Prayer for Strength, Knowledge, and the Fullness of God
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| "Paul's Farewell to the Elders at Ephesus" a woodcut Biblical illustrations by Julius Schnoor von Carolsfeld, copied from the book "Das Buch der Bücher in Bilden" and made available by World Mission Collection: http://www.wmcwels.com/cgi-bin/home.pl?/ClipArt#volumetwo |
Grace, mercy, and peace to
you from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Here’s a key to properly
interpreting passages of Scripture: context.
Look for what is happening and being said before and after the
passage. And consider the time in which
it was originally written. Understanding
the literary, cultural, and historical contexts will help you to better
understand the author’s intent.
Permit me to illustrate. Suppose your seven-year-old son walks up to
you when your back is turned and asks, “Mom, can I kill this?” What’s the first thing you must find out
before you can answer him? You can never
answer the question “Can I kill this?” unless you’ve answered a prior question:
What is it?
This is the key question. You see, if your son is holding a bug in his
hand, you might say, “Go ahead.” But if
he’s carrying his new puppy, you’re going to freak out. You might even have to consider seeking
psychological counseling for him.
Context is king—in life and in biblical interpretation.
This is particularly true in
passages like our Epistle. It begins:
“So I ask you not to lose heart…” and “For this reason I bow my knees…” both phrases
that beg the question: Why? Why might
the Ephesians lose heart? And why is Paul
bowing his knees before the Father on their behalf?
To answer that question we
need to back up to the beginning of chapter 3 where Paul reveals “the mystery
of Christ,” that is, the mystery that in the Christian Church God is pleased to
have Jewish and Gentile believers stand as equals. God’s undeserved gift to Paul was choosing
him to be the revealer of this mystery, sending him out as the bearer of this
good news, particularly to Gentiles.
Unfortunately not everyone
approved of this mission to the Gentiles.
As Paul wrote this letter, he had spent the last 3 ½ years in prison and
house arrest for the sake of the Gospel.
Nevertheless, Paul rejoiced in his suffering as fulfilling the Lord’s
purposes for his life and others. He uses
this opportunity to pray for the Ephesians and to model faith and prayer,
particularly in the midst of suffering.
Paul begins: “For this
reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and
on earth is named…” In Christ, God is
the Father of all believers. All believers
are united into one family, the holy Christian church—those already in heaven
as well as those still on earth. As a
member of this family, Paul boldly prays to the heavenly Father. In his first petition, Paul asks not just for
enough strength to get by, but for strength according to the riches of God’s
glory, that by the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ would dwell in their hearts
by faith.
Second, Paul prays that they might have knowledge. The Ephesians are believers because they have
been rooted and grounded in God’s love for the sake of Jesus. This is a love that surpasses knowledge—it’s
beyond human abilities to comprehend.
Yet Paul prays that the Ephesians might grow to know it more.
Third, Paul prays that the Ephesians might be filled with the fullness of
God. If the first two petitions sounded
bold, the third might strike you as clearly over the top. God is all-powerful, all-knowing, eternal,
present everywhere; and Paul prays that the Ephesians might be filled with His
fullness. It sounds like outlandish
hyperbole. God has total
“fullness.” He created everything; He
owns everything; He controls everything.
And yet, He allows us, His dear children, to come boldly to Him. In fact, He invites us to pray confidently,
assuring us that He will hear.
Paul’s prayer is bold. There’s
nothing bashful about his request. He
doesn’t ask for just a few crumbs; he asks for the whole loaf. He asks that the Ephesians be filled with the
blessings God dispenses through His Church, particularly strength, knowledge,
and fullness.
Your pastor prays this as he prays for this congregation. He also prays this individually for you,
because of trouble and afflictions from which you suffer. He prays you might be strengthened in faith
according to the riches of God’s glory, know His incomprehensible love, and be
filled with the fullness of God. These
are not just high hopes or nice sounding words, but his sincere prayer for you.
But where is this to be
found? Where does God grant such
enormous blessings? Where does one go
for this glorious strength, this knowledge of the incomprehensible, and to be
filled with the fullness of God? Dear
friends, the answer to this is not far away.
And as I prepare to tell you what it is, I do so praying that the devil
does not snatch away your joy because the answer is so near at hand. Here it is: all of these blessings of God are
as near to you as… His Word.
Consider that first
petition, that God would strengthen your faith.
It is no mystery how the Lord gives and strengthens faith: Romans 10
declares, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of
Christ.” The Word of God is not just
informative, but powerful. It doesn’t
just tell things, but it does
things. The Lord—who spoke to create all
things and to heal the sick—still speaks His Word to you, to forgive your sins
and strengthen your faith. By that Word,
the Holy Spirit is at work so that Christ might dwell in you. Where you are weak, He is strong—so strong He
conquered death and grave for you. In
Him, you are blessed with strength according to the riches of God’s glory.
Consider that second
petition, that God would grant you knowledge of His incomprehensible love for
you. Where does God tell you of His
love? In His Word. Circumstances and events in life will
sometimes echo the news of God’s love for you; but often they do not. You know God’s love for you because He tells
you about His love for you in His Word. It
is sure. But there is more to it than
just hearing about God’s love in His Word: Romans 5:8 declares, “God shows His love for us in that while we
were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Consider that third
petition: that the fullness of God would dwell in you. Where might you find the fullness of
God? In the Word—in Christ, the eternal
Word made flesh. Colossians 1:19-20
declares, “For in [Christ] all the
fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to
Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of
His cross;” and again in 2:9, “For in [Christ] the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.”
St. Paul
All three of these
outlandish blessings are far beyond our ability to earn, attain, or grasp. But the Lord brings them all to us—not in
some out-of-body or mountaintop experience, not in “liver shivers” or “burning
bosoms,” but always available, in His Word.
It’s right here on Sunday, in the hymns, liturgy, sermon, and in the
Sacrament. It’s right there in your
Bible at home. And therein lies the
“problem” for us sinners: the Word is so readily available that you’ll be
tempted to take it for granted. It seems
so common, that you won’t make it a priority.
But this isn’t just a
problem of the world and your sinful flesh: the devil doesn’t want you to hear
the Word, either. He wants you to keep
the Bible next to your insurance policies—there if you really need it, but
hoping that you’ll never have to use it.
He wants you to despise the Word because it is so easily at hand, and common. But only by the Word is your faith
strengthened, your sins forgiven.
That’s why we pastors urge
you be in the Word on a daily basis. We
encourage you to make weekly worship a priority, because here the Lord is at
work to feed your faith and forgive your sins through His means of grace. To deprive yourself of the Divine Service is
to deprive yourself of grace. And
because we are the body of Christ, it deprives others as well: for as you sing
and speak here, you put God’s Word into the ears of those around you. When you are not here, your fellow Christians
are deprived of your voice added to the faith we confess.
We encourage you to
daily reading and meditation. There are
resources out there—The Treasury of Daily
Prayer is one of them; but it may be as simple as opening your Bible and
reading a psalm and a couple of other chapters.
Or taking the bulletin home and reading and reflecting on this week’s
lessons.
If your concentration is
frazzled as mine often is, read it out loud so that the words come out of your
mouth and back into your ears. Pick out
a verse or two to memorize, to meditate upon.
Close the day with a passage, as your thoughts while asleep often dwell
on your last waking thoughts. If you
have children, include them too. Read
Bible stories. Memorize the Small
Catechism bit by bit around the dinner table.
The Lord works through His Word to strengthen their faith, too.
For this is true: God
answers this threefold prayer—He strengthens your faith, imparts knowledge of
His love, and dwells in you—by means of His Word. If you are not hearing His Word, your faith
is weakening. It’s just that simple.
So we bid you to be in
the Word at home and at church. It’s not
because we obsess on attendance numbers, or because you earn forgiveness every
time you crack open a Bible. It’s
because the Word feeds your faith, like food feeds your body. It’s a gift of God to keep you alive,
especially in times of trial and suffering.
I already mentioned that
your pastor prays for you because of the troubles you’ll encounter. You know your pains far more than anyone
else, so I need not enumerate them. But
let’s analyze what happens when it’s given you to suffer.
When trouble strikes,
you worry and dwell on it. It occupies
your thoughts. This means that you’re
already meditating—you’re meditating on the trouble. The trouble with this kind of meditation is
that we just fret about how troubling the trouble is. We sinners don’t always think to pray or to
hear the Word for help. But the Lord has
much to say to you in time of trouble.
Remember: by His Word, He forgives your sins, strengthens your faith,
and makes you know His will.
As you read God’s Word,
the Spirit is at work to give you all of God’s blessings. The Word becomes part of your
meditation. Along with the whispered
fears in your mind, you will also hear, “God is our refuge and strength; a very
present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1).
You hear, “God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond
your ability” (1 Corinthians 10:13). You
hear that nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).
You hear Christ Jesus your Lord promise, “I will never leave you nor
forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). These are
not pep-rally words to get back in the fight; these are the promises of God to
grant you strength in trial, for you are one of His beloved children for Jesus’
sake.
Strengthened and
informed by God’s Word, you pray. You
know better what to pray, because you’ve heard the help that God promises. Having heard Him speak to you, you now speak
back to Him. And you even have help in
your praying. The Spirit intercedes for
you with groanings too deep for words, crafting your prayer into one worthy for
God’s ears. And you know that God hears
your prayers, because Jesus intercedes for you with the Father, and for His
sake the Father delights to hear your prayer.
He also delights to answer your prayer.
This brings us back to
one more bit of good news in our text: verse 20 declares that God “is able to
do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the power at work
within us.” When God answers your
prayers for Jesus’ sake, He does far more than all you ask or think.
This is good to keep in
mind. When trouble strikes, you have no
idea how much trouble you’re really in—for you fight against principalities and
powers of darkness. At the same time, when
you pray, you don’t know how good your prayer is—for the Holy Spirit makes it
far better than you can imagine. And
when God answers, you can’t comprehend how great His answer is—because He does
far more abundantly than all you ask or think.
That is why His Word is
such a blessing in a time of trouble; and dear friends, as long as this world
lasts, you are in trouble every day of your lives. By means of God’s Word, you have all of these
blessings. Apart from it, you have none. So be in the Word. For there the Lord strengthens your faith
through His Spirit in your inner being.
By means of that Word, Christ dwells in you. By that Word, God grants that you might know
the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.
By means of that Word, you are filled with the fullness of God. For by the means of His holy Word, you are
forgiven for all of your sins. In the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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