Great Prayers No.8 Pauls Prayer - praying for your friends

6.8 in mission praise, reconciled, I'm reconciled, I'm reconciled to God forever, he took away my sin, I know his love will never leave me, reconciled, I'm reconciled, I'm reconciled to God forever, he took away my sin, I know his love will never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never We're talking this morning about praying for our friends. I don't know whether you make the hasty and undeserved conclusion that once the BBC reporter made when referring to the Apostle Paul, and in discussion with Martin Lloyd-Jones, said that Paul was an austere man, not easy to get on with, a cold and clinical individual. And the doctor was able to supply the corrective.

Far from being that, he was a man who was very emotional, a man who, when he was saying goodbye to his friends on the seashore of Ephesus, wept, and who knew them flinging their arms around him because they would never see him again, this side of glory. Those of you who read the epistles of Paul will know that those letters are bejeweled by his prayers. The prayer life of the Apostle Paul was probably even of greater value than his preaching ministry.

That seems to be quite an extravagant statement to make, but I think I would stay by it. I remember hearing Billy Graham, that venerable, revered American evangelist, say that if he had his life to come over again, he would pray more and preach less. Well, you find embedded within the letters that Paul wrote, some of his prayers, they're magnificent prayers, they require your study.

You'll find one that is equal in vocabulary, and as amazing as this in the first chapter of Ephesians, in the third chapter, you'll learn a great deal about prayer from Paul. And yet it's not just what Paul has to say here in the first chapter. I want to deal with prayer, at least give some sort of introduction to prayer in a more general fashion.

That's the reason why I've selected three headings which have some justification, though not completely so from the text, which will help you to nail what is being taught this morning firmly in your mind, and perhaps become a sounding platform for your studies in the week when we meet together in our pastoral groups. The apostle here, then, is teaching us something about prayer. And I make my first division travailing prayer.

And I find some evidence for that from the 15th to the 16th verses of this chapter. Let me talk to you about travail for a moment. It's a word in which you generally associate pain, certainly diligence, and the latter is found here, if not obviously the former.

Prayer is work. Listen to Hudson Taylor. Do not work so hard for Christ that you have no strength to pray, for prayer requires strength.

Or another missionary to the Muslim community, Samuel Zwema. Prayer is the gymnasium of the soul. Whether or not Paul was in anguish here, he certainly was in difficult circumstances.

I mean by that that when he wrote this epistle and the comparable epistle of that to the Colossians, he was in jail. Like our beloved Lord, if ever a man had a reason to pray for himself and to forget others, it was the Apostle Paul. But that's not the sort of character that meets you on the pages of his epistle.

He is a man for others, disinterested in himself, but very concerned for the welfare of those who he has in some measure led to the Lord. Doubtless there were others who came to Christ when Paul left Ephesus, but he has in mind his friends. And he tells them that when he is in jail, he will still pray.

And what you discover in these two verses, and in the context preceding, is what went before in his praying, what preceded his praying, what stimulated his praying, what prompted his prayers, and finally, what pervaded his praying. Well, what did precede his praying? Look at the 15th verse. For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you.

It's a constant in Paul's prayers that before he gets to the petitionary element, there will be the thank you. Thank you, Lord, for the faith of these men and women in Ephesus. Thank you that they too have been included in Christ.

They too have been adopted into the family of God, verse 4. They have been sealed with the Holy Spirit, verse 13. Paul has fleshed out the blessings that belong to him prior to the 15th verse, but then he realizes that his readers too participate in these great bestowments of God, so he thanks the Lord for the grace that he has given them. What prompted his praying? Well, I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints.

He heard about their profession, faith in the Lord Jesus. He heard about their practice, their love for the saints. He puts it in that order, and it's important for you to recognize this, because practice alone is not enough.

You can be as kindly and self-sacrificial as Mother Teresa and not be a Christian. Primarily, the Christian message is addressed in terms of our response, not just to the person of God, the devil's believing God, not just to the historicity of Jesus Christ. Many academic men and women have recognized that.

What is important is that you express your faith in the Lord Jesus. You intertwine yourself around him like the ivy intertwines itself around the tree. And then, from that profession of faith, there will be a practice of the faith you profess.

You will minister in a variety of ways, showing your love for all the saints. What preceded this prayer? Praise. What prompted the praying? The practice.

What pervaded the prayer? I have not stopped giving thanks for you. I have not stopped remembering you. I keep asking the God of our Lord Jesus, and so forth, continual practicing the ministry of prayer.

That pervades not only this piece of intercession in what is disclosed about the prayer, it's also an introduction into the whole saga, wrong word, the whole story of successful Christians who have served the Lord. There has been this habitual act of praying. So, you understand something of the significance of these words, I pluck again from the Puritan era, in which the Puritans say, prayers not felt by us are seldom heard by God.

Do not pray by heart, but with the heart. You see, here is the apostle. He is a homely man.

He is a loving man. Probably he never had any children, possibly though he had been married, and the lack of his own family is more than compensated by his knowledge of the family of God, who his ministry has held to the human level to bring into being, and he prays from the heart, with the heart, for his children. Listen, do not, sorry, how much of Paul's prayer consisted in holy labor, of special intercessory prayer? How much of Paul's ministry consisted in holy labor and special intercessory prayer? The moment you feel the slightest indication of God's love, act upon it at once, however it may come.

You may be reading a book, for instance, or thinking nothing about a particular matter, when suddenly you become aware of some urge or some call to prayer. The whole essence of wisdom is to put down your book, leave off what you're doing, no matter how interesting the occupation may have been, and give yourself to the ministry of prayer. Paul travails in prayer at a time when he might have been excused, not remembering others, but just bringing before the Lord his own needs.

But we go on. We find not only some example of travailing prayer here, but what I have called transforming prayer. I mean, look at the 17th verse through to the first part of the 19th.

Here is the apostle, and he has specific things in mind for which he is making a request. Now prayer does change things, doesn't it? You do believe that, presumably. The prayers of people for you has helped to change your attitude.

Prayer is the most remarkable force that there is in our world. And when prayer is answered, obviously it affects a situation. So here is the apostle, and in his prayers there are three particular aspects that he prays for which will bring about a transformation.

He is concerned that the Ephesians have a greater knowledge of the person of God. I keep asking the God of our Lord Jesus, the glorious Father, that he may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. Not know about God, but know God.

And to do that, you must have the imparting of wisdom and knowledge. In the book that I wrote on preaching, I made a great deal about unction and anointing. But this is not only to be thought of in terms of the preacher and his dependence on the Holy Spirit.

This applies to everybody. Here is Paul, and he says, what I want you to do by the anointing of the spirit, who brings you wisdom, who brings you knowledge, I want you to come to a greater understanding of who God is. Not just the attributes of God, not just a theology of God, but to increasingly know him at a personal level.

To know the person of God, also, I argue, to know the purpose of God, I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you. What is the purpose of God for our world? Is this world going to finish in utter disaster? Is God going to say, I made such a mess that there is no vestige of anything that is useful in this world that can be improved and last for all eternity? And the answer is that God has not finished with this world. God has got a great deal to do for this world.

In fact, the Apostle Paul makes earlier reference to this in the 10th verse, when he speaks of the purposes of God, which will be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment, to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. What does that mean? Jesus shall reign where'er the sun doth its successive journeys run. The glory of God will cover this earth as the waters cover the sea.

There is a new age coming. The Apostle in prison has his eyes upon that age. He knows that that infant babe in Bethlehem will one day return in great power and great glory.

And he wants his readers to be aware not only of the person of God, but also the purposes of God. He wants them to know about the riches of his glorious inheritance, the hope that he has called them to. And what's more, he wants them to be aware of the power of God, the power which he has already released in their lives, and his incomparably great power for us, or if you like, in us who believe.

What is a Christian? I put that question to the folks who were gathered at our 945 service. What is a Christian? You go around Westminster Abbey and you see there the memorial plaques to great men and women who've lived in times gone by, poets, artists, sculptors, philanthropists, philosophers. Aye, but a number of them, they denied the very gospel.

Oh, their lives seem to exhibit certain Christian traits. But you see, they don't come into the definition of Christian as the Apostle Paul gives it earlier on when he talks about these Christians who have expressed their faith in Jesus Christ. I repeat again, you can be a Mother Teresa.

You can exhibit the graces of a Florence Nightingale and not be a Christian. A Christian is a person who has been plugged into, connected up with, the power of God. You receive the gospel.

How did you receive it? Well, the power of God was working in you. He opened your eyes to the truth. Listen to the Apostle as he writes to the Romans and he gives you a little summary of what it means to be a Christian.

I am not ashamed of the gospel. Why? Because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. The power of God.

When were you first struck by the power of God? Well, the occasion when interest was kindled in your heart. Maybe as a child at your mother's knee. Maybe as a result of reading a gospel tract or tuning into the radio for some Christian broadcast.

Maybe when you came into such a church as this. Something happened which completely changed you. It may not have been revolutionary at the beginning, but you knew that the beginning of a process had commenced.

What is a Christian? A Christian is a person through whom in some degree, in some degree, perhaps there are surges of it, perhaps there are times when it is not so obvious, but a Christian is a person who is connected in some way to the power of God. To the power of God. And the apostle makes reference to this incomparably great power for us who believe.

Now look, this will help you. It will help you in this respect. You see, some of you have great difficulties.

You know what it is, as I know too, to fight the fight and sometimes to lose. Sometimes to feel perhaps that you're not even in Christ. All the efforts.

You look back upon your life, you think of what you were, and perhaps you compare it to what you now are, and you feel that you've far from progressed, you have regressed. What I'm saying is this, that if the power of God ever trickled through you, if there are only just a few volts that went through, you are in Christ Jesus. Something of His incomparable power commenced flowing through your veins.

And what is more, He who began a good work will bring it to perfection. You see, this whole business of you responding to salvation was primarily the work of God, and God will not leave a work unfulfilled, no more than He'll allow this world to dissolve and have no future purpose in His eternity. It's this incomparable great power of God that the Apostle brings to the attention of these Ephesians.

Some of them are only slaves, some of them are non-influential people, and yet, seen from the viewpoint of God, they are part of the most cherished community on the earth. The Apostle Paul, in his prayer of transformation, asks that these Ephesians might know something of the person of God, might know something of the purpose of God, might know something of the power of God. And you see, when the Apostle prays like this, it gets him going.

I mean by that, there are times when you start to write about the Lord. There are times when you start to preach, and you start there, and then you go there, and then you go there. You start somewhat clinically, somewhat academically, God forbid, but this is the case.

And then suddenly you're caught up in the wonder of what you're saying, this incomparable power of God, what is that power like? Well, it is like the energy of God's own strength pulsating through you. That's what he says in the latter part of the 19th verse, which, verse 20, he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead. Now the Apostle Paul is airborne.

You see, he's beyond prayer. He's transcending prayer. He's going from petition into doxology.

He's going into praise. He's going into adoration. This happens time and time again when this man is praying.

And what's more, it happens here. Oh yes, there have been times when prayer meetings have started in a very low key, or when someone has been praying, and suddenly you discover as you listen to them that their spirit is enlivened, and the petition moves to praise, and they take you up to glory, and you see something of greatness and the grandeur of God. That's what I mean by prayer.

Almost transforming itself, moving away from its initial petitionary aspect into this doxological refrain, where here you've got the Apostle Paul speaking of Jesus raised from the dead. Not just raised from the dead, but raised by God into heaven, placed at the right hand far above all rule, authority, power, dominion, every title that can be named, not only in this present age, but also in the age of the world to come. The Apostle Paul has had a laptop.

It couldn't have kept up with him. It really couldn't. I mean, the thought, it's so grand, the speed with which his inspiration is flowing.

What's triggered it? He never meant to reach this point, I do declare, in this chapter when he commenced. What has happened? Well, he's had these Ephesian Christians in his mind. Here is Paul in this jail, you see, and you would pity this man, wouldn't you? You'd think, well, what a poor fellow.

I mean, he has known the wide open spaces, he's traveled many, many miles, and now here he is incarcerated in some Roman, rat-infested, malaria-infested dungeon. He starts to pray, a selfless prayer. He prays for those Christians in Ephesus, I remember the first day I went, I remember how you were bowing down to the Greek gods and goddesses of pagan people that you were.

I remember how the intellectuals spurned me. They wouldn't listen to what I had to say. But some of you came along, some of you slaves, some of you prostitutes, and I saw the grace of God.

I saw the connection of your life to this pulsating power of the Lord. And I realized that here in Ephesus, he was drawing to himself a people who would become a very influential people. And I asked myself, how did it come about? And I realized it was by none other exercise of power than the power of God when he spoke and the worlds came into existence.

The very same power that caused an infant child to be born in Bethlehem of a virgin's womb. The very same power which caused that infant, now a man, to rise from the dead and to become the risen resurrected son, the risen son of almighty God. That power, that power, that energy of God is being played through your life.

And says the apostle Paul, it's amazing. This is the only way that I can explain what has happened to you. And then he goes on, as I showed you, and he addresses our Lord Jesus and shows him as being the one who the Father has exalted so that the highest place that heaven affords is his by sovereign right.

This is the wonder-working power of the gospel. Oh, and this, I say, is an attestation that our Lord Jesus has been exalted beyond all exaltation. Demons, evil forces, righteous angels, any dynamic power whatsoever, our Lord is superior to all those far above all rule and authority, power, and dominion, and every title.

You see, some of us think so much as to what the Lord is going to do in the future that we forget what he is doing in the present. You say, what do I mean? I mean this, that our Lord is still sovereign in our world. Despite any evidence that would speak to the contrary, our Lord is still working his purposes out.

He can shake Pakistan with a revival, he did it in 1904, as he shook Wales with a revival in 1904. He can turn the country of Japan into a God-fearing country, a Christ-believing country, as he did in Korea in 1940 and 1950. Our Lord Jesus has all authority and all power.

But don't you see, as we come to a conclusion, that the Apostle Paul makes an even staggering, more staggering comment as he moves to the end. He says of this blessed Lord Jesus that not only is he head of everything, he is head of everything for the church. What is the church? A group of old ladies and old men doing their finals, worrying because they don't know if the next hour or so will bring them a heart attack and they want to get the slate clean? Is this the church? Is the church a community of individuals who have to have bingo sessions and goodness knows what in order to raise enough finance to keep the doors open? I mean, this is the apology of the church that very often people have in mind when they speak of the church, but not the Bible.

The Bible tells you that the church is the greatest organism, the greatest institution which there is in the world, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. Look that little Ephesian woman, that slave who makes his way to the church in Ephesus on a Sunday, despised by the secular society of those days, and yet Paul when he's in jail he sees that that lady, that man, is within the body of Christ, is part of the church, is part of God's future plan, and as such is a noble individual. And how has he, how has she entered into that condition? Well by the grace of God.

And how will they maintain that position? Again by God's grace and by faithfulness in prayer. So I bring this little session to its conclusion. Here I argue in Ephesus in the Ephesian letter and found out in the rest of the New Testament is the concept of travailing prayer, a man pouring out his heart for others as we must pour out our hearts for ourselves and for one another.

Here is transforming prayer. When prayer is answered it changes situations, it changes individuals. Here is transcending prayer.

Prayer takes you to the very heights of glory, to a realization that God is on the throne, he works out his purposes, and the whole of the future is in his control. This is the God that you serve. This is the God that I serve.

Thanks be unto God for his great undeserved grace directed towards these people and by proxy down the centuries through Jesus Christ directed to us. Let's pray. What we shall do in a moment is just stand and we'll sing the Lord's Prayer.

And you'll see what I mean as you thoughtfully and enthusiastically sing the prayer. That it starts with the person of God moves into position, into petition, and then raises to a crescendo as it enters into doxology, thine is the power, thine is the kingdom, thine is the glory, forever and ever, our Lord God, blessed Father of our Lord Jesus, establisher of the church, his body on earth. Let's stand.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Lord, in the light of that doxology, help us to live out our lives and engage in our praying. Amen.

Amen. May we be seated.