Preacher: Erik Meyers

Date: March 29, 2020

Text: Ephesians 2:18

Introduction

In his letter to the Ephesians the Apostle Paul wrote: In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. That is Ephesians 6:16-18a.

It seems to me that Christians today are hard pressed to find an activity that is more personally difficult, and more easily obstructed, than prayer. Here are some common statements:

“I don’t know how to pray. I would, but I’m just not good at it. I hear other people pray, but I can’t do it.” Or…

“I’ve given up on praying because God doesn’t answer me.” Or…

“I’m in bad shape right now. I’m too far from God. I can’t face him right now. It’s been so long since I prayed. I wouldn’t know where to begin.” Or cynical questions like…

“What is the point of praying if God already knows everything?” Or…

“What is the point of praying if God has already decided what’s going to happen? It’s not like prayer is going to change anything.”

And then perhaps the most enduring objection:

“I don’t have time to pray. I’m just too busy.”

That’s not a new challenge by the way. Thomas Brooks, in 1665, devoted an entire chapter to it in his book on private prayer.

So many hinderances, and yet we don’t throw in the towel; we don’t give up. We feel compelled to pray; We want to pray, and we feel guilty when we don’t.

The English pastor J.C. Ryle, writing in the 19th century, said: “Prayer is to faith what breath is to life. How a man can live and not breathe is past my comprehension, and how a man can believe and not pray is [also] past my comprehension…” Do you pray as automatically as you breath? Do you believe prayer is as important to your soul as breathing is to your body? I bet many of you do, and yet our behavior betrays our beliefs.

Well, like all parts of the Christian life, we grow by hearing and applying the truth of the Word of God – And so today let’s begin a biblical study of prayer that, God willing, will carry on into the weeks to come.

For those of you who are taking notes, and would like to know where we are going, this sermon could be divided into two sections: Understanding prayer and Practicing prayer. We’ll look into the Bible’s doctrine of prayer and then consider the application of that doctrine.

I hope you have a Bible on your lap. If you do, open it to Ephesians 2:18; And let’s first look to understand prayer.

Understanding Prayer

Ephesians 2:18 For through him [Jesus] we both [Gentiles and Jews] have access in one Spirit to the Father. Through Jesus we are granted access to God. Through Jesus we are given permission to approach God.

This is explained in the verses just before, in Ephesians 2:13-16 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Jesus came, lived, suffered, and died in the place of sinners so that sinners could be reconciled to God. Verse 16: …16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.

Before you became a Christian; that is, before you believed the gospel and put your faith in Jesus, there was a gate closing off access to God. And imagine a sign on that gate that read: “No Trespassing,” “Road Closed,” “No Entry,” “No Access.” In the Old Testament this was symbolized in the Temple by the curtain that separated the room where man could be from the room where God’s presence was.

And so when Jesus died, we’re told in Matthew 27:51, the temple curtain was torn in two, symbolizing that God’s people had been granted access to God.

And so now, for those of us who are believers, Ephesians 6:18 Through [Jesus] we have access to the Father. Because of Jesus, we are forgiven and cleansed of the sins held against us, we’re given His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21) and we are thus granted access to the Father. 1 Timothy 2:5 says For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus… Because of Jesus, Hebrews 4:16, Let us .. with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. And according to Hebrews 7:25 “we draw near to God through Jesus.”

The sign to heaven; the sign to God has been changed – It now reads “Open,” “Welcome,” “Access Granted.”

Now, if you have access to me, what does that fundamentally mean? It means you can approach me and speak to me. Do you know the special word used to describe approaching and speaking to God? Prayer.

So as we’re looking to understand prayer, let me give you a very simple definition: Prayer is Christ-enabled conversation with God.

John Knox wrote: “[Prayer is] an earnest and familiar talking with God.” And Thomas Goodwin wrote: “Our speaking to God by prayers, and his speaking to us by answers thereunto, is one great part of our walking with God.”

Prayer is Conversation With God

At a sweet and shallow level this looks like thanking and praising and petitioning God throughout the day, out loud or in your heart.

At a deeper level, this conversation becomes communion with God. Communion is not a word we use much, but it means intimate communication. So through prayer, we may personally, and intimately, encounter God.

In Isaiah 64:7 prayer is described as “taking hold of God.” Tim Keller gives this definition:

“Prayer is continuing a conversation that God has started through his Word and his grace, which eventually becomes a full encounter with Him.”

And John Bunyan, in one of his works on prayer, gives this description: “Prayer…is the opener of the heart of God, and a means by which the soul, though empty, is filled… It is a sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the heart or soul to God, through Christ, in the strength and assistance of the Holy Spirit, for such things as God has promised, or according to his Word, for the good of the church, with submission in faith to the will of God.”

Prayer is Christ-enabled conversation with God

Now that our basic understanding of prayer has been helped, let’s move on to the actual practice of prayer. God willing, in weeks to come we’ll think far and wide about prayer, but at this point, let’s pour something very important into our foundation.

Practicing Prayer

Romans 8:26-27 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

The Holy Spirit is as necessary as Jesus to get us to God in prayer. By Christ we’re given access. By the Holy Spirit we’re given assistance.

This was also stated in the verse we read before, Ephesians 2:18, For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

Thomas Watson said: “Prayer is the key of heaven; the Spirit helps faith to turn this key.” And so we follow Paul’s lead in Ephesians 6:18 where he calls us to “pray at all times in the spirit, with all prayer and supplication.”

Bottom line, we need the Holy Spirit’s help in prayer. All those obstacles I mentioned at the beginning, only with the Holy Spirit’s help will we overcome them. And there are a thousand ways the Holy Spirit assists us as we pray. We’ll cover more in the future, God willing, but let me give you three.

You’ll remember, if you’ve been following our sermon series on the Holy Spirit, one of the roles of the Holy Spirit is to open the eyes of our heart; open the eyes of our mind. In other words, the Holy Spirit helps us understand God’s Word. 1 Corinthians 2:12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.

So, to help us pray, here are three things the Holy Spirit enables us to see. We need the Holy Spirit to see 1) God, 2) ourselves, and 3) Christ. Life will give us everything else we need for prayer (burdens, blessings, trials, relationships, gifts, worries).

In order to pray, we must see God. The Holy Spirit helps us.

Many people pray, but few pray to God. Just about everywhere you go you will find people trying to communicate with God. And this is not surprising from a biblical perspective. We have been created in God’s image, which means we have been designed to “represent, and reflect, and relate to God,” and so we’re all searching for Him.

According to Romans 1:19-20 human beings need only to get outside to know that there is a God and he is great and we are accountable to Him. And so people everywhere, work with whatever knowledge they have and, if they believe it, they pray. As Christians, we have God’s Word to correct and clarify who it is we’re praying to. And the Holy Spirit helps us see God.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 2:7-10 we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But, as it is written,

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,

nor the heart of man imagined,

what God has prepared for those who love him”—

these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit.

We’re not praying to gods. We’re not praying to a life force. We’re not praying to something blurry and unknown. We’re not praying to something we’ve invented. We are praying to God, and the Holy Spirit reveals to us who God is.

The significance of your prayer life does not hang on your abilities or striving or technique, but on your knowledge of God, and the Holy Spirit helps us see God.

In order to pray, we must see ourselves. The Holy Spirit helps us.

We must see our needs and our gifts and our sins and our brokenness and our faults. We must see that we are helpless and dependent. The Holy Spirit helps us.

John 16:8 And when he [the Holy Spirit] comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.

Psalm 139:23-24 Search me, O God, (specifically the Spirit according to v7) and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!

24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

If we have an inflated view of ourselves we won’t pray. Paul Tautges: “Prayerlessness is the most subtle disclosure of our independence from God and is our depraved heart’s own declaration of sovereignty.” And so we need the Holy Spirit to search us and bring to light our helplessness before God.

Paul Miller, in his book “A Praying Life” writes: “We are often so busy and overwhelmed that when we slow down to pray, we don’t know where our hearts are. We don’t know what troubles us. So, oddly enough, we might have to worry before we pray. Then our prayers will make sense. They will be about our real lives.” And so it is God’s grace, by the Spirit, to help us see ourselves, our needs, and our helplessness before God.

Now, all three of these are important and relate to one another. For example, if the Spirit were only to illuminate God the holy one and you the sinful one, we would despair and turn away from God. Our old sinful nature has an allergic reaction to the presence of God.

And so we need the Holy Spirit to shine a floodlight on Christ.

In order to pray, we must see Christ. The Holy Spirit helps us.

We need to see Christ so that we will, through faith and by the Spirit, run to God in prayer and not away from him in shame.

Through Christ, we have become a child of God. He is our forgiving, patient, and loving Father, and to God as our Father we pray! And it is the Holy Spirit that reminds us of Christ and His gospel which drives us to God in prayer.

Jesus himself said in John 15:26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.”

Listen to John Bunyan on this very point: “If men did see their sins, yet without the help of the Spirit they would not pray. For they would run away from God, with Cain and Judas, and utterly despair of mercy (ungodly fear), were it not for the Spirit. When a man is indeed sensible of his sin, and God’s curse, then it is a hard thing to persuade him to pray; for, says his heart, ‘There is no hope,’ it is in vain to seek God (Jer. 2:25; 18:12). I am so vile, so wretched, and so cursed a creature that I shall never be regarded! Now here comes the Spirit, and stays the soul, helps it to hold up its face to God, by letting into the heart some small sense of mercy to encourage it to go to God, and hence he is called ‘the Comforter’ (John 14:26).” And so… “There is no man, nor Church in the world, that can come to God in Prayer but by the assistance of the Holy Spirit (Eph. 2:18; Rom. 8:26-27).”

Conclusion

In conclusion, let me summarize what we’ve learned:

First, prayer is Christ-enabled conversation with God.

At a sweet and shallow level this looks like thanking and praising and petitioning God throughout the day, out loud or in your heart.

At a deeper level, this conversation becomes communion with God. And so through prayer, we may personally, and intimately, encounter God.

And second, the Holy Spirit is our great helper when we pray.

He helps us to see God. He helps us to see ourselves. He helps us to see Christ.

May the Spirit of God help us, even now, today, and in the days to come, to have clearer and deeper insight into ourselves, God the Father, and His Son Jesus Christ so that we would draw near to him in prayer.