Are these things said of us?

Introduction

We return to our study of the epistle of Paul to the Ephesians. As we make our way toward the end of chapter 1, there are two things that we are going to look at. First, the prologue to Paul’s prayer, and second, Paul’s prayer itself. Today, we will focus on the prologue, and, Lord willing, by November 17th we will finish Paul’s prayer.

What does Paul’s prologue consist of? This is not a trick question. Faith, love, a commitment to prayer and unceasing thankfulness. This is the premise of the prayer that Paul will utter in verses 17-23. Why spend the time on this? Well, because Paul sets his heart straight. He aligns his focus as to what he is going to pray for. He is not praying “off the cuff” or “by the seat of his pants.” His prayer is intentional, deliberate, and direct.

Therefore, he roots his prayer in observing the faith in Christ, and the love for all the saints that the believers in the Ephesian church possess and live out. My question for us this morning is simply this, which is the title for this sermon ‘Are these things said of us?’

Up until this point, we have seen the work of God and how that applies to us in verses 3-14. Now, the focus is on believers living out faith and love. In other words, do we take what we believe and put it into practice? This may seem like a redundant question, but for Paul this question was not. It was his means of “checking in” with how the local churches were doing and since this was most likely a circular letter, this “checking in” would be consistent with the multitude.

All these things being said, I want us to look at the prologue broken up into two points. First, we will look at ‘A Church built on faith and love’ (v.15) and second, ‘A commitment to prayer and unceasing thankfulness’ (v.16).

A Church built on faith and love (v.15)

As given by the Holy Spirit

That which is described about believers and the church in verse 15 are given by the Holy Spirit as referred to in verses 13-14. All believers are “sealed…with the Holy Spirit” (v.13). Therefore, because all believers are sealed with the Holy Spirit, all believers possess faith and love (v.15). In other words, believers, both in the early church age and today, show that the Holy Spirit is in them by possessing and living out faith and love. This is what was read in 1 John 4. Because God is love, He gives to us the Spirit who brings forth love from within a cold-hearted sinner. Faith and love are true marks of both the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and the church as a collective whole. Colossians 1:4 is the same admiration given to the church at Ephesus, faith and love.

It is Christ who gives unbelievers sight to believe and He sustains believers throughout their lives to continue on in belief. For it is Christ who promises the Spirit who will speak about Him as John records. Having faith in Christ in no way comes from within ourselves. This is true of the disciples in Luke 24:44-47. Christ opens their minds so that they can know, and believe, the Scriptures. The same is true today. Christ opens the minds of men and women, today, to know and believe the Scriptures.

Faith in the Lord Jesus

Paul hears of the faith and love of the Ephesians. I could say that the indwelt Holy Spirit prompts an action within. In other words, the church did not keep her faith and love to herself. Those around her knew it and spread this news to others. This is an acting out of the spiritual blessings that are spoken of in verse 3. I am convinced that without the Holy Spirit of God indwelling a human being, he is unable to love outside of superficial emotion. The love of the Ephesian church was deeply rooted in a sound faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Verses 3-14 are to bring us to a deep rooted faith in Christ and a profound love for one another. This is why Paul confidently says that he has heard of these things being present in the church at Ephesus.

However, this is not a one-off that Paul writes. This is what is to be expected of every Christian church. Romans 1:8 is direct in saying, “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world.” This does not mean that Rome and Ephesus were in competition with one another, but it shows us that the local church is to be active in living out her faith. Paul does not specify the means of how he found out about the Roman or Ephesian churches faith-filled living. Regardless, news spread enough that he got the message. One commentator notes, “The testimony of the church in Rome was so strong that, in A.D. 49, the emperor Claudius expelled all the Jews because of the influence of “Chrestus,” which was undoubtedly a reference to Christ (Acts 18:2)” (John MacArthur). Equally, this could be said of the church at Ephesus. Consider what we briefly looked at several weeks back at the scene of the massive burning of magic practice books (Acts 19:18-19). This was a major event in Ephesus, one that was due to “the word of the Lord growing mightily and prevailing” (v.20). Culturally this is not difficult to fathom. Retired pastor Bryan Chapell speaks to that end saying, “Their faith in Jesus separates them from the surrounding idolatrous culture of paganism and multiple gods.”

Therefore, we can conclude that the faith of this church in the Lord Jesus was active. They lived it out. Let me ask this in the negative. Can this church be known to the world if we never did anything? This was part of the premise for doing Community Day yesterday. It was not to just do something, or to promote ourselves or make ourselves look good because we supplied a bouncy house! No! It is because each one of us who have trusted in Jesus Christ for salvation has an insatiable longing to live out the faith in which we have! Community Day was accomplished by the grace of God as He worked through His people to minister to a lost and dying world. We went out in faith that Christ would bless our day yesterday because we entrusted the event and all that went with it to Him! You don’t need to burn magic books like the Ephesians did or hold a Community Day to live out your faith. There are other means of doing this. We must not settle for only doing big events, but to have the thread of faith be continuous throughout our lives. This was commended by Paul to the church at Ephesus. They lived out their faith in burning books and also by their daily lives which shone forth the faith they believed in. Is this true of you and me?

A Love for all the saints

The end of verse 15 is Paul hearing of their profound love for one another. Paul’s usage of the word love is the strongest form of it 'agape.’ If you remember from 1 John this is the type of love that God has for us. This love that the Ephesians had for one another is only because Christ had loved them first (1 John 4:19). The Ephesians love did not stop for love one another, but was an all-encompassing love that included all the brothers. So often in local church contexts we tend to think, pray, and act within this singular local body. There is nothing wrong with that. But to have our focus only remain there would be troubling. Giving to missionaries and church plants is a good thing, but do we interact with other churches that believe the same things that we do, or are very similar? I am not saying that we need to join up and do every ministry function together. I would ask this. Do we pray for the local churches in our area that are faithfully preaching the gospel? Do we pray for the BFC church plants and other established BFC churches?

Having love for one another is a general command from our Lord (John 13:34) and it is found throughout Scripture. This type of love is fleshed out in a brotherly love (phileo) as is written about the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 4:9. The exiles that Peter writes to are marked by “a love of the brothers without hypocrisy” (1 Peter 1:22). In other words, there is no reason as to why we should not love the brothers of another faithful church. Of course, we show love to other brothers if they are in error, but this should not be our motivation for love. This was surely not the motivation of the Ephesians. When Jesus gave the command to love in John 13, He did not give any way out of not doing it. He said to love others as I have loved you. You know what this means, yes? This means that if we disagree with a church on the mode of baptism or in views of the end times, we, as a church, must still love them. The Ephesians loved “all” the brothers. This means that they loved every Bible believing Christian. Jesus did not say, ‘love others, but if they disagree with you on baptism or end times views stop loving them.’

Let’s get personal for a moment. Let’s say someone attends this church after coming to Community Day. This person was raised in a Pentecostal church where there was an emphasis on speaking in tongues, should we cast such a one out because we believe those gifts have ceased? Now, we must carefully examine doctrine, but Jesus NEVER casted a person out because of their way of thought. He worked with people to open their eyes to the truths of Scriptures. This is shown in Luke 10:25-29 before Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan. What is this Pharisee trying to do? He is trying to justify himself. In other words, his motives are not right, they are not straight. What does Jesus do? He tells a story to prove the point! This is the kind of love that we are to give regardless of who walks through these doors. This is showing love toward another. I am convinced there are genuine Christians who are in bad churches. Maybe they don’t know of another solid Bible church, maybe they are new to the faith and are immature. Are we ready to love such a person? Remember, the Ephesians had a love for all the brothers, regardless of where they were in their Christian walk.

A commitment to prayer and unceasing thankfulness (v.16)

Paul is one of several or many (no specific reference is given) who prays for this church. He is also one of several or many who is thankful for this church. This is the central thrust of verse 16 before Paul begins his prayer in verses 17-23.

A commitment to prayer

This committment to prayer tells us a lot about these NT Christians. Since Paul acknowledges that others are committedly praying as he is, we can rightly factor that Christians of the early church were wholly devoted to prayer. There may be some agreement today that Christians in America do not value prayer as much as we should. We seemingly take it for granted. I am not saying that that is true of every Christian in America, but since we have it easier than most, we are more prone to not go to God in prayer. Yet, for the NT church prayerlessness would have been unthought of and unheard of. It was the very lifeline of the Christian faith in those days (as it still is today). There was much to be in prayer for. This was a new way of living, this New Covenant in Christ’s blood. Asking God for direction as to where to go and what He wanted from them to do was standard. Do you and I still ask God for direction today? Of course! Now, they knew that they were to spread the gospel, but they didn’t know how. Doesn’t this sound familiar? How many times have we maybe said I want to share the gospel with others, but I don’t know how. Or, I am afraid to mess something up and say the wrong thing. Look, the apostles were commissioned to preach to the whole world in Acts 1, as we are today. They needed help, and you and I need help! Coming alongside this preaching/sharing the gospel is prayer. This is seen throughout Scripture. Prayer is non-negotiable for the believer, and this is clearly seen in the NT church, therefore we must be of the same cloth as a prayerful people who preach Christ crucified.

OT examples such as Samuel, David, Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel (to name a few) are known for preaching the message of coming back to Yahweh God. They are all known as men of prayer as well. Sharing the gospel and prayer go hand in hand. 1 Samuel 12:22-25>>> Samuel devotes himself to the teaching of the law of God and prayer that is in commitment to the people of Israel. In verse 20, Samuel pleads with the people to turn back to Yahweh. David’s prayers are all over the Psalter, Solomon prays to Yahweh in 2 Chronicles 1:8-10 and again in 6:14-17, Isaiah’s rich prayer in chapter 64 of his book consisting of confession, repentance, and pleading with Yahweh God for forgiveness, Jeremiah’s prayer for justice upon the wicked (Jeremiah 12:1-5), and Daniel’s prayer of confession, repentance, and a plea for forgiveness in Daniel 9:3-19 are all examples of men who were committed to prayer.

I want to note that you do not need to be a Samuel or a Paul or a prophet to preach and pray in this way. All of these men were ordinary men. Men that were indwelt with the same Holy Spirit that resides within you if you have put your trust in Christ. You have the same power that these men did because the power did not lie within themselves, but in God the Holy Spirit.

Now, why did Paul commit to pray for the church of Ephesus and others like Rome (Romans 1:9)? It should not be a surprise why he prayed for them. The reason has not changed almost 2000 years later. They needed prayer! Brothers, we need to come alongside each other in practice and in prayer. This church as does ours needs prayer to continue to press on in the faith, uphold the doctrines that are clearly taught in Scripture in the face of a God-hating world, and persevere until the day of Christ Jesus. Do we pray like this? Paul said this because he understood the need to be prayed for as well. This is not just one sided. Three specific references to Paul asking for prayer are found in Romans 15:30-32, Ephesians 6:18-19, and 2 Thessalonians 3:1-2. One of these examples I want to touch on is 2 Thessalonians 3:1-2>>>. You will notice that in this context Paul is asking prayer on behalf of himself and those with him. He is asking for deliverance, not from a demon or a generational curse, but from evil men so that he and his companions can go out and further preach the gospel. In other words, Paul prayed that they would be released so that more men could be saved by the life changing word of God.

This is also why he prays for the Ephesian church like this. Paul’s chief desire in his life and the life of the church was to spread the gospel and Ephesus was included. No Christian would disagree with this. Now this way of praying was not done by Paul alone, but it rubbed off on others around him because he was not alone in doing it. Paul says, “I, too…” James encourages the brothers to pray for one another, for there is power in the prayer of a righteous person (that is one who has been saved by Jesus Christ, James 5:16).

The lives of these people in the early church age are truly amazing. Consider this, in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, Paul urges the church there to pray without ceasing. Quite the concept! We may think that this is impossible in our day because we are so busy. What amazes me about this passage is that Paul was NEVER too busy to pray for anyone or any church. Paul gave this charge because this charge was true of him!

So, why the emphasis on prayer this morning? Because we are setting the table for the rich banquet of Paul’s prayer in verses 17-23 that, Lord willing, we will cover 3 out of the next 4 sermons to close chapter 1 of this great epistle.

Unceasing thankfulness

Paul’s prayers for this body of believers were rich prayers. These were not prayers of mantra, chanting, or long vague, redundant cliches and clauses. Paul’s prayers were always heavenward and Christ focused. Thus, Paul is exceedingly thankful to God for this church. And again, as we saw earlier with prayer, Paul is not the only one who is thankful to God for this church. The word for thankful in the Greek is the same word that we get eucharist from. Bill Mounce is helpful in defining this word. He writes, “the majority of occurrences of eucharisteō describe thanksgiving directed toward God in light of his benefits and blessings.” Mounce is helpful in describing that Paul is thankful to God “for the mutual indwelling of faith and love that flows into action.” Notice that Paul does not write that he is thankful ‘to’ the Ephesians, but ‘for’ them. He is thankful that this church is of the household of God.

What is it that Paul is thankful to God for? Yes, the church as a whole. But as we have seen twice so far in chapter 1, this church is ‘faithful’ (vv.1, 15). Paul is thankful that Ephesus was a faithful church unto the Lord Jesus Christ. And because Ephesus was a faithful church, she was a great blessing to others around her. This is why several, possibly many, people were thankful for her. Most likely, they were blessed in some way by her as well.

Another reason that Paul is exceedingly thankful to God for this church is because she remains faithful in what she believes. In verse 17, Paul prays that wisdom and revelation be given to these believers. Why? Because there were going to be wolves who were going to come in (Acts 20:29-30). This was promised a few years before this epistle was written. At this time, the church at Ephesus was still faithful which means either the entry of the savage wolves was minimal at the time or had not occurred. We know that it had occurred at some point because they are commended for standing against the false teachers in Revelation 2:2-3, and the writing of Revelation is somewhere around the 90-95 A.D. mark. Paul is thankful to God that the church is still standing strong 3 years after departing from them.

Conclusion

Clearly, we can see that for Paul and every believer in Christ, both prayer and thankfulness are of utmost priority. I ask you this, when you pray, are your prayers rooted in faith and done with selfless love geared toward others? Do you value your time in prayer before our Lord? What are you thankful for? I want to challenge you to go beyond the daily things we express gratitude for. How about thankfulness to have your eyes able to see the truths about God? Or maybe a thankfulness that Zionsville BFC remains committed and faithful to the core doctrines of the Bible/Christian faith? These are all things that Paul was thankful to God for on behalf of the Ephesians. The well known cliche, “we have much to be thankful for” is only helpful if we are to give God the thanks because He is due it. Have you ever been stuck in prayer? You know, those times that you don’t know what to pray for? Let me encourage you to think far outside of yourself, and consider the multitude of brothers out there fighting the good fight of faith just like you are.

As we close, I would like you to hear the importance of prayer as spoken about Azel Backus, the first president of Hamilton College, now a liberal arts school in New York. This is said of him before his death. “When Dr. Bacchus (the President of Hamilton College), was upon his death-bed, the doctor called to see him, and, after examining the symptoms, left the room without speaking, but, as he opened the door to go out, was observed to whisper something to the servant. “What did the physician say to you?” asked Dr. Bacchus. “He said, sir, that you cannot live to exceed half an hour.” “Is it so?” said the good man. “Then take me out of my bed, and place me upon my knees; let me spend that time in calling upon God for the salvation of the world.” His request was complied with; and his last moments were spent in breathing forth his prayers for the salvation of his fellow-sinners. He died upon his knees” (Joseph Exell).

Let us never forsake the importance and power of prayer.

Let’s pray.

Benediction

Ephesians 2:8-10 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, so that no one may boast. For you are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that you would walk in them” (my rendition). Amen.