You were created to be
like Christ Ephesians 4:17-5:2
By Steve Upton
Just imagine back to your childhood if you can? Right,
if you are there, let me ask you a question? Who do you want to grow up to be
like? When you grow up who do you want to be?
I’m sure we all had heroes when we were growing up.
People who we wanted to imitate. For some of us it would have been our Dad or
our Mum. We saw them as great figures in our life that we wanted to be like. Or
sports start and pop stars more recently.
I’m sure you’re wondering who my hero was. Well, it
was Gary Lineker, a great footballer. That man was a legend when I was a kid.
Scoring goals for club and country. The thing that did it for me was that we
share the same birthday, November 30th. And because he was my hero,
I imitated him on the football field, well at least tried to! My friend Steve
and I used to play football behind our house and I would go out and try and
recreate the goals I saw him score on tv!
In today’s world it’s people like David Beckham and
Wayne Rooney. It’s amazing how many ten year old girls want to be Britney
Spears or Christina Aguilerra. Ask me later if you aren’t sure who they are?
What about us as Christians? Should we have heroes?
People that we aspire to be like? Well, put simply, yes we should! As
Christians we should want to grow up to be like Jesus. He is the perfect
example of what a human being created in God’s image is like, so we should want
to be just like him.
Over the last two weeks we have started looking at
God’s purposes for our lives. We’ve seen two great purposes so far. Firstly
we’ve seen that we were created to worship God. We were planned for God’s
pleasure, to live lives pleasing to God. Secondly we saw that we have been
created for fellowship. We were formed for God’s family. Well, this week we see
out third purpose, we were created to become like Christ.
Christians are created to be like Christ. God wants
Christians to grow up to be like Jesus. It’s a great purpose for our life. It’s
obviously a very wide area, being like Jesus could cover any aspect of our
lives. So therefore we are going to concentrate on one passage this morning
that looks at this topic of living lives like Christ.
It would be great to have Ephesians chapter 4 open in
front of you, its on page 1175. We are looking at chapter 4 verse 17 to chapter
5 verse 2.
We are going to see this morning that Christians are a
new creation. We are going to see that Christians have an Old Self, that
Christians have been transformed through Jesus, and that Christians now have a
new self. They are literally a new person, created to become more like Jesus.
So let’s start with verses 17 to 19 where we see the
Old Self.
1.
Old Self –
v.17-19
These verses call Christians to not live like they
used to, to not live like the Gentiles. Take a look down at verse 17. “So I
tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as
the Gentiles do.” By Gentiles here it means non-believers, non-Christians.
Basically the passage starts by saying, don’t live like the non-Christian that
you used to be. That’s the old self, that’s your old life? But you’re not there
any more, so don’t live like you are?
What does this old life look like though?
Well, these verses here give us three hallmarks of a
non-Christian. We are pointed to three bads to describe the life of the
non-believer, our old self.
Firstly our old life started with a Bad Attitude. Let me read verses 17 and
18 and see if you can spot signs of this bad attitude. “So I tell you this, and
insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the
futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and
separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to
the hardening of their hearts.”
According to these verses, these non-Christians have
futile thinking, they are darkened in their understanding they are ignorant,
and it’s all due to the fact they have hardened their hearts to God.
Ultimately this attitude is one of “I don’t want to
know and I don’t care.” It is an attitude of hardening your heart to God. This
is where all the problems start, not with what people do, but in people’s
attitude, and specifically their attitude towards God.
And this Bad attitude leads to a Bad Consequence, they are separated from the life of God. This is
serious here. I guess we don’t like to think about this side of Christianity
that often. We like to think of Christian facts like ‘God is love’, and want to
skip over things like this, but we can’t. This passage clearly shows that
people who live lives of ignorance towards God, who harden their hearts towards
him are separated from him and separated from the life they can have with him.
This Bad attitude and Bad Consequence lead to Bad
actions. Have a look down at verse 19. READ Verse 19.
I guess we would normally put it the other way,
wouldn’t we. We concentrate on the evil things people do, and then work from
their, maybe to their attitude or the consequences for them. This passage
though is the opposite. It is because people live lives of ignorance to God,
and are hard hearted towards him, it is because they are living lives separated
from God that leads to people to their actions. Because of their attitude, they
have given themselves over to sensuality is what it says.
So that’s our Old Self, summed up by its Bad Attitude,
its Bad Consequence and its Bad Actions.
So what’s different then? What has changed if you are
a Christian. Well, there’s been a great Transformation. The bible actually goes
as far as to describe it as being born again, that’s how huge this transformation
is.
2.
Transformation
v.20-24
Have a look at verse 20 and we’ll see how different
Christians are. READ VERSE 20
But your aren’t like that, is what it’s saying. That’s
just not you! This sentence is a really strong one. If we are Christians, that Old self is not us anymore. And Why not? What makes us so different?
Well, according to these verses, we have learned
Christ, heard of Christ and been taught in Christ. Have a look at verse 20
again. READ Verse 20, 21.
We saw the hallmarks of the non believers attitude
towards God was ignorance and futile thinking. How different could this be!
Christians have come to know Christ. Literally they have learned Christ.
Christians have heard of Jesus and been taught in him. We have to be careful
hear though. Being a Christian isn’t an academic exercise. It would be quite
easy to read these verses as saying that Christians should study for degrees in
Jesus. That’s not the case at all. This is about a personal and living faith
with the Lord Jesus, where Christians have got to know him as they are taught
about him, however highbrow or primitive that teaching might be.
It’s like when you meet someone special in your life.
You spend time with them, getting to know them. If you really like them you
will want to get to know as much as you can about them. You aren’t doing it
though so that you can write a thesis on them. You are doing it in order to be
in a deeper relationship with them. As you get to know somebody better you are
able to care for them better, love them better, support them better. Could you
imagine trying to be in a relationship with somebody where you tried to do all
these thing without ever getting to know them properly?
And it’s like that with Jesus. Christians are
transformed through being in the school of Jesus. By learning him, hearing him
and being taught in him. But not with the intention of knowing more about him,
but with the intention of knowing him more deeply and being in a deeper
relationship with him.
And why would we want this? Well verse 21 says that we
are taught in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.
What is this truth that is in Jesus? It is that as
Christians we are a new creation. The truth is that in Jesus Christians have
been transformed. This is exactly purpose number three for our lives.
Christians have been created to be like Christ. No longer the old self but a
brand new self. No longer the old attitude but a new attitude. That’s what it
means for us to be created to be like Christ.
How do we know of this transformation? Have a look at
verse 22 and let me read. READ V 22-24
In the school of Jesus, we have been transformed, we
been taught to do three things. We have been taught to put off our old self, we
have been taught to change the attitude of our minds, and we have been taught
to put on our new self, which is created to be like God. This is the
transformation all Christians have been through.
The picture hear is of a total change of costume, or a
change of clothes. I’m sure we’ve all been on long walks on a spring day. It’s
a lovely bright start but as you keep walking the April showers close in. It
really starts to pour down. By the time you are home, you are soaked through
and muddy. All you want to do is get out of the wet clothes and soak in a long
hot bath. Then out you get, dry off, and get in wonderful warm new clothes.
It’s the same picture here for our Christian lives.
When we became a Christian we were taught to put off the old. We have seen what
our old self is like, characterised by it’s attitude, consequence and actions.
In Christ we take off that, we are able to remove that. In Christ we change the
attitudes of our mind. We’ve seen that means changing our attitudes from one of
ignorance, futile thinking and hard hearts, to one of learning Christ, hearing
Christ, being taught in Christ. A new attitude of knowing Jesus. And along with
this new attitude we are able to replace the old self with our new self,
created to be like Christ.
Well, if we are created to be like Christ. If our new
self is supposed to be like God in true righteousness and holiness, as it says
at the end of verse 24, what does that actually mean for us?
That’s exactly where this passage goes and where we
are going to spend the rest of our time this morning. Having looked at the
theory, if you like, of being a new creation, of growing up to be like Jesus,
we are going to look at the practical side of it now. What does is actually
mean in my day to day life to be created to be like Jesus? What does my new
self look like?
3.
New Self –
New attitude v.25-5:2
Paul gives us five concrete examples of what our new
selves should look like. Five of them. What do they have in common? Well, as we
look through them we will see that they are all about relationships. We will
also see that each one has a positive and negative – ie a put off and a put on.
Just like our old and new self. And each seems to have an underlying reason, a
new attitude. Again we see that our new self is not just about action, but it
involves a new mindset.
It’s worth remembering before we look at these
examples, that these aren’t things we do as Christians to get in God’s good
books. These aren’t things we do to make God accept us, or to make God
transform us. In Jesus Christians have been transformed already. Everything we
have looked at so far has been past tense. We have put off the old self, we
have been transformed and we are now our new self. The thing is that new self
now has to grow, grow to become more like Jesus.
So these examples aren’t ways to transform ourselves
from our old self to our new self, instead, they are ways to grow our new
selves to be more like Christ.
We will all react differently to these examples. For
some of us there will be profound things we know we need change. For others of
us they m
So first one. We shouldn’t lie, instead we should tell
the truth. Have a look down at verse 25. READ V25
This is one of the great hallmarks of the Christian life.
Telling the truth. As Christians we should put off lying and put on truth
telling. This is a fairly simple example but one with profound and far reaching
implications. Its underlying reason is that we are all members of one body.
It’s talking here about the church.
We as a church family should be truthful and honest with each
other. That’s what its saying. I would think this is something we probably all
know. No big lies. I think the thing we need to be careful of is little lies,
white lies. They seem to have a habit of growing out of all proportion. If we
want to grow to become more like Christ one of our aims is bringing the body of
Christ together. If one thing is going to do the opposite it is lying. It has
the potential to split a church family apart.
Secondly, watch your anger. Have a look at verse 26.
READ V.26,27
Did you notice here how it doesn’t say ‘don’t get angry’? The
command here isn’t don’t get angry, it’s watch it when you do get angry. So
first thing to say is that it’s not wrong to get angry. The Old Testament is
full of God getting angry with his people. But his anger is righteous anger. He
has a right to be angry.
And there are many times when we have a right to be
angry. When someone upsets us, or lies to us, or does something we don’t ask of
them. I’m sure we could come up with a long list of things. The whole point
though is don’t sin when you get angry. For instance loosing your temper.
That’s the natural step after getting angry, to loose our temper. And that’s
when we start to show signs of our old self. It says in your anger don’t sin.
He specifically applies it to anger that leads to us
holding a grudge. The verse says “Don’t let the sun go down while you are still
angry.” I’m sure we’ve all been in this situation. We end up going to sleep
whilst angry, and normally wake up just as angry, and the longer you leave it
the more difficult it is to resolve the situation.
I guess one of the key applications for this is for
those people who are married. If you’ve had a bad day together, the worst thing
you can do is go to bed without resolving the situation. You’ll still need to
sort it out the next morning, and it will be more difficult to do that. Before
you fall to sleep together at night, make sure you resolve the situation. In
your anger don’t sin, don’t let it linger, even if you have a perfectly good
reason to be anger, resolve it.
One of the key things I have been challenged by the
Purpose Driven Life book is to take the initiative. When it comes to building
fellowship, or creating unity, when it comes to dealing with temptation or
encouraging my Christian brother or sister, when it comes to resolving broken
relationship. On all these things I’ve been really challenged to take the
initiative.
And it’s a similar challenge here. If we aren’t to let
our anger linger, someone needs to take the initiative. Don’t wait for the
other person, ‘cos you think they are the ones that need to apologise. You
might still be angry, but take the initiative. It may be a tough thing to do,
but it’s important.
Thirdly, don’t steal, but rather work and give. READ
V28
Again, I’m sure we all thought as I read this verse, oh I
don’t really steal. But Paul puts a positive spin on things. We must work,
doing something useful, so that we can give to those who don’t have.
It’s a great challenge to work hard in whatever we
might do. Let’s think positively about what we can do in our jobs or our spare
time. Then we will be able to provide for those people, especially those in our
own church family, who don’t have what we do. Rather than taking away from
people let’s work as hard as we can so that we can give to people.
Fourthly, watch our language. Have a look at verse 29.
This for me was the area of my life that really stood out. It
is so easy to use what we say to put people down, maybe just to get a laugh out
of somebody. I can be really bad a slipping into sarcasm and put downs, it’s so
easy to do.
Instead we are told to watch our language. Think about
what you say. As my mother used to say to me nearly every day, “Steven”, (she
is the only one that calls me Steven now and when she says it like that I know
she is about to tell me off.) “Steven, make sure you think before you speak.”
Let’s think about our language to help build others up. There is nothing better
than coming together with a group of Christians who in what they say are trying
to encourage you and build you up. It is so uplifting as Christian to have it
happen. It means not talking or gossiping behind others backs, not complaining
about other people in church.
I think this is a really tough area of the Christian
life, one that I need to work on loads. But if we want to grow up as Christians
to be more like Jesus, we will want to use what we say to encourage and build
up our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
Lastly, don’t be unkind or bitter, but rather kind and
loving. READ V31 to end
Don’t be
unkind or bitter, but rather kind and loving – v.31-5:2
It’s a rather strong sentence here again. Get rid of
bitterness, rage, anger, brawling, slander and malice. It’s strong ‘cos it’s so
important. These aren’t characteristics that should mark out a church.
Bitterness can be easy to slip in. Maybe linked to jealousy of what other
people are doing in church. Slander can be so easy. Again, just talking behind
someone’s back ‘cos you don’t quite agree with what they are doing. Maybe even
gossiping about them. We can do it without realising.
Instead we are to be a loving and forgiving church family. Be
kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ
God forgave you. We are to be king and loving to others, because we were
created to be like Christ. It’s going all the way back to our purpose today. In
Jesus God forgave us. Whilst we were sinners Jesus died on the cross for us. So
we should remember that when we deal with our fellow brothers and sisters in
church.
Again this isn’t easy. Nobody said growing up was easy. It’s
not at all. Growing up to be like Jesus will lead to difficult times, tough
situations. We may end up doing things we don’t want to, like forgiving
somebody we don’t think deserves it. We are going to have to make touch
decisions about the way we treat others. But we are a new creation, a new self, and we must fight hard to make
sure we don’t continue living life with reference to our old self. It’s a
tough, but great journey to be on.
So as Christians we are a new creation, created to be like
Christ. We have been transformed from our selves to our new selves. And so we
must work hard in our new selves growing to be more like Christ.
Such Love Ephesians 3.14-22
A Christian can never rejoice at
the news of war, only weep. To a Christian, war is always bad, always evil,
always a horrible reminder of human sinfulness and frailty.
Sometimes war can be
the lesser of two evils. Sometimes the evil of war is outweighed by the greater
evil of a tyranny unchecked. Sometimes the evil of doing nothing is greater
than the evil of war itself. That was the view taken increasingly in this
country in the late 1930s so when
Britain declared war on Germany most people felt that it was the thing
to do.
The majority of Christians believe
that sometimes war can be right - but it is never good.
Christian people differ as to
whether war in Iraq is right. Committed Christians have been found on both
sides of the debate. Now that the war has begun, Christian people will want to pray for a swift end to hostilities,
for a minimum level of casualties, and for a flowering of peace and justice for
the people of Iraq and the whole of the Middle East
In the history of the world there
has been no more powerful, no better equipped, no technologically more
sophisticated fighting machine than that of the United States. US military
spending is equal to the military budgets of the next ten largest armed forces
in the world combined, yet there is a power greater than that of the US army
The power of God’s love.
I don’t say that glibly at all. I
really do believe and the storyline of the Bible indicates there is no greater
power in the universe than the love of God, because that love will ultimately
be triumphant. The Apostle Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians and for us this
morning is that we must grasp the full extent of that love:
And I pray that you, being rooted
and established in love, 18 may have
power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and
deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to
know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure
of all the fullness of God. Ephesians
3.17b-19
Paul’s
aim throughout this letter has been to open our eyes to a fuller understanding
of God’s eternal plan for the universe, a plan formulated before the world
began, a plan that will only come to completion after it has ended. At the very
heart of this plan is us, the church
I’ll
repeat that: it is the church. Not a
building, not a religious institution, not a denomination like the Church of
England, but a people, his people, a body of believers, drawn from every nation
of the world, spanning every tribal, racial, cultural division. A body that
comes into being solely by the power of love. The very word church, ecclesia in
Greek, means the chosen ones, the ones God has chosen in his love
¨ 1.6 In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons
¨
2.4 But because of his
great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ
¨ 2.13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought
near through the blood of Christ.
¨
2.15-16 His purpose was to
create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in this one body to reconcile both of
them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.
That love
has broken down the barriers between Jew and gentile. That love can melt the
most hardened heart – witness what it did in Paul’s life. That love can turn
bitter enemies into brothers:(Ananias to Paul ‘Brother Saul’)
It is
the most powerful force on the planet because it can change the human heart,
something that bombs and bullets can never do - and Paul’s prayer is that you and I may
know that love more and more
Firstly
he prays, v17, THAT YOU
MAY BE ROOTED AND ESTABLISHED INLOVE
Paul uses
two pictures: a tree and a building.
Like a tree firmly rooted in the ground, you need to rooted in God’s love. Like
a building firmly resting upon its foundations, you need to rest on God’s love
What
does that mean in practise? It speaks of solidity and security, it speaks of a
deep trust and assurance of God’s love. It is about having our roots so deep in
his love that when we buffeted by the trials and tribulations and tragedies of
life our faith holds firm, because
we know that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ
Paul’s
prayer is that we may be so rooted and founded in God’s love that we will be unshaken
by what life throws at us
Next he
prays in verse 18, THAT YOU
MAY HAVE POWER TO GRASP HOW WIDE AND LONG AND HIGH AND DEEP IS THE LOVE OF
CHRIST
Some
year’s ago a book was published with the title ‘Your God is too small’ St Paul
might have written to the Ephesians ‘Your view of God’s love is too small’
Of course
we all suffer from the same problem. However
big our view of God’s love it is not big enough. However, deep our experience
of that love it could be deeper.
Paul’s
says in effect ‘My deep prayer for you is that not only will you be firmly
rooted in that love but you will be given power to grasp even more the sheer
scale and power of it.’
There is
no power greater than the power of God’s love
That
power is seen supremely in the cross. The powers of evil threw all they could
at Jesus. They mocked him, spat at him, whipped him, nailed him to the cross
and brutally killed him, but he defeated them by the power of his love
The
cross is the ultimate expression of God’s love because there Jesus gave
everything to save us:
MY LORD,
WHAT LOVE IS THIS
That pays so dearly,
That I, the guilty one,
May go free!
Amazing
love, O what sacrifice,
The Son of
God given for me.
My debt He
pays, and my death He dies,
That I
might live,
Leslie’s story, In My Place, p20
(a father speaks of his own appreciation of God’s love shown on the cross)
And I pray that you, being rooted
and established in love, 18 may have
power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and
deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to
know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of
all the fullness of God. Ephesians
3.17b-19
*********************
In the days when Idi Amin was the
brutal dictator of Uganda Bishop Festo Kivengere was summoned to the
Presidential Palace. In the course of that interview the Amin pressed as gun
into the Festo’s hand it. The Bishop handed it back saying ‘My weapon is love’
As the nations of the world join in
battle it is good to remember that the greatest power in the world is the power
of God’s love and the final victory of that love is guaranteed by Jesus death
on the cross
**********************
May we have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and
long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that
surpasses knowledge--that be filled to the measure of all the fullness of
God.
To Know Him Better: Ephesians 1:15-23
by Jane Cowan
Do you
get excited by Ordnance Survey maps? - I do. I love pouring over them and looking at
all the little details and they readily turn into a 3D picture of the scenery
for me - I know from my husbands constant amazement as we travel that this is not a universal response! The other day
when we were up in the Lake district I spotted one of those view point signs on
a map - the most exciting sort indicating an all round view. Immediately I imagined the scene - the lake
to the west, a village to the north, more fells to the east and so on. What a picture came to mind. But is that all a map is for? -to lay out
the facts? How much better to do what
we did. Put on our walking boots, and
walk the facts.....the goal in
sight......a steep climb, Yes!.... but at the top there was not simply the view
I knew would be there because the map told me it was, but all the exhilaration
of hill top air, bird song, the play
of the sun and mist on the water below and that special feeling of being alive
you get on such occasions.
There's
a world of difference between looking at the details of a map and the experience of walking it; between
the map of a place and KNOWING
the place.
Last
week as you studied the first part of this chapter, you celebrated 'How
wonderful it was to be a part of God's amazing plan. - You heard St Paul's
breathless outpouring of praise for every detail of the blessings we receive when we become christians. In those 12 glorious verses he laid
out the map of our christian lives....unfolding more and more of it.
As we
move this morning to look at the second half of the chapter (page 1173), we find Paul beckoning us take things
further. There's more to do with this
amazing plan than give thanks for
it...there's experiencing the plan,
..........living and walking the plan.............coming to know the
plan....and the Planner.
There's
the briefest of pauses between verses 14 and 15, before he continues to write
in a torrent of words, again without any full stops - moving from a simple statement that he has not stopped giving
thanks, to being practically lost for words in his contemplation of the risen
Christ.
He sounds really fired up - as
if he has just come from a 1st century Spring Harvest but in reality he was in prison.
It may be helpful to think of that if you have come this morning feeling
bowed down rather than full of praise.
How could he be so buoyed up in such circumstances? The secret lies in this passage.
Who is
he writing to? We can see it's
to those who have already come to
faith. What's more, it's a faith that
is active and being demonstrated in love for others (verse 15). But nevertheless it seems Paul has a great
longing to see something more happening in their lives - and he sees it as so
important that he is praying for them - not just a one off prayer -he keeps on
praying (see verse 17 'I keep asking'.)
Have you
noticed the tone of Paul's writing ?- he is writing with real joy and love, to encourage them. Not as he sometimes does in sorrow or to
rebuke. On the contrary, he says, he
hasn't stopped giving thanks for them and praying for them. And then he spills over into telling them
what he is praying for. Here we see a
teacher on his knees, full of enthusiasm for his subject and praying earnestly
and with a real longing, for his pupils to catch his enthusiasm. In the opening paragraphs he has praised God for the enormous
blessings of being 'in Christ' and now he is saying I so want you to
know all this for yourselves.....so I keep on praying that you will. He is not telling them they have
failed if they are not where he is in their understanding of the gospel. Instead
He is holding out goals to enthuse them, and offering his support by
his frequent prayers. And all with the
knowledge that their glorious Father in heaven holds the key to their achieving
them.
So let's
look at the prayer pointers Paul highlights.
At the heart of verse 17 we find
Prayer point one THAT
YOU MAY KNOW HIM BETTER
It's a
desire we put into words frequently when we meet together 'Lord, draw us closer to yourself'. 'Lord reveal yourself to us as we meet round
your word'. 'Lord, help us to grow in
our knowledge of you'.
The
ultimate goal for christians is not increasing self awareness but increasing
God awareness. Paul's prayerful concern, is not that his readers
will miss out on knowing about God's
plan but that they might miss out on knowing the Author of the plan......the glorious Father in heaven.
How can
they know him better?................through
the Spirit of wisdom and revelation -
We know
from verse 13 that we all receive the
Holy Spirit the moment we look to Christ as our Saviour but it is right
to pray frequently that the Spirit will
be active in our lives, ministering his gifts to us.
We come
to know God better through the ongoing work of the Spirit of wisdom and
revelation. Not a one off experience.
Not; 'at one time you don't have Him and the next you do.I
Some of
you will have come across Knowing God by Jim Packer.............A
book full of good things if you want a challenge.
He comments that 'Wisdom' in scripture always
means knowledge of the course of action that will please God and secure
life. Elsewhere, in praying for the
Colossians, Paul asks that they will be filled with the knowledge of God's will
in the same way, through spiritual wisdom
and understanding.
We see in
our human relationships how we get to know someone increasingly well as
we learn what things please them. The relationship becomes closer as we start
to put our own needs in second place and give preference to pleasing them. In the same way as the Spirit of wisdom
reveals God's will to us and we obey, so we grow closer to God. John Stott makes the cryptic comment ' the Spirit's enlightenment is not intended
to save us the trouble of using our minds.'
The spirit reveals God's will as we read and ponder his written word,as we
are doing now.
The Holy Spirit may give us wonderful moments
when we feel our knowledge of the Lord take a great leap forwards. But notice Paul says 'I keep asking'. He sees it in terms of a life time of
progression. Knowing Him better this week than last week, better next year
than this year. Solid human
relationships are not built on three wonderful nights out, nor on the feelings
of the moment. They come from sharing
everyday life together and discovering new things about each other, new ways to
please each other.
Paul is
joyfully encouraging them towards a lifetime of discovery open to every
Christian.......getting to Know God better.
But that
is not all.......he has 3 more prayer points....3 more longings
for his flock.
THAT YOU MAY KNOW.........the hope to which he has called
you, the riches of his glorious
inheritance in the saints, his incomparably great power for us who believe
if you
think about it those prayers encompass the past, the future and the present for
christians. They cover the eternal
dimension of God's promises to believers.
Prayer point 2 ........ KNOW THE HOPE TO WHICH HE HAS CALLED
YOU