Given by Sherry Black Good morning—so glad you are all here today! It’s great to see so many familiar faces, and some friends from the ECW retreat—where the main topic was prayer. And that’s what I’d like to talk about this morning. There is a great need for effective prayer, and this morning we’ll look at Paul’s example from our epistle reading. First, some statistics: In a 2005 survey of over 1300 Christian evangelical leaders, the number one issue facing churches today is the need for prayer, both individual and corporate.1 And yet, a 2005 Barna survey of 614 senior pastors ranked prayer as the lowest priority for their church in the year ahead, from a dozen possibilities.2 Clearly a schizophrenic relationship with prayer is prevalent in today’s churches and especially among church leadership. Active ministries: doing evangelism and discipleship, doing anything, is easier than prayer. In this crisis of prayer, which may be one of the most pressing needs in the church today, we tend to read about prayer, and talk about prayer, and not do a lot of praying. I believe that we can learn about prayer by examining and imitating some of the prayers in the Bible. As eminent an evangelist as Michael Green agrees that prayer is a challenge, but holds the apostle Paul up as an example. “The trouble with activists is that they tend to do rather than to pray. I know that is shamefully true of me. But in the apostle Paul I find a man who is not only astonishingly active, serving his Lord all over the Mediterranean basin, but who is also a contemplative and a real model of intercessory prayer.”3 It seems likely that the priority given to prayer in our lives is an accurate gauge of our spiritual lives, and hence we may learn from Paul’s model. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians is noted for its Trinitarian theology, its ecclesiology, its depth and its breadth. It also contains two majestic prayers--or prayer reports--of the apostle, and several other references to prayer. It would do well for us to emulate Paul’s examples and heed his instructions. The first prayer report in Ephesians is in the latter half of the first chapter, vs. 15-23, and is one sentence in the Greek. It begins with the phrase, “For this reason,” inc which Paul is looking back at the opening verses where he offers praise to God. Paul has praised God by “outlining God’s sovereignty, especially in redemption, as the anchor for his grace and as the source of the blessings enjoyed by his people.”4 Paul’s praise of God and God’s amazing grace and sovereignty provide the foundation of his prayer, and here Paul offers a beautiful example of how to pray with this firm foundation. Paul writes that he has heard about the reader’s faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and their love for all the saints ( 1:15) and that he has continually given thanks for them and remembered them in his prayers (16). This brief and very general thanksgiving report suggests that “Paul may not have even known the recipients but he has heard of their faith and life. On that basis he has a rapport with them and intercedes for them.”5 His prayer is addressed to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory (17). God’s glory is both his presence and the revelation of the One who has made himself known in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. Paul’s designation for God is consistent with the substance of the prayer that follows. Paul’s prayer is that this glorious revelatory God would give to the readers “ a spirit [the Spirit—of truth, the mediator and teacher] of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened” ( 1:17). Wisdom comes from God alone, and has to do with his revelation, his purposes as revealed in Christ. While the readers may have knowledge of God’s saving purposes, they “needed to grasp its full significance, not the least of all their own place in it.”6 In asking for them to have the eyes of their hearts enlightened, Paul is praying for illumination, for “spiritual insight so as to grasp the truth of God’s purposes.”7 The goal of this wisdom, revelation and enlightenment is a threefold knowledge. The first part is knowledge of the hope to which they have been called. “Paul prays they will know the significance of God’s choosing them. . . . The focus here is not on the fact of God’s choosing, but on the outcome, the consummation of God’s plan in eternity.”8 The second prayer focus is that they may know “what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints” ( 1:18). They are God’s inheritance, those which are set apart for God’s possession and enjoyment. In essence, Paul is praying “that the readers might appreciate the wonder, the glory of what God has done in entering into possession of his people, the Church from Jews and Gentiles, and the immense privilege it is to be among these saints”9 The third goal is knowledge of “what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe” (19) which is his marvelous life-giving and life-saving power. This is the same great power and might, Paul continues, “that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places” (v.20). Paul’s prayer is that the readers may know that this same power, the power which raised Christ from the dead, is available to them; that God’s power is active in their lives. From this point in his prayer, Paul is carried up in the greatness of God’s power manifested in Christ. Seated in the heavenly places, Christ is “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come” ( 1:22). Jesus is king and victor, exalted beyond all imaginable powers. “The whole hierarchy of authorities, including death, is subject to the risen and exalted Lord.”10God the Father of glory has “put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all” (vs 22-3). The sovereignty of God has its locus in Jesus Christ, who is the head of all things, and the head of a body, the church. Everything that we can see, taste, touch, think of, or imagine is under Jesus’ reign and rule, and all of his sovereignty is for the benefit of the church. This same Christ fills everything: “the whole of creation, the earthly and the heavenly, comprising all of humanity as well as the entire angelic realm.”11 What can we learn about prayer from this example? First of all, we should not separate worship, thanksgiving and prayer: the two belong together. Chapter 1 of Ephesians contains praise of God in vs. 3-14 as well as thanksgiving and prayer for his people as we looked at this morning. We need to expand our address; we need a bigger idea of God. In this case, Paul prayed to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory. How often to we pray simply to “God” or “the Lord” or “Father.” We need to expand our perception and vocabulary towards God. Next, in our discussion we see Paul attentive to reports of faith. In the same way that we give thanks to God when we recognize his quiet and effective work in our lives, so also we thank God when we hear of his work in others. . . . We will be attentive to reports of the progress of the gospel . . . and immediately turn to the God whose grace has sovereignly intervened in their lives with such happy result and offer him praise and thanksgiving.12 We can join with the angels in celebration! As a result, we can pray that those around us will increase in wisdom and learn to know God better. What better prayer is there? God in Christ Jesus is sovereign, and he will answer prayer. We can pray for spiritual insights in order that we and our companions may truly comprehend God’s work in us and in the world. The same mighty power that God used in raising Jesus from the dead is available to us. In the same way that our idea of God is too small, so are our prayers. When we focus on his greatness and glory, it is great incentive to pray. 1 Deaton, Todd. “Prayer: No. 1 Issue in Churches, Survey of Leaders Shows.” 7 March 2006. Www.BaptistCourier.Com. 12 February 2008. <http://www.baptistcourier.com/282.article>. 2 “Church Priorities for 2005 Vary Considerably.” 14 February 2005. The Barna Update.. 12 February 2008. <http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdate&BarnaUpdateID=182>. 3 Green, Michael & Elspeth Taylor. A Prayer Journey with the Apostle Paul: Sixty Devotions. ( Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004) 7. 4 Carson, D.A. A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and his Prayers. (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1992)169. 5 Snodgrass, Klyne. The NIV Application Commentary: Ephesians. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996) 72. 6 O’Brien, Peter. The Letter to the Ephesians. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999) 132. 7 O’Brien, 133. 8 Snodgrass, 74. 9 Lincoln, Andrew. Word Biblical Commentary: Ephesians. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1990) 60. 10 O’Brien, 142. 11 O’Brien, 151. 12 Carson, 171. |