Paul's Second Prayer

Doug

Ephesians • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago

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Notes

Transcript

Introduction

PRAYER AT BEGINNING

Recap series

Chapter 1 - The Gospel

God’s plan from eternity past was to choose you, redeem you through his son, and assure you by his spirit.

Paul’s first prayer, that they would grow in the knowledge of that

Chapter 2 - A new people

We individually were dead and are now alive, we were a foreign people, knew nothing of God and are now a new people, a new humanity as God’s people.

Jews and gentiles brought together by the blood of Jesus as brothers and sisters.

Chapter 3 - Grace

Paul digresses about the grace of God; grace gives us what we need, not what we want, it glorifies the father and accomplishes His will.

Today - Paul’s second Prayer

Paul’s first prayer is at the end of chapter 1

prays for the Ephesians to grow in their knowledge of who God is and the gospel

After spending time in chapter 2 speaking about how we were saved and joined together as a people, he starts to pray again, only to interrupt himself and speak about God’s grace.

Now Paul gives this prayer that will be a transition in the book

chapters 1-3 are about who we are in Christ

chapters 4-6 are about how we live in Christ

Ephesians 3:14–21 CSB

14 For this reason I kneel before the Father 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. 16 I pray that he may grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power in your inner being through his Spirit, 17 and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, 19 and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us— 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Paul concludes the thought that he began in v1

for this reason; pointing back to chapter 2

because you have been made alive in Christ

because you have been united into a new humanity

Paul humbles himself - Paul is praying for a people who are in Christ

Not that we do not see it, but this is not the typical Jewish prayer stance, they would pray standing, think wailing wall in Jerusalem, you often see them standing with their hands on the wall

paper stuck in the walls with prayers of the people

These are not just good thoughts or best wishes

I cringe when I hear “thoughts and prayers”

Paul (v15) is going to to creator of all things

family - patriarch, not just immediate

the one who gave life and has authority over it

Paul knows he is going to the only one who has the power and authority to answer his prayer

A better understanding of who God is, leads us to know his love for us, which leads to praise.

The Powerful Occupant

Occupant - A person who resides or is present in a house

many people see God dwelling in them as a renter

he may live there, but it is your house and you make the rules

this limits God’s power in your life

it does not limit God’s power, but it does limit his power in your life,

you are not allowing him to be involved in all areas of your life

You are still trying to make all the rules

Like the meme that goes around social media about God in schools… Why do you allow violence in our schools, I am not allowed in your schools

same goes for your life… why is God not doing some miracles or even changes in certain areas of your life, you are not letting him in

Ephesians 3:14–17 CSB

That we would be strengthened

strengthened means to become strong, you were weak, you were unable and now will be able

not behavioral but spiritually

Paul is not praying for certain tasks and rituals to take place

this is what we seek from people,

I often fear that we would be fine with millions of people going to hell as long as they, act like we act, or at least act like we want to act

Paul is not praying for behaviors, but spiritual strength

not just strength for the sake of being strong

too many times I have seen people go through things and say, “I am just trying to be strong”

the problem is, we are not strong, we are weak and need the Lord’s power

Evans - when my phone battery is out of power, no external alterations is going to make a difference. The problem is a dead battery! It needs hooked up to the power source.

When we are hooked up to the power source our thoughts, fears and anxieties change

do they go away? No. I am not offering a self help program

but by God’s power in us we are not being emotionally overcome to where we are paralyzed or where they rule us and our decisions and the way we act are based on them

that is when we see the fruit of the spirit begin to work its way out in our lives

That Christ would dwell in us

dwell - two different words in greek, one means to abide, other to settle

Paul uses later - meaning to come and live permanently

The power of the spirit helps us to live in tune with Christ

Make yourself at home…

We say this, but who really expects them to do so

make yourself does not mean that we want them to make remodeling decisions

Is your heart Jesus’s home, or somebody that you are just trying to make comfortable

Conditional to his riches and glory

we cannot work harder to align ourselves with him

faith is a gift (v2:10) conditional on his power and glory

we must give up

if we are trying, we are attempting to use our power not his

does not mean eat drink and be merry

Comprehending the Incomprehensible

There are things that I will gladly admit that I will never understand

I would gladly tell you some of them, but I know that for the rest of the sermon you will be thinking about and planning on coming to me and explaining that thing

there are things in the government that I will not understand

I will never understand after all the years Heather and I have been together how we can think, say and do things so differently

Ephesians 3:17–19 CSB

17 and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, 19 and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

The vastness of God’s love

not the personal love that he has for you, but how big his love is

that you would take hold and grasp this love

but this is an impossible task

like taking my 1 year old grandson and trying to teach him quantum physics

memorizing scripture will allow us to know him more

but we will not know, fully understand the vastness of God’s love

One commentator said, “even when we are in the presence of God for one hundred quadrillion years, we will still only be introduced to his love.”

Now Paul narrows the scope, intimate with the love Christ has for you

know - ginosko - intimate knowledge, or relationship

knowledge - gosis - general know

intimate with Christ’s love that is way beyond a general understanding

With a purpose that Jesus would fill to overflow us

that our thoughts, words and actions would be an overflow of Jesus in us

that we would be those who fed the hungry, gave water to the thirsty, not because Jesus told us to, but because we saw the hungry and thirsty and had compassion like Jesus

The interesting part of this is the conditional aspect of this part of the prayer

being rooted and firmly established

rooted = strengthen, firmly grounded

established = foundation

We do not love apart from God

1 John 4:7 CSB

7 Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

we are not founded in our love of God, but in God’s love

as such may we grow in that understanding of his love

may we grow in the intimacy with Christ

Paul’s Doxology

Doxology is a praise to God, it is in writing or song

we sing what is know as the doxology

praise God from whom all blessings flow, praise him all creatures here below, praise him above, ye heavenly host, praise father, son, and holy ghost.

When I was young, I thought that we were praising God from whom all blessings fold… because we always sang this song when we collected the offering, money folds, I thought we were praising God for money

We do not want your change! We want the offering that folds!

At the end of this prayer, Paul goes into a form of doxology

Ephesians 3:20–21 CSB

20 Now to him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us— 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Above and beyond what we could ask or think

We can imagine some pretty wild stuff

Engineers are amazing at imagining things

Minivan that was designed with the spare tire in between the front seats, had to take out the center console to lower it down

Think of the things that God has done already

God created everything, some of the wild things that we have seen in creation, God created

God stopped the sun, God split the sea, God rained fire down from heaven

Think of the things that Jesus has done

He walked on water, fed thousands of people with just a few loaves of bread and a couple fish, the deaf could hear, the dumb could speak, the lame could walk

Paul is worshipping after asking God to do these things for the Ephesians

the question that comes to mind is, if God is capable of of doing more than we could even imagine, why would there be anything that we not ask for?

I am not saying that he will do every crazy idea that we come up with, sometimes for our own good.

but know that he can, why would we not ask

Paul says this same power is working in us

the power to do the unimaginable

is the power inside of each and every believer

the power to grow and mold us into the image of his son

the power to do mighty things for him

Tony Evans illustration - Fire hydrant, not that big but can put out a ton of water in a short amount of time. Not because of its size, but because it is connected to a greater source. when we are connected to God, individually and collectively people will see God gushing out of us!