“Growing the Relationship”

Scripture: Ephesians 1:15-23

Have you ever had a relationship that never changed? With your parents? With your spouse? With a child? With a brother or sister? With a friend? Even with your dog or cat? The ones that you never seemed to gain a single thing from. We all may have had one or more of those, but personally, they aren’t much of a relationship – they’re more of an existence than they are a bond – they’re more of an unworthy connection than a relationship.
What should we be looking for in a relationship that will mean something to us – that will be worthy of our life? It should be mutually beneficial, mutually rewarding, mutually desired, mutually worthy, mutually respected, mutually … well you should have gotten the point by now – relationships must always be two sided and have a growth potential for both parties. And it’s not something that just happens by chance. It takes a dedicated effort by both.

How about our relationship with God? Not much different, except that God is always involved in it, always perfect in it, but we have so much to learn from him, and so much to grow into.

Read Ephesians 1:15-19a

Paul had spent quite a bit of time in Ephesus. It was his last stop during his second missionary trip, and was an important part of his third trip. As a matter of fact, Acts 19:23-41 tells of a major riot that happened there because so many people were coming to Christ that the trades supporting the pagan practices of that day were beginning to suffer from lack of work. The Church was very strong in this region, and Paul’s most recent letter to them wasn’t meant to correct or chastise them, but rather to encourage them in the faith.
The power of faith appears to be upon them. But in Revelation 2:1-7, we read of a great condemnation that would settle on the church, and it would rest specifically on Ephesus. Apparently, they had been doing everything right in faith, except for one thing – they had “forsaken their first love”. And what is that “first love”? It’s the love we have for Christ! It would seem that even though their faith was strong, it only existed in the things they did, and not in their love of Jesus and all that he had done on their behalf.

The letters to the 7 churches that we find in Revelation 2 & 3 are not just statements against the addressees, but ones that are for the Church Universal – from the day it was written until the day that Christ returns. And this particular warning can be the most insidious of all. It is easy to evaluate the things we do – whether we are affirming and glorifying the Lord, or whether we are falling far short – but the purpose behind our efforts can so easily be turned away from our love of God, and into our love of the efforts we make.

But Paul only sees the things the church is doing, and the assumption is that it is out of their love of Christ. They had grown in mighty ways – most notably, away from their worship of pagan gods, and for Ephesus, that would be Artemis. Artemis was the goddess of the hunt, of the wilderness, of birth and of women in general, and the goddess was widely worshipped. But the church was overcoming this false worship for many in the region, and Paul was very pleased. He lets the church know that he is praying for them, that the Father will give them the Spirit of wisdom, that they will have revelation, or understanding, and that their hearts will be enlightened so that they might know the hope and promise that they have been given through their faith in Christ.

Have we ever prayed for those things? For wisdom and understanding and enlightened hearts? Paul was lifting up these qualities for a church that was active and remaining faithful in so many ways, but he thinks that they need a greater understanding of the “whys” behind their “whats” – that they need to have the love that is the basis for their good works.
Remember that good works alone are insufficient in faith. In James 2:26, we read “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” We need the fullness of faith if our good works are to be an acceptable offering to the Lord, and our faith needs to be evidenced by the things we do! Ephesus was doing lots of things to protect and project the faith, but maybe they still needed to grow in their understanding of why they had responded to the call to do them.

Read Ephesians 1:19b-23

Paul is calling them back to their “fist love” – not the second, not the third, but the first. Love of Christ must always be our first, and last, experience when we claim him as Lord and Savior, and when we have that, everything else will fall into place.

Remember the comic strip “Andy Capp”? He always seemed to be doing things to please himself instead of doing the things that needed to be done.

In one strip, Andy strolls up to a neighborhood pub and apologizs to a waiting friend:
He says “Sorry I'm a bit late, Chalkie, but I was spinnin' a coin t' decide whether I should spend the morning playin' billiards or spend it lookin' for a job!
His friend Chalkie smiles and replies: “An' billiards won, eh?”
Andy replies, “Yep, but it took about 15 throws!”
- Homiletics OnLine

Our friend Andy had the answer for his coin flip all worked out before it even left his hand, and he kept flipping until his answer came up! Ephesus was doing all the right things, but they didn’t have the right reason for doing them! They still had some growing to do, didn’t they?

Paul wants the church to grow beyond a superficial faith. In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told the people a very peculiar truth. (Matthew 7:21-23) He said that just because we do wonderful things in his glorious name, it doesn’t mean that we have arrived at his glory! And Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, is outlining the depth of faith that the Church must evidence.

First, Paul reminds the people that the power of God came into play when Jesus was raised from the dead. Why would it be important that we believe this? If we don’t, then we can never claim that Jesus is the Living God. He was executed in hatred, but he rose again in love for the very ones who wanted him out of the way. Jesus lives, so that those who believe in him will also live with him.
Second, Paul describes the authority that Jesus has. He sits on the throne of Judgment, and not by accident or election. He is there because he alone is worthy to take that position. And just to be sure that the Church can comprehend the extent of that authority, he says that it is far above any other power or governance, that it is greater than anything that will ever exist - either on earth or in heaven.
And third, the entire created order has been placed under his control, and he will judge and lead and do just as he knows is right. He will convey righteousness on those who he knows and who know him; he will judge all who have the will to choose – ethereal beings and human ones alike; and all will have no recourse but to accept. His power and authority will not be questioned, and every knee will bow to him, and every tongue will acknowledge that he, and he alone, is Lord (Philippians 2:9-11).

Did Ephesus understand this? It’s possible that they did in a “head” sort of way, but not fully in their heart. Their growth had been good, but they still had a way to go. They had to get to know him, and love him, even better.

Where does our relationship with Jesus stand? What kind of soil are our seeds of faith growing in? Remember the Parable of the Sower? (Matthew 13:1-23) I trust that the seeds that have been sown in your life haven’t been gobbled up by others, but I also pray that your “soil” isn’t rocky or shallow, for the parable tells us that faith can never survive when it is only surface deep. Another caution that Jesus offers is that it can’t grow sufficiently when false faith is also present – he called them “thorns” - for the false will always choke out the goodness. We have to seek the truth of God throughout scripture, and when the world tries to step in and change the basis for our faith, we have to know that it will bring only disappointment in the Last Days.
The only hope for a full and wonderful harvest is when our faith is fully based on Jesus and his teaching, and lived out in every possible way - ways that will bring honor to him through our understanding, our action, our love, and above all, our heart.

Is your relationship with Jesus being given a chance to grow fully? We all have a long way to go, certainly, but no one can neglect their relationship with Almighty God until the last possible minute, because no one knows when that moment will be. Paul lived that old saying – “Life is short, pray hard!”, and the prayers he offered for the Ephesians were prayers offered for the Church through all time. Grow in the power of Christ, and let all the other things fall where they may.