Calling
A Written compostion of the Heavenly Calling Network Study Group
Chapter
12
Ephesians
1:12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in
Christ. 13 In whom you also trusted, after that you heard the word of
truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that you
believed, you were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, ...
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You have the will of the Father in the
opening verses. You have the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ
the Son. And now you come to some verses which is now dealing with the
work of God the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit of promise. Strictly
speaking the tenses on this verb isn't quite right. The revised version
is better. Its not so much in who you trusted after you heard it. It's
when you heard it. He is saying to these Ephesian believers in whom you
trusted when you heard the truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom
also when you believed, you were sealed. Not sometime afterwards. That
isn't true. This sealing took place on the moment of believing. Its
been signed, sealed, and settled.
Then another thing is told in verse 14 Which ... or who ... is the
earnest of our inheritance .... Here is the earnest. It is an old
English word that has dropped out of modern language. We don't talk
about earnest in the same sense now. We talk about a person being
earnest, but that is not the meaning of the word here. It is an
earnest. This word has been dug up in contemporary documents from the
soil of Egypt by archeologists. These documents, that were written in
Paul's day, was a common word for an engagement ring that a young
fellow gave to a girl. A pledge of marriage. And so this earnest is a
pledge of something. It is a pledge here and now of the great things
that is yet to come. When at last the present life with all its failure
and sin is over and redemption really starts. And at last we see the
Lord and we are like Him. We've got that life, eternal life and sin and
failings forever gone. And we've got that fullness of joy.
Till then we've got the fore taste, the earnest. That is what we ought
to be experiencing now. Every day there ought to be an enjoyment for it
is a kind of a pledge, a first fruits of what is coming. The great
thing that is yet to be. As we keep close to the Lord and close to His
word that is what will happen. But if we shut the scriptures up and are
indifferent to it and never pry and never as it we shall never enjoy
the pledge, that's all. We will be just walking in our own strength and
our own ideas and then we will be far away from God's. You've got the
picture of what this pledge is translated in to earthly terms in the
Old Testament. Before Israel got home to glory, that was Canaan wasn't
it? They were in Egypt and were a nation of slaves. And God redeemed
them. That's salvation, redemption. Takes them out. Free's them. And
then leads them through the wilderness to the promise land. Canaan was
to them what our heavenly inheritance is going to be to us. But before
they went in to Canaan God allowed them to send spies in to the
promise, in to the good land, and they brought back evidences that what
God promises was true. He said it was a unique land. He said it was a
land, using a figure that they all understand, flowing with milk and
honey. It was exceedingly fruitful. That's what they brought back
pomegranates and grapes. And as you know the grapes from the brook of
Eshcol were so big that they were carried on a pole between two people
on their shoulders. Luscious grapes. That was the pledge. That was the
fore taste of the land that was still in front of them.
You would think that having had that fore taste they would have said to
themselves, my what a marvelous place this is going to be. And how
wonderful God has been to give us such a place. So you've got the old
story of sin and failure and ingratitude. They rejected. They
disbelieved. They wouldn't go in. They wouldn't do what God told them.
That's what we all got by nature. And if there is any longing for these
things well we can thank Him that His salvation and His work of the
Spirit has lead us to have this longing and to seek these wonderful and
eternal things. We can have our fore taste of our heavenly inheritance,
just like Israel did, until the redemption of the purchase possession.
That's only another way of talking about God's redeeming love on
Calvary. You know that is what the word redeem means don't you? It just
means to buy. And the God Jesus when He came, paid, for the price for
sin was death on the cross. He bought, as it were, His children.
So Paul, when he wrote to the church at Corinth said, that your not
your own, you've been bought with a price. And that price was nothing
less than the life of the Son of God. Redemption means that God has
bought us. It is a grand thing to even think on that and realize what
it means. It is very easy to hear people talk about it, to hear
addresses give on it, or to hear someone preach on it, or even to read
it in the scriptures. But you know when you think of the implications,
you are not your own. You can't do what you like with yourselves. You
belong now to Him. He has bought you. When we realize that it ought to
be our job to hand ourselves back to Him because we are His property.
Wonder if we realize the implication of all that. That is the way to
happiness. That is the way to fullness of blessing when we don't hold
anything back from Him. But we freely hand over to Him all that we
have. That is saying a lot. Maybe there is a struggle going on in our
minds. We think that we are going to lose if we give up. If we see not
my will by thine be done. But you know you don't do you. If we could
only learn the lesson, it would be a time of increasing peace and joy
and blessing. That is the only way it can be really experienced in all
its fullness.
Here we have the redemption. He not only bought us but He has bought
this inheritance for us. The purchases possession. Which ever way you
look at the offering of the Son of God on Calvary's cross you"ll see
its tremendous cost in dealing with His people and all their needs,
their sins, death, abolishing the whole lot. And securing for them a
place in this glorious universe. You remember how the Saviour before He
left the earth said, John 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am,
[there] ye may be also. ... I've gone to prepare a place for you. I go
away to do that, to prepare a place for you. Do we believe it? That is
the inheritance. That's what He has been doing. We wouldn't know that
unless He said so. All faith does is to believe what He says. It is
just as simple as that.
What a mystery some of our people make about faith don't they. It's
something that they've got to work themselves up in to. You come to a
frame of mind with great effort. But you never get it like that. It is
just the simple excepting of a child to what his father says. And if
the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father has said these things and we
are His children, well we just believe what He says. It is just as
simple as that. Unless of course we can't trust Him. Unless He is not
worthy to be trusted. Unless He tells lies. Unless He lets us down.
Well of course we reject this as an idea. It is utterly impossible. We
have a God that cannot lie. That never misleads. That never
exaggerates. So the most reasonable thing to do is to believe what He
says. And yet how hard it is to get people to do that. Just to do that
simple thing. Believe what God has said. That is what faith is. The
scriptures says, Romans 10:17 So then faith [cometh] by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. ...
When the Lord walked the earth He used two phrases concerning faith. He
said to some O ye of little faith. And to one He said, women great is
thy faith ... And you always find the people who've got the great faith
and the little faith. And the people who have got the great faith have
just simply realized that they are just asked to believe what their
Father has told them. And that Father can't mislead. He has told them
in His word that it is just as simple as that. Mind you, when you
believe it doesn't mean that you will understand it right away. You'll
have to wait and you'll have to pray and ask Him. That will come by
degrees. When you believe God isn't a universal comprehension. But that
is the start. We will never get comprehension unless we first believe.
If there is doubt and if there is rejection, comprehension will never
and can never come. The Scriptures state without faith it is impossible
to please Him.
So we have the fore taste, the earnest given by the Holy Spirit of this
redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of His glory.
That reoccurring phrase comes three times in this passage. It is all
going to be to the praise of God. He is going to have all the praise in
the end. And your glad. We won't get any pats on the back in the end.
He'll have all the praise because it is His due. He has done it all. He
has overflowed it towards us in all His love, pity, grace, and mercy.
Riches in grace, as this chapter says, toward us.
The next thing that Paul does from verse 15 onwards is to start to
pray. And this tells us something about the importance of prayer. Or
the place of prayer. After telling us what the Father's will means in
some measure, the Son's redemptive work on Calvary's cross, and the
present witness and earnest of the Holy Spirit means, now then he says
this is the time for prayer and he starts to pray. And you know prayer
from one aspect is simply exploring for your self what God has revealed
in His word. Instead of just reading words in the bible you start by
saying, Lord I want you to tell me what this means. That is prayer for
your asking Him for something. Your asking Him to open your eyes of
your understanding so that you may enter the wonder of all this for
your self. You don't want it second hand do you? You want it for your
own self.
And that is what he is going to pray now for these Ephesian saints. And
that is what we have to do. Praying you know, coming down to its
essence, isn't difficult. It is really just going to God, with out
posing, for God knows us through and through, and we go to Him as we
are with all our sin and failure, and we tell Him that. No sense
pretending we are good when we are not. Don't pretend with God because
you are just wasting your time and His. If you don't feel particularly
interested well tell Him so. Be honest. Ask Him to be concerned about
it and ask Him to give you that concern that you ought to have. Go to
Him and just tell Him you just don't understand and you want to
understand. Open my eyes. Prayer is just the simple sincere asking God
for these things. And when you realize that you just won't want set
prayers. The best thing you can do is the first of all realize that
your talking to God who fully understands and loves you beyond all your
dreams and your comprehension. You haven't gone to Him with something
He doesn't know. You do realize that? Yes. Then read His word. Get to
know what His truth is and start to ask Him to teach you. And once you
realize that you only have to go to this chapter. If we are honest we
have to say to our selves that there is lots that we don't know. Well
go and ask Him. He is the one who can tell you. He is the one who
promised to. And He is a God who keeps His promises.
What Paul is going to do here is to pray for the Ephesian saints so
that they might go to God and ask Him to give them opened eyes. That
understanding might be given them so they might understand these things
themselves. Because after all said and done unless we finally enter in
to these things ourselves, well what is the use of them. It's just
going over our heads and means little or nothing. But oh to get a
personal interest in these things, that is the wonder. And once we have
anything like that it is something that will never be lost. It is
something that you can't lose and nobody can take away. It is like that
blessed peace that the Saviour says He gives which the world can not
give. It can neither give it or take it away. It is something so
precious, so eternal, so lasting that once it is yours its yours for
always. So it is something to covet isn't it. It's something to seek
after. It something to be dead and earnest about.
Ephesians 1:15 Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the
Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, 16 Cease not to give thanks
for you, ... This is Paul's prayer for the Ephesians. Here is another
aspect of prayer. He is thanking God for these Ephesians Christians.
You say, you really don't know what to pray for. But can't you thank
God for somebody else that you know? Someone else whom you seen some
facet of the Lord Jesus in the way they are living or the way they are
speaking or the way they are acting. Don't you thank God for that? That
is what Paul was doing. Once you realize some of things prayer doesn't
become so hard as we perhaps think. Paul thanks God for them.
And then he goes on to say Ephesians 1:17 That the God of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom
and revelation in the knowledge of him: 18 The eyes of your
understanding being enlightened; ... They wanted understanding. So if
you say, this is what I wanted, all God's children of every age wanted
this. No one had this straight off. All had to come the same way. And
that should encourage you. These Ephesian saints needed teaching and
understanding, giving for Paul was praying for them so that they might
have it. Ephesians 1:18 ...that you may know what is the hope of his
calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the
saints, 19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward
who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 20 Which he
worked in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, ... The power that
raised Christ from the dead was resurrection power. ... and set him ...
Old English. Seated Him is what we say today. ... at his own right hand
in the heavenly places, 21 Far above all principality, and power, and
might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this
world, but also in that which is to come: 22 And has put all things
under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the
church, 23 Which is his body, the fullness of him that fills all in
all. ...Now if you say that is a mouth full isn't it, yes it certainly
is. And all you can do now is to go very slowly over it and ask the
Lord to give us understanding.
We see Paul praying in verse 16 and thanking God for these Ephesian
believers. And Paul says that he doesn't cease to pray for them. ...
cease not to give thanks for you ... There are six occurrences in
Paul's epistles where he says that he never stops praying. This shows
you the importance of prayer doesn't it. Prayer isn't something that
you limit to one particular time. This man says that I don't wait for
any special time I am always at it. I never stop praying. Well then you
ask, Paul I can't understand that. You mean to tell me that your on
your knees all day long and all night. What amount of time would there
be for him to get on your knees. When you realize the burden that he
carried and the tremendous responsibility of being Christ messenger to
the Gentile world. The burden of all the churches that he talks about
in the letter to the Corinthians. And the various experiences that he
was under going and preaching the gospel, making God's truth known.
What time did he get to go on his knees? This is not saying that he
never did, but he couldn't have remained on those knees very long. So
prayer is something independent of just going on your knees. Mind you
that this is not saying this is a good thing. The Saviour said when you
pray enter your closet and shut your day and be quiet, if it is
possible. It is not easy to pray on a busy street with noise and bustle
going on. It would be easier to pray in the quiet of you bedroom
wouldn't it, by your self. That is quiet a good thing if it can be
done. But, if it can't be done you can still pray.
What is prayer is another aspect of it. It's merely lifting your heart
to God where ever you are. You haven't got to wait for some special
formula to say or wait for some special time or be in some special
favorable position in order to pray. No. The moment you flash your mind
to Christ its there as quick as that. That's all this man was doing.
Busy man as he was. Paul could say I always prayed for you. Paul was
always thinking of their needs and baring them up to God. Why that is
what you can do to one another too. ... cease not to give thanks for
you making mention of you in my prayers ... Be definite in your
praying. Well you know that He knows before you tell Him, but it is
good to be definite over these things.
Now there is two parts in this prayer. It revolves around two words of
action. When you went to school you had lessons in grammar that is
possible that you hated. But you know they were necessary because you
couldn't use our language intelligently or write intelligently without
it. Do you remember what a verb is? If you have forgotten a verb is a
word that describes an action. That does something. There are two verbs
in this prayer around which all this prayer revolves. Two things that
God does for us. Ephesians 1:17 ... the Father of glory, may give to
you ... God gives something. Give is a verb. He does something. The
next thing is in the middle of verse 18 The eyes of your understanding
being enlightened; that you may know ... something. That is the correct
order. And it is always the order. God gives before we can know. You
couldn't know anything unless at first God has given something. Don't
think for a second that anyone will get understanding without God
giving it to us. You'll never get it by yourself. The greatest human
minds, with all there tremendous brain power couldn't lead them to the
knowledge of Christ. Never could. Man's intellect can only go as far as
human experience will take him. Within that realm it is wonderful and
marvelous what man can do. But it cannot go beyond human experience. It
cannot pierce into infinite things. In to the realm of God, he has no
means of doing it. So keep human intellect in its right dominion for it
has its proper place. But, here you see God gives what human intellect
can never find out for itself. He gives enlightened eyes. Knowledge,
wisdom, understanding in order that we may know.
Paul is telling them if they are going to understand the wonders of
this calling they will have to go to the one who can give it to them.
This book can't give it to you. A clergyman can not give it to you. It
is only God that can give it to you. All a faithful Christian can do is
to point out the way that God's word has revealed to get it. You can't
do anymore. Everyone has to go the same way and go humbly to Him and
say Lord, give it to me. I want it. Again it must be stressed, that its
the want. God won't give it to you, He won't push it into your head if
you don't want it because it will be just a waste. You will never use
it. You would just throw it away. But directly there is that need, that
desire to know and you sincerely ask Him for it. He is pleased and
delighted to give it to you.
Ephesians 1:17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of
glory, may give to you ... What does He give? ... the spirit of wisdom
and revelation in the knowledge of him: ... What does him refer back
to? Well the Lord Jesus Christ. All true knowledge is finally realized
that it is centered in Christ. When Paul wrote the next letter after
Ephesians this is what he said, Col 2:3 In whom are hid all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge. ... And note that Paul didn't say
some of them. Paul said all of them. And to try to find any of these
apart or outside of Christ is a waste of time. You can't find them
because they can only be found in Him. In Christ.
So, He may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the
knowledge of Christ. First of all wisdom. How about a question. Why do
you want to know? What it the motive for wanting to know. Of course it
would be possible to desire knowledge for wrong ends. You might want to
know to be a little bit better than our neighbors. That would be a
wrong motive to go to God with. Because the prayer will be not answered
in a case like that. Why do you want to know? Do you want to know so
that you can have better appreciation of what Christ has done for you.
Do you want to know so that you can better live for Him day by day.
That is the right motive. If we go like that you can be sure to have
the answer. You shall want wisdom then to use that knowledge, if God
gives it, correctly. Knowledge can be misused. Paul says that I am
going to ask that God give you wisdom so that when He gives it to you
it will be use wisely. So you have to ask for that. Lord give me that
wisdom so that when I get an understanding I won't waste it. I won't
toss it away. I won't do something silly with it. I will you it wisely
to thy glory.
And then revelation. Now here is an interesting word. It gives us the
name of the last book in scriptures. Revelation. And the word means to
take away the veil from, literally. To uncover, unveil. Wisdom and
unveiling in the knowledge of Him. Does it mean to say that naturally
our eyes has a veil over them so we are not seeing properly? That is
exactly what it does mean. It means to say that God is the one who
takes away the veil from the eyes so that when you read the scriptures
instead of it being just words the truth dawns on you. This has been
the experience of believers all down the ages. You say, when I read
that passage in the scriptures times and times again and never have
seen it before. Well of course its been there all the time but you
haven't had opened eyes. That is why. The moment that you see something
there that you have never seen before and you have a read it a scores
of times, well that prayer has been answered. God has opened your eyes.
Did the Psalmist know that? Open my eyes, He prayed, Psalms 119:18 Open
thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. ...
The Psalmist knew the need of it and is asking God to do it. And that
is what you must do. Lord open my eyes. Give me the spirit of
unveiling. Take off the veil from my eyes. If I got any veil over my
eyes that I won't properly appreciate the truth of thy word take it
away. The spirit of unveiling, revelation, in the knowledge of Christ.
This is what makes the difference between Christians. It is not because
some are cleverer than others. Its not because some are better educated
that others. That may be true of course from a natural stand point. But
it is that some see more of God's truth than others. Perhaps they have
gone to the Lord more humbly and more sincerely and asked Him for this
revelation and God has given it to them. But surely it is not because
they are better. No. They just simply gone this pathway and they had
this answered prayer. A spirit of revelation has been given to them.
God does not have any favorites in this matter. And that is said to
encourage you so that you can't say to yourself, I don't think that He
will give me because I am just a nobody and I can't understand. Well
don't say that. His love embraces you as much as it does any other
child of God. And He is willing to teach you if your willing to be
taught. He is willing to take away the veil from your eyes if you
willing to ask Him. And keep on asking. And that is what you want.
Otherwise when you read the scriptures its just words. You even
memorized parts of God's word. The scriptures themselves you know as
the back of your hand. You have extraordinary memories. Even that
doesn't mean you understand it. You just know the words. Words only.
Don't forget that words are just the expression of truth. How can God
communicate, the Great High God in heaven, communicate with man? He's
got to use some point of contact. He's got to use words. Otherwise how
does truth get in to your head? That is what He is pleased to do. He
has been pleased to speak to man in words that He uses day by day. That
is what this is called, the word of God. It is made up of God's words.
You know Christ, just before Calvary, in that wonderful prayer recorded
for us in the gospel of John said, 17:8 For I have given unto them the
words which thou gavest me; ... Words. Then He said, John 17:14 I have
given them thy word; ... Two things, thy words and thy word. Well
that's it, this is the word of God. But obviously it contains the words
of God. And those words are ordinary human words but they in stride in
them divine truth which you have to ask Him to give you that
understanding. That is what prayer does. Wisdom and unveiling
revelation, taking away the veil from the eyes. In the knowledge of
Christ.
The word knowledge here doesn't mean merely knowledge. Sometimes in our
English version its been translated acknowledge. Titus 1:1 Paul, a
servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith
of God's elect, and the acknowledging .... That is the same word in the
Greek. It is translated knowledge in the Greek and acknowledge in
Titus. The Greek word is epignosis {ep-ig'-no-sis}. And another good
witness and small example to this is in other English translations.
1901 American Standard Version Paul, a (1) servant of God, and an
apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the
knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, (bondservant
(1) Gr ) 1889 Darby Bible Paul, bondman of God, and apostle of Jesus
Christ according to the faith of God's elect, and knowledge of the
truth which is according to piety; ...
And you see its meaning is really this. Its just not merely a plain
minor fact. But its a knowledge that starts to powerfully act upon it.
So that we acknowledge in practice. So that you don't not only know in
your heads but it starts to work its way in your lives. Its one thing
to know something about Jesus Christ and what He has done. But what
about acknowledging it in our daily life and walk and witness. The real
thing works out that way in some measure of acknowledgement. So what
Paul is really praying is not simply saying, I'm praying that you
Ephesian believers may know Christ. What he is really saying is this, I
am praying that knowledge which you have may be acknowledged by you,
practically. Its the daily life in the way speak and the way you act
and the way you talk may reflect it in some measure. That is the way
you acknowledge Christ. Its not merely cramming your head with
scripture knowledge. Its having this as a power and a light in your
heart and mind that starts to work its way day by day. That is what the
scriptures tells us. And so we have to acknowledge, and Paul is praying
that the Ephesians believers would acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ.
It will start out with knowing Him of course and then work out in
reflecting that knowledge day by day. In knowing Him is the only way we
can know truth. John 14:6 ... I am the way, the truth, and the life: no
man cometh unto the Father, but by me. ... No man comes to God unless
they come through Me. You can not by pass Jesus Christ. Thousands are
trying to do it and they will never get there. There is only one way
back to God. He says, I am the way. So you come to God through Christ.
But He says, I am the truth. And all truth is summed up there in Jesus
Christ in a concrete form in His life and His teachings. He is the
truth.
When we acknowledge Him and when we get to know Him, we know the truth.
The more you know about Christ, as recorded in the word of God, the
more you will know the truth. And you know what else He said? He said
you will know the truth and the truth will make you free. Oh the
liberating power of truth. Instead of being in bondage to this person
or that person or even in bondage to yourself, you'll be free. The
chains will be dropped off. You'll be a free person. Not free of course
in the sense of just doing what you like in life. Its not that. But
free to do all that He wants you to do. Service is perfect freedom. And
nobody is a free person who hasn't come to the Lord as their Savior and
began serving Him. They don't know it but they are in bondage
themselves. Their ways, their habits, all sorts of things, and they
have chains on and they don't know it. Only the redeemer can snap those
chains. I am the truth and if you know me, if you know the truth,
you'll be free. You'll be really free.
Here is the great quest then. To get to know the Saviour and to
acknowledge that in our daily living day by day. Ephesians 1:18 The
eyes of your understanding being ... The tense is having being ...
enlightened; ... You see He has told us that. You have got to have this
opened up. You've got to have the light that God alone can give.
Otherwise you will never understand. When you've got that, the next
step is this ... that you may know ... something. Here is knowledge in
something worth while. That you may know three things ... what is the
hope of his calling, ... what the riches of the glory of his
inheritance in the saints, ... and ... 19 And what is the exceeding
greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, ... And that power is
the power that conquered death. The power that broke the bonds of the
grave, hell, and the third day the Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead
in triumph. Man could do his very worse, and they did of course, for
Calvary from one stand point is man doing his worse to God. Crucifying
His Son. They couldn't do anymore could they if they wanted to. How
ever much they hated they couldn't do any more than that. And to make
it sure they said, you bury Him and you set a seal on the grave and see
that there is no tampering and to see that He does not get out. And no
one comes to take Him out. And they put a watch there and watched
around the tomb. And they sealed the tomb and thought, that's done it.
Its finished with. But oh, the third day He breaks the bonds. He
couldn't be hold en, the scriptures say, by the grave. It couldn't
contain Him. Because if we had a dead Christ today we would have no
hope. The fact that the scriptures tells us that Jesus Christ ever
lives to make intercession for me to save us to the utter most. We've
got a living Saviour. We are touched by faith with one who can live in
us. That is what Paul said, Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ:
nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life
which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God,
who loved me, and gave himself for me. ...