Knowing the God of Glory

Have you ever been in a situation that because you know someone you received special privileges…maybe you know a guy at the dealership who is able to let you know when a new model of car comes in so you are the first to take a look at it, maybe you know a guy who knows a guy who can get you front row seats at Purdue….Maybe you know a woodworker that can build custom things you just can’t find online…

• My Aunt is an investment banker and back when I was around 12 or 13 we went to visit her on the east coast and she knew someone in the white house administration so we got a private tour of the white house…you can’t get that on Ticketmaster…you have to know someone…and that person shared all kinds of knowledge with us, and we got to experience a super cool tour and learn a whole lot of history and information that helped me appreciate the history of our country.

Knowing someone often has greater blessing and rewards that simply relying on trying to figure out everything by yourself…this is true even more so spiritually….

The greatest blessing and resource anyone can ever have…is to Know God….from that relationship of knowing God…comes all the blessings of life one could possibly ever want, and in fact are more wonderful that we can possible imagine…

That is one reason we are so thankful for those who have gone before us…passing on a commitment to knowing God through His word as the source of truth.

This year we are seeking to Build on our Heritage ….Appreciating those who have gone before us and celebrating the Christ centered biblical foundation that allows us to build with stability in a way that honors the Lord. It is so helpful to remember that as a church our core doctrinal beliefs and who we are in Christ has not changed for 60 years…

In our sermon series Remembering Our Identity as One in Christ …..Thus far we have emphasized that in Christ…You are holy (saints), you are blessed, You are chosen, you are adopted, you are redeemed, you are united, you are forgiven, you are sealed, and throughout all of this….you are a worshipper.

In light of all the spiritual blessing we have in Christ, in light of the redeeming work of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit….

• Paul prays that the Ephesians would know these truths,

• know the God of truth and what God says about believers…

• We know God and yet we are called to seek to know God more…to meditate on these truths so they become an intimate part of how we view God, ourselves, and others.

To know someone is to be close to them, to be intimate, to be vulnerable yet safe at the same time…the word know in the bible is used to refer to when a husband and wife are intimate physically…as a marriage relationship is to point to how close and intimate and safe and delightful our relationship with the Lord is supposed to be….

As we read the word of God… We know the character of our God, the Father, son and Holy spirit as we think about all of these blessing He gives us through knowing Him…We are to respond with proper worship….

As Pastor Green pointed out last week…all of these truths individually and collectively point us to the praise of the glory of His grace….so our identity in Christ where we get every spiritual blessing in Christ ultimately results in the glory of our redeemer.

So we have titled this message

Knowing The God of Glory

• - Pease turn in your bibles to Ephesians 1:15-23 which is on page 151 in the bible under the chair in front of you.

Because our text is a prayer it is a bit of a break in the normal flow of thought, but it is also a call back to all the wonderful truths that were previously mentioned…

• Paul is praying that the truth of who God is would impact the heart of the readers…

• You can look at this prayer in 3 parts…first a prayer of thanksgiving for the Ephesians…then a prayer of intercession as Paul petitions God on behalf of the Ephesians, and finally a prayer of praise and exaltation because of the Power of God to be able to do all that Paul is declaring and praying for…

In short Paul is thankful the Ephesians Know God and He wants them to know God more

• you could easily title this sermon…You are one who knows God…or You are a knower of God…but we thought Knowing the God of Glory just flowed a bit better.

(Read Ephesians 1:15-23)

Ephesians 1:15–23 -¹⁵ 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, ¹⁶ do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; ¹⁷ that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. ¹⁸ 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, ¹⁹ 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 ²⁰ which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, ²¹ 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. ²² And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, ²³ which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

So with our time today, lets look at

3 ways Paul’s prayer helps us to know the God of glory

All that Paul prays for points us back to the Old Testament and How God has been making Himself known since the very beginning…Knowing God is a key theme through the Old Testament in fact in Jeremiah it says

Jeremiah 9:24 “But let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the Lord.

We don’t boast in what We know or how smart or capable we are…We boast in Who we know and how wonderful and powerful and good He is….

One of the amazing blessing of knowing God, is knowing His plan of salvation that reveals His loving kindness, His Justice and His righteousness…

• knowing what He planned, promised and provided through the person and work of Christ….

• when Paul starts by saying “for this reason”…He is going back to all the wonderful truth he just lifted up in praise to the Lord…that are true of the Ephesians…

so even before Paul prays with a focus on the Ephesians knowing God better…He prays with incredible thanksgiving that the Ephesian Have come to Know God through Christ.

So for us to know God, and to grow in knowing God…we must first

I. Be thankful for God’s salvation

So much about the character of God is revealed through His plan of salvation…This is the basis by which we know God, through His Son…and We know salvation is not by works…it is a gift… a gift that we receive

Through faith in Christ (v. 15)

Paul is thankful for the Ephesians salvation…he says…

Ephesians 1:15–16 -¹⁵ 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, ¹⁶ do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers;

Paul heard of the Ephesians turning to Christ…trusting in Christ… and he is thankful and excited for people being saved…because He knows that is what God is focused on.

Paul also knows what salvation produces…what the fruits of salvation are and he is thankful for how the Ephesians are producing the fruit of genuine salvation…

they are…

Producing love for the saints (v.16)

Part of knowing God is being brought into a relationship not only with Him, but also with others that know and love Him.

In fact, we cannot love the Lord Jesus without loving those who bear the name of Christ as well.

1 John 5:1 “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him.”

1 John 4:20 -²⁰ If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.

John 13:35 -³⁵ “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Ephesians 1:16 -¹⁶ do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers;

True salvation produces a genuine love for God’s people.

• Even people who are very different than you, come from a different back ground…

• you want to know them and love them because of the common ground you have in Christ.

one of the best things you can know about another person is their salvation testimony, when they were saved…so you know them and you are reminded of God’s salvation and How God views them in Christ…They along with you are Holy, chosen, redeemed, sealed….all the truths of Chapter 1.

{Application} - I pray we never get tired of hearing people salvation testimonies on Church family night…I hope we have a right view of how amazing it is each time we hear when a person was saved….and I pray that brings us together in practical ways…seeking to get to know one another better because of our common salvation and How God is working in our lives.

Part of knowing God is knowing How he views other people, and adopting His view of them rather than our own view of them…

How do we love others…we seek to know the one who loves others perfectly…

This might sound circular, but to know God…we must be committed to constantly…

II. Grow in the knowledge of God

This starts with asking…

Asking the Lord for wisdom and understanding (v.17a)

Paul says he does not cease giving thanks for them in His prayers, but also…praying…

Ephesians 1:17 -¹⁷ that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.

Paul prays specifically for wisdom and a revelation of the knowledge of Him.

• Wisdom can be understood as How to apply the truth of God to your life…

• how to actually navigate life in a way that God is honored

[illustration] - A wise student knows if I am going to do well on an exam I need to take good notes, pay attention in class and start studying well before the final and not just try to cram info in the night before….knowing that produces good results impacts the choices they make way before the exam. So it is not just the information they are studying, but how to be in the best position to communicate that information effectively.

{application} - A wise person knows if I am not mediating on the truth of Gods word, if I am not guarding my heart to not love ease and comfort, or the praise of man…if I don’t think about God’s character and His salvation …He is not going to be very valuable to me and I won’t choose him over other things that promise instant gratification.

Wisdom is about applying truth about God to real word life situations so that you navigate life in a way where the name of God is honored by your words and actions.

When we read the phrase “revelation in the knowledge of Him”…often we hear the word revelation and we think that God is revealing new information, but this word can be used to describe illumination or understanding…something being fulling known or understood.

[Illustration] - It is like if you study math…

• and you read the chapter…you look at your notes and you see what the teacher did, you see the numbers, you see some of the arithmetic and some of it makes sense but you really don’t understand what is going on,

• …you can kinda reproduce it with just following steps, but if any little thing changes or you are given a word problem…you are completely lost because you really don’t know what is going on…

• and then maybe another student or a teach sits down and begins to explain what is happening and maybe teaching you a few fundamental math principles that you forgot or never learned well… and you begin to understand…how these Math principles actually work. someone revealed it to you so you had understanding

• Paul is praying for that…to understand the depth of what it means to be saved and in a relationship with the God of the universe that has infinite blessings and also great purpose and ultimately changes the core of your very identity.

I believe what Paul is praying for is believers to truly know This God who adopts, redeems, chooses, seals…etc…

Salvation is not about knowing a secret cheat code…it is about knowing the eternal one who gives eternal life.

John 17:3 “Jesus said, this is life eternal, they might know you the only true God in Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”

Paul wants them to really understand this God who has saved them…so much so that it is constantly changing how they live with greater and greater wisdom.

Part of knowing Him, is knowing His calling of you…

so He prays for them ….

To know God’s calling (v.18a)

Ephesians 1:18 -¹⁸ 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,

The eyes of your heart is a Hebrew phrase that comes from the Psalms…it really describes how you see the world through a heart that knows and trusts God….Seeing by Faith because you know in your heart who God is.

Paul uses the word calling to describe a person who has been saved…

• if you have been called you have been saved, adopted, redeemed, sealed …someone who has been called out of the world and into a saving relationship with Christ.

• [Gospel] – If you do not have a hope…you are not looking forward to being with the Lord because you are trusting that He die for you…I would encourage you to respond to the calling of the Lord on you even today so that you have the Hope of heaven to look forward to.

The prayer is that believers would know the hope that is associated with that calling…That they would know the God of Hope…

The hope comes from looking ahead at what is to come,….one commentator said that the hope of our calling is the aspect of salvation that we are looking forward to in the future.

• So directing our mind toward life in the new heavens and new earth…dwelling in the presence of God, being presented to Christ as holy and blameless with no sinful desires, not affected by the curse of sin.

When you read the work of the Father son and holy spirit and you think about your identity…Hope is that your identity in Christ has significant future ramifications that you long for and look forward to….We need God’s help to believe and look forward to something that none of us have ever experienced.

• Hope is not a blind Pollyanna optimism that is not grounded in anything other than a gut feeling….Biblical hope is tied to knowing the God who has revealed Himself, taken action and told us what is going to happen because He has called us and He is making it happen.

So pray that we would know the significance of what God has done in the past at the cross and the empty tomb, but also that we would know God’s plans are for us that are on the horizon…

So we pray to know God better…we also pray

To know God’s inheritance (v.18b)

Ephesians 1:18b -¹⁸ 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,

I want to ask you…what does God think about you…How does He view you?

I think a lot of people think God is simply mad at them because they didn’t do something right…and it is true that all of us are sinner and there is not one righteous no not one…but if someone has been called, adopted, redeemed, chosen, sealed…That impacts How God chooses to view you.

How does He choose to view you now and do you view yourself that same way as He views you?

God views us as his inheritance! Did you know that?

This is still a prayer remember…Paul prays that they would know the hope of their calling…that they would know God…

• and ultimate that they would know How God views them…

• That they would know themselves properly…that they would know themselves in light of how God views them.

God views believers as valuable…the riches of His glory….God view the saints as His inheritance…

Earlier in Ephesians we read that the Holy Spirit was given as a pledge of our inheritance and we believe that God has given us His very Best…

• God has given us His son…God has given us Himself…

• so that we can be with Him forever….Well God has a view of us as well that we need to comprehend….

In Christ…We are God’s inheritance…This is how God chooses to see you based on being redeemed, Holy, Chosen, Adopted, Sealed….The prayer is that this is how believers would see themselves.

Part of knowing God is to know How He views you.

Ask yourself if this is How God sees me…what gives me the right and the authority to think of myself any other way…

• someone else condemning me, my own feelings, Satan and His minions…

• I am not saying we don’t take responsibility for our sin, and we don’t admit we have a sin nature that needs to be put off…but if our Identity is defined by God and it is based on our calling in Christ…

• we don’t have the right to think about ourselves apart from Christ and apart from the truth that God has chosen us to Be His own inheritance…

We are the riches of His glory…We bring Him Glory because of His calling in our lives.

When we come to know God we truly learn who we are - his very own possession and inheritance.

MacArthur says it like this…

John MacArthur “We have been made an inheritance.” What does that mean? Whose inheritance are we? We are Christ’s inheritance. He purchased us at the cross. He inherits us. We are His offspring, to use the language of Isaiah 53. We are Christ’s inheritance. The Father has given us, as we saw in John 6 and John 17, to the Son as love gifts. The reason we are redeemed is that we might be the Son’s inheritance, that we might be His bride that the Father gives Him out of eternal love. We are His inheritance. The Father expresses His love to the Son by giving the Son a redeemed humanity who will love Him and serve Him and honor Him and praise Him forever and ever and ever. And it also gives the ultimate compliment by making them in some way reflect His very image.” (“The Believers Glorious Inheritance”)

All that Paul has prayed for is wonderful, beautiful truth…

• but it is not just the right way to think about things because it helps us like a placebo pill can help someone…

• That is why Paul also prays not just that they would think in a helpful way, but that we would understand God actually has the ability to do all that He says…to actually make us His own inheritance.

The next aspect of this prayer is ….

To know God’s power (vv. 19)

Ephesians 1:19 -¹⁹ 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

[illustration] - When you spend time with someone you get to know them, and you become aware of what they can actually do….you get to know someone and you learn wow, you can jump really high, you are really good at video games, you can bake delicious things with no recipes…you have abilities I did not really know about…

Because We don’t see God…because Jesus took on flesh and human weakness…it can be easy to not think about God’s power…but we need to know God through the Grid of how powerful He is otherwise all these other promises are really just wishful thinking and therefore are not that impactful.

Paul starts with grammar and then he moves to examples to help us grasp God’s power…

Paul is just showing off His vocabulary a bit to show off God’s glory…He piles up terms to the reader gets a sense that this power is unparalleled…He says it surpasses greatness…it goes off the upper scale of great…it goes beyond great.

1. It is exceeding (huperballon): surpassing, unlimited, immeasurable, beyond imagination.

1. It is great (megathos): mighty, explosive, beyond measure. This is the word from which we get the English word megathon. Which measures atomic explosives. Imagine the great explosive power of God!

One amazing thing to note is that God’s power is towards us; that is, God takes his power and extends it, presents it, makes it available to the believer. He uses His power for us and the plans He has for us.

He also says His power is working, in the strength of His might…working, strength and might are three more terms to pile up so the reader gets a sense this is not just a strong person…but that God’s strength and power are unlike any other.

And again it is amazing that God uses that power toward us…

In fact, the Apostle Peter said that God has already given his power to us –

2 Peter 1:3 -³ seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

Do you see God’s power at work in your life…where God uses absolutely everything in your life to conform you to the image of Christ, so that you know God in practical ways in the everyday aspect of life……to refine you to be more godly…to be more like Him in every aspect of your life.

May we have eyes to see God’s power at work in and through us each day.

Paul moves on from just grammar to actual examples of the demonstration of God’s power for us to think about…thereby helping is seek to know God and want to know God more…

Paul shifts His prayer from a prayer of intercession to that of praise in who God is and what He has done…and is doing.

Paul marvels at this great salvation brough t about by the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and ultimately He …

III. Marvel at the power of Christ

specifically

His resurrection (v. 20)

Ephesians 1:20 -²⁰ which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,

I can’t even begin to fathom what a power necessary to raise people from the dead is like…it is just too great to comprehend, let alone try to accomplish…the closest we get is a fictional tale about Dr. Frankenstein…and that is fiction…whereas the reality is Christ was actually raised from the dead and exalted in power. This power was witnessed by many people and 1 Cor 15 says this was witnessed by 500 people at one time….

Through the death, burial and resurrection of Christ – God displayed his power over sin and death in a way that no other person comes anywhere close to displaying.

To know God is to know He brings this kind of power when it comes to saving people and using them for His glory….His power is on display as drawing us closer to Himself, refining us to become more like Christ, and uses us to point others to Him.

This is going to be picked up again later in Ephesians when Paul says…

Ephesians 3:20–21 -²⁰ Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, ²¹ to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

In knowing the God of glory, we come to comprehend Christ’s sovereign authority…

His authority (v. 21)

Ephesians 1:21 -²¹ 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.

We are to pray that we could comprehend Christ’s sovereignty over all things

[illustration] - Think about all the things you are in charge of…all your responsibilities…all the things you try to manage and take care of and do well….even the most skilled, organized and diligent is at times just hanging on by a thread…even the best people in incredibly high positions of influence drop balls that they are juggling…Now think about the Lord who is in charge of everything and he is not even breaking a sweat….That is the kind of power we are talking about...he does not get tired, burnt out, exhausted, bored, disenfranchised…He has the power and ability to have authority over everything and do work out His plan of salvation perfectly.

We need to constantly marvel as the power of God and remind ourselves that He is actually sovereignly in charge of everything…

We also need to remind ourselves that He is the very top…there is no one above Him…no supervisor to check with…The name of Christ is the very top of all power and authority….

Jesus Christ has been exalted above every name that is named, not only in this world, but in that world which is to come” (v. 21).

So we are to recognize His authority over our lives now…and look forward to His kingdom where His power, authority, and glory are on complete display.

Lastly but definitely not least…is that we are to marvel at the power of Christ over…

His body (vv. 22-23)

Ephesians 1:22–23 -²² And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, ²³ which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

The church is called the body of Christ. Christ has all authority…everything God is doing is through Christ…and Of all the way the Lord could use His authority He chooses to use it through the creation and building up of His church, His body. Uniting believers to Himself and to one another.

God’s plan and purpose is to call people to himself and build His church, and through His church bring glory and honor to Himself as the church is the pillar and support of the truth…we are to declare who God is…Because We know Him…We need to know Him more and more and to them make Him known to others.

The fact that God can do that….bring people from all sort of backgrounds to have unity in Christ…is another display of His power…and the text says that the body is the fullness of Him who fills all in all…

Christ is the head…and He is going to grow us individually and collectively and fill us with Himself…so that We would be ablet to know His glory and reveal His glory as the body of Christ.

So as you think of your identity are someone who is holy, reddmed, chosen, adolpted and sealed…remember if you have trusted Christ…you are someone who knows the God of Glory…and your mission is to make Him know.

• Lets pray that God would grant us a spirit of wisdom and understanding to know Him better

• To know the hope of His calling of us…that we would look forward to being with him

• That we would be amazed and humbled to know ourselves properly, to see ourselves as God sees us as His inheritance

• And lastly that we would know the power of Christ displayed in the resurrection, through His authority over everything, and through the amazing privilege we have to be part of the body of Christ as He works in an through us for His glory.

Let us know Christ and make Him known.