EPHESIANS OUTLINE # 11 of 34

THE CHRISTIAN'S HOPE (Eph. 1: 18-23)

I. Introduction

A. The Apostle understood the problems of the believers at Ephesus.

1. He knew the lukewarmness which can settle in.

2. The apathetic attitudes which can arise after such a warm and hopeful beginning.

3. He saw these Christians as dispirited and turned off.

4. Perhaps you are struggling with this problem.

5. No Christian escapes those moments.

B. Because Paul realizes the situation - he turns to prayer.

1. He specifies three things in that prayer - hope, riches, glory.

2. Notice he didn't offer that general and popular prayer of most Christians: - Lord bless the Ephesians.

3. He realizes that they have lost their sense of hope and power.

4. So he prays that God will enlighten them that they may know the hope of God's

calling.

II. We All Need Hope

A. That word is one part of the great triad found in scripture - faith, hope and love.

I. Hope always concerns the future evidently the future didn't look very bright to these believers.

2. The hope of a believer is described in Rom. 8:18-25.

3. Paul describes the hope, he brings to their attention the glory that's waiting for the whole of creation (19-21)

4. That phrase, "the bondage to decay," is a very accurate description of what scientist

call the Second taw of Thermodynamics, the law of entropy, the law which states

that everything in the universe is running down; it was wound up once, but now everything is declining, deteriorating Paul includes not. only the natural world, with its constant decay, but the human body as well (22-25)

5. These believers knew intellectually a day of hope and victory lay ahead. But Paul

wants their heart enlightened in order that this hope will become a living reality.

6. Paul says we need to be looking and longing for that day.

III. What About Now ?

A. Fine you say, but how does that help me now?

1. I'm bored, I'm caught up in a meaningless routine.

2. How will that distant hope help me now?

3. The Bible never teaches that this hope is going to be attained in one blinding

flash at the end.

4. That hope is to be happening right now . It is true that the body will be redeemed

at that future moment in the twinkling of an eye.

5. But the hope of that is taking place right now.

B. Paul describes it in 2 Cor 4:16-17 So we do not lose heart (we don't get discouraged). Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being

renewed every day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us (right now!)

an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.

1. That is what's happening now

2. When you read that phrase - light affliction, I cannot help of think of Paul's

own description of it a little later in this same letter.

. 3. He had been beaten with rods 3 times, thirty nine lashes on five occasions,

shipwrecked 3 times and had even been stoned once (with rocks)

4. All of this he describes in one brief phrase - this slight momentary affliction.

C. He goes on to say - it is working for us, it seems it is working against us.

1. Paul puts the two things on a scale. The light affliction and the eternal

weight of glory.

2. He says~the latter far outweighs our light afflictions

3. Paul is praying that we capture this sense of God being at work in our

circumstances.

4. The very pressure and trials are preparing us to really appreciate that future day.

5. Our difficulties are developing our faith testing our patience and putting iron

into our soul.

D. On the positive side, it is giving us a chance to exercise some of the power of Christ available to us.

1. The difficulties of life are preparing us for the glory of the kingdom which is beyond all description.

2. Hang on through the trials - weather the difficulties because the sun is going to shine.

3. Then we begin to see that every event is tinged with the flame of glory and has the touch of heaven on it.

IV. They Had Begun in Great Hope

A. A sort of rigor mortis was setting in, they had settled down in their Christian experience

1. Settling down is equivalent to drying up. That condition has afflicted many of us.

2. We need something from God.

B. We need His power for it is only the power of God that is capable of overcoming our inertia and our fear.

1. So Paul prays that our eyes will be opened to that power.

2. Eph 1.19-21 ~ Emphasize that the power of God is in us - not up in heaven

somewhere.

3. This power in us is the power that raised Christ from the dead. What does that

mean in practical terms.

4. It means this power takes no notice of the obstacles against it.

C. when Christ rose He paid no attention to the stone nor to the guard in front of the tomb.

1. It surges ahead and leaves the problem to God.

2. This power can operate alone and it makes no noise or display.

3. It effects its transformation quietly bringing life out of death.

4. When is that power most effective - Paul tells that His power is made perfect in

our weakness.

5. When you grasp the reality of this power, no matter what the situation we can rest

in the Lord.

6. That power makes it possible for us to love even when faced with hate.

7. It can make us joyful in the most depressing of circumstances.

D. God has given us His power to live life as He intended it to be lived.

1. What a great and giving God - He gives us hope riches and power.

2. what more can we desire.