“Perspectives on Prayer - 8”

The story is told about two wives who were doing their laundry in a laundry mat. They were both mending their husband’s pants.

One wife said, “My husband is so miserable. Nothing goes right at work, and he can’t find anything good on television. Our home is a place of despair. When we go to church, the song leader is terrible and the pastor is an idiot.

The other wife said “My husband is so excited.” He can’t wait to go to church. He loves the sermons. We laugh all the time and enjoy our family.

It got very quiet in the laundry room as the women continued sewing the pants. One was patching the seat of the pants, and the other was patching the knees.

One of the things we will find over the years is difficulty with prayer in light of the sovereignty of God. If God is sovereign over all the universe, why does prayer even matter. Its all in His hands. Its all in His plans. And who understands? hmmm. It also falls into the realm of the sovereignty of God and whether its compatible or incompatible with our understanding of free will. It has shown to be problematic for many who struggle with prayer today. But in reality, I have never heard a person pray for a loved ones salvation asking for Him not to violate free will. Even the actual act of praying for a loved one is asking God to tamper with our wills. Today we are not going to get into the details of compatiblism and prayer… but to show that even the sovereignty of God does not diminish our need to pray. As we shall see… in light of the context of the sovereignty and election of the Lord, the Apostle Paul does not struggle with it. And gives us great insight as to how we are to approach prayer with all this in mind.

He shows God is praised because he “has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ” (1:3). The crowning evidence for this blessing is stunning: “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight” (1:4). This was an act of sovereign love: “In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will” (1:4b–5). None of these blessings was bestowed on us because of our intrinsic goodness or worth. They are all “to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves” (1:6). Then the apostle returns to his central theme: “In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will” (1:11), so that we too “might be for the praise of his glory” (1:12). Paul wants his readers to rest assured that the “we” of whom he has been speaking includes them: “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation” (1:13). The blessings of God, including the wonderful gift of “the promised Holy Spirit” (1:13), belong to “those who are God’s possession”—and all of this is “to the praise of his glory” (1:14). For this reason, Paul says, he sets himself to pray.

Carson, D. A.. Praying with Paul (p. 147). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Carson, D. A.. Praying with Paul (p. 146). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Carson, D. A.. Praying with Paul (pp. 146-147). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Carson, D. A.. Praying with Paul (p. 146). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Ephesians 1:

Ephesians 1:15–23 NLT

Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God’s people everywhere, I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. 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. I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come. God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church. And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself.

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever.

Thanksgiving

Accomplishment

Display of Power

The first thing we will look at today is how the Apostle, inspired by the Holy Spirit, offers to the Lord thanksgiving for His sovereign works in the universe. The second thing we will examine is how Paul prays that the sovereign works of the Lord will be accomplished according to His purpose. And finally we will discover how the sovereign displays of power of our Lord brings to us life and life more abundant shown in the wonderful Gospel of Jesus which is the power of God for salvation.

Thesis: Though sin and the pattern of this world cause us to become disillusioned with prayer in light of the wonderful sovereignty of God, it is the power of the Gospel and learning to pray that will show us the beauty of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit leading us to praise and rejoice in the hands and plans of the King of kings.

I. Thanksgiving

- Thanksgiving and prayer.

A. Yet again, thanksgiving and prayer is seen together. When it comes to prayer, you just cannot get away for this thing called thanksgiving. And what is interesting to see here is that Paul is thankful to God for what he has done in them and the reports of them for what God has done.

B. Because it is God who has worked in them, Paul has not stopped thanking God; because it is God alone who sovereignly and graciously continues to effect such transformation, he is the one who must be petitioned to continue his good work.

C. In short, because God is sovereign, Paul offers thanksgiving for God’s intervening, sovereign grace in the lives of his readers. The assumption, of course, is that apart from God’s powerful, transforming work, these people would never have been converted. Without God, they would never have begun to display the trust, faithfulness, and love now richly displayed in their lives. Therefore whatever Christian virtues characterize them become the occasion for heartfelt praise to God. Again, we need to be thankful.

II. Accomplishment

- God’s holy purposes for His people be accomplished.

A. Amazing what Paul is showing us here. Some will say… well if God has promised to do it, why do we need to ask for it? Why pray for something the Lord already said he would grant? Just like Daniel continued to pray for the exile to end when he already knew God promised to end the exile. Just like we pray “Come Lord Jesus” when he has already promised us that he would come back Paul prays...

Carson, D. A.. Praying with Paul (p. 148). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Carson, D. A.. Praying with Paul (p. 148). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Ephesians 1:15-19

Ephesians 1:17–19 ESV

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, 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, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might

Carson, D. A.. Praying with Paul (p. 148). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

B. Paul prays that the Ephesians might know God better. Of al the things that he could have prayed for in light of it all, he prays that. This is at the top of the list. The people who everyone is talking about and saying such nice things and obviously has the hand of God on their lives with all that is happening to them… he prays that they know God better. What we see here is that the more we get to know God the more we want to know Him better.

C. And how does Paul ask for this to happen? He prays that they will receive the Spirit of wisdom and revelation. What is required to know God better is wisdom and revelation mediated by the Holy Spirit. We need to grow in wisdom and in revelation.

D. Now what Paul is getting at here is not the kind of revelation that some fanatics would see it. It is not that the Lord is gonna reveal something new to us that is outside of the scriptures. The revelation of the Lord did indeed reach its climax in the Lord Jesus. So how does Paul intend us to understand his use of revelation? We get a clue in Philippians...

Philippians 3:15 ESV

Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.

Philippians 3:5 NLT

I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law.

E. If there are things that we still need clarification on, we can trust that the Holy Spirit will reveal it to us. He will make it clear. Revelation.

F. Only such work by God’s Spirit will enable us to know him better. Therefore we must pray for it. If we fail to do so, we betray our cool interest in really knowing God better, even though a moment’s reflection shows us there is nothing more important in God’s universe, both in time and in eternity, than knowing God better. Therefore with Paul we must earnestly pray to God that we might know him better.

1 Corinthians 2:9–16 NLT

That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us. When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others. For, “Who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him?” But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.

1 Corinthians 2:

G. But it does not stop there… he also prays that they will receive insight needed to understand crucial truths. He prays that they will be able. This is the flip side to revelation. Yes we pray that God will reveal and now he prays that we will receive what it is that the Spirit reveals. But that Paul prays for both shows that he understands that it is ultimately God and God alone who both reveals and enables us to grasp what he reveals. This is why Paul prays and it is the reason why we need to pray in this way.

H. All of this is fundamental to all that we are and need in Christian life and it is what we need to pray to the Lord for to bring us to maturity. The Lord’s revelation and our ability to receive such revelation, if it is omitted from our lives, we are just playing christianity. We are just playing games. Thats how fundamental it is. And what does Paul say we need enlightened eyes to see?

Carson, D. A.. Praying with Paul (p. 152). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

I. The hope of their calling. The goal of their salvation. This “hope” is nothing less than life in the new heaven and the new earth, life in the presence of God.

Carson, D. A.. Praying with Paul (p. 153). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Romans 5:2 ESV

Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Carson, D. A.. Praying with Paul (p. 153). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Colossians 3:4 ESV

When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

J.

Ephesians 5:27 NLT

He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault.

J. Why is this important for us to see today? In our culture today we pay little attention to the future and almost never on eternity. We tend live for the here and now paying little attention to the consequences we will face tomorrow, but even worse the consequences we will face in eternity. Sure there are many slogans today about investing in the future, but Paul wants us to see that we understand that we are vested in eternity. The goal is eternity with the Lord.

K. This is why we need the Lord to enlighten the eyes of our hearts, so we can see life through the lenses of eternity. Only then will we become more interested in living with eternity’s values constantly before our eyes. What we will have to show before the great King on the last day will be infinitely more important to us than what we leave behind here.

III. Display of Power

- The wonderful display of the sovereign power of God.

Carson, D. A.. Praying with Paul (p. 153). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

A. What would you choose to describe the sovereign power of God? Some might say the flood, the plagues in Egypt, the parting of the red sea, fire from heaven consuming the prophets of Baal. I would admit that at first thought I am with other commentators, I would think of creation. Speaking the world into existence. It shows and continues to show just how the power of God reaches past the limits of our imagination. But what is it that Paul uses?

B. Now Paul is not searching for the most powerful if that is even a way we can measure the power of God. When it comes to an omnipotent god there can be no degrees of difficulty. He searches for he most glorious and most revealing… The resurrection.

C. Here is the undoing of death, the destruction of sin; Christ’s resurrection is the firstfruits of the mighty resurrection that will mock the death of death and inaugurate a new heaven and a new earth. Small wonder Paul elsewhere declares that he wants to know Christ and the power of his resurrection.

D. Oh the beauty of the resurrection. The new creation. Jesus here makes all things new. So much power and glory revealed that it even moves the day of worship to the Lord’s day… Sunday. Praying that we will see the importance and the beauty of the resurrection today. Hope we find in the ressurection. Did you know that this is such and amazing even that we celebrate it weekly. Here at CBC resurrection Sunday is not just once a year… it is every week.

Carson, D. A.. Praying with Paul (pp. 155-156). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

E. We celebrate the words and works of our Lord Jesus. Not only do we hear the words of Christ but acknowledge and rejoice in his work… his death and resurrection.

F. But as we saw in the first creation we saw something devastating. The fall in the garden of eden. Now sin has entered the world and all of its unfortunate effects on the world and humanity. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The wages of sin is death. We all have transgressed the law of God and are deserving of punishment. What is the punishment? The wages of sin is death. Eternal death. The place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. Eternal darkness.

G. But in Christ we have hope and Paul prays that we will see this clearly. Getting to know God better as the merciful and compassionate Lord. The gospel is declared… Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures… The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance… He became sin who knew no sin. Rejoice… He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

H. This is salvation. Salvation is here. And salvation belongs to the Lord. The promise is here from the sovereign God. If you confess with you mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart… All who call upon the name of the...

I. Jesus is worthy to be praised. We should not ever struggle with the soverignty of the Lord all He does is what is good for His creation. Continue to pray for each other that we will of formost know God better… We pray for the revelation of the Spirit and the heart to understand. We rejoice in the power and glory of the might of Christ.

Psalm 140:6–7 NLT

I said to the Lord, “You are my God!” Listen, O Lord, to my cries for mercy! O Sovereign Lord, the strong one who rescued me, you protected me on the day of battle.