Sermon Tone Analysis

Appreciation of the Mystery

This pericope is broken into three very specific sections; The Invocation, the petition and the benediction.

In these three very specific sections are like a life’s mystery that Paul is revealing to the church in Ephesus.

This passage is second of two prayers recorded in Ephesians, the first one being Ephesians 1:15-23, in the first prayers, the emphasis is on enlightenment, but in this prayer, the emphasis is on enablement.

It is not so much a matter of knowing as being laying our hands on what God has for us and by faith making it a vital part of our lives , Paul was saying, “I want you to get your hands on your wealth, realize how vast it is and it start to use it.”

It is worth noting that both of these prayers, as well as other prison prayers deal with the spiritual condition of the inner man, and not the material needs of the body.

Certainly it is not wrong to pray for physical and material needs, but emphasis in these petitions is on the spiritual.

Paul knew that the inner man is what he out to be, the outer man will be taken care of in due time.

Too many of our prayers focus only on physical and material needs and fail to lay hold on the deeper inner needs of the heart.

I would do us good to use these prison prayers as our own, and ask God to help us in our inner person.

That is where the greatest needs are.

The Invocation (Ephesians 3:14-15)

Paul’s posture is the first thing of significance: For this reason “I bow my knees.”

We don’t find any place in the Bible that specifies us to use any special posture for prayer.

Abraham stood before the Lord when he prayed for Sodom

David “sat before the Lord” when he prayed about the future of his kingdom (1 Chron 17:16)

When Paul thought about the goodness of God, the greatness of the grace of Christ.

The grace of Christ raising to life those who were dead in sin, and by the realization of the unity into which Jew and gentile have been brought in the one family.

The magnitude and intensity of the wonderful purpose of God led Paul to bow his knees before the Father.

Among the Jews it was usual to stand to pray.

Kneeling for prayer is a expression of deep emotion or earnestness.

Examples:

Solomon knelt at the dedication of the temple.

(1 Kgs 8:54)

Stephen at the time of his martyrdom (Act 7:60)

Peter at the death-bed of Dorcas (Acts 9:40)

And Jesus “fell on his face” when He prayed in Gethsemane (Matt 26:39)

The book of Ephesians has a underlying emphasis on spiritual posture.

See as lost sinner, we were buried in the graveyard (2:1).

But when we trusted Christ, He raised us from the dead and seated us with Christ in the heavenlies (2:4-6).

Because we are seated with Christ, we can walk so as to please Him and we can stand against the devil.

But the posture that links “sitting” with “walking” and “standing” is “bowing the knee.”

It is through prayer that we lay hold of God’s riches that enable us to behave like Christians and battle like Christians.

Whether we actually bow our knees is not the important thing; that we bow our hearts and wills to the Lord and ask Him for what we need is the vital matter.

Paul’s prayer was addressed to “the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

In the Bible, prayer is addressed tot he Father, through the Son and in the Spirit.

This is the usual pattern though you do find petitions addressed to the Son, and possible to the Spirit.

In Ephesians 1:3, Paul's called the Father “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

He was the “God of our Lord Jesus Christ when Jesus was here on earth, as a man, Jesus lived in total dependence on God.

This title reminds us of Christ’s humanity.

But God is the “Father of our Lord Jesus Christ because Jesus Christ is eternal God; so this title reminds us of his deity.

There is a sense that all men, in particular all Christians share the same father.

Paul stated that “the whole family in heaven and earth is named” after the divine Father.

Father and family are very similar words.

The word family can be translated “fatherhood.”

Every fatherhood in heaven and on earth gets its origin and name from the Father.

He is the Great Original; every other fatherhood is a mere copy.

Adam is called the son of God referring to his creation (Luke 3:38).

Believers are the “sons of God” by rebirth (John 1:11-13; 1 John 3:1-2).

All men are not children of disobedience and children of wrath (Eph.

2:2-3).

As creator, God is the Father of each man but as Savior, He is only the Father of those who believe.

John 3:7 says “You must be born again”

The Petition (Ephesians 3:16-19)

There are four requests Paul makes while on bended knees.

These four requests are interdependent on one another.

One request leads into the next one, and so on.

He prays that the inner man might have spiritual strength, which will enable them to grab hold of God’s great love, which will result in their being “ filled unto all the fullness of God.” Paul was praying for strength, depth, apprehension and fullness.

Strength (v.

16)

The presences of the Holy Spirit in the life is evidence of salvation (Rom.

8:9); but the power of the Spirit is enablement for Christian living, and it is this power that Paul desired for his readers.

“You shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you” (Acts 1:8) Jesus performed His ministry on earth in the power of the Spirit and this is the only resource we have for Christian living today.

Acts lets us know that importance of the Holy Spirit in the life of the church, for there are some 59 references to the Holy Spirit in the New Testament.

The power of the Spirit is given to us “according to the riches of his Glory” Ephesians 3:16.

Christ returned to glory and sent the spirit from heaven to dwell and empower we his people.

It is not necessary for us to “work something up.” the power has to be sent down.

How marvelous that God does not give the spirits power to us out of his riches, but according to his riches.

The latter is far greater.

If I am a billionaire and I give you ten dollars, I have given you according to my riches.

God doesn’t give us a portion, no he gives us a proportion.

This power is available for the inner man.

this means the spiritual part of man were God dwells and works.

the inner man of the lost sinner is dead, but it becomes alive when Christ is invited in.

The inner man can see, hear, taste and feel and he must be exercised.

He also must be cleansed and fed. the outer man is perishing, but the inner man can be renewed spiritually in spite of outward physical decay.

it is the inner power that make his succeed.

What does it mean to have the Holy Spirit empower the inner man? it means that our spiritual faculties are controlled by God and we are exercising them and growing in the Word.

It is only when we yield to the Spirit and let him control the inner man that we succeed in living to the glory of God.

This means feeding the inner man the Word of God, praying and worshiping, keeping clean and exercising the senses by loving obedience.

Depth (v.

17)

Paul used three pictures to convey his idea of spiritual depth, and the three pictures are hidden in three verbs.

The action words dwell rooted, and grounded.

The verb dwell means “to settle down and feel at home”.

Certainly Christ was already a resident in the hearts of the Ephesians because he addresses them as saints.

Paul is praying for the Ephesians, his brother’s and sister in faith, to have a deeper experience between Christ and His people.

He yearned for Christ to settle down and feel at home in their hearts not just a surface relationship, but an ever deepening fellowship.

Abraham’s life is an illustration of this truth.

God was going to bless Abraham with a son, so the Lord himself came down and visited Abraham’s tent, and brought two angels with him.

They came to the tent, they talked and ate a meal with him.

They felt right at home because the word says that Abraham was a man of faith and obedience.

But the three guests had another task they had to investigate the sins of Sodom because God planned to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Lot, a believer, was living in Sodom, and God wanted to warn him to get out before the judgement could fall.

The Lord himself didn’t go to Sodom and Gomorrah, no he sent two angels .

The Lord did not feel at home in Lot’s house the way he did in Abraham’s tent.

The verb rooted moves us int the plant world.

The trees must get its roots deep into the soil if it is to have both nourishment and stability, and the Christian’s must have his spiritual roots deep into the love of God.

Psalm 1:1-3 is a perfect description.

one of the most important questions a christian can ask him/herself is, “From what do I draw my nourishment and my stability?”

If there is to be power in the Christian life, then there must be depth.

The roots must go deeper and deeper into the love of Christ.

Grounded is an architectural term; it refers to the foundation on which we build.