Amazingly, Paul, who had an academic's mind and was personally familiar with the great schools of the ancient world, did not establish anything like a seminary or a training school. His hope for the discipleship of new believers and the equipping of the called hinged not on a program, not on a curriculum, not on a faculty made up of great teachers. The whole endeavor hinged on the activity of God's Holy Spirit.
In this passage Paul makes clear to the Ephesians that what he wanted most for them was that they would have the Spirit of wisdom and revelation. Wisdom is what we do with the information we have, how we make sense of it and what values we assign to it. And revelation is the way in which that information is disclosed to us in the first place. Paul wants us to have better vision and a better view.
And it's kind of alarming and unsettling to think that it could really be that simple. But it should come as no surprise that God should be alarming and unsettling.
Call to Repentance
Revelation 3:17-18 (page 1917)
Call to Worship
Psalm 111 (page 952)
OT Reading
Proverbs 2:1-10 (page 986)
NT Reading
James 1:2-8 (page 1880)
Message
Better Vision and a Better View
Ephesians 1:15-17 (page 1818)
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