Prayer for Power

Intro

Good evening! It is great to see everyone here this evening as we come together to worship our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In the youth ministry, we have been walking through the book of Ephesians each week. I do understand that this is the week of Thanksgiving; that being said, we will get to the part of Thanksgiving toward the end of tonight’s message.

Last week, we saw how Paul speaks of the mystery which is the Church. The mystery is that both Jew and Gentile are made one in Christ and make up the church through their faith in Christ. Paul had started chapter 3 with full intentions of praying; however, he got sidetracked and went into what is called the holy digression before coming to his prayer in Ephesians 3:14 which will be where we pick up tonight in God’s Word.

Ephesians 3:14–21 ESV

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Pray.

As Paul has finished up his paragraph regarding the mystery, he finally gets to his prayer. The prayer that Paul prays is for these Ephesian believes who were Christians in the city of Ephesus. They were believed to have been Christians that were meeting from house to house in what we would call house churches. As Paul writes to these believers, he writes to them his prayer for them to have spiritual strength. Remember, Paul is writing from prison while he is more than likely chained to a Roman soldier, and he writes to pray for these believers.

As we look at this prayer for spiritual strength, we will notice three things: 1.) Prayer requires proper posture, 2.) The Christian’s power is from within, namely the Holy Spirit, and 3.) The Church is to be rooted in love.

Prayer requires proper posture.

Look back with me at verse 14-15

Ephesians 3:14–15 KJV 1900

14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,

After Paul has explained the mystery which is established by God, he moves to his prayer for these Ephesian believers. Notice, Paul says for this reason. Paul is pointing these Ephesian believers and us back to the first two chapters of the book of Ephesians.

As we look back, we recognize that Paul has pointed out the complete grace of God upon humanity. In chapter 1 of Ephesians, Paul writes regarding how God made a way for sin to be forgiven through Christ, calls humanity to Himself, and has blessed those who believe in Christ with every spiritual blessing. In chapter 2, Paul points out that every human being was dead in his or her sin, but God by His grace sent Jesus to died for their sins and through faith in Him they can be saved. Likewise, in chapter 2, Paul points out that both Jew and Gentile are now one in Christ because Christ died for all and all who come to Him make up the church.

Primarily, Paul is referring the believer back to the grace of God. Grace is unmerited favor. God created humanity in the beginning. Man sinned against God and broke their relationship with God. God OWED MAN NOTHING BUT JUDGMENT AND WRATH. Humanity is worthy of the wrath of God because of their sin. That is why Ephesians says we were dead before faith in Christ. We were dead because of our sin against God. However, God in His mercy and grace gave up Jesus Christ to die upon the cross for our sins. That is grace. We sinned and God provided us with a gift, Jesus Christ. The very Son of God came down to earth, lived a perfect sinless life, died upon a cross where His blood was poured out, and rose victorious on the third day after His death. Jesus died so that we could be saved. Though we were worthy of divine wrath, Jesus bore the wrath of God on our behalf. He was the substitution that paid the penalty we were due. We should have suffered the wrath of God, yet Christ suffered in our place.

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV

21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Because of this, for this reason, Paul bows on his knees before God the Father. You see, Paul understood who God is and had a high view of God. Church, I am afraid that we have forgotten who God is. The church has forgotten that God is a loving God, yes, but God is also a just God. God hates sin. We try to justify our sin, and there are some churches that neglect to call sin, sin. We must understand church that God is the One true God over all. God knows all. God knows every sin that you and I have ever committed. He knows every thought we have every had, and He knows every sin and every thought that we will ever have or commit. And when we understand who God is, we find ourselves like Paul, bowing on our knees because we recognize the grace of God. We recognize that He is the One who saved us and calls those of us in Christ His children. We recognize how desperate we are and how humble we ought to be.

Tony Merida writes, “When we reflect on God’s amazing grace, it should lead us to get on our faces before God, who called us, adopted us, redeemed us, and forgave us. Christ died on our behalf. The Spirit has sealed us. God has brought us from death to life, has raised us with Christ, and has seated us with Christ.”

Please hear me out. There are some in here that may be saying that I cannot get on my knees and pray because of my health. That is okay because the Scripture does not say that we can only pray when we are on our knees. In fact, it was uncommon during this time in which Paul writes for someone to pray on their knees. What this Scripture reveals to us is that whenever we understand God’s grace toward us we will approach the throne of God in prayer properly. Meaning, we will understand that God is our Sovereign Father, Lord, and Judge. We will cry out to Him knowing that we are nothing but wretched sinners saved purely because He is good.

The Christian’s power is from within, namely the Holy Spirit.

Look back with me at verses 16-17

Ephesians 3:16–17 ESV

16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

Paul now begins to details his prayer for these Ephesians believers. The Ephesian believers had faced pushed back and some suffering on account of their faith. Paul then seeks to pray for these believers. As he prays, we have noticed his posture, now let’s notice what he prays for. First, he prays that God would grant these believers strength with power through the Holy Spirit. This strength is give according to the riches of God’s glory. God does not give from His riches, God give according to His riches. What that means is that God gives on the scale of His riches. Paul prays for these believers to be strengthen with power through the Spirit.

This prayer focuses on the inside of the believer. Many times you have heard the phrase “don’t judge a book by its cover.” Why? Because the power of the book is contained within the words on the pages. Likewise, a Christian is not judged based on external looks or appearances of righteousness. The Christian is judged based upon what is within namely whether or not he or she has the Holy Spirit dwelling within. The Holy Spirit is the seal of salvation. The Holy Spirit draws a person to Christ and dwells within the believer. Therefore, the appearance of righteousness gains you nothing while the indwelling of the Holy Spirit grants you strength with power.

Tony Merida writes, “This is how we fight sin, proclaim the gospel with courage, and love people the way Christ has loved us.”

The Holy Spirit dwelling inside of us leads, guides, and directs us to honor God. Upon salvation, Christ then rules our lives. As Paul details in Galatians 2.

Galatians 2:19–20 ESV

19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Christ now rules the live of the believer granting the believer the strength to deny himself take up his cross and follow God. This is something that we should be thankful for. No longer are we powerless, sin enslaved, and bound for hell. We are now Spirit empowered, graciously forgiven, living for Christ, and bound for heaven. But why doesn’t the church live as though this is the case?

We are a scared people that fear and tremble at the world. We are fearful of what tomorrow brings as though the eternal, Sovereign, One true God of the universe is not in control. Yes, we should pray for our nation. Yes, we should continually seek God and have concern for our nation to turn to God and repent of sin. But we should not be so desperately fearful that we are crippled by fear, neglect to be the Church, and shrink back in fear with a focus upon ourselves and not God and glorifying Him as we are called to do. The church must be the church understanding that we will be hated because the world hated Jesus.

John 15:18 ESV

18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.

It is time for us as the church to get over ourselves and understand that we are empowered by the Holy Spirit. We have the Holy Spirit who convicts us of our sin, empowers us to share the Gospel, and reminds us of who we are in Christ. We are redeemed, adopted children of God with our eternity secure in heaven.

The Church is to be rooted in love.

Let’s venture back to verses 17-19

Ephesians 3:17–19 ESV

17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Paul continues to encourage these believers. Now, he reminds these believers that they must be rooted and grounded in love. What Paul means there is that the Christian is secured in God’s love. God’s love is unconditional toward the believer. God loves His children. Paul then goes on to pray for “all the saints” to comprehend what is Christ’s love.

He says we are to be rooted and grounded. The church must be rooted in Christ and grounded in the Word.

This points out the importance of the church. All the saints, or all believers, are to be seeking to understand the love of Christ. That is you and I here at Salem Springs must be together seeking to understand the love of Christ. We are the church that is to be grounded and rooted in love. That means that here at Salem, we are to love one another as Christ has loved us. In loving one another, we are called to seek to understand Christ’s love. That is the call for the church to be devoted in showing Christ’s love and also it reveals we are to be dedicated to the Word which reveals to us Christ’s love for us. Some may say they can study the Bible at home alone in order to know the love of Christ. But the Scripture calls for all the saints; therefore, we need each other, the Church, in order to know God’s love.

R. Kent Hughes writes, “This (knowing God’s love) happen when we sit under the preaching of His Word. It happens when we study it together and discuss it. It happens when we share our knowledge of God’s love with each other. It happens when we observe it in our brothers and sisters. It happens as our hearts go upward in the worship of him. We need each other in order to comprehend His Word.”

Christ love is so awesome, and we need each other to understand it. One song says that love of Christ is reckless; however, Christ’s love for us is not reckless. Christ’s love for us is articulate and directed because He chose to love us even while we were yet sinners. You and I were 100% absolutely condemned before God because of our sin. But, He chose to love us. He sacrificially loves us so much so that He went to the cross for us. This is anything but reckless. Christ’s love is so deep and wide that we cannot understand His love while at the same time Christ’s love is under His control because God is a God of order. Paul prayed for the church to have the strength to know this love.

In knowing this all-surpassing love, Paul states, that one may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Knowing the love of God leads us to spiritual maturity. As we grow in our understanding of God’s love, we will be drawn to spiritual maturity as we grow in our understanding of the Word, the Church, and the call of the believer to love others. This is the process by which God grows His Church. The one called out of darkness and to salvation in Christ is discipled and goes out with the call to make more disciples while displaying the love of God to others. Therefore, the church must be rooted in Christ and grounded in love.

As you have heard tonight’s message, you may be asking yourself, I thought this was a thanksgiving message. I would answer to you that it is a Thanksgiving message. As I poured over the Word this week, I found that Christ is always the message of the church. As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2:2

1 Corinthians 2:2 ESV

2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

Likewise as Richard Baxter said, “I preaches as never sure to preach again, and as a dying man to dying men.”

Because of this, I could not escape the text of Ephesians 3:14-21 which calls for the Church to fall on her knees as she reflects upon God’s grace, to love one another as she seeks to know Christ’s love, and lastly to glorify Christ.

Look with me at Ephesians 3:20-21

Ephesians 3:20–21 ESV

20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

This thanksgiving we can be thankful that we have a Savior that is able to do far more than we could ever ask or think. Christ is sure. Christ is the sure and steady anchor upon whom we can trust. And thanksgiving comes in knowing that our debt of sin has been paid by the blood of Christ on the cross. The call of the church is to the glorify Him. If we are not glorifying Christ above ourselves, sports, work, or whatever else, we are neglecting to be the church. Because the call of the church is to glorify Christ.

So, this thanksgiving, understand that based upon the season, the message never changes. The message is always Christ and Him crucified which draws us to thank God for His grace and mercy upon us. Glorify Christ the One who loves you so much that He died upon the cross for your sin though never committing sin Himself. The perfect Son of God gave up His life and bore God’s wrath for you. After giving up His spirit, Jesus went to the grave. But He didn’t stay there as He rose from the grave victorious over sin, satan, and death.

As the old hymn says,

Up from the grave He arose With a mighty triumph o'er His foes He arose a Victor from the dark domain And He lives forever with His saints to reign

Church, this is the Christ we serve. We serve Christ the Victor who reigns and will come again for His Church.

Christian: Fall on your knees in Thanksgiving for what Christ has done.

Non-Christian: Call upon Christ for Salvation.