Not Only in This Age, But in the One to Come | Southern Seminary Commencement 2021

The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Spring Commencement 2021

Ephesians 1:15-23

May 7, 2021

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It means a very great deal that we are gathered on this beautiful lawn on a day like this that the Lord has given us. There is encouragement and joy in every heart, not only in being here but to be witnesses of what we get to see here. There is an anticipatory spirit of great expectation in what we see in these graduates, knowing what they will represent for the churches. It ought to give us a great sense of thankfulness—and that thankfulness ought to drive us to the Scriptures.

In Ephesians 1:15 – 23, the Apostle Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, writes,
“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 so 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 toward us who believe according to the working of His great might that he worked 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 above every name that is named not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him his head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”

In the opening chapter of Ephesians, the Apostle Paul has given us this majestic exposition of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And even as he began by greeting the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus, even as he had prayed for them—“grace to you and peace from God, our father and the Lord Jesus Christ”—he comes back to the Ephesians speaking of the fact that he had heard of their faith in the Lord Jesus and their love toward all the saints. Wouldn’t it be a wonderful thing if we should receive such a word to our own church, our own congregation, that our faith has become known and also our love toward all the saints.

What a wonderful thing for Paul to be able to say to this congregation, as he interrupts his flow of thought in one sense in order to speak to them and then to say something that might have escaped our attention. In verse 16, Paul says, “I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.” Paul says, “I don’t fail to remember you. I remember you often. I think of you often—constantly. You’re on my mind, you’re on my heart because of what I have heard of you—of your faith in Jesus Christ and of your love for the saints. I pray for you.
But notice how Paul continues: “I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers…” The Apostle Paul tells the Ephesian Christians that not only does he pray for them, but he tells them what he is praying for them.

We have a tendency to tell fellow brothers and sisters in Christ that we are praying for them. It becomes natural to us because we do pray for them. It becomes natural to us to encourage them by telling them that we pray for them. Sometimes, in a situation in which there is demonstrated need, there is stillness, there is illness or there is a recovery that we pray for from some kind of accident or surgery. It’s implied when we say we’re praying for you, that we’re praying for recovery, that we’re praying for their restoration to help but above all, we’re praying that they know they are safe in the arms of Jesus.

But I’m struck by the fact that the Apostle Paul doesn’t merely say that he was praying for the Ephesians—he says, “This is exactly what I’m praying for you.” It’s an incredible model for us of how a Christian can encourage other Christians by not merely saying, “I’m praying for you,” but by saying specifically, “I pray for you, and I want to tell you what I’m praying for you.” In the case of the Ephesians, it is truly magnificent to know what Paul specifically prayed for them.

The Apostle Paul says, “I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus, the father of glory may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.” It’s one thing to be prayed for by the Apostle Paul. I think it’s another thing to know you’re being prayed for by the Apostle Paul—that God would extend his favor with the spirit of wisdom and of revelation and the knowledge of Him.

There’s so much to think about even as we briefly just consider what the Apostle Paul has told us. He tells us of the Son’s relationship with the Father—we know it is a relationship of shared glory. The Father here is described as the Father of glory. This glory is the internal reality of his very self-existence and the external manifestation of his greatness and his goodness of all the attributes. We see his glory, but he is glory. He is the Father of glory.
It’s a glory that he shares with the Son so much so that in the high priestly prayer in John 17, Jesus will pray—even as he is anticipating the cross and knowing what lies ahead—to the Father that he looks forward once again to the glory that he had shared with the Father before the creation of the world. In the incarnation, the Father of glory showed his glory in the incarnate Jesus Christ. We beheld his glory. Glory as of the only begotten of the Father; full of grace and truth, John tells us.

Paul says, “I pray not that there’s some generic deity, but rather that the Father of glory, the one true living God, whom we know in his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, that this God may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.”

Southern Seminary exists first and foremost to serve the church of the Lord Jesus Christ so that those who go out from this institution, having been trained in the Scriptures, will be mighty in the Scriptures. We do so for Christ’s church—that by their preaching and teaching and godly ministry and example, that they may be a conduit for a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.

The graduates we see before us are vessels of wisdom by God’s grace. And we pray that their experience at Southern Seminary means that they are now considerably more wise in the scriptures, more wise in the great truths of God, more wise in that faith once for all delivered to the saints. This institution is established upon Jesus Christ and Christ has given his church the Scriptures. And we are dependent upon the Scriptures. What we know, we know by divine revelation and we know nothing except what is revealed to us in Scripture.

Scripture is not only our final authority; it is the means of grace whereby we are conformed to the likeness of Christ. The Apostle Paul says to the Ephesians that he prays that “God, the Father of glory, would give them a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.” It’s not just that they would know more but that they will know more of the Father of glory. To the graduates of this institution, we hope that you know many things you did not know when you came. We hope you know more than you even know you know of the Scriptures and of the truth of God. But we pray that ultimately it is not just knowledge about the knowledge of God that you know him.
I can still remember, as a college student, when I first read J.I. Packer’s book, Knowing God. And I think that was the first time in my life that I saw someone put in print the distinction between knowing about God and knowing God. And then Packer made that wonderful argument about the fact that God’s purpose towards us has always been that we would not merely know about Him but know Him.

And what a miracle that is, what a manifestation of grace. We are mortals—finite, sinful human beings. Only by God’s grace, through his Son can we come to know him.

But Paul goes on. He also prays that, “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 towards us who believe according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at the right hand in the heavenly places.”
I am astounded by this. I know the Holy Spirit inspired Paul as he wrote this letter. But isn’t it interesting that the Holy Spirit would inspire Paul to summarize the gospel repeatedly in such powerfully succinct ways. He hardly takes a breath and in just one long phrase here, in which he describes his prayer for the Ephesian Christians, he makes clear that he wants them to have the eyes of their hearts enlightened. What a beautiful picture that is. We don’t enlighten ourselves. The eyes of our heart have been enlightened. That’s quickening. That’s regeneration. That’s illumination.

This institution is not for the faith once discovered, but the faith once revealed. In the history of Western civilization, we often speak of the classical age and then the medieval period. Then comes the dark ages and then Renaissance. Then, however, comes the enlightenment—and that enlightenment, of course, is a self-designated age in which those who consider themselves modern look back in the past and say, “Look how dark those ages were; look how enlightened we have made ourselves.” But when Paul uses the word enlightenment here, it is the opposite of that intellectual hubris.

Paul is not claiming any achievement in having enlightened himself—nor does he claim that the Ephesians or any Christian can induce self-enlightenment. The eyes of our hearts are enlightened only by the means of God’s mercy and power. Only by grace can we know what is the hope to which he has called us. Paul, furthermore, describes the gospel as our blessed hope—the hope to which God has called us and the riches of his glorious inheritance. This is God’s faithfulness to his own inheritance, whom we are.

This is truly astounding: Our sovereign, merciful God made a promise to himself, which he has kept—a promise of an inheritance, which will be unfading. of an inheritance that will not pass away, of an inheritance that will be one day made glorified by his own saving purpose in his son, an inheritance purchased by the blood of his own son, an inheritance that is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, an inheritance that you graduates are now called to serve, to whom you will preach, to whom you will teach. Paul says, “With the eyes of your hearts enlightened, may you know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.”

And what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe? That is, more than anything else, the power of salvation. It is the power of his invincible will, and the power of his atoning, redeeming love. It is the power of his work, which is fully accomplished in the Lord Jesus Christ and made evident in the church. It is an immeasurable greatness of power. This power is directed, not generally, but to those who believe.
It is an incredible testimony to the power of God to be faithful to his own purposes and to accomplish those purposes sovereignly. Our God saves sinners—he turns rebels into saints of the Lord, Jesus Christ. He adopts sons and daughters. While yet we were enemies of God, Christ died for us.

Paul continues in verse 20, saying that God worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places. Now, we understand that the good news of the gospel is that all that was necessary for our salvation has been accomplished—accomplished in full through the faithfulness and obedience of the Lord, Jesus Christ, who came and lived a sinless life and died on the cross as a substitute in our place, shedding his blood and giving his life for the payment of our sin, which we could not pay because we had no righteousness to give.

He had nothing but righteousness to give. And having died in our place for our sins, Christ was raised on the third day by the power of the Father and then he ascended into heaven. But isn’t it important for us to recognize that Paul’s emphasis is on the present ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice what he says: God worked 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 above every name that is named.

Graduates, as you receive your degrees and diplomas today, as you graduate and go out into the world, I want you to know that the faculty of Southern Seminary love you. There’s a reciprocity of love that Christians understand that is in the very experience of teaching and learning.

It’s not just one mind to another. Other schools do a pretty good job of communicating from one mind to another. Our task is to communicate not only from mind to mind but from heart to heart—to provide a shared passion for the things of God, a shared passion for the Word of God, a shared passion for the doctrines of the Christian faith, a shared passion for commitment to the Great Commission—to seeing Christ made famous among the nations and seeing that vision of the nations streaming to Christ.

It’s a shared passion for Christ’s church—a shared passion for shepherds who will feed the sheep in the name of the Good Shepherd. It’s a shared passion for all that will be required of all of you and every dimension in place of ministry, to which you will go. There is tremendous joy as we see you graduate; but there’s also a sense of loss.
And that’s the way it’s been since 1860. We bid you come but we cannot keep you. That’s not what we’re here for. It’s not why this school was established. That’s not why Southern Baptists and Bible believing Christians make certain that this school is faithful to the Word of God and faithful to God’s mission for the church. We don’t get to keep you because God has plans for you. And it is those very plans that brought you here. It is His calling that brought you here. It is His calling that will take you from here. This is humbling to recognize.

There will simply never be another occasion when we are all gathered in one place such as this. This lawn is filled with specific human beings gathered together and we will never see this picture again.

But that’s okay because, in another sense, we will. But that occasion will be a far bigger picture beyond our imagination. And the promise is what we find right here in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. It is the promise of the power that the Father worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him in his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named.
It’s okay that we will never meet in exactly this way again because there is a greater thing yet, which is faithfulness to where God has called you, the preaching and teaching of the gospel, the display of God’s glory and the preaching of the gospel of the Lord, Jesus Christ. There’s yet a greater thing in the feeding of churches that will faithfully serve, faithfully pray, faithfully teach, faithfully establish yet more gospel churches. There’s a greater thing. That greater thing will be in sermons preached in funerals, the mystery of the gospel declared in weddings—it is the greatness of all of the moments of ministry in which faithfulness is channeled through you to Christ’s people.
But there’s yet a greater thing. And that is that vision of what it will be like when all of Christ’s people are gathered together—having not only been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb but glorified together forever in eternity. We will know him and praise him forever. Yes. There will be a picture like this gathering again, but it’s going to be a much larger picture. And how do we know that it will come to pass? How are we confident that it is so? It is because, as the Apostle Paul says here, the Father has raised Jesus from the dead and Jesus now sits at the right hand of the Father in the heavenly places.

Jesus Christ right now is sitting on the right hand of the Father almighty. His church is safe precisely because we are safe in Christ and Christ is seated at the right hand of God. He ever intercedes for us. And we are safe. We are secure even when we die. And that means that everything you do in ministry, every faithful act in ministry, every faithful word preached and taught will never be in vain—and not because you are so faithful but because Christ is Lord. He reigns far above all rule and authority and power and dominion. Do you believe that?
I know you believe that. All around us are signs of authority and power and dominion and rule but all of that will be as nothing over against the infinite rule and authority and power and dominion of the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice that the Father has now given the Son, as we see also in Philippians 2, a name above every name that is named, and not only in this age but also in the one to come.

I want to tell you that as ministers of the gospel, there are going to be some moments you don’t expect. When perhaps in a moment of urgency or perhaps in a moment of exhaustion, you are going to wonder if all of this really makes that much of a difference. If you want an answer to that question, let me give you a piece of advice: Don’t do a reality check in the mirror. It doesn’t go well. Do the reality check in this: The father has given the Lord Jesus Christ all rule and authority and power and dominion and a name that is above every name that is named not only in this age but in the age to come.

You recognize that the Christian ministry is the only to work to which human beings can be called. That is consequential not only in this age but in the age to come. Indeed, it will only be fully visible in the age to come. And here’s the other good news: Nothing that is done in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ and according to his power can ever be lost. It can only be multiplied. If that doesn’t make you happy, I don’t know what would.
How glorious is Christ’s reign? Paull tells us in verse 22, “And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”

You’re called to serve the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. This institution was established to provide a more godly, more learned ministry for the church of the Lord, Jesus Christ. At the end of the day, those buildings that are named churches will disappear, but Christ’s church will never disappear. Until the Lord returns, Christians will die—but they will never die. And your ministry, your ministry will have consequences not only in this age but in the one to come and not to your glory and not to our glory but to the glory of the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost—and to God alone be the glory.

You go with our prayers. You go with our confidence. You go with our hopes. You go with our joy. As you go, go to the glory of God alone.