Praying with Paul (Eph. 1:15-23)

If you have your Bibles with you this morning, I invite you to turn with me to Ephesians 1:15-23. Over the last month or so, we have slowly through verse 1-14, which is a beautiful Symphony of Praise regarding the work of salvation. In this moving passage the apostle Paul highlighted each member of the holy Trinity and detailed their specific role in the salvation of man. At the same time, he set forth the amazing, unlimited, and invaluable blessings that all believers have in Christ Jesus. These blessings are what shape and define our true identity as believers. They give us purpose and hope as we live out our faith in dark and rather confusing world. Such glorious truths are challenging and rather difficult for any believer to fully comprehend. Therefore, the apostle Paul pauses and begins to pray that God would assist them in understanding that which is naturally beyond their ability to understand. You see, the blessings that God has bestowed upon those who are in Christ are profound and overwhelming. To get your minds around them and their implications require divine assistance.

And so, when we come to verse 15, by God’s grace we are allowed to spend a few minutes of time with the apostle Paul in his prayer closet. Now at this time, Paul is in jail, awaiting trial, and yet even in that situation we find him praising God with some of the most moving prayers that have been uttered by man. I love the fact that God gave us prayers in Scripture, prayers to study, to emulate, and pray back to God for ourselves. Such prayers are inspired directly by the Holy Spirit, and we would be very wise to learn from them everything can about the mystery of prayer.

[maybe college illus] Over the years, I have been blessed to pray with many believers, and I’ve learned so much about prayer from simply praying with others. Every elder’s meeting, my prayer life is enriched as the elders gather and pray over the needs of our church family. They teach me to how to prayer by example.

Listen, prayer is a simple concept, its just talking to God, but yet there is nothing harder for us to than slow down and pray. For us to truly learn to pray well, we need to pray with others, especially those who are mature in their faith. Over the last couple of months, I have been so encouraged to see God moving our church family to prayer. There have been numerous prayer walks around the church, Bible studies that have turned into small prayer meetings. I’ve heard from several of you that God is laying it on your heart to pray with others for our church family. I am so excited to see how God is going to respond to these prayers and would encourage you to pray along with them. Pray that God would draw people to Himself for salvation and stir all of our hearts to long for more of Him. Pray alongside them, and find time to meet with them to pray. Today, we get to pray with Paul and learn from one of the best. With that in mind, as I read or passage this morning, I want to ask you to personalize the text, and prayerfully read it along with me as your prayer this morning as we study this amazing prayer together… Read Eph 1:15-23… (PRAY)

This morning, I want you to notice from our text three truths concerning prayer that should assist us in maturing our prayer lives and enrich our walk with God.

1) The work of God’s sovereign grace should naturally lead us to prayer and worship (vs. 15-16).

Notice, verse 15 begins with the phrase, “For this reason…” For this reason, the apostle says, I do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers. The context and themes of the prayer that follows reveal that Paul had a specific reason for praying. You see, the apostle was not praying for the church in Ephesus simply because he heard of their great faith and their wonderful love for the saints. Instead, the apostle prays in a spirit of profound worship.

In verses 3 through 14, Paul has been outlining God’s sovereign work in salvation. He’s already gone to great lengths to help see that salvation is the work of God’s grace alone. God the Father chooses and predestines, God the Son redeems and forgives, and God the Holy Spirit seals and pledges. From literally the beginning of time to the end of time, our salvation is work of His sovereign grace. The Bible repeatedly reminds us that our God reigns in absolute sovereignly over His creation and everything is going according to His plan.

And as Paul contemplates those things, his prayer takes shape. We need to understand that sound theology always leads to prayer and worship. If your growing knowledge of God is not leading you to pray more fervently and worship more passionately, then something is off. Something is either wrong with what you are studying or something is wrong with your heart. The great Welsh pastor, Martyn Lloyd Jones, who is often described as the last of the Puritans wrote… “The ultimate test of my understanding of the scriptural teaching is the amount of time I spend in prayer. As theology is ultimately the knowledge of God, the more theology I know, the more it should drive me to seek to know God. Not to know “about” Him but to know Him! The whole object of salvation is to bring me to knowledge of God… If all my knowledge does not lead me to prayer there is something wrong somewhere.” Think about that church, many of you have bookcases full of Christian books in your home. You’ve spent countless hours reading your Bibles, good theology, and participating in Bible Studies, but if all of that dedication has not leading you to spend more time on your knees before the Holy God then something is radically not right.

The apostle Paul models that the doctrines of grace should always lead us to prayer. And as Paul reflected on God’s sovereign role in man’s salvation it forced him on his knees. Well, this obviously begs the question, right? If God is in charge of everything and “foreordained whatsoever comes to pass” then what is the point of praying? If He is sovereign over every little detail, then why should I waste time in prayer? In fact, let’s be honest, what is the point of witnessing? Bible Studies? Why give to the church? Why serve? What is the point of doing anything at all for God?

The rational answer to this objection is that even though God does as He pleases, He graciously uses means like prayer, evangelism, Bible Study, tithes, and our good works to further His kingdom. You see, we must understand that if we do not pray, the good things for which we pray may never occur. Especially since it is through prayer that God brings forth the blessing. You see, in His grace God allows us to be used by Him as the means to bring about His blessings to others.

The apostle Paul understood that if people were coming to faith in Central Asia and were being characterized by their self-sacrificial love for one another, then obviously God was at work bringing salvation to them. And for Paul, this was not an excuse for not praying. Instead, the knowledge that God was sovereignly transforming lives in Ephesus lead him to pray with both greater confidence and fervency.

But what did Paul hear? : Verse 15 answers that question, “having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints.” Word had come to Paul’s prison cell that people in Central Asia had a saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice, Jesus was the object of the faith which separated them from the surrounding idolatrous culture in which they lived. They had submitted to His Lordship.

Listen church family, salvation belongs to those who live under the lordship of Christ. The testimony of both the lips and of their lifestyle is simply “Jesus is Lord.” They live to serve Christ and please Him alone. Furthermore, Paul got wind of the fact that they loved one another, which united them together in the midst of a pagan culture which always seeks to divide people. Church, pagan cultures may preach equality and love, but they always divide people. Why? Because sin naturally divides people! By nature sin separates us from God and from one another. So this testimony of love further validated the authenticity of their saving faith. John 13:35… “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” You see true salvation will faithfully produce true love and unity, as the selfish, self-centered heart, is radically transformed and enabled to place other people’s needs above your own.

Church, there is no such thing as a loveless faith. True faith cannot exist apart from true love that is both genuine and sacrificial. And please, please notice, that Paul says they had love “for all the saints.” They didn’t simply love the people who were easy for them to love. They didn’t simply have a cliché of friends were others felt unwelcomed or distant. No, they had a selfless love for everyone in their church.

Well, the evidence of God’s work was abundant. For the apostle knew that no one is able to come to faith or love like this without the hand of God enabling it all. And so, Paul says in verse 16, “I do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of your in my prayers.” With this one verse, the apostle teaches us that a good prayer life is always ongoing and planned. Paul says, every time I think of you, I voice a prayer. Every time, I sit in my prayer closet, I thank God for you. Listen, Paul wasn’t the type of guy who would tell you that he was praying for you but then forget to follow through. Nor was Paul the kind of guy who would simply pray one time over something and let it be. No, the apostle prayed without ceasing with a heart of gratitude.

Church family, let these verses remind you that you need to recognize the evidence of God’s grace in others. Our culture is so critical is it not? It is so easy for us to see evidence of sin in others, rather than notice the grace of God at work in each others lives. If someone is a believer, if they have been made new in Christ, then we should be in awe of the evidence of faith that points us back to God.

You are probably familiar with the idea of the church being a hospital for sinners. And it is, for we all have been wounded by our sin and the sins of others, and as Christians we endure the hardships of living in a fallen world day by day. But sometimes I wonder if we don’t lean into that metaphor more than we should. You see sometimes we can come here and look around the room and think, man there are some really messed up people in this room. Some way more than others, obviously way more than myself.

Yet, the apostle Paul shows no evidence of such thinking. I love Ephesians 2:10… “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” That word workmanship is translated in other translations as “handiwork,” and “masterpiece.” I want to encourage you to look around this room for a minute and be in awe of God’s workmanship!

You see, we are not just a hospital for sinners, we are also an art studio, where God is at work in our lives. Now, the work isn’t finished yet… surely there are rough edges and things that need attention, but God’s handiwork is on display, and it demands that we stop and appreciate it, much like we would if we were walking around one of the world’s finest museums.

Church, can I just challenge you this week spend with God in prayer and thank Him and praise Him for how you see God at work in the lives of others, then go tell them that you did! Tell them you prayed for them and were thankful for how you can see God in work in their life. I can’t tell you how much that would encourage the saints of Heritage Bible Chapel, as God continues to build His church here in Central Massachusetts.

Church, the sovereign God is at work and that should lead us to prayer and worship.

2) Growing in the knowledge of Christ is our greatest yet most neglected prayer need (vs. 17-19a).

Most of us don’t pray like Paul. We don’t. Our prayers are normally self-focused and self-centered. We generally approach His throne of grace with mostly our wants, needs, and desires on our tongues. And often the only time we really are serious about prayer is when there is a crisis in or lives or in the lives of those we love the most.

Yet, we see no evidence of such prayers offered by Paul in the scriptures. Remember, Paul spent years in Ephesus planting the church there, he knew this audience very well. He knew those in that area who struggled with disease, and those who wrestled with deep rooted sin. On top of that, the apostle knew the culture of the city. He understood the darkness of Ephesus and the great persecution believers experienced there on an ongoing basis. Yet, when Paul prayed for the church in Ephesus, his mind didn’t rush to their unique situations or to the hardships they faced because of their faith. Nor did he pray that God would grow their church by creative means, various ministries, or evangelistic endeavors. Instead of those types of things in which we normally pray for, Paul simply prays that the believers in Central Asia would continue to grow in deep knowledge of Christ. That they may further grasp and understand who they are in the Lord and know how magnificent and unlimited are the blessings of God that already belong to them.

Notice in verse 17 that, Paul directs this prayer to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory. In the Old Testament, God was known as the Lord God Almighty, the Creator God, the Most High, or the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, or the God of Israel. But in the New Testament, He is the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. This designation uniquely links God the Father with God the Son and it speaks of Jesus’ unique nature as the incarnate One. Jesus was God in flesh, the One to whom all glory belongs. You see, the Father of glory, is the same essence and nature as the Lord Jesus Christ.

And to the glorious Godhead, Paul prays for a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. Brothers and sisters, such wonderful knowledge of Christ only comes about by approaching God in prayer, by asking Him to give us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation. Listen, you can read your Bible over and over and over again, and never grow an inch in wisdom or true knowledge of God. You can read every theological book in my office, and never mature in His grace.

You see, what Paul is praying for here requires Divine assistance. The Greek language is what helps us understand this request. The word knowledge in verse 17, is not the common word used for knowledge, which was the word gnosis. Instead, Paul prays for an epignosis­– which emphasizes a deep, full knowledge, or a thorough knowledge. The apostle is praying that the believers in Ephesus would grow so deep in their knowledge of Christ that it would transform everything about their life.

The great John Bunyan, who wrote Pilgrim’s Progress, only had the equivalent to a sixth grade education. He literally repaired broken pots and pans for a living, but he possessed one of greatest Christian minds to ever exist. He once wrote, “The truths that I know best I have learned on my knees. I never know a thing well, till it is burned into my heart by prayer.” Oh, church family, if we are going to be people of the book who live according to God’s will and make a difference in our world, it will happen if we prioritize prayer as we should. I fear that so often in our homes and Bible Studies, we are so quick to study the Bible that the great need of prayer is rather neglected. Sure, we might pray a quick prayer before and after, but if we are really going to grow in understanding and live for Christ, we must make prayer a far greater priority than it is.

And notice also in verse 17, our need of the Holy Spirit to impart such wisdom. He prays that the spirit of wisdom and revelation would impart this wonderful knowledge of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:10-12, reads… “For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God.” Church family, if we are going to know God better, then we need the Spirit of God to take the things that belong to the glorious domain of God and bring them down to us so that we can receive them. We can surely receive them no other way.

Listen, our personal greatest need, and indeed our church’s greatest need, is for the Holy Spirit to grow us into a deeper and fuller knowledge of Christ. In John 17:3, Jesus himself said, “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” The knowledge of God our Father and Christ our Savior is the key to all of life. Oh, how we ought to read Scripture on our knees, and how we need to listen to sermons prayerfully. We ought to pray directly to the holy Spirit, that He would grow us in great and deep knowledge of Christ.

Well Paul continues this prayer in verses 18-19, by basically expounding on what he already prayed in verse 17. But specifically, the apostle asks God that believers may have the insight needed to grasp certain crucial truths. He prays, “that the eyes of the heart may be enlightened” so that his readers might learn certain things. So, in one sense it’s a continuation of the previous request, but its also, the flip side of that same request. The Spirit, we know, reveals truth, but we must also be attuned and ready to receive that which God makes known by the Holy Sprit. But the fact that the apostle prays for both implies that he understands that it is ultimately God and God alone who both reveals and enables us to grasp that which He does reveal. This is the very reason Paul prays, and it should be our reason as well.

Now pay close attention to what Paul prays they can fully understand. Because He points them to the gospel. And particularly the apostle reminds them of three important aspects of the good news. And each one of his points begin with the word what… Notice the text in verse 18 so that you may know WHAT is the hope of your calling, WHAT are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and WHAT is the surprising greatness of His power towards us who believe.”

These are three phrases in which the apostle Paul draws our attention to God’s work in past, future, and the present. He begins in the past. That you would know what is the hope of your calling. Now the word hope is usually associated with the future, but notice he speaks of your calling, which points his readers back to verse 4, where Paul says God chose us, predestined us, and adopted us into His family.

He’s speaking here of the effectual and irresistible call of God. It speaks of God drawing those whom He predestined to faith to Himself. This a powerful call that is more of a pull that leads to conversion. This is a miraculous work of God involved in our salvation. We will see more of this in chapter 2 of Ephesians, but let us take a peak there now… notice verse Eph 2:12-13… “remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

Listen, this is a description of who we are apart from Christ, we were hopeless and we were Godless, far apart from Christ. What a sad picture, but suddenly when God called us, look at chapter 4:4… “There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.”

What a glorious and profound transformation to go from godless and hopeless to being in the Lord Jesus Christ and being called by God and filled with hope, so now back to verse 1 of chapter 4 which says, “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Oh, that we would grow in the hope of our calling and walk in manner worthy of it.

It is also important that we remember that the word hope in the New Testament speaks of an unshakable certainty. Today, when we say we hope for something, we typically imply that we are optimistic, but it doesn’t imply certainty. But when Paul writes this phrase, he’s asking God that we would grow stronger in our certainty that we have been called, redeemed, and forgiven by God.

Listen church, if you are here this morning, and you not sure that you have a saving faith in Christ, but you feel concern in your heart, you feel a pulling in your soul to want to know more about God and experience the forgiveness that has been made available to you through the death of Christ. If that’s you today, then I want to affirm His call on your life and encourage you to simply respond in faith and repentance. Believe the gospel my friend, that Jesus died as an innocent man on the cross for your sin, that bore your sin and the just wrath of God that it deserved. He died in your place, was buried yet gloriously rose again. Believe in Him and submit to His Lordship by joyfully obeying His Word. The apostle prays that we would know what is the hope of our calling, by pointing us to the starting point of or faith.

But notice the second what he prays for (v. 18)… that we would know “what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.” Now again, as we saw last week there is some debate here. Is Paul talking about us being God’s inheritance, or is He speaking of the inheritance we have in Christ, as the rewards of heaven. I personally believe He is speaking of both, that they are two sides of the same coin. Yet, in either case we are granted a deep sense of dignity and security. That if we are God’s inheritance, to presented to Christ as His bride, then we are greatly treasured by God to whom our treasure is to be found. He paid the great price of our redemption, the shedding of Christ’s own blood, therefore we have great dignity and security in knowing that He watches over those whom He treasures, as well as knowing that one day we will receive our inheritance in both heaven and the new earth.

Yet, Paul doesn’t end there. Notice how Paul began with the what our calling, the beginning, then he jumped to the what of our inheritance, the end, and yet now he speaks of verse 19… what is the surpassing greatness of His power to those who believe. His power is what sustains us while we are in between. Power is a major theme in this letter. The people of Ephesus once relied on the power of many gods. They lived in the Roman controlled world which was full of immorality. They were polytheistic, idolators, who dabbled in spells and magic. Yet, after their conversion they lived under the great persecution of that dark world.

So Paul is writing them to help them understand that God’s power towards the believer is far greater than anything they could ever imagine. Just notice how Paul emphasizes the overwhelming power of God by piling up word after word to describe it’s greatness. You see God’s power, far surpasses in greatness to the powers of this world. For in His power He sustains us, keeps us in the faith, enables us to overcome temptation and to obey all that which God has commanded us.

Listen, we too live in a spiritually dark world very similar to Ephesus. But the evil powers of our idolatrous world and the influence they may have over us, are nothing compared to the surpassing greatness of His power to those who believe. Paul is praying that we would come to know God’s great power in an intimate way. That we learn to trust in His power as He watches over us, protects, provides, strengthens and enables us to do far more than we could ever dare to imagine. Church, do you recognize the supreme power of God at work in your life? Is it part of your testimony? In His power has He helped you overcome sinful habits and idolatrous actions? Pray for one another that it would be even more the case. For His power is greater than any power on earth.

Brothers and sisters, our greatest need in this world is to grow in profound knowledge of these things. That the Holy Spirit would make us wise and give us a deep and thorough understanding of the certainty of our calling, the glorious wealth of our inheritance, and the surpassing greatness of His power. In essence, Paul simply prays that we would grow in the knowledge of our identity in what it means to be found “in Christ.” And the only way we will ever begin to understand all the wondrous spiritual blessings that are ours in Christ with all their astonishing implications will be through prayer. Don’t neglect to pray for that which is most important, that we would grow in our knowledge of Christ.

3) Christ-centered prayers exalt Him, rather than focus on our selfish desires (vs. 19b-23).

As we come to the end of Paul’s prayer, he can no longer hold back from exalting Jesus. After mentioning the surpassing greatness of God’s power, he gets lost in his praise for Christ, and you can even feel, can you not, the speed and intensity increasing as Paul comes to the end of his prayer. Look again to the text, verse 19… “and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about 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 every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection 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.”

Notice how Paul is pressing on his readers the glory of Christ in His resurrection, His enthronement, His supremacy, and His headship over the church. That’s how the apostle ends this prayer, for He wants to remind and encourage His readers that everything is under the care, Lordship, and sovereign rule of Christ.

Look how Paul emphasizes these things in verse 20… He starts with the most awesome display of God’s power that the world has ever witnessed: the resurrection of the Lord.

He doesn’t start at creation, nor the Exodus story, or the conquest of the Promised Land. As great as those demonstrations of His power were, they were nothing compared to the sinless life, the innocent sacrificial death, and the glorious resurrection of our Lord. For it was the empty tomb that proved that death and sin was defeated once and for all, that forgiveness and hope for eternal life are ours in Christ Jesus, who has also been gloriously exalted and seated at the right hand of the Father…

Look at verse 21… Paul uses four synonymous words for His powerful authority in this position: First its rule, then authority, then power, and lordship or dominion. Those four words are surrounded in the Greek by two words that mean all or every. You can see it in your English Bible… all rule, and every name… Paul is still trying to tell the Ephesians that there is no power in this world, including the power of Satan, demons, evil people, or corrupt governments that should intimidate you because the unimaginable power of God that was on display in the resurrection is yours. It’s available to you for it is one of the great spiritual blessings that God bestowed upon us as believers in Christ.

Notice how he continues in verse 22… “And He put all things in subjection under His feet and gave Him as head over all things to the church.” All of God’s sovereignty is mediated through Christ, who was crucified on our behalf, and all His sovereign power is for the good of the church. Jesus Christ is sovereignly in control of all things… you see not even a drop of rain can fall outside the orb of God’s sovereign control. All our days, our health, illnesses, our joys, our victories, our tears, our prayers, and the answers to our prayers fall under His sovereign rule and control.

And yet His sovereignty is exercised for the good of the church, which is His body according to verse 23, and the fullness of Him who fills all in all. Pay attention to this: if you want to know the fullness of Christ, then you must prioritize your involvement in the church, where the fullness of Christ dwells in a special way, where His Spirit is at work in our relationships with one another, where His grace is transforming lives through His Word, and where His gifts and workmanship are on display. Those are things you can never experience by simply watching our services online.

Oh, how this should stir our hearts to pray for Christ’s work here at Heritage. That He, who is sovereign, would help us know Him intimately and live for Him passionately. That is how we should pray church family.

Instead of focusing our prayers on all things we think we need and all the things that we think will make our lives better and easier, we should rather get lost in our praise and worship of Him who died for us, who rose vicariously to life, and who sovereignly rules over every detail of our life. You see church, as we mature in our faith our prayers life should grow to be more and more Christ-centered and far less self-centered.

R.C. Sproul once said, “Prayer does change things, all kinds of things. But the most important thing it changes is us.” Listen the more we mature through prayer, the more our lives will be filled with praise, worship, and wonder over Christ. That is how Paul teaches us to pray. That’s how he lived, all to Christ who fills all in all… and so should we

Church family may the work of God’s sovereign grace move us to prayer, may we pray more fervently that we would grow in true wisdom of knowledge of Christ, and may we exalt the Lord Jesus Christ in our prayers for He is worthy of our praise!!!

KSW