We are Growing

If you have just tuned in to us here at St. Paul's, we just started last week journeying our way through the book of Ephesians, discovering who is the church.

And that is really the foundational, crucial question. We're looking at who we are as we look forward as a church to what God is calling us to in the next five to 10 years of our life and ministry together here to our neighbours.

Ephesians really helps us to break out of the modern concept of just this personal relationship with God that sees the church as more as a what than a who.

The church, God's called out and blessed people, is not just central to God's plans.

It is, in fact, in the book of Ephesians, at the centre of God's heart.

The Bible overflows with imagery of God's affection, his love for his church, the church being the bride of Christ.

The church is beautiful to God.

As I said last week, the 18th century American pastor and theologian Jonathan Edwards said that the whole grand scope of scripture leads you to believe that God created all things in the material universe so that the eternal son of God might be provided with a spouse.

That is God's plan for all of history.

And in the next phase of life and ministry together, my prayer is that ultimately our affections would be awakened for who God's church is and why she exists.

As Charles Spurgeon preached, nothing in the world is dearer to God's heart than his church.

therefore being his let us belong to it that by our prayers our gifts our labours we may support

and strengthen it and so in summary our plans whatever they might be for the next five to ten

years are to beautify the bride of christ which is some paul's chats with so uh we journey into

ephesians i've got three points uh this morning um as we move forward as a church our our our uh

goal is to grow as the bride of christ so three points the first one uh blessed to grow uh we saw

last week in the first pit or the first bit of ephesians one uh that god is the source of every

spiritual blessing in jesus christ god has poured out his sovereign grace through the lord jesus

and brought together and is bringing together his eternal family his bride his church his people

and the first thing that paul does as we move into the second bit is that in verse 15 is that paul

prays he gives thanks that the ephesians have in fact received every spiritual blessing in christ

they're adopted they're redeemed they're forgiven they're saved they are christian and helpfully what

he does in verse 15 is he gives us two markers to test whether or not we are in fact blessed that

we've received those blessings he mentions faith in the lord jesus and love for all god's people they're

the two tests they're the evidence when paul says i heard about these things i went ah yep those those people

are in two so the first test here is faith in the lord jesus in other words it's it's what we believe

is the first test faith is primary in fact in the bible it is always more important what you believe

than how you live it is always more important

this is crucial crucial if i stop there you'd be all it's all it'd be controversy

um what makes a person a christian is first of all primarily first and foremost what they believe

not how they live what they believe the belief that makes a person a christian is faith in the lord jesus

specifically the lordship of jesus now this is if you like the opposite of the common view of christianity

most think these days it is entirely irrelevant what you believe

it's how a person lives that really matters

but the bible says that what we believe is primary in fact the bible leads me to conclude

that the view it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you live a good life

you know uh depends on you know matters what you that that view is is illogical in fact

you see because what we truly believe deep down inside us determines how we live it determines what we do with

our lives it's in fact impossible to separate belief and life a christian believes that the bible is god's

self-revelation to humanity and as such it is true and reliable but we don't become a christian by believing that

the christian believes that obediently following jesus means a life of service and generosity and

and truthfulness and forgiveness and and a heap of other but we are not saved by a life

of service and generosity and truthfulness and forgiveness

a religious life of diligent obedience and doing the things the bible says and trying really hard can

in fact be evidence that you have no faith in the lord jesus but in fact faith in yourself

faith in your goodness faith in your ability faith in your morality

to have faith in jesus christ is to admit that you can't trust in your own strength that the bible is true and

reliable but you can't live a life of service and generosity and truthfulness and forgiveness

you can't do any of those things but you can't live the life that god has called you to

and so you finish you rest in the finished work of the lord jesus that is what it means that faith in him

you see the only reason a person is a christian is because they have trusted they have believed they

have rested in jesus christ not because of years of attendance at church or because of good doctrine or

because of bible knowledge that's the first test the second test the second marker is love and particularly

in love for all of god's people for all of god's people all of god's church so when you put these together

this is filling out the first point if you like faith in jesus is primary

love for all of god's people is necessary

primary primary necessary faith in the lord jesus will lead to a life of love for what god loves

and the implications for this are going to be explored as we go further into ephesians i'm not

going to unpack it all here the the principle though is faith is primary but practice is necessary

you see if you truly believe something in life if it if it you truly hold it as a as a deepest

sense of value and world view something that it will shape the choices that you make

but it will shape it over time it's like faith in the lord jesus is an immediate

certain thing and the life it produces it gradually shifts over time so is it possible to have faith in the

lord jesus and be inconsistent yes

is it possible to have faith in the lord jesus and do some terrible things yes

yes

so what that means is that if we are ever judgmental towards a professed christian who has failed

it means that in that moment

we've forgotten the gospel

judgmentalism towards another means that we've forgotten the gospel

and we've started to lean in on our self

faith is primary but practice is necessary what that means is that if faith is primary what it means

is you trust jesus and and you trust what the bible reveals and what it's calling you life is calling you

to

and and and that life is calling you to you will spend a lifetime of shifting that and growing into

that and what that means that if you're christian uh and you are having sex outside of marriage which

the bible says you shouldn't uh or if you are being uh if you're not being generous or if you're

gossiping and slandering or if you're not forgiving someone and growing in bitterness towards people

you should not say ah it doesn't matter that stuff doesn't matter i am saved by faith in the lord jesus christ

because faith is primary you should not say it doesn't matter

instead what you should do is you should say if my life is not changing do i really have faith

now i'm not saying that if you're you're continually battling sin in certain areas i'm not saying you're not

christian i'm just saying that you shouldn't be sure that you have faith in the lord jesus at that point in

your life that you're trusting him at that point in your life that's what i'm saying

that's an area for growth that's an area to go deeper

you shouldn't be confident you shouldn't be sure unless you are on a repentant growth track in that

area of your life

so a new life starts by faith this is what paul's doing here for us in the very first section a new

life starts by faith in jesus christ and that life grows over time that life changes us to into the image of

the lord jesus and paul starts here by giving thanks that the the ephesians have started that they are in

christ and now he prays that they will grow grow into that and that they would grow into who they already

are in christ that's the trajectory of the christian growth growing into who or who we already are

i keep asking verse 17 i keep asking 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 and i pray that the eyes of your heart

might be in light you see growth in the christian life is growing deeper

it's growing deeper it's growing deeper it's not growing in doing it's growing in who we are

as god's much-loved father the children and so therefore it is uh growing deeper knowing our

glorious father in a deeper way in a more intimate way let me try and illustrate this a little bit uh

when prince george was born to um uh william and kate uh in 2013 uh that baby little george was like

every other baby born he had no knowledge of his parents at all

uh or if you like very little knowledge of his parents he kind of knew where the milk was

that's you know uh but there's so much more to know isn't there

he had virtually no knowledge of his parents and yet when he was born he was born prince george

he was rich he had a title he had privileges he had unknown he had his future mapped out for him and he

had absolutely no idea of that when he was born and yet it was his the moment that he was born he had no

idea who his father was he had no idea who his grandfather was

and what his future was

he was second in line to the throne and yet all he cares about is the milk

and it will take a lot he's like 12 years later he's still growing into that he has more awareness

now of who he is and that he is different and that there is a future that his life is right now from the

moment he was born his future was being shaped in him

getting ready for the day that he takes the throne

that's the picture of the christian

it's a life of knowing of growing into knowing who our father is

and what that future is for us in him

and that's what paul prays here that they would know the father better and for as they grow in the

knowledge of the father their present life will be shaped based on their future

so what is the dynamic in the christian life that will affect this growth in us now it's kind of the

same for little george um he was born his future is determined and from the very get-go

his life is shaped towards that future

and so here's the dynamic of the christian life verse 18 the future that shapes our present i pray

that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope

hope is the dynamic of the christian life

that faces that that affects

our christian life now that shapes our life you see the real dynamic of the christian faith is hope

verses uh 13 14 tells us that that uh that the christian and the church receives the holy spirit

as a deposit from the future the holy spirit is the first installment of the future redemption of the

universe coming into our life right now bringing that that redemption that hope that regeneration

into our life right now shaping us now for that future it's the deposit it's the installment

now in our day the word hope is not so strong it carries a sense of uncertainty well you know i

hope it's true i hope it works out um in the new testament the word hope means a life

shaping certainty about something that is yet to happen but you know it will

now hope is not just the dynamic of the christian life it's the dynamic of the human life

you can't live without hope hope is the engine room of our lives

how we live the choices we make what we give our time and energy to how we handle our circumstances

are all shaped by our perceived future hope is the change dynamic for the christian

and the more we grow into the glorious father what happens is the more we understand the hope that we have

in him

that's specifically why paul uses the word here or the statement the glorious father he gives us an idea

of what the hope is of what the hope is by using the term we already need to say the father of our

lord jesus christ the glorious father the word glorious father the word glory there is most often in the new

testament attached to the domain of god where god resides where he is

our hope is with god in all of his glory and so we are being changed moment by moment into his glory

now paul mentions three things about this hope that i want to uh unpack firstly we're being called into

this hope verse 18 i pray the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope

to which he has called you this is simply saying that the whole goal the whole purpose of of a christian being

saved is this future hope the whole reason for salvation is future hope and the hope here

is the part of the salvation plan of god in jesus christ that we've not yet received we've received all

these other things in the first verses three to fourteen received all those things this is the bit that

we've not yet received but we are looking forward to and as we have guaranteed received everything that's in

verses three to fourteen this is guaranteed too and this hope is nothing less than life in the new heavens and the new

earth in the presence of the glorious father or as romans five puts it the hope of the glory of god and it's the

hope of sharing in that magnificence

now the second thing about this hope that is included in paul's prayer

is that it's a rich hope verse 18 i pray the eyes of your heart may be enlightened or that you may know

the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people now some english translations will take holy people and

say in his saints uh now holy people there is a reference to god's set apart people

it's it's it's a reference to all christians everyone who has faith in the lord jesus it's not a special

category of of christians you know like sometimes people will say like you know i would say my wife you

know natalie's just a saint um and uh what they mean by that is just a remarkable person um

it's true of her in two ways um both remarkable person but also in christ uh but that that's that's

not the reference here holy people saints is a reference to everyone who has faith in the lord jesus christ

and that means that this hope is for everyone in christ and what is for all christians is the riches

of his glorious inheritance uh the the word inheritance here as it really is for in our way of thinking it is

the substance of your wealth it is your entire value is is your inheritance

it's what you would leave behind when you die all of it everything

now what is astonishing here in this verse is that this isn't referring to the the inheritance that the

christian receives

it's referring to the inheritance that god receives

what

this is what god receives

his church

the plan of god to bless humanity through jesus christ and to make a new people for himself

to share in his glory for all of eternity is god's inheritance

that's how it's expressed here

that should blow our mind

let me try and illustrate it for you if i can

elon musk is the richest person in the world his net worth apparently is worth something around

670 billion us dollars uh which is nearly a trillion australian dollars depending on what the markets did on friday

um

so imagine this task you get a phone call from spacex headquarters

um steve uh your elon musk would love you to buy him a birthday present that's just going to blow his socks off

that's your one task

what do you do with that i mean how can i afford that i mean what what do you what do you get him

what do you buy how do you buy it how do you what do you do for someone who who's got the resources to access

anything in this world what could you possibly get him where he opens us on his birthday and he is broken

to tears by it and goes oh my goodness

this is more valuable to me than than my stake in space x

this is my most treasured possession

i have no idea

and so paul is referring to something here that just impossible to imagine

this is the god who owns everything in the universe his worth is displayed by the grandeur of it all

but that's not his inheritance

the swiss alps is not his inheritance the depths of the ocean the vast is the space

what is more valuable to god than everything more than the stars and the galaxies and the solar systems

his church

his people

and in case you're unsure of that

the last verse the last sentence here it just just blows your socks off

the church which is his body

the fullness of him who feels everything in every way

now what paul's doing here is using paradoxical language to get us to try and get us into the depth

of this astounding truth the church is the fullness of him who fills the entire universe

the church

the church

fills up

christ

who is the one who fills the universe in every way

how can jesus who created the universe who is

is

its head of the church

who fills everything in every way

be filled up by his church

and so the answer to this paradox

is in the metaphor of the body here

the head and the body

a head is incomplete without the body

this

astounding

i know is a word too often probably but this really is astounding

right

this astounding wonder here

calls

the theologian

john calvin to exclaim

in his

commentary on ephesians

this is the highest honor of the church

the church

that unless

he

christ

is united to us

the son of god reckons himself in some measure

imperfect

or

the language he meant there

was not only that he is imperfect but incomplete

what an encouragement for us to hear

that not only he has us

us as one with himself

is he he is complete in all his parts or does he wish to be regarded as whole

so sorry let me say what an encouragement for us to hear that not until he has us one with himself

is he complete in all of his parts or does he wish to be regarded as whole

he is praying here that god's people would be captivated by our value to god

as one commentator wrote here the whole purpose of this prayer is that god wants us to be smitten

with how rich god feels when he looks at his church

now

with all its faults now

because he sees the beauty and the majesty of his son

the glory of his son and to the degree that we understand this hope as being profoundly

personal and intimate is the degree that we will exercise self-control over sin

that we will grow into the life of obedience to christ that we've been called into and until we are

astounded by how rich god feels when he looks at us

our value to him

as his holy people his church

then we will not live the life that we are called to live as his people

we won't have the hope the joy the satisfaction

there's one t-shirt that i nearly bought recently except this i just don't agree with it

but it is funny because most other most people would agree with it it's a it's a t-shirt it's

produced by a christian company of all things

there's a picture of jesus there on the front of it with him

arm stretched out looking down at his church and the caption is disappointment the lot of you

it's often how we feel but it's not what ephesians 1 is telling us

at all

it's also important to emphasize that the christian hope is not just personal intimate

divine love uh it is it is also a material hope um we get a glimpse of that in verse 19 where there's

a quick reference when he raised christ from the dead in other words the future hope that we have

uh it is is an intimate personal relational physical hope as jesus christ is raised physically on the

third day imperishable so is the christian that is our future that is our hope it is not a spiritual

realm it's not clouds it's not harps it's not floating you see one of the remarkable differences

between the christian faith and every single other religion and philosophical system in the history of

humanity is this one only christianity declares that heaven comes down to restore and perfect the

material world when jesus was resurrected very clearly in the gospels he walked he cooked he ate he talked

he laughed he could be seen he could be touched and the christian hope therefore

is not a consolation prize in that in the end our hope is a hope where suffering is undone

our hope is a restoration of everything that we dream for in this life it is not a consolation prize

the christian hope is a restoring a very real restoring of the material life that we are so

fixated with and created to enjoy everything that we've ever wanted in life every longing every desire

of the heart comes back to us physically materially a million times over in a perfected world it is glorified

and god is working everything

because he is smitten with his church

he's in love with his church and he's longing to be with his church to embrace her to walk with her to

laugh with her to enjoy her in perfect unity

and that's why paul wants us to know the third thing

including this prayer that our hope is a confident hope because of the power of god

to bring it about not because our ability to keep in step with it but because of the power of god

paul prays the eyes of her heart might be light and so that we might know his incomparably great power

for us who believe and he says that power a bit further down is the same power as the mighty strength

exerted when he raised christ from the dead it's the power that seated jesus at the right hand of the heavenly realms far above all

rule and authority power and dominion where where god placed everything under his feet

which what that means is that jesus was resurrected triumphant placed in the position of power which means that he rules everything in the spiritual realm in the physical realm

and it's the power that he was appointed to to be head over everything for the church

what that means is that the power that jesus is exerting in ruling everything in heaven and on earth and under the earth

is to bring the church to its inheritance

every power he's exerting is for you that you might receive your inheritance

god is bringing his power to bear on absolutely everything in history for his people

to be his inheritance he's exerting his sovereignty over everything in your life and my life

that we might get our hope that he might get his church

so how do we grow in hope let me just really quickly this one i could just expand upon more and more

but let me try to be quick real quick um how do we grow in the exact same way as paul is doing here for

the ephesians pray this prayer pray that god may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you

might know him better and pray that the eyes of your heart might be enlightened

pray this prayer for yourself pray it every single day pray for the spirit of god who has been

given to you from the future and giving you a foretaste of the future that this spirit will give you

wisdom revelation that will open up to you your hope

pray for the eyes of your heart to be enlightened

that you might see and you might taste of the lord is good

of all the things that paul could have prayed for

in in in in in the new testament in his letters this is the one thing that he keeps praying for

that you would know your father better he could have prayed for their poverty and release from prison and

for safety but he prays that they would know their father better because in knowing him they know their hope

so pray and then direct your gaze to christ

um let me just he's praying for a spirit of revelation and we get that is specifically in god's

revelation what he has revealed to us in his word let me tell you as someone um i don't just have to

fight i've got adhd and i don't have to fight my adhd every day with medication i've got to fight my

spiritual adhd every day and we've all got spiritual adhd

every single day so easily distracted i've got glory in front of me in the scriptures

waiting to be unpacked waiting to be seen and i'm oh there's a bird

oh hang on a bit my calendar oh that email oh youtube oh funny thing i've just seen let me just forward that

to

immediate trivialities and glories distracting me

from real glory

my eyes are gazed and fixed on the temporary and distracting me

the way to grow as a christian is by fixing our eyes on christ and away from sin

you don't defeat sin by fixing your eyes on it you defeat sin by fixing your eyes on christ

we kill hope

by fixing our gaze on our temporary riches

because what we fix our eyes on is what we give our hearts to

meditate on christ

and your hope regularly in the scriptures fix your eyes there and ask god to exert his power

it's a spiritual exercise ask god to exert all of his mighty power so that you will not just say fixed

gazed in his revelation but that when you are

! you will see glory

fight for your hope

when you read a passage of the bible ask god ask yourself how how would i be different if i

truly believe this to be true and the knowledge will come the wisdom will come a vision of glory

will come not always not immediately but it will come pray this prayer here for yourself

constantly gaze on god in his word with jesus at the center because that's ultimately the power that will melt your

heart it will build your hope in the gospel is when you see jesus

if i might view it like this

when you pray that prayer for yourself

view it as jesus praying this prayer for you

now he didn't actually use these words but he did a very similar thing in john 17

jesus prayed that the father would call us to himself

he prayed that we would be his valued treasure

and that we would have his power and that god would exert his power to bring him to himself

and for and here's the thing for us to get all of that for us for for john 17 to be fulfilled

for for for this prayer to be fulfilled for the ephesians

jesus had to be rejected so that we could be called

he had to be cast out so that we could be called he had to be treated as worthless

so that we could be god's inheritance

he had to be broken by god's power

so that by god's power we could have life and brought to our hope

hebrews 12 says for the joy that set was set before him he endured the cross

the joy

when jesus looked to his future

he saw joy

what was that joy

us

us coming to life and hope through his death

and his despair

having his church with him for all of eternity his bride

that was his joy

that was his joy

he did that for us

so gaze in on god in his word

pray that you would know the glorious father

that light would break into your heart

that you would be overwhelmed by his love

and the future hope that he has in store for you

as of