Praying Like Paul

Praying Like Paul - Ephesians 1:15-23 April 14, 2024 I want to begin with a question this morning. You don't have to answer out loud or raise your hand. Something I want you to think about. Are you satisfied with your prayer life? I think most of us - if we're honest - would answer "no" to that question. Charles Swindoll, great writer, and pastor, speaks about this. He noted that "one of the last disciplines we master in the Christian life is prayer." I think he's right. Personally, I've read several books on prayer. I've read of great heroes of church history who spent hours praying each day. Similarly, if they didn't begin their day with hours in prayer, they didn't go more than twenty minutes throughout their day without prayer. Even with all that "knowledge," I'm still not close to where I want, or probably should be. Think about the last time you prayed for someone. What did you pray about? Many times, it's for God to deliver them from some trial or illness. Maybe for them to get the job or promotion they desired. Maybe to get through financial struggles. All of those are good things to pray about. But, as we'll see this morning, Paul will put us all to shame as he prays for the body of believers in Ephesus. Once we're done this morning, my prayer is that we approach prayer differently, modeled by the apostle Paul. Let's read Paul's prayer from Ephesians 1:15-23: 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 THE 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 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. 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. Paul opens this section as a direct response to what we saw last week in verses 3-14. In that section, Paul reminded the Ephesian churches of all the spiritual blessings from God in Christ. We were reminded that all that we have, is a gift from God. And, of course, we learned that God did this so that He is elevated, and we are not. This is very important as we go through this sermon series and explore the rest of this book. Paul begins this section - which by the way is another long sentence in the original language - by encouraging them in their faith. He says, I've heard of your faith - which is displayed by how you're loving others. So, he prays for them without ceasing. Here's what we talked about earlier. How did Paul pray for them? What was his purpose and desire for them? Well, in short, it was to experience and use all of those spiritual blessings that we see back in verse 3-14. I read this story earlier this week that illustrates this very nicely: There was a newspaper publisher named William Randolph Hearst. He apparently became very wealthy by collecting treasures from all around the world. "One day Mr. Hearst found a description of some valuable items that he felt he must own, so he sent his agent abroad to find them. After months of searching, the agent reported that he had finally found the treasures. They were in Mr. Hearst's warehouse. Hearst had been searching frantically for treasures he already owned! Had he read the catalog of his treasures, he would have saved himself a great deal of money and trouble." So, you Paul's desire was that the Ephesian church understood what they have in Christ Jesus. One of those treasures is the ability and privilege of prayer, and we'll see that this morning. So, what can we learn about prayer from this passage? Here's the main idea that can help answer that question: I can know God more through prayer and His Word. Paul's prayer helps us to understand God's desire for us. So, let's begin there: WHAT GOD WANTS FOR US Notice that I didn't say, "what God wants from us," rather, what God wants for us. Pat talked about this last week, God did so much for us, and our role was simply - do you remember? Hear and believe. That's it. God is the primary actor in our faith. That's why Paul prays what he does. So, what does he pray for? What does God want for us? First, * God wants us to have wisdom and knowledge of Him (v.17) o It's clear from verses 15-16 that the Ephesians knew God. o So, Paul is praying that they grow deeper in their knowledge of God. o Paul, notice, grouped wisdom and knowledge. That's because while they are related, they are also separate. o Wisdom refers to taking the truths about God and applying them to everyday situations of life. Here is how James put it in James 3:17: BUT THE WISDOM FROM ABOVE IS FIRST PURE, THEN PEACEABLE, GENTLE, OPEN TO REASON, FULL OF MERCY AND GOOD FRUITS, IMPARTIAL AND SINCERE. o Notice that the source of this wisdom is the Spirit (Big "S") meaning the Holy Spirit, and the source of knowledge comes from? The revelation of God - or stated otherwise, the Word of God. o The Spirit gives us the ability to grasp the meaning of God's truth, so we can understand how to live and respond in this life. o Notice that this is personal. It's not about knowing about God as much as it is about knowing God personally, and Him knowing you personally. o I'm reminded of a time back at the resort. Another manager was leaving the resort, so during our weekly staff meeting, people were going around and talking about him professionally and personally, as many developed personal relationships with him along the way. Personally, at the time, I was never a fan of his. He kind of rubbed me the wrong way. But, upon listening to all of these stories - told with raw emotion - I realized I never really knew him, and because of that, I formed many wrong impressions and conclusions about him. o Isn't that true of us too? What was your impression of God, if you even had one, before you were in Christ? o Paul says, you may know Him, but you can know Him more deeply. o How can we do that? o Read the Scriptures for yourself. * The prophet Isaiah tells us that His Word does not return void. o So, Paul builds on this primary prayer of wisdom and knowledge, through a sub-prayer, if you will. He continues by reminding us that ... * God wants our hearts to be enlightened (v.18) o The ESV reads for the "EYES OF YOUR HEARTS TO BE ENLIGHTENED" o What does that mean? o I like the way the New Living Translation puts it: I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called-his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. o Remember, this is a continuation of Paul's prayer. It's not a new prayer, rather a further explanation of Paul's prayer for wisdom and knowledge. o So, this idea of enlightening the heart returns to the idea of a head knowledge of God and developing a heart knowledge of God. o Pastor Steven Cole put it this way: "As a believer, you are always in need of the Holy Spirit to enlighten the eyes of your heart to the great truths of the Bible. Many Christians have a 'stick your head in the sand' attitude when it comes to grappling with the difficult doctrines of the Bible. They say, 'I don't bother with theology. I just love Jesus.' Some even think that studying theology is spiritually dangerous. But they are being intellectually lazy and exposing themselves to spiritual danger!" o Paul says, desire to know God. Search the Scriptures. o Why? Because it produces hope. See what it says there in the middle of verse 18? THAT YOU MAY KNOW WHAT IS THE HOPE TO WHICH HE HAS CALLED YOU * Here, Paul is speaking of the same calling that he referenced in verses 4-5, that of salvation. * As you may recall, Pat reminded us last week, that this was all of His doing. * Which means, He has called us for a purpose. Part of that purpose, according to Paul in his section of his letter, is to know Him better. To apply that knowledge in our everyday lives. o Paul reveals next, the final leg of his prayer. Effectively saying: * God wants you to know His great power (vv.19-23) o Paul doesn't just simply say that God is all powerful, he demonstrates how God has revealed this power. o You see, this prayer of Paul's is not possible without the work of Christ. o But Paul specifically mentions the resurrection and the ascension. Why? * It demonstrates God's power. God alone can do this. Period. * So, Paul says, the same God who rose Christ from the dead, and placed Him at His right hand, also works in us. o Paul closes this section showing how God demonstrated His power through the resurrection and ascension, but: * God [also] demonstrated His ... power when He put all things in subjection to Christ (1:21 - 22) * All things. Not just some things. * When things are going poorly in our lives, Christ is still over all things. * When things are great in our lives, Christ is over all things. Then, * God demonstrated His ... power when He gave Christ to the church as head over all things (1:22 - 23). o When we dig deeper into this book, we will begin to see some themes surrounding the unity of the church, and Paul tells us why, right here. * Christ is the Head of the church. So, what can we learn from this prayer? So, let's close discussing this and ... APPLYING PAUL'S PRAYER First, * Remember that God wants you to know Him. o I think this is important. o I didn't expand as much on the full verse earlier because I wanted to touch on it here. But, look at verse 18 again: 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, o What does that last phrase tells us? That we are the riches of His glorious inheritance. o We are God's inheritance? Paul may have been drawing this idea from Deuteronomy 32:8-9 which reads: 8 WHEN THE MOST HIGH GAVE TO THE NATIONS THEIR INHERITANCE, WHEN HE DIVIDED MANKIND HE FIXED THE BORDERS OF THE PEOPLES ACCORDING TO THE NUMBER OF THE SONS OF GOD. 9 BUT THE LORD'S PORTION IS HIS PEOPLE, JACOB HIS ALLOTTED HERITAGE. o As we saw last week, it is not because He needs us, but He desires us to know Him. And we can do that by applying more of what Paul alluded to in this passage. To start ... * Develop a deep prayer life. o Paul gave us a sample and a reason to pray in this passage this morning. o But Paul, of course, wasn't the genesis of prayer. o All throughout the Old Testament, we see prayer as a primary part of worship and praise. o Throughout the Gospels, we see Jesus Himself model a life of prayer. o Through all of Paul's letters, he prays for the churches and the leaders he writes to. o In the Book of Revelation, it closes with a prayer for Jesus to return. o Just as we saw earlier, prayer is a difficult thing for Christians to do "well." * I'm not talking about long, theologically deep prayers, I'm talking about disciplined and meaningful prayers. o I don't have all the answers, but this passage is a good start. * We see that Paul begins with a prayer of thanksgiving because of their faith. For us, "thank you, God for saving me" could be a great place to start. * Then, he continues, give them wisdom and understanding and open their hearts. Maybe that looks like: "God, I want to know you better. Open my eyes and my heart to receive from you what you desire from me. Reveal to me heart for me and use me to bless others." * Then he closes, reminding us that Christ is the reason we can come to the Father, so we could possibly continue this way: "God thank You for the resurrection of Jesus, thank You for the risen Christ that is ruling over us, and who will return for us. Thank you God that you hold all things and control all things. May that give me the confidence to face any and all things that come before me." * The Scriptures are full of prayers that can help deepen our relationship with Him. That strong relationship can deepen your knowledge of Him. * Which is why we must also ... * Search the Scriptures to know God more deeply. o We say this often, but I know it to be true based on my own experiences. o Once again, I want to ask a question - actually a two-part question. And once again, I don't expect anyone to answer out loud or raise your hand. * How many of you began a "Bible in a Year" reading plan at the beginning of the year? * How many of you are still trucking along in that plan? o For me, if I were to follow this bible's plan [hold up Bible], I'd be in 1 Kings 6-7 today. Which means that I would've gone through a difficult February in Leviticus and Numbers. o The Bible sometimes can be difficult to read. And more often, difficult to understand. o But really, reading comprehension is not much different than learning a new skill. * I'm a terrible golfer, so much in fact that I have no interest in going to another golf course again. * But, when I did golf fairly regularly (once or twice a month), I used to get upset with myself when I couldn't drive the ball down the fairway, or I shanked the ball. * I also didn't spend any time practicing between golf outings, so my expectations were quite unrealistic. o Study Bibles are very good resources. o One that Natalie and I bought for some new believers recently is called the Quest Study Bible. This Bible sprinkles in questions (and answers) throughout the Scriptures to help people to understand it better. o Reading and studying the Bible is essential to knowing God. o But don't take my word for it, Luke 24 is one of my favorite examples of this. Jesus Himself, after the resurrection appears to two disciples who were mourning His death, not realizing that He did in fact rise, and that He was in their presence. So, Jesus walked with them for about 2 hours and Luke tells us in verse 27: AND BEGINNING WITH MOSES AND ALL THE PROPHETS, HE INTERPRETED TO THEM IN ALL THE SCRIPTURES THE THINGS CONCERNING HIMSELF. o From cover to cover, the Bible points us to Jesus. o Jesus said to His disciples that if they've seen Him that they have seen God. We said earlier in our main idea that I can know God more through prayer and His Word. You see, when we are actively seeking God, then we can know Him. And we know that this is possible because God wants that for us. He wants us to develop wisdom and knowledge. He wants our hearts to be enlightened. He wants us to know of His great power. And its because and through Jesus that we can know Him, through developing a deep and meaningful prayer life, and we can search the Scriptures to know Him better. That was Paul's prayer for the Ephesian church. And it reveals something about God. That He desires for His Church to grow in wisdom and knowledge. So, I'll ask one final question to close. Do you want to grow in wisdom and knowledge of God? I'm going to pause for a few moments to allow you to reflect and pray over that question, then I'll close our time this morning in prayer. 2