A Prayer for the Church: Part 1-1

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem.

Knowledge that doesn't lead to changed living leads instead to pride and religious arrogance. In Ephesians 1 15-23, Paul prays for the church, making requests far beyond the temporal wants and needs that sometimes hold our focus in prayer. Paul asked that God would open the eyes of their hearts, that the church would gain a fuller grasp of what was already theirs in Christ.

How fully we can live and thrive in light of all that God has lavished on us. May we be eager to embrace His Word, not just with our minds, but with our hearts as well. Listen as Pastor Rich shares Paul's prayer in this message titled, A Prayer for the Church, preached on May 28, 2017. Speak, O Lord, and renew our minds.

Help us grasp the truths of Your plans for us. That is the ambition of the text that we're going to study today in Ephesians 1 verses 15 to 23. Here we are going to encounter yet again another run-on sentence by the Apostle Paul because he is speaking with such profusion. He wants the church to know the magnitude of the blessings that God has lavished on us.

And so he speaks with this overflow, this gushing forth. And as he has presented those many blessings that we are to bless God to speak highly of Him, which is what we do when we come together to sing with one voice to make much of God because He is so worthy because of all that He has lavished on us. Now after Paul goes through that, now he presents in writing here a prayer for the church. This is how Paul prays for the church.

Listen, it is my desire this morning that if you take away anything from this morning, that you will resolve to pray for the church the same way that the Apostle does. Think about how you pray for the church. Oftentimes we have lists of people and most of the time that list is comprised of people who are sick or in the hospital and we need to pray for them. But oftentimes that's where our prayer is limited. This person has this need, this person has that need, this person is sick, this person is very sick, this person has been sick for a long time. And do we simply pray that we want them to get better?

Why? Because Lord, we just want a normal comfortable everyday life. Is that how we're praying? That's not how Paul prays for the church. This is a prayer for the church and I want you to consider how he prays for the church. I want you to consider all the prayers that are in scripture. This is one, Colossians 1 is another one of them. Ephesians 3 is another one, we're going to be encountering that one a ways down the road when we get to Ephesians 3. But if I could put it in a nutshell, what Paul prays for the church is that everything that he has presented in verses 3 through 14, that God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ.

Help us grasp the height of your plans for us. Do you know what God has planned for you? That which he has revealed in his word. It is Paul's prayer that what is true of us might be seen in us and that's what we're just saying, isn't it? That what is true of us might be seen in us and if what is true of us is not seen in us, it can only be for one reason.

We don't know it. Or we think that there's something better and that's what we're chasing after. Christians, I implore you this morning, know the depth of the riches and the bounty that God has for you. Because if what is true of you is not seen in you, it means you're distracted.

And you're happy to be eating out of the dumpster when God has a banquet table ready for you. This is Paul's prayer for the church. His prayer is a doctrine informed prayer and yet again, I challenge you with that. Your prayer, your prayer life, the time that you spend with God is your prayer doctrine informed? Can you think God's thoughts after him?

I call you to that this morning. May God work in us in transforming our prayer life before him that we will pray as the apostle prays for the church here. First of all, what does he do? What is the first thing he does? He gives thanks. He gives thanks.

Look with me at verse 15. 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. I do not cease to give thanks for you. Two things that he gives thanks for. Number one is their faith, their faith in Christ, that Christ is indeed the object of their faith. He is the object of their trust. So he is thanking God for their faithfulness, that these people, he's heard the report. Remember, Paul is in prison and he's heard the report of them.

Tychicus has come. Epaphras is there with him in prison. And they've given a report of these churches and they see the gospel spreading and people responding in faith to Jesus Christ. And he overflows with gratitude because of that. But not only that, that these people whom he's known for so long, people that he encountered and led to Christ in Ephesus, that they are faithful, that they are living by faith in the day to day. And when you're living by faith in the day to day, their trust and their confidence in Christ is manifested in their routines and their responses.

Can that be said of me? If someone were to observe my routines through the day and if they were to observe my responses to the issues and the challenges of the day, would they be able to conclude of me that my trust and confidence is in Christ? You see, Paul is thankful that this is true. This is the report that he has heard of these believers. Not only does he thank the Lord for their faith, but he also thanks the Lord for their love, their love. Their love is a manifestation of their faith.

They are living out what the apostle John wrote in First John, chapter five. Everyone who loves the father loves whoever has been born of him. Everyone who loves the father loves whoever has been born of him. If God is my father and I love him and he is your father and you're born of him and you love God, then it only makes sense that if we share the same father, then I share the same love with you. That's the church.

That's who we are. And when that love is manifested, then we fulfill what Jesus prayed in the garden. Remember in the Garden of Gethsemane, John 17, it was the night of his betrayal, the night before Jesus was to be crucified. And he prayed to his father, Father, I pray that they will be one in us.

A people drawing near to each other with genuine care and bold compassion, living in the outflow of the love of Christ. That's the hallmark of the church. Did you know that? By this, all will know that you are my disciples.

How? Because you go to church three times a week. Is that what it says?

No. Of course, I invite you to. But by this, they will know that you are my disciples because you love one another. It's the hallmark. It's the character of Christ manifested. And so here, Paul is praying.

So now let me challenge you. Let's bring this now back to a practical and applicable level, your prayer life. First of all, are you praying for the church? What are you praying for the church? Do you begin by giving thanks to God for the church? Do you acknowledge, do you recognize the colossal blessing that the church is? Do you give thanks? And I call you to this.

I encourage you to this. To give thanks to God every day for faithful examples that God has placed in your life. People whose faith you can learn from. Are you thanking God for them? Do you acknowledge these examples of faith that God has brought into your life? Thank God for them. Not only that, but also thank God for those who've loved you with care and presence. Who loved you with care and presence. Thank God for them. Do you acknowledge the people, God's people that he has placed in your life who have loved you with care and with presence?

Think about that. This is how Paul begins his prayer. I do not cease to give thanks for you because of their faith and their love for all the saints. And then he says, making mention of you in my prayers. So now he's making requests. He begins with thanks. He begins with gratitude. And then he moves on to making requests. And here's what he says in verse 17.

And, you know, this is a run on sentence. He just he's just going and going and going and going. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. That the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know.

It takes so long to unpack all of this because he's just going on and on. But his request comes down to this, that God will open the eyes of your heart. It's the word in the New King James understanding, but the eyes of your heart, that God will open the eyes of your heart. Think about that, that choice of words, the eyes of your heart.

In other words, your heart is the seed of mind, will and emotion. But he doesn't want your faith just to be an emotional thing. He wants your faith to be one that is built on your understanding of God, that God will open the eyes of your heart to know him. Are you in pursuit of God? Is your faith a walk of desiring to know him, to know him more, to love him more deeply, to understand him more fully? You've been listening to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, lead pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Visit our church website to see upcoming events or to listen to more messages at www.gbcwinston.com. To discover how to live by grace, tune in with us on weekdays at 10 a.m.