06 8th Sunday after Pentecost (Sunday Evening Worship)

            Prayer.  What a big topic.   But it is also an important topic, because in prayer we are in communication with our God.  Now people will have different understandings of what prayer is.  For example.  There was a little boy, who decided that he wanted something from God.  And so he went into the living room.  And there on the mantle above the fireplace was a little statue of Mary.  The boy very carefully removed the statue.  He wrapped it in a white cloth and carried it off to his room.  He sat down at his desk.  And on a sheet of paper he began to write his prayer.  “Dear God,” he wrote, “if you ever want to see your mother again…” 

            Now we laugh at this because it is silly, but prayer is really a pretty cool thing.  And there are different situations that we find ourselves praying in?  At what moments and during which times do you find yourself praying most?  So whether you are praying for help and strength to get through a tough situation, or to help you when you are stranded, and your car won’t start, or to help you because the hyper-drive is broken again on your Millennium Falcon.

Those are some of the situations that we pray in.  Now let’s think a bit about what we pray for.  What are the things that we ask for in prayer? And why do we do this?  Why do we pray in these situations, and ask God to provide these things?  The long and short of it is that we know he hears our prayers and that he answers them.  Now that doesn’t mean that the answer he gives us is always the one we are expecting.  But he always answers our prayers.   And since this is true, and since God wants us to come to him and to talk to him as dear children come and talk to their dear father, we are able to pray with confidence. 

God answers our prayers.  He gives us what we need.  We have spent some time thinking about this tonight already in the prayer stations and in the songs that we have sung.  We saw it in the lessons, as Elisha feeds 100 people, and Jesus feeds more than 5,000 people.  So spending time in prayer is really time well spent.  It has been reported that Luther said he liked to begin his days with two hours of prayer.  Of course that wasn’t always the case.  On those days where he was unusually busy, when there was extra work to do, it was on those days that he would spend three hours in prayer.

Now I want to clarify something here.  I am not saying this so that you can feel proud about how much you pray.  Or if that is not the case, I am not saying this so that you can feel guilty about much you pray.  I am saying this, so that you know that when you pray, your prayers are heard and that they are answered.  And they are heard and answered, not based on anything we do.  Not because we pray enough, or say the right words, or hold our hands the right way or whatever, but our prayers are heard for the sake of Jesus.  Because it is in his name that we pray our prayers. 

So knowing the power of the one who hears and answers our prayers, and knowing that he does do so, we are able to see prayer as a source of power.  That is, they are not just empty words.  But they are a source of power.  Not because of the one who prays it, but because of the one who hears it.  With that in mind we look at our text.  Ephesians 3:14-19.  This is a powerful text.  It is the prayer that Paul prays for the Ephesians.  It is the prayer of a pastor for the people he loves and serves.  You see at the time Paul wrote this he was in prison, and he was suffering for his faith, but he doesn’t want his suffering to be a stumbling block for the Ephesians.  So he writes, “For this reason I kneel before the Father”  Now he is not saying that this is the one and only approved praying position.  Rather the kneeling is a way for him to show the people he is praying for, the earnestness and the seriousness of the prayers he prays for them. 

“For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.”  This is a statement written for the comfort of the Ephesians.  Because they were not of Jewish descent.  They were Gentiles.  And at this time, it was a big controversy, can Gentiles be saved or connected to God?  The answer is a resounding yes.  Have you ever felt separated or like you just didn’t belong?  Well guess what?  You are a member of God’s family.  There is a place for you, and best of all, our Father wants to hear from you. 

Paul writes, “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being.”  Paul is praying that God would work in the lives of the Ephesians.  And that he would strengthen them.  And the result of this strengthening is that Christ would dwell in their hearts through faith.  Now remember, Paul is praying this prayer for the Christians in Ephesus.  And in this line of the prayer then, we are reminded of a couple of things.  One is that faith is not a work that we do.  We don’t produce faith, rather the Holy Spirit works faith in us.  Second is that even though we are Christians, we still need help.  We don’t have it all together.  But in this prayer Paul is asking that God give to the Ephesians what they need to be faithful followers of Jesus. 

And as cool as that is, it gets even better.  “I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”  Listen to that one again.  Let it sink in.  “I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

Now think about this.  This is really awesome.  God’s love.  We see it in our lives.  What are some ways that we see his love in our lives?  We see it a lot. He gives us what we need.  He forgives our sins through the death and resurrection of Jesus.  He restores us to himself.  He has a relationship with us.  He hears our prayers.  He answers our prayers.  He pours out his grace through his word and in baptism and communion.  I think it is safe to say that we have a good grasp on God’s love.  But in spite of all that, Paul is praying for the ability to grasp God’s love and to know this love that surpasses knowledge. 

I can’t prove this.  But perhaps the things that we know.  That is the whole forgiving, healing, relationship building, prayer hearing, prayer answering grace pouring through word and baptism and communion, through word and sacrament love, this is the love of God that we are rooted and established in.  It comforts us.  It supports us.  It reminds us that God gets all the credit.  And as great as all that is.  To know that this only the beginning of God’s love.  His love for us is so great that we cannot comprehend it.  If God’s love were a room.  And you were suspended in the middle of that room.  Just floating there in the air.  His love is so great that you would not be able to see the ceiling or the floor, or any of the walls.  That is height and depth, and width and length of God’s love for us.  It would be like standing on the earth and looking out in order to see the edge of the universe.  It is just too far away.  God’s love is so great, that we have to ask to be able to grasp it.  And as we come to realize the immenseness of his love for us.  We become full.  We are filled with all fullness. 

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.”  God gets all the credit and all the glory.  The limits of his love are beyond our abilities to comprehend, and so too are the limits of his power.  He can do more than we can ask or even imagine.  Now, I don’t know about you, but I can imagine quite a bit.  And yet God can do even more than that.  And it is this great and wonderful power that is at work in us.  And through that power God is to be glorified forever and ever. 

But something that wonderful doesn’t just stay with us.  But it flows through us.  So we are not merely receptors of God’s love, but we become transports of God’s love as we carry it out into the world around us.  What are some ways that we do this?

Prayer.  It is a pretty cool thing.  God’s love it is a great thing.  It is what motivated him to send Jesus to suffer and die so that we would be forgiven, so that we would belong to him.  And knowing God’s love in our lives we seek to share that love with others.

My friends, This is my prayer for you.  Not just this night but always.  I pray that out of God’s glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.  And I pray that you being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.  Now and always.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.