2 Christmas (B)

How is your prayer life? Do you pray regularly and systematically? Do you have a plan for prayer? Do you keep a prayer list? Do you pray daily? Before meals? Do you pray as often or as well as you would like to? I know I struggle from time to time. 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] There’s kind of a schizophrenic relationship with prayer 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 think we can learn about prayer by examining and imitating some of the prayers in the Bible.

The great contemporary evangelist and author Michael Green agrees that prayer is a challenge, but holds the apostle Paul up as an example. He wrote, “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] I think that the priority given to prayer in our lives is an accurate gauge of our spiritual lives, and hence we too may learn from Paul’s model.

Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians is noted for its Trinitarian theology, 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 in Ephesians is in the first chapter, and today’s epistle covers parts of this. In our reading, Paul starts by blessing God, God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He blesses God—for blessing us with spiritual blessings. Do you hear a theme? He is blessing God for blessing us with spiritual blessings—blessings that will be mentioned in the next few verses. Blessed is God for choosing us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He chose you and me to be part of his family, to be in Christ, before the world began, and we are created to be holy and blameless before him. And because we are in Christ, God sees us as holy and blameless. By God’s grace, and by Christ’s sacrifice, God sees us as holy and blameless. Our lives are transformed and we are set apart to be his holy people. We are transformed, and become more and more like Christ, more and more holy, more and more blameless and less sinful. That alone is worth blessing God! But there’s more!

He destined us for adoption as his children, according to his good pleasure. He chose us to be his children, his sons and daughters, in Christ, because it is pleasurable for him. We are chosen and destined in and through Christ, as a result of God’s glorious grace, freely given. Amazing grace, not earned or deserved but freely given, we are God’s adopted children. Blessed be God!!

Our reading skips some verses, up to Paul’s prayer report. 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.”[4] 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 himself as 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.”[5] 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.”[6]

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.”[7] 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, his pleasure. 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”[8] 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. In the verse that immediately follows our epistle reading, Paul says that this is the same great power and might, “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.

What can we learn about prayer from this example? First of all, we should not separate worship, thanksgiving and prayer: they belong together. Chapter 1 of Ephesians contains praise of God in vs. 3-14 as well as thanksgiving and prayer for his people in the rest of the chapter. And then, Paul uses such great words and images for God, that leads me to think that we need to expand how we address God; we need a bigger idea of God. In this case, Paul praised “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us!” And later he 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.” I think I usually use “Heavenly Father.” That’s certainly not very expansive or expressive. We need to expand our perception and vocabulary towards God, and we can imitate Paul in this!

Next, in our discussion we heard that Paul was 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.[9]

We can join with the angels in celebration!

Subsequently, we can pray that those around us will increase in wisdom and learn to know God better. What better prayer is there? Praying scripture is always in order. Pray for our family and friends. Even more, pray for our enemies. 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. .
[2] “Church Priorities for 2005 Vary Considerably.” 14 February 2005. The Barna Update.. 12 February 2008. .
[3] Green, Michael & Elspeth Taylor. A Prayer Journey with the Apostle Paul: Sixty Devotions. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004) 7.
[4] Snodgrass, Klyne. The NIV Application Commentary: Ephesians. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996) 72.
[5] O’Brien, Peter. The Letter to the Ephesians. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999) 132.
[6] O’Brien, 133.
[7] Snodgrass, 74.
[8] Lincoln, Andrew. Word Biblical Commentary: Ephesians. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1990) 60.
[9] Carson, 171.