The power of the resurrected and reigning Christ is ours today!
~Eph. 1:15-23~
“In the same way that we give
thanks to God when we recognize his quiet and effective work in our lives, so
also we thank God when we hear of his work in others. … if we intend to imitate
the prayers of Paul, we will be attentive to reports of the progress of the
gospel, not only in circles immediately around us, but also from places we have
never visited” (D.A. Carson, A
Call to Spiritual Reformation. Baker, © 1992, pg. 171).
I.
Thanksgiving – vss. 15-16
a. What
is Paul pointing back to by using the phrase “for this reason” in vs. 15?
i. “every
spiritual ____________” – vs. 3
ii. Our
______________ before the world began – vs. 4
iii. His
God-ordained, joyful ____________ of us into his eternal family – vs. 5
iv. Our
______________ and _________________ of sins – vs. 7
v. Being
marked by the ______ ________ - vs. 13-14.
vi. Are
you a “Bryan Linn”?
b. What
are the other 2 elements that cause Paul to launch into Thanksgiving?
i. Whose
faith can you give thanks to the Lord for, right now?
ii. What
person, or people, or groups, or “saints” can you thank God for, for how they
show love to others?
c. Let
us be like the angels who rejoice over even a single, repentant sinner (Luke
15:7, 10) Let’s pray…
II.
Intercession – vss. 17-23
a.
What does the structure or order of Paul’s prayer
teach us?
i. How
does Paul’s prayer of intercession in vs. 17 parallel his prayer of
thanksgiving in vs. 16?
“Praise gives
wings to our petitions. The more my heart is occupied with God’s goodness, the
more thankful I am for the favors already bestowed on me, the more will my soul
be stirred up in seeking further mercies, the more liberty shall I experience
in making requests for them, and the more expectation shall I have to receive
the same” (A.W. Pink, Gleanings
From Paul, p. 75)
ii. If
this is Paul’s example (“I keep asking,” also seen in 1 Thess. 5:17) and Jesus’
command (Lk. 11:5-10 and 18:1-8) what stops us?
Survey of hands:
b.
According to Psychologist David Myers, the
following are the most common fears or phobias people have. How many of you
fear…
i. Snakes,
spiders and other creepy crawly things?
ii. High
places?
iii. Being
in a closed space?
iv. Storms,
thunder and lighting?
v. Being
alone in a house at night?
vi. Being
in a crowd of people?
vii. Speaking
in Public?
viii.
How about toes? Just kidding, that wasn’t in
Myer’s list, LOL. J
c.
The church in 1st century Ephesus
also had their own fears:
i. Ephesus = a place of religious
pluralism - 50 different gods and
goddesses were worshipped.
ii. Ephesus = the sacred home to the Artemis cult.
iii. People practiced magic, and believed
that good and evil spirits were involved in every area of life.
iv. End result of this religious pluralism?
FEAR, life devoid of hope.
v. Thus,
Paul wrote and prayed that they would have “an increased awareness of God’s power” (Zondy BBC) because
of the spiritual battle they were in
“against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil
in the heavenly realms” (6:12).
d.
His intercessory prayer consists of what kind of
requests?
i. ___________________
of God via wisdom and __________________, vs. 17.
1.
This isn’t “special information” that helps us
win Bible Trivia Pursuit but rather knowledge that helps us go deeper in our
relationship with Christ.
2.
“The heart of a person needs not merely more
refined theological concepts, but the work of the Spirit integrating these with
their perception and so restructuring their will and life” (M. Turner, New
Bible Commentary, p. 1227).
ii. Spiritual
__________________ à
hope, vs. 18.
1.
Why was hope such a powerful prayer request for
the Ephesians? For us today?
iii. God’s
mighty __________, vss. 19-23.
1.
What key word is crucial for understanding
Paul’s thought?
2.
The same power God used to raise Christ from the
grave is the same “incomparably great power for us who believe!”
3.
The same power in Christ that allowed him to
walk the earth in His resurrected body for 40 days appearing to “Peter, then to
the 12, then to more than 500 of the brothers, then to James, then to all the
apostles and to Paul” is the same “incomparably great power for us who
believe!”
a.
If we could only grasp this truth, how our lives
and world would be changed!!
“Note here what the apostle’s prayers were like. The fact that he
prayed without ceasing to God was the result of his faith, the fact that he
made mention of the churches while giving thanks and praying for them was the
result of his love. God will certainly approve of such prayers because they are
borne up to heaven on the wings of faith and love”
(Wolfgang Musculus, Commentary on Ephesians, Basel: Herwag, 1561.
From The Reformation Commentary on Scripture: Galatians and Ephesians,
IVP © 2011, pg. 265).
