God's Plan Involves Power - Ephesians 1:15-23

God’s word is true! Last Sunday we learned that God’s plan is eternal and today’s lesson tells us that “GOD’S PLAN INVOLVES POWER.” This is not just the kind of power required to lift, pull, or move stationary objects, but it includes all powers available including the supernatural power required to create all things that are from required materials that were nonexistent at that time. For in the beginning the earth was null and void—and from this condition of nothingness—God created ALL that now is. If you believe God’s word to be truth, then you believe or accept this fact by and through your faith. God is sovereign which means that He has always existed. God is omnipotent, [almighty/ all powerful], omnipresent, [always present in time and space] and is omniscient, because He knows all things. God is veracity which means that everything that he has ever said is perfect truth.

Saul was a Jew legally persecuting Christians when God found him on the road to Damascus. [People do not find God. He finds us.] [If you are a Christian—God found you. How? The Holy Spirit invited you. The encounter on the Damascus road left Saul blind and troubled. When he completed the instructions God gave him, he was a new creature, and he was now Paul the Apostle, a new creature in Christ Jesus. In this lesson today, Paul is an itinerant Christian missionary who has traveled from city to city preaching Christ and Him Crucified. He has already visited the Ephesians twice, while he was on his second and third missionary journey.

The second meeting was one to be remembered and the account tells us that there was great love and respect for him. You can learn much more about this final meeting by reading his farewell address to the Ephesians elders in Acts 20: 18-35. “After he said this, he knelt down and prayed with all of them. There was a great deal of weeping by everyone. Embracing Paul, they kissed him, grieving most of all over his statement that they would never see his face again” [acts 20: 36-38].

Now, hit your fast-forward button in time and you will find that he is now a Roman prisoner “in chains” in a prison in Rome, Italy. As a prisoner, he could not visit them again in person, and so he wrote this letter to them. The letter was no doubt shared with other believers in other early churches and we know that under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit it was intended for all believers everywhere and in all earthly time yet to come, which includes all Christian churches today. You and I have never received a personal letter from anyone else, that was more timely and important, and even stained by Paul’s tears.

One of the greatest statements ever made started in verse 3 and ended with verse 14. It covered the problem we have in knowing that we know God, Christ the Lord, and the Holy Spirit and UNDERSTANDING that they are one in three or three in one, all the same but serving and working differently. The Apostle seems to turn now to the Ephesians [and to all Christians everywhere, then and forever] to show the application of what he has been saying.

Remember now, that this is a personal letter that has a practical purpose. Paul was not a theologian that sits down to write a theological disquisition; which is a formal inquiry or discussion, but his object was to help Christians be strengthened and encouraged in their daily lives. Paul believed that the best way to help Christians is to teach them the true doctrines of the Faith and then to apply the doctrine to his students. I think Paul was right and I do not believe he failed, but I believe that we have failed to the point that this is the most dangerous problem in the church today. I believe that far too many so called believers do not actually know and understand biblical doctrines. Most of you will say, “I believe in God” but that is not enough!

Paul had heard that the saints had not only entered into the Christian life but that they were continuing in it. [Remember the two test of a Christian are faith and love]—he had heard that they had both faith and love for each other. How can you know you are a Christian? How can others know that you are a Christian? You are, only if you have a saving faith and love your fellow man, especially your brothers in Christ. The danger of missing the mark here is what the biblical definition of faith and lover really is. No pun here…and no politics here either, but you even must know what “is” really means. You may say you are a Christian. People may believe that you are a Christian. However these are not the proofs. What is the truth?

There are many other ways to judge a man, but Paul says that these two tests are really the only ones needed. Note that faith regards what you believe and in whom you believe and love refers to what you practice. They go together and simply stated we are dealing with faith and works, and James tells us that without faith the other is dead. Paul states that faith comes first and must be in the Lord Jesus, but it must be followed by love. To have faith in the Lord Jesus means that you trust him utterly, entirely, and absolutely without any hesitation or reservation. It is the Lord Jesus and what He did for us in his life on earth, on the Old Rugged Cross, in the grave, in his resurrection and ascension that paid our sin debt and made our salvation free. Without the Lord Jesus and the cross there would be no salvation.

We must not put our manner of living in the first place. There are many good…moral…benevolent…lovable people that may even be your closest neighbors—but they are not Christians. On the other hand there are many who do not claim to be Christians; they may be violent opponents of the Christian faith—but in regards to their daily life and their treatment of others, they may seem to be good people. These statements let us know that this is not the point of our beginning. These attributes are only valid when used in the obituary of one who has died without knowing Christ as Lord. It is so sad to read that a great man has died, and left a vast array of good deeds that he has done, but the writer can not truthfully say that he had a saving faith in his Lord and Savior and loved his fellowman. We must do a word study and pay attention to every term the apostle used. Far too many today just pick and choose what they want to pertain to their salvation—and this will not work. It is very important to note that Paul has already referred to THE LORD JESUS fifteen times in this chapter. These two words refer to the same person, but are not the same in total meaning. Jesus is our Savior but he must also be the Lord of our life. Paul is saying that He has several names—but it is absolutely necessary that we acknowledge the minimum of names…our LORD AND SAVIOR.

Now look at the second term in the test—LOVE. It is hard to love everyone, even your enemies, and only a Christian can do that. Peter in 1:22 says “See that ye love one another with a pure heart reverently. Surely, if any man can do this he must have a new nature. John said in 3:23 “This is His COMMANDMENT that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another.”

Our lesson today is entitled GOD’ PLAN INVOLVES POWER and we have now come to the Apostle’s third particular prayer for the Christian. It is clear that the Epistle is emphasizing the power of God in the saints rather than the power which God gives to the saints. This introduces two different views. The first is that salvation is the result of something I do, plus the power that is given to me by Jesus—my power or me plus the power of God. The second view is that salvation is the result of God’s power at work in me and through me, and I believe this is what Paul means. Paul is emphasizing the power of God in us.

Surely I also believe that God gives us strength and power, and we would be fruitless and desperate without it. If that were the question at hand we should teach it with all sincerity and belief, and I would.

Paul is deep and very clever and there is no doubt that it is because of his deep inspiration from God. He makes it clear that the call itself is founded on the character of God. Then he has given us a glancing view of the transcendent glory for which we are destined and now he is helping us to recognize the power of God working through us. In his prayers the apostle is concerned about Christians. He knows that Christians are redeemed and safe but he still prays for us all the time. He prays, not that they be saved, but that they may constantly gain a deeper understanding and knowledge of what the Christian life really is and what possibilities it has for all believers. He offered two prayers and this last one became inevitable.

It can not be avoided because not even a Christian can fully understand what inheritance and glory we will have without understand the power of the source—God. We dimly understand the glory waiting, and we fully understand our sinful nature and we are automatically doubtful that our future can be so beautiful. Have you ever thought in the back of your mind—“surely this is not all possible for me.” The weakness in our understanding and knowledge of the gospel truths are the devils tools to cause us to be doubtful. It is not an unpardonable sin to doubt. It is a sin for one to continue doubting without studying God’s word in an effort to find the truth. Truth removes the doubts and sets you free.

V 20 says that God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us. The future of the Christian is bright—not because of our works—but because of God’s power at work in us. Have you opened the door of your heart and allowed him to work his power in and through you? If the answer is yes, you have nothing to lose and heaven is your gain.