This is Us // To Know More

Prayer to Know More of Jesus and These Blessings

Ephesians 1:15-23 August 16, 2020

I. Introduction:

A. We live in a day and age where out of the sincerity of our hearts to live out God’s

truth and not just study it the first question we ask ourselves is, ”What do I need

to do with this truth?”

1. We have been learning some of the most amazing truths in the Bible over the

past number of months, blessing upon blessing that God has given to us in

Jesus Christ!

2. This morning Paul answers for us the first thing we need to do with these

truths, and what he does with them may surprise many of us. Actually too

often, we skip over this crucial first step in the process as we rush to put

God’s Word into practice in our lives.

B. We find the answer to this starting in v15 of chapter 1 as he says, “for this reason”

1. Simply he is connecting what follows with what has gone before. He tells us

the very reason he is going to do what he does next is because of all these

blessings in Christ we just learned about in v3-14.

2. Just like v3-14 was all one long sentence closely tying it all together so v15-

23 is also just one sentence closely tying it all together.

C. Before I read, let me tell you what the heart of this section says so you can watch

for it as I read – simply he prays for them to know more of Jesus and these

blessings!

1. The structure to the prayer is as follows:

a) V17 he prays that God would give them a fuller, more practical and more

intimate knowledge of Jesus

b) In v18 -19a he prays that God would enlighten our hearts to fully see and

grasp three specific blessing God gives us – His calling, His inheritance

and His power

c) Then in v 19b-23 he shows us three ways in which His power towards us

right now is manifested and in agreement with the power that was

manifested in Jesus when He was resurrected, when He was ascended

into heaven and seated at God’s right hand and finally when He gave

Him as head over all things pertaining to the church!

2. Watch for these as I read

D. Paul’s first response to all these amazing blessings, the first thing he does is to

pray! Pray that we would know more of Jesus the one whom all these blessings

are in and that we would know more of the blessings themselves!

• Before I jump into the text I just want to say a few things about

II. Prayer in general

A. We have learned before that prayer is the means to receiving in God’s kingdom.

1. Often as a last resort we say to people in tough times, when there is nothing

else we can do we say, “All I can do is pray!”

2. Actually prayer should be the first thing we do and the best thing we can do

as prayer allows us to put one hand on the person and their situation and the

other hand on God and bring the two together!

3. Prayer is the first thing that Paul does with these amazing life-changing

truths! It really is the first thing we should do

B. We have been talking lately in staff about the restarting of our ministries here at

MVC in this unique day of restrictions and MVC scattered all over the place.

1. As we look at the way that Jesus did ministry we have been reminded how

Jesus started His ministry and daily met with the Father in prayer.

2. Jesus said He did nothing of Himself; His teachings and words were not His

own, His works were not His own, His will was not His own but they all

were from and initiated by the Father.

3. If we do not go to the Father first and regularly in prayer then at best we will

be working out of our best ideas or copying and pasting what others are doing

rather than hearing directly in a life changing and empowering way what God

wants us to do.

4. What we learn from this passage is that God does not want His truths from

the Bible just to go from our heads to our feet and hands but rather from our

heads, through our hearts where it is anointed by the Spirit then out through

our hands and feet!

C. Finally, we see in this passage that Paul prays God’s word and truth.

1. So often, we will read God’s word when we end with our prayer time, when

we begin to pray for our needs, friends, and ministry but never breathe a

prayer about what we just learned in God’s word.

2. It is like sitting at the breakfast table with Kim and she talks to me about

something on her heart she wants me to know then I respond by telling her

about what happened in the ballgame yesterday! There is no connection and

no two way conversation

3. Here Paul is praying about what we just learned in God’s word – to know

more about Jesus, the one in whom are all these blessings and to know more

of the blessings themselves in a life changing way!

4. This is the prayer we all should be praying for each other and ourselves in

these days.

• So the rest of today my goal is simply to introduce you to this prayer and then the

next two weeks we will look into it more specifically. In v17 Paul prays that we

would

III.Know more of Jesus

A. The key word here is knowledge – it is the Greek word “epignosis” which

indicates a personal, intimate, and progressively growing knowledge of Jesus!

B. As I reread this verse note three things:

1. This is something that God gives, something that originates with God, not

something we work out by our efforts

2. He wants them to know more in a practical way – that is what wisdom and

revelation basically means

3. Then finally that growing, practical knowledge is in the particular area it is

in. The area of a personal, experiential and intimate relationship with Jesus

4. Read

C. This same idea is pictured and the same word is used in Matthew 16 for us to get

a picture of what this is like.

1. Context, Jesus had been on the scene and doing amazing miracles and saying

things that amazed some and angered others.

2. Those whom He angered said He was from the Devil and those who were

amazed knew He was someone very special as they thought he was John the

Baptist raised from the dead or Elijah or Jeremiah or one of the other

prophets raised from the dead.

3. Then Jesus said this to Peter

a) Read Matthew 16:15-17

4. Like we see in this passage a growing more intimate, experiential and

practical knowledge of Jesus is not something that comes from man’s efforts,

observations, or even being around Jesus, like so many of them were.

Rather it is a supernatural revelation – an unfolding to us by God where God

discloses this to us in the core of our being!

D. This is not just head knowledge or even just Bible knowledge about Jesus but it is

the truths of the Bible coming to life within my heart by the power of the Holy

Spirit!

1. This is not just reading, studying, memorizing and knowing the big idea the

twenty third psalm that teaches us that God, specifically Jesus, is our personal

shepherd but rather it is the daily experience in the grind of real life on the

streets where we experience Jesus shepherding us through every situation we

face.

2. It is not just knowing about Jesus in my head but rather knowing Jesus deep

within the core of my being in a life giving, life changing way!

• The second part of this prayer is that we would

IV.Know more of these blessings

A. The key word here is know – it is the Greek word “oida” which indicates an I see

something and I get the significance of what that is. It is the knowing from

observation but knowing in such a way that you grasp the significance of what

you know!

B. Let me reread v18-19a

C. Again, we see these are things he does not just want us to have head knowledge

about but he wants it to go to the core of our being, so they flow out of our lives

as naturally as blood flows out of our hearts! When the Bible speaks of the heart

it is speaking basically of the inner person, that part of us that lies deep within us,

the immaterial part of our lives

1. In the Bible, it speaks of the heart as a place where we imagine, think and

reason, a place where we have desires, affections and grief, a place where our

conscience and will is, a place where faith resides.

2. Here it talks about the heart having eyes – figuratively speaking that means

the ability to see.

D. But like everyone who sees we need to have light to see – so his prayer is that the

eyes of our hearts would be enlightened. That the Holy Spirit would shine light

down in our hearts so we can see and know these wonderful blessings that God

gives us!

V. Application

A. So everything that follows are works of God deep within our hearts that come in

the context of prayer so that God’s Word would become a living reality in and

through us!

B. So from the core of our beings we would know and experience deeply the hope

that comes from His calling, the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints

and what is the surpassing greatness of His power towards us.

Close in prayer – John Hurley