Let us turn to God's Word again. I'm directing you this morning
to words that we find in Ephesians chapter 3. Ephesians chapter 3 reading from
verse 14 through to the end of the chapter. Here we have the
record of Paul's second prayer for the Ephesians we've been
considering. these past number of weeks that
first prayer that we have of course at the end of the first
chapter there at verse 15 through to verse 23 Paul says at verse
16 there that he ceases not to give thanks for you making mention
of you in my prayers we consider then something of the content
of that particular prayer and I want us now to turn to the
Second prayer that we have in this epistle, which is here at
the end of chapter 3, from verse 14. Paul writes to the Ephesians
in, For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to
be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man,
that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye, being
rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with
all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height,
and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that
ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto him
that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we
ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us unto
him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages
world without end Amen I said then that having considered the
earlier prayer I thought it might be profitable for us also to
consider the content of this remarkable prayer that we find
at the end of this third chapter and so this morning drawing your
attention to the opening two verses that I've just read, verses
14 and 15. He says, For this cause I bow
my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the
whole family in heaven and earth is named. Interesting that he
uses that expression at the beginning of verse 14, for this cause. There is clearly then some association,
some connection with what he's just been saying. And there at
verse 13, he says, I desire that you faint not at my tribulations
for you, which is your glory. Wherefore, or for this cause,
I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's praying for them because
he's concerned that the persecutions that he is now having to endure
might be some trouble to them and it might dishearten them. And then it's interesting because
it's not the first time that he uses such an expression. We
have the same words at the beginning of the chapter. For this cause I poured the prison
of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles. He was being persecuted. I said as we read that passage
in Acts that there was much persecution for Paul at Jerusalem. He'd appealed
to Caesar. He'd gone to Rome. And this epistle
to the Ephesians, of course, is one of the prison epistles. What was the real cause of his
trouble? Well, it's that that he's referring
to, really, at the beginning of the chapter. Why is he the
prisoner of Jesus Christ? It's for the Gentiles. That was
the great offense that he had caused to those Jews at Jerusalem,
because of the message that he had taken to sinners of the Gentiles. And of course, in the whole context
here, he is very much speaking of that ministry that was committed
to him at his conversion. He was to be the Lord's servant,
the Lord's apostle to Gentiles. Remember how we spoke of that
in chapter 2 as he addresses his church principally made up
of those Gentiles. He says there in verse 11 of
that second chapter, Wherefore remember that ye, being in time
past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called on circumcision by
that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that
at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenant of promise,
having no hope, and without God in the world. But now, in Christ
Jesus ye, who sometimes were far off, are made nigh, by the
blood of Christ. All that work of the Lord Jesus
Christ, he had died even to save sinners amongst the Gentiles. And this man is the man, as we've
said, who's called to take that great message of the gospel even
to the ends of the world. How he speaks of the revealing
of that great Mystery, at the beginning of this third chapter,
at verse 6, that Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same
body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel, whereof
I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God,
given unto me by the effectual working of his power unto me,
who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given,
that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches
of Christ. Well, the ministry of this man
was such an offense to the Jews as we see at the end of the Acts
of the Apostles that they are planning to kill him, they want
rid of him, he's an offense to them and so he appeals to the
Caesar, that's his right, he's a free-born Roman citizen and
he has to go to Rome to appear before Caesar and that's where
we leave him of course at the end of the Acts of the Apostle
but how those Jews were so stirred up such was their great hatred
against him and we see it in the portion we were reading we
read of them crying out one to the other men of Israel help
this is a man that teaches all men everywhere against the people
and the law and this place and further brought Greeks also into
the temple and that polluted the holy place how they so much
despise it and would persecute it and yet we see his great concern
is not so much for himself but for those who have been the recipients
of his ministry even these here in the church at Ephesus and
so he's moved to pray for them I desire that you faint not at
my tribulations for you which is your glory he says for this
cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
of whom the whole family Jew and Gentile in heaven and earth
is Paul pries. He's moved now as
he's spoken of his ministry the Apostles of the Gentiles he's
moved to to pray for them. Of course this was really the
evidence of his true conversion. He recounts something of that
in the portion that we were reading at the beginning of Acts chapter
22 but if we go back to chapter 9 in the Acts we have the account
of what happened there as he came to the gates of Damascus
and the Lord arrested him and speaks to him and then blinded
by that remarkable sight that he beheld he's led into the city
to a house in the street called Straight and then one Ananias
who's a disciple of Christ, a Jewish believer is sent to this house
to meet with this man of whom he must have known he was a persecutor
and yet he's to go and he's to see this man and to speak to
him and now is he assured of something having taken place
in the soul of Saul of Tarsus well the only thing that we're
told is that the Lord says To Ananias concerning the man, behold
he prayeth. Behold he prayeth. He's a praying man. Now, doubtless
Paul, when he was Saul of Tarsus, was a man who would, as a Pharisee,
he was a Pharisee, he was the son of the Pharisee, he lived
the life of a Pharisee, he can say all of those things he would
observe, all the stated hours of prayer. He led a most religious
life, he said many prayers. And yet, in a sense, he had never
really prayed at all. They were just formal prayers.
And now the Lord God rejects that sort of praying. Think of
those words back in Isaiah 28, these people draw nigh me with
their mouth. and with their lips to honour
me, but to remove their hearts far from me, and their fear toward
me is taught by the precept of men." Oh Saul of Tarsus, he'd
been taught by the precept of men. His pharisaical father taught
us. And then when he sat at the feet
of Gamaliel, one of the great Jewish rabbis, he'd learnt what
it was to be a Pharisee and to make long prayers. that he might
impress others, and yet he had never uttered one spiritual prayer
until the Lord really began to deal with him, until there was
that real quickening in his soul. And so Ananias is assured of
this man. Behold, he prayeth. And here we find him praying, praying even as he's addressing
these believers. As we said, it's not only in
this epistle to the Ephesians, but in other epistles. As Paul
is writing to these believers and instructing them, time and
again he's moved to pray for them. He's a man of prayers. And there
are things that move him to prayer. Of course, great doctrine should
really move us to pray. The portion that we were looking
at these recent weeks here at the end of chapter 1, it follows
of course that tremendous opening section of the epistle. Remember
there from verse 3 through 14 of chapter 1, we see that great
salvation that is altogether Trinitarian. Paul speaks of the great purpose
of God the predestination of a people the Father has made
choice of a multitude of sinners chosen in the Lord Jesus Christ
from before the foundation of the world the great purpose of
God and then the work of God the Son who comes as that one
who will accomplish their salvation pay the great price of redemption
for them spoken of there at verses 7 through 12 and then the sealing
of the of the Holy Spirit mentioned in verses 13 and 14 and then
immediately after that we come to the passage we were looking
at from verse 15 the prayer it's doctrine that moves the apostle
to pride if we really do believe in the in the sovereignty of
God in salvation and that great work of redemption it should
move us to pray in his highest work redemption see his glory
in a blaze nor can angels ever mention what the more of God
displays his gods be in his hymn oh but does that truth that doctrine
have such an effect upon us when we read the word of God and the
Lord opens our eyes to these precious truths does it make
us turn to him in prayers, in prayers of thanksgiving and acknowledgement
of his great goodness Paul was moved to pray and it's not just
great doctrine that moves him to prayer but here we see how
trials and troubles also move to prayer think of the language
that we have in that epistle of James when he says is any
man among you afflicted let him pray when afflictions come we
should pray afflictions make us see what else would escape
our sight how very foul and dim are we and God how pure and bright
how when we brought to understand something of the Lord's dealings
with us, even His correctings and His chastisings that come
to us. Do these things move us to pray? Here is Paul and what
moves him to pray? He's troubled really with regards
to how his own situation is going to affect these Gentile believers. I desire that you faint not at
my tribulations, he says. For this cause I bow my knees
unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." Oh, he's moved to pray
for them. And so, coming to consider these
opening verses, verses 14 and 15 this morning. For this cause I bow my knees
unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family
in heaven and earth is named. I want to divide what I'm going
to say into some three parts. First of all, to consider the
posture of prayer. As we have it here, the posture
of prayer. You will observe that no mention
is made of prayer in the first two verses. We simply read of of his position, his posture
for this cause he says I bow my knees all we are told then is something
of his external position we know that it's not so much
the position, the posture that's important when it comes to prayer
Our internal attitude, of course, is the most important thing of
all. We read of men lifting up their
heart with their hands. There is a lifting up of the
hands, in that sense, in prayer. But it's not enough to lift up
our hands. It's not enough just to bow the
knee. Not enough to kneel in prayer,
to be prostrate in prayer. The important thing is the attitude
of our hearts. Externals are not unimportant,
of course. They're not unimportant. I trust
we'll see that, but we know what the real need is when we come
to pray. And what is the real need? It's the matter of the
heart of the prayer. If we're going to really pray,
we must be those who are wholehearted. The Lord God says quite clearly
through His servant, the prophet Jeremiah, Ye shall seek me and
find me, when ye shall search for me with all your hearts. All the hearts, the whole of
the hearts, and we need to be aware of coming as those who
have divided hearts. Think of the of the language
that we have there in the opening verses of Colossians chapter
3 Paul says if ye then be risen with Christ seek those things
which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of
God set your affection on things above not on things on the earth
when we come to pray our affections are to rise above the things
of time and of sense, these temporal things and we're to set our hearts
on those things in heaven where Christ is we want to know the
blessing of boldness and access with confidence into the presence
of God but we must be those who are wholehearted, there must
be that sincerity in us if we're going to really know what it
is to to come before the Lord with true prayers wholehearted
prayers not the divided hearts but then on the other hand we
must have broken hearts in his great penitential psalm, Psalm
51 David says the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a
broken and a contrite heart O Lord thou will not despise Ought to be those then who know
what it is to come with broken hearts, grieving over our many
sins. Think of the verse of another
hymn of Joseph Hart's, Let no vain word your souls deceive,
nor Satan tempt you to believe the world and God can hold their
parts. True Christians long for Christ
alone, The sacrifices God will own are broken, not divided hearts. There is a difference between
a divided heart. You might say, well that's a
broken heart. There are two parts to it. But that's not a real
broken heart. Or the broken hearted are those
who come feeling the burden of their sins, grieving. They come
in a spirit of true penitence. they know that real repentance
they come mourning over their crucified Savior who has suffered
all the contradiction of sinners against himself on their account
how important then that we come as those who are yes in one sense
wholehearted and yet in another sense we come with that acceptable
sacrifice a broken and a contrite heart, coming before God in a
spirit of true repentance. But, as I said here, all that's
spoken of in the text is the external. For this cause Paul
says, I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And someone has said that posture
in prayer is not a matter of indifference. It is not becoming,
is it, if we're slouching in prayer. External position might betray
something of the real state of our hearts. It's interesting
the position that the apostle does speak of. He speaks of bowing
the knee. bowing the knee, often when we
come to pray we don't kneel, I suppose. In many ways, in years past it
would certainly have been the practice in parish churches. The Church of England would have
kneelers and people would kneel to pray. Of course, in Scotland they stand
to pray. They sit to sing. when we come to the Word of God
the only occasion where we read of a man sitting in prayer I
believe is that in 2nd Samuel 7.18 where we're told that David
sat before the Lord when he prayed but I don't think there's any
other reference anywhere in Holy Scripture to sitting in prayer
we read of men even being prostrate in prayer But how significant is the posture
that we have here in the verse this morning? Paul says, I bow
my knees. And what does that indicate?
Well, certainly it indicates a spirit of submission, an acceptance really of the absolute
sovereignty of God. And isn't that the way in which
we are to come before the Lord God? amongst those petitions that
the Lord Jesus Christ teaches us in the pattern prayer is that
one thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven all that sovereign
will God does according to his will among the armies of heaven
and the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or
say to him what doest thou surely to come bowing the knee is to
come with that spirit of real meekness before God to acknowledge
Him as that One who is sovereign and we're coming now not to seek
what we would want but to seek what He sees to be best for us. It indicates also, doesn't it,
bowing the knee, a spirit of real reverence in the presence
of God. We think of the opening words
of Ecclesiastes chapter 5. Remember the language of the
preacher there, keep thy foot when thou goest to the house
of prayer, and be more ready to hear than to offer the sacrifice
of fools, for they consider not what they do. Be not rash with
thy mouth, let not thy heart be hasty towards anything before
God, for God is in heaven, and thou upon therefore let my words
be few." Sometimes I fear we can pray timely in our prayers
and say a lot and yet really we're saying very little at all. It's not long prayers is it? We read of many short prayers
in scripture. Simple prayers, Lord help me,
Lord save me, how we need to come then with all reverence
before the Holy One and at times do we not have to confess that
when we would feel ourselves probably to be in a real spirit
of prayer it's then that the words begin to fail us and we
scarce know what to say or how to speak here we see then the posture
of the Apostle as he comes to make his petitions on behalf
of these believers in the church at Ephesus. For this cause I
bow my knees, he says, unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the second place, observe
the person whom he would address in his prayers. He speaks of
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Eternal Father. He is the Eternal Father of course
because there is also an Eternal Son. He is the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ. He is the Son of the Father in
truth and in love. There are others who are God's adopted sons. there is such a blessed truth,
isn't there, as that of adoption because your sons God has sent
forth the spirit of his Son in your hearts crying Abba, Father,
we read well but the Lord Jesus Christ is that one who is the
Father's eternal Son we look in times past at that language
that we have in the Second Psalm I will declare the decree the
Lord hath set unto me that want my son. This day have I begotten
thee. He is the only begotten of the
Father. All there might be adopted sons,
but there is only one eternally begotten. And is that one who
is speaking there in the psalm? The Lord hath set unto me this
day have I begotten thee and remember the remarks of Luther
the great protestant reformer concerning that word this day
it neither implies a yesterday nor a tomorrow but always a present
time a today a being always begotten a being
always begotten an eternal generation begotten in eternity that's the
truth that we have there when there were no depths he says
i was brought forth when there were no fountains abounding with
water before the mountains were settled before the hills was
i brought forth eternally brought forth eternally begotten of the
father he is the son and he is co-eternal and he is co-equal
with the Father and with the Holy Spirit and this is the one that the
Apostle would address in his prayer the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ remember what we have previously
at the end of chapter 1 in that prayer that we were recently
considering then in verse 17 Paul speaks of the God of our
Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory He is the God of our
Lord Jesus Christ as well as the the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ there is a difference of course He is the Eternal Father
of the Eternal Son But when we think of the great purpose of
salvation, when we think of the covenant of grace, remember how
in that covenant of grace the father is that one who represents
deity. We see the father there, as it
were, in his economical character, he is the one who has purposed
the salvation. and it is the son who will come
to procure that salvation the father represents the deity,
the son becomes the servant of God and so he comes now to say
my father is greater than I in terms of that economical character
in the outworking of the covenant, he is that he can say on another
occasion I and my father are one he's one with the father
he's equal to the father and yet when we see him as that one
who is the Messiah the Christ of God he is the Lord's servant
behold my servant whom I uphold mine elect in whom my soul delighteth
I have put my spirit upon him he is the father of our Lord
Jesus Christ He is the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. And He
is that One through whom we come and make our prayers unto God.
We have it there, don't we, back in chapter 2 at verse 18, through
Him, that is through Christ. We both, Jew and Gentile, have
access by one Spirit unto the Father, or there is a mediator.
Even the man, Christ Jesus, the only mediator between God and
men, but the person who's being addressed here, it's the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And when we're favored with that
spirit of adoption, can we not come and address God as our Father? Which art in heaven? And so what do we see in the
third place here? There is the privilege. There
is the privilege of prayer in verse 15. Paul says, of whom
the whole family in heaven and earth is nine. The family of
God. It is interesting because of
course the words that we have here in these two verses father
and family are from the same roots the words father in verse 14
is patira and the word family in verse 15 is patria it's the
same the same roots it's the family of God it's a relationship between God's and his people. That relationship is all together
in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. That one who was broken
down, that middle wall of partition. Remember what God says in the
Old Testament to the children of Israel. They were his ancient
covenant people. And he says there, through the
prophet Amos, Amos 3, 2, you only have I known of all the
families of the earth. Of all the families of the earth.
He had made choice of these people to be his own peculiar and special
people. But then when we come to the
New Testament, you see, and that middle wall has gone. as we read there in chapter 2
at verse 15 the work of Christ having abolished in his flesh
the enmity even the law of commandments contained in ordinances to make
in himself of twain of two that is Jew and Gentile one new man
so making peace and that he might reconcile both unto God in one
body by the cross having slain the enmity thereby and came and
preached peace to you you Gentiles which were afar off unto them
that were nigh those Jews all the petition is no more there
is neither Jew nor Greek there is neither bond nor free there
is neither male nor female but you are all one in the Lord Jesus
Christ why the Gentiles are now clearly brought in Isn't this
what Paul is saying here in the context? The language that we
have at verse 3 following. By revelation, Paul says, God
made known unto me the mystery, as I wrote afore in few words,
whereby when ye read ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of
Christ, which in other ages were not made known unto the sons
of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets
by the Spirit. that the Gentiles should be fellow
heirs and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ
by the gospel. And Paul is that one, you see,
he's made a minister. He says, according to the gift
of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of
his power unto me, who am less than the least of all saints,
is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles. the
unsearchable riches of Christ. And so these Gentiles, whom he's
so concerned about, these believing Gentiles there in the church
at Ephesus, he doesn't want them to faint at his troubles, his
tribulations. Or he assures them, verse 19
of chapter 2, Therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners,
but fellow citizens with the saints. and of the household
of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. All the Gentiles are brought
in. The salvation for all manner of sinners in the Lord Jesus
Christ. These will make up that blessed
family of God. And what of prayer? Well, it's
in prayer, is it not? that the fellowship of the whole
family is expressed. When the Lord Jesus Christ teaches
us in the pattern prayer, how are we to address God? It's not
that we address Him in the singular, is it? We address Him in the
plural. After this manner therefore pray
ye, says our Father. When we address Him as Father,
we acknowledge also the Father, of whom the whole family in heaven
and earth is named, it says. There is a spot where spirits
blend and friend holds fellowship with friend. Though sundered
far, they meet at one common mercy seat. He said, that's the
truth of prayer, we can pray for one another. Just as the
apostle would pray for these believers there at Ephesus, we're
to express in our fellowship with other believers as we pray,
as we pray for one another. Are we not to learn then of the
example of this man? He's a pattern. as he says there
in that opening chapter of 1st Timothy, is a pattern to them
which should hereafter believe. And his Christianity was very
much marked by his prayers. And Ananias sees him there praying
in Damascus, and we see him time and again giving himself over
to prayers for the churches of Jesus Christ, even as he writes
these various epistles. Well, the Lord willing, we'll
go on to consider something more of the content of this prayer
of which we looked at the introduction somewhat this morning. He says,
For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. We're going to sing now that
hymn that speaks of God's family on the earth, the Hymn 1013. The tune is Albano 847. There
is a family on earth whose father fills a throne, but though a
seed of heavenly birth to men there little known. The Hymn
1013, the tune 847.