Reflections Upon Paul’s Ephesians 1:15-23 Prayer – Part Three

 

Reflections Upon Paul’s Ephesians 1:15-23 Prayer – Part Three

 

Presumably, Paul prays for strength and perseverance for these new Christians in Ephesus. Beyond his excitement about their conversion to Christ, he realizes that they will face continual challenges to their development as disciples. Ephesus offers myriad temptations and possibilities to abandon their newfound faith and allegiance to Christ. Would they be able to endure and remain faithful to the Lord’s teachings and principles? Would they misguidedly try to blend Roman secularism and paganism with Christianity? Would they fallaciously compartmentalize their devotion to Christ while tolerating and participating in the licentiousness, hedonism and unbridled liberty of Ephesian society? Would Roman culture always win when it clashes with Christ’s Gospel? Paul prays for these recent converts as they develop spiritually during the embryonic years of the Christian faith. His example reminds mature Christians to pray for new believers. The twenty-first century global village and marketplace offer as many distractions, impediments and chances to backslide as the young believers in Ephesus faced. The internet can facilitate the worst impulses, especially selfish tendencies to indulge physical instincts. Vociferous claims that further secular humanism, moral relativism and religious pluralism drown out appeals to traditional Judeo-Christian values and approaches to family composition and social structures.

 

Social media is a double-edged sword. It instantaneously exposes governmental, legal, political and social scandals wherein leaders harm marginalized and vulnerable people, waste public resources and violate oaths of office. It is a means for average people to advocate for themselves and counterbalance the excesses of leaders. However, the internet regrettably gives voice to countless uninformed people who wax eloquent and authoritatively about public policy issues about which they know very little. Some independent journalists and influencers reinforce some of the worst impulses of society. They encourage worship of celebrity, self-aggrandizement and myriad hedonistic proclivities. Idolatry unfolds in many forms. Acquisition of millions and hundreds of millions of views, clicks and subscribers uncritically yields approval and endorsements. Hardly anyone will argue with commercial success. This incredible and incalculable resource and equally formidable and substantial obstacle could easily undermine any recent convert’s personal growth and spiritual development. Nonetheless, prayer remains one of the most reliable means of encouraging and empowering new disciples.

 

Paul asks God to empower his new brothers and sisters in Ephesus with the power of the Holy Spirit. He asks that they receive God’s power to sustain them as they obtain deep roots in the Christian faith. Amazingly, a magnificent oak tree that gives shade in summertime, offers leaves as fertilizer and maintains ecological balance between humankind and nature begins as an acorn. Just as remarkable are the invaluable contributions of countless Christians in the lives of people whom they encounter that begin with a sincere confession in the redemptive and sacrificial work of Christ. Each of these natural and social, relational and human interactions occur because of the growth of deep, wide, long and tremendous roots. Interestingly, it takes eight years to fully dig up an oak tree. The roots are so immeasurable that the search for them requires nearly a decade to extricate them. It is the hope of elders in the Christian faith that new disciples will grow roots in their love, commitment and faithfulness to the Lord that parallel the growth of an oak tree. Prayer for their perseverance in the Christian faith is necessary. In the testimony services of my childhood, many congregants would end their sharing by asking the gathering to “pray my strength in the Lord.” Embedded in this request is the desire to remain faithful to the Lord in heart, mind, soul and strength. There is also a desire to attain and maintain Christian integrity wherein a disciple’s cardinal principles and daily practices cohere. There is the practical and personal plea that the disciple will not yield to temptation and “fall away” from the Christian faith. Concern for the maturity of new believers (second and third generation Christians)  was a colossal concern for Paul and other first-generation disciples. The early Christian and New Testament church utilized four main spiritual disciplines: (1) learning the apostles’ teachings, (2) reliance upon the Holy Spirit, (3) fellowship and (4) prayer. Paul emphasizes the nonnegotiable practice of prayer in any disciple’s life. He prays for safety, growth and endurance of Ephesian disciples.

 

Parenthetically, the Lord in the “High Priestly Prayer” which the Fourth Evangelist records in the seventeenth chapter of his gospel prays for “those who will believe in me through this message.” Fascinatingly, during His earthly ministry and on the eve of His death and resurrection, the Lord Jesus Christ prays for all future believers. His prayer extends to twenty-first century disciples. More than twenty centuries ago, the Lord anticipates the spiritual assistance that neophyte believers would need to remain committed to Him and His Gospel. Moreover, He knows all disciples within their sociopolitical, economic and cultural context would need the Holy Spirit to strengthen and encourage them. Additionally, the evangelist, in the second chapter of his First Letter (1 John 2:19), speaks regrettably of some disciples who departed from the fold because they were not truly committed to Christ. Perhaps, they never truly submitted their hearts and minds to the Lord. Maybe, they never developed genuine and dedicated roots in the Gospel. Conceivably, no one prayed for their growth in the faith. You will also recall in Luke’s account of “The Last Supper,” (Luke 22:7-38), the Lord tells Peter that the devil seeks to sift him and the other apostles like wheat but that He, the Lord, prayed for them. Christ knew that they would face overwhelming obstacles and opposition as they sought to expand the church. Contemporary disciples contend with relative adversities as they strive to maintain intellectual respectability and existential integrity of the Christian gospel in the global village and marketplace.

 

Paul says he continually asks, “the Glorious Father,” “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ” to impart wisdom and revelation of the Holy Spirit to enable the Ephesian disciples to know Him better. Were they to grow persistently in a meaningful and deepening relationship with the Lord, their love, devotion and faithfulness commensurately grow. In this intercessory prayer, Paul specifically asks that God cultivates the spiritual gift of discernment in these new believers. He hopes they acquire spiritual tools and practical skills to differentiate between the fleeting delights of the world and the eternal and enduring promises of the new covenant that the Lord establishes. Wisdom in the biblical sense is the growing ability to reasonably apply spiritual, moral and ethical insight in appropriate ways to daily choices. Christian discipleship requires these spiritual gifts to mature and remain faithful. Plausibly, Paul recalls this stage of his Christian development and remembers the necessity of these spiritual gifts and abilities to perseverance in discipleship and ministry. More significantly, these components of discipleship empower disciples to more comprehensively know the Lord. That knowledge of Him practically yields greater acquisition of the heart, mind and character of Christ. Beyond intellectual assent, religious commitment, congregational fellowship and adherence to theological creeds and moral principles, Christian discipleship culminates in allegiance to the Lord and dedication to expanding His kingdom on Earth. Practically, it results in applying Exodus 20, Micah 6:8, Isaiah 61:1-10, Matthew, 6-7, Matthew 25, Luke 4:18, John 1-21, James 1:26-27 and 2:14-26 among countless other scriptures to all dimensions of professional and personal life. Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian church applies to contemporary disciples whose quest to develop parallels the challenges of these early Christians.