Wednesday Prayer...Eph. 1:15

— 15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,

Paul is writing to the Ephesian church during his Roman imprisonment.

Let’s remember who this letter is written to

Ephesians 1:1 NKJV

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus:

God’s sovereign grace had come and made them God’s holy people.

And this prayer (1:15) thanks the Lord for their faith. Which was their trust in Christ and their faithfulness to Christ.

Then their love for the saints.

Their faith in Christ influenced their daily walk.

True faith works doesn’t? This is going to be the theme of our prayer time tonight.

Let’s turn to . Where we find the Jerusalem church acknowledges that God saves Gentiles by faith alone,

apart from circumcision or keeping the Jewish law (i.e., apart from becoming Jews).

The church does, however, encourage Gentile believers to follow certain stipulations

in order to maintain peace and fellowship

with their Jewish-Christian brothers and sisters.

The controversy pitted the Judaizers (see note on v. 1) against Paul’s gospel of free grace and

represented one of the earliest and most significant threats

to the unity of the early church.

— 7 And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: “Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. 8 So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, 9 and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.

And for our purposes, look at what faith does in v9. It purifies our hearts.

Holy Spirit wrought faith in Christ has a purifying effect in the heart.

So those Gentiles, which were formerly unclean, have now been purified by faith in Christ.

God worked in the hearts of Gentiles to provide the cleansing or purification of life that comes from faith in Christ.

Foundationally, this involves believing in the definitive forgiveness of sins, which the crucified and exalted Jesus makes possible (cf. 13:38–39).

I want

Unity among Christians at the experiential level is located in the faith which God makes possible.

We are ‘all one in Christ Jesus’ through trust in the same Savior ().

So we see that faith purifies. As individuals, spend some quiet time confessing your sins to God that render your walk as unclean.

Bad Attitudes

Temper

Temper

Living out a sinful desire that you need to crucify.

Living out a sinful desire that you need to crucify.

Maybe you used harsh words to your spouse or children this week.

Maybe you used harsh words to your spouse or children this week.

Ask the Lord to purify your heart and cleanse you.

[pray]

Those who are in possession of saving faith also will bring forth good works.

Here, James reinforces the importance of Christian behavior in light of the coming day of judgment

by insisting that “deeds,” or works,

are the inevitable outcome of true faith.

— 14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! 20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?

First, the structure of the passage. The outline below will help us to visualize the sequence of argument.

Introduction of topic: faith without works cannot “save” (v. 14)

(What good is it?)

A. Illustration (vv. 15–16) (What good is it?)

Conclusion: faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead (v. 17)

B. An objector: faith and deeds are separable (v. 18a)

James:

faith can only be shown by deeds (vv. 18b–19)

faith without deeds is useless (v. 20)

-Abraham was considered righteous by a deed (v. 21)

(Explanation of Abraham’s faith and deeds [vv. 22–23])

-(Explanation of Abraham’s faith and deeds [vv. 22–23])

-So: justification requires faith and works (v. 24)

So: justification requires faith and works (v. 24)

-Rahab also was considered righteous by a deed (v. 25)

Rahab also was considered righteous by a deed (v. 25)

faith without deeds is useless (v. 26)

James stresses that right belief must be followed by right action (v17,20,26).

He is worried about people who were confining faith

to a verbal profession (v. 19) or

to empty, insincere good wishes (vv. 15–16).

This faith is dead (vv. 17, 26) and barren (v. 20) and

will be of no avail the day of judgment (v. 14)

— What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?

This faith of which James speaks, a faith that people are claiming to have (v. 14),

does not correspond to James’ own teaching about faith.

In 2:1 James tells us not to ‘hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality.’

So James views faith as a firm, unwavering commitment to God and Christ (see 2:1).

This faith is tested and refined in trials (1:2, 4)

— 2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

and which grasps the blessings of God in prayer (1:5–8; 5:14–18).

— 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

So faith purifies the heart, faith produces works.

Ask the Lord to save us from death faith.

And to grant to us a faith that works through love (; ,; ).

And to grant to us a faith that works through love (; ,; ).

Ask the Lord to make our resolve to Him more firm.

For Him to cement our walks with Him and have an unwavering commitment to Him.

Ask the Lord to help you serve others in the midst of trial.

Ask the Lord to help us to trust that He has a better more wise plan in the midst of trial.

Ask the Lord to open our eyes to help us to see that this trial is actually going to help produce endurance and help us to mature and grow.

Ask the Lord to give us wisdom and to pray believing (trusting) and for Him not to allow you to become the unstable man that doubts God.

This faith “over comes the world” (), which enables those who are in possession of saving faith to resist the world’s seduction.

Another mark of true and saving faith is that it “works through love” ().

Let’s all turn to . A number of themes that we especially associate with the apostle Paul appear in this letter

justification by faith,

freedom from the law,

the conflict between the flesh and the Spirit,

the fruit of the Spirit

Paul turns to the issue of law observance.

Granted, the law prescribes a path to righteousness and life by obeying its commands

— Yet the law is not of faith, but “the man who does them shall live by them.”

But since human beings transgress these commands — For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” and

live “under the control of sin”

— But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

Neither righteousness nor life is attainable through the law

— I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.” — Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law.

Christ, in dying, took upon himself the law’s curse on transgressors

— Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”),

So that those rightly subject to that curse might be delivered from it and live a new life, apart from the law, empowered by the Spirit

— to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. — But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

This does not make the law a bad thing, but it does mean that

God never intended the law to provide the path to life

— Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law.

Its purpose is more limited (3:19–24), and

God intended the covenant to which it belonged to apply only for the period from Moses until the coming of Christ.

And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. 18 For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise. 19 What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator.

In Paul brings two of the major themes of the letter to a head, namely

imprisonment under the law and

the liberating redemption wrought by Christ: ‘For freedom Christ has set us free.’

After this statement of the work of Christ in setting us free, we are commanded to stand fast or to ‘stand firm’ and ‘not submit again to a yoke of slavery’.

That will be a prayer point for us tonight.

Lord help me to not get caught up in trying to be right with You through my efforts and works, but to rejoice in the truth that Christ has set me free!

makes it clear that the crushing weight of this yoke is the obligation to obey the whole law, which is what, Paul insists, ‘every man’ signs up for ‘who lets himself be circumcised’.

In 5:4 the grave consequences of seeking to be ‘justified by the law’ are to be cut off from Christ and fall away from grace.

In Paul presents a more positive description of maintaining freedom in Christ.

As we ask ourselves, “How do I abide and live in this freedom that Christ has purchased for me?”

It is only ‘through the Spirit, by faith [in Christ]’ (v. 5a) that this freedom can be maintained and people can stand firm.

The life of faith lives in confident expectation of final vindication before God: ‘we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness’ (v. 5b).

In Paul continues to pit circumcision and the law against grace and faith:

— For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.

Freedom from the law does not lead to sin. On the contrary, as Paul makes clear in 5:13–14,

the true intent of the law, serving one another in love,

is fulfilled by those who have faith in Christ (5:5) and are in union with him (5:6):

— 13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Those who are truly believers will love. Saving faith is going to express itself with love.

Love is the necessary ingredient for any activity to be meaningful and acceptable to God ().

It is that out of which we grow. — that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

It is that to which we seek to build one another up

— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

It is the goal and aim of the Christian ministry and the Christian life

— Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith,

So, like faith in Christ now permeates everything that we do in obedience, so to with love. Love works itself into every facet of our new obedience.