Living Wisely
SUMMARY
In this installment of the "Domino Effect" series examining Ephesians, Karl Ihfe explores Paul's vision of prayer as revealed in three prayers found in chapters one, three, and six. Ihfe contrasts our often limited, comfort-focused prayers with Paul's expansive prayers that remind believers of the extraordinary power available to them—"the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead" (Ephesians 1:19-20). Paul prays for spiritual wisdom, enlightened hearts, and a deep understanding of Christ's love that surpasses knowledge.
Ihfe challenges us to consider whether our prayers reflect an awareness of this resurrection power or if we've settled for prayers centered on comfort and entertainment. Drawing from his recent travels to Kenya and North Africa, he shares how believers in challenging contexts are experiencing God's transformative work despite difficulties. He invites the Broadway church to pray with kingdom perspective, asking God to use them to make a difference in Lubbock rather than limiting what God might do through them.
TRANSCRIPTION:
Well, we're in our series called the Domino Effect. We've been thinking together through Ephesians, talking about some of the decisions that we have to make and how those decisions can have a domino effect in the world around us. We began in chapter one, as Paul starts us with this idea of God's writing this incredible story, and we have a chance to be a part of it. And so this decision is, will we believe? Will we choose to follow the way of Jesus, or will we choose to follow our own way?
The way that's lived out is, do our actions and do our words match up? When people see us, do they see an authentic expression of Jesus hands and feet in the world? Second week, we talk some about this decision with grace. It's all about grace. It's by grace that you've been saved and not for yourself.
Right? It's nothing that you did, but it's what God is doing at work in the world. We have this decision. Will we participate? Will we allow our lives that have been shaped by grace to inform how we live around us?
And it's going to start to seep into our relationships. That's a powerful decision. Are we willing to make it? Last week, Chad shared an incredible message with us about this decision. Will we be peacemakers?
Will we pursue peace? That Jesus is our peace? But he also preached peace to those who are far away and those who were very near. I love this message that Chad shared. If you haven't listened to it, I invite you to go back online and listen to it.
It's powerful. As we think about this God who's radically inclusive, who loves us and invites us to be as inclusive as he was with us. At one time, we were on the outside looking in, but now we're in. Today, I want us to spend the remaining time we have together thinking about another decision that we're faced when we walk through this letter of Ephesians. And that's prayer.
What does prayer look like? How is it expressed in our lives? Like Paul's vision of the church? I think Paul's vision of prayer is much higher many times than ours. If you're like me, depending on where I am and what's kind of going on in my life, prayer is one of those things that, oh, yeah, if nothing else works, let's pray about it.
I'll try everything in my own power, and if that doesn't get me there, then let's pray about it. Or maybe sometimes it's this magic decoder ring. Like if I say it in the Right way and I'm standing on one and I hop in a circle. Then maybe God will honor that prayer because I've done all the right magic incantations. Or maybe it's just one more thing to check off you.
A good Christian reads their Bible and a good Christian prays and did you check your Mark? Today Paul has a very different picture of the power of prayer and the role of prayer in the life of the church. His belief was that prayer causes different kinds of things, rather causes him to pray for different kinds of things. In fact, he prays three times in this letter, chapter one, chapter three, and chapter six. And I want us to look briefly at each one of those and I'INVITE you to listen for what Paul prays for his church, for the people that he cares deeply about, and just invite you to say, compare contrast.
What does that look like with your prayers these days? What kind of prayers are you offering up for the people that you care about? Eugene Peterson describes prayer this way. He says, it has less to do with us getting what we ask for and more to do with attentiveness and responsiveness to God. Prayer then, he says, is a deliberate walking away from a Me centered way of life to a Christ centered way of life.
Let's listen again to the prayers that Paul offers on behalf of the church in Ephesus. I've spent my whole career in ministry in the church and I've received all kinds of prayer requests. And in my own life as a follower of Jesus, I've asked for all kinds of prayer requests. It's interesting to me how I don't think Paul is saying, hey, some of these prayer requests are not. No, I think Paul is going to say, actually, I want to invite you to consider.
Is it possible that there's more happening in prayer than we even realize at the time that we're praying? Notice how he says in chapter one, pick up in verse 17, Paul says, I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and Revelation so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you. You would know the riches of his glorious inheritance and his holy people, and that you would know his incomparably great power. For us who believe that power, it's the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and he seated him at the right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all Rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked not only in the present age, but also in the one to come.
God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the Church, which is his body, the fullness of him who feels everything in every way. So much of what Paul seems to be doing in these prayers, we'll see in the one, in chapter three and chapter six is reminding the church of what they already know and then inviting them, challenging them to know it in a deeper way, to know it in a deeper place. He wants that knowledge to s. Just past their head so that it ceases to be this propositional truth, something we believe to this practical truth, something that we live. I believe this. And because I believe this, I live differently, I act differently, I behave differently, I treat people differently.
He's trying to expand the prayers of the church to remind them that what they pray for together and what they pray for each other is enormous. And remember a couple of weeks ago we talked about this decision of allowing our words to match our actions that carries such a larger weight than just the simple two parts of the whole. Here Paul is praying that God would grant his spirit of wisdom so that they would know him better. He prays that the eyes of their heart would be opened so that they would know the hope that he has called them to the riches available to them in Christ. You see, it's this community prayer.
We've got our West Texas translation out, don't we? The ya'lls, these are multiple yous, these are you - all y'all. I'm praying this for you as a group that you would know the hope to which he calls you. And I love how Paul stresses I want the church to know it, but I also want them to know it. I want them to know it in such a deep way, and it's such a deep place that they can't help but live it out.
Now, I don't know about you, but when I'm praying for my friends and family, my prayers don't often match this level of. Of intensity, this recognition that, man, what we're engaging in in prayer is we're asking the same power that raised Jesus from the dead to be alive and at work in my life and in your life and in the life of the church in our city. I don't know about you, but mine don't always match that. And I don't think Paul is s saying, well, that's too bad. You need to quit praying that way.
No, no, I Think he says, pray for personal things. In fact, here in chapter six, he's going to say, I pray about all things in all situations. But I do think he wants us to stop and think about, do we really know what we're praying and who we're praying to? You see, Paul wanted the church to keep that truth, that knowledge in the forefront of their minds because he was convinced if they would, that God would do amazing things in and through them with one another. That power would free them from getting caught up in the monotony of life that day to day, ho hum daily drum the daily stress.
And one of the things that Gary and I got to do was tour some ancient sites. We got to go into this Colosseum that's one of the oldest on earth. And we spent some time walking around and listening to some of the stories in the history of that. And our tour guide, it was fascinating. He said, one of the things that the Romans would do is when they conquered an area, they didn't want to just destroy the culture and said they wanted to create people who would be loyal to the Romans.
And he said the two primary ways that they would do that was comfort and entertainment. He said, and thus we're in this coliseum. It was all about comfort and entertainment. The primary way that they got people loyal was comfort and entertainment. I thought, well, there's a sermon right there.
In our day, how much of our lives are oriented around comfort and entertainment. And the people that we listen to and the leaders that we follow promise comfort and entertainment will take care of your needs. One of Kaylee and I's favorite movies is this movie called you've Got Mail. Now, it's not too terribly theological, but there are a couple of theological streams that I think are important to think about. That's the story of this large bookseller that's moving into the Upper east side of New York, and their presence in that area is going to shut all the mom and pop places down.
And so the name of this bookstore is called Fox Books, and Tom Hanks plays this character named Joe Fox, and he's kind of in charge of creating this story. And so he's walking through the story that's being constructed one day, and his partner in crime is kind of with him. And he says, you know what? We need to announce our arrival to the neighborhood. And his partner goes, no way.
They're going to hate us. They're going to line up to picket us, to not want us to be there. And he says, you know what? We're going to seduce them. We're going to seduce them with our square footage, and we're going to seduce them with our discounts, and we're going to seduce them with our deep armchairs, and we're going to seduce them with our cappuccinos, because it's all about comfort and entertainment.
That was Rome. We're going to seduce them with comfort and entertainment. The same temptation is for us today, I think, when it comes to our prayer life. How many of us are just praying for comfort and entertainment? God, we're bored.
Help me not be bored. God, we want these things, but we're not really thinking about. Hold on. The power that raised Jesus from the dead is available to us. And you're asking about a parking space.
Stop for just a moment and ask. Am I missing something here? Well, Carl is important. Well, yeah, maybe sometimes it is important to pray for a parking place, but Paul's going. Do you realize what is before you, the opportunity that we have before us?
In chapter three, he says it this way. Hannah read first just a moment ago. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, church, you all, y'all being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the Lord's people in Kenya, in North Africa, all over the world, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you would be filled to the measure of all fullness of God. Remember, in chapter one, he says, Jesus is the head of the church, his body the fullness of God.
And here he's praying. I'm praying that you'll be filled to the measure of the fullness that God has created us to be. Not to him who is s able to do it, who is able to do so much more than we can imagine or even ask. According to his power that's at work within us, God can do so much more than we even ask or imagine. I was stunned this last week to be walking through a hospital ward in one of the men who leads this group in <name withheld>.
He shows me a picture of this young woman who' face has been horribly disfigured. And then he says, after surgery, here is what she looked like and this beautiful smile. And this girl walks out of the hospital with literally a new face. And I am going, I can't. I can't believe that's even Possible.
How in the world? Because God can do way more than Carl can even imagine that wasn't even imagining that. And yet here he is doing this very thing. Paul says, church, I want you to be so gripped by the love, how wide and high and long and deep this love of God is, that it becomes almost like breathing that to live not in the way of Jesus love. It's almost like holding your breath like you can't do it.
Paul isn't praying so much that they'll get this. He says, you've got it. I'm praying that you'll recognize you have this power available to you. You have this opportunity in front of you. So he finishes chapter six, the last prayer, and we'll finish on this.
He says, I pray in the spirit on all occasions, with all kinds of prayer requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people. Pray also for me that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of gospel for which I'm an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. Paul doesn't say, don't pray about the little things.
He says, actually, I pray all the time about all kinds of things. But I'm doing it to remind me that there's this power available and I can tap into it like I've been invited in, that once I was on the outside, but by grace, God has brought me into the family, and so now I get to be a part of the family. He says, I pray knowing that the same one that raised Jesus from the dead is listening to my prayers. And so it compels me to think even more broadly about my own comfort and entertainment, to begin thinking about things on a broader scale. What if we could pray church this week for one another, that the eyes of our heart would be open to this reality, that as you go throughout your day this week, that God would just open your eyes up to the reality that he has the power to bring dead stuff back to life.
Now, how might you approach your work differently this week if you really believe that? No, it's not about you being smarter than everyone. No, no, it's about tapping into the power that raised Jesus from the dead to say, God, could you use me to make a difference in my workplace to our students, if you walked on campus, just knowing the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is going to give your life to your mortal body. It's going to allow you to be that friend, to that person that really needs a friend. It's going give you the power to be an encourager, to just ruthlessly encourage people.
Most people do not have that friend or that person in their life who doesn't give up, who just cheers them on, on and on and on, who tells them the truth, who speaks the truth and love, but who just keeps calling out to them. Maybe God's inviting you to become that. Maybe for you it's asking, where's the prince of this world? Tempting you to settle for comfort and entertainment.
Maybe it's the direction that you're headed. God, would you open up my eyes to the reality that you are at work and you want to do great things? One of my favorite things about being a part of the Broadway family is this vision process. You heard Jonathan mention it a moment ago that we're not settling on what we used to do. Broadway has done some amazing things in our past and no one has said, well that's good enough, let's just chill here.
No, no, they're going, well, what's next? Where's God at work and how can we go and join him? I was so inspiring to listen to my brothers and sisters in Kenya and North Africa talk about the ways they're trying to live this out. And man, it is complicated. It is so difficult.
In fact, you haven't seen pictures and heard many stories from one of the places I visited because it's so. Is so challenging that if things get found out and names and connections get made, then it can be dangerous for people living in the church. So it has to be on the down low. And that has not stopped God's work in that place. It's not stopped this amazing power of breaking through and these little beachheads cropping up here and there.
It's not stopped people having dreams. I heard a story this week. This young girl, school age girl, said, I had a vision. This guy named Jesus said I needed to go talk to you.
And I'm going, what? Can't imagine. That's because God can do way more, Carl, than you can imagine. Broadway, where are we limiting God? Like these conversations are happening and they're unfolding and it's messy.
It's not like that went great and they became a follower. Life is happy. No, no. It's like causing serious stress and strain and struggles. And yet they're in the midst of that going, God, who do we need to be?
God would give us eyes. The eyes of our heart would see the truth, the power that we would know this incredible love that no matter what happens, nothing can separate us from. And in light of that, I'm going to live with courage in a time, in a place where it's not popular. The world around us wants to be divisive. They want to pull us apart.
They want to point out all the different ways that were different instead of saying, well, how about we're connected? I know we don't share. All the same belie. I know. I understand.
Let's let Jesus help sort that out. Let's not limit our willingness to be a part of God's kingdom movement because we can't figure it out. That's a really low bar, especially for an old preacher like me. That doesn't take much to confound Carl. So how about we say let's just see what happens.
Let's lean into it and trust that Jesus and his holy spirit really are powerful enough to make sense of it. Go Broadway. Invite us this week. Let's lean into the power of prayer because you never know what God might want to do in you. God, may that be our life this week.
Would you give us the courage to lean back into the power of prayer, not to quit praying for small things. Those are important. The people that we love, asking and inviting those. But God, would you help reset our mindset that the greatest thing that our children, our grandchildren, our young people could. Could face is not challenge, it's comfort and entertainment.
That temptation is going to be to waste their life chasing on things that people who don't even know you chase after the words of Jesus instead. God, would you help us learn how to empower and embrace and equip the next generation to seek the kingdom in all the different ways and God, even this last week or two, being in another continent. Another place, seeing your church alive and well, facing all kinds of challenges and messiness, and yet in the midst of it all this, people who have great joy knowing God, you are re using us to make a difference in the world, God, we want to be used to make a difference in our world. God, we want to see Lubbock transformed. We want you to use the Broadway church as your hands and your feet.
So, God, as we pray this week, would you just remind us in whatever way we need to be reminded that when we pray to you, that we're praying to a God who raises dead things and he brings life in places where there wasn't before. He brings light into the darkness. Oh, God, would you inspire us? Would you challenge us? Would you equip us?
And would you send us, we pray in Jesus name, Amen.