| Introduction The Puritans are known for their zeal for right doctrine, for their desire for a pure church, for their work ethics, for their enterprising nature in the New World. They are less known for their prayers. Arthur Bennett put together a little book called "The Valley of Vision," in which he collected several Puritan prayers. One of these prayers is on the love of Christ and reads as follows (updated language): Help me to approach you with deepest reverence, not with presumption, not with servile fear, but with holy boldness. You are beyond the grasp of my understanding, but not beyond that of my love. You know that I love you supremely, for you are supremely adorable, good, perfect. My heart melts at the love of Jesus, my brother, bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, married to me, dead for me, risen for me; he is mine and I am his, given to me as well as for me; I am never so much mine as when I am his, or so much lost to myself until lost in him; then I find my true manhood. But my love is frost and cold, ice and snow; let his love warm me, lighten my burden, be my heaven; may it be more revealed to me in all its influences that my love to him may be more fervent and glowing; let the mighty tide of his everlasting love cover the rocks of my sin and care; the let my spirit float above those things which had else wrecked my life. Make me fruitful by living to that love, my character becoming more beautiful everyday. If traces of Christ's love-artistry be upon me, may he work on with his divine brush until the complete image be obtained and I be made a perfect copy of him, my Master. This Puritan understood the meaning of the passage we are going to be considering this morning. This passage is one of the most beautiful prayers in the whole of the Bible. Paul earnestly prays for his brothers and sisters in Christ – his family! We will spend two or three Sundays on this passage. Today I want to make general comments about this heartfelt prayer and beautiful doxology. I. First of All, Notice the Strong Trinitarian Emphasis of This Prayer. A. Paul prays to the Father, 14. B. Paul prays that the Father would grant strength through the Spirit, 16. C. Paul prays that Christ would dwell in them, 17. D.Then, all persons of the Trinity are brought together in the fourth petition when Paul prays that the Ephesians would be filled unto the fullness of God, 19b. E. Thus, in this prayer Paul beautifully shows all persons of the Trinity involved in the prayer of the Christian. 1. Remember that in prayer every member of the Trinity has a function. a. The Father is the object of our prayers – we pray to him. Mt. 6:9– In this manner, therefore, pray: our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. b. The Son gives us access to the Father. Jn. 16:23– And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. c. The Spirit is the conduit, as it were, of our prayers. Rom. 8:26– Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 2. Thus, we can only pray to the God of the Bible by knowing all three persons in the Trinity as they really are. II.Secondly, Notice the Place and Importance of Praying for His Brethren in Paul's Ministry. A. This is the second time in this epistle where Paul prays for the Ephesians, the first being found in 1:15-23. B. In every epistle, Paul makes sure he prays for his brothers/sisters and that they know he is praying for them [a little note to let people you are praying for them]. C. The reason for his constant prayers for his brethren is twofold: a. Do we love the brethren enough to pray for them? b. Do we bring our Christian family before the only who can bless, help, comfort, exhort, sanctify, and guide them? 2. He knew God was able to answer his prayers, 20. a. Paul knew that his God was a big God. b. He knew that his God could do more than he could even imagine. c. We serve the same big God. 1) He continues to be able to do whatever he desires. 2) He continues to answer the prayers of his people. d. Let us not make our God a little, powerless, puppet. e. Instead, let us believe the Bible when it says that our God is able to do abundantly more than what we can ask or think. "There is an inexhaustible fullness of grace and mercy in God, which the prayers of all the saints can never draw dry. Whatever we may ask, or think to ask, still God is still able to do more, abundantly more, exceedingly abundantly more. Open thy mouth ever so wide, still he hath wherewithal to fill it." Matthew Henry f. Let us remember James's admonition. Jam. 4:2b– Yet you do not have because you do not ask. g. Let this prayer be an encouragement for us to pray for one another. III. Thirdly, Notice the Context in Which This Prayer Is Prayed. A. Verse 1 starts with the words "for this reason." B. This implies that somewhere in Ephesians we will find what the reason for this prayer is. C. In looking at the immediate context, we could say that the reason for this prayer is found in verse 13. 2. The Ephesians were discouraged by seeing their leader suffering. 3. So, Paul prays this prayer for them. D.More likely, however, the reason for this prayer is found in verse 1. 1. Verses 2-13 are a digression in the argument, as Paul is known to do [last week's sermon]. 2. Notice how the flow of thought abruptly changes direction and the end of verse 1 as signified by the dash in our translation. 3. Verse 1 in turn points to chapter 2:19-22 where we find the reason for Paul's prayer for the Ephesians: they are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. 4. This is further evidenced by Paul's use of the phrase "the whole family" in 3:15. Paul prays this prayer "in view of the grace which has imparted new life to his Gentile readers, united them with Jewish believers in one body, and built them into the living temple which is being erected for the indwelling of God." Charles Erdman "…because you Ephesians are made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ." Charles Hodge E. This is more motivation to pray for one another. 1. God brought us together with the purpose of our growing together into the image of Christ, 4:11-17. 2. He brought us to this congregation to be a community of prayer. 3. I think how God went through great providential lengths to bring me here and it makes me realize how much I need you and your prayers in order for me to grow in the love of Christ. IV. Fourthly, Let Me Briefly Comment on the Words "of Our Lord Jesus Christ." A. Most of your Bibles will have some sort of footnote next to those words. B. The reason for that is the weak manuscript evidence for these words being here in verse 14. C. So, verse 14 actually ends after the word "Father." D.Although the words "of our Lord Jesus Christ" should not be part of this particular verse, the teaching they convey is clearly part of the Pauline understanding of prayer as in 1:3. "It is because he is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our incarnate God and Saviour, that he is our Father, and accessible to us in prayer. We can approach him acceptably in no other character than as the God who sent the Lord Jesus to be our propitiation and mediator." Charles Hodge V. Fifthly, Notice the Manner in Which This Prayer Was Prayed: I Bow (Bend) My Knees, v. 14. A. Jewish tradition did not prescribe kneeling for prayer, and the OT speaks of people standing or prostrated on their faces when approaching God. B. Kneeling is a distinct Christian posture that signifies humility before God. C. The Bible does not prescribe what position we should be in to pray because it is the heart that matters. D.Yet, there are certain postures that help us be in the right frame of mind when coming before the throne of grace. E. And, there are postures that show the dignity of the one before whom we are coming – the King of glory. VI. Sixthly, Notice the Identity of the Father: From Whom Whole the Family in Heaven and Earth Is Named, v. 15. A. The Father gives identity to the whole family in heaven and earth, that is, he names it. 1. The Christian finds his identity in God. 2. He is the one who tells us who we are. B. The whole family refers back to 2:19 and is made up of Jews and Gentiles, living and dead. Rev. 7:9-10– After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10and crying out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation belongsto our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" C. The fact that the whole family is named tells us that God has authority and ownership over this family. D.The naming ceremony was in the Old Testament circumcision and now is baptism. VII. Seventhly and Lastly, This Passage Reminds Us That We Must Learn to Pray Prayers Like This. A. In one sense, prayer should be as natural as breathing for a child of God. B. At the same time, we grow in our ability to pray. Lk. 11:1– Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, thatone of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples." C. Three ways we learn to pray: 1. Prayer is learned by praying. a. We should pray until we pray. b. We ought to pray long enough and honestly enough, in a single session, to get past the feeling of formalism and unreality. 1) Often, our prayers begin coldly. 2) But as we pray, our hearts are warmed, and our minds become more active. 2. Prayer is learned by praying with others. a. This is done by considering the prayers in the Bible and in history – in this case the others are saints that have gone before us and our now part of the cloud of witnesses that tell us that we can do it too. b. This is also done by praying live (instead of in history) with others – two suggestions: 1) Develop a prayer-partner relationship – a person or two you can get together and pray (not just talk about prayer). 2) Choose good models of prayer – sources: c) Books like Valley of Vision and Christian biographies 3. Prayer is learned by meditating on Scripture. "Meditation is a middle sort of duty between the word and prayer…. The word feeds meditation, and meditation feeds prayer. These duties must always go hand in hand; meditation must follow hearing and precede prayer. To hear and not to meditate is unfruitful.... It is rashness to pray and not to meditate. What we take in by the word we digest by meditation and let out by prayer. These three duties must be ordered that one may not jostle out the other." Thomas Manton a. A helpful thing we can do to improve our prayers is to read Scripture before we pray. b. After reading, meditate on what we have read and then pray. c. As we read, look for what we can praise God for. d. Look for what we can thank God for. Would we dare pray a prayer like this for ourselves and for each other? Would we dare pray that, renouncing all others, we would be filled with the love of Christ? It is a daring prayer because in order to answer it, God will destroy all the competing loves that compete for our hearts. And yet, the destruction of all these loves and being consumed with the love of Christ is what life is really all about.
Prayer– Father, we are your family named by you and after you. We pray that you would grant us, according to the riches of your glory, to be strengthened with might through your Spirit in the inner man. Father in heaven, we pray that Christ would dwell in our hearts through faith, so that, being rooted and grounded in love, we may be able to comprehend with all the saints what isthe width and length and depth and height of the love of Jesus Christ, a love surpasses knowledge. We pray that we would be filled with all your fullness.
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