A Prayer for Wisdom

A Prayer for Wisdom

Ephesians 1:15-23

“The Truth Is Out There”

If you were around in the ’90’s you might remember those words from the popular television series, “The X-Files.”  That was one of my father’s favorite shows, and that phrase, came from the show’s opening sequence.  The show was science fiction, but followed the lead characters’ search for truth.

This weekend would have been "Graduate's Sunday" in our church.  We want to send our prayers for all of the recent high school and college graduates. You are, indeed, trailblazers, inventing brand new traditions as you see your way through these challenging times.   Today, I’d like to turn to scripture to encourage these graduates and others to seek out spiritual truth.  In other words, we need to learn how to take the knowledge we obtain, through proper schooling or life-in-general, and season it with Godly understanding until we have obtained spiritual truth.

After all, There are certain truths in life to which one must pay special attention. For example…

1. If at first you don’t succeed, then skydiving is not for you.

2. Psychiatrists say that 1 of 4 people are mentally ill.   Check 3 people near you.   If they’re OK, you’re it.

3. It has recently been discovered that research causes cancer in rats.

4. Always remember to pillage BEFORE you burn.

5. It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.

Seriously though, it's important to know your purpose in life... to know who you are.

 A crowded airline flight was canceled.   A single agent was rebooking a long line of inconvenienced travelers.  Suddenly an angry passenger pushed his way to the desk.   He slapped his ticket down on the counter and said, "I HAVE to be on this flight and it has to be FIRST CLASS."

The agent replied, "I’m sorry sir. I’ll be happy to try to help you, but I’ve got to help these folks first, and I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out."

The passenger was unimpressed.   He asked loudly, so that the passengers behind him could hear, "Do you have any idea who I am?"

Without hesitating, the gate agent smiled and grabbed her public address microphone. "May I have your attention please?" she began, her voice bellowing throughout the terminal.   "We have a passenger here at the gate WHO DOES NOT KNOW WHO HE IS.   If anyone can help him find his identity, please come to the gate."

We who are in Christ have an identity in Him which Paul explores in the first chapter of his letter to the Ephesians.  After explaining to them who they are in Christ, Paul prays for them that they might receive spiritual wisdom.  Follow along in Ephesians 1:15-23 where we see 

1. A.  Wisdom Comes From God  (vv. 15-18a)
2. B.  Wisdom Is Knowing God  (vv. 18b - 19)   and ...
3. C.  Wisdom Looks Up To God  (vv. 20-23)
1. Body
1. Wisdom Comes From God  (vv. 15-18a)
1.   When John Broadus was the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, he went to a country church to preach one Sunday.  A man approached him after the service and said, "Brother, God kin git along without all your learnin’."   Rev. Broadus replied, " Yes sir, God can.   And he can also get along without all your ignorance."
2.   2 Peter 3:18 - But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
3.   Hosea 4:6 - My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
4.   There is no doubt that God wants his people to grow in wisdom.
5.   We are to do so with thanksgiving through prayer
1.   Prayer is always the proper manner to approach God
2. Notice how Paul is always praying for other's good
6.   Knowledge is revealed
1.   You can fill your mind with plenty of "facts"
2.   You must be shown how to apply them
7.   Understanding (hearts) are enlightened
1.   enlighten means to give spiritual insight to something
2.   the older, seldom used definition of enlighten is:  to illuminate
3.   1 John 1:5 -- This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
8.   This is the same prayer that Moses prayed for himself. In Exodus 33 God was giving a special blessing to Moses. And Moses asks of the Lord, "Show me Thy glory!" And the Lord said, "You cannot see My face and continue to live, but I'll do this. I'll put you in a cleft in the rock and I'll cover you there with My hand and then I shall pass by with all of the radiance of My glory and when I have passed by, I will take My hand away and you will see My afterglow." Paul prays the same thing for us. That as Moses saw the glory of God, that same Father of glory would show Himself to us. That we might be given a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of God - not seeing Him with physical eyes, but with the eyes of our heart.
2. Wisdom Is Knowing God  (vv. 18b - 19)
1. Perhaps you've heard of the liturgy of knowledge. 
1. He who thinks he knows what he does not know is a fool; avoid him. 
2. He who does not know that he does not know is a child; teach him. 
3. He who does not care that he does not know is lazy; exhort him. 
4. He who knows that he knows is wise; follow him.
2. Paul prayed they would have wisdom and understanding to know God. Charles Swindoll said “Wisdom is the ability to see with discernment, to view life as God perceives it. Understanding is the skill to respond with insight. Knowledge is the rare trait of learning with perception — discovering and growing.”
3. Paul speaks of knowledge here.  He knows that he knows and he wants you to know, too.   He wants you to know three things.   Each of them begin with the word "What"  Paul, in effect, wants you to know what!
4. The Hope of His Calling
1. hope -  joyful and confident expectation
2. calling - invitation to salvation
5. The Glory of His Inheritance
1. glory -- God's good opinion concerning us
2. inheritance -- the possession given to Him
6. The Greatness of His Power
1. notice the object of this power -- to us
2. the example of this power -- the resurrection of Christ and all that flows from that (... more on this later ...)
7. Do you know God?
8. A kindergarten teacher once asked the class to draw something that was important to them.  In the back of the room Johnny began to labor over his drawing.  Everybody else finished and handed in their picture but he didn’t.  He was still drawing.  The teacher graciously walked back and put her arm around Johnny’s shoulders and said, “Johnny, what are you drawing?”  He didn’t look up; he just kept on working feverishly at his picture.  He said, “God.”   “But Johnny,” she said gently, “no one know what God looks like.”   He answered, “They will when I’m through.”
3. Wisdom Looks Up To God  (vv. 20-23)
1. Understanding that wisdom comes from asking God for both knowledge and illumination.....
2. We can then "know" God through his calling as His inheritance through the example and experience of His power.  That power is realized through... 
3. Remembering Christ's Resurrection
1. Sin ends and our new life begins with the cross and the resurrection
2. We must always remember this truth
4. Recognizing His Position
1. Christ is at the right hand of God (Position)
2. Above all principalities, powers and every other name - both now and forever (Authority)
5. Realizing His Authority
1. Head over all things including the church (Dominion)
6. All of this power is known through Jesus Christ our "Head"
7. A tourist and his guest were viewing the Niagara whirlpool rapids, when he said to his friend: “Come, and I’ll show you the greatest unused power in the world.” And taking him to the foot of Niagara Falls, “there,” he said, “is the greatest unused power in the world!” “Ah, no my friend, not so!” was the reply. “The greatest unused power in the world is the Holy Spirit of the living God.
8. From there they went into the visitors’ center located immediately beside the Falls.   Into the men’s room, as one of them turned the faucet, only a trickle of water emerged.   "See the irony,"  the guest said,   "With all that waterpower literally a few feet away and here inside this building there isn't enough water pressure to wash one's hands!"
9. In the same way...  There is all kind of power that is available to you and me, but we often rely on our “little trickle” of human ability instead.
2. Conclusion
1. Here is the point. The same power that accomplished Jesus’ resurrection and all of those things following that is available to you.  It is available for your salvation.  And it is available for your continued growth.
2. You need to know this because it is impossible to live the Christian life without the power of God.  Do you ever feel powerless?  Like you want to obey the Lord but you just aren't up to the task?  I love the prayer of second chances that goes: "Lord, here I am - again."  Do you feel that way?  Good!  Because it is only when you come to the end of yourself that you are ready to experience the power of God.
3. "I've tried to be good and I just can't do it."  "It's impossible."  God's vocation is in the realm of the impossible.  And in the same way that He raised Jesus from the dead and seated Him in the heavenlies and is going to bring all things in subjection to Him, so He shall raise you up to a new life.
4. Verse 22 is the first actual mention of the church.  That is US.  It is in the realm of the church that Jesus is exercising His Lordship today.  The church is His body on earth.  It is to grow and develop as a healthy body.   It is to do the work of ministry under the leadership of the head (that is what bodies do).  He has sent His church into the world to make disciples of all the nations.  The result will be a called out assembly of every nation and tribe and people.  That is what the church is.  And your responsibility is to BE the church, not just to attend one.  But you can only do that as you are connected to the head - Jesus Christ.
5. There is a saying in the fire service that states the buildings God didn’t want to burn were sprinklered.  One of the most tragic fires in this country took place in the town of Itasca, Texas where a fire in an unsprinklered school took the lives of 263 children.  There was scarcely a family in town which was not touched by this horrifying tragedy.  The town went a number of years without school facilities, but as it began to grow and expand, a new school was built with a brand new sprinkler system.  Civic pride ran high.  Honor students were selected to guide citizens and visitors on tours of the new facilities to show them the finest, the most advanced sprinkler system technology could supply and money could buy.  Never again would Itasca be visited by such a tragedy.  As the town continued to grow, it was necessary to enlarge the school and in adding the new wing it was discovered that the sprinkler system had never been connected.
6. What about you... are you connected?
7. You can know God’s truth and wisdom, then you can apply it to your life and please the Lord. Through His wisdom you can know the hope to which God has called Us, the riches of his glorious inheritance, and God’s incomparably great power.
8. James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let Him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”
9. In these difficult times, we all need wisdom, go to the Lord for He alone is the source of wisdom.  The Truth is out there, and it’s found in the One who said of Himself; “I am the way, the truth and the life.”