Ephesians 3:14-16a

October 9, 2022

Transformative Prayer: Put in Motion by the Spirit

Part 1

Paul's prayer represents the greatest opportunity for spiritual transformation for the believer.

The passage that we're going to look at is a little bit of a difficult nut to crack. And we're used to that with the apostle Paul, because his writings are more often than not a difficult nut to crack because of his intellect, because of the way he writes because of the highly structured arguments that he brings forth, we always find ourselves having to apply ourselves to what Paul says to us in order to grasp what he's saying, and nothing is any different with this passage. This is a rather difficult nut to crack. So before we read it, I want to say some things about the passage and provide what I think is some insight into the passage even before the first reading, that will help us to begin to think well about how the passage is laid out before us, and what the goal of the passage is and what Paul's prerogatives are in the passage. And if we'll take these, and I think we'll use these as a lens through which to view the passage over the coming weeks, I think it'll help us to navigate the passage well. So I want to begin by describing what the passage is, and why it's here. We find that the passage is at the end of chapter three. And you also are probably aware that chapter three is the end of the first half of the book. The book has six chapters, and the book is divided neatly into two equal sections. So it's Paul's habit in his letters to spend the first part of a letter giving theological truths doctrine, and the spend the other part of the letter applying those to the lives of those he's writing to, that's his pattern. In every letter, he writes, we can see that pattern to one level or another. However, in no other letter of Paul's, in fact, no other book of the Bible is it so cleanly divided up: literally three chapters of the deepest and most profound doctrine that the New Testament has for us, and three chapters have the most pragmatic and helpful application of those doctrines. And so the end of chapter three comes to us as the clean dividing point. We're halfway through the book as we finish verse 21. And it's this clean dividing point between three chapters of doctrine, and approaching now three chapters of application of that doctrine. So in the first three chapters, we talked numerous times about how the Spirit transforms u:, the Spirit transforms us by taking the truths of our blessings and privileges―privileges in Christ―and working those truths into our understanding into our heart, so that as we more deeply comprehend and grasp more accurately, and more fully, the blessings and privileges of Christ that are ours, we are transformed. However, that's not the only thing that the Spirit needs to use to transform us. We said that that's the Spirits main method that's, that's a central approach to transformation is to teach us of our blessings and privileges in Christ teach us what God has done for us and given to us. And as we understand that more we are transformed. But there's another component to that. It's not the main thing, but there's another component. And the other component is what comes to us in chapters four, five and six―of taking that truth and putting it into place in our life. So as we look at Chapter One, two, and three, chapter one, two, and three contain four, some of the most profound truth about God: the Father, God, the Son, God, the Spirit, their work, the church, all these things that we've been talking about for months now. So the, to kind-of get our arms around this, I want to steal somebody's analogy, and I'm going to steal the analogy of a well-known expository of Scripture who takes this section of scripture and does a particularly good job of it: John MacArthur. He takes this this passage of Scripture and he uses this illustration. So this is his it's not mine, but it's a pretty basic illustration, I think you can relate to it. It's the illustration of a car. So if we think of our life, of our spiritual life, in the sense of a car. What do we need in order for that car to be of maximum use and value and worthiness to us? What do we need in order for that car to do everything that we needed to do? We first of all need to have an understanding of the car, and the more that we understand the car, the better the car will work for us. The more we understand the systems of the car, the more we understand how the pedals work, the gauges work, the steering wheel works, but not only that, how we understand the…how the handling works, we understand what's under the hood the transmission, the more we understand, then the better that car is going to serve us and perform for us. But we can understand everything about that car perfectly and still be lacking in actually putting that car to use. The other part that we need, we need to not only understand how the car works, we also need to understand something about maps, and roads, and street signs and traffic laws. Okay, we live in a time in which maps have just gone the way of the dodo. But I remember probably most of most people in the room. Remember the days when every car had an atlas in the trunk? Well, think back to those days. And just think of how, in order for a car to be functional and useful, you not only have to have a knowledge of how the car works, you also have to have a knowledge of how traffic works, and what roads are going to take you where and how to use a map and how to obey traffic laws. So the traffic laws, think of those as Gods directives. You could use another word if you want, you can use commandments, or you can use law. But for this context, let's use the word ‘directives.’ God's directives towards us are chapter four, five, and six. Now we can have a perfect understanding of God's directives, we can have a perfect understanding, we can memorize the Atlas, we can know all the traffic laws there are, and we can understand them perfectly. But if we don't have an understanding of the car, then that's not going to help us. And the same thing in reverse if we understand the car perfectly, if we understand intimately how that internal combustion engine works, yet we have no understanding of how to navigate the roads or how to obey the traffic laws, then we're still not going to get where we want to go. So chapter one, two, and three are teaching us about the car. Or giving us that knowledge about who we are in Christ. Chapter four, five, and six are going to teach us the traffic laws and the roadmaps. And the two of those things together need to come together in order for the car to be functional. However, there's another missing piece, We can still have a perfect understanding of every system in the car. And we can still have a perfect understanding of all the traffic laws and all of the maps and all the roads. And yet, we will go nowhere, if something doesn't happen. What’s that? To turn it on. Call it the starter, call it the ignition, call it whatever you like, but unless that car has the key inserted into the ignition and turned to crank it, and the transmission put into gear, then none of that knowledge is going to serve in any way. So the final section of chapter three, we can think of it as that key. We can think of it as how do we take the knowledge given to us in chapter one, two, and three. Knowing that what's coming are the directives, the roadmaps, the traffic laws, how do we put all that together, where the cars got to start? It's got to be turned on. And that's the conclusion here of chapter three, Paul has concluded the section in which he's teaching us this profound knowledge of who we are in Christ, what God has done for us, and now he's about to begin the section that teaches us―Okay, now here's how you use the car, only first, the car has to be turned on. And this is Paul's prayer at the end of chapter three, or we could think of it another way. There's another way I'll use a couple of theological terms if you'd like theological terms, but Chapter One, two, and three are what we call something is a fancy word called Monergism. Monergism just means that the only Actor in chapter one, two and three is God. God is the only actor. God is the actor in chapter one, two and three, and we are what he is acting upon. Now in chapter three, four, (or sorry), four, five and six―-now is something that we call not montages of meaning God is the only actor but something that we would call Synergism. What that means is, it's us and God together. That's what that prefix ‘syn’ means―us together, like synthesis or, or synagogue, gathering together. Okay, so chapter four, five, and six, are how we in God come together in order to progress in godliness. And so we can think of it that way. Chapter One, two, and three is God and God alone. Chapter four, five and six is how we have to turned on the ignition now navigate in obey the street signs. Okay. So those are a couple of ways to kind-of think about what's coming up in this prayer that Paul is going to pray the prayer There is essentially going to be, to use the same metaphor, the prayer is going to be, Lord, I pray that you turn this ignition on for them, that you crank this car and put this in gear that you take these truths that I've told them, and you work it deep into their heart so that they can then then navigate chapter four, five, and six. So that's it. That's a good way to kind of begin thinking about what's coming up. So now, before we read it, let me just say a couple more things. And this will help us as we read through it even the first time. The next thing that I want to say or point out is this. There are, as we read this passage, is there going to be four words, four truths, four concepts that are going to be fundamental. Think of them like the four pillars that are holding up an enormous weight of a building. We are being built into the house of God. So you can think of the house of God being this house resting on these four pillars, these four words that are the four fundamental concepts that we're going to have to work through in these next verses. And those four words are this number one, strength, power, working strengthen. You'll see as we read through there that those words are repeated multiple times. And so it doesn't take a rocket science scientist to see that that's fundamental to what Paul's saying this idea of strengthening strength power work. And so that's the first, the second thing that we'll see is the idea of comprehension. And again, that's going to jump right out at you, it's not going to take a whole lot of effort to see that the fundamental thing that Paul's saying hangs on this principle of comprehension. And so Paul is going to say a couple times here, comprehension, and comprehending that which is beyond comprehending and knowing that which is beyond knowing. Okay, so that's, that's the second principle, the third principle, the third word, is the only of the four that's not repeated multiple times, and that's faith. That's only found one time there. But the concept of faith, the truth of faith that we'll talk about, is a reality upon which everything Paul is going to say, hinges. So number three is faith. And then the fourth principle, the fourth concept is love, specifically, the love of Christ. So those four things, three of them are repeated multiple times. But those four principles, strength-power-working, comprehension-knowing, faith, and the love, specifically, the love of Christ, those are the four pillars upon which the weight of this passage is going to rest. So now the final thing that I want to say, and then we'll read the passage, and as we read the passage, having this in our mind, I think it will already begin to open itself up to you. But the fourth thing to have in mind is this: As I read through the passage, you're going to notice that I'm going to insert a particular phrase, and I'm going to do it four times, or I might do it five times. But I'm gonna do it at least four times, I'm going to insert a particular phrase that's not there in any of our translations. And the reason I'm going to insert that phrase is to help you to see what Paul literally wrote, because Paul is going to use a specific word. In the Greek the word is ‘hina.’ And Greek scholars tell us that the meaning of that word is clear. It's well understood. It's a word that describes a progression, a progression that has to be progressed in a certain specific order. In other words, A has to come and then B has to come and then C has to come and you can't get them out of order. For another example, maybe if I were to say to you something like I'm at the conclusion of the service, I'm going to go to the grocery store, and I'm going to buy some hamburgers. And then I'm going to drive home and I'm going to cook those hamburgers, and then we're going to eat lunch. You see, that there's a clear progression there and you can't get it out of order. I can't eat the lunch until we buy the lunch. I can't cook the lunch until I drive to the store, right? So, it's a progression that cannot get out of order. That is what the word hina means. And that's the word that's found throughout the passage. Now, the reason I am going to read it this way to help you see that is once you see that progression, you'll begin already to put the pieces together. So as I read this, I'll use the phrase ‘in order that’ and that'll clue you in for the steps that Paul is describing. Okay, so now we've got our four words, we're thinking about our car, we're thinking about the ignition, and we're thinking about progression. With all that being said, let's now finally read the passage together from verse 14. For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, in order that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, in order that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, in order that you being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, in order that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen. So there you see pretty clearly the progression. There are four steps, and then we can even include a fifth step. Although the fifth step is not necessarily a progressive step. The last one is this final doxology, which says that the ultimate purpose of all this is to the praise of God, but the first four steps are clearly progressive. And what I've done in your notes here is I have rephrased, and I've given you a paraphrase of them. Because I find it helpful that when particularly there's a passage like this, that's just…it's given me a big grand idea and it's all tightly knit together, sometimes it helps me to see a paraphrase. paraphrases are helpful. So, paraphrases are helpful, actually, I should say if you know what they are there to do, and what they're not there to do. If you understand properly what a paraphrase does and doesn't do. They can be harmful if you don't understand it. But here's what a paraphrase doesn't do. Here's what a paraphrase always, we always sacrifice something with a paraphrase. And the first thing that we sacrifice is usually the intensity of the passage, the color, the vividness. The edge, a paraphrase usually takes the edge off of a passage. But the second and the most important thing that a paraphrase does is it also sacrifices preciseness, every paraphrase sacrifices precision. So you probably, at your house, you have a paraphrase of the Bible, and they're great, they're helpful. I've read them sometimes: the Message or JB Phillips, or the Living Bible―paraphrases of the Bible, you probably have them at home, and you probably enjoy reading them from time to time. I just encourage you to know what you're sacrificing when you do that. You're sacrificing mostly precision. And secondly, you're also sort of taking the edge off. But what do you gain with a with a with a paraphrase? What you gain is a paraphrase usually does a wonderful job of helping you see the big picture. That's what paraphrase is, do you sacrifice precision in order to get the big picture. And so, that can be really helpful. So what a paraphrase can do is help us to sort of step back from this prayer that Paul prays and see the bigger picture, which is all by the way, all that we're trying to do today, we're not even going to get to the prayer today. All that we're doing today is sort of setting the stage setting the context, I want to address a couple of things in verse 14 before the prayer begins. But we're not even looking at the prayer yet other than just to get the big idea of it. So here's the paraphrase in your notes. Here's what Paul prays because of the supernatural oneness, and the indwelling of God to create the new one humanity. Paul, being moved in his heart, prays that number one, super abundant power will be activated in their souls. So that number two, this would result in their Christ welcoming and Christ conforming faith being strengthened. Which then results in number three, the causing and the creating within them have a deeper, fuller, richer, more complete comprehension of the depth, magnitude and importance of God's love for them shown to them through Christ, in order that are leading to number four, resulting in the church increasingly becoming the true expression of Christ on earth, to the ultimate effect that number five isn't necessarily progressive, but to the ultimate effect that God is praised, and God is glorified. Okay, so that's the big idea that we're going to be approaching. And we're not even again, not even going to get to number one today. But I do want to address a couple of things that face us in verse 14, and a couple of potential problems that could sideline us. And let's just begin from verse 14, for this reason. So for this reason, again, we always have to stop and understand what the reason is like, therefore, what's there for what, what Paul is saying is what I'm saying now is built upon what I just said, I'm building upon what I just said. So for that reason, I say this, because I said that I'm now going to say this. So for this reason, directs us back to what Paul just said previously. Now Paul just said For this reason, twice, chapter three, verse one and chapter three, verse 14, he said the exact same phrase the exact same words. So when he says For this reason here that first of all, takes us back to verse one. Remember what happened there? Paul says, For this reason, and he was about to pray, but then he pauses he interrupts his flow of thought to say, let me give you these 12 versus a parenthetical explanation. But now he returns to that very same thing for this reason. So this takes us all the way back to what Paul just said prior to verse, (I'm sorry), chapter three. So the end of chapter two is where we got to look in order to see what the reason is. What is it, Paul, that you're saying, because of that, I'm now going to pray in this way. And so at the end of chapter two, we find this, this climax, this great conclusion to the one new humanity. Those who are far off have been brought near in Christ, the dividing wall of hostility has been torn down. There is this new humanity in Christ, in which Gentile believers and Jewish believers have been made one in Christ. And because we have been made one, we are not only the new humanity, but we now have bold and confident access to the Father. So therefore, I pray, you see how all that fits together. Because we are all one unique. We're all one people. We're all the new humanity of Christ. And because in this new humanity, we have bold and confident access to the Father. Therefore, I'm going to use this bold and confident access and I'm going to go to the Father to pray for the new humanity.

Part 2

To best teach us of Himself, the great and wise Teacher teaches us that He is a Trinity. To understand God, we must not gloss over that.

For this reason, Paul says, I bow my knees. So he now says, I bow my knees. And then from here from verse 15, he's going to get into the prayer. We won't get into the prayer yet. But I want to say just enough about the prayer to begin thinking about it. And first of all, the first thing to see is just the Spiritual nature of the prayer, the Spiritual nature of the request. Paul is going to pray with this prayer that is just infused with just nothing but completely Spiritual request. Now, the Scriptures teach us and they teach us emphatically that everything is to be brought to the Lord, to our maker. Paul says in Philippians, chapter four, verse six, and seven, and don't be anxious for anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, let your requests be made known to God, everything, and the peace of God which passes understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. So we are told to take all things before the Lord. We are told, furthermore, in First Peter, chapter five and verse nine, we're told to cast our cares upon Him because He cares for us. And Peter, in no way does he imply: cast your Spiritual cares upon Him and leave the material cares to the side. We're told to bring all of our cares to the Lord. So in a real sense, we should think of this as our prayer, Paul's prayer, here's the context for us to talk about this. But we should think about our prayer, as being given giving to God all requests, physical and Spiritual. But here's the other thing. The scriptures, while they teach us to bring every request to God, also warn us of the danger of becoming preoccupied with material needs. And so this sort of thing shows up in a number of places, you think about what, for example, Jesus's words, Matthew five, you know, the Sermon on the Mount: Gentiles, those who don't know God, they're the ones who worry about what they're going to wear, what they're going to eat, not you. Why? Because your Father knows what you need. So seek first, the kingdom of God. And then your Father who sees all things and those things will take care of these other things, right. So we're told that there's to be a preeminence placed upon the Spiritual. Again, if we had gotten a little further in the passage to talk about the inner man, we could easily look at what's in your notes, second Corinthians chapter four, verse 16, 17, 18, that passage there in which we're told very plainly that the outer man―which is the opposite of the inner man―the natural, the material, we're told that's dying. In fact, we're given the assurance, guess what your outer man is dying, your outer humanity is going to die. There's only one part of you that's going to live forever. Your outer man is going to be resurrected to newness of life, but your inner man, your inner humanity will never die. Your inner man is that part of you―you could call it soul, you could call it Spirit, you could call it heart, really, none of those three words, get it all, because it's bigger than all three of those words―your inner man is what you most centrally are. It's you at your core, your inner man is what will still remain when your body is in the grave. That's your inner man. And Paul says the opposite of that. I'm telling you is going to die is dying, because you're in the process of dying right now. But the inner man won't. So where are we to put our focus was the greatest need. The greatest need is clearly the inner man, right? Because the prayers that are lifted up for the inner man are making supplications and requests for that which will last forever. The prayers that are lifted up for the outer man are lifted up for requests and needs that are for that which won't live forever, in fact, in the grand scheme of eternity won't live very much longer period. So we have this tendency to develop a preoccupation with material needs and that that has a way of being, getting to dominate our prayer life. Now, we have regular times in which we share prayer items and things that we need to pray for, we will have one at the conclusion of the service today, Wednesday, we'll have one we have that almost every day, there's that on our Facebook group where we talk about prayer. And that's almost exclusively, isn't it, dominated with material earthly requests. Now, let me be quick to say this. Those are not your private prayer life. Those are your public prayer life. But the entire time that I've ever been connected to the church is, especially the time I've been in ministry, that's always the way it is, is those public prayer requests are dominated with material needs, with physical needs, with healings, with financial issues, with difficulties at work with looking for a job with this decision with that decision, all of them applying to the outer man. Again, we're told to bring those to the Lord. But if our public prayer life is an indicator of our private prayer life, and again, I don't know your private prayer life―that's why it's called Private because I don't know it and nobody else does, either―but if you can compare your private prayer life, to what's usually the public prayer requests, and there's any correlation, then that says to you that you also have become unhealthily preoccupied with the material in such a way that it begins to dominate your request that you lift up to God. So Paul is here to serve as an example for us as one who prays and prays fervently for the Spiritual things. Here's a convicting question that I've, sometimes I've asked myself, maybe you can ask yourself this same question as you're trying to analyze, you know, where am I at with my prayer life. I've said this many times before: listen to your prayer life, it will tell you a lot about yourself. It'll tell you a lot about your Spiritual condition. Because you know, what, what's important to you is what you pray for. What's important to you is what you pray for, what's not important to you, you won't pray for it consistently. You might be reminded, and you might bring it up here or there, but you will not pray consistently for anything that's not important to you. So what you pray for day in and day out is what's important to you. And what's more important to you, the inner man or the outer man, that's a very valid and very healthy question to ask yourself, What's more important to me, my outer man or my inner man? And so ask yourself this question right here. If God were to right now say to you, in some sort of audible voice, okay. Every single prayer you've prayed in the last seven days, been answered right now, completely and fully, if God were to say that, how many souls would be changed? How many people would be added to the kingdom? How many people would be Spiritually strengthened in their faith? What difference would it make to this church? Or how many people would be healed of something? How many people would have some problem resolved in their life? Again, let me be quick to say all of those should be taken to the Lord. But what I'm trying to describe is a preoccupation with the outer man that displaces what we should be preoccupied with, which is that part of us that's eternal. Now, Paul is the example for this. Paul wrote 13 books in the New Testament, in those 13 books, there are some 46 prayers recorded. And of those 46 prayers. Do you know how many are Spiritual? 46. And all 46 prayers, eight times this, Paul asked for prayer for himself, and 46 prayers. And all eight of those requests for himself have to do with his ability to continue preaching the gospel. Three times he will ask that people pray that he could be delivered from the hands of wicked people so that he can continue his gospel work. Five other times, he will ask for prayer for himself for strengthening so that he can continue his gospel work. In fact, four of those 13 letters, Paul, wrote from prison. And in those four letters, there are contained seven prayers. And so you would think if someone is ever going to want people to pray for him some sort of physical thing, you will think it's while he's in prison, right? Maybe deliverance, maybe some food, maybe some water, maybe some sanitary conditions of the seven prayers that Paul prayed in his prison epistles, none of them mentioned him at all. And so Paul, stands for us as one who is, in a very healthy way, preoccupied with the inner man, not just his inner man, but the inner man of those to whom he is writing. Now this is going to be expressed in his kneeling and his bowing before the Lord. He says, For this reason I bow my knees before the Lord. So here's the one those places where we come to just a mention of a physical posture while we're praying. Whenever the Scripture is talking about a physical posture, it's I think it's helpful to pause and just ask yourself, Okay, what posture? What physical posture do I pray in? And should I pray in? Is that even important? Does it matter? Does it not matter at all? And so here in your notes, I put the statement that the importance, your posture, in prayer, your physical posture in prayer is important. And it's unimportant, all at the same time. It's meaningful, and it's not meaningful altogether. So here's what I mean by that is: first of all, we know that we can pray to God at any time and in any place. And in any put any posture whatsoever. You can pray to the Lord flat on your back, as you're being rolled into the surgery room. You can pray to God, as you're sitting in the car driving, you can pray to God in any physical position you want. And if you are in Christ, and you're assured that the Spirit is taking that prayer to the Father. However, there is something that the scriptures have to say to us about physical posture, as we pray and what that means. So as Paul prays here, he says, I bow my knee and we have to take this literally, we have to say, he's not using some sort of metaphor to say, I metaphorically bow my knee, I'm going to take him literally and say, praying with, with bowed knees, he's kneeling as he prays this particular prayer. So the common, the―by far―the most common posture for the Jewish man to pray, was the posture, not of kneeling, but a standing. By far, that's the greatest majority of instances that we see in the scriptures in which we're told a posture is to posture standing to pray. Here's a couple of examples in your notes, Mark 11, Jesus says, Whenever you stand praying, forgive, or Luke 18, verse 11, we know the parable of the tax collector, and, and the Publican, how they were both standing to pray. Okay, so by far we see that's the example of praying is standing. And I think that that comes from the Jewish understanding, rather, the ancient world’s understanding of sitting down. In the Jewish mind to sit down was tantamount to authority. So, remember how the teachers would sit? Remember how Jesus would sit to teach? And so the sitting meant a position of authority. And so what would you not do before God? The Jewish man would not sit before God, which is the opposite of standing. In fact, I can find in the scriptures, various postures of praying: on your feet, kneeling, lying on your back, lying face down, but the one posture, I cannot find anywhere is sitting. Nobody in scripture that I can find prays to God, and we're specifically told they're sitting down. Why? Because I think that the Jewish mind thought of that is not only extremely disrespectful, but of anti-authoritarian to say, God, the master the king, he's the one sitting, he's sitting on his throne. I don't sit before him, I stand before him. So I think it's kind of comes from that was his typical posture of standing. But we also find instances in the scriptures of people kneeling to pray. And if we look at those instances, and we trace a connection between them, I think that there's two connections that become apparent. The first connection is that when people pray in the scriptures, and we're told that they're kneeling, it seems to be a prayer that's particularly urgent, particularly driven by a deep Spiritual need. For example, Jesus going into the garden, on the night of his arrest, we're told that he knelt and prayed, he went away from the other disciples and knelt and prayed. Or Acts chapter 21. This is the final, tearful farewell between Paul and the Ephesian elders, and where they all know that this is the last time they'll see each other. And we're told that they all knelt and prayed and cried and wept. Or Ezra nine, you can look that in your scriptures as well in your notes as well. In the context there is fasting, tearing of the garments, extreme Spiritual distress, and kneeling to pray. So that's what we see the consistently is when individuals kneel, to pray, they seem to be in greater Spiritual distress. They seem to have a request to take to God that is of greater urgency, and greater need. The second connection: we see this in places like Isaiah 45, verse 23, which is what Paul quotes in Philippians two verse 10 and 11, when he says, Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that's the context of global sovereignty of God is being recognized as globally sovereign. And so, I put those two together and they seem to match up for me so. Here we're talking about the new humanity. We're gonna talk just a minute about the new family, but we're talking about the global sovereignty of God. But more so than that, we're talking about a deep Spiritual need. And here's why I wanted to get to Paul does not say to the Ephesians, as I'm on the way to synagogue, to listen to some good teaching, then I lift up this prayer to you, as I'm going about my tent making duties during the day, here's what I'm praying for you during the day. Paul says, I had a deep, pressing need. And that need is for your ignition, to get turned on, so that what I've taught you finds home in your heart, you're given comprehension. And then you are given the Spiritual power and the Spiritual tools to begin navigating the truth that I've told you. Paul says, that is so burdensome for me, that I don't just pray it as any old prayer. I pray it is something that I'm broken to pray, compelled to pray. This is a picture of a man who understood so very well, that the inner man is what was to occupy our attention, the inner man, the eternal part of us. And again, we will all have eternal physical bodies, just not this one. But our inner man will never see death. Even those who aren't in Christ, your inner man lives forever. So that is the part that Paul says, this is so burdening to me that I fall on my knees to pray this prayer that, again, we won't get to the prayer yet today. But this prayer is such a Spiritual burden for me, that I kneel before the Lord to do this, okay. So, with that being said, let me now say this, I may not get to everything I want to say today. But let me say this. Let me let me also point out something that will help us to kind of navigate to the prayer and that is this the, the Trinitarian nature of the prayer. The Trinity, and we all I think, probably know, at least the basics of what I'm, what I'm speaking of: God is in three, God exists in three persons: Father, Son, and Spirit. Each person of the Godhead is fully and equally God in and of himself. So God's not like a pie that has three pieces. And you put all three pieces together and you got God. Each person of the Trinity is fully in and of himself, all of God. Yet God exists in three persons. Okay, so that's the that's the Spiritual reality, the Spiritual truth of the Trinity. This is something that we see in our scriptures quite frequently. And when we come across it, I try to point it out to you. But let me say this Ephesians is the most Trinitarian book of the New Testament, making it the most Trinitarian book of the Bible. The most Trinitarian book of the Bible is Ephesians. Paul has been talking about the Trinity since chapter one, verse three. If you think back, okay, there was the father, the father was the one who did the choosing who did the electing, who did the predestination who did the adopting, there was the son, the son was the one who did the redeeming the forgiving, there was the Spirit, the Spirit was the one who did the sealing. So he's been talking about the Trinity since the beginning of the letter. But the prayer comes to us in a particular Trinitarian form. In the prayer, the father is the source, he's the forefather, he's the king, he's the master, he's the object of worship. The sun, is the great lover of our souls. The sun is the lover of our Spirits, the lover of us, the one who indwells us and fills us and communicates love to us. The Spirit is the enabler, the Spirit is the power source, the Spirit, the Spirit is the modifier. He's the working agent. And so the Trinitarian nature takes all this prayer, and it puts it to us in this form that says, here's what the father is doing. Here's what the son's doing, here's what the Spirits doing. And that's Trinitarian to its core. So here's the point to make: when we think of the Trinity, I feel like that most believers think of the Trinity like this, something that's beyond our understanding. Here's one God, but He exists in three persons, we can understand this. But here's what the Trinity is: The Trinity is like a litmus test, right? Because we know that we're supposed to believe the Trinity is true. Because if we don't believe it's true, we're a heretic. And so we have to believe the Trinity is true, even though we don't really understand it, but we'll just affirm it and then sort of move on. And let me suggest that if that is how you think of the Trinity, then at best, your understanding is deficient. At worst, the God that you think you know, you don't know that God. And here's what I mean by that: God is the great teacher. God is the wise teacher who made us and knows us. And the great teacher, the wise teacher says to us, this is how you understand me. And so what we often do in our non-understanding of the Trinity, and we all affirm that, ultimately, the Trinity is beyond our full comprehension. But what we tend to do is, in our mind, whenever we come across this, we just substitute ‘God’ and keep on moving. Here's the father, okay, well, that's God, here's the Spirit, okay? He's God too, okay, here's the Son, he's God. And I'm saying all this is an encouragement to not view our scriptures this way. To not just think of the Trinity as some litmus test that you've got to check the right box or else you're a heretic, but instead, to approach it as what it is a doctrine that is beyond our real true comprehension, nevertheless, the great wise teacher says to us, this is how you, in your finite human mind, understand me. This is how I'm going to teach you that I am. My nature, my character, this is how I communicate it to you. And so we should not be in any position to say, Okay, God, I don't really understand that, so I'm just going to call you God and keep on moving. So as we work through the prayer, we're also going to be working through what the father is doing. He's the source. He's the progenitor. He's the forefather. He is the object of worship. The Son, He is the great lover of us, and the Spirit. He is the great enabler. He's the great Empower.

Part 3

Paul makes his prayerful request not as the destitute begging for sustenance, but as the blessing asking for blessing. The difference is worth noting.

For verse 14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. So here in verse 15, we come across this issue in verse 15, regarding the Father and the family, from every from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. So I want to kind of tackle this problem. And again, our purpose today is to kind of get some preliminary things out of the way, some preliminary issues, I guess, we could say some problematic things. Look at these understand these and then having a good firm grasp of the prayer, we'll dive into the prayer next week. And so we've got to address this thing about God the Father, as the Father of all families have every family in the earth. Now is God the Father of all people? Is God, the Father of every family? The Scriptures emphatically teach us that no, he's not. God is not the Father of every person. God is the Creator of every person. But God is most definitely not the Father, of every person. In fact, the Scriptures teach us that those for whom God is not their Father, they have another Father, as Jesus will say to the unbelieving Pharisees, he'll say, You are of your Father, the devil. Why, because your character is just like his, his character is a lying character. And you're lying to me right now, therefore, you’re of your Father, the devil. So God is not presented to us in the Scriptures as the Father of all people. All people are not children of God. And so here's just a word of caution for all of us. Because this is a this is a real temptation, as and I know what this is like to be speaking with people that are spiritually minded. They are showing no evidence of conversion or regeneration, but yet they're spiritually minded, and in your heart, you want to make a connection. And the easy way to make a connection is with those phrases: We're all children of God. You've all heard them. We're all children of God. Let me caution you, that is an extremely confusing message for the world, that we're all children of God, particularly when the Scriptures teach us clearly that we are not all children of God. God is the Father of his people. God is the Father of his new humanity. God is the Creator of all things. And all things look to Him as the source of their existence. But God does not give his name to all people. God gives His name to His redeemed people. So with that being said, how do we treat this passage here in which Paul says―I'm reading from the English Standard―that God is the Father, from whom, (I'm sorry), from whom every family on earth is named? So how do we treat that? Well, a lot is going to hinge on this word ‘every’, So let's take a look at this word ‘every’. What's going on here is Paul is making a play on words. The play, and this happens so much in our Scriptures. I mean, it happens too many times for me to name them all. These clever play on words, the clever usage of two words that sound alike, and they're put together in such a clever way. It's so unfortunate that we are not native Greek speakers reading in the native language of the Scriptures, because all of this, none of these plays on play on words, they never survive a translation. But Paul's making a clever play on words here, because the word for family―it's not so in the English―but in the Greek, the word for family as a derivative of the word for Father. ‘Pater’ is father, ‘patria’ is family. So the words are: ‘Pater pasa patria.’ So Paul's making this―you can hear it there―this sort of clever play on words. Doesn't mean anything to us yet, but that's why Paul puts these three words together: the word for Father, the word for family as a derivative of that, and then the word for ‘every,’ that's translated ‘every’ here, is the word ‘pasa.’ Okay? So aside from that, how do we deal with this word ‘every?’ Because I believe every―not to make my own play on words, there―I believe every modern translation translates ‘every’ or ‘all’ or something like that. The King James translates it ‘whole.’ So let's delve into this and let's really on understand the word here is ‘pasa.’ It's one of those incredibly common words used way over 600 times in the New Testament. It's just a, it's just a utility word used in so many different ways the main, most common translation meaning of ‘pasa’ is ‘all.’ And so you'll see in your notes here, here's an example Matthew 11:28, come to me, come on to me ‘all’ who labor and are heavy laden, the same word. So that's what I most commonly mean. Second to that, it can mean quite often it can mean ‘every’ such as in John 15 verse 2: ‘every’ branch that in May that does not bear fruit he takes away and ‘every’ branch that does bear fruit, he prunes, okay. So those are very common usages of the word. But there's another use that's not as common but is completely legitimate. It's a completely legitimate translation. And that is the translation of ‘whole’ or ‘entirety.’ That's what the King James follows. So the King James translates it: the whole families of the earth, or the entirety. So that is a much better translation. And now let me just tell you why so that you're not just sort of taking my word for this. First of all, let's take a look at how Paul uses this elsewhere. First of all, here's some here's some examples in some other contexts, Matthew eight, verse 32, Jesus said to them, this is the instance of the demon being cast out into the pigs. Go, says Jesus, so they came out and went into the pigs and behold, the ‘whole’ herd rushed down the steep bank. Or Acts 20, verse 27, Paul says, that did not shrink from declaring to you the ‘whole’ counsel of God. Or Colossians, two, verse nine, for an him the ‘whole’ fullness of the Deity dwells bodily. Okay. Now, in the context of Ephesians, Paul was going to use a similar construction, in fact, not similar, the identical construction, just a few verses earlier, if you look up to chapter two and verse 21, chapter two in verse 21, in whom the ‘whole’ structure―there's the same word―’whole’ structure. So let's think about this. The whole structure, the whole structure doesn't mean every single structure, what's the structure Paul is talking about? He's talking about the structure of the new humanity, the new people of God, the new true Israel. So he's not saying every people in the world, he's not saying every group of people there is he's saying, this structure of people, the whole thing, all of it is the new humanity. He uses the same identical construction here to say the same thing. Paul's not speaking of every family that lives every human family in existence. He's speaking of the whole new humanity once again. So think about the flow of Paul’s thought. From chapter one and verse three, Paul has been talking about nothing else than: one new people in Christ, in Christ in him in the beloved, in whom over and over and over again, he's talked about one access to the Father, through one Spirit. He has talked about one people of God, there used to be a different people, they used to be following the god of this age, they used to be dead in their sins and trespasses. But now they're a new people, a new people who have access to the Father through one Spirit. This is what Paul has been talking about for three chapters. Now, for Paul to suddenly out of the blue start talking about every family on the earth, calling God the Father would have no context behind it would have no relevance would have no connection to anything Paul says. So I'm baffled as to why the modern translations go with ’every,’ the King James in this instance, nails it. Because this is what Paul's talking about. In God, in the Father, every one, the whole entirety. The summation, the whole new humanity―is named by Him. We'll talk about the naming in just a minute, but we get our name from Him, the new humanity gets its name from the Father. Okay, so again, just caution us against using that type of language too flagrantly, too easily, the language that ‘all of us are the children of God.’ All of us are created by God, but He has one family. Okay, so now, verse 15, again, for this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. So just a word about the naming there. And then we'll just have a word or two about the beginning of verse 16. And then we'll be done for this morning. So the naming, we know that in Scripture naming is more than just giving somebody a handle. We know that in Scripture, naming means dominion. There's some notes in your, there's some Scripture in your notes, that refer back to creation, that talks about the naming of the animals―how God names the day and the night, God names the stars. And then the animals are brought before Adam, for him to name them. We talk, there's some Scriptures in there about Jacob's renaming to Israel, about Nabab and his name, and how all this is connected together with both dominion and character. In the Scriptures when one is named―that shows dominion over and it shows the giving of character. When a name is given―that's the giving of character, that's the designating of one's character. Jesus says to Peter, I say to you, on this rock, I will build my church and your name is Peter. Or God says to Jacob, whose name was scoundrel or conniver, or thief, he says to you: your name is Israel: One who prevails with God, right? El, Is-ra-el―God. So the naming is a giving of character or designation of character. So in him, the whole family, the whole new humanity, is given our character from him. That is why we are the true expression of Christ on earth. We have a true expression of Christ on earth, because we have his character he has named us and he has given to us his character in the naming of his people. Okay, so more can be said about that. But I just want to quickly talk just for a moment, and that will be done at the beginning of verse 16, beginning of verse 16. We're not going to get into the prayer yet. But I just want to address real quickly how the prayer is going to begin. Verse 16, that are in order in order that that according to the riches of his glory, so as far as will go worth it, the riches of his glory. So Paul is going to base this prayer on the riches of his glory, the riches of the glory of God, are the basis for what Paul is going to ask for. Now, the riches―we've talked about that a number of times because this is now I think, the third time Paul's used that word. So riches is the standard word for wealth, it’s communicating to us an excess of resources. Chapter one, verse three, Blessed be the God Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every Spiritual blessing in heavenly places. This unlimited unsearchable riches, unsearchable blessing unsearchable Spiritual resources, okay, so that's the riches. The riches of his glory, what’s that mean? The glory of God in this context speaks to us, of the entire substance, of how God has revealed Himself to us to be, what it means to be God, the entirety of the Godhead, as he's revealed it to us. In this context, that's the glory of God. So this rich, unsearchable, unlimited wealth over-abundance of Spiritual resources, that are Gods, that are also ours. Because again―chapter one, verse three says, every Spiritual blessing in the heavenlies is ours in Christ. So do you know that you own everything God owns? And that's rather staggering. But that's what the Scriptures say. Everything is ours in Christ, all that's God's is ours. That's what it means to be co-heirs of the kingdom. So that is the basis that Paul is going to found his prayer―on the riches of his glory. But now notice what he says, according to the riches of his glory. There is a vast, vast difference between Paul basing his prayer on the blessing of God out of the riches of his glory, as opposed to according to the riches of his glory. So what's the difference between out of his riches and according to his riches? Well put it this way. If I went and asked some wealthy person―I'm really down on my luck. Can you give me some money? And this wealthy person says to me, okay, here's 20 bucks, and gives me $20. I mean, $20 is $20. But if the man owns $20 million, then what he's given me is nothing in comparison to what he has. It’s still a gift. Still appreciated. But in comparison to what he has, is incomparable. That would be giving me something out of his wealth. But on the other hand, if I said to this rich individual, you know, I'm really down on my luck and I'm a nice guy. Can you help me out? And he says to me, I will give you 20% of everything I own―that's quite a different thing. That's giving according to his wealth. Or another way to think of it is in proportion to his wealth. Okay? So you see the vast difference between Paul praying that God would give this blessing, give this power there we talk about out of his riches, as opposed to, according to his riches, the unsearchable, unlimited, boundless riches of his glory. Paul asked the Father, to grant this prayer that he's going to pray, based upon a portion, an appropriate portion of the entire kingdom. That is a vast difference from God blessing out of his wealth out of his riches out of His glory, instead, blessing in accordance with. And here's the point to get: Paul is teaching us here, as we pray., and we ask God for the spiritual request, he's teaching us that we ask God for these things, not as the destitute one who needs sustenance, but we ask as the blessed one who's asking for blessing. We are not the destitute ones, asking that God would just give us a meager little sustenance, just a little bit, like the Syrophoenician woman―just a crumb from your table, God. That's not what Paul's asking for. He's going to finish in the doxology, and say: Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than anything we ask or even imagine. So Paul is saying to us: I am making this request God, grant this request, in proportion to the entirety of your unsearchable riches in glory. You ever read David Copperfield, anybody that? Remember, David Copperfield, the little orphan boy, who's in the orphanage, and they're all of his stories of the orphanage is real abusive to the little boys. So he says, David Copperfield, boy, and they don't get enough to eat, they get his one little bowl. And David Copperfield in his brashness goes up and says, (Yeah, somebody want to do a British accent?) may I have, there you go, please, sir, may I have some more? That's a destitute person asking for just a little bit of sustenance. Just a little bit of sustenance. That's not what Paul's doing. Paul is saying: We are the blessed ones, asking for this great blessing. And that is how we are to think of ourselves as we go before the Father. Not as this poor, meager little beggar Christian―oh, God, just give me just, can you see it in your heart to give me just this one little blessing? I promise, I'll be happy with it. He wants us to see ourselves as the ones who are co-heirs of his entire kingdom. So here's an analogy that will hopefully sort of drive it home. Let me pick on somebody who has a son, I'm gonna pick on the Churches. I thought about you, but you don't have any sons, I’m gonna pick on the Churches. Okay. Let's say for example, I get in trouble with the law. I commit a violent crime. Let's say I commit a murder. And the police are on my trail. And I come to the Churches. And I say, please help me out. You gotta help me out. Can you do this for me? You got a son Chaston. He kind of looks like me. We're close to the same age. Give or take 20 years. Can you tell the police that Chaston did this and not me? Let's say they agree. And they say okay. And they do that. Let's take it further. Let's say I'm in trouble with the law. I committed a murder. And they come to me. And I said, You know what? Our son Chaston looks a lot like you. Why don't we tell the police to Chaston did it. Let's take it one step further. Let's say the Chaston is there, and says, let me do this for you. I'll tell the police I did this. And I say okay, and that's what they do. They arrest Chaston take them away. But then in the course of events, they figure out: no he didn't do this. And so they releasing him. Charges are dropped. And so he's released. Now, the following Sunday, I'm eating lunch at the Churches, at the Church's home, is that today or next Sunday? I'm eating lunch at the church's home? And we're all sitting around the table, and Chaston is there. And here comes the cream potatoes. And I say: Donna, can I have some potatoes? Yes! And I take a little, bitty spoonful, and put it on the plate. And I say Donna, can I have a second spoon of potatoes? You see what I’m driving at? We gave our son for you! He gave Himself for you! Do you think that we are going to begrudge a spoonful of mashed potatoes? How will he who did not spare His own Son, how will he deny any good thing for his people? If the giving of the Son is the standard, if that is what shows us: this is the measure of God's love, then how can we come before Him as little David Copperfield’s: please, Father give me this one, can I just have this one little thing? I think perhaps we offend His grace, when we think of ourselves as just poor, destitute beggars―and yes, apart from Christ, we're worse than that―but in Christ Paul says: Do this for them, Father, do this for them in accordance with the unsearchable riches of your glory.