LEarning to pray from the Master’s: Paul
Eph. 1:15-23
Sermon Introduction
We are in a series entitled “Pathways of Grace” where we are learning about the various means of grace whereby we walk with God and accomplish his purposes. We first covered the key means of grace of the word of God and now we are focusing on prayer. As I said the other week, I feel so deficient in this area. I have found, however, that when we are deficient in an area there is great hope for us if we can find others who are skilled and emulate them. I like archery and when I first started to shoot my bow I was fairly erratic. I made friends with a guy at our archery club that had been a former Olympic contender. Oh what a difference that made for me, not only did he help me do all I needed to get my bow tuned up but he also worked with me on technique. I used to pull my bow back and let it fly as soon as I had my target cited. This man taught me to pull back and hold my arrow on target for a couple of seconds and even after I fired. It has made a dramatic difference. Well, prayer is like this. If we can find someone skilled and just get around them we can grow. Well, in the remaining messages on prayer I want us to do just that. So this morning we will be spending time with the apostle Paul learning from him how he prayed and seeking to grow as prayers ourselves. So let’s pray and seek God for these things this morning.
1: 15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and
your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you,
remembering you in my prayers, 17 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, 18 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, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of
his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might–
………………. 3:14 For this reason I bow my knees before the
Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is
named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may
grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so
that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and
grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the
saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to
know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with
all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do far more
abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within
us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all
generations, forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians
1:15-2, 3:14-21 (ESV)
What a wonderful example of prayer! There are a number of things to learn from Paul’s prayer here and I suppose we could do a year long series just on the incredible content of these verses. But what I want to do this morning is learn some basics about Paul’s attitude and practice in prayer. I believe we can sum up how Paul prayed by saying that Paul prayed with a heart full of gratitude that people would be changed in their attitudes. I know it sounds kind of cliché-like but I think it is an accurate way to understand Paul and a helpful way to emulate Paul. Paul prayed with a heart full of gratitude that people would be changed in their attitudes
1.
A
Heart Full of GRatitude
Paul starts out this section like he does in most of his letters – he mentions to the Ephesians how grateful he is for them. Here 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.” Throughout his letters Paul expresses that he regularly gives thanks in prayer for his folks. He says to one of his earlier church plants in Thessalonica “We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Thessalonians 1:2-3, ESV) and to the troublesome Corinthians, " I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you—" (1 Corinthians 1:4-6, ESV) and to his dear friend Timothy, "I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well." (2 Timothy 1:3-5, ESV) Folks, this was a man full of gratitude for others. He comes to prayer with a heart full of gratitude towards God and a genuine affection for other people.
Oh what a lesson this is for us! First, do we come to God in prayer beginning with thanksgiving or beginning with what we are asking for? Paul came, I believe, first with profuse thanksgiving. Sadly, I too often come first with my requests.
I think that this comes from a sad lack of humility and a sad lack of awareness of just how good God has been to me. Why are some folks thankful and others not? Well, it might be that they have learned the etiquette of being thankful but I don’t think etiquette can sustain a thankful heart over the long haul. I believe that the fundamental difference between those who are thankful and those who are not is genuine humility. For you can only be truly thankful for those gifts you haven’t earned, and you only don’t think you have earned something if you are humble.
You see, the deception of pride says that we have earned the right to be treated with respect and honor and anyone who fails to give us what we have earned will suffer our wrath. But humility says that we don’t have an inherent right to the gifts or at least we won’t exert those rights and so when we receive the gift we are genuinely thankful for getting something good that we didn’t deserve.
I believe Paul understood this truth. He understood that he was a sinner who had willfully rebelled against God and actively opposed him and therefore had forfeited his right to the blessings of God. He knew he stood before God as a condemned criminal no longer possessing the rights of a upstanding citizen, justly condemned and hopelessly lost without Christ. Yet, he was aware of the amazing love of God that he would condemn his own Son in Paul’s place on the cross so that his sin might be atoned for and he might be now, in Christ and his resurrection, treated as a full heir with him. This understanding, this humble self assessment and this glad and joyous faith in Christ and dependence on his love characterized all that Paul did. So when a man like this goes to prayer he can’t help but start with thanksgiving. So what we learn from Paul about prayer is that it starts rightly with thanksgiving.
Are you starting your prayer with thanksgiving? Does a heart of gratitude characterize your prayers? Do you find yourselves praying for others first by giving God thanks for them and his grace that is active in them? Paul did. But I am so often unlike him.
CJ Mahaney in his message,
“Grace and the Adventure of Leadership” mentions a poignant illustration from a
Peanuts cartoon. In this cartoon Lucy is
looking at her brother Linus while she says, “Whenever I look at you I feel a
criticism coming on.” Too many
times we are like Lucy – we are more aware of what we think is wrong with
others than the fact that we are the worst sinner we know. We are more aware of what others lack than
that we have been rescued from our self and our sin with the infinitely
precious life of the eternal Son of God!
If we know this, if we humble ourselves before this truth than we shall
know gratitude. We shall find ourselves
spending a lot of time in prayer just thanking God for folks, thanking God for
his activity around us. And you know
what, as we thank him we will find our gratitude increasing. Gratitude begets gratitude. And the Apostle Paul teaches us a huge lesson
this morning – that to be skilled prayers is to spend much time in prayer
thanking God! So, Paul prayed with a
heart full of gratitude and he prayed that people would be changed in their
attitudes.
2.
To Be
Changed in their attitudes
From this perspective of profound thanksgiving Paul asked God to grant his loved ones the best thing they could get. He came before God to request the most significant thing possible. It wasn’t freedom from want, it wasn’t health, it wasn’t even a life surrounded by friends and family – as good as these things may be. Paul asked for his friends that they may know what they have in Christ – simply that.
Have you ever played the game where you ask someone what they would wish for if they had three wishes? Usually the person says they’d wish for three more wishes, but once you get past that one, they usually say things like world peace, or that all their loved ones would know Christ or for perfect health for all their loved ones. I have never heard anyone ask that their loved ones would simply know what they already have in Christ. Can you imagine that – Oh, I wish that we would all just simply know what we already have in Christ. But this is exactly what Paul does. After spending time just thanking God for folks he asks that they might know what they have in Christ.
This is incredibly profound and should dramatically affect our prayer lives as well as our outlook on the Christian life. In my time as a pastor and a lay church leader I have found one thing that makes all the difference between people who struggle and people who don’t, between immature Christians and mature Christians, between those who experience the fruit of the Spirit regularly and those who seem more in touch with the flesh, the sinful nature. The one thing that seems to make all the difference is how they perceive their life in Christ. Those who really know what they have in Christ, not just intellectually but thoroughly, seem able to endure trials and maintain peace, they consistently exhibit the fruit of the Spirit, they are able to avoid being entrapped by idols. So Paul knows exactly what he is doing when he puts this prayer request at the top of his list. For he knows that if his folks truly know, intellectually, emotionally, spiritually and experientially, what they have in Christ so many other things will be taken care of. And the same is true for us. So let’s pray this same way and let’s pursue the knowledge of Christ and our salvation.
2.1.
via
the Spirit.
Paul prays that they may know God and the preciousness of their salvation via the work of the Spirit. Look in verse 17. It says in the ESV, that Paul is asking God to give them, “a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him.” I think the NIV has it right here in translating the word as The Spirit. This is consistent with the translation of this phrase elsewhere in scripture. So Paul is asking God to move by the Spirit that they may understand Christ and our salvation. And he is asking this for people who already have the Spirit dwelling in them as he had just written in verse 13. Yet, they need more of the Spirit. And they need more of the Spirit for the very purpose that they might understand the things of God and what they mean to them. Folks, we never stop needing fresh encounters with the Spirit of God, whether they are dramatic encounters with physical manifestations of still quite revelations as we read God’s word in the morning. No matter what their form, not matter what their degree we need to experience the power of the Holy Spirit for the sake of knowing Christ more and the wonder of our salvation. So Paul prays that God may given them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ in 1:17 and in 3:16-17 he prays the same thing – that they might have a fresh and living experience of the presence of Christ and the revelation of the Spirit that they might know the love of God.
This is the bottom line of our charismatic distinctive; we are dependant on the Holy Spirit to experience the things of God. That’s it. And no matter what your perspective might be on tongues or prophecy or the like, you can not know, truly know, the things of God apart from an experience of the Sprit of God. This is our charismatic distinctive, this is our prayer, this is Paul’s prayer. Oh God, send your Spirit, we want to know and love you!
2.2.
in
our hearts
And Paul prays for them, that they may have the eyes of their hearts enlightened that they might know. Paul is not praying that the Ephesians be able to pass a test on the theology of the Gospel. He isn’t asking God to fill them with information. No, information is a mere beginning to the knowledge that God desires. Information is only the very first and most basic step in true knowledge. Paul is asking that the eyes of their hearts, the very seat of who they are, what they think, how they feel and what they do be saturated with an experiential knowing of these things.
Peg and I are celebrating our
20th anniversary this year. God has
graciously provided a place for us to stay through friends in a sister church as
well as the money for airfare to the Caribbean, where we spent our honeymoon. You
can imagine our excitement at this. We
have already got on the internet to see pictures of the island. It looks great – aqua water, white sandy
beaches. I even got on GoogleEarth™ and
zoomed in on the area we are going. It
was all very exciting. But you know what?
It isn’t the same as actually being
there. It is going to be a whole nother
thing when we are sitting there in our beach chairs enjoying a sunset together
in the 80 degree weather. You can know
all the information in the world about the
2.3.
hope
Let’s spend a little time talking about the specifics that Paul prays they might know. Each of these specifics could be a message unto itself and I encourage you to study these topics in the word so you might know them better. First, Paul prays that they might know “the hope to which he has called you.”
Hope is an amazingly powerful attitude. Hope is faith in a future outcome. If we have hope we can endure. If we have hope in something infinitely wonderful than we can have endurance in something tremendously difficult. And so Paul prays that they might know the hope to which God has called them. That amazing hope is this – that on the final day of judgment they will stand before God and because of the righteousness of Christ alone they will be declared not guilty in the presence of the holy and just judge and more than that, they will be rewarded in Christ with eternal joy and satisfaction and bliss with him and all his people on the new perfected earth. There will be no more tears or sorrow or pain but perfect and endless delight. That is our hope folks. May you know this hope!
2.4.
riches
In line with this Paul prays that they might know the riches
of his glorious inheritance in the saints.
There is no greater riches than the riches of God. My family is memorizing Romans 8. In verse 18 Paul says, “For I consider
that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory
that is to be revealed to us.” This
glory, guaranteed to us in Christ and sealed with the experience of the Holy
Spirit far outweighs anything else in all of creation. We already share in these riches in that we
are completely forgiven, fully adopted into God’s family and graciously guarded
from true harm while we experience all things for our good. Yet, this is only the beginning. The glory to be revealed to us and in us is
beyond compare. When Christ rose from
the grave he was in his glorified state.
He was able to suddenly appear and disappear. He was shining with glory
when he showed himself to John on
2.5.
power
Paul prays also that the Ephesians know his power. They lived in a city full of witchcraft and demonic power. They lived amidst an oppressive powerful empire. Paul wanted them to truly know this power that is theirs, the same power that raised Jesus from the grave, the same power that now is used to rule over all of creation and all earthly and spiritual beings, under his complete and perfect sovereignty. Do you know this power? Let us pray for one another, that we might know, experience and live in the good of this power.
2.6.
love
Finally, Paul prayed that they might know his love. Wow is this an important one. While we want to avoid an empty sentimental type of Christianity we must be absolutely sure we never compromise this essential aspect of life in Christ. Paul prays in chapter 3:14-19 that they might know the dimensions of this love that is infinite in dimension. Go figure that!
Does anyone know how far it is to the sun? That’s right, 93 million miles. That’s a long way. If you shot a bullet at the sun it would take about 5 years to get there. Yet, at that distance this star that weighs 1 million times the earth and burns at 27 million degrees F gives us warm days like today. As great as that is, God’s love is even greater. The sun is finite. If you move out to Pluto it only heats it to -400 F. If you move beyond the solar system the effects of the sun are minimal. But, no matter how far you are from God his ability to love you is never diminished. Our sin puts us at the opposite side of the universe from God and even more. But his love is a blazing fire, burning so hot it sent the infinitely precious son to be punished in your place that you might be forgiven and treated as his sons and daughters. His love blazes hotter than the sun and illumines all of creation and accomplishes its intentions without fail. And by the power of the Holy Spirit we are to know and experience and be transformed by this great love to the point of even being filled with the very fullness of God.
3.
Conclusion
This is Paul’s prayer. That we might know and experience God and our salvation in him. It comes from a heart full of gratitude for the grace of God in others and it stretches out in love and gratitude to ask for the very best – that God’s people might truly know what it is to know him and belong to him. Everything else will take care of itself if this is true. All the rest of Ephesians flows from this experience. Yes indeed, there is work to be done, but when God answers these types of prayers that work, though hard at times, though challenging at times, is sweet and pleasant and even easy.
So let us pray for one another this way. Let us be thankful and gladly and consistently pray we might know these things and let us pursue this sort of knowledge and experience and holiness together. Amen.