Ephesians (Part 03) His Power for Us Who Believe

8/9/2019 Ephesians (Part 03) His Power for Us Who Believe

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His Power for Us Who Believe

Ephesians 1: 15 23

Introduction: The kind of power that changes everything

My dad used to tell a story about an old Georgia redneck who would routinelyhead out into the swamp and return with a boat full of fishmore than anyone

could conceivably catch, even in a long day of fishing with rod and reel. Well, in

the course of time, his exceptional good luck caught the attention of local

authorities who sent out a game warden, undercover, to see what was going on.

So, one morning, just as the old man was getting ready to leave the dock, he was

approached by this young stranger who wondered if he might come along for the

day and take a lesson.

Now the old man suspected from the beginning that something was up, but he

allowed the young man to accompany him anyway, and a few moments later, theboat was headed out into the swamp at top speed.

Later, when they had arrived at a point distant enough from civilization that the

young warden began to worry about his own safety, the old man turned off the

engine and said, I think this oughta do for today, dont you agree? Eager by

this time to please, the warden nodded vigorously while the old man pulled a big

old cigar from the pocket of his fishing vest, lit it, and puffed furio usly til the end

glowed bright with heat. Then, the younger man watched in amazement as his

companion removed a stick of dynamite with a medium length fuse from yet

another pocket. Immediately, the secret to the good old boys luck was evident.

What in the world are you doing? exclaimed the young warden. You cant fish

with dynamite! Thats a violation of more laws than I can count.

Yup. I spect thats true, said his companion. But then he lit the fuse on the end

of his cigar and held it for a moment as he waited for it to burn down closer to the

dynamite.

By then the warden was practically in a frenzydesperately looking for some

way of escape even as he shouted at the old man, You just cant do this! Its

completely illegal.Yup. I sposeso, said the old man; and with that he handed the dynamite to the

young warden at the last possible moment and said calmly, Now, do you wanna

talk, or fish?

And we are left to imagine the impact on the ecosystem as the game warden

tosses the dynamite away, wreaking havoc on the local fishery.


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Of course, in truth, dynamite is nothing to play with. I mean, it looks innocuous

enough to the untrained eye, I suppose just a cardboard tube with a piece of

string hanging out one end. But when used as intended, it can release a power

that is all disproportionate to its size. But thats why its called dynamite. The

name itself is practically a transliteration of the Greek word for power dunamisthe very word that is used here in Ephesians to speak of the power that

God exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his

own right hand far above all rule and authority and power and dominion You

see, that powerthe power of Godlike dynamite, contains an energy which,

when released, changes everything.

The Power of God Raised Christ from the Dead

It certainly did in the case of Christ. He was deadtruly deadhed been in the

tomb for three days and three nights when God lit the fuse and unleashed the

power of his own Holy Spirit to bring life out of death, to break the power of sin,and in fact, to make all things new and ultimately, thats the message of Easter,

Ascension Day and also of Pentecost. The power of the living Godthe power

that inevitably changes everything it toucheshas been loosed in our world.

More specifically, the message of Ephesians is not only has this power been

turned loose in our world; this power that changes everything has been turned

loose in our lives. You see, the focus of this amazing little letter has been on God

from almost the very first verse; but the focus, in particular (as we saw last

Sunday) has been on the amazing ways in which God has blessed his people inChrist: (verse 7) in him we have the forgiveness of sin; (verse 11) in him we were

chosenwe have an inheritance, having been predestined according to the plan

of God; and (verse 13) in himthat is, in Christwe have been marked with a

seal, the promised Holy Spirit who is the guarantee in the here and now of the

eternal life which is ours already in Christ. Paul tells his readers that God has

done all of these things for his people in Christ and then, even as he prays that

God would open our eyes to see it, he writes that all that has been done has been

done in us by the working of his great strength in accordance with the very

same power that he exercised in Christ when he raised him from the dead andseated him at his own right hand in the heavenly places

And heres where chapter one and chapter two come together, and this is why I

read the text in the way that I did this morningtake a look at that with me if you

will. Paul writes, beginning in verse 15,


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For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your

love for all the saints, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you,

remembering you in my prayers. 17 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.18

I pray also that the eyes ofyour 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, 19

and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the

working of his mighty strength, 20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised

him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion

Now, watch as Paul connects the Theological to the practical. He wrote,

That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20 which he exerted in

Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand inthe heavenly realms,

Then, in the opening verses of chapter two

[And] you were dead in your transgressions and sinsButGod, who is rich

in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ6 And God raised us up with Christ and

seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,The Power of God is at Work in Us

You see? Christ was dead, but God, by his power, made him alive and raised him

up; and you were dead, but God, by that same power has made you alive and hasraised you up and seated you with Christ in the heavenly realm.

Of course, the one event is of far greater significance than the other, at least

from a cosmic perspective, but the scriptures are telling us that the power is the

same. The power that is at work in us is the same power that brought Jesus out

of the tomb and raised him to the right hand of the Father.

The Power of God Makes Us Alive in ChristAnd truly, the need is just as certain. Spiritually speaking we were cut off from

God; deadtruly deadin our sin. As John Calvin wrote,

If we attend carefully to what the apostle saysthe meaningis clear[He]

says that they were deadHe does not mean simply that they were in

danger of death; but he declares that it was a real and present death under

which they labored. As spiritual death is nothing else than the alienation of

the soul from God, we are all born as dead men, and we live as dead men


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And Calvin goes on:

[Those] who are eager to seize every opportunity of undervaluing the grace

of God, say, that while we are out of Christ, we are half dead.

With all the optimism of Miracle Max in The Princess Bride, they say, Were

only mostly dead, and mostly dead is partly alive.

But the teacher objects.

[W]e are not at liberty to set aside the declarations of our Lard and of the

Apostle Paul, that, while we remain in Adam, we are entirely devoid of

lifeand that out of Christ we are altogether dead, because sin, the cause of

death reigns in us.

But by the power of God (the same power that raised Christ up and seated him at

Gods right hand), we have been made alive in Christ. For the wages of sin is

death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. We havebeen made alive toward God and alive in Christ

More still,

The Power of God Raises Us Up Together with ChristAnd this is not merely repeating the first point for emphasis. Ephesians says,4 But God, being rich in mercy,

because of the great love with which he loved us,5 even when we were dead in our trespasses,

made us alive together with Christby grace you have been saved

6 and raised us up with him

and seated us with him

in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,7 so that in the coming ages he might show

the immeasurable riches of his grace

in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

So, when he says, and raised us up with him in this context, Pauls not speaking

of being raised up from the dead. Hes saying that weve been raised up with Christand seated with him in heavenly places. One commentary on this passage notes

that this is such a bold figure of speech that the temptation comes to leave it in the

rarefied atmosphere of pious rhetoric. But by Gods own word, not only are we now

risen with Christ, we are now seated with him in the heavenly realm. Not only have

we been given the hope of a future resurrection to be followed by eternal life in the


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presence of God, we have already been welcomed into his presence and in Christ,

we are seated at his own right hand.

And where is this blessingwhere is this heaven on earth to be found? Well, we can

hedge or evade the question; we can name it so-called positional truth and then

point out that while its true in the now, its certainly not intended to be ourexperience in the now; but I dont think thats God intent here. Everything that

weve learned of him so far in the letter to the Ephesians would lead us to the

conclusion that God is not stingy regarding his grace. He lavishes it upon his people.

In fact, thats the expressed intent of the prayer here at the end of chapter one and

the beginning of chapter two. Remember,16 I do not cease to give thanks for you,

remembering you in my prayers,17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,

the Father of glory,may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of

him,18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know

what is the hope to which he has called you,

what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,19 and

what is the immeasurable greatness of his power

toward us who believe,

No, it is the purpose of the author here to persuade usindeed he prays that God

himself would persuade us that these blessings are not only for the fullness of the

kingdom, but that they are also for the here and now and, also to persuade us that

The Power of God is Experienced by his people in Christ

Which is not to say that Gods power is simply on display, as if we are intended to

look at Christ and to understand that one day God will do in us all that he has done

in him. Rather, it is to say that the power of God is experienced right here, right

now, in Christ.

I think that this is one side of the Ascension that is often overlooked, because wepreach and we read from the Gospels and the book of Acts that when the 40 days

were over, Jesus was caught up into heaven and seated at the right hand of God

and that is true. But in a way, we act like those disciples in the story who after Jesus

was hidden from their sight by a cloud stood there, looking into the sky and


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wondering when he would return, as if the ascension meant that he was gone, and

there was little else to do but wait for his return.

Of course, at that point, angels appeared, stood beside them and said,

Men of Galilee, they said, why do you stand here looking into the sky?

This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come backin the same way you have seen him go into heaven.

So there is that promise; one day, Jesus will return.

But there was another promise made at about the same time. Jesus himself said,

I am with you always, to the very end of the ages. So it was not his intent that

we think of the Ascension as the event which has separated us from our Savior.

Rather, it was Gods intent for us to understand that since we are in Christ, and

Christ is in us, we are now where he is nowseated with him at the Fathers right

hand in heavenly placesand he is now where we are now, for we are his body,

the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.This is the power, the dunamis, the dynamite of God, at work in us, his people in

Christ Jesus.

May we pray.

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Ephesians (Part 03) His Power for Us Who Believe