30 Days - an Overview of the Bible in Just Thirty Daysનમૂનો

Know What You've Got

William Randolph Hearst built up the largest newspaper chain in the United States during the 1920s. He built himself a grandiose castle on a 240,000-acre ranch in California. It contained a vast collection of antiques and art in which he invested a huge fortune. He collected them from all over the world and stored them in warehouses in different places.

One day he came across the description of a valuable piece of art in a magazine. He was determined to get hold of it, but no one knew where it was. He sent his agent all over the world to find it. Months and months went by. Finally, the man came back and reported, ‘Mr Hearst, I have found it.’ With great joy he asked, ‘Where? Where was it?’ The man replied, ‘It was in your warehouse. You bought it years ago.’

William Randolph Hearst had been frantically searching for what he already possessed. Similarly, many Christians are frantically searching for what they already possess.

Ephesians 1:15–23

In today’s passage, Paul prays that we might know four things that we already possess in Christ.

1. The most exciting relationship possible

The whole Trinity is involved in this relationship: ‘the glorious Father’, ‘our Lord Jesus Christ’ and the ‘Spirit of wisdom and revelation’ who enables you to know God better. This relationship is the purpose for which you were made and is what gives meaning to life.

Jesus Christ ‘was raised’ from the dead. The same Jesus who died on the cross is alive and present with you now, as he will be forever. Therefore, any person anywhere, at any time has the opportunity to enjoy, by faith, the same kind of relationship with him as the disciples had with him, in person, about 2000 years ago.

2. A totally secure future

So many people are worried about the future. In Christ your future is entirely secure. Paul prays that we might know ‘the hope to which he has called you’.

One young man had recently come to Christ when his mother died. He wrote this to me about his experience of the funeral: ‘I suddenly understood what it meant to be a Christian. In those thirty minutes my eyes were fully opened for the first time. I realised why I had not been racked with grief and bitterness at the loss of my mother – sure I had cried and I was saddened, but I knew – I know – that her faith in Jesus Christ had saved her, and that she would enjoy eternal life. Yesterday I felt the realisation flood through me – warm, rich and comforting. It was then that I finally understood the enormity of the sacrifice Jesus made for us on the cross, that we really can have eternal life in heaven, through him.

3. We possess extraordinary riches

Paul prays that we would know ‘the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people’. One day you will see God and you will worship him face to face. We will be together with all who have died in faith and we will have perfect fellowship with one another. There will be a great multitude there with us. You will become like Christ both in your body and in your character. The enjoyment of this inheritance begins now as you get a foretaste of the future.

4. The power of God in you

Paul refers to ‘his incomparably great power for us who believe’. Power belongs to God but he has come to live in you. As Paul searches for words which will adequately describe this power, he recalls the resurrection and ascension of Jesus. A public demonstration of the power of God took place in history. It started in a cemetery with a corpse. The dead body of Jesus was raised. Neither death nor hell nor Satan nor sin nor demons could hold him.

He ascended. God ‘seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion.’ He was then given ‘every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come’. In this context, ‘right hand’ means the place of highest honour and authority.

God ‘appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that fills everything in every way’. Why is the church described as the ‘fulness of him who fills everything in every way’? Because the church completes Christ in the same way as a body completes a head. But the church can only function properly if it is constantly being filled with God’s power. God’s power is available for us, his church. His plans for a united Christian universe are in the hands of the church.

How big is your vision? Is it simply for your own life? Perhaps it stretches to include your family, your friends, your city, maybe your nation or even the entire world. Paul’s vision is for a united Christian universe under the Lordship of Christ. The church is God’s instrument for achieving this. We cannot rest while there is glaring injustice, widespread poverty, appalling majority world debt and millions still in degrading slavery.

It is no good saying, ‘We can’t do anything.’ Paul prays that we would see the potential we have in Christ. He prays that we would get to know him better and thus start to see our individual and collective calling, our inheritance and the power he has given us to move forward from where we are now to where God would like us to be. Do you see the task that God has entrusted to his church? We cannot rest until the whole universe is subject to his reign – ‘the fulness of him who fills everything in every way.’

Prayer

Lord, I praise you for every spiritual blessing that you have given me in Christ. May the eyes of my heart be enlightened in order that I may know the hope to which you have called me, the riches of your glorious inheritance, and your incomparably great power living within me.

References

© Nicky Gumbel, 2024

This reading plan is adapted from the book 30 Days by Nicky Gumbel. It is published by Hodder and Stoughton in the UK, and by HarperCollins Christian Publishing in the USA.