Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Introduction
Having a meaningful prayer said for you is both encouraging and uplifting.
Such as at our installation.
Such as prayers of parents, prayers offered at significant events like weddings or baptisms, or during visitation / pastoral care.
It is meaningful to have a pastor / elder / mentor / parent-figure who genuinely walks with you through life (caring and leading).
This is Paul with all the NT churches he planted but specifically here with the Ephesian church.
In chapter 1 he first extends blessing on them (1.3-14), offering continued prayers (1.16) and thanksgivings (1.15-23).
Now in chapter 3 he has continued his prayers for them … beginning in 3.1 but finishing here in today’s verses.
“For this reason ...”
Because of who we are in Christ, Paul prays for our spiritual well-being.
How do we pray for each other?
Are we praying as Paul prays?
We have been pursuing what it means to be ONE With Christ and ONE With Each Other in these first 3 chapters.
As Paul closes this section, he offers a simple and yet eloquent / basic and yet profound prayer for the church.
It expresses how our identity in Christ lives out both personally and corporately.
Read .
Wes
A Posture of Humility (14-15)
Our tone of voice and body language often say more than our words do.
How we say something is more influential than the exact words we choose.
How we make people feel encourages or discourages others more than the specific message does.
Paul approaches the churches in his NT letters in a way / a tone / an attitude where they cannot help but feel cared for and valued.
His care and prayers are consistent and genuine.
His encouragement is real.
His correction is direct and realistic.
* They are each valued deeply even when being corrected.
Paul does not come in “high and mighty”.
He comes in a posture of humility and servitude.
His care is exemplified in both his tone and words.
How do we speak with one another?
Do others feel cared for in how we speak and pray?
Are we known for building others up?
Encompassed In Prayer (14a)
Grandpa and Grandma … died one week apart and each funeral was distinct.
While Grandpa was the one in ministry (preaching and evangelism), Grandma prayed.
Everything Grandpa did was bathed in Grandma’s prayers.
The same is with Paul … all he says and does is bathed in prayer.
Can we say the same about ourselves?
Our transition process had prayer embedded in it … are we maintaining that prayerfulness?
“For this reason ...”
He returns to the prayer started in v.1.
He offers this prayer because of who they are in Christ.
We are saved by grace through faith.
We are ONE With Christ.
We are created with purpose … each one of us.
* It is into this reality that Paul prays.
I want us to think through how we pray for one another.
Are we putting aside our differences and able to prayerfully support one another?
Do we pray for specifics or only generally for one another?
In what ways are we praying towards true and full encounters with Christ?
Do our prayers flow out of our own experience with Christ?
Personally and Worshipfully Coming (14b)
When a man goes on one knee to propose marriage to a woman ...
It is not purely romantic, it represents a love and offer of service.
It is a demonstration of value, putting the woman ahead of himself.
This is the attitude in which Paul writes, teaches, and prays.
He serves the church but even more so the Lord.
He prays in a posture of humility … having considered the majesty of God / the majesty of His redemptive work through Christ, he humbly praises God, acknowledging His lordship and sovereignty.
… “Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.
Today, if you hear his voice,” (, ESV)
A call to praise and obedience.
A posture of humility and service.
Is this how we come before God and one another?
It is this posture that depicts being ONE With Christ … and ONE With Each Other.
The reality of God as our Father makes this intensely personal.
Paul has already reminded us we are chosen and adopted.
It is personal and yet worshipful.
* In what manner do we pray for one another?
Finding True Identity (15)
As Jesus teaches us to pray in , Paul follows the principle of beginning in worship / starting with acknowledging the Lord’s place in our lives.
Our name is a primary way in which we are identified.
Our “name” is given by the “Father”.
Our identity is in Him.
He defines who we are.
* A personal and worshipful acknowledgment of God.
This is an expression of truth.
It is stated as a fact.
It is a basis upon which the prayer is based.
Do we approach God confidently … sure of both our salvation and our identity as His child?
Do we truly pray for this to be the reality in one another’s lives?
Too often we only pray for the situations we face.
Should we not prayerfully seek a fuller experience of who we are in Christ within our circumstances (instead of trying to be freed from them)?
The Fullness of God (16-19)
Now we have seen Paul’s posture of humility / an attitude of service … coming both submissively and worshipfully.
These next verses are his actual prayer, expressing what he seeks for the church of Ephesus.
These verses are what inspire the question, “How do we pray for others?”
They convicted me on how shallow our prayers can often be.
Is this how our prayers for one another look?
Is this how we pray for our spouse, children, small groups, Sunday School class, people we are at odds with?
Paul prays for the fullness of God to be their reality.
Spirit Power (16)
Do we pray that each of us would be strengthened with the power of the Holy Spirit?
We often pray for endurance and strength in difficult situations.
What about for evangelism, in parenting, facing bills, and in planning church programs?
We seek strength to “survive” … but Paul seeks something greater for us.
I often joke when doing manual labour that no one has ever hired me for my strength.
Humanly we tend to focus on physical ability or enduring a difficult situation when we speak of strength.
But Paul seeks an inner strength which is more … it includes spiritual determination, emotional consistency, and ongoing faith.
It is a strength given by the Holy Spirit.
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