3. Knowing God in Prayer

Ephesians 1:15–23 (NIV)

15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that 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. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

Introduction

Thank you Carmen for reading our Text for today and Good Morning Church and welcome back to our series in Ephesians where we are focusing in on “God’s Plan. Our Place in it.”

We took a break last week to celebrate “The Sanctity of Human Life in every stage and any struggle” as did so many other Churches in our nation. I reached out to our friends at APPLE pregnancy care center and the director Melinda Gardner let me know that they were able to speak at 4 different churches this month and they have some possible new volunteers plus a new post-abortion client who has now come for the program.

If God stirred you last week toward this issue then let me encourage you to pray into getting involved in some way at APPLE. They are always looking for volunteers for a whole host of different things from participating in their fundraising walk to repairs and updates on their building all the way to training in to do one-on-one counseling with young mothers and fathers that are looking to be better prepared to parent in the flow of God’s plan for family.

And speaking of God’s plan, we are all a part of it. The book of Ephesians is a letter written by the Apostle Paul to the Churches in and around the major city of Ephesus and it speaks to God’s plan and instructs the readers on how to find their place in God’s plan.

If you were here with us last summer when we studied the book of Acts, you might remember Ephesus as the city where a great riot broke out because the idol makers were afraid that this new Christianity thing that the Apostle Paul preached about would cause people to stop buying their products so they incited a riot…a tactic not uncommon in our world today.

And just like the location of most of our major riots today, Ephesus was not some Podunk backwater town, we are talking about a booming metropolis with powerful civic and religious significance. The greatest attraction of Ephesus was a Temple that was considered one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. This architectural masterpiece was erected to honor the pagan goddess Diana or Artemis - depending on whether you were trained in Roman or Greek mythology.

Just to give you a hint of its magnitude, the footprint was 4 times as large as the famed Parthenon in Athens Greece and it housed a statue of the pagan goddess that was three stories tall and surrounded by 120 ornate columns. Those who pilgrimaged to Ephesus to worship at this famed temple did so because she was said to be goddess of the wild, often pictured with animals and/or a bow in her hand, and they said that she had the power to give you food, many children or protection if you came to her with the right offering or the right prayer.

Tension

And I don’t share those things with you as a ancient history lesson, but because it gives us a framework to better understand the context that these Churches existed in and why God would lead the Apostle Paul to write what he did to these Churches in Ephesus.

Because the basic premise of the dominant religion in this area was one where you sought to give the right offering to the right deity at the right time so that YOUR plans will work out in your right way…maybe. And while the names and the practices may differ greatly, this really is how every world religion works…even today.

That is why many people, including myself, are hesitant to label Christianity as a “religion” because it doesn’t fit the pattern of anything else called “religion”. Or at least it shouldn’t. At its core, everything else called “religion” is man creating “god” in our image to accomplish our plans.

But Christianity operates in the opposite direction. Christianity is the revelation that God created us in His image and for His plans. So then our role is to discover those plans and walk in the wisdom of them. In other words, We don’t pray to get God to fit into our plans, but we pray that God will open our eyes to where we fit in His plan.

That is not like any other religion in the world. That’s Christianity...and that is what Paul is praying for in what Carmen read for us this morning in the first chapter of Ephesians. So if you haven’t already, go ahead and open up your Bible Ephesians 1, it’s on page, 976 in the Bibles in the chairs.

We will stop and pray, and then we will dive deeper into this text together.

Truth

Paul begins this section by talking about why he is praying these things for the Churches, he says...

Ephesians 1:15–16 (ESV)

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,

As I said earlier, I don’t like using the word “religion” when describing “Christianity” but like many others I would prefer to define Christianity as a “relationship”. And there are aspects of this “relationship” that Paul is pointing to here as evidence that he is writing to genuine Christians. We could say that he is talking about a vertical and horizontal relationship.

Vertical = faith in the Lord Jesus

Horizontal = love toward all the saints (God’s holy people the Church)

And He prayed similarly in the other Prison letters (Phil 1:9-11, Col 1:9-12) and in none of these prayers did he pray for material things or for changes in the circumstances that these people were facing. Not that there is anything wrong with praying for those things, but that was not Paul’s prayer for them. Paul was not praying for them as if they needed something they didn’t already have.

He was praying that they would become more aware of what they already had in their relationship with God - because they had more than they realized “In Christ Jesus”.

The first thing that we see Paul pray is a...

Prayer to know the presence of God (Eph 1:17)

Ephesians 1:17 (ESV)

[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 the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,

So Paul prays that they would know God in a very special way. You see the description “Spirit of wisdom” was something they probably knew because it was a common reference to the Holy Spirit in Old Testament but Paul adds a new phrase here: “The Spirit of wisdom and revelation”. Paul wanted them to know God not just through what He had done in the past, but in what He was revealing to them right now. This was different. This was new.

The finished work of Jesus, in His death, burial and resurrection changed everything for God’s people, even how they experienced the presence of God. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit came on certain people for a certain period of time to accomplish a certain task. Think of the stories of Moses, Samson or one of the prophets. They were led by, strengthened or used by God in certain times and places but not everyone of God’s children were given access to God’s presence in the same way. But it was promised that one day the Holy Spirit would be present in a whole different way.

When we look back at when the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, we hear Peter preaching the first Christian sermon and in it He reminded the people how these things that were promised way back then, had now come to be.

Acts 2:14, 16-18

14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words...

16... this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: 17 “ ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; 18 even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.

This was the beginning of the Church, the New Covenant, the New Testament. Now the Holy Spirit is available to all who believe from the youngest to the oldest all the way down to the most lowly of servants.

And so Paul’s prayer is that these Christians would know God’s presence like this. In a personal and relational way. This is the kind of relationship that God wants to have with all his children. There is no longer a need to bring out offering to the Temple like there was before Jesus...We can access to the “spirit of wisdom and revelation” as we grow in our relationship with God.

And so we can see why Paul is praying this way...because when you have the wisdom of God revealed to you then you have everything you need to handle any need or circumstance that you may be facing. Some of us continue to miss out on the guidance, strength or calling that God has for us because we do not engage in this relationship with God like we could. We have what we need, but we just are not engaging with it.

It is like the story that is told of the newspaper baron William Randolf Hearst who had invested a fortune in collecting different art pieces from around the world. One day he heard a description of these incredible art pieces that he just had to own. So he sent his art agent around the world to look for these pieces and after months of investigating who sold them to who and so forth he finally returned to Mr. Hearst with the news that he had indeed found for him the very things that he so desperately wanted…they were in his own warehouse.

Hearst desired something that he already owned, but apparently was too busy or distracted by other things that never stopped to take stock of what was already his. The Apostle Paul doesn’t want this to happen to the Christians in Ephesus, because they could miss out on something much more valuable than any piece of art.

So he prays that they would have the kind of relationship where the wisdom of God was revealed to them through the Holy Spirit. Secondly, Paul prays a...

Prayer to know the hope of God (Eph 1:18)

He prays that...

Ephesians 1:18 (ESV)

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,

A few weeks ago we talked about our inheritance, but Paul is not talking about the saints inheritance “in Christ” again, he is talking about God’s inheritance in us. How the riches of God are found in what he has inherited in us.

I don’t know about you, but when I look at this mess, it sounds to me like God is getting ripped off!

But to understand the source of our hope we have to think beyond ourselves and remember that we are creatures, created in His image for His glory and so the fact that Jesus’ powerful sacrifice has worked to buy us back from death to the life that God created us for…this is of immense value to God the Father! It is not us intrinsically, but what Jesus has done and is doing in and through us to redeem God’s creation that is so valuable and beautiful. The finished work of that is his glorious inheritance.

So to have the “eyes of our hearts enlightened” is to understand that no matter what we have done...God is still God! And our hope is rooted not in our ability to become a worthy inheritance, but in God’s ability to finish what He started as he works all things out for His greatest glory and our greatest good. It is His Plan.

One of the distinctives of the letter of Ephesians is that Paul emphasizes our relationship with God as Father more in this letter than in any of his other books. And remembering Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son, we must remember that our God loves us even more than that.

The young man in that story said to himself...

Luke 15:18–19 (ESV)

18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.” ’

All that was very true, and so he set out to accomplish his plan...

20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

This was not in the young man’s plan, because he didn’t have eyes to see the extravagant love of his Father. So he tried again to enact his plan...

Luke 15:21–24 (ESV)

21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

22 But the father [he had his own plan, and he] said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate.

This is not how you treat a son who has rebelled against you…unless you love your child like a good Father! For the Father was overjoyed to have his son back...

24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

This is the hope that the “eyes of our heart” must be opened to. Our plans would never turn out this good and Jesus told us this story to give us a taste of the Father’s plan for us. The plan that brough us from death to life, from being lost to be found. This is where our hope is found. Not in us being like us, but God being God!

Paul ends his prayer with a beautiful reminder of God’s ability to do what He has promised for us, both in this life and in the life to come. So our third and final prayer from Paul is a...

Prayer to know the power of God (Eph 1:19-23)

Paul is praying that they may know the riches of their hope and calling...

Ephesians 1:19 (ESV)

19 and [that you may know v18] what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might

It could be argued that the entirety of our text today is about Paul’s prayer that these Christians may know the riches of God’s power. Here in verse 19 he offers 3 references to power

the word “power” is δύναμις (dynamis) def: power might strength (dynamite)

then we have working ἐνέργεια energeia def: working, action, energy, operation

and lastly might ἰσχύς ischis def: strength, might, power …very much like dynamis.

No matter which English word you use, the big idea is that Paul is praying that these Christians would know that unlike the pagan gods around them, our God is powerful enough to accomplish all that He has promised and more.

And the evidence for this is in what God has already done for us in Christ Jesus. The power, verse 20...

Ephesians 1:20–23 (ESV)

20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 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.

Do you see how knowing something about the city of Ephesus helps us see more of what Paul is saying here. Their world was full of names of gods and goddesses that claimed to have the power to give you what you want if you gave them the right prayer or offering. But our God proved he had the power to provide for us, because He gave us what we needed even before we could have asked.

Romans 5:8 (ESV)

8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

God is not waiting for us to put the right recipe of prayer and offerings, like all those other pagan gods. That is religion, and He is after a relationship with us. So He gave us what we needed even before we knew that we needed it.

Our plans would never get us there, but this is all a part of His plan.

And so Paul is telling these Churches that none of those other names even matter now, because Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

One day, to initiate the age to come, King Jesus will return and do away with all other claims to His authority , but until then He has commissioned the Christian Church to walk in a relationship with Him where His rule and reign is on display here on earth.

22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

This body is the living relationship between Christ and the gathered Church. He is the head, we live together under his rule and reign by the power of the God.

So Paul prays these things for the Churches. That they may know God’s presence, the hope found in Him and the Power that He has given us to accomplish his plan for His greatest glory our greatest good.

Application

Unlike the ancient Ephesus, we are not surrounded by a whole lot of Polytheistic religions in Wisconsin. “Polytheism” is a religion that worships many gods like they had in ancient Greek or Roman mythology.

We are more like to bump into an atheist, who says there is no God for us to know or an agnostic who says that even if there is a god, we cannot know him. Some people, knowing or unknowing ascribe to some form of deism who acknowledge a God who must have created all this but then sent it off spinning and now just sits back and watches it all unfold.

But Christianity is different from all those religions. It is based on a personal relationship with a personal God who is not only involved in what is happening in our world, He is working out His perfect plan that will bring Him the greatest glory and us the greatest good.

Landing / Next Steps

You know the idol makers in Ephesus were right to be concerned about how the message of Jesus would affect their business. In less than a generation, the Christian Churches in and around Ephesus had so grown that the great Temple of Artemis was all but forgotten and eventually caught fire and was burned to the ground.

Because no manmade religion can compete with having a personal relationship with the God who is 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.

If you don’t have a relationship like this then why not? Today would be a great day to connect with this God who loves you.

And if you do have this relationship then I pray as Paul did that you would grow in knowedge of His presence, the peace of His hope and the strength of power.

Lets pray into that together.