The Greatest Day in History (Mark 16.1-6 and Corinthians 15.1-8)

 

Introduction

 

Over 300 years ago, a French benedictine monk called Dom Pierre Pérignon, developed a skill for producing white wine from red grapes. One day, he happened upon the creation of a previously unknown effervescent wine that came to be called Champagne. And when he made that discovery, he excitedly called everyone in the monastery saying, “Come quickly, I am tasting the stars!” Or so the legend goes…

 

Champagne is a drink we associate with success, with celebrations, with parties and with happiness. We open bottles of it at special occasions; weddings, birthdays, graduations and the like. There is nothing cheap or everyday about Champagne. It is a luxurious, high-end sparkling wine renowned for its finesse and subtlety and quality. Even the sound of the popping of a Champagne cork is evocative of exceptional events.

 

And I say this by way of introduction because the first Easter Sunday is surely by any measure the most exceptional event of all time. It is the ultimate special occasion. It is the most thrilling news announcement that the world has yet heard. It’s the greatest day in history; heaven's Champagne moment.

 

The First Witnesses

 

Whenever any newsworthy incident takes place, whether terrific or catastrophic, journalists and reporters are invariably keen to speak with those who were first on the scene. 

 

Mark’s Gospel is thought to be the first of four eyewitness reports of the events of that first Easter morning. And, according to Mark, there were four individuals on the scene; three women and a mysterious, unnamed young man. This is how Mark reports it. 

 

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, ‘Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?’ But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. 'Don’t be alarmed,’ he said. ‘You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.’

 

The three other Gospels all agree with Mark that Jesus’ grave was first visited by three women. They know the location very well, because they had been there at the burial just before dusk on Friday. They go together at first light intending to lovingly wipe the dried blood from Jesus’ cold, dead body and embalm it with costly spices. It’s their last act of devotion. 

 

It occurs to them on the way that they will struggle between them to move the heavy stone in front of the tomb, but they’ll just have to cross that bridge when they come to it. When they get to the cemetery, they find, to their alarm and dismay, that the stone has already been moved, the grave has been disturbed and the body is missing.

 

According to John, the emotion of the weekend gets the better of one of them called Mary Magdalene; it’s been a traumatic few days for her and now she can’t even have any closure, so she just wells up right there and begins to sob helplessly. 

 

She’s got tears running down her cheeks. She feels wretched. She’s been crying for three days and now it’s getting worse. Her eyes are wet and weary from constant crying. All she’s got are unanswered questions. Why did they all turn against him? How could they? Why is the tomb open? Who’s taken the body? Where have they moved it? What do I do now?

 

An ancient tradition says that Mary Magdalene had been a prostitute. The Bible never says that, but some people identify her with an unnamed woman in Mark’s Gospel who had lived a sinful life and who had earlier poured perfume on Jesus’ feet. 

 

Luke’s Gospel tells us that Jesus had delivered her of seven demons. To have one was a living nightmare – she had seven of them. Just imagine the oppression, the constant torment, the heaviness, the darkness that she lived with… 

 

We don’t need to speculate what these demons were about or how she became possessed. All we need to know is that when she met Jesus, all seven had to go with a word of his command, and her living hell was over. 

 

No wonder she loved him! No wonder she was so devoted to him. No wonder she stayed to the very end, so he didn’t die alone. And no wonder she was first to arrive at the tomb and see to the embalming.

 

She and two other women, Salome and another Mary, peer into the burial chamber, hollowed out of a rock. They don’t know it yet, but this day will become for them the most wonderful of their lives.

 

Because as they squint into the shadows that morning, all they see is a discarded, bloodstained burial shroud lying on a cold stone slab and a young man dressed in white, who can see they’re freaked out – understandably. 

 

“Don’t be alarmed” he says. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified.” Who is this? How did he know that? “He is not here,” he continues. They can see that. And as they try and take everything in, he says the most wondrous words. “He has risen! Look, this is where they laid his body.”

 

Sometime shortly before they arrived, the most momentous event in world history had taken place. The victorious and glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

 

We don’t always realise this, but the New Testament letters were mostly written before the Gospels. So although Mark’s Gospel is probably the earliest eyewitness report of the day itself, an even earlier written reference to the resurrection, probably about 15 years after the events, appears in a section of a letter written by a former arch-enemy of Christianity, the Apostle Paul. Here’s what he writes:

 

Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

 

This is, he says, a matter of first importance. Second to none in prominence and significance. It’s at the very top of the list of absolutely essential things in life. 

 

Here is the indispensable core of what all Christians believe. “I received it” Paul says. “I passed it on to you like a relay baton as my top priority. Now, whatever you do, don’t drop it.”

 

The former Bishop of Durham Tom Wright calls what we find here the ‘irreducible minimum.’ If you take this away; Jesus’ death as a substitute, in our place, his burial, and his physical, bodily resurrection from the dead, it’s no longer Christianity. If we don't hold onto this, we are not Christians, we are still estranged from God and lost for all eternity.

 

As J.John says, being a Christian is all about Christ and what he did. “You take Christ out of the word Christian and you’re left with Ian, and Ian isn’t going to help you.”

 

These events must have prominence and precedence and pre-eminence in our faith. This is the good news. Without this, we have nothing of value to say to the world.

 

If you’ve seen the film based on Homer’s Iliad called Troy starring Brad Pitt, you'll remember a scene where the armies of Greece and Thessaly are lined up against each other, armed for battle. And they come to an agreement. They decide that, to avoid massive bloodshed, each army should select a champion, a bit like David and Goliath, and they can fight it out between them and the victory will go to the army of whoever prevails. 

 

Thessaly select an absolute ox of a man called Boagrius. What a specimen! He’s about 7 foot tall, shaven headed, eyebrows joining together, all muscle, he’s hard. And he strides forward with a mean frown and a snarling mouth. 

 

Then the Greeks bring out their champion, Achilles. It looks like a mismatch. Achilles is muscular and fleet-footed by most people’s standards, but Boagrius is a monster. Everyone watches with bated breath. The two men advance towards each other. Boagrius takes a javelin and hurls it at Achilles. Achilles raises his great circular shield and swats it away like it is some kind of insult, and he continues to stride forward, completely fearless. 

 

Boagrius seems to find it amusing though and he hurls a second spear. The same thing happens. Then, as Achilles approaches, out comes Boagrius’ huge flashing sword but it is scarcely out of the scabbard before Achilles has athletically leapt towards him and he dispatches him in one move. Boagrius drops to the dust face first and with a mighty cheer the day goes to the Greeks. What a scene!

 

Then Achilles, unflinching, strides out towards the Thessalian army all lined up in rank and he looks up and down, and left and right, and he shouts out, “Is there anyone else?” No one moves. No one speaks. 

 

Listen, on Good Friday Jesus took an absolute battering at the cross. It was brutal. It was carnage. He took the full brunt of human wickedness; they beat him to a bloody pulp and gave him a complete hammering – literally. 

 

But sometime between Good Friday and Easter Sunday Jesus faced off all the powers of hell and said “Is that all you’ve got? Is there no one else? Does no one else want to have a go?” Is there no other challenger? Is there no other adversary?” 

 

There was no one else! All the powers of evil cringed and shrunk off into the shadows of hell. Sin and death, like rats on a stricken ship, panicked and ran. Every evil spirit cowered and recoiled. And when he’d seen them all off, as the old hymn says, “up from the grave he rose with a mighty triumph o’er his foes.”

 

Jesus is always true to his word. He said he was going up to Jerusalem - and he went. He said he would be mocked, beaten, spat on and handed over - and he was. He said they would crucify him - and they did. He said after three days he would rise again - and the grave could not handle him.

 

The Buddah, Muhammad, Confucius, Patanjali and all the rest of them are dead. Every last one of them. Their followers don’t dispute it. You can visit their graves and pay your respects at the shrine. But Jesus is unique because he alive. That’s why he alone of all religious figures can bring real forgiveness, true freedom, transformational healing, new life, fresh hope and a bright future today to all who turn to him in faith. 

 

The Evidence

 

There are many reasons why we should believe that the resurrection really happened. But as I draw towards a close, I’m just briefly going to list twelve.

 

1. The resurrection of the suffering and death-defeating Messiah was clearly prophesied in the Old Testament centuries before the birth of Jesus.

 

2. On several occasions, as I have just referenced, Jesus himself predicted his own resurrection while teaching his disciples – who didn’t understand what he was saying until it happened.

 

3. According to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the body was missing from the tomb. But Luke and John also note that the burial shroud and head bandage were still in place. Grave robbers stole linen, because of its high value, and left bodies in the tomb. Why would any tomb raider steal a dead body and leave the burial clothes?

 

4. If the Jewish authorities or Roman guards had secretly moved the body elsewhere, why did they not exhume it to put a stop to the public claim - in the same city just six weeks later - that Jesus was alive?

 

5. If the disciples removed the body and lied about it, why did they not go quiet when threatened with imprisonment and death? None of them backed down when facing the death penalty because they knew it was true.

 

6. How would anyone get past armed security guards at the tomb, shift the stone and remove the uncovered body unnoticed?

 

7. According to 1 Corinthians 15, over 500 eyewitnesses, “most of whom are still living”, saw Jesus alive after his death. The challenge of the passage is “If you didn’t see him alive yourself, go and ask someone who did.”

8. If reports in the Gospels of the resurrection were made up, why were women the first recorded eyewitnesses? Their testimony was not admissible in court in the ancient world so there was nothing to be gained by saying that they attested the empty tomb and the risen Jesus before anyone else. (That’s why incidentally, Paul doesn’t think to mention them in the second passage we read).

 

9. How do we account for the eleven surviving disciples all being completely transformed individuals with the resurrection at the heart of their message? These people had fled, fearing for their lives, when Jesus was arrested. What happened to them? Only something out of the ordinary accounts for such a dramatic and permanent change in their behaviour.

 

10. How do we explain the sudden conversion of hardened sceptics like Jesus’ cynical brother James and Saul of Tarsus, a former persecutor of Christians? Both conversions are attributed to personal post-resurrection encounters.

 

11. Why did the earliest Christians, who were all devout Jews, suddenly change their “holy day” from Saturday to the first day of the Jewish working week – Sunday? First Century Jews were obsessive about the Sabbath, but they started to meet for worship instead on Sundays at dawn before going to work. Something momentous must have taken place.

 

12. How is it that a thoroughly laughable story, originating from a motley band of unpromising losers in a back of beyond province of imperial Rome, became what is the world’s biggest movement and which is still growing today? How do you explain the improbable and rapid rise of what was a despised and illegal sect? 

 

Ending

 

In many ways, Jesus was just like anyone else because he was fully human. But the Bible tells us he is also totally different from anyone else who ever lived, because he is at the same time fully God. 

 

Jesus did something no one has ever done; he rose from the dead for evermore. His resurrection is proof of his divine nature.

 

So I urge you this Easter to turn to God and invite Jesus to be Lord of your life. Do it today. When you do, you’ll discover that God loves you and wants to make you his child forever.

 

That's why today, and every day, can be an echo of the greatest day in history; heaven’s Champagne moment. The day Christ rose from the grave and put death for all eternity under his feet.

Sermon preached at King's Church Darlington, 5 April 2026.

 

 

 

Open Secret (Ephesians 3.1-13)

Introduction

Do you remember those moments of truth at school when the teacher was handing back marked homework? Do you remember how you felt? Some of you will have looked forward to once again being affirmed with your customary 10/10 mark. But if you were like me, there would be a knot in the stomach before opening the exercise book to see a forest of comments in red ink with the crowning insult of a 2/10 mark awarded. 

 

“Sloppy work, John. You didn’t follow the instructions. You haven’t demonstrated the sums. Were you not paying attention to the lesson?” Cross, cross, cross, tick, cross, cross, cross, cross. “See me after class. Where is your punctuation?” And, whenever I had to write an essay, “Sentence incomplete.”  

 

Well, our passage from Ephesians 3 today starts with an unfinished sentence – and, what is more, almighty God wanted it that way. Here’s the deal: Paul begins chapter three of Ephesians with the words, “For this reason I, Paul, prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles -” and then he goes off on a tangent and does not return to his original sentence until v14.

 

If only I could have said to my English teacher Mr. Cheeseman, “I know technically that my homework was sloppy and my grammar was careless Sir, but it was 100% inspired by God, and people will be reading it in churches hundreds of years after I’m dead!” 

  

Unfortunately for me, I was not writing holy scripture though. But when Paul gets to Ephesians 3.1 , it seems he is interrupted in mid-flow by Holy Spirit who whispers, “Paul, don’t forget to tell them about the mystery.” And so off goes Paul on a glorious and God-breathed digression. That’s our passage today. 

 

The Holy Spirit really wanted us all to know about a magnificent mystery, a seismic secret, which had been kept strictly under wraps for many centuries, but which God was now suddenly making public.

 

We’re going to see many great and wonderful things on Paul’s little rabbit trail. Let’s read the passage together. Ephesians 3.1.

 

For this reason [what reason? He’s referring to the fantastic truth at the end of chapter 2 that, because of the cross, God has made peace between previously bitter enemies. For this reason…] I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus [Paul’s writing this in prison because of relentless opposition to his faith] for the sake of you Gentiles – [and then we get the inspired detour]. Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, [he’s talking here about his special assignment from God to tell all nations about Jesus] that is, the mystery [no longer hidden away and inaccessible and cryptic, but] made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which [listen carefully now, please] was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. 

 

Let’s pause it right there. Paul is saying that there has been an earth-shattering revelation about Jesus and it’s been kept quiet for eons. Question: why do you think God’s great and glorious plan was deliberately hidden away from all previous generations, that is to say everyone who ever lived in what we now call B.C? Why did God not reveal the gospel clearly before? 

 

Is it because God is a bit of a tease and likes keeping secrets from people? No. It’s because the unfathomably wise purpose of God was always to wait for the perfect timing. 

 

Galatians 4.4 says, “when the time had fully come, (or when the fullness of time had arrived, or when the proper time had reached its fulfilment) God sent his Son, born of a woman…” 

 

In the first century A.D., all the stars aligned to give the perfect conditions for the arrival of the Messiah. Jesus was born at a time of unprecedented political stability called the Pax Romana. 

 

In addition, there was a new and extensive Roman road network and safe shipping routes that allowed the early Christians to quickly spread the gospel far and wide to new nations. 

 

Furthermore, from the days of Alexander the Great, there was now a common language throughout the known world which enabled the gospel to be written down and widely communicated and understood. 

 

And finally, Jewish expectation was at fever pitch while, at the same time, spiritual emptiness in the Roman world left a God-shaped void in people’s lives. The gospel message was immensely attractive in these conditions.

 

So God’s timing was not a matter of chance; his wisdom pinpointed this providential moment to maximize the effective spread of the message of salvation.

 

Ephesians 3 continues in v6 with a drum roll, and the unveiling of the surprise… This mystery [here it comes, are you listening?] is that through the gospel [get ready…] the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

 

1) The secret is uncovered (v2-6)

 

If we’re going to grasp what the Bible is saying here, we need to understand that the ancient world was basically divided into two very distinct groups of people. (Michael very helpfully went over this two weeks ago, but I’ll explain it now for the benefit of those who weren’t here, and for those of you who were and have forgotten already, let me remind you). 

 

The ancient world was divided into two polar-opposite camps. First of all, there were the religiously observant types (otherwise known as the Jews). They liked to observe all the feast days, avoid certain foods, pray all day Saturday and keep all the rules. And they were obsessively strict and particular about all this; so much so that it became very exclusive. Access to their religion was seriously restricted. 

 

Secondly, there were the not at all religious types (that is to say, the Gentiles). They might have been superstitious, but they were irreverent and notoriously immoral. Jews and Gentiles were like oil and water. They did not mix. They did not get on. They did not like each other or tolerate each other.

 

So the big deal here is that the grace of God has been revealed to a strict and particular Jew called Paul to share with every irreligious Gentile on earth a secret that was kept concealed for many, many years. But now, with the coming of Jesus, the lid has been blown off the box and everything’s out in the open. 

 

Now, because of the gospel, the not-at-all-religious Gentiles and the obsessively pious Jews can become one group, not two, and share together in all God’s promises.

 

Three times in v6, notice, there is the little word “together.” People did vaguely know from the Old Testament that there was going to be some sort of future plan or provision for the Gentiles. Isaiah for example, said, “I will make you, [Israel], a light to the Gentiles that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.” But no one ever imagined in their wildest dreams that this meant that Gentile and Jewish believers would become equal in one family, the Body of Christ.

 

It is hard for us to get a feel for how incendiary all this was in the first century. It was, to quote Vizzini in The Princess Bride, “absolutely, totally, and in all other ways inconceivable.” It was explosive.

 

It explains why everywhere Paul went his preaching immediately provoked a city-wide disturbance. It’s why they kept throwing him in jail. His message blew to bits an unchallengeable order that had firmly been in place from the time of Abraham to Jesus; 2,000 long years of history. 

 

In our day, 2,000 years after Christ, we sort of have the opposite issue. It’s common to hear people say, “God’s worldwide family in Christ is big and diverse, but sadly the Jews aren’t really part of it because they don’t believe in Jesus.” That’s not quite right though. Some Jews do recognise Jesus as their Messiah and, excitingly, their number is increasing. 

 

Last week, I was browsing the website of Jews for Jesus, which contains many testimonies from Jewish people who have discovered that Jesus of Nazareth is their long-awaited Messiah. Those faces on the screen are some of them. They’re all ethnic Jews, born and raised in Judaism, and who now bow the knee to Jesus as their Saviour and Lord. I wish I had time to share a few of their stories with you this morning. I don’t, but I recommend you visit the website and take a look for yourself. 

 

2) The news is out (v7-11)

 

Let’s read on. In the section from v7 to v11 Paul explains that the toothpaste is out of the tube. The news about this secret (or mystery) is now spreading, thanks to his call to preach the good news about Jesus to those who were never bothered about our God before, that is to say the Gentiles. Here’s what it says:

 

I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. [In other words, God gave me the ability to communicate effectively and powerfully the good news about Jesus to profoundly irreligious people.] Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: [he’s saying, “without God’s help, God’s anointing, I would never have been able to do it] to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery [in other words the way God’s great plan is designed to be executed through the church], which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, [he’s thinking about angels and demons here] according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

 

Here’s the thing; the gospel has to be announced. Paul says he has to preach it (v8) and make it plain (v9). If we don’t speak it out, it will never be heard. News has to be broadcast. 

 

If we all keep the gospel to ourselves, this generation of Christians will be the last. So whenever an opportunity presents itself, make yourself available to God as his servant. Because, as Paul says in v7, the good news of Jesus Christ is powerful stuff. There is nothing else like it.

 

In one of his conferences, Ed Silvoso told the story about Olmos Prison in La Plata, southeast of Buenos Aires. A few years ago, this establishment of 2,700 inmates, the largest prison in Argentina, was totally unmanageable. There were stories of homosexual rape and prostitution, protection rackets, murders and riots. The building was effectively controlled by the Mafia, drug dealers and gangsters of every type. 

 

There was not one Christian on the site. But if you fancied a bit of religion, there was a satanic cult, which offered animal sacrifices to the devil. The whole place was steeped in evil. Local people didn’t go anywhere near it, it was said to be haunted or possessed. Imagine the reviews on Trip Advisor…

 

This is how a First Century Jew would have thought of any Gentile, by the way. 

 

Anyway, in a neighbouring town, a local pastor was convicted of a relatively minor financial offence, and he was sentenced to spend some time at Olmos. The man repented in his cell and cried out to God for mercy, “Oh God, give me a second chance,” he said, “don’t abandon me. Don’t throw me away. Fill me with the Holy Spirit.” The Lord had mercy on him, forgave his sin and filled him again with the Spirit. The pastor had nothing to lose. He started to infiltrate the Satan cult, the Mafia and the gangs. He became, in his own words, a kamikaze for Christ. 

 

At about the same time, another Christian applied for an administrative job in that prison. The place was so evil that the interviewers, when they heard he was a Christian, said to him, “Get out of here. We don’t want you here. We hate you. If you take this job, we’re going to kill you.” Apart from that they were really hospitable! But nobody else applied, so he got the job anyway. 

 

Now, the prison had one believer behind bars and another behind a desk. They started to pray. First, they asked God for a slot on the prison radio. In the end, they were granted one and a half hours a week. It’s not much. But, if you forgive the expression, they did have a captive audience, because the broadcasts were relayed by loudspeaker all around the jail. You couldn’t switch it off. The two men prayed and prayed, and little by little they saw men turning to Christ. 

 

That’s when the backlash started. But the believers discovered that they had a constitutional right to be protected. The prison has five floors and is organized in blocks of cells, each holding 42 inmates. So the Christians claimed a block for themselves, so as to be protected from the violence threatened against them. 

 

True, they were given the worst block in the whole building, on the 4th floor. That’s where the Mafia and the black mass people were locked up. The believers formed a church, recognized a pastor and appointed a team of elders. They set up a rota where they prayed each night from 11pm to 5am. Two men read the Bible, two prayed and two others went from cell to cell, laying hands on the sick and praying for healing and blessing for their fellow prisoners and their families. Every two hours, the teams rotated so those who were reading the Bible started to pray, and so on.

 

Today, 1,500 men are disciples of Jesus Christ in that prison. You see what I mean?  When Paul speaks about “the working of his power” in v7, he's not trying to sell you tat on your doorstep that breaks after three days. The gospel is powerful. And it’s not for nothing either that the Apostle writes about the unsearchable riches of Christ (v8). 

 

“It’s unsearchable,” he says. You can’t scan it, you won’t get to the bottom of it, you’ll never really fathom it, it’s immeasurable, it’s like a diamond mine you’ll never exhaust. There are always more jewels, more perfectly faceted, more breathtakingly exquisite than the ones you’ve already pulled out of the ground. It keeps getting better. 

 

A transformation in the heart, like in that Argentine jail, like in my life, like in yours, is priceless. There is no limit to the mercy, and the patience, and the loving kindness and the grace and goodness, the blessing and the faithfulness and favour of our majestic, glorious, resplendent and three-times holy God. 

 

Hang down your bucket in God’s well of grace this morning! God’s supply of blessing has no bottom. There’s always more. 

 

3) Approaching God confidently (v12-13)

 

Have you ever had the experience of wanting desperately to contact somebody who is impossible to get hold of? He's not at home, his car is gone, and it’s not at the office either. His mobile is on answerphone mode, and at work you keep getting a pre-recorded voicemail message. His P.A. offers you a meeting for Thursday week. You phone and get an engaged signal. Finally, a sign of hope! That means he is on the line. Five minutes later, you call again but there’s no answer! Frustrated? 

 

Look at v12. In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.

 

I’m told the Greek work which Paul used, that we have translated as "approach" was used for the permission granted to come into the presence of a sovereign. So without wishing to in any way diminish or even qualify the truth about God (his holiness, his supremacy, his majesty) I want to insist as well that God is more accessible than your boss, your parents, or your spouse. 

 

You’ll never get God’s P.A. keeping you at arm’s length to protect him from you. God is waiting for you. His door is open and the line is free. God is accessible 24/7. He has no day off. He doesn’t even shut down at the weekend or for annual leave!

 

“In him and through faith in him you may approach God with freedom and confidence.” 

 

I once heard of a stay-at-home mum, whose life was a little mundane and not terribly full of action or surprises. But she said one day, “Whenever I am at the sink, doing the dishes, all I need to do is lift my old apron over my head and I’m in the Holy of Holies, in the satisfying and radiant presence of almighty God. She’s right.

 

It’s a phenomenal privilege to be granted freedom to approach God with full assurance. Most of us would be a bit nervous about entering the throne room of an omnipotent ruler. But don’t be afraid. By faith, you can enter directly into God’s awesome presence in prayer and in worship. 

 

I think that this verse tells us two very important things about our praise and worship. 

 

First of all, don’t be worried, cringing or anxious in approaching the Lord as we worship him together. He welcomes you gladly because he’s your Father and he loves you as his child.

  

But secondly, don’t trivialise the enormous privilege of entering God’s presence, as if it were something frivolous or mundane. Confidently doesn’t mean casually. 

 

Come before him with humility and with simplicity. But honour him as God almighty with fear and trembling, for our God is a consuming, holy fire.

  

Ending

 

So as I close, as Paul ends his inspired digression and sinks to his knees in prayer, will you draw near to God this morning? 

 

Maybe you never really have drawn near to him before. Will that change today? Is there a burden, or a weight, to drop at his feet? Pour your heart out. He promises to listen. Is there something you know he is calling you to, that you might have been resisting? Is there an area of your life you haven’t yet given over to him? His door is open and no appointment is necessary. Come! This is the time.

 

Draw near to God and, listen to the Bible’s promise, he’ll draw near to you. 

Sermon preached at King's Church Darlington, 8 March 2026.

...That You May Know... (Ephesians 1.15-23)

Introduction

Elvis Presley’s former home in Memphis, Tennessee, known as Graceland, is the second-most visited private home tourist destination in the USA. Only the White House attracts more. Graceland welcomes around 600,000 visitors every year.

 

Upon entering this impressive mansion, a smiling member of staff presents you with a glossy guidebook which says, “Graceland – Where Elvis Lives.” Not “lived” (past tense) but “lives.” I think they probably mean that the house kind of keeps his legacy going through his artefacts and his personal touch on that house. 

 

No doubt his former residence provides some kind of insight into the king of rock and roll. But it’s not a home, it’s a museum, and the stark truth is that Elvis has in fact permanently left the building, and since 16 August 1977 Elvis very much does not live at Graceland or indeed anywhere else. 

 

Saying “Elvis lives here” is a way of talking that clearly doesn’t align with reality. And I start with that thought this morning because I want to ask you how much does what you claim as a Christian truly match your lived experience?

 

How much, for example, would you say you know and experience the power of God? Be honest. The Bible claims that the power of God in us who believe is the same as God’s mighty power that raised Jesus from the dead and exalted him on high. And it’s in today’s passage of scripture that it says it, as we’ll see shortly. It’s a fantastic truth and no wonder people marvel at it. 

 

But, truthfully speaking, how much is that just theory for you, just words on a page, and how much is it what you live and breathe every day? Is “the resurrection power of God at work in me” feel a bit like, “Graceland – where Elvis lives?”

 

The supremacy of Christ

 

We’re picking up today from where Michael left off last Sunday. He had the privilege of expounding one of the richest, lushest, most resonant and power-packed passages in the whole Bible. Ephesians 1.3-14 positively revels in how God’s grand and wise plan of salvation magnifies his glory. 

 

In brief, last week’s passage sums up God’s lavish grace in Christ as a sweeping cascade of blessings. It affirms that through Jesus’ saving death, you are forgiven and set free from sin’s deadly power, and that God chose you before time began, to be adopted as his child, because he loves you. 

 

It adds that if you are a believer, you receive a secure everlasting inheritance that showcases his glory. And it ends by asserting that the Holy Spirit seals you as God’s own, which guarantees the security of your eternal future. That’s the multidimensional beauty of grace and from it should rightly flow continual and grateful praise to God.

 

We could easily have spent months on end savouring the pleasures and delights of those twelve verses in a long preaching series and not said half of all there is to say about the Lord Jesus and all he has won for us. 

 

People speak of Alexander the Great, Napoleon the Great, Catherine the Great, Charles the Great and Peter the Great; but we never speak of Jesus the Great. Because the word “great” is inadequate to express his supreme excellence and magnificence. 

 

He is far above every human measure of greatness. He stands alone. He is unique. His majesty has no equal, his mercy has no bounds, his wisdom has no peer, his love has no limit, his authority knows no rival, his power has no match and his kingdom will have no end.

 

How do you follow that? How do you follow Ephesians 1.3-14? Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, follows it with a prayer. Not a prayer that God would give you new blessings, because there is no more blessing possible to get! You have been blessed in the heavenly places with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Your cup is already overflowing! 

 

Rather, Paul’s prayer is that you would fully know, fully realise, fully appreciate, what is already yours. And this is what we’re going to feast on today.

 

As always with Paul’s writing, it’s very tightly packed together with lots of abstract nouns and long subordinate clauses all piled one on top of the other. 

 

Nehemiah 8 talks about the Levites who “read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people understood.” 

 

So I’m going to try and do the same now, doing my best to break it all down to make it plain… Here’s what it says, starting in chapter 1 and verse 15.

 

For this reason, [that is, what he’s just been talking about, the grace of God opening the floodgates of every spiritual blessing for you, for that reason] ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, [notice, this is not a quick, one-off prayer; it’s more like a lifestyle, it’s persistent] remembering you in my prayers. 

[And there’s not only repeated thanksgiving, there’s also continual intercession because he then adds…]

I keep asking that [firstly] the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 

[That’s the first request – that God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit will lead you to know him better. And then secondly…]

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order [again, notice these words] that you may know [know what? That you may know] the hope to which he has called you, [and what is this hope to which he has called you? It’s (a)] the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, [in other words, what is yours, fully yours as a child of God] and [b] his incomparably great power for us who believe. 

 

Let’s just pause that right there. Remember what I said earlier; Paul is not asking God for additional blessings, as if what he has done for us in Christ is insufficient or lacking in some way. Instead, he asks, in fact keeps on asking, for an eye-opening, soul-enlightening revelation of how much is already ours.

 

Knowing our God 

 

And, I’ve highlighted it on the screen for you, he asks God not once, but twice, that “you may know.” Know what? Firstly, know God better. Not know about God, not know of God, but know him… personally, as a friend, as one who is with you, who is for you. 

 

Actually, in Philippians 3.10, and we saw this last year, Paul said, “I want to know Christ.” Why would the great apostle Paul say that? Surely, he knew Christ already? I get the feeling he knew Christ far better than I do. 

 

But his relentless ambition was to know him ever more deeply. He was so aware of how far he still had to go. And he knew there is a clear difference between knowing about someone and truly knowing them.

 

Possibly my first crush was on a young woman called Jo. She was beautiful, blonde, and she had a perfect figure. She was the sister of a friend of mine, but I can’t say I really knew her. I might boast to my friends that I knew her but the truth is that I maybe said hello to her once and she ignored me. I knew of her.

 

I had no chance of really getting to know her closely as a friend. Firstly, she was a model and dating the guitarist of a world-famous rock band that everyone in this room will have heard of. And secondly, she was in her early twenties, and I was about nine.

 

In French, there are two words for the English verb to know. Savoir is what you say when you talk about knowing facts. But they have another word, connaître, to talk about personally knowing people. 

 

In John 8.32, Jesus says, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” In a French Bible, you might expect it to be translated savoir because surely the truth is factual. But no, it’s actually translated connaître, because the truth is a person; Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. And so he is talking about personal, intimate, relational knowledge. 

 

Some of us have known the Lord for a long time. Others have got to know him only recently. And perhaps still others among us don’t know him yet. Why don’t you step out and make the decision today, if that’s you, that you will open the door of your heart, let him in, and get to know him personally? 

 

Wherever you are on your spiritual journey, saturate yourself in the Gospels, reflect deeply on Jesus’ life and humility and authority and self-control and prayerfulness and truthfulness, savour his teaching, and get to know him as you pray through what you read. Wait on him. The more you spend time with Jesus, the more you will become like him.

 

Knowing our hope 

 

And secondly, Paul prays for us to know, deeply know, that our indestructible hope (the gift of eternal life) is kept safely in heaven for us. The apostle Peter says elsewhere in the New Testament that this heavenly inheritance is like exquisite, refined gold that can never perish, or spoil, or fade. 

 

John Lennon imagined a world with no heaven or no religion. We don’t have to imagine. We already have a place on earth where there is no religion and no heaven called North Korea and people risk their lives trying desperately to get away from it.

 

It’s much healthier for your soul to imagine an eternity with heaven, where God will remove every aspect of weakness in your body. Your eyes will be sharper to enjoy greater beauty. Your mind will be brighter to perceive and remember deeper wisdom. Your ears will be clearer making everything sound more glorious. Your vocal chords won’t get hoarse and weary from singing. Your legs won’t get tired from dancing. Your arms will never become heavy from being lifted in praise.

 

C.S. Lewis ends his Narnia series with this brilliant, imaginative vision of the new heavens and the new earth: “The things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”

 

This is our inheritance, this is our confident hope; this is what is laid up for us, and Paul’s prayer is that we would know it and treasure it. 

 

Knowing his power

 

And in the meantime, in this earthly life, he prays for us to know the incomparably great power of God, which is more than sufficient to keep us from falling and get us to the finishing line. The power of God to keep us on track and bring us safely to our eternal inheritance, what is that like? Here’s how Paul describes it… 

 

That power [for all who believe] is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, [that is to say over all things] and every name that is invoked, [that is to say over all people] not only in the present age but also in the one to come [that is to say over all time]. 

And [just to make it abundantly clear, in case you didn’t get it] God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

 

See how comprehensive and complete God’s resurrection power is! I’ve highlighted the alls and the everys on the screen for you to see. 

 

Nicky Gumbel, of the Alpha Course, talks about a young man at his church in London who worked in the library of a major national newspaper. The head office has a basement with an extensive archive of old cuttings, stories, pictures and quotes about every well-known person you can imagine. Entertainers, royalty, sportsmen and women, artists, politicians, criminals, war heroes, scientists, you name it… The files are kept in rows of long shelves and are separated into ‘living people’ and ‘dead people’.

 

One day, the young man was looking through the files of dead people and he came across a large file marked ‘Jesus Christ’. He glanced over his shoulder to check that no one was looking, and he quickly moved the file from the ‘dead people’ section to the ‘living people’ section. 

 

He was right! Jesus may have died in shame and disgrace, alone and humiliated. But on the third day, as his lifeless, breathless, cold corpse lay motionless on a slab of rock in a Jerusalem garden tomb, suddenly everything changed. 

 

Because his heart began to beat, and his blood began to flow, and his toes began to wriggle, and his lungs began to breathe, and his eyes flickered open, and he got to his feet – victorious – and now, forever he stands as heaven’s champion, sin’s conqueror and death’s master.

 

The great Methodist preacher W. E. Sangster lay ill in bed with a throat infection one Easter Sunday. He was able though to scribble a quick note to his daughter Margaret. “It is terrible,” he wrote, “to wake up on Easter morning and have no voice with which to shout. But it would be still more terrible to have a voice and not want to.”

 

Amen to that. Because, as we’ll see next Sunday, it’s not that we were bad and needed to be improved. We were dead, in our sins, and needed to be raised.

 

God the Father raised Christ from the dead. The power, the might, to raise a man three-days-dead, to eternal and immortal and invincible life, having now dominion over all things… that’s exactly the same spiritual force that’s at work in you and me.

 

In 1835, Charles Darwin embarked on a journey to the south Pacific. Observing the aboriginal inhabitants of Melanesia, he thought of them, particularly the cannibals, as a kind of savage sub-species, a less advanced version of human, (especially ‘civilised’ Europeans like him), in line with his evolutionary views. 

 

However, years later, Darwin was amazed to hear of schools, churches and nice homes, now inhabited by these very same supposedly primitive people. How do you account for the rapid transformation of that society? It’s because, in the meantime, a Scotsman called John Paton had, at great risk to his own life, left his home and preached the gospel among them. 

 

Charles Darwin was not a Christian believer and he died an agnostic, but it’s said that reports of beautiful new life among those south sea islanders moved him and profoundly challenged his unbelief. He even began to generously support the London Missionary Society in its work of evangelising the world.  

 

That’s the resurrection power of God that softens hearts, changes lives, regenerates societies and transforms nations.

 

Well, I asked at the beginning, how much do you know the power of God? Is it what you experience every day?

 

I would guess that many of you listening to me now rarely feel that power at work in you. For many Christians it seems unrealistic. In all honesty, it does not correspond to everyday living. And if that’s the case for you, I get it. There are exceptions to the rule, but I often feel exactly the same way. 

 

A simple reminder of my critical tongue, my impatience, my self-pity, my prideful inflated view of myself… I have to admit it, I don’t display the resurrection power of God enough either. I feel it acutely at times.

 

My suspicion is that the Ephesians felt that way too. Even though people were coming to faith in great numbers there, as we have seen over the last few weeks, even though the gospel was impacting the city in dramatic and miraculous ways, there must have been days for them of lust and bad temper and jealousy and behaving badly. Otherwise Paul wouldn’t have to tell them what holy living looks like in chapters 4-6.

 

And here’s the key to today’s passage. That’s exactly why the Bible contains this prayer. It is designed to show us that we must contend on our knees for these realities to be our felt experience. Paul falls to his knees and prays - and keeps on praying, he says - because he knows, no doubt from his own personal experience, that we need to ask, and keep asking, God to open our eyes to see and perceive the spiritual realities all around us. 

 

We fail to see so much, our spiritual vision is blurred, because of our own spiritual dullness. Sin massively distorts our perception of reality. I mean, human depravity is the most easily provable thing on earth; just watch the news on any day of the year. But nothing is more resisted by the human mind than the assertion that we are all sinners who need a saviour.

 

So we need the grace of God to open our eyes to that. And our spiritual vision is dulled also because there is an attritional spiritual battle that rages around us, constantly grinding down the joy of our salvation. Remember what Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, “the Christian life is a battle ground, not a playground.” There’s a spiritual civil war going on in every one of us. 

 

Paul will go on in this letter to speak of rulers, authorities, powers of this dark world and spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. We need the power of God to open our eyes to that too.

 

Ending

 

So I’m going to end now by praying this pray over you, putting Paul’s thoughts here in my own words. If you’re able to do so, would you please stand.

 

Lord, knowing the trust these people here at King’s have in you and their genuine love for one another, I can’t stop thanking you for them. Every time I think of them, I’m just so thankful. Thank you, Lord, for this gathering of people you love so much.

 

But I want to do more than thank you. I want to ask you, God of glory, to give everyone here intelligence and discernment to know you personally and determination know you increasingly well.

 

I ask Lord, that our spiritual eyes will be focused and clear, so that we can see exactly what it is you are calling us to.

 

And Lord God, give us grace us to grasp the immensity of the glorious way of life you want for us, as followers of Christ. Help us see and draw on the utter extravagance of the power, the Easter power, the grave-busting power, you give to all who trust you. Amen, let it be so.

Sermon preached at King's Church Darlington, 8 February 2026.