III. Understanding Your Spiritual Resources (Ephesians 1:15-23)

III. Understanding Your Spiritual Resources (1:15-23)

1:15-16 In the middle of Paul’s excitement about what the Ephesians have through the cross of Christ, he tells them he has never stopped thanking God for them. Then he tells them the content of his prayer.

1:17 First, he prays God would give them wisdom. Wisdom is effectively applying divine truth to the twists, turns, and dangers of everyday life. But Paul correlates the ability to be wise with the knowledge of God. Knowing God and being wise are tied together. Trying to be wise without knowing God is like flying a plane without having a control tower to help you navigate. We all need the help of someone who can see what we can’t.

1:18 Paul also prays that the eyes of [their] heart may be enlightened so they may know what is the hope of [their] calling and what is the wealth of [God’s] glorious inheritance. When you are adopted into God’s family, your life has a customized purpose. God himself has called you. Not only that, but you’re also spiritually wealthy. There are no spiritually poor people in God’s family. “Every spiritual blessing” (1:3) is banked in a deposit box with your name on it.

Because I’m a platinum flyer for an airline, I was given a booklet explaining the privileges of membership. But for a long time, I never read it. When I finally did, I found that I had privileges available to me that could make my life and travel much more convenient. A lack of awareness about what’s available to those in the family of God similarly causes people to miss out, so Paul wants the Ephesians to be aware of their family privileges. Knowing who their Daddy is has staggering implications.

Many Christians are living spiritually poor lives, while sitting on a pile of spiritual wealth. While God holds most of your spiritual inheritance for eternity, he will give you what you need now to fulfill his purpose for you.

1:19 Finally, Paul prays the Ephesians would understand what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe. Notice he didn’t say he wants them to know God’s power—but the immeasurable greatness of his power. He wants them to know that God can flip, turn, and twist things in their lives. You’re not supposed to be an average human being. If you’re a believer in Jesus, you’re a candidate to see the working of God’s immeasurably great power in your life.

1:20-23 What does this power look like? It’s the power God exercised in Christ by raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavens . . . [subjecting] everything under his feet (1:20-22). So, if your circumstances are bad, remember that God’s immeasurably great power raised Jesus from the dead. You don’t get worse circumstances than that! And that same resurrection power is available to you. Through your connection to Jesus, God can invade the circumstances of your life and demonstrate his sufficiency.

Jesus is now seated above every ruler and authority, power and dominion (1:21). You know someone who sits in “heavenly places” in the seat of highest authority, and you’re seated right there with him (2:6)! Whatever you’re dealing with, then, doesn’t have final say; it doesn’t have to define your life. Moreover, Christ has the right to override—veto—your decisions. Only if you align your life under his rule will you see his agenda demonstrated in your circumstances.

God the Father has appointed his Son as head over everything for the church, which is his body. Jesus Christ, the one who has dominion over all things (kingdom authority), has only been given to the church. So only the church, operating under Christ’s kingdom authority (i.e., headship), can give the world a picture of what life under God’s kingdom authority looks like. And as the church does this, Christ fills it with his powerful presence (1:22-23). The more the church fulfills Christ’s kingdom mission, the more the church will experience his presence and power as it infiltrates every area of society as his kingdom representative.