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

Now, that they are enlightened they will know the hope of His calling. The new believer knows that they have been called out of sin to newness of life, and the saved person that is not mature, will begin to learn of the calling, the salvation that he is involved with - he will understand the hope that he has in Christ, that Christ has paid it all, that all is prepared in the next life for us and that we will one day be with Him in glory.

Not only will they begin to understand the salvation, but all that is entailed in that salvation when it comes to the next life. We will have a glorious time and life with Christ in the eternal state. This is our inheritance because we are children of God.

This is some of that knowledge that I was speaking of - if Christians really garnered in this information they would live more like Christians (residents of heaven) rather than as the lost (residents of hell).

I have never understood why people can't grasp the concept of Christ when He said that we can't serve two masters. Either we serve Him and things heavenly or we serve the Devil and things earthly. It isn't hard to see where many Christians are today. You can't tell them from the world, they live like the world, they talk like the world and they act like the world; for all practical purposes they are lost. They are serving mammon rather than God.

Wisdom from God; oh how nice it would be. James tells us that it is very hard to come by. James 1.5 "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all [men] liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." See that proves it God is an ogre; He places such high standards on us becoming wise. We have to ask Him for wisdom; how difficult can it get?

We have no excuse not to have the wisdom and knowledge mentioned, it only takes the asking for wisdom and some reading for the knowledge. Both are available to the average person, you don't need Greek and Hebrew, you don't need great volumes of commentary, you only have need of prayer and reading of the Word.

I heard an account of an old man many years ago that was asked a very serious question by his young pastor. The pastor was interested in knowing how to know God's will. He mentioned that in the Old Testament there was the Urim and Thumin for determining the wishes of God. The old man thought carefully and then wisely replied, "I've always found that God reveals His will to me by Usin and Thumbin."

What wisdom, the wise "usin and thumbin" of the Word is our key to knowing God and what He wants for our lives.

19 And what [is] the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,

There are two words translated “power” in this verse. The first “power” is related to our word dynamite, the force or power within something; while the second term translated “power” relates more to the position of power or the ability to produce. It can also be translate dominion. The president of the United States by position of office has a position of power, while he also has armed forces at his command that would relate to the first word for power.

Here we see the working power of God is that which is expended for us, while the position power is the basis for all that He does. It should be of great comfort that He expends such power on the behalf of believers. Not only does He do for us, but for us exclusively. We are important enough to Him to bring about his action on our behalf.

Because of His position, that position of calling us to salvation, that position of sending His Son to die for us and that is the position that He has. Because He is busy within our lives, He is also assuring that His plans are carried out, even to the exercise of His power to assist and protect us.

A very loose application might run along the lines that those in authority over us in the church have the position of power so to speak, and they should expend their power, their energies on our behalf not upon their own desires and ambitions. So the parent should do for their children rather than for themselves or their personal desires.

God loved us, God planned for us, God provided for us, and God is expending energy for us. That makes us pretty special in my mind! He cares for us to the point of taking care of us.

20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set [him] at his own right hand in the heavenly [places],

The context here is speaking primarily of Christ and the Father. The text states that this same power which takes care of us was used in the resurrection of Christ. We know from other passages that all three in the Godhead were instrumental in Christ's resurrection, but here we are viewing primarily the Father and His actions. (II Cor. 13.4 mentions Christ lives by God's power. See Rom. 6.4, 10.9 also.)

Rom. 8.11 mentions that the Spirit was involved in the resurrection. "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." (See also Ro 1:4; 1Pe 3:18.)

John 2.19 indicates that Christ was planning on being an integrated part of raising Himself from the grave. "Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." (See also Jo. 2:19; 10:17, 18; Ro 1:4; 1 Pe 3:18).

In the mix of this power and resurrections I Cor. 6.14 gives evidence of our own coming resurrections. "And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power." (II Cor. 4.14 also)

Specifically the power of verse nineteen is the same power that was involved in raising Christ from the grave. Not a plain old low octane power but a very high octane power - a power that was able to thumb its nose at death itself. That's the power we have on our side. The use of this power in raising the Lord is most likely the specific work that God did on the behalf of the believers in verse nineteen.

We see this thought in the book of Romans where Paul says, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." Rom. 1.16

The last portion of the verse pictures God setting Christ down at His right hand in the heavenlies. As we have seen, this is in the heavenly tabernacle, the throne of God. It may be significant that God said at His "own right hand" so there is no mistake as to the person on the throne. This is similar to the text we saw in our last section relating to Christ ascending into heaven where it says in Heb. 10.12 "But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;" See also Heb. 8.1 "Now of the things which we have spoken [this is] the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;"

21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

Some early Christians tried to suggest that these were divisions of angels, showing a hierarchy of the angelic host, but there is nothing in the text to indicate that this was what Paul was getting at. The words themselves seem quite clear that this is just showing the extent of what is being spoken of in the verse.

Paul tells us a little bit about the location of this heavenly tabernacle - FAR above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion. FAR above all names in this life and the next. Guess that tells us that the high paid preachers won't be above Christ when we get there, nor will the arrogant congregant that thought he was the Lord's gift to man, no one. Christ will be exalted above all. God said it, and God will do it because it is in His plan for the ages.

Principality relates to beginning, or the first in a line. Paul may have had the thought of the Caesars and their lineage through history. It is translated beginning forty times while only eight times is it translated principality.

This is another Greek word translated "power" that means authority or power. Back to our illustration of the president of the United States, he has the power or office, he has the troops to command, and he has the AUTHORITY to use them. He has the right and power to command the troops.

"Might" is that word relating to dynamite that we have seen previously.

What a declaration of the exaltation of Christ that has already taken place such a short time after the cross. There are some aspects of this yet to come, but He was taken to sit with the Father in all His glory to show the powers of the world that He was Lord over all.

This is one of the passages that one would use to show that the Devil knows his time is short, that He is in big trouble, and that he must do his damage now if he is to do any at all.

One might assume, also that this is a passage which indicates that the heavenlies are above the celestial universe. This relates to the third heaven that Paul mentions. There is the sky, the universe and then the heavenlies.

22 And hath put all [things] under his feet, and gave him [to be] the head over all [things] to the church, 23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

And we come to that which has been mentioned, that Christ is the head of the church and we are part of His body. We also see that ALL things are placed under His feet and He is head over ALL things to the church, not just the figurehead - He is over all transactions, all plans, all conflicts, all everything in the church and He should not be left out of any of those items nor any other item related to the church.

Note that this is a past occurrence and it is finished, He is the Head, He is over all and it is not open for discussion.

The term translated "head" has an interesting explanation in the lexicon. It explains that the loss of the head stops life in the body. It is said that when they used the guillotine, the person's mind kept functioning for a few seconds after the head was removed from the body. This illustrates the importance of a connected head. Relate that now to the church. A church without Christ as the head may be full of activities, but it is dead and no amount of rationalization or argument can change that fact. There can be no real direction, there can be no real leading, and there can be no real life.

A church run by the people with no interest in checking with Christ is dead.

The term translated church is "ekklesia" meaning a gathering of people; in this context the gathering of God's people. Not the building, but the people. I doubt that Christ is interested in being the head of bricks and mortar, even though He is the chief cornerstone. He would definitely opt for the living church, His people.

APPLICATION:

1. In verse seventeen Paul uses a strange phrase. "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,” It is as though Paul thought the readers may not have known God the Father. The God of our Lord. Christ Himself spoke of God in such a manner so it may be just a way of speaking in the day and culture in which they lived.

Matt. 27.46 "And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Christ spoke of the Father being His God.

John 8.46 "54 Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God:" Again the personal "my Father."

John 20.17 "Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and [to] my God, and your God." My Father and my God both are used in the same breath.

In John 20.28 Thomas uses the same terminology. "And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God."

Yet, in John 10.27-30 He not only uses the terminology, but He also identifies Himself as one with the Father. 29 "My Father, which gave [them] me, is greater than all; and no [man] is able to pluck [them] out of my Father's hand. 30 I and [my] Father are one."

He had that same wonderful relationship that we have now, or should I say we have that same wonderful relationship that Christ had with His Father when He was here on earth.

The point I'd like to make here is that Paul may have been teaching some very important doctrine in these words. In Paul's day the gentile converts would not have had the background that the Jewish converts had in their knowledge of God, indeed the Jews may not have been well taught in the Fatherhood of God. Paul may have been disclosing some information - this Christ that has saved you has a Father in heaven, your Father.

It is clear from church history that the early church had some real growing to do in the area of theology. They went through a long period of sorting out just who Jesus was, was He all God, was He all man, was He both in one body, was He neither without a body, just who and what was He. After they had sorted Christology out, they started on the Holy Spirit and who or what He or it was.

In a sense we are still sorting some of this information out in our own day. We have been refining things a little ever since the councils of the early church set down their thoughts on the subjects. Thus it wouldn't be surprising that the listener was gaining information about God the Father for the first time in this letter.

I think that Paul's every word had new information for some of the believers.

2. Later in verse seventeen it mentions "knowledge of him" - I would agree with Barnes on this phrase when he says "That is, in order that you may more fully acknowledge him, or know him more intimately and thoroughly. They had already made high attainments, (Eph 1:15,) but Paul felt that they might make still higher; and the idea here is, that however far Christians may have advanced in knowledge and in love, there is an unfathomed depth of knowledge which they may still explore, and which they should be exhorted still to attempt to fathom"

I don't think any believer ever knows all there is to know about God, nor of God. There is a difference in those two. You can know all about God but not know Him. There is the mental and there is the experiential and both are needed to really know God.

We should always be learning more about God as we walk with Him and as we study His Word. The Word is so full of information about Him and we need to be gaining that knowledge so that we might better serve Him.

So often I have heard old saints tell me that they just keep learning about God, they keep learning new things from the Word.

My question to the reader is this - are you ever-learning about the God that you serve? Are you gaining knowledge about Him that you would serve? Are you in His Word daily so that you have opportunity to learn of Him? I trust you can answer yes to all of these questions.

3. Verse eighteen struck me very personally when I read it over and over for this study. "The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,"

When I was in high school, a pastor took me into his office after an evening service, yes, left the congregation to leave without greeting the congregation good-bye; anyway he shared the Gospel with me and I accepted the Lord that evening. The point? This verse was not a priority with this pastor. I left his office and there was little further contact with me over the next months until I went off to four years in the Navy.

There was no discipleship, and there was no instruction. I had no idea what being saved meant; I had been in Sunday school for years and knew all the Old Testament stories and the accounts of the Lord's earthly ministry, but I had never been taught of Him that would save me, or of how He would save me. I was never taught of the glories of heaven nor the blessedness of that hope.

Oh, how great some of that knowledge of my salvation and my God would have been to help me through the hard times in the Navy, to help me say no to some of that sin, and to help me to know how to walk with Him. Yet, nothing of this was ever given to me. What a wasted four years because no one bothered to assist in opening my eyes of understanding to God whom I had embraced.

4. Verse twenty-three mentions "fulness of him that filleth all in all" which most believe speaks to Christ's omnipresence. The fact that He is everywhere and that there is nowhere that He is not. This is true of God in general, not only the Son. We the church, are the fullness of an omnipresent God. We are the best He can do through and with man. We are the true representation of Christ on earth. Now, look at the church today. Are you proud of how we, the believers of the world, are representing Christ on earth today? I trust you see that we could do better - a lot better.

The church may be growing somewhat but in relation to population growth, the church is in its march toward death. We aren't keeping up with population growth in any way. The church is becoming a smaller and smaller portion of the world's population.

Not only are we growing smaller in numbers we are growing less effective. The church used to be a powerful force in the United States political system. Morals had meaning once here in America. Once homosexuality was viewed as wrong, but the country is starting to see it as it is advertised - a different lifestyle.

In the 2004 presidential election they said that the Christians in America were the cause of Bush’s reelection. What they didn't say was the fact that around one third of those Christians in America voted for Kerry. The Christian standard is being lowered in this country and the truth of morals is being eroded greatly.

There was a day that this country would not have tolerated the lies, name calling, and the personal attacks related to this campaign. In our local news media the Bush administration was likened more than once to Hitler's Germany. That would have not even been thought of fifty years ago in this country. We had a moral compass that said no to such slander.

Moral compass - something that few know exists, much less know how to operate in this country today.

5. In verse seventeen we see that God the Father is the God of all glory, or that all glory should be shown to him. As we praise God we should direct it to Him. Some might wonder at the hierarchy within the Trinity. God the Father seems pre-eminent as the planner, caller, predestinater, and now we see that He is to receive the glory. If you remember, the glory seems to shift to the Son at a point in time as all things are put under the Son's feet.

Though there are many similarities within the Godhead there is a clear distinction between the members of the Trinity. Indeed, if one wanted to try to split things up fairly, the Spirit is totally left out of the glory thing - we are never told to give Him praise, just follow His instruction, leading and teaching.

First of all, the members of the Trinity agreed upon this system or positioning within themselves in eternity past. Secondly, they are completely comfortable with the positioning as it is. Thirdly, they will be eternally completely comfortable with the positioning that they have in that era. Indeed, we do not know for sure what positions they may or may not have in the eternal state. It may be that they return to an equal footing as I would guess the footing was pre-creation.

I suspect that the positions became a necessity to work within time and with man. All three members of the Godhead took upon themselves specific roles within the creative process and the outworking of that process to bring the elect to the place to which The Three wanted the elect to be.

It may be that in the eternal state that we will offer praise to all Three as we realize fully all that they did for us on an individual basis. I don't think any of us really understand all that the Spirit does within our lives as we allow Him freedom to work. I don't think any of us really understand the minute ways

God the Father is active in our lives, not to mention all that Christ did on the cross for us - if we could truly understand that I think we would lead much different lives than we do.

6. We won't discuss wisdom at length, but I liked Constable's definition. He says that wisdom is the accurate perception of reality. We all can perceive reality, but do we do it accurately? Do we really understand reality clearly enough to know what it is and what we ought to do with it?

Wisdom is a very interesting study in the Scriptures. The Word has a lot to say about the topic and I think few of us really take time to understand all the ramifications of wisdom and how we relate to it. After all, wisdom will run counter to the many and varied plans that we make in life. It will dictate different choices in life, in action and in all that we do. It will make us want to commit ourselves to walking with God and make us want to follow His every direction. That indeed, will be counter to most of what man in America will come up with on his own.

7. Again, in verse seventeen we noticed the idea of our knowledge of God. Now, I warn all of you that deride theology and think it is for the brainiacs of our time, you are totally incorrect. The word translated knowledge means an exact knowing, or an exact knowledge of God, not just enough to get that fuzzy warm feeling cooking so you can do a feel good hour on Sunday, but an exact knowing of Who and What He is and how all that knowledge relates to YOU!

Scarrrryy isn't it folks? We are to study God, we are to study Christ, we are to study the Holy Spirit, and we are to study theology - did you notice that we just mentioned the three main sections to theology proper. A study of GOD so that we can know about Him and so that we can know Him.

The inference to me is that if we don't know about Him we can't really know Him. We might have met him in passing in salvation, but we know little about Him and must sit at the pool of theology to get to know Him in a more intimate manner.

So many times I have heard preachers dismiss theology, or demean those that like to study it only to turn around and start talking about a point of theology that they would not know about without knowing theology - or simply, knowing about God.

Constable calls this knowing as the "total apprehension of God."

8. Building on the previous point, our fellowship with God will be dependant on how well we know Him, and since our fellowship with Him is a guide to our fellowship with other believers let us think along that line for a moment.

We have been attending a new church for several months on and off. The pastor is quite cool to people that happen upon the church steps. There has never, ever been a personal eye to eye meeting of minds with us. We have had the casual good morning from the pastor most mornings when we arrive, but no further talk for the most part. We have suffered through one greeting time after another where we were warmly welcomed and greeted, only to be returned to the coldness of unresponsiveness after the service.

There has been absolutely no desire on the part of the church people to get to know us. Yes, there may be a fear from our society about strangers, but how do we get past that fear if we remain strangers? How can we know someone if we don't spend some time with them?

I trust you will consider something further in the way of getting to know some of your church members, take some time to "know" them in an exact and complete way.

One of the hallmarks of the Mormon Church is their caring for one another. If someone has a terrible loss or need, usually within a day or two the entire church mobilizes around that need and sees to it that the need is filled, or the loss is comforted. This type of ministry to one another can only be accomplished by people knowing people, not in just a hello, how are you manner, but in a complete and accurate knowing. This takes time and contact.

I would suggest that if we know Him as we ought, then we will know how to know others if we have the desire and will to do so.

9. Deffenbach has an interesting question to introduce this section. He asks if our prayers would qualify for inclusion in Scripture, or would they only be of a quality to be included in the National Inquirer.

What do you think? How would your prayers fair? I was thinking about my own prayer life last evening and was not impressed. More like a want list rather than a time of thanksgiving, praise and request. There are a lot of needs to be brought before the Lord and we often forget the other sides of prayer.

I was thinking back to a time when I was in a Bible study/prayer time with three other men, and we often fell into the same "request trap" because we were so concerned about the many problems in the families involved in the church.

We need to balance God's need to know and our requests. He knows all the needs - He was listening when we wrote out our prayer lists together so, not sure that we need to belabor that side of prayer. He also needs to know that we are thankful for all the previous answers to prayer as well as our desire to serve Him and praise Him.

Yep, my prayer list of late would probably well qualify for being published in a grocery list - will be working on that from now on.

In a related topic, Paul made known to the people what it was that he was praying for. I wonder how it would affect missionaries to get a letter every month or two telling them that the church was praying for boldness of speech for them, or for opportunities to witness, etc. It would definitely encourage the serious missionary to know that people were behind him, while for the less serious missionary, there might be a sharp prod to do better when reading such a letter.

What an example for churches - pray for missionaries, let them know that you are praying, and let them know what you are praying. Now on the more delicate side, how about letting your pastor know you are praying for him, and then tell him how and what you are praying for in his life. That should be an eye opener for your pastor, especially when you tell him you are praying that he will start including meat for the saints in his messages.

Yes, this concept can encourage greatly while causing some reconsideration of one's life.

10. I have given mention that we might want to pray to all members of the Trinity, but I think this passage gives us good reason to aim most of our prayers toward the Father. He is the prime mover in all of this passage and this is the direction that Paul seems to be praying. We might remind ourselves of the Lord's prayer when Christ taught the apostles to pray, "Our Father" is the introduction.

God has set all into action, it is He that is guiding the plan of the ages and it is God that gave His Son to accomplish these ends in His plan. It is God that has placed Christ as the head of the church to give us direction, thus we should seek our direction from Him for our lives.

11. Verse fifteen mentions that not only is Paul praying for the saints at Ephesus, but others are also. Other believers are praying for their church, that it would grow and prosper.

What an application. How many other churches are you praying for? Do you know of any that you are on good enough terms with to know how to pray for them? Usually the only churches we know anything about are the ones that we have left and don't feel like praying for. Maybe that is a good time to start praying for them - if they are bad enough to leave they surely are bad enough to need your prayers.

I have been in fellowships of churches where they didn't even pray for one another.

Ought we not pray for other churches in our area that want to reach the area for Christ? It isn't competition; we can surely find converts enough for all the churches without snubbing one another in the prayer closet.

I would like for you to just read through that passage again and just bask in all that God has done for us in salvation. Take time to consider how important He has made us in His plan. Take time to contemplate what the riches of our inheritance will be. I doubt we have a hint of what is yet to come in the next life.