For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. (Ephesians 3:14-15, 16a, 19b)

 

 

            Were I to inform you that I’ll be away on Friday to tend to “family business,” you probably wouldn’t ask any questions. You probably would give me the time off, assuming the work I had to do was a high priority. In fact, if I didn’t attend to my family business, you’d likely think something was wrong with me!

          That’s just how important we estimate the family, and family business, to be here in Greene and George Counties.

          Why is it, then, that you and I are so cavalier in neglecting the most-important family business of all?

 

          This morning, as we explore St. Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian Christians as recorded in Ephesians 3:14-21, we see that for the apostle, prayer is an urgent matter of family business, for believers are united as an everlasting family in Christ and therefore need one another – and one another’s prayers for growth in Christ.

His prayer actually teaches us four lessons about biblical, Christ-honoring prayer: it is a family matter; it fuels Christian growth; it is founded on God’s power; and it focuses finally on God’s glory.

          You and I are a family: the adopted family of God in Christ. And we face stiff challenges every day to our Christian profession. This knowledge must drive you and me to our knees before the throne of grace!

 

          Paul first teaches that prayer is a family matter: it is a means of grace that you and I, as God’s family, must exercise for one another’s benefit as we call on our Father in Heaven.

          The apostle resumes the thought of 3:1 when he prays to God in Heaven “for this cause.” (The previous 13 verses were, as we have noted in recent weeks, a discussion about the Gentiles’ inclusion into the family of God). What is the “cause” for Paul’s prayer? Well, he’s praying for the Ephesians because they – by God’s amazing grace – have been brought from death to life in Christ, from being strangers to the covenants of God’s promise of salvation to partakers in that salvation. Because they’re family, Paul prays earnestly for the Ephesian believers – whom he once sought to kill!

          St. Paul further clarifies his point as he says the whole family (of God, as “all saints” in verse 18 indicates) in Heaven and on earth derives its name from our Lord Jesus Christ. In Scripture, you’ll recall, a person’s name stood for his entire character and mission. So when you and I are named “Christians,” this means we are clothed in Jesus’ righteousness (perfect keeping of God’s law) and are enabled to reflect his holy character more and more in this life. By God’s grace to adopt you and me in His true Son, Jesus, we are made members of His family: the most-important family of all eternity. And this means we must pray for each other as brothers and sisters!

          Prayer is a family matter also because we pray to our common Father in Heaven. Paul bowed his knees before the Father – an uncommon act of humility, urgency and piety, considering most Jews and early Christians prayed standing up – because, as we’ll see, he knew the Father’s power to work for His people. Paul also knew that our Father in Heaven bestows the best gifts, as Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount. Knowing the Maker of all things as your Father through adoption in Christ gives you and me great incentive to pray to Him for our fellow believers.

          But do you do this? Do you pray for other Christians – with humility and urgency? Do you long for their spiritual health, mindful of the fact that you are linked with them intimately in the most-important family of all? Do you trust our Father in Heaven to answer prayer in Christ’s Name according to His perfect wisdom?

          This is vital family business!

 

          Second, prayer fuels spiritual growth – which is why you and I must seek our Lord often at the throne of grace.

          As we’ll see in chapters 4-6 – in which Paul calls on believers to live out the implications of our new life in Christ – the Christian life encounters many challenges. The world, the flesh and the devil all combine to threaten your spiritual welfare and progress in the Gospel. Thus you must seek strengthening from God for yourself and for your brothers and sisters in Christ.

          Paul prays that the Ephesians would be strengthened with power in their inner man – their heart, their mind, their will – by the Spirit of God. Clearly Paul understands that it’s tough following Jesus when you have to deal with pesky old temptations and difficult family members (for instance). It is the Spirit’s role not to cause you to have ecstatic experiences or to babble in an unknown language but, instead, to bolster you in your Christian convictions and in your commitment to Christ. It’s the Spirit who firms you against the attacks of the world, the flesh and the devil. You need to be on guard during times of trial, and it’s the Spirit who alerts you.

          In a parallel petition, Paul also prays that Christ would indwell the Ephesians by faith. Now, you might ask, doesn’t Christ already dwell in believers? True; he does. But just as you and I may grow in grace, so we may grow in the presence of Christ in us. As part of the sanctification process, you can (and must!) come more and more under Christ’s control and grow in obedience to him in daily decisions. His prayer here, then, is for the Ephesians to know more of Christ’s power and love by faith, and for them to reap spiritual strengthening from Jesus’ indwelling them.

          Part of the fruit of Christ’s indwelling is that they, and you and I, may experience more of the love of God to us in Christ. That love, Paul teaches, is the soil in which our souls are rooted and from which we derive life and nourishment. The apostle frames it another way: God’s love in Christ is the foundation upon which your Christian life rests.

          But as you get to know Jesus better by making use of the means of grace (prayer, the reading and study of the Word, and the sacraments) and by applying his Word to your life, you’ll gain a richer appreciation for his love. The more you try to mortify sin and to choose the Christ-honoring path in life (for example, by restraining yourself when you’d like to blow up at someone), the more you rest on Christ’s power and love. The more his love means to you. The more you draw on him for spiritual nourishment and empowerment. The more you realize that while his love is grand – it has “breadth and length and depth and height” – it also is unknowable. You will never understand why the Son of God left glory to go to Hell for you so that you could go to Heaven. Yet you can be assured of his unchanging, and surpassing, love for you.

          The ultimate goal of Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians is that they would be filled with the fullness of God and therefore be spiritually mature, not lacking anything for their walk with Christ. All too frequently you and I don’t drink deeply of Jesus. We don’t spend time with him in the Word and prayer, and it’s no shock that we live thoughtless, shallow and defeated Christian lives.

          The more you know of Christ personally, by faith, the more you and your fellow family members will be strengthened for his service – and live triumphantly for his honor.

 

          Paul teaches, thirdly, that prayer is founded on God’s power.

          Early in his petition he bases his request on the “riches of God’s glory.” That is, the Lord God possesses such inexpressible and immeasurable glory that He has the ability to pour out unlimited blessings through Christ-honoring prayer. Bill Gates’ children ought to think nothing about asking their father for a thousand dollars if they really needed it; his riches more than allow for such a gift. Pardon the crude comparison, but you get the point: you should be bold in praying to the Father in Heaven for those things that please Him, such as spiritual growth and encouragement in your walk with Jesus, because He can and will answer your prayer.

          Throughout this prayer Paul refers to God’s power working in us and to His love for us in Christ – love that surpasses precise knowledge. Given these encouragements, that the Lord has all authority in Heaven and on earth and that He truly loves His sheep forever, you and I should be forthright and persistent in asking for the best blessings from our Father!

          It’s verse 20, however, that crowns Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians’ spiritual growth. There the apostle writes that God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that you and I can imagine or request of Him. Typical of Paul in this epistle, he piles on the superlatives: “exceedingly abundantly … above all we can imagine.”

          Normally, commentators separate verses 20 and 21 from the prayer proper, arguing rightly that these verses are a “doxology” (a statement of praise to the Lord). But there is a reason they conclude this prayer and the first section of the letter: knowing that you and I serve the eternal, all-powerful, covenantally faithful God of Heaven who loves His church with an everlasting love is tremendous motivation to pray to Him. After all, He is able!

 

          Fourth, Paul teaches that prayer’s final focus must be on God’s glory.

          The apostle’s desire, as we read in verse 21, is that the glory of the triune God resound forever. Yet this glorification of God involves more than Sabbath-day praise (as important as corporate worship on the Lord’s Day is!) – it involves daily obedience to the Word of God.

          Paul ascribes glory to the Lord “in the church by Jesus Christ.” The church, of course, is you and I: all saints, all those who have been made holy by the imputed righteousness of Christ. You and I, being strengthened by the indwelling Spirit of Christ, and growing in the knowledge of God’s love so we are filled with His holiness, wisdom, truth and power, are enabled to live to God’s glory. We are God’s redeemed, and you and I are testimonies to His saving power and goodness.

Yet we offer God the praise of our lives only through the Lord Jesus, our Mediator. Just as we have access to the Father only by Christ’s intercession for us, so we offer the Lord our obedience only through the blood of Christ. Jesus alone is worthy to bring you and me before the Father.

          The point of prayer, and of your life, is to exalt the Lord your God. Can you say “Amen” to this prayer?

 

          But I wonder how many of us Greene and George Countians can say “Amen.”

          In our area, Christianity is intensely personal, often to the exclusion of other believers. It’s “all about me and Jesus.” Likewise, Christianity is reduced to waddling down the aisle, “gettin’ right with God,” and waddling out into the world to lead a shallow life that minimizes the triune God. And be assured that preachers don’t help matters with shallow preaching.

          Here, though, we find St. Paul doing some important family business: praying for his family in Christ to grow in God’s power and love so their lives might reflect His honor. Paul knew prayer was a high privilege – and a necessity if you and I are to live victoriously as the born-again, transformed children of the living God.

          God’s glory is at stake. You and I have some urgent family business to attend to.

          As Paul exemplifies for us, brethren, let’s get to it.