Under Construction: Blueprint for Growth. Ephesians 1:15-23. 06/16/24.
Under Construction: Blueprint for Growth
Ephesians 1:15-23
Rev. Dr. Rhonda Blevins
June 16, 2024
I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may perceive what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
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Today we begin a new sermon series based on the book of Ephesians. I’m calling the series, “Under Construction.” Perhaps it’s wishful thinking, as we (here at Chapel) are not quite “Under Construction.” We continue to await the completion of final blueprints, a process that’s way more involved than I would have ever imagined! And there’s very little we can do without a solid set of blueprints.
As we await completed blueprints, we were able to go ahead and start our stained-glass window project, which is part of the overall plan. As you can see, our stained-glass windows have been removed, and taken to a shop in North Carolina where they will be completely refurbished. Three brand-new windows will be created, so that when everything is done, we’ll have stunning windows on both our east-facing wall and our west-facing wall. If you can picture with the eyes of your imagination, you know it will be beautiful!
Historical tidbit: when you go visit churches, say in Europe, that are older than our country, you can see some stunning stained-glass windows. The windows served a purpose beyond aesthetics—they depicted biblical stories visually, enabling the largely illiterate population to see and understand the narratives through colorful, detailed images.
This brings me to the “pop quiz” I have for you today!
With our beautiful stained-glass windows up north, I want to see if you remember the story that the stained-glass windows in our sanctuary tell. Can you remember each window and what it depicts?
1. Madonna and child: the birth of Jesus
2. Young Jesus at the Temple teaching his elders
3. Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane
4. The crucifixion of Jesus
5. Jesus’ resurrection
The three new windows we have commissioned will complement this series, depicting additional scenes from Jesus’ life:
1. Jesus with diverse children (our church was founded, in part, to teach children on Clearwater beach about Jesus—the diversity we’ll see in their faces represents our welcome of all people here at the Chapel!)
2. Jesus teaching people from a boat (This will remind us that Jesus, like members of the Chapel, spent a great deal of time seaside. It also helps us remember that what Jesus taught is vitally important to us, his followers.)
3. The Ascension . . . Jesus ascending into heaven.
In most churches in which I’ve participated, we make a big deal about Jesus’ birth. We make a big deal about Jesus’ death. We make a big deal about Jesus’ resurrection. But Jesus’ ascension? Meh.
But it’s not “meh” to Paul in his letter to the church at Ephesus (Paul is traditionally thought to be the author of Ephesians). Paul makes a big deal about Jesus’ ascension in the portion we read together a moment ago.
But before I dive into that, I want to give you a bit of background to this letter to the church at Ephesus, what we call the New Testament book of Ephesians. Since we will be walking through this book together throughout this series, some background will help us understand it.
Ephesus (part of modern-day Turkey) was an important city in Paul’s day—perhaps the most important Greek city at the time as it was the chief trading center in the Mediterranean.
The Apostle Paul founded the church in Ephesus on his second missionary journey, returned to the city on his third missionary journey, and stayed with them over two years as he was finding great success in winning converts and building the church there.
The letter that we have before us from Paul to the church at Ephesus, is written several years after his long stay with them. Paul is writing from prison, perhaps in Rome. He’s writing to encourage his friends back in Ephesus . . . to help them build a life of faith that’s pleasing to God.
And if you’re going to build something, what’s an important first step? (Hint: what are we currently waiting on here at the Chapel before we can begin our renovations?) Answer: a blueprint!
So as Paul is writing to help his friends in Ephesus build a life of faith, he begins by giving them a “blueprint” of sorts. As we’ve been working on blueprints here at the Chapel, we’ve discovered how one thing is contingent on another. This is true of Paul’s “blueprint” which can be found in verses 17-19 of chapter one.
In verse 17, Paul tells them that he prays for them to have a “spirit of wisdom and revelation as they come to know God.” In other words, he prays that they will grow in theological insight.
In verse 18, Paul articulates what he considers to be the byproduct of theological insight, saying: “so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened.” In other words, theological insight leads to enlightenment.
In verses 18 and 19, Paul names three things they will “perceive” once their hearts are enlightened because of theological insight: 1) “the hope to which [God] has called you,” 2) “the riches of [God’s] glorious inheritance among the saints,” and 3) “the immeasurable greatness of [God’s] power for us who believe.”
So, thinking in terms of a building, Paul is teaching that:
The foundation of a faithful life is theological insight—knowing God.
On top of the foundation (knowing God), is the frame—the enlightenment that comes from knowing God.
(Foundations and frames aren’t “sexy”—they aren’t beautiful. But they are essential!)
Then, once you have a strong foundation and a solid frame, you can begin to add on the elements that make the house beautiful! Theologically, that’s the “hope,” the “riches of God’s inheritance” (“blessings” gets at the meaning here a little better than “riches”), and the “power”—the good stuff of life!
These three “good things”—hope, blessings, and power—these good things are the result of knowing God and living in the light of God, according to Paul’s blueprint for faithful living. Who wouldn’t want a little more hope, a few more blessings, and a lot more power?
So let’s talk about each of these for a moment.
HOPE
Hope is always about the future. Enlightened eyes view the future believing that good things will happen and that what happens will be for the best. Unenlightened eyes often view the future with despair or hopelessness—imagining the worst about the future. In the blueprint for a house of faith, hope isn’t an add-on—it’s not a change order—it’s part of the plan!
For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord,
plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.
—Jeremiah 29:11
BLESSINGS
“The riches of [God’s] glorious inheritance,” or what I think of as “blessings,” is primarily past-oriented. Enlightened eyes view the past with a spirit of thankfulness and gratitude. Enlightened eyes find goodness in even life’s most challenging circumstances—whether because a lesson was learned or because of the sequence of events that unfolded after the challenge. The opposite of blessings, in this sense, is lack or poverty—looking at the past through the lens of scarcity. Paul, however, begins the letter to the Ephesians reminding them of God’s past blessings:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us
in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
—Ephesians 1:3
POWER
Power is for now! Power is for present-tense living. The Greek word for “power” here is dunamis from which we derive our English word “dynamite.” Weakness and powerlessness are for the unenlightened. Dynamite is for those with enlightened eyes which comes from knowing God. Power is the gift of the Holy Spirit:
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
—Acts 1:8
Hope, blessings, and power—sign me up!
Some of you know that a couple of years ago I became a certified Enneagram trainer. The Enneagram is known as a personality inventory, like the Myers-Briggs or the DISC or other personality inventories. One of the insights of the Enneagram relates to “core emotions.” Each individual’s personality, according to Enneagram theory, develops around a “core emotion,” of which there are three: shame, fear, and anger. Shame is past-oriented. Fear is future-oriented. Anger is present-oriented.
So when Paul suggests that enlightened hearts experience hope, blessings, and power, he’s providing the antidote to the core wounds around which our entire personalities become formed.
Healing, for some, transforms a shame-filled past into a hope-filled future.
Healing, for others, transforms a fear-based future into a blessing-based past.
Healing, for still others, transforms an ever-present anger into power for the work of Christ.
I invite you to consider your life for a moment. Underneath all of your behaviors—what has become your “personality”—what core emotion drives you?
Is it shame/sorrow?
Is it fear/angst?
Is it anger/rage?
If you had to pick one, which would you say is ever-present in your life?
If you chose shame/sorrow, I have good news for you! God invites you to experience the hope you can find through faith. As you place your trust in God, little by little, the hope you find through faith begins to overwhelm the shame or sorrow from which your ego developed. Claim that hope!
If you chose fear/anxiety, I have good news for you! God invites you to remember the blessings you’ve found through faith. As you place your trust in God, little by little, the gratitude you experience through faith begins to overwhelm the fear or anxiety from which your ego developed. Claim those blessings!
If you chose anger/rage, I have good news for you! God invites you to experience the power you can find through faith. As you place your trust in God, little by little, the power you find through faith transforms the anger or rage from which your ego developed into strength for living into each day. Claim your power!
Here’s the thing: each of us is “Under Construction.” This life of faith is an ongoing renovation. Just when we think we’ve “nailed it,” God opens our eyes to see a little more clearly the mysteries of the faith and the work that still needs to be accomplished within us. But our God is faithful. God will not abandon us. God will not leave the work site until the job is finished. In a letter to his friends at Philippi, Paul writes this:
I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you
will continue to complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.
—Philippians 1:6
Friends, each of us is “under construction,” because God isn’t done with us yet! Thanks be to God!