Garey Walker, Jr., spoke this past Sunday at Bay Ridge. The Holy Spirit gave him the message, which is centered in a passage at the beginning of Ephesians, while he was at school, translating and doing exegetical studies of Paul’s writings. Paul wrote (in one very long Greek sentence),
For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ which exists among you and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about 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 every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the curch, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. (Ephesians 1:15-23 NASB)
It seems much more fitting to respond to the text and to Garey’s message than to summarize what he taught and preached. It was initially significant for me to hear this passage read on Sunday morning because I had read it myself on Saturday, in a spontaneous decision to survey Ephesians before reading Watchman Nee’s Sit, Walk, Stand again. God’s timing is impeccable. More impressive than the timing of the Spirit’s movement is the power, which covered me on Sunday as I marinated my soul in Paul’s prayerful words.
Garey said that the prayer in this passage became his own prayer for our church when he began to study it several months ago. He gives thanks to God for the faith among us and for our love for all the saints. This is a thanksgiving not born out of some pleasurable reward in himself, but out of the knowledge of God and His glory in the church. He is not thankful for faith and love because they are a great benefit to him, but because God has shown him how these things “are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might.” It is a revealed knowledge of hope and God’s riches and His greatness that make this faith and love so wonderful to Paul and Garey.
Garey emphasized this what is is to know these things. Any exegete could write a book on “the hope of His calling,” or “the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,” or “the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe”—I have neither the understanding nor the stamina to write for you now anything on this. But I can say that the Lord has worked into me a deep meaning for the application of this prayer. How do I respond to the knowledge that God sees the saints as an inheritance for His Son? How do I respond to the knowledge that God calls us “the fullness” of the Lord Jesus Christ?
It is humbling and inspiring to be reminded here that God has created us in His own image. If I look upon myself without acknowledging the hope I have in His calling and the riches of His glory of His inheritance and the surpassing greatness of His power, I can only ever see a poor slug of a man who struggles to love all the saints and has little to show for his faith, and despair. But when I remember the promise of superabundant and eternal life, suddenly my poverty becomes vast wealth in Him! And when I meditate on how the Spirit’s work is to make us into a glorious inheritance, a pure bride, then my lowliness becomes a confidence and beauty in Him. And when the truth of His power eclipses the despair of my failure to be faithful and to love, then it becomes a little bit more apparent why Paul and Garey are so thankful.
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