The following sermon was presented by the Reverend John W. Howe, Rector of Truro Episcopal Church in Fairfax, Virginia, on January 3, 1988. The title is, Open Your Eyes, and the scripture reference is Ephesians, chapter 1, and chapter 2, verses 1 through 6. 

A reading from St. Paul's letter to the Ephesians, the first chapter, verses 3 to 6 and 15 to 19. He destined us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the beloved. For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you.

What are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints? And what is the immeasurable greatness of his power in us who believe? The word of the Lord. I'm curious to know how many of you agree with Esquire magazine's assessment that 1987 was the absolutely all-time worst year on record? How many of you think 1988 is going to be worse? How many of you would view it differently if you knew for sure that Jesus had things under control?

That he holds 1988 in the palm of his hand. that whatever its vicissitudes, he's still Lord. Do you believe it?

Paul says, I pray that you might have the eyes of your heart enlightened. What an interesting phrase. Not your physical eyes.

They see physical reality. I pray that you might have your spiritual eyes opened. that you might see spiritual reality.

It's interesting to listen to the commentators sum up what's been and what's about to be and offer their predictions and all of the economic concern that they have and all of the political concern and military concern, whatever it is. Environmental concern. What's going to happen to the ozone layer?

I have no idea. I don't know what the future holds. I know who holds the future.

Jesus Christ holds this year in the palm of His hand. And what we need to do is step back from the events and have spiritual eyes to see His resources, which are equal to whatever the circumstances might be. There was a story some years ago.

that one of the major banks in Chicago was looking for some unknown depositors. They had a number of accounts that nobody had touched for years. They were trying to locate either the people who owned those accounts or their heirs or beneficiaries.

They published a list of such people and began tracking them down. A man living on Skid Row happened across the article in the Chicago Tribune, and he recognized the name of his best friend, who also happened to be a derelict on Skid Row. He said, look, your name is here.

Go down to the bank and claim your inheritance. He said, that's not me. I never knew anybody with great wealth.

It's just somebody with a similar name. This man was a real friend. He persisted.

He called the reporter who did the article. He said, I think I've got one of your men. The reporter talked to him.

He said, I'm not coming down to the bank. I've been taken in so many times. That is not me.

There is no money. The reporter told his editor. He tried.

Nothing happened. The editor called the mayor, who happened to be Richard J. Daley, and you didn't fool around with him. He said, come to the bank, and the man went to the bank.

You know what? This Skid Row derelict was the inheritor of a multi-million dollar fortune. And he lived on Skid Row.

Open your eyes. Open your eyes. I pray that God might open your eyes to see the glorious inheritance that is yours.

You don't have to live like a bum on Skid Row. a lady by the name of Bertha Adams saved for years her dream was to go on an ocean cruise and finally she had enough money and she marshaled her pennies so that she'd have a little something to spend at each port of call and night after night she opened up her trunk down in her stateroom and she doled out her little cheese and crackers which she had so carefully saved up for the trip. And on the last night of the cruise, she said, I think I've got enough money to go up to the great banquet.

She went up and there was food like she had never imagined. And she partook sumptuously. At the end of the meal, she said, Steward, would you bring me my bill?

And he looked at her with a very strange expression. He said, Madam, all the meals are included in the price of the ticket. why do you live on crackers and cheese in your state room when Jesus has a banquet and it's provided as part of the ticket I read some years ago about a group of men that were out fishing off the coast of Brazil and they ran into a squall and their mast was broken and they lost their sail and they bobbed around out there hour after hour, day after day.

You can go a very long time without food. You go about three days without drinking water and you are in desperate trouble. And on the fourth day, when they were literally dying of thirst, they spotted another boat and began signaling and the boat caught sight of them and came alongside.

They said, give us some water. from the other boat they called back they said drop your bucket over the side you're surrounded by water they said what are you mocking us we can't drink seawater you drink seawater and you die they said drop your bucket over the side and drink dropped their bucket over the side and pulled it up again it was filled with marvelously pure sweet drinking water how could that be Well, it happened that they were off the coast of Brazil at the point that the mighty Amazon River dumps into the sea. It puts out 7 million cubic feet of water every second.

That's 12 times the size of the Mississippi. It sends a sheet of fresh water 200 miles out into the ocean. They were dying of thirst, surrounded by water.

and so are many many Christians dying of thirst surrounded by living water I pray that the eyes of your heart might be enlightened that you might see what is the immeasurable greatness of His power that you might know what is His glorious inheritance in the saints Would it make a difference? Would you view this year differently? I want you to notice four things about Paul's prayer.

You might turn with me to it. Ephesians 1. Four things.

The first is that God has a plan. He always has had one. He's never lost sight of it.

He is right on schedule. It's unfolding according to His purposes. The outside world doesn't believe that.

If it even hears of it, it would laugh. But God has a plan. I want you to see what it is.

Chapter 1, verse 9. God has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of His will, according to His purpose which He set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time. Here it is.

Here's his plan. To unite all things in him, in Christ. All things.

Things in heaven and things on earth. It's not random. It's not chaos.

It's not off the rails. God hasn't lost control. He is working out a plan that will bring absolutely everything in all creation into perfect harmony.

in His Son. And the outside world scorns it. Many believers find it hard even to comprehend it.

Paul says it's a mystery. Other generations haven't even glimpsed it, but Jesus Christ has made this known. And He's made it known specifically to me, He says.

And now I'm sharing it with you. God is working out a plan. It's a plan of bringing all things into harmony in relationship to Christ.

secondly the fulfillment of that plan is to the praise of his glorious grace he gets joy he gets pleasure he is he is filled with pleasure as things come into harmony in christ god sends jesus into this world of brokenness to take our sin upon himself and he he begins a work of redemption in us he forgives us our sins he wipes the slate clean he gives us a new heart he pardons our iniquity he recreates himself in us he pours out his spirit upon us but he doesn't stop there he begins to mend our relationships he begins to heal those broken relationships how many of you know that there's no such thing as a lone ranger christian just me and thee oh lord you know that terrible song on the Jericho road there's only two, me and you it's not true you get into relationship with Jesus you are immediately and unavoidably brought into relationship with everybody else who belongs to him it's like the spokes in a wheel if they're rightly related to the hub of necessity they're related rightly to each other press the analogy the closer you get to the hub of the wheel the closer you get to the other spokes and God's plan that all things would one day come into perfect harmony in Jesus begins now among us as we begin to come into relationship with each other in a way that reflects His glory we pray thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven the implication of that is that an unbelieving skeptical scornful outside world can be challenged with the claim you want to know what it's like in the heavenlies check it out with us come see how we relate to each other there'll be a microcosm There will be a prototype, there will be a scale model here in the church of that perfect unity that one day will pertain when every knee bows and every tongue confesses that Jesus is Lord. Three times Paul says this is to the praise of His glory. Verse 6, He destined us in love to be His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

Verse 12, starting with 11, In Him, according to the purpose of Him who accomplishes all things, according to the counsel of His will, we who first hoped in Christ have been destined and appointed to live for the praise of His glory. Verse 14, which is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory. To the praise of His glory.

To the praise of His glory. You see what he's saying? God is doing something now among us which anticipates and foreshadows what one day He will do throughout all of creation.

We are those who have the truth now which one day will be confessed and acknowledged by everyone. And as He brings us into relationship with each other and into relationship with Himself, that's to the praise of His glory and He delights in it. We can't take any credit for it. He did it.

He's doing it. That's what it's all about. Thirdly, at the center of all that, obviously, is the Lord Jesus Himself.

He's the one that makes it happen. He's the one for whom it happens. He's the one in whom it happens.

It would be an interesting Bible study for you to take this book of Ephesians and just go through it with a pencil and underline or circle every time the phrase comes up, in Him. You'd be amazed how often, in Him or in Christ or in the Beloved. Over and over and over again, He says, in Him this is happening.

I want you to see who Jesus is right now. not someday not in that never never land that we hope one day will be when He comes back in glory no no right now I want you to see who He is verse 19 I want you to see what is the immeasurable greatness of His power in us who believe according to the working of His great might which He accomplished in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and made Him sit at His right hand in the heavenly places far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

He's put what under his feet? All things? No, some things, right?

A few things. He's put some things now and eventually all things, right? All things.

He has put all things under his feet right now. Does that include the national debt? Does it?

How about the nuclear arms race? Soviet gulag? South African apartheid?

the AIDS crisis national organization of women not too sure about that one Ku Klux Klan the Republican Party your bank account your kids He's put all things. All things. Right now.

The world scorns it. But you and I know. If we have eyes to see.

If God is opening the eyes of our hearts. We'll see it. We'll know it.

We'll rejoice in it. That's the truth above all truth. It's the only truth that really matters.

In Colossians chapter 1 verse 17 it says. He is He, that is Jesus, He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. Right now, in Christ, all things hold together.

Right now, Jesus Christ holds in place the atoms and electrons in the brain of the atheist who denies that He exists. He's Lord. aren't you glad he's Lord so fourthly Paul says I want you to see who you are in him that immeasurable greatness of his power in verse 19 the power which raised him from the dead which has seated him at the right hand of God that immeasurable greatness of his power is operating where in us who believe.

I want you to see what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints. Chapter 2, verse 6. He has raised us up with Him and made us sit with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

Right now we sit with Him. Do you know it? I thought we were sitting down here.

Well, we are. But our spiritual reality is that we are right now in a position of authority with Christ because everything He is and everything He has is ours if we're in Him and He's in us. Don't die of thirst.

When you're surrounded by living water. Don't settle for crackers and cheese when there's a banquet, part of the ticket. You've seen the cartoon a thousand times.

A little puppy dog running like crazy. Trying to get away from that fierce alley cat that's chasing him down the road. And he's running and running and running and running.

And he makes it around the corner and he stops. Because there's his dad. He rests between the paws of His Father.

So can you. So can I. I can't possibly face that alley cat alone. But I don't have to.

I'm in Him. And He right now is above every rule and power and dominion and authority and above every name that is to be named. A wonderful story back in 2 Kings chapter 6 about Elisha and his servant Gehazi.

I always want to say God bless you after that. During the night, the Syrian army sneaks into town and surrounds their encampment. And they get up the next morning and Gehazi opens his tent and he goes, That's a free translation.

And Elisha says, It's okay. Okay, those who are with us are more than those who are against us. And Gehazi says, there's a whole army out there.

There are two of us. And Elisha says, God opened his eyes. And it says, suddenly Gehazi saw beyond the Syrian army the whole host of the Lord, angels and archangels with chariots filling the mountainside.

So here's Elisha and Gehazi surrounded by the Syrian army and they're surrounded by the armies of God. They don't stand a chance. Elisha captures the Syrian army single-handedly without firing a shot.

In fact, he prays, let blindness come upon them. It's great. Opens Gehazi's eyes, blinds theirs, takes them off into Samaria, and feeds them a banquet of all things.

And Gehazi says, shall we wipe them out? And Elisha says, no, no, no, no, send them home. And they send them home and it says, and the Syrians caused no more raids after that.

Those who are with us are far more than those who are against us. Formidable odds out there, friends, in a very dangerous 1988. But those who are with us are more than those who are against us.

Rest between the paws of your Father. Don't live on skid row spiritually when you've got an unlimited bank account in Him. Let's bow our heads together.

I challenge you to make one New Year's resolution. And it's this, that I resolve to pray every day, Lord, open my eyes to see who Jesus is and who I am in Him. Will you make that resolution?

I resolve to pray every day. Lord, open my eyes to see who Jesus is and who I am in Him. Lord Jesus, thank You for Your unlimited resources.

Thank You for making them available to us. Help us to appropriate all that You are and all that You have, that all that we are and all that we have, we might release back to You to the praise of Your name. Amen.