Prayer for the Saints: Part 2
The Letter to the Ephesians • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Last week we looked at Paul and his prayer for the Ephesian church. In his prayer he is first thankful for the community of faith in Ephesus and how they displayed their love for one another and their faith in Christ. He not only encourages them with these words but he acknowledges that he is thankful to the Lord for doing that great work in them.
(REVIEW)1. Be Thankful for the Community of God’s People
Today, we will look again at the second point that was introduced last week which is that the church is to be prayerful for the greatest spiritual needs for one another as believers in Christ. There are many ways that we can pray for one another as believers, but Paul emphases one that stands above them all…our understanding of God’s eternal plan of redemption fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
What Paul is showing the church is that believers are to dive deep into waters of understanding of God’s redemptive work so that we can manifest from those truths a holiness that stands apart from the world. What we understand about Christ effects how we live in this world.
2. Be Prayerful for their Greatest Spiritual Need
2. Be Prayerful for their Greatest Spiritual Need
Paul states in Eph 1:17-18
17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
A. Hope in His Call
A. Hope in His Call
The first aspect that Paul prays that the believers understand is their hope in the calling to salvation. Notice in v 18 that Paul wants their hearts to be enlightened with wisdom and revelation from GOd’s word. The heart must be enlightened when we are saved for as Scritpures states,
9 “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?
The heart of every man is the central hub of emotions, thoughts and will and before regeneration in Christ, the heart longs for that of the world, is instructed to pursue evil and its own good. But the Spirit gives new birth and changes the heart when God calls a person to salvation. That calling is the inward call of God towards the place of the sinner realizing their sin and their eyes of their heart are opened to see Christ as their salvation.
The word calling is synomous with this idea from the mouth of Jesus.
44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.
Jesus is telling the Jews who did not like the teachings of Jesus that only those whom the Father is drawing or leading to salvation will accept Him and His words. Paul puts that same idea into a salvation timeline for us in romans
28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. 29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; 30 and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.
The greatest good that God is working out in your life or has worked out in your life, is not a raise at work, or a new house. The greatest good is that he drew you to himself and you believed. He called you and you responded and you were called to salvation at 17 or 43 years old because you were predestined to that salvation before time began.
But what is interesting about these prayers of Paul is that the verbs are perfect tense verbs. That means that the hope of your calling is not just meant to be important in the past but that the effects of that calling is continually active in the present reality of your life.
This means that Paul’s prayer is that your hope in the call on your life to trust in Christ should have meaning today. Our prayers for one another is to that calling to be meaningful because when it is, it impacts our day.
For example, Peter was selected as a starter on his football team. He earned the role by effort and hard work. For his effort, he was rewarded with a starting position. Now Pete can respond in one of two ways: look at how good of a football player I am or look at how God blessed me.
I think our prayer for each other should be that the heart of man is continually prone to want to look at salvation and say…look at what a good person I am. I think this is why Paul continually prays for the continual enlightening of this truth. The confidence in your calling to Christ is a confidence in God, not yourself. Its a work daily that Christ does in us to remind us that we are not responsible for our salvation. Its for his glory.
B. Hope in our Belonging
B. Hope in our Belonging
18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
Secondly, Paul revisits the idea of inheritance but in a different way. God is the subject of this prayers for the Ephesian church. He is praying for them to see God and what He accomplished in Christ. In v 18, he states that he also prays they will be enlightened to see the wealth or value of the inheritance OF THE SAINTS. He is not talking about what the church inherits in Christ. Instead, he is actually talking about how God inherits the church through Christ and that is the church is an immeasurable value to God.
This language of inheritance is also throughout the Scriptures. Not only do GOd’s people inherit blessings but God’s people are the inheritance to GOd.
9 “For the Lord’s portion is His people; Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance.
2 I will gather all the nations And bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will enter into judgment with them there On behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, Whom they have scattered among the nations; And they have divided up My land.
For God to possess a people is a glory to himself, not because of the inherit goodness of the people, but because God fulfilled his plan in redeeming a people. We bring him joy in being his people because he set his love upon his elect for the nations to see his glory!
29 ‘Yet they are Your people, even Your inheritance, whom You have brought out by Your great power and Your outstretched arm.’
Therefore, as God’s possession, which is fulfilled in Christ, we are also to hope in out belonging. In that confidence, we understand that we are not alone or forsaken in this world. God is with his people. He was with jospeh in the deepest prisons of Egypt. He was with Jonah in the belly of the fish. He was with Shadrach, meshach, and Abedengo in the midst of the hottest of fires. He was with Paul in prison in Rome. As a matter of fact, Jesus was forsaken by God on the cross in order to bear the full weight wrath so that the church would never be forsaken.
Our prayer is for believers across the globe and in this room to live daily lives cherishing their belonging to Christ. We must consider out belonging so that we might not seek pleasures of this world. We must cherish our belonging so we don’t lose heart with man’s earthly opinions. When we belong to Christ, we are valued and validated by the sovereign Lord of the universe. We pray for one another to dwell on being God’s inheritance because to lure of the world and sin is strong. Pray for one another that we would remember our belonging in Christ and we would be at peace.
C. Hope in His Power
C. Hope in His Power
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 20 which He brought about 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 every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And He put all things in subjection 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.
Thirdly, Paul dwells on the hope for the believer in the power of Christ. We recently looked at the doctrine of God’s omniscience where God displays his supreme and unlimited power over all things in this world. Nothing can thwart the hand of God from accomplishing his will because nothing is power like our God.
Paul’s prayer for the church is that they would be so enlightened with wisdom from God’s word that they would possess a continual hope and confidence in the power of God. Paul uses this litany of illustrative words here to point to God’s power demonstrated in Christ. He states in verse 19 that it is the surpassing greatness of his power towards those who believe. The word surpassing means go beyond the intended mark. The goal in the olympic games was gold. But gold and a world record is going beyond the intended mark or surpass expectations. Paul draws teh reader to the power of God that is so great, it surpasses our understanding and comprehension. It will take an entire Christian walk in this life to understand a fraction of his power.
If that was not sufficient wording, Paul continues in v 19. He gives us three greek words in this verse that are used throughout the NT for power: ENERGEIA, KRATOS, ISCHUS. You could translate the end of verse 19:” these are in accordance with the power of the power of His power.” That would not make much sense, but the repetition would have been understood by the GK reader.
So how are we to reflect and remember his power? The more we think on the accomplished work through Christ, the more we come to understand, appreciate and hope in the power of God. He gives two examples.
Resurrection
Resurrection
20 which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,
Paul draws the readers attention the reality of the resurrection. Here we see the unrivaled power of God on display as he overcame the bondage of death and raised Jesus up from the grave to new life. In that resurrected power that was displayed, the power of God is proclaimed as the dominant power in the universe. God in the flesh, the Lord Jesus had already removed human diseases and deformities at will, cast out demons with ease, created food for the masses from a kids lunch. God through history displayed his power over nature, over mighty kingdoms that began his servants of judgment, and his power to create the world and everything in it.
What the resurrection did was show a power greater than the greatest power known to man: death. Peter writes in Acts 2:24
24 “But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.
Not only did the resurrection show God’s supremacy over death but it shows the victory that death would no longer have its lasting effects one the work of redemption is brought to its completion. Death is defeated for all who trust in Christ. The prophet Isaiah foretold
8 He will swallow up death for all time, And the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces, And He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; For the Lord has spoken. 9 And it will be said in that day, “Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”
So resurrection was one aspect of God’s power that Paul mentions that is necessary for followers of Jesus to understand and be enlightened by. The second is…
Dominion
Dominion
20 which He brought about 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 every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And He put all things in subjection 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.
The dominion of Christ is his total and complete sovereign rule and reign over all. The Father gave the Son this authority so that the ascension, he sat at the right hand of God depicting the honor given by Father to Son. This dominion, as Paul says, is not territorial. In other words, his dominion is not bound by walls and coastlines. His dominion is universal because it is not confined to this earth, nor is it confined to all the galaxies that exist beyond the earth. Paul reminds them that all physical and spiritual existence is under the rule and authority of God.
This means that there is not a sickness he can’t heal, no nation he cannot subdue, no demon that he cannot cast out, no loved one that he cannot save. As November draws near, the church should be reminded that regardless of earthly leaders who come into power, the church has prevailed against evil, the gospel continues to go forth among the nations, the drawing of people to salvation has never ceased, and Christ is still coming to rule and reign for all eternity. Followers of Jesus have no reason to fear who takes office in January. The followers of Jesus will be persecuted in a time to come and it might be under the leadership of Kamala. If so, the Lord may so ordain that in order for the gospel to spread and genuine belief in Christ to be made clear.
Notice also that the dominion of Christ is not bound also by time. Someone might say that death is not the true power in this world but time is the greatest power. They would say that even in one person’s death, time marches on. If that be your opinion, Paul also reminds us that the dominion of Christ spills over beyond this age and into the age to come. The age to come is eternity and He is Lord of eternity as well. He rules time and space. He rules the known and the unknown.
Because we belong to Christ by faith, as His own possession, the church or his people will dwell with him beyond time. When Christ comes again, he will judge the righteous and unrighteous and he will establish completely the eternal kingdom of God. Jesus promises this in John 14:1-3
1 “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3 “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
Paul comforts the Thessalonians with this idea:
17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.
Friend, let these words comfort you and encourage you that in our calling to salvation, there is a lasting and eternal preservation of our resurrected lives with Christ. We will be with him and so death is no our enemy any longer. Death is just doorway that we enter through to be with Christ for evermore.
Finally, Paul brings it back down to earth and this time to remind the Ephesians that Christ has been given as HEAD of the church. This word Kephale in the Greek is a disputed word by liberals because its its meaning, there is submission to a greater leadership. Liberals disdain this word because God established in marriage that the husband is the HEAD of the wife as Christ is HEAD of the church. Their argument is that KEPHALE (Head) means that Christ is the origin and source of the church. This allows a liberal view of the marriage relationship where there is no Biblical warrant for male headship. Wayne Grudem and John Piper did an extensive study of this word and out of 2,336 uses of this word in ancient GK literature, only one could be found where someone used Kephale to point to the source or mouth of a river. ALL other examples pointed to HEAD meaning authority over someone, ruler, leader over someone or a people.
This meaning is also Paul’s meaning. Christ leads the church because in the beautiful marital illustration, the bride submits to the husband as Head because the church submits to the Lord Jesus as head. To be head then means that Jesus rules the church. He determines what the church should be and do in this world. He receives the glory and praise in the church for its accomplishments. He looks out for the welfare of the church and sanctifies the church through history until his second coming. Jesus is doing all these things because the church belongs to Him.
Now let me ask you….in the state of the universal church today, are their great examples that we can see where churches are not submitted to the Lord Jesus. Have they wandered from his purposes for the church? Have they wandered from his appointed leadership in the church? Have they wandered from the truth of who belongs to the church? Now we cannot control the church across the globe. All we can do is ask are we being a church that reflects the leadership of Christ? If not, then we must repent and correct those things in our midst that needs correction.
This is our prayer for one another. Pray that we submit to Christ a s body of believers. Pray that we trust in the power of Christ who defeated sin and death for His church. Pray that we would not fall into fear and worry for Christ is ruler of all. Pray that we find hope in our belonging to Christ because he has drawn his people to himself. Pray lastly, for those who might be living the life of a Christian on the outside, but inwardly they are lost. Pray the Lord would expose that lie in their life.
Let’s be a church who fervently prays for and is thankful for one another!
