Praying for the Ephesians

Introduction - Ephesians 1:15-23

Recap Series

Week 1 - The Gospel is the Answer

it is God’s answer, it the answer for the lost and dying world, it is the answer for your everyday life

Week 2 - God’s plan of redemption

You were chosen by the Father, Redeemed by the Son and assured by the spirit

This week - Praying for the Ephesians

Paul gives us an example of what it should look like when believers pray for other people

for so many, that is where we fall short,

we pray for ourselves and the things we are going through

we pray for our families and the things that they are going through

but are we lifting up those around us, our church family, those in our community…

our nation… killing of Makia Bryant - What are our prayers looking like for that situation

We are going to see Paul praying for a people that leads to worship…

Ephesians 1:15–23 CSB

15 This is why, since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 I never stop giving thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. 17 I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, would give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the mighty working of his strength. 20 He exercised this power in Christ by raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavens— 21 far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion, and every title given, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he subjected everything under his feet and appointed him as head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.

PRAY!

Prayer of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving - the expression of gratitude, especially to God

I think that this is something that we have all prayed before

I am sure that you can look back and think about a time that you have been thankful to God for something

most of the time it is because we have received something from him

a blessing of some sort

I am hopeful that you can look back and remember a time that you were thankful that somebody came to faith

Ephesians 1:15–16 CSB

15 This is why, since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 I never stop giving thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers.

This first chapter, we said the Gospel is God’s answer to everything, and then Paul lays out that Gospel

Chosen by God, Redeemed by the Son and Assured by the Spirit

This is what Paul is thankful for

Thankful for their faith

they are not thankful for just general faith in a high power, or even in God

god is such a generic term

there are a lot of people who believe in a god, there are even some that will use the same language,

but Paul is saying that they believe in THE LORD JESUS

Thankful for their active faith

this is not just a blanket statement that they believe in Jesus

I had somebody share with me a couple weeks ago, they were sharing Jesus with somebody, the person they were talking to, shows no signs of being a believer, yet told this person, you do not have to worry about me, I believe in Jesus

where do we get that kind of thinking,

when we push somebody to pray a prayer and walk an isle

when we get excited that they prayed a prayer and show no interest in the rest of their life, when we take them to the cross and drop them off

the text said that the Ephesians had love for all the saints

we do not know what that means exactly, we do not know if they gave an offering to Paul’s work, if they were taking care of believers in their own area

it does not matter what the task was, but that they had an active faith

James 2:14 CSB

14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can such faith save him?

James goes on to say that it does no good to tell somebody that is naked and hungry to go in peace and be fed and warm… that faith without works to accompany them is a dead faith

This is what Paul is thankful for

that the testimony about the church at Ephesus is that they are a church a people with an active faith in Jesus

producing fruits that points to an authentic relationship in Christ

may that be said about our church

it does no good to fill up a building if we are not people of a living active faith in Jesus

Prayer of Intercession

Paul’s prayer is one that has order, it is not an ADD prayer

he goes from being thankful for them to interceding for them

Intercession - the action of intervening on behalf of another

We understand this type or part of praying

we do this when we pray for others, we intercede on their behalf

we do this often when others are sick, or hurting

when others are going through a difficult situation

How often do we do this for the relationship that others have with Jesus

Ephesians 1:17–19 CSB

17 I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, would give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the mighty working of his strength.

To receive wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of the Lord v17

we can get thrown off by some of the words in V17, in fact there are many that like to try and make them into something that they are not

wisdom - to know something based on knowledge and experience

revelation - uncovering something that has been covered

2 Corinthians 4:4 - Satan has blinded the minds of the unbelievers

Paul is not praying for a special wisdom, or some new revelation, he is praying that the Ephesians would grow in their knowledge of who God is

that they would grow closer to Jesus

wow! how might the world change, our nation change, how might we change if we began praying that the people of God would grow closer to God

praying for our other local churches, that they would preach the gospel of Jesus that they would reach the community that they would know him more

what happens, when we are praying for others in this way, our knowledge and relationship with him grows as a result

To understand the hope of his calling v18

Paul does not simply pray that they will know him more, but goes on in v18 to say that they would be enlightened…

I told you last week there were religions in this region that basically taught that only a few enlightened could know the mysteries of God, Paul’s use of this word in v18 is probably intentional

but not that the enlightenment would reveal God, Paul said in V9 that the mystery has been made known

but that the enlightenment would be on how they are supposed to live as believers

do not be confused by the word calling, he is not speaking like we do as being called into the ministry or something like that

Paul says the “hope of your calling” pointing back to their active faith

Satan loves to put doubts in our minds… not just doubts about God, doubts about our relationships, but doubts about our salvation as well

if our eyes are open to the calling God has put on our lives as believers, meaning we see and do what it means to love God and love others we will be confident in our own salvation

to understand what we have in his inheritance v19

I do not want to dwell on this part as I spoke a little about it last week...

In this case, when Paul is speaking about our inheritance, he is speaking about the Holy Spirit

so Paul is praying that the believer would understand what you really have with the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of you

Oh I pray that the people of God would understand the power that they have in the Holy Spirit

the ability to understand scripture

we have all that we need to understand scripture in the Holy Spirit and the Bible itself

as you read and pray through scripture the Holy Spirit will speak to you

the ability to get through hard times in life

the Holy Spirit will give us strength, through his grace, to live through things we never thought imaginable

to avoid temptations, to forgive, to be gentle when we want nothing more than wrath, all of these things

to be patient and kind even when dealing with a teenager in the McDonalds drive through

tell about my failure this week…

Prayer of Exaltation

There is a natural progression in prayer… when you begin praying for others, and then thinking about the one who can answer that prayer, it leads you to worship

we do not worship Him for the answered prayer

we worship him because of who he is, this is exactly where Paul goes

Praising God for his exaltation of Jesus

the action of elevating someone in rank, power, or character

Ephesians 1:20–23 CSB

20 He exercised this power in Christ by raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavens— 21 far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion, and every title given, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he subjected everything under his feet and appointed him as head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.

“this power...” understand that, what power was Paul talking about

the power of the inheritance that we have in the Holy Spirit

this is not just some higher power, a will power or something like that

Seating him in a position of honor and authority v20the right hand of the king is a placed that is reserved for the important people

this is why we read about James and John wanting to sit at the right and left of Jesus when he came into his glory

Mark 10, James and John ask, Matthew 20, we read that their mother asked for them

tell the story, their mom went to Jesus and asked if they could sit at his right and left,

Jesus said that was not his to give, but the fathers

the other disciples were mad, I believe not because they had asked, but that the others had not asked first

Paul is making sure we understand… Jesus is the one in the position of authority and honor

Jesus is the one who has been lifted up by the power of God and placed in a high position

higher than anything else v21

there is no one or anything that is higher than the Lord Jesus or equal to

there is no other ruler that can compare

at this time, there would be kings and kingdoms

think of different countries today, different leaders, they all have the same position, maybe different titles, just different kingdoms or countries

there is no kingdom, no title that has ever been or that will be that can compare to this person of Jesus Christ

the problem is that we elevate things to that position

the head of all, including the church v22-23

it is not just that he is higher than all the rest, but all things are subjected to him

this is quoting Psalm 8:6

Psalm 8:6 CSB

6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet:

it is one thing to say that Jesus is higher than all things, it is another to say that are things are subjected to him

subjected - to rank over

all other things… any thing; person, title, authority that you can think of, is under the authority of Jesus

it is funny that he includes the church

we are funny people and pride always seems to rear its ugly head and gets us to try and be the focus

over the years we have seen many people rise up and claim to be the new head of the church

to be the one with authority from God

Jesus is the head of the church, Jesus is the one with authority

we take our direction from him, and lead others to him

it is great if we invite others to church, but from here, we will point them to Him

how do we listen… we stick to his word and seek to glorify him in all that we do

Conclusion

We should be a people of Prayer, using Paul’s prayer as an example

We should be thankful for the ministries that happening and the fruit that is being produced all around the world

We should allow this to lead us to intercede for those who are coming to know Christ

that all may be mature and complete lacking nothing

When we pray those things, there is no doubt that when we think on the one who can answer those prayers, we will be led to worship him!