BRASS ‘25 Devotional
Dave Allen
This is a transcript of the devotional message delivered at the 2025 BRASS Retreat.
Passage/Prayer
Tonight I’m going to open up Ephesians 1: 15-23. I’ll start by reading the passage for us:
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 the 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 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 as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
Dear Lord, thank you for your word, and for bringing us safely here for a fun weekend together. I pray that You would watch over our study of this passage tonight and that you would open the eyes of our hearts to see how to apply it to our lives. We ask this for Your glory and in Jesus’ name, amen.
Intro/main idea
I feel like people are hard to impress sometimes. We interact with things every day that are pretty amazing, but we take for granted. We all drove here in cars that are amazing feats of mechanical and electrical engineering, but probably never thought about that the whole way here. We just hop in and go to work, the store, or whatever. Even these games we’re playing are subtly amazing. The designing, the art, the machines that mass produce them are all worthy of applause, but we hardly take time to think about any of that. If you’re a christian or grew up in church, you hopefully are pretty familiar with the basic gospel message. God is perfect, man sinned, the penalty for sin is eternal death, God sent His Son to die for our sins, resurrected Him, and now we can have eternal life if we repent and believe in Him. Pretty basic Christianity 101 and something we often don’t think about or take for granted. If you’ve been a believer for any amount of time, you may be more excited about worship music, church relationships, or deeper theological studies than revisiting the basic gospel message. The thing is, though, the gospel is a deep well of amazing truths that can spur us to continued growth and encouragement every day. The gospel is the most amazing thing we often forget about and deserves to be considered and marveled at daily. We can see this in Ephesians 1, so let’s take another look at that passage.
Paul’s personal reaction
In Ephesians 1:15, Paul is relating to the Ephesian christians his excitement at hearing of their conversion. In the passages leading up to this one, Paul has been talking about the gospel and starts off this prayer by saying “for this reason”. With that opening “for this reason”, we know these eight verses we’re going to be looking at are all driven by the gospel. I’d encourage you to read the first part of Ephesians 1 on your own to get that context, but for now, let’s look at Paul’s reaction to thinking about the gospel. He says “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”. What’s interesting to note here is that this is not a new church. They’ve been around for a while, in fact, Paul knew them very well. Paul’s excitement about their conversion was still strong many years after they came to know the Lord. Paul is modeling for the Ephesians and for us that the gospel is not remedial christianity, something that we move on from or leave behind. It’s something to rejoice and marvel at continually for its work in our lives and those around us. Paul goes into more detail as to why in verses 17-23
The gospel’s impact
Paul lays out four areas where the gospel informs and encourages us. Our growth, our hope, our strength, and our community. First, let’s look at how the gospel is responsible for our growth. Paul says that he prays for the Ephesians “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened…”. The beginning of the gospel is understanding that there is a God who desires a relationship with us, but that our sin creates a chasm between us and God. Jesus’ death and resurrection creates a way of reconciliation so that we can know our creator. Before the gospel we are darkened and isolated from God, after the gospel we grow in enlightenment and closeness. If you want to grow in true wisdom and grow closer to God in a deep love for Him, consider the gospel.
Secondly, the gospel gives us daily hope. Paul says that he prays that the Ephesians “may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints”. Trusting in Christ isn’t just a get out of jail free card. Being saved from the horrors of hell is amazing mercy, but added on top of that is the unfathomable glory of what has been promised to us. Those who are redeemed are made joint heirs of all the riches of heaven. The point Paul is making here is that God doesn’t hold back His generosity with us and none of the low points or dreary troubles we know here on earth will compare with the heights of glory and joy we will know in His presence. That’s true hope, and we only have it because of the promise sealed by Jesus’ death and resurrection. If you want more hope in your life, consider the gospel.
Third, Paul shows us that the gospel explains where the believer’s strength comes from. He says he is praying for the Ephesians to know “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.” This letter was originally written in Greek, and sometimes Greek sentences can be hard to track with, so here’s a quick breakdown of what Paul is describing here. He wants them to know the greatness of God’s power. This power is 1) immeasurable (makes sense, we’re talking about the God of all creation here) 2) it says this power is targeted towards us 3) demonstrated and exemplified in the raising of Christ from the dead and 4) shown as authoritative in placing Christ on the throne above all things. This is amazing encouragement for us as weak sinners that sometimes can’t seem to get ourselves out of bed in the morning. As a child of God, we have the greatest power source in the universe targeted towards us to do great things. Great things both in the world and in ourselves. The power to raise Christ from the dead and place Him as conqueror over all proves that God can help us overcome sin in our lives and use us for great things in spite of ourselves. If you want to see God’s strength in your life, consider the gospel.
Lastly, Paul shows us how the gospel carries us into our new community in the household of God. He closes his prayer for the Ephesians by saying “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.” A couple things to notice here. 1) Christ is over all things and is the head of the church. The local church only has value because it is the body of Christ and belongs to Him. It is the main expression of Jesus in our world today. 2) Even though Christ is the head, Paul says that Christ was given to the church by God. Christ is a gift to us and we see that gift born in our lives within the community of the local church. And 3) Paul describes the church as the fullness of him who fills all in all. You could do a whole lesson on this alone, but suffice it to say, all the fullness of Christ is expressed in his body, the local church. His love, his care, his gifts, his teaching, etc… So if you’re trying to find where you fit in in God’s kingdom, consider the gospel.
Closing
There’s a lot more that can be said, but I’m going to leave it to you to go explore the depths of the gospel on your own. A good place to start, honestly, is to read the book of Ephesians a couple of times. Whether you’ve been a christian as long as you can remember, or you’ve never considered God’s plan of salvation, the gospel is deeper than you can imagine. It is the power of God for salvation and contains all things that pertain to life and godliness.