Praying to the Sovereign God, Ephesians 1:15-23

Praying to the Sovereign God
Ephesians 1:15-23
The Series on Paul's Prayer
Message 4


Brian Lam
Fort Bend Community Church
2014.02.02
English Service

Introduction

1. We have been studying Paul's prayers in the Bible to get a deeper knowledge of God. The prayers that are biblical, persistent and effective always link us up with the nature of God. We pray with power when our prayer is aligned with who God is and what He has done.

2. Last week we had studied Paul's prayer for the Colossians. We learn how to pray for Christians we have not met personally only heard about them in the mission fields or even in the same church. We are to pray that they may be filled with the knowledge of God's will so that they walk in a manner worthy of Him.

3. This week our passage is from Ephesians 1:15-23, the first of two prayers in the Epistle to the Ephesians. These two prayers are pivotal in the letter. The first one introduces the first three chapters of the book on doctrine. The second one introduces the second half, the last three chapters, on practices.

4. Let us read together Paul's prayer for the Ephesians from 1:15-23.

 

5. Obviously this prayer does not stand alone. It has a context. The prayer starts with a connecting phrase: For this reason (v 15). It refers to verse 3-14, about the spiritual blessing God has sovereignly given to us, the Christians.

1) God chose us before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless (v 4)
2) In His sovereign love, He sovereignly predestined us to be adopted as His sons in accordance with His pleasure and will (v 4b-5)
3) All of this is for His glory (v 6)
4) In Christ we have redemption through His blood according to His grace (v 7-10)
5) We were chosen according to His plan who has everything works out for the purpose of His will (v 11)
6) The blessing of God also includes the wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit who is the down payment of the future hope (v 13)

All are done by God, the sovereign God. Eph 1:3-14 is the classic passage on the sovereignty of God. For this reason, Paul offers his prayer for the Ephesians. Because God is sovereign, Paul prays this prayer.

6. Let us slow down. Sovereignty is a big word. The sovereignty of God is a big concept. The sovereignty of God means that God is transcendent. He alone decides what to do according to His will. You and I are not sovereign, at least not in the same sense. I can't decide how tall I am. I have a wife. I need to listen to her. We make decisions together (I think.) But God is different. He is sovereign and He alone decides what to do.

It seems that the sovereignty of God and prayer do not mix. They are opposite ideas

We say "Prayer Changes Things."

Countless sermons have been preached, countless prayers pray under this assumption: "Prayer changes things." If prayer changes nothing, why do we pray at all, right!?

But if prayer changes things, how can we believe that God is sovereign and all knowing? How can we hold that He has His plans all worked out according to the purpose of His will (v 11)?

Read verse 4, "God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him." Verse 5 says, "He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will."

If you believe that God "elects" or "chooses" some people for eternal life, and does not choose others, you might be tempted to conclude that there is no point praying for the lost. The elect will infallibly be saved: why bother praying for them? Right? So you have a good reason not to pray.

If on the other hand, you think that God has done all He can to save the lost, and now it is up to the individual's free will, then why do we pray to God and ask God to save them? God has done His part, there is nothing He can do now. It is up to the individual. Why pray to God? We should pray to the individual! Or just go out and preach the Gospel. Prayer to God is no use.

Either way you have reason not to pray. You can really hurt your head thinking about this sort of things.

7. Two things are very clear from the Scripture and Ephesians chapter 1 puts them side-by-side next to each other.

1) The Bible insists that we pray, urges us to pray, gives us examples of prayers. Ephesians 1:15-23 is a major prayer example from Paul. Any theology that discourages us to pray is insufficient or incomplete.
2) The Bible is also very clear on God's sovereignty. It is clearly taught in the Bible. Ephesians 1:3-14 is as strong a passage there is on God's sovereignty.

Let us start with the second statement that God is sovereign. The Bible is absolutely clear on that. Here are some passages that clearly teach that our God is sovereign.

1) When you throw a die, which side comes up is determined by God according to Proverbs 16:33 "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD."

2) "The LORD works out everything for His own ends, even the wicked for a day of disaster." Proverbs 16:4 tells us even bad things work out for God.

3) Our steps are determined by God. Proverbs 16:9 "In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determined his steps." You can plan your course: I am going to med school or I am going to get married next year. But it is God who determines your steps.

4) According to Jesus, if the birds are fed, it is because the Father feeds them (Matt 6:26). If the wild flowers grow, it is because God clothes the grass (Matt 6:30).

5) Psalm 135:6 "The LORD does whatever pleases Him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths." God is sovereign in all the earth including the dark side. Seas and the depth of seas represent the dark side, the Sheol and death.

Therefore the Bible is very clear on God's sovereignty. He is in absolute control. No one tells Him what to do. But... but... His sovereignty never functions in the Scripture to reduce human responsibility.

Now we go back to the first statement.

8. It is our responsibility to pray, to choose, to believe, and to obey. There are countless passages where human beings are commanded to pray, to choose, to believe and to obey. And we are held accountable for our response.

Paul commands us "to pray without ceasing." Jesus taught us to pray and said "When you pray, pray like this..." Joshua challenged Israel to choose: "Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve... but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord" (Josh 24:14-15).

The Gospel is an invitation to believe. "That if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved." (Rom 10:9, 11).

But human responsibility never functions in Scripture to diminish God's sovereignty or to make God absolutely contingent.

9. Paul puts these two statements side-by-side in Ephesians chapter 1, 1:3-14 is on the sovereignty of God, then followed by one of the greatest prayers from Paul from 1:15-23. They follow one after the other because both truth are taught and exemplified in the Bible. Our problem is believing both are truth. We have a hard time to believe both. We either believe that God is sovereign and diminish human responsibility. Or we believe human responsibility over God's sovereignty.

10. But these two statements are not in contradiction. They are mystery in them, but never contradictory. It comes directly from the nature of God. The wonderful truth is that God is both transcendent and personal. He exists about and beyond time and space. From this exalted and unimaginable reach, He sovereignly rules over the world. He is sovereign.

Yet He is also personal. HE presents Himself to us not as raw power or irresistible force, but as Father and as Lord. He interacts with us, talking to us, responding to us. He listens to our prayer. Prayer does change things.

When we take pains to understand the nature of God, we will be able to do what Paul does in Ephesians 1. He states God's sovereign purpose first, and follows right after with a prayer for all of us to follow.

11. So how do we pray to the sovereign God?

Paul prays to the sovereign God for three things:

1) Because God is sovereign, we offer thanksgiving for His sovereign grace in our lives, v 15-16
2) Because God is sovereign, we pray that God's sovereign purpose may be fulfilled, v 17-19a
3) Because God is sovereign, we remind ourselves God's sovereign power, v 19b-23

I. Because God is sovereign, we offer thanksgiving for His sovereign grace in our lives, v 15-16

 
1. "For this reason, since I have heard 1) your faith in the Lord Jesus and 2) your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you."

2. In fact, the whole prayer (1:15-23) constitutes an extended thanksgiving. Paul thanks God for their faith in the Lord Jesus and their love for all the saints.

3. Paul ties his thanksgiving to what God has sovereignly done in them. Their faith and love, apart from God, would never happen. For this reason, referring back to God's sovereign act in salvation, expresses the cause of the thanksgiving. Without God and the work God has one as mentioned in 1:3-14, they would never have begun to display the trust, faithfulness, and love now richly displayed in their lives.

4. This is the first thing we need to learn from when we pray to the sovereign God. It is God who chose us before the foundation of the world. It is His sovereign grace that we have faith in God and have love for people. God is to be praised.

5. When we read a missionary newsletter, when we hear reports that people become Christians, we will learn to respond as Paul does. We immediately turn to God who has sovereignly intervened in their lives, and offer our praise and thanksgiving to Him.

6. When we have anything good in ourselves or happening to us, for example, my small group is growing in faith and in love, when our sons and daughters are growing in the Lord, learn to give thanks to the sovereign God. Without His sovereign grace, nothing good is possible.

7. How to pray to the sovereign God? Offer thanksgiving for His sovereign grace in our lives. Now that is the easy part. We have all learned to do it. Now come the more difficult part.



II. Because God is sovereign, we pray that God's sovereign purpose may be fulfilled, v 17-19a

1. Because God is sovereign, Paul prays that the Ephesians might know God better. Paul asks on the top of his list "that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know Him better" (17).

2. When we are facing difficulties in life, things we don't understand why happen to us, it is hard to accept God is sovereign. Instead of unbelief, the better way is to learn from Paul. Pray to the sovereign God that He may give us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that we may know Him better and know His purposes better.

3. One of the most difficult questions I am often asked is the question of why! Why did God choose the Jews to be His chosen people? Why did this young man die at such an young age without expressing faith in Jesus Christ? Does that mean he is going to hell? Why? And why does God create hell in the first place if He is all loving and kind? And the question of why can become personal. Why me? Why am I a Chinese? Why did God put me in this temptation? Why? Why? Why?

4. Instead of asking the question of why to the sovereign God, we need to pray for knowledge and understanding of His will and His purposes. The knowledge Paul is asking for is not just about doctrine or head knowledge. In the Bible, knowledge often involves practical knowledge, the ability to choose the right response. In the New Testament, Paul always refers wisdom to the understanding of God's activity in Christ and the benefits it brings to believers.

5. Therefore when we don't understand why the sovereign God is doing this or doing that, instead of questioning His goodness or doubting His sovereignty, we can ask for personal practical knowledge of His will so that His purposes may be fulfilled in us. This is very hard to do, especially when we are struggling for answers.

6. Illustration: Thirty-some years ago, I had a friend I met in college. He was handsome, musically trained, spoke Chinese and English perfectly, went to seminary after a Master degree, and served in the church as a pastor for 10 years before he returned to Hong Kong and taught in a premier Chinese seminary. Every student loved him and adored him. He had a beautiful wife and three very young children. One summer, he discovered that he had stage four liver cancer and he died after a year or so, not even 40 years old. Everybody was shocked. Everybody asked why. Why him? What was God doing? He prepared him all his life and when he was about to shine the brightest for Jesus and make a big impact for His kingdom, God took him home. Why? What was the point?

But instead of asking why to the sovereign God, he asked the question, "Why Not?" Why not me? Instead of pointing the finger toward God, he humbly bowed and listened. Instead of asking why, he tried to answer the question of who. He tried to understand who God is and what He has done for him. Today people still remember him. He still speaks. To the sovereign God, he asked for understanding of His perfect will so that God's purpose might fulfill in him.

7. In verse 18-19, Paul asks specially for a threefold enlightment:

1) He asks for knowledge of the hope God brings.
2) He asks for knowledge of the wealth of glory laid up in our inheritance.
3) He asks for knowledge of the greatness of God's power.

Because God is sovereign, the question is not why, but who God is and what He has done for us. The deeper the knowledge, the greater trust and security.

8. Job has suffered greatly. He and his three friends all ask the question of why. Why is this happening to Job? The friends conclude that it must be Job. He must have done some evil. Job disagrees but he keeps asking why? The God shows up. He did not answer the question why. Yes there is an answer to why Job suffers. It is because of Satan's accusation and God's sovereign will to test Job. There is a reason to all of these. But God does not explain it to Job. He just shows him who He is and what He has done. That is how we should pray. Pray for the knowledge of who He is and what He has done.




III. Because God is sovereign, we remind ourselves God's sovereign power, v 19b-23

1. When you think of God's sovereignty, to what does your mind turn? POWER. A sovereign nation has power over its territories. A sovereign king has power over his subjects. Because God is sovereign, He has power. Paul's prayer reminds us of God's most dramatic displays of power.

2. I confess I am inclined to think of God's power in creation. I think of God's power in each star and upholding the universe by His powerful word. But to Paul, the great and the most dramatic displays for God's power is in Jesus Christ and in the church.

3. Paul prays to remind us the power that raised Jesus from the dead, the power that exalts Christ 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 age to come. God put all things under His feet. And this power also puts Christ as head over everything for the church. All of God's sovereign power is for the good of the church. All of His sovereignty is exercised for the good of the church.

4. Not a drop of rain can fall outside of Jesus' sovereign power. All our days, our health, our illness, our joys, our victories, our tears, our prayers fall within the sovereignty of one who was crucified on my behalf. For Christians, that means God's sovereignty can no longer viewed as a theological point. It must be understood as God's love for us resulted in worship and gratitude.

5. When we see the church with all of her problems and shortcoming, we easily lose hope and are discouraged. But because God is sovereign, we need to be reminded of God's power which puts Jesus as head over everything in the church. Jesus is in control of the church. This is the prayer we need to pray all the time that we are reminded of God's sovereignty and power over the church. In the church, God has broken down the walls that divide us, Jews and Gentiles (Eph 3). In the church, God is the head and everyone is under Him (Eph 4). In the church, we are growing (Eph 5). And in the church, we are going to win the spiritual battle (Eph 6). What a dramatic power in displays in the church!




Conclusion

How do we pray to the sovereign God? We can pray Paul's prayer.

1) Because God is sovereign, we offer thanksgiving for His sovereign grace in our lives, v 15-16
2) Because God is sovereign, we pray that God's sovereign purpose may be fulfilled, v 17-19a
3) Because God is sovereign, we remind ourselves God's sovereign power, v 19b-23