That You May Know

Good to be here with you again.
The passage this morning is from Ephesians 1, 15 to 21. Ephesians
1, 15 to 21. Please listen as I read the Word of the Lord. For this reason, I too, having
heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you
and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for
you while making mention of you in my prayers 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. I pray
that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you will
know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches
of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the
surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These
are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might,
which He brought about in Christ when He raised Him from the dead
and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above
all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that
is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. Please pray with me. Father, thank you that you have
given us your word as a lamp for our feet and a light for
our path. Thank you that you have called
us to be members of your body, of which Christ is the head.
We thank You that if we confess our sins, You are faithful and
just to forgive us those sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So we come to Your Word today
with reverence and anticipation, with reverence because Your Word
is unchanging and it endures forever. We come with anticipation
because You have promised that your word will always accomplish
what you send it forth to do. And we ask that by your spirit,
our love might abound still more and more in full knowledge and
discernment so that we will approve the things that are excellent
and be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ Jesus.
So do this in us by your spirit, we pray, and always for Christ’s
sake and for your glory, Amen. Well, growing up, I was heavily
influenced by a dominant narrative and broader evangelicalism. And
typically, this narrative is not explicitly explained or even
named. But the gist of the idea goes
something like this, that God has given you a brain. He’s given
you wisdom, the ability to think, the ability to think critically
and to reason. And these attributes, which apply
to most human beings, are essential for our livelihood. They’re of
absolute necessity if you’re going to be a productive, contributing
member of society. Now, you may not enjoy your job
at the moment, but the chances are you have considered and you’ve
thought about the consequences of quitting that job without
another job lined up. You know what the employee handbook
says about how many sick days you have, how much PTO you accrue
over the week, what you are and are not allowed to bring onto
company property. And the benefit of understanding
and knowledge extend beyond the workplace, of course. We consider
where we should live and what house we should buy. We determine
how much time we have before sundown when we go hiking. We
choose what to wear and how to dress based on the weather report
before we leave the house. We think about how much food
we will need before we go to the grocery store, what meals
we need to cook and base our decisions upon that knowledge.
But this dominant narrative of broader evangelicalism is that
wisdom, knowledge, and understanding stop at the door of the church. They’re absolutely essential
to every part of our human existence except in the area of faith and
Christianity. And this was my experience growing
up. I was led to believe that I should clear my mind and listen
for a still small voice. I should listen to Christian
music that had sloppy, sappy, sentimental repetitions about
Jesus that repeated like a mantra. I treated the Bible like it was
a magic book of spells. I knew I was supposed to read
every day, so I’d let the Bible fall open and wherever my finger
fell or my eyes, well, maybe this must be what God has for
me today. You know, I didn’t really understand
it, but I was told that if I read my Bible and prayed every day,
well, I would grow. And if none of this made sense,
or if there were no tangible results, well, that’s okay, because
we live by faith, not by sight. This is foolishness to the Greeks
anyway. We just need to have blind faith.
And it wasn’t until several years ago that the Lord brought my
family and I to a church that was going through the epistle
of Paul to the Galatians. And that we began to understand
that this broader evangelical narrative, what I usually call
mindless Christianity, is decidedly not what the Apostle Paul wants
us to know about the Christian life. It is decidedly not what
the Apostle Paul wants us to know about the Christian life. And this leads us to the first
point of our sermon today. And that point is that knowledge
is essential in the Bible. Knowledge is essential in the
Bible. In fact, Paul will speak about
this topic, the topic of knowledge, using the same Greek word for
knowledge in most of the letters that he writes. And in fact,
if we broaden out to the concept of understanding and wisdom and
knowing, it’s everywhere throughout his letters. I will turn now,
let’s turn together to a couple of passages just to show that
it’s everywhere in the Pauline epistles. Turn to the right to
Philippians 1.9. should just be a couple of pages,
Philippians 1, 9, and we’re going to read verses 9 and 10. And this I pray, that your love
may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment,
so that you may approve the things that are excellent in order to
be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ. It seems here
that knowledge and discernment are critical in order to be sincere
and blameless until the day of Christ. That’s interesting. Turn
to the right to Colossians 1.9. We start to notice a pattern
here. Colossians 1.9 verses 9 and 10. For this reason also, since the
day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to
ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in
all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner
worthy of the Lord to please Him in all respects, bearing
fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of
God. And it doesn’t end here. The
same word will show up in 1st Timothy, 2nd Timothy, Titus,
Philemon, and the letter to the Hebrews in 2nd Peter. And it’s not just in the New
Testament. The apostles, of course, are drawing on the Old Testament.
It provides the basis of what they begin to say about knowledge. Let’s briefly turn to Proverbs
2. Proverbs 2, 1 through 6. possibly one of my favorites
about knowledge. As a dad, I need to know it. Proverbs 2, verses one through
six. My son, if you will receive my words
and treasure my commandments within you, make your ear attentive
to wisdom, incline your heart to understanding, For if you
cry for discernment, lift your voice for understanding. If you
seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures,
then you will discern the fear of the Lord and discover the
knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom. From
his mouth come knowledge and understanding. Let’s go to one
more spot to the right, Hosea. Hosea is one book to the right
of Daniel. I had to check that myself today. We’re going to go to Hosea 4. Hosea 4, 1. And then
we will read 4, verse 6. Hosea 4, 1. Listen to the word
of the Lord, O sons of Israel. For the Lord has a case against
the inhabitants of the land. because there is no faithfulness
or kindness or knowledge of God in the land. Then verse 6, my
people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have
rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being my priest. Finally, Hosea 6, Hosea 6 verse
6. For I delight in loyalty rather
than sacrifice, and in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”
You see, friends, the idea that we are to approach this holy
God with an empty mind or to be carried along by every whim
of emotion is utterly foreign to the inspired biblical authors. No, knowledge is essential within
the Bible. Now, before we move on to what
do we need to have knowledge about, we should say what this
knowledge is not. In Romans 10, Paul says he reprimands
them because they have zeal for God, but not in accordance with
knowledge. So we see that zeal for God in
and of itself, passion for religion, is not enough. We just read in
Hosea 6.6 that it is not bringing him sacrifices and offerings.
He desires knowledge. It’s not just doing these things
without knowledge. In 1 Corinthians 8.1, Paul will
say, we know that knowledge makes arrogant. So we see that this
knowledge is also not puffed up with pride. So knowing all
the attributes of God, Knowing Greek and Hebrew, memorizing
large portions of scripture mean nothing if they lead to self-promotion
or putting down our brothers and sisters in Christ who may
not know as much as we do. And this is also not saying that
simple childlike faith in Christ is insufficient for the believer
to be justified. All of these things knowledge
are not. Now, if you’re like me, you may
be saying, okay, I see that knowledge, wisdom, and understanding are
everywhere. They are essential to the Bible.
They’re even commanded by God throughout the Bible. But if
you’re like me, then I’m a why guy, right? I have to know why.
But if knowledge is according to God’s Word is essential, who
specifically can gain knowledge? What exactly are we supposed
to know? Why is growth in knowledge necessary? How does God use understanding
and knowledge in His providential plans? And here we turn to our
text, Ephesians 1, 15 through 21. I should have kept my finger
there. And we come to the second point
as well. The first point was that knowledge
is essential to the Bible. The second point is that knowledge
is central to the Christian life. Our second point is that knowledge
is central to the Christian life. And as we come to our passage
in 15, we want to ask, who is he writing to? Who is Paul writing
to? We’ll read 15 and 16. For this
reason, I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus,
which exists among you and your love for all the saints, I do
not cease giving thanks for you while making mention of you in
my prayers. So who is Paul writing to? Well,
he’s writing to those who are in Christ. That are in Christ,
who by faith have been brought into the family of God. The people
he is writing to are showing evidence of their salvation.
And they show their evidence in two ways. One, they have faith
in Jesus. And two, they love the saints.
Faith in Christ. and love for the saints. So that’s
who he is writing to, those who are in Christ. The second question
I want to know is why is he writing this? And we also see this in
verse 15. He says, for this reason. And
the reason he is writing is everything that comes before Ephesians 1.15. Basically starting in verse 3
all the way through verse 14. And very briefly, he writes them
because God has blessed them in Christ. Because God has chosen
them from all eternity in Christ. He writes because God predestined
them for adoption in Christ. Because Christ redeemed them
and forgave their sins. He writes because God made known
to them the mystery of His will. Because He laid up an inheritance
for them. And because when they heard the
gospel and believed, they were sealed with the Holy Spirit.
That’s why He’s writing them. So He’s writing to those who
are in Christ. That’s the who. He’s writing because they are
in Christ and Christ has done all these things for them. That’s
the why. How can we gain knowledge then?
Well, we come to verse 17. His prayer is 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. You see,
this knowledge that Paul wants us to have, this knowledge must
be revealed by God. This wisdom must be given by
His Spirit. This is not a wisdom that can
be gained on our own. We cannot simply acquire this
knowledge through learning or introspection. It must be revealed
directly by God through the agency of His Spirit. To gain this knowledge,
we must be in Christ. We must be in Christ. So what does He want us to know?
It’s important. God commands it. What do I need
to know? This brings us to verse 18 and 19. Verse 18 and 19. I pray that the eyes of your
heart may be enlightened so that you will know what is the hope
of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance
in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power
toward us who believe. So the what? What three things
does He want us to know? He gives us three. He wants us
to know the hope of His calling, the riches of His glorious inheritance,
and the surpassing greatness of His power. He wants us to
know hope, inheritance, and God’s power. And the first thing He
wants us to know about is the hope. The believers called to
patient endurance. We’re surrounded with change
and decay in everything we see. Our bodies break down, our dear
and close friends move on and move away, sometimes forever.
Our loved ones pass away. And the temptation can be to
despair over our fleeting time on earth. If this is all there
is, then what’s the point of hope? Let’s just eat, drink,
and be merry for tomorrow we’re going to die anyway. But this is not the reality of
the Christian life. We have sure grounds for our
hope. For at the right time, Christ
died for the ungodly. We have the testimony of over
500 witnesses who saw that same Christ who died raised again
to life. He appeared to them and then
ascended into heaven, and we wait for His return. And our
hope is that when God returns, when God comes in final judgment
for the sin of all mankind, and He is coming, we will be saved because we are
in Christ. And the more we understand the
reality of this hope, The more we are equipped to deal with
the decay, the change and the loss we see around us and in
our own lives. In fact, the Apostle Paul tells
us to exalt in our tribulation. Because tribulation in this life
results in perseverance. And perseverance results in proven
character. And proven character results
in hope. So He wants us to know the hope
of His calling. Second, the Apostle Paul wants
us to know the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints. Now in this life, we’re told
that possessions will satisfy us. We’re bombarded with commercials
for things. every day. And we know that if
we want to get ahead in life, if we want to have that dream
retirement, well then we need to save now. We need to work
hard now. We need to sacrifice now so that
in the future we can gain what we’ve worked so hard for and
earned. And while there’s nothing wrong
with retirement or being successful in and of itself, This inheritance
that Paul wants us to know about is different because this inheritance
cannot be earned. There’s nothing we can approach
God with that would merit this inheritance. All of the good
works and acts of random kindness that we perform add up to nothing
more than filthy rags before the standard of a holy and utterly
transcendent God. Which is why the message of us
being chosen by God to receive this inheritance is so radical. It’s given to us as a gift because
of the great love with which He loved us. And that while we
were yet sinners, Christ died for us. So we see that this inheritance
cannot be earned. But this inheritance can also
not be taken away. Now, I don’t know of anybody
who has me in their will. I don’t think so. So I don’t
think I have a big inheritance coming my way. But if I did,
I can only imagine the eggshells I’d be walking on. I’d have to
send them really nice Christmas cards every year and birthday
cards and presents and make sure I don’t get on their bad side
because I don’t want to get taken out of their will. But this inheritance
cannot be taken away. We saw in Ephesians 1, 13 through
14 that it was given at the moment of faith in Christ and guaranteed
by the down payment of the Holy Spirit. This is a done deal. This inheritance is a free gift
that we did not deserve, work for, or achieve. This inheritance
is coming to us as surely as God is faithful and cannot lie. It won’t be taken back if you
lose your temper on Monday morning in traffic. God’s not going to
look at you and say, oops, made a mistake. Let me cross him out
of my will. No, as surely as Christ is loved by the Father,
as surely as he fully pleased God and only did what God commanded,
As securely as Jesus sits at the right hand of God, you have
an inheritance coming your way. And that inheritance is eternal
life in the presence of your Creator. And Paul wants us to
grow in knowledge of this reality. And lastly, we’ve seen that he
wants us to grow in knowledge of hope. knowledge of our inheritance. Lastly, Paul wants us to know
the surpassing greatness of his power. Now, this is not the promise
of an outwardly victorious, prosperous, perfect, or even sinless Christian
life. The Christian struggles in his
battle with sin for the duration of this life’s journey. The believer
may suffer the disdain of her neighbors or her co-workers.
And kids, you may be laughed at or made fun of because of
your love for Jesus. In fact, the Apostle Paul testifies
that he suffered hardship and even imprisonment as a criminal. There were times when he was
so crushed that he thought he would die. But this great power that Paul
wants us to know about, while it’s not the promise of a victorious,
perfect, sinless Christian life, it is the power that has brought
us from death to life. It is the same power that Elijah
prayed would turn the hearts of the people back to God. It’s
the same power that brought the dry bones to life in the valley
of Ezekiel’s vision. It’s the same power that made
us alive in Christ when we believed. And writing about this passage,
or as he was reading this passage about 1,600 years ago, John Chrysostom
observed that hope and inheritance are things we look forward to. They anticipate the good things
that God has laid up for us. while power, on the other hand,
is backwards facing. It looks behind us. And he wrote,
quote, by understanding who we are, who we were, and how we
believed, we shall know his power and sovereignty in turning again
to himself those who had been so long a time estranged from
him. It is the self-same power by
which He raised Christ from the dead that He hath also drawn
us to Himself. This is the power He wants us
to know about. And because God raised Christ
from the grave to live forevermore, we can be confident that we who
are in Christ will also be raised in the end. with incorruptible
bodies to experience life eternal. The yearning for eternity in
the heart of every person will be sweetly and completely fulfilled
in Christ for all those who believe. And so we observe in verses 19
through 21, That our hope, our inheritance,
and God’s power are all wrapped up in the gospel message. They are according to the gospel
message. They are woven into the fabric
of this good news. Because Christ, God’s Messiah,
the Son of God, came into history as a man. He was born in a backwater
region of the Roman Empire roughly 2,000 years ago. And he claimed
equality with God. He proved that equality with
God through the signs and the miracles he worked. And he lived
a perfect, sinless life. He fulfilled the righteous law
of God perfectly, personally, and perpetually. He did it on
your behalf. But he was rejected by his own
people, was he not? They called him a blasphemer
and put him to death, not knowing that by this death he would pay
for the guilt and the sin and the shame that all humans bear. But his claims were vindicated
when he was raised by the power of God on the third day. And
He ascended into heaven where He sits at God’s right hand.
And we wait in anticipation and hope of our inheritance, which
is eternal life with Him. And so if you are here and you
have not believed in this message, in this good news, well then
come to Christ in faith. Repent of your sins and believe
that Christ is both your goodness and the substitution who paid
the penalty for your sins. And the same power that raised
Christ from the dead will also raise you. And in verse 19 through 21, we
see the rest of our passage says that hope Inheritance and power
are all in accordance with the working of his great might, which
he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated
him at his right hand far above all rule, all power, authority,
and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this
age, but also in the one to come, the one that we look forward
to. And in Ephesians 2, Paul will
say that those who have believed have also been raised with Christ
and seated with Christ in the heavenly places. Not because
of anything that we’ve done, but because of the great love
with which He loved us. So friends, we see that this
is not blind faith. This is not letting go and letting
God. It’s not listening for a still,
small voice. It’s not empty in your mind and
listening to praise music. You know, zeal and passion for
church and religion are not enough without a saving knowledge of
Christ. Instead, what this is, this is
a call to use the redeemed mind that God has given you. It’s
an invitation to renew your mind as you meditate on and remind
yourself of the gospel. It’s a prayer that the spirit
of wisdom and of revelation would cause you to grow in understanding
that we would seek the things that are above, not the things
that are on this earth. So to wrap up the second point,
who does he write to? Well, he writes to those who
are in Christ, those who have faith in Christ and who love
the saints. And why does he write to them
and pray for them? Everything leading up to verse
15, they are called in Christ, chosen, adopted, redeemed and
sealed by His Spirit. How to receive this knowledge?
How to receive it? By the spirit of wisdom and of
revelation that only God can give. And what do we need to
know? What should we have knowledge
of? Our hope, our inheritance, and God’s power, which are in
accordance with the gospel. And so we come to our final point.
The first point was that knowledge is essential in the Bible. And
the second point was that knowledge is central to the Christian life.
And our final point that we come to is that knowledge is providential. Knowledge is providential. Growth
in knowledge is a means that God uses to perfect the believer
and to keep them until the day of Christ Jesus. Turn back to Philippians 1, please,
to the right. Philippians 1, verses 3 through
6. I thank my God in all my remembrance
of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for
you all. in view of your participation
in the gospel from the first day until now. For I am confident
of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will
perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” Is that encouraging to you? It
is encouraging to me. You see, if you’ve been raised
with Christ, it’s a done deal. Christ is your justification,
your sanctification, and your glorification, all guaranteed
by the seal of His Spirit on your heart. And this is the promise. This promise that Paul talks
about is that the new creation, the new man in you will be perfected
and grow up in maturity until the day of Christ Jesus. But how? How does that happen? Well, we shouldn’t be surprised
by now. Philippians 1, 9-11, And this I pray, that your love
may abound still more and more in real knowledge, and all discernment,
so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order
to be sincere and blameless until the day of Jesus Christ, having
been filled with the fruit of righteousness, which comes through
Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.” So we have seen that the evidence
of our new life is the fruit of faith in Jesus, and love for
the saints. And sometimes that faith looks
like a mustard seed to you. It may look like a mustard seed
to those around you, like the smallest seed you can think of.
And the love that you have for the saints may grow cold and
go through trials, but it’s there. So grow in knowledge and discernment
of the gospel message. Understand more and more what
it means for your hope, your inheritance, and the power that
raised Christ and you from the dead will keep you until the
day of Christ Jesus. And know that you will be sincere
and blameless until the day of Christ Jesus. Not because of
anything you’ve done, but because of the perfect work of Christ.
And as you grow in the realization of what He has done for you,
as you meditate on the significance of this hope, inheritance, and
God’s power, as you preach the gospel to yourself and to your
family and to others around you, as you cling to Christ when you
feel that your faith and love are weak, Well, it will result
in being filled with the fruit of righteousness. And as you grow in knowledge,
never forget this. Never forget that it is always
to the glory and the praise of God. Please pray with me.