Sermon Tone Analysis

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:

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

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...

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