Ephesians: Prayers of the Righteous Ephesians 1:15-23

Ephesians: Prayers of the Righteous (1:15-23)

Psalm 93 NIV

The Lord reigns, he is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed in majesty and armed with strength; indeed, the world is established, firm and secure. Your throne was established long ago; you are from all eternity. The seas have lifted up, Lord, the seas have lifted up their voice; the seas have lifted up their pounding waves. Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea— the Lord on high is mighty. Your statutes, Lord, stand firm; holiness adorns your house for endless days.

Exodus 33:9–17 NIV

As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the Lord spoke with Moses. Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to their tent. The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent. Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.” The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”

James 5:13–16 NIV

Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

The Prayers of the Righteous Ephesians 1:15-23

Introduction:

Have you ever had to cross a frozen pond? If you are some place you are unfamiliar with and you do not fully understand their freeze patterns, it can be a bit unnerving. I read an account of a man who was attempting to cross the frozen St. Lawrence River in Canada. Unsure whether the ice would hold, the man first tested it by laying one hand on it. Then he got down on his knees and gingerly began making his way across. When he got to the middle of the frozen river trembling with fear, he heard a noise behind him. Looking back, to his horror he saw a team of horses pulling a carriage down the road toward the river. And upon reaching the river they didn’t stop, but bolted right onto the ice and past him, while he crouched there on all fours, turning a deep crimson. If only he had known how firm the ice really was that day.

It is kind of like that in the church. There are some Christians that live like this man. They are tentative and constantly fearful that life will crumble under them. They are constantly trying to protect themselves seeking better paying jobs, trying to put as much in the savings as they can, and not accomplishing much for God’s kingdom, while others are charging by boldly.

In today’s passage, we find that Paul’s prayer for the church is that they will know and understand enough about God, to boldly accomplish the work God has called us to.

Please stand with me as we read Ephesians 1:15-23.

Ephesians 1:15–23 NIV

For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

The Word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God.

Pray

How strong is your faith?

Sermon Intro

How do you pray for people? Do you ask God to fix this or that for them? God give healing…God provide finances…God heal relationships...

These are not bad prayers. We are called to lift up the needs of each other. However, I believe in this passage, Paul gives us the best prayer that we can pray for others. His prayer in this passage should be our first, and foremost prayer for other believers. But before we dive into the prayer, we need to take a moment to understand what has lead Paul to this prayer.

Paul began this letter by setting down some foundational blessings that we has believers all have in common. The works of God in His various forms; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Paul is worshiping and praising God for His marvelous works on our behalf.

Then Paul comes to the reason he is writing this letter. You see, he is passionate about all those things he has just shared in vv 3-14 (the things we discussed last week) and it excites him when he hears of others who are accomplishing the things God has called them to do. It is natural when you are passionate about something to see other being passionate about it too.

Our world is no different, but the things our culture are passionate about are not things that please God or even things that are healthy for us. It amazes me how many conversations I hear about drinking wine or beer. People will go on and on about it. Last 4th of July, I was in my yard and some of my neighbors were having a picnic and later that night they all did their fireworks together. I over heard them as they were drinking, laughing and talking quite loudly, and all they talked about was drinking…the fun of drinking, how much they liked to drink, the excitement to get together to drink. I began to think they had very boring lives since they evidently didn’t have anything more to talk about. In fact, if you are not a drinker and you are with people passionate about drinking, they will plague you to death to just drink one.

Another such subject is that of sex and sexual-orientation. We live in a culture that is trying to make everything about that and get us all to appreciate it in all forms.

However, Paul understood that real life comes when we are serving our purpose and living under the blessings of God. So, Paul is delighted to hear such stories. Look with me at...

A. What is Paul’s reaction to the good reports about the church?

Ephesians 1:15–16 NIV

For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.

1. Paul give thanks for them.

The Christian faith is rooted in love. Paul loves these people and so he is thrilled to see them loving others also. Now, this love that I am talking about is not the kind of love we understand.

The Greek word for love in v 15 is “Agape.” It is the love of God that loves beyond what we understand. It sees through the hardest exteriors to the very heart of another and lovely or not, loves anyway.

This is the love that Paul has for these people and this is the love these people are demonstrating that Paul is so excited about. It is not a common love and is not found in us except through the work of the Holy Spirit within us.

Paul’s response to their actions is that of thanks, but just what is Paul thankful for?

a. Their Saving Faith

In thanking God for their faith in Jesus, Paul is, of course, praising God for their saving faith. They had been saved by grace through faith and not by their own hand. Their boast was in Christ alone (2:8, 9), and that was something to thank God for!

But Paul was also thankful for...

b. Their Practical Faith

The Ephesian church not only rested in its salvation but also its everyday life on Christ. They were living it out in “love for God’s people.”

Not only is Paul thankful for what he is witnessing in him, but we see this same kind of love demonstrated in him. We live in a competitive world. One of the greatest difficulties I faced working in the corporate world was this nature of competition. There were always people seeking to better you, or trying to rob the credit for something you had done. It was as they say, “a dog eat dog” environment.

However, Paul’s response is not of jealousy over their good deeds. but that of joy. Now you may say that the difference is that I worked in a worldly environment, but we are talking about the church. Surely the church is different! Well, down through the ages there are many examples that prove otherwise. In fact, St. John of the Cross was once quoted saying, “As far as everyone is concerned, many experience displeasure when they see others in possession of spiritual goods. They feel sensibly hurt because others surpass them on this road and they resent it when others are praised.” Paul’s response to their success shows us a better way.

Not only does Paul rejoice in them, but...

2. Paul prays for them.

Here is where we see the difference between Paul’s prayer and what we most often hear. We often pray for felt needs and circumstances. However, these are often symptoms of a greater need and Paul sees the greater needs.

So, lets turn our focus from Paul’s reaction to them, to Paul’s prayer for them as it is an example of...

B. The Prayers of a Righteous Man (Ephesians 1:17-23)

Paul understood that the best way to assist the church was for them to have a knowledge of God and what God offers to us. It is this knowledge that empowers our faith and our ability to fulfill our purpose. This knowledge moves us from being people crawling on the ice to running full out across it.

The first thing Paul prayed for them was...

1. That They Might Know God. v 17

Ephesians 1:17 NIV

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

Notice that this action is powered by the Holy Spirit. He is where the wisdom and revelation come from, but the purpose is to help us know God better.

God does not just want a relationship with us, but He desires an ultimate relationship with us. The word “know” here has an OT heritage. It is used regarding marital relationship. The relationship between a husband an wife is the most intimate we know of in our earthly environment. However, the relationship with God is even more so. Intimacy indicates a deep and thorough knowledge of someone. Now, we know that a man and woman in marriage have somethings special, but this is nothing like the relationship with God. A man and woman may have a physical knowledge of each other, but even that does not give them a thorough understanding of all that goes on deeply in their minds and hearts, yet God understands all of this about us and even though we may not understand the same about Him, if we take the time, we can grow into a deeper relationship with Him than any man or woman on earth.

The truth is, the more we learn about God, the more we understand ourselves. We were created in God’s image. We were created by Him for a specific purpose. We were created by Him with certain gifts, talents, and abilities. The more we come to know God, the more He is able to reveal these things about ourselves.

The world just doesn’t get it this part. The atheist claims there is no God for us to know. The agnostic claims there is a God but we cannot know Him. However, we understand that there is a God and not only can we be confident of that fact, we can know Him personally, intimately. They speculate, but we speak from a position of knowledge and experience due to a real relationship with Him.

Paul is not only praying that they will get to know God, but that they will continue to get to know Him better. This is a relationship that I believe will continue to grow in knowledge throughout all eternity. I said it last week, I believe God will always carry some mystery and awe about Him. Even after thousands of years, I think we will continue to be growing in our knowledge of Him and our relationship will continue to grow throughout eternity. This is unfathomable, but I believe it is a reality.

Next, Paul prays...

2. That We Might Know A Better Spiritual Vision (vv. 18-23)

Paul believed we could have a better spiritual vision of things if we could better understand three things.

The first is to understand...

a. The Hope of Faith

Ephesians 1:18 NIV

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,

The word “church” is the combinations of two Greek words which mean, “called out.” God has called us out to serve His purpose in this world in order that other may know him also. Paul wants us to understand the “hope” that is ours because of this calling.

It is important to keep in mind just what “hope” means here. It is not like hoping that someone gives you that shiny Black Ford Mustang for you birthday. I know it isn’t this kind of hope because this kind of hope has given me nothing but disappointment through the years. :-)

No, the kind of hope we are talking about here has to do with holding on to “an assurance for the future.” I know that if I strive and work hard in college, that I have the assurance of a diploma in the end. That hope keeps me pushing forward even when it gets difficult.

It is the same as Christians, hope keeps us moving forward through loss, heartache, tragedy, and so forth because we are assured of the rewards at the end due to what Jesus Christ did for us. That reward is that God will be with us forever and we will then live in full confidence of Him and our life in Him. There will be no more questions, or doubts, or struggles such as we have known here on this sin-filled world.

Before we had placed our trust in Jesus, we lived with no hope. We all knew that eventually everything we have ever done would be lost to death, even ourselves. But know we have hope. It is a living-hope as we know that Jesus died in our place and so we will never face true death, but will one day meet Him face-to-face.

This hope if filled with promises of being with Jesus once again and never being separated again. It is the hope of glory, being in glory, having a glorified body, and serving a glorified purpose alongside Christ and so much more.

Our eyes should shine bright and our face’s flush with excitement whenever we think on this hope.

Next, Paul prays that we would comprehend...

b. The Riches as Christ’s Inheritance (v. 18)

Look with me at verse 18 again.

Ephesians 1:18 (NIV)

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,

I believe this is often missed because we often look at it from the perspective of our world which puts emphasis on what we receive over what we give. What I want you to understand here is the value you have to God. We are God’s treasure. He considers us His riches.

F. F. Bruce says regarding this:

Paul prays here that his readers will appreciate the value which God places on them, his plan to accomplish his eternal purpose through them as the first fruits of the reconciled universe of the future, in order that their lives may be in keeping with the high calling and that they may accept in grateful humility the grace and glory thus lavished on them.8

Have you ever noticed how God recognized people, not for who they were in that moment, but for who they would become? When God spoke to people, he did so based on what they would eventually do or be, not on who they were in the moment.

Gideon- God initially calls him, “mighty man o valor” despite his position as the youngest son of a man from the lowliest tribe.

Simon was a lowly fisherman and the moment Jesus meets him he renames him “Cephas” or “Rock”.

I believe that God has a name for each of us. A name different from what we have been given here on earth. This new name will give insight into what God has created us to be. It will be a name of honor and distinction. And when that moment comes, we will comprehend how much God values us as an individual.

This is an astounding wonder which caused Calvin to exclaim:

This is the highest honor of the church that, unless He is united to us, the Son of God reckons Himself in some measure imperfect. What an encouragement it is for us to hear, that not until He has us as one with Himself is He complete in all His parts, or does He wish to be regarded as whole!12

The final thing that Paul wishes us to understand is...

c. God’s Power (vv 19-23)

Paul doesn’t just list this like the last two, but Paul camps out here and giving great descriptions of this power. Paul wants us to understand that God doesn’t call us to do something that He doesn’t have the power to accomplish. We need to remember that anything we accomplish is not because of us (our ability, skills, etc…), but because of God and His incomparable power.

Ephesians 1:18–21 NIV

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

Can you just feel Paul revving up as he describes this power? His excitement was probably so great in describing it, he probably squirmed in the chair as he wrote it.

Here Paul outdoes himself as he stacks synonym upon synonym in an attempt to describe it. With the Greek synonyms inserted, verse 19 reads like this: “… and his incomparably great power [dunamis] for us who believe. That power [kratos] is like the working [energia] of his mighty strength [ischus].” Paul has layered these synonyms to express as best he can the highest power possible. He exhausted his language describing this power of the resurrection (see v. 20). What we must see is that the power that raised Jesus from the dead can bear directly on our lives now and at his appearing. This stupendous power changes us from children of Hell to children of God and gives us practical victory over sin in our lives. We will see it visibly someday in the resurrection of our bodies, for no created power in the universe can do that. Only through the “great power” — “That power … the working … his mighty strength” — is it possible! Yet, this same power is operating in and for those of us who believe right now! Paul would ask, “Do you see it?”

In describing this power, Paul uses synonyms of power across his letters:

1) “[P]ower.” Dunamis is the word we get dynamite from and is used over 100 times in the New Testament. It indicates raw power or strength. 2) “[W]orking.” Energeia, from which we derive our word energy, means “inworking” and suggests the inward propulsion of power. 3) “[M]ighty” (kratos) means “ability to conquer,” as when Caesar conquered Cleopatra. Autocrat comes from this word. 4) “[S]trength” (ischus) refers to physical force.2 These graphic synonyms in the Pauline bouquet depict the awesome extent of God’s power.

I believe it was knowledge of this great power that prompted Paul to write years earlier to the Romans...

Romans 8:31 NIV

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

If we are God’s, there is absolutely no one nor anything that can take us from Him, short of an act of our will. So, we should have nothing to fear.

There is nothing God asks of us, that He doesn’t supply us the power to do. Whether it be to live a holy life, face death, and everything else that falls in between.

And we have the full confidence that just as He has the power to raise Christ to life again, so He has the power to do the same for us.

Paul’s wraps up this prayer with the final application for each of us.

Ephesians 1:22–23 NIV

And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

We as believers are Christ’s body (the Church) and Christ is the head. We are connected to Him through the Holy Spirit. This means that we share His resurrection, ascension, and exaltation. (Paul will amplify this later.) We too are seated in the heavenlies (Eph. 2:6), and all things are under our feet. This explains why it is so important for us to understand God’s power. Without an understanding of God’s power, we would never have faith enough to accomplish what we are called to do.

Conclusion:

Paul knew how to pray for the greatest good of the people of God. It was not to focus on the minutia that is going on in one’s life at any given time. It was to pray for a greater knowledge of God and God’s ability to do in us and for us exactly what He has said.

Just before World War II in the town of Itasca, Texas, a school fire took the lives of 263 children. There was scarcely a family in town which was not touched by this horrifying tragedy. During the war Itasca remained without school facilities. But when the war ended, the town, like many others, began to expand and in fact built a new school which featured what was called “the finest sprinkler system in the world.” Civic pride ran high. Honor students were selected to guide citizens and visitors on tours of the new facility to show them the finest, most advanced sprinkler system technology could supply and money could buy. Never again would Itasca be visited by such a tragedy. With the postwar boom the town continued to grow, and seven years later it was necessary to enlarge the school — and in adding the new wing it was discovered that the sprinkler system had never been connected.1

What an incredible story! Its folly strains our belief. Yet, alas, it is a parable of what has happened in so many Christian lives. There is untold power available for every believer in Christ, but so many never hook up, and their lives are thus impotent and shamefully useless.

The question for each of us today is, “How much are we living our lives based on this understanding?…Are we plugged into God’s power?…Are we living in bold confidence of our value to God?…Are we accomplishing the things He has called us to accomplish?… Or are we like the man crawling across the ice in fear when in fact there is no reason to fear?”

The next time we pray for our fellow family members of Christ’s body, let us remember Paul’s prayer and instead of looking horizontally as we pray, let us look vertically as we pray. When we do so for them, we will be continuing to remind ourselves as well.

Pray

Power in the Blood