Preached Sunday, December 29, 2013 from Ephesians 1:15-23
Theme: This passage encourages us to prayer for one another that we will all know three strategic, life-transforming truths.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
Every ‘last Sunday’ of the year, I have prayed to be led to a passage of Scripture that would serve as a good exhortation to the church body for the coming new year. And I believe that the Lord has led me to just such a passage for this morning. It’s found in the first chapter of Paul’s New Testament letter to the Ephesians.
But before I read it to you—and before I even begin to preach it to you—I want you to know that I am planning to ask that we all put what it says into action. This passage constitutes a call to prayer; and I believe that it’s the Lord’s will that, at the end of this morning’s message, we all enter into a commitment with one another to pray for one another in the very ways that the apostle Paul describes in this morning’s passage.
So; I’ve given you advanced notice. Before we’re through with our time this morning, I am going to be asking everyone in this room today to put this morning’s passage into practical action for the whole year of 2014—and in a very personal and relational way. But I hope by the time we’re through with our look into God’s word, you’ll be encouraged and eager to enter into that commitment. What’s more, I believe that if we enter into that commitment—and do what this passage says throughout the coming year—it will transform our church family dramatically.
I suspect that everything I’ve just said might make you a little interested in what this morning’s passage says! So; let’s look at it together. It’s found in Ephesians 1:15-23; and it’s a passage that describes how the apostle Paul prayed for his brothers and sisters in Christ. He told them;
Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all (Ephesians 1:15-23).
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What an amazing passage! It not only shows us some marvelous things to pray for one another, but it also gives us some wonderful theology. In fact, we find some of the fundamental articles of the Christian faith declared in it.
And it comes immediately after another really remarkable passage of Scripture. Do you see how Paul begins with the word “Therefore”? That word points us back to one of the most remarkable passages in the New Testament—a passage in which the apostle Paul glories in the work of the triune Godhead in bringing about our salvation. In verses 3-6, he writes about the work of the Father in choosing us in Christ and predestining us to adoption as His own redeemed sons and daughters. In verses 7-12, he writes about the work of the Lord Jesus Christ in redeeming us and securing for us a share in His own inheritance. And in verses 13-14, he writes about the work of the Holy Spirit in sealing us and securing us for that glorious inheritance. It begins with these words; “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (v. 3). And throughout it, the repeated theme is that God has done all of this “to the praise of the glory of His grace” (vv. 6, 12, 14).
I wish we had time to delve deeper into that glorious portion of Paul’s letter this morning. But I wanted you to at least know that that’s what lies behind Paul’s introductory word “Therefore” The wonderful plan of the three Persons of the triune Godhead, all three working together in graciously bringing about our salvation—and all to God’s eternal glory—is what lifted Paul’s heart and motivated him to pray the things that he prayed for his dear brothers and sisters in Christ. And I’m hoping that you and I will become motivated in the same way.
You see; over the past several weeks, we have been studying from the first chapter of 2 Peter. And the theme of that first chapter has been that God, by His grace, has given His redeemed people—as a present possession—the promise of “all things that pertain to life and godliness” through a relationship with Jesus Christ by faith (2 Peter 1:3). As we have studied the letter of 2 Peter, I have tried to encourage us as a church family to take it as a fact that God has truly has given us everything we need through Christ; and then to rise up confidently, build on that provision, and live a victorious life in Christ And I hope you can now see that that’s not a theme that was particular only to Peter. The apostle Paul is telling us essentially the same thing in this remarkable letter to the Ephesians. The whole triune Godhead has done all that is necessary to save us fully, and to predestine us to full glorification in Christ in heaven, and to secure us in that destiny until we are everything the Lord Jesus has died on the cross to make us to be.
And that’s why, in this morning’s passage, Paul says, “Therefore” All that God has already done for His redeemed people motivated Paul to pray for his brothers and sisters that they will grasp it all in their understanding and live accordingly. The riches of Christ are ours in rich abundance; but God has called us to desire them earnestly and lay hold of them by our prayers for one another.
And that’s also why you and I need to consider carefully Paul’s example of prayer. It encourages us to prayer for one another in the coming year; that we will all know three strategic, life-transforming truths about what God has done for us so thoroughly that we will live victoriously in the light of them. All the rich treasures of Christ are ours by grace; but as this passage shows us, we can’t grab hold of them as we should—and live them out in practice as God would have us—unless we are consistently praying for one another.
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Now; to commit together to what this passage suggests to us, we need to understand it thoroughly. So; let’s look a little closer, and first understand . . .
1. THE CONTEXT OF PAUL’S PRAYER (vv. 15-18a).
Paul begins by writing, “Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints . . .” (v. 15). That tells us something about who it was that he was praying for. Specifically, his prayer was for those who demonstrate a truly redeemed life.
Apparently, these are people that had a good reputation. Paul could say two things about what he had heard about them; and the first was that they had a faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s important to point out at the very beginning. Paul didn’t pray these things for just anyone. He prayed specifically for those who had already placed a conscious and intentional faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior; and had believed on Him for their salvation. And you and I need to take that to heart. If you have never placed your trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior, then that’s the place to begin. I hope you will not leave this place this morning without making a decision to trust what Jesus did on the cross for you, and receiving Him as your Savior. What a wonderful way that would be to begin the coming new year—with a genuine faith in the Lord Jesus!
Now; these are people who had trusted in Jesus as their Savior. They already had a faith in Him. And furthermore, they demonstrated that saving faith by a manifest “love for all the saints”. They not only had been redeemed by Jesus’ blood through faith, but they genuinely loved all others who had also been redeemed by Christ had had a faith in Him. And that, by the way, is one of the greatest and most measurable demonstrations that someone truly has a faith in Jesus Christ—that they love their brothers and sisters in Christ. Didn’t the Lord Jesus Himself teach us this? In John 13:35, He said, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
So; this was a prayer that was offered for those who demonstrated a truly redeemed life. It was offered for those who Paul referred to at the beginning of this letter as “saints”—that is, not people who are ‘perfect’ and ‘super-spiritual’, but who had been set aside by God as His own through Christ. And what’s more, it was a prayer that was offered with joyful thanks for the saints. Paul wrote and said, “Therefore I also . . . do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers” (vv. 15-16).
This wasn’t a prayer that Paul prayed in frustration. He didn’t feel he had to pray grudgingly and bitterly for a bunch of messed-up Christians for whom he had no respect and who were a constant disappointment to him. Personally, I think it’s terrible the way some so-called Christian leaders speak of the believers that they present themselves as serving—constantly criticizing the Church’s faults. It seems to me that they focused so much on the failings of their fellow Christians that they end up despising the Bride of Christ for whom Jesus shed His blood. I don’t think that’s ever a smart thing to do. I would never put up with anyone speaking badly about my bride; and I certainly wouldn’t want to have to give an account to King Jesus for speaking badly about His bride! Paul didn’t do that. Sure; there are times when the apostle had to say some harsh things to his fellow believers. (Just read Galatians sometime!) But he didn’t despise them. He took to heart the things that the triune Godhead had done to redeem the saints, rejoiced in their glorious destiny, and praying for them with an attitude of thankfulness and joy.
And I believe that’s what we ought to do. We ought always speak of and pray for the Church of the redeemed—the precious Bride of Christ—with the kind of attitude that Jesus Himself would be pleased to hear if from us. He has great joy over His Bride! And if we don’t share that joy, maybe we’d better get together with Him and—instead of criticizing the Church—ask that He would change our hearts!
Now; Paul’s thankful prayer for the Bride of Christ—in an attitude of sincere thanks to God—was that God would grant wisdom to the saints. He said he prayed “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him” (v. 17). And this tells us something of who it was that Paul directed his prayers to. It was prayed to the God who alone gives wisdom.
I like the way Paul calls God “the Father of glory”. He has glorified Jesus; and we are so united to Jesus that we are destined to be glorified with Him. For us, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ truly is “the Father of glory”. And I also like the way Paul states this matter of ‘wisdom’. It’s not simply wisdom that human beings could come up with. Paul prayed to “the Father of glory” that He would give them a spirit of “wisdom and revelation”—that is that they would know and rightly apply truth from God Himself, as God had forever set that truth for us in the pages of Scripture. And what’s more, he didn’t simply pray that they would know wisdom from Scripture in a way that was distinct from a relationship with God Himself; but that they would be given a spirit of wisdom and revelation “in the knowledge of Him”.
We can’t have wisdom, and we can’t understand God’s ‘revelation’ of truth, and we certainly can’t apply it to our lives as we should, unless we learn it in a relationship with Him. The disciples learned the greatest truths that had ever been taught while sitting at the feet of Jesus. And we will never learn the things that God wants us to know unless we do the same.
And finally, the prayer that Paul prayed for his fellow believers was a prayer that assumed God’s grace was already at work. He said that he prayed that God the Father would give them a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus, “the eyes of your understanding being enlightened” (v. 18a). Paul was confident that God had already work in his brothers and sisters in such a way as to have delivered them from the blindness of sin, and to have delivered them from the delusions of the devil, and to have transformed their hearts in such a way as to be able to receive the glorious truths He wants them to know.
The Bible tells us that the ‘natural man’—that is, the unredeemed person—cannot know the things of the Spirit of God. It’s impossible for them to do so. These great and glorious truths only end up sounding like “foolishness” to the ‘natural man’, because these truths are only “spiritually discerned”. But as Paul affirms elsewhere in Scripture, “we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). When we read of what it is that God has told us in Scripture about His glorious destiny for us, we grasp these spiritual truths because we have been given a renewed mind that can grasp them.
And all of this teaches us that this is to be the manner in which we are to pray for one another. We’re to pray for each other as redeemed men and women, with an attitude of joy, to the God who alone can give wisdom, with the assumption of His grace already at work in us.
I don’t believe we can grow as a church family—or grasp the truths that God wants us to grasp for spiritual victory—unless we pray for one another as we should. And what a difference it’ll be if we commit in the coming year to pray for each other in the way Paul prayed for his brothers and sisters in Christ!
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So then; what are we to pray? This leads us next to consider . . .
2. THE CONTENT OF PAUL’S PRAYER (vv. 18b-23).
And I find that he prays three things—truly amazing things—for his believing friends. They are the three things I believe God would want us to commit to pray for one another in the coming year.
First, we should pray for each other that we will know the hope of our calling. Paul tells us that he prayed for his brethren, “that you may know what is the hope of His calling” (v. 18b)—and that speaks of knowing the glorious destiny that the saints have in Christ.
Dear brothers and sisters; God has “called” us to Himself in Christ. That’s what theologians refer to as “the effectual call”—meaning that it’s a call from God in which we are graciously made to hear the call and come to Him in faith. I’m so glad that He called me in that way. I never would have come unless He had done so. And what is the hope of that calling? I believe it’s described for us wonderfully in Ephesians 5:25-27; where we’re told that the Lord Jesus Christ loved the church;
and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish (Ephesians 5:25-27).
What a glorious ‘hope’! Did you know, dear brothers and sisters, that you and I are destined to share with Jesus in His heavenly glory? We are destined for heavenly majesty! I know that we as Christians are not perfect right now. There are people who seem to be fixated on reminding us of our imperfections all the time. But redeemed people are certainly no more imperfect than those who do the criticizing; and it’s the redeemed who are the only people destined to be brought by God to the full perfection of Christ Himself! Oh how much Jesus looks forward to that! And how much we should to! If we really knew that that’s our destiny, it would transform the way we live right now. As John the apostle put it;
Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure (1 John 3:2-3).
And I suggest that we commit in the coming year to pray—just as Paul prayed—that we would truly ‘know’ this hope of our calling! A church full of people who truly ‘know’ their destiny in Christ would be a church dramatically transformed!
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So; one of the things that Paul prayed was that his fellow Christians would know their destiny in Christ. And a second thing is that they would know their value to Christ. He teaches us to pray that we will know the riches of Christ’s inheritance in us.
Look carefully at how Paul says this. He prayed for his brethren in Christ, that they would know “what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints” (v. 18c). We tend to want to read that another way, because it almost sounds too astonishing to be true. We tend to want to read it as a prayer that we would know the riches of the glory of the saints’ inheritance in Christ. But Paul prayed for his brethren just as we read it—as astonishing as it may seem; that they would know that the saints are Jesus’ inheritance; and that they would know the riches of the glory of His inheritance in them!
Now; you and I may look at one another and wonder how there could be anything of such value to Christ in us. But He doesn’t see us as we are now. He sees far ahead of where we are now—and to what it is that He has redeemed us to be. We are destined to share forever in His glory with Him. And the great delight of His heart—the great and glorious inheritance that He looks forward to receiving, and that motivated Him to leave the glories of heaven and suffer the horrible death of the cross to obtain for Himself—is us forever in His presence as sharers in that eternal glory!
If I may put it to you this way, dear brothers and sisters in Christ; just think of how much you will rejoice in being recipients of the full riches of the inheritance of Christ being shared with you. What a glorious day that will be—when you, at long last, behold the heavenly treasures of eternal glory that are yours in Christ! All the troubles and trials we experience right now will be nothing when compared with the glories that will be ours—and how much we will exalt in endless joy when it is finally ours. Well; in just the same way, Jesus will rejoice when we are finally glorified and with Him forever! We are His inheritance; and He longs to have us with Him with as much longing as a bridegroom longs to be with his bride.
Dear brothers and sisters; we truly have value! We matter! As far as our Lord is concerned, we are the most precious treasures to Him in all the universe! Knowing what are the riches of the glory of our Lord’s inheritance in us would transform the way we live! So; we ought to commit in the coming year to pray that we would know what a value we are to Him!
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So; Paul prayed that his brethren would know what is the hope of their calling, and what are the riches of the glory of our Lord’s inheritance in them. And that’s what we ought to pray for one another.
But it certainly seems like we’re a long way from what we should be. How could we ever become glorified into what we have been called to be? How could we ever be made into that which our Lord values so much? It’ll never be by our power; that much is certain! But that’s when Paul teaches us to pray a third thing for one another; that we will know the greatness of God’s power in us. He said he prayed that his believing friends would know “what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe” (v. 19).
Dear brothers and sisters; we are blessed with an unlimitedly great power at work in us—that is, the working of the Holy Spirit who indwells us. He is able to make us into everything that God has called us to be, and that the Lord Jesus will forever delight in. There isn’t any sin in our lives that He cannot conquer, or any habit that He cannot transform, or any task He gives us that we cannot do. By the indwelling Holy Spirit; we can live the life of victory in Christ—and be brought to full glorification in Him.
Would you like to get a sense of how great that power is in you?—and as Paul puts it, that is in you right now as a present reality? He tells us that it is “according to the working of His mighty power”; that is, the very same power displayed in our Lord Jesus Christ. The measure of the greatness of the potential of the power at work in us is what God the Holy Spirit did in the life and experience of our Lord.
You see it in Jesus’ resurrection; because Paul says it is according to the power “which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead” (v. 20a). Think of that! The power that rose Jesus Christ from the tomb—from out of death itself!—is the same power that is at work in you right now! You also see it in Jesus’ glorification; because the Holy Spirit didn’t simply raise Jesus from the dead, but also “seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places” (v. 20b). The “right hand” refers to the right hand of the Father—the place and position of highest honor and majesty and glory in the heavenlies! The same power that did that is as at work in you! You see it further in Jesus’ supremacy; because the Spirit of God glorified Him so as to set Him “far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet” (vv. 21-22a). That’s the power at work right now in you! And finally, you see it in Jesus’ Headship; because the Spirit “gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all” (vv. 22b-23). I love it that we’re told that we—the Church—is His Body, “the fullness of Him who fills all in all”. He is sufficient in Himself to fill all things; but we—nevertheless—are His ‘fullness’; and He does not consider Himself to be complete without us. It is the Holy Spirit who did all this for Him; and this same Spirit lives in and works in us!
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Dear brothers and sisters in Christ; these are glorious truths! They are realities that apply to every genuine, redeemed believer in Christ. They almost seem to great to be true—and yet they are true! If we truly ‘know’ these things as we should—as a constant pattern of our thinking—such knowledge would transform the way we live. But what is abundantly clear from what Paul has written is that we cannot know them as we should unless we pray faithfully for one another that we would know them. They are already ours; but the key that unlocks them in our lives is our prayers for one another.
And so; this morning, I’m going to ask that we enter into a commitment of prayer for one another. I’m going to ask that we pair up—men with men, women with women. Men, just simply turn to the man closest to you; and women, turn to the woman closest to you. If you are near one another; it’s because God has sovereignly placed you next to each other for this very reason. If you don’t know that person, take a moment to introduce yourself to them. Before you leave this room; jot down one another’s name and contact information onto your bulletin.
I am going to ask you to commit to pray for that one person daily for the next year. And I’m going to ask you to commit to pray these three things: that that person will know (1) what is the hope of God’s calling, (2) what are the riches of the glory of Jesus’ inheritance in the saints, and (3) what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe through the Holy Spirit.
Let’s do this together—and watch expectantly as God transforms us over the coming year.