"What is Biblical Prayer?" Ephesians 1:15-23

Pastor Brian leads us through Ephesians 1:15-23.

Transcript

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This is Ephesians 1 verses 15 to 23. For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love towards all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation and knowledge of Him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power towards us who believe, according to the working of his great might, that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly spaces, 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. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. Father, we just thank you for this passage and I just uh welcome Brian. This is God's word.

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What a joy it is to come before the Lord in worship, especially as we even think about in prayer. What a gift it is to pray to Him. Uh let's do that one more time. Father, bless the preaching of your word, that we would all be eternally impacted by the truth that you would reveal to us, and that Christ would be exalted, He'd be honored, and that we would apply what we see here. Lead us and guide us. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. Well, there it is. Uh as you heard read, prayer is the theme, the emphasis of this passage. Prayer is huge. It is a vital piece of the Christian life. Do you know this? In fact, as I've heard it said before, if you don't pray, you die. Your soul or your relationship with the Lord will wither and die if you do not pray. And so as we dive into our passage for today, it's gonna be imperative for us to see prayer for what it is. It's also gonna be necessary for us to glean from Paul as to what prayer looks like and even sounds like for the Christian. And to do this, we're gonna break this passage down into three parts. And my hope and my prayer for today is that through this passage, this chunk, the word of God will impact us in such a way that we would all together grow in our desire, ability, and devotion to prayer. So I just want us to jump right in. We're gonna jump right in, and as we do this, we're gonna seek to answer some common questions regarding prayer from many Christians. As you see in your bulletin, if you have that, uh, there's a slip in there with points on it for the sermon. Um, and so we're gonna walk through those. That's for your edification, or if you take notes, that's that's for you. So the first part, let's look at that. Why should I pray for others? Why should I pray for others? Now, this isn't just a, well, you know, we're Christians, so that's what we do. This is this is why, according to what Paul says here, verses 15 and 16 primarily. Notice that Paul begins this prayer by saying this. He says, For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you. Okay, that's how he starts out. So Paul prays like this because he knows that since they are now in Christ, they're gonna need prayer. Since they're now in Christ, they will be afflicted. That's what happens, especially in that day. They will be persecuted, especially in that pagan place. They're gonna have numerous temptations that will come their way, new temptations and old ones that were in line with their old ways of living and especially their old ways of worship. And so he knows it's gonna be really hard for them to walk in holiness with Christ, as is commanded in the Bible. Paul has taught them the Word of God, he has preached them the gospel of Jesus Christ, he has opened the word, and he has led them to see the beauty and the majesty of Jesus and their need to walk in obedient worship. He's blessed them immensely in their lives in this way, with his own life. And now, as he's writing, especially from afar, one of the greatest blessings that he can ever bestow on them is to pray for them. Is to pray for them. And not just say, okay, I'll be praying for you. And then just maybe at some point throw out a God be with them. Right? Not that that's bad, but it's just insufficient if that's the bulk of our prayer for one another. Paul knows deeply the power and need for prayer, and so he tells them that he's going to be praying for them. Do you do that? Do you do you maybe in our day and age text, somebody that you love in the church and you know something's going on, like, hey, I'm praying for you. That's not boasting, that's encouraging. Let them know. You're praying for them. This is why I'm praying for you. This is how I'm praying for you. And that's what Paul does. He says, I'm praying for you, and how, and that what that looks like, and why. And as he does this, they are no doubt thrilled to know that somebody is praying for them so diligently and specifically. For me, I love to hear that people are praying for me. You know how desperate I am for prayer in my life. Especially as Paul prays here in my walk with Christ. So please pray for me that I would be faithful. I'd be a faithful man. What a gift it is to know that people are praying for you like this. And so, what what we cannot miss right off the bat is that it is in light of their faith in the gospel that Paul prays. Notice that. It is in light of their faith in the gospel that he prays. And here's what I mean: most of the prayers of the Bible are praying for people who are already saved, who are already God's children. You know that. Most of prayer is that. Not that we don't pray for those who are not in the faith, but most of the time, the prayer that we see in Scripture, they're usually focused on the maturity of the brothers and sisters in the church. That's prayer in the Bible, by and large. And so, as he mentions in verse 16, Paul is praying prayers of thanksgiving, in part because of what he says in verse 15. So after speaking of their faith, he he speaks of their love. And if you're a Christian, you pray because you love. Out of love. I love that. Look at verses 15 and 16 to get them and read them. For this reason, I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you while making mention of you in my prayers. We need to know this. Many of you understand that in the Greek language there are numerous words for love, right? In English, we don't really have that. We have to use qualifiers. We maybe we say we love pickles. Some of us. And then we use the which word do we use to communicate deep devotion to our spouses? Same word, right? Love. Does that mean that I love a burger as much as I love my spouse? She's here, so I better I better get this one right. The answer is no. Okay? I love burgers, don't get me wrong, I really like burgers. But not anywhere near how much I love my wife. But that's what we do in the English language. We have to use other words to help out. In the Greek, though, there's many words for love, and one of them is a word that you're probably familiar with because it usually speaks of God's great love for his people, and that word is agape. You've heard that? Agape? Maybe you've heard it. That's the kind of love that is just not known by the world at all. It can't. Because it is a love that is intensely intentional. Okay? It is emotionally willful. It is extremely purposeful. It's the kind of love that God loves his people with. And it only comes through faith in Christ, and it is truly the greatest love that can ever be known. It is a love that Paul says the Ephesian church had for one another. Isn't that awesome? And not just those, you know, the closest friends that you have. And not just the go-tos, my little group. Not that. It says here, for all the people of the church. All of them. The ones who are different. The ones who may not have the same status in life as you do. The ones who are maybe a little strange. The ones who we may not align with other areas of life. Paul says is a wonderful compliment and therefore challenge to us today. He says that they loved each other, Agape loved each other. All who are in the church love like this. Sacrificial, others first kind of love. Now, this is incredibly challenging and important and profound to us because we live in a me first culture, don't we? I mean, every billboard ad, every commercial that we hear or watch, it's all about yourself, isn't it? Love yourself. That's not what the Bible teaches at all. And so it's in light of this that Paul is praying for them diligently. This is something we gotta fight to continue on in. Our sinful fleshly indulgences will always creep in, so we need to be aware of those kind of things. And we just pray for one another diligently, pray that we would love like this as a church, and that we would continue to love like this no matter what comes. Why? Because we're in Christ. If you're in Christ, you are eternally family here, brothers and sisters. Far more than just simple flesh and blood, and how often do we pray for our loved ones? We, as the church, are eternal kin because of the blood of the Son of God. And so the church in Ephesus took that to heart in the second half of the, what we see in the second half of the Ten Commandments, what we studied in Sunday school this morning, they took that to heart as they love their neighbor as themselves. Faithful in loving obedience to the will and word of God. That's true love. And Paul says here, it is a love that prays for one another. Prays for one another. Do you pray for your church family? Notice here also that Paul says that he is praying unceasingly. Paul's intentionally set his heart and his mind on praying unceasingly for them. He says, with thanksgiving. Are you constantly thankful for this church? The people of it, I mean. Not the building. Maybe at first glance you read those words of Paul, because he said this numerous times, something like that, in some of his prayers. And maybe you say, really, Paul? I mean you never stopped praying? Seems kind of ridiculous. Seems overwhelming, impossible, both for Paul, even for us to emulate, to always be praying. So what does he mean here by praying prayers of thanksgiving without ceasing? Is he saying he was able to put aside all things in his life, including eating, traveling, working, preaching, or even sleeping in order to be an unceasing prayer? Is that what he's saying? No. I don't think so. What Paul is saying here is that in light of the faith that is now known in the Ephesian church, he has constantly made it a point in his life to intercede on their behalf in his regular and disciplined times of prayer with thanksgiving. Paul is intentionally setting aside time to seek the Lord on behalf of others. Do you do that? He was intentional about his time so that he could pray for them in their walk with the Lord, and more on that in a minute. This also gives us the idea he always had prayer on his mind as he thought of them. As you think of the brothers and sisters in this church, you just pray. When he would hear a report about them, when the when the Lord would bring them to his mind, when he was writing this letter. When he spoke with others about the church in Ephesus. When he was studying the word and they came to his mind, he would intentionally and continually pray for them with thanksgiving. Do you do that? So what did he pray? What did he pray? What did that look like for him? Did he pray they'd have a nice large house on a hill? So they can lob things down at those poor folks below? Did he pray they're gonna have fat wallets, swollen bank accounts? Ooh, that would be great. Did he pray they're never gonna be sick again physically? Did he pray that little Johnny would hit that home run? Score those touchdowns? Did he even pray that they would live in a land of freedom? What was Paul's attitude in prayer for this church? Or for any church? What was he most concerned with regarding these Christians there? Not that he never prayed, I'm sure he did for their health or troubles in life. But that the bulk, the overwhelming majority of his prayers were primarily concerned with one thing. If you sum it up, one thing. And that thing is a word that theologians use to describe something. And that is sanctification. That's what he's concerned with. Sanctification, you could call their walk with the Lord, if you will, to simply summarize it. They're following Christ after salvation. They're progressively growing in holiness. I love what one commentator says. He says, quote, it is the, listen to this, it is the instinct of a holy heart to pray for the spiritual well-being of others. It is the instinct, okay, the natural instinct of a holy heart to pray for the spiritual well-being of others. Is that you? That's a holy heart. That's what the bulk of a godly prayer life looks like. As we pray for others. That's the bulk of the biblical record on prayer as well, by the way. And so, to answer the question of how, we've seen why, but now how do we pray? How to pray? How do we do this? Maybe I'm a bit timid, especially before others. Let's look at what much of what Paul says here in our second point. How do I pray for others? Here's the thing. Many times new Christians and Christians who want to mature in the relationship with the Lord ask this kind of question. Well, how do I pray? They hear people pray all the time and they say, Man, I want to pray like that. That's awesome. Or maybe they say with a puzzled look, why do they pray like that? What's that hedge of protection thing that we hear all the time? Where did that come from? Well, since we all want to mature in our walk with Christ, let's look at what Paul says here, and we're going to glean from him through the spirit of the word as to what prayer looks like. Maybe a good place to start is by looking at some of the other prayers of the New Testament for the church to glean from. And let's find out the content of what a godly prayer looks like, according to who? God. We can't do anything on our own. We need God to inform us even how to pray to God. And He's done that. But I guess in that regard, the first question to answer is backing up a bit, is does the Bible actually instruct us how to pray, or do we just kind of get to do what we want there? That's the question. I would argue it does teach us how to pray. But let's not take my word for it. Let's see what the testimony of God's word says. I would say, for one, we have the prayer framework that Jesus gave his apostles that we read about in Matthew 6, what we call the Lord's Prayer. This is what the Lord teaches us what prayer ought to look like in his response to the apostles' request of, how do I pray? And so, according to Jesus, we're going to summarize this real succinctly, according to Jesus, the framework for prayer is to first and foremost be doxological. Okay? And what that means is it is a time of rejoicing in and agreeing with God in his holiness and his kindness, and pleading with him that others would know that as well. That's how he begins. Our Father who are in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Right? Kingdom come, they will be done. So that's Dr. Light, that's God's word, if you will. Next, it's also dependent, isn't it? Just really just begging God out of humility for any and all needs and desires in this life, because he is the one who gives them and provides. So we go to him. It's also to be defensive and offensive at the same time. We pray the Lord would protect us from the evil one, and that he would crush the evil one as we are delivered to his side, and this is both in salvation and daily as we cling to his grace, and that he would protect us from our own propensity to sin. Now that's a very, very, very quick summary of the Lord's prayer from the gospel accounts. But also, I think we have so many great examples of prayer, even from the author of this little book we're studying, the book of Ephesians, this brother named the Apostle Paul. And again, he loved to pray for his churches and to tell them he was. He loved to go to the Lord on their behalf. And just, I want you to just be blessed to hear how Paul prays for the churches. Here's for the church in Colosse. This is Colossians chapter 1, verses 9 to 14. Very similar prayer. This is what he says. He says, For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, he's talking about their faith in the gospel. He says, We have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all power according to his glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience, joyously giving thanks to the Father, who was, is awesome, qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light, for he delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Not a great prayer. What if you knew that most of the people in this church were praying for you something like that every day? Philippians 1, 9 through 11, again, Paul says, and this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more. In real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent. In order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ, having been filled with the fruit of righteousness, which comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. I love Second Thessalonians chapter one, verse. 11 and 12. Again, think of yourself being prayed for like this. It says, to this end, we also pray for you always that our God will count you worthy of your calling. That our God will count you worthy of your calling and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you and you in him according to the grace of our God in the Lord Jesus Christ. I'll give you one more. Philemon 4 to 6, yes, it's in the Bible. Says, I thank my God always. Notice this always thing, this unceasing thing. I thank my God always making mention of you in my prayers because I hear of your love and of the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints, and I pray that the fellowship of your faith may become effective. Again, here's the thing, through the knowledge of every good thing which is in you for Christ's sake. Now that is wonderful prayer, isn't it? Praise God for the Christians who pray for one another in this way. Please pray for me like this. I will shamelessly beg for prayer in this way. Always. And so let's look now at what Paul prayed specifically for them in our text in verse 17. And then following. He prays that the heavenly and glorious Father and the Lord Jesus Christ would give to them a spirit of wisdom and of revelation. That's where he begins. Again, not houses, cars, health. It says wisdom and of revelation. Wisdom and revelation of what? How to do or be this or that? Things of the earth? Technology and science? Economics? Financial security? No. This is in the knowledge of him. In the knowledge of God. Paul prays that these faithful and loving Christians, notice that, Christians, he prays that these faithful Christians would gain more and more knowledge and wisdom and revelations of his glory. Now, by revelations, he doesn't mean visions or dreams. That's not what he's talking about. Paul is just using another word to speak of their continual need to know more and more about the Lord from the Bible. So why does he pray this way for them? He does it often with the churches, as you heard when I read some of the other passages from the other letters. But why does he pray like this for Christians? Well, for one, because it is one thing to know Christ and a whole different thing to know about him. There's some overlap. But as our Lord teaches us, on that day when the Lord returns and when he's judging in a holy perfect way, many will say on that day that they knew the Lord. You know the passage. They will beg him, saying, Look at what we did in your name, Jesus. I did those cool things. I went to church. I I was part of the programs. I went to the Bible studies. I led the music. I helped out around the church building. I even served in the community a lot. But did they truly know Christ? Here's the thing: those can be completely different things. Let me give you an example. I've spent quite a bit of time reading about and looking into the Second World War. You can challenge me on that later. That era with its weaponry, the tanks, the planes, the ships, the firearms, all the stuff, they're just fascinating to me. The men who fought and died in that conflict are, I would say, are really a whole different kind of man from most that we encounter today in terms of their convictions and their bravery. Now, while I may know a lot about the history of World War II, that by no way means that I know what it was like. I wasn't there. I don't know the fear, the smells, the pain, the victory, even the camaraderie that lasts a lifetime for these men. I only know things about it based on what has been told and written down and recounted. I do not know it in an intimate way. I cannot. Unfortunately. That's the same with many in the modern evangelical church today. And if you think I'm being harsh, all you have to do is remember the words of our Lord that I just quoted about rejecting those who didn't know him, yet said they did. The Bible teaches us clearly that your life will be indicative of your life with Christ. 1 John details out for us what I would call many in-your-face truths in regards to whether or not you're in the faith. If we say we have fellowship with him and yet we walk in the darkness, what does the Lord tell us through 1 John? We're liars. If we don't love the brethren, the people of the church, 1 John says that we're not his. And on and on and on it goes in 1 John. There's 16 proofs of salvation, if you will, in 1 John. So just as Paul commands us to daily examine ourselves and see if we're in the faith, just as the constant testimony of the scriptures speaks to the ongoing process of being saved in light of the grace of God in salvation, so Paul prays here that they would increase in an intimate knowledge of God, which ends up being a proof of salvation and needed truth for us to mature in Christ. You see, if we do not increase in our understanding of the single most precious thing in our lives, namely Jesus Christ, then we are withering away. I've heard so many people say, oh man, those are tough things in Scripture. I just don't understand. Yet they could tell you the exact details of how to build a bridge. All the parts and pieces, I mean, rocket scientists would say, well, the Bible's hard to understand. No, it's not. There are things that are kind of tough. But you have to desire to know it. You have to desire to want to have the knowledge of what God has revealed the same way you would apply yourself in other areas of life. Whether it's work or play. Day by day, this should be our kind of prayer. That we would increase in our understanding of the grandeur, the splendor, the beauty, and the majesty of King Jesus. Because if we're content to just simply know stuff about Christ without a deep desire to know Christ in an intimate way, then we can be sure that we're not in Christ. And it's time to call out to Him for grace. Because here's the thing, brothers and sisters, the Christian life is a quest. Not a mere quest to find the Holy Grail, okay? Or that other neat thing of the earth. From the moment of our conversion, the quest that the Christian man or woman is on is a quest to seek to know and to gain more and more knowledge of Christ from the Word of Christ, derived by our desperate need to worship Christ, all to the glory of Christ. And so the point of our wisdom, our knowledge, our greater understanding of his beauty through his word, is so that we may be led to further and grander times of worship. That's why Paul prays this way. He understands it. The more we know the Savior in a deep and abiding way, the greater our capacity for worship increases unto a fulfilled life. So pray for your brothers and sisters that they would have more wisdom and insight into who God is. Look at verse 18. We see that Paul continues to pray for them in regards to their knowledge of Christ, and this is what he prays. He says, that the eyes of their hearts would be enlightened. Enlightened for what? Just a continual reminder and ever-growing joy in the Lord and their salvation. There are three things listed out here in the second half of 18 and into the first part of 19 that every Christian ought to pray for one another. I mean, you see it, right? Paul, of course, is praying that that beating muscle of flesh and blood that's behind your ribcage would have these brand new eyeballs to see things, right? Is that what he's praying? See, this is where it's like, it's not hard to understand what he's doing here. And so by using the illustration of the heart, what he is doing is Paul is speaking of that which is the soulful center, the core of who we are. It's not some organ in the body. It's speaking of the essence of who we are as a people of God. And so he prays that the very nature of who we are would always know and be overjoyed at the hope of our calling. What a way to pray for each other. Think of it this way, when we first come to the Lord, it's like seeing for the first time. You know the experience, right? Now imagine living on this earth for 20 years or so without the ability to see anything at all. Just completely blind. And then one day you're able to see shapes and trees and hills, and they're blurry, but you don't know it. You're just thrilled because you can see something for the first time. As time goes on, your vision slowly but surely becomes more and more clear. And you're able to see some detail after a few years, and then with some spectacles, you're able to have 20-20 vision. What a joy! That's somewhat like the walk of the Christian with Christ. When the eyes of our hearts, as Paul's talking about here, are first open to the splendor of Jesus Christ by the power of his Spirit, we're able to actually see Jesus for who he is for the first time. Then, over time, as we grow in our understanding of his word, as we gain knowledge of him and his glory, our vision begins to clear up a bit and worship is enhanced. Do you know what I'm talking about? Have you experienced this? It's awesome. Then one day we come to know some deep truths of who he is, and we have 2020 vision as a Christian. But for the Christian, 2020 vision is not nearly enough, is it? The Christian is always begging God to have better and better vision with their hearts, the soul of who they are. They pray this way, as Paul does, and they beg God to give them 2010 vision of the Savior. They can't get enough vision of his glory. He's always and forever being magnified before their eyes, and it is the cry of their newly opened hearts to know him more and more and more and to see him more for who he is. That's a Christian. And what that does, what Paul's talking about here, is it bolsters hope. I hope that you have experienced the fact that the better we see Christ, the more hope we have. Now, the Christian from the moment of conversion has this hope, eternal hope, right? Right off the bat. But as you grow in wisdom and knowledge and understanding, and you see the depths of who he is, hope becomes magnified. As we understand his grace all the more. And so as we reflect on our calling, as we've seen here in Ephesus, he says our choosing, our being predestined, our sealing with the Spirit, as we reflect upon what he has done in calling us unto salvation, our hope just explodes into choruses of praise. Because again, I've said this before, we can never think that because we know the gospel and the hope we have in and through it, that somehow we're good. I'm done. We'll just rest in that small amount of hope that we have when we first believe. No, the Bible is clear. Hope is to be grown in. Hope is to be understood in more and more ways. Hope is to be fostered as we reflect on his majesty. Now, this hope is an ongoing and worship-compelling joy in the Lord. That's why Paul prays this way for them. He doesn't want them to just sit back and just live and hope that God will return so I don't have to do anything. He wants them to grow. And so Paul prays that the eyes of their hearts would be made clearer. And one of the things he wants them to see is riches. Do you see riches? No. Paul doesn't care about you and I being rich here on the earth. In fact, it's dangerous. He doesn't care to pray for your financial security nor your retirement. Those things disappear. It doesn't really matter to Paul. He isn't thinking of having enough riches to travel nor to have that second house. Paul isn't slightly in the slightest concerned with those things. You never see him praying for those things. Not that they had retirement back then, but you get my point. Paul simply trusts the Lord for his daily needs, doesn't he? Kind of like what Jesus instructed. Give us this day our daily bread. That's our inheritance. To know him, to worship him without sin. That's the ultimate beauty of our inheritance. And so Paul prays here that they would know more and more of the glory of Jesus, our inheritance. That they would know how truly rich they are. And so what we find as we study and understand what Paul is saying here is that he wants them to know that they are in fact rich because God has placed such a high value on their lives. I want you to listen to what the old theologian F. F. Bruce had to say about this. Listen to this quote. I love this. He says, Paul prays here that his readers would 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 listen thus lavished on them. Whew, that's riches. Because in God's sight, you and I, as image bearers, are worth more than anything else in creation. Do you deserve that? So much so that God, even the Father, even chooses to send his son to die in our place and save us. He must consider us valuable. He considered us to be of such value to sacrifice his son to redeem us. How can we not pray that we would see the immense glory and splendor of this great God and King, this merciful and holy God? What an inheritance we have. Paul also here, as he moves on. Again, this is how to pray. How do you pray for one another? He wants us to know he's praying for them to have an intimate and growing knowledge of the power of Christ. And let me tell you the way Paul writes this, there's no mistaking that Paul is praying for them to daily understand and know the power of God in them. I would like to say it this way. Paul breaks out all the verbiage he can, he pulls out all the stops, he grabs his biblical thesaurus and writes. He just starts praying this way, that God would bless them with a true and real understanding of God's mighty power. He tells them here in verse 19 that all of the beauty of who they are, all the faith, all the love they have, their desire for Jesus and his gospel, it all comes according to the power of God. And so he diligently, unceasingly prays that they would come to know this power all the more. Just look at how it's described in 19. He says the word in the NIS he says, surpassing. Surpassing. The Greek word there is hooperbalo. Okay? And what that means is to exceed. God is exceedingly, abundantly, surpassingly powerful and mighty. You know this. Ah, may we know how exceedingly rich we are in Christ. Next, he uses the word greatness. In the Greek, this is megathos. This indicates the magnitude of our riches in light of his power. And so there is this eternal magnitude of his strength that's ever expanding and infinitely unbreakable. Paul goes on and he says the word we're looking for here, power. Again, what is the Greek word there? We talked about this. It is dunamis. What's that mean? You guessed it. July 4th coming up. Don't like dynamite sticks. Okay, that's a bad idea. But that's where we get this. That's where we get the word dynamite from. And so what we see is the greatness of his strength is explosive. And it's explosively strong. It is explosively strong and wonderful to those who believe, Paul says here. Now that alone, to me, should cause us to repent daily. Why? Who wants to be on the other side of God's power? Line your life up with him. If it's his power that saves and protects us, then what does that mean for those who are not his? Paul says next that these are all in accord with the working of the strength of his might. The Greek word here is energyia. Now, this might, energy, is it's actually kind of the word is used in a superhuman kind of way, superhuman kind of power, a supernatural working. Goes on to say strength. The Greek word for strength is kratos or complete force. See what I said? Paul kind of got the thesaurus out and he's just going for it. The word for might at the end of 19, another word for strength and power is iskus. So again, do you see what Paul's doing here? Do you see how he's teaching them of the beauty of the Lord's dynamic power toward his people and how we are to pray for one another? That we would know this in an intimate way. As a quick encouraging aside, so many people in our church right now are facing health problems. There's a lot of folks that aren't here this morning because of health problems. Surgeries and things of the like. I just say, thinking about the power of God, who can ever snatch you from the grip of this all-powerful one? Is he sufficient? Who can harm God's elect eternally? Who can separate us from the love of God? Nobody. Nothing. So pray this way. Pray daily that your brothers and sisters would know more and more of this power and therefore be led into worship over it. That is why Paul prays this way on behalf of the church he's writing to. He wants them to know that the Lord has given them this kind of power. And he wants them to grow in their knowledge of it through his word. Now it's not so that we can flex our spiritual muscles and do cool miracles for him. Not that kind of power. His power is given so that we can grow in holiness and godliness in our lives. It's far greater than any miracle of turning, you know, getting a rock to pour out water. Well, that's neat. It doesn't affect anybody. But the power of God in us to grow and Holiness. Now that's eternally meaningful. And so what we find is that Paul is trying to convey that he wants more for them than just a basic understanding of the Christian faith. That's why he's walked them through. I want to grow in knowledge and in wisdom. You would know him, you would see more clearly. He knows that real and lasting joy is found in none other than Christ. And so the more we know him, guess what? The more we worship. And so let's never hear it, pray, Baptists just settle for an elementary understanding of the word of God or the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let us strive, let us yearn for a greater understanding of the depths of our God and His grace, the magnitude of His awesome power and more depth of insight into His perfect word. Let us pray for one another in this. Let us pray diligently that we would grow in wisdom. Because here's the thing. As we grow in wisdom, we grow in worship. As we grow in wisdom, we grow in love. And I'm talking about biblical wisdom of who Christ is and what he's accomplished. As we grow in these things, we grow as a church. Numerically, who knows? Maybe, maybe not. But together do we grow together in this way, yeah. But here's a here's a here's a here's a side challenge, if you will. I want to challenge the men in here. I want to challenge the men in here to lead in this, this kind of prayer. Men are to lead in the home, in the church. The Bible's clear. And one of the things that we are called to lead in is prayer. Now, not that women shouldn't or ought not to pray, no, on the contrary, please don't hear that. But men, I say this to you. Where are you in this? Where are you? Are you praying like this? Are you leading in prayer like this? 1 Timothy 2.8. Therefore, I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands without wrath and dissension. James 5.16, the effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. Men, are we leading in this? Are we leading in this God-ordained and given role in whatever sphere of leadership God has given you? Are you praying with and for your church? For your family in Christ? Are you leading in that? Where are you? One of the things I would say that the Bible shows us that tells us that Paul is what I would call a man's man, is because he prays for those he loves. And he doesn't pray for health and wealth. He prays for sanctification. Do you pray like this, brothers? Third point, briefly. What should prayer lead us to? What should prayer lead us to? I love it when Paul prays like this. It's beautiful to see him pray in this way and be led to overwhelming joy in the gospel. If our prayer lives aren't primarily focused on the joy of the knowledge of God and his gospel, our prayer lives are anemic at best. Okay? Not that we can't pray for ourselves or the health of others. Of course we pray that way. We talked about that, but that should not consume the bulk of our prayer lives. If our prayer lives center around self, if they center around temporary things, if they center around that which is, we could call it fleeting, temporary, then we are not only missing out, we are missing it altogether. Again, not that we don't pray for those kind of things. Our Lord even teaches us how. But that the bulk of our prayers are to be others focused and therefore Godward in all things. Not just in begging him for more stuff, but in making him the supreme object of praise and adoration and prayer. Do you know prayer's for us? And it is for our greatest good to be led, like Paul frequently does, to exalt Christ in his gospel work in prayer. That is the Christian's constant conversation in prayer with the Lord. We don't just ask for things, and we definitely don't just sit around and wait for him to speak to us. Okay? We praise his holy name for his holy work and our holy standing by his holy grace. Look at what Paul says here, verse 20. Look at it. It says, all this was brought about in Christ. All of it. And so his prayer for the Ephesian church leads him to just praise God by first reminding us it has all been brought about in Christ. In Christ in Christ alone. When? When did it come about? It came to fruition when Jesus Christ raised from the dead. Began before the foundations of the world, came to fruition when he raised from the dead, and was seated at the right hand of God the Father. In and through the work of Christ on the cross, our salvation and our hope have been solidified eternally. We know this. He ascended on high as the great and mighty king and ruler of all. And so there's not one element in all of creation that can compare with the power or the splendor of the king of the universe. And so, what an absolutely stunning and amazing thing here we see that this same work, this same power that raised Christ from the dead, seated him in the heavenly places, far above all created things, it says right here, is the same power that Paul prays we would know, that we would cherish in us by the presence of the Holy Spirit. And it says, He is at work in us by this same power. Your God has not withheld anything from you. Since Christ is the all-powerful King of the universe, all things, all things are in subjection to him under his feet. How does that not bolster our prayer lives daily? Man. It says in verse 22 that he's not only the ruler of all things, praise God, have you seen the rulers of this earth right now? He is the ruler of all things. It also says that he is the head of the church. He alone is the head of the church. Now, I may be a pastor of this church vocationally, one of your elders. I am not the head of this church, not by a long shot. Christ. And Christ alone is the head. This is why we do what we do. This is why we do what he says in his word over above any thought or any hope or any inclination we may have. It's what does his word tell us? That's who we are as a church. We're the body of Christ. Without the head, the body doesn't know what to do, does it? Can't even function. The head even tells the limbs how and when to move. The head commands the ligaments to compel the legs to walk forward. The head commands the mouth to speak or to be silent. It's the head that makes a body function. And here's something you and I should marvel at in prayer daily. Christ allows us to be his body. He allows us to be his hands and feet. He allows us to be his mouthpiece. He allows us to be the body that does all things for his glory. That's how gracious he is to you. That should really drive and spur our prayer lives, right? And for the body of Christ, how desperate are we to go to the head in constant communication? Prayer and his word? Try to imagine a body functioning without consulting the brain. How's that going to go? How much more so with the God of the universe? Pray for each other daily, brothers and sisters. Pray that the eyes of our hearts would come to know more and more of the glorious mystery that speaks of the beauty and glory of Christ, ahead of all things, his church. And I want to leave you with something to marvel at as we close. Christ has so chosen, has chosen to so closely align himself with his bride that without her, without us, Jesus Christ cannot be the great husband. The scripture promises. There's no such thing as a head without a body, so we find as the Lord is seen fit to not only save a people, but to align himself so tightly with them in such a way that he does not wish to be seen as whole without us. Now, if that doesn't lead us to pray prayers for each other that are for a greater understanding of his knowledge and power and the riches we have in him, then I don't know what's going to compel you to pray biblically in this way. Brothers and sisters, do you know that we pray every Sunday afternoon here as a church corporately at 3.15? The Bible commands us to pray individually, and it also commands us to pray together. I strongly encourage you to consider praying together as a church. So set aside the time. If we don't pray, we die. We must pray together. Let's do that now. Oh great God. Open our eyes to see more of the beauty and majesty of who you are and what you've done. May we be led to know more and more and more of your marvelous grace, your all-sufficient power and might. May we know more and more as we dive into your word and commune with you each day in unceasing prayer of who you are and what you've accomplished. May the glory of your name become the fervent cry of our hearts. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.