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Sunday July 26, 2009 "This I Pray" Ephesians 3: 14-21 |
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Location: Blogs Brad's BlogBrad's Sermons |
 | | Posted by: Brad Miller | 7/28/2009 1:08 PM | Today’s scripture is sometimes called “the Apostles Prayer” and is nothing short of a great example of how we are to pray for one another. It is found in the letter to the church at Ephesus, generally attributed to the Apostle Paul.
There is much evidence that the writer of this letter did not personally know the people to which the letter is addressed. The form of greeting and the message is general and not pointed at specific issues and problems like so many other of Paul’s letters. We know that Paul had spent time in Ephesus; there is good reason to believe that he was actually imprisoned in Ephesus, but this letter does not indicate a familiarity with the people of the Ephesian church. But the people of the church in Ephesus knew of his missionary activity. Paul understood his mission to be aimed primarily at people like those who lived in Ephesus. He believed that the mission upon which he embarked was to make Christ known among the Gentiles and to encourage the Jewish believers to accept the Gentiles as full and equal partners in the community of faith. His goal was to convince both groups that their salvation and their lives were important to God, and important to God’s plan for salvation for the entire world.
This apostle, this man who had been chosen by the risen Christ to carry out this mission must have been a persuasive example. With his powerful credentials, and with his zeal and passion, he must have been one to behold. Beyond that, he was willing and able to give up anything, including his very life, to stay true to his mission of spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ to all who needed to hear that powerful witness.
This letter is testimony to that power and passion.
There is a lot of debate in the scholarly community about whether or not Paul wrote all the letters that are attributed to him. Some letters are accepted as the genuine article, some letters are debated as to their authorship, and for some letters, there is almost universal acceptance that Paul did not write the letter. In those cases, the letters are believed to have been written by followers of Paul, perhaps students of Paul, who continued to spread the Pauline message of the gospel well after Paul’s death.
This is one of those letters that is almost universally accepted as not having been written by Paul. The lack of a special greeting to people the author knows and has a relationship with, and the lack of a problem or issue specific to Ephesus both point to the writer not having a personal contact with the Ephesian church, which Paul most certainly would have had.
At some point, however, the question is moot. The fact is that all great prophets, teachers, apostles and leaders have people who follow them in order to make sure that their message and their methods continue to live on. What’s important is the message embedded in the letter. Over the centuries the church in all it’s guises and forms has decided that the letter is important, no matter who wrote it. That it exists in the canon of our Holy Scriptures is no accident: it has something to say to followers of Christ, back then, today and in the future.
The letter can be divided into two parts. The second part is seen as sort of a household code for people who align themselves with the church of Jesus Christ. What we heard read this morning is the end of the first part of the letter, and the part we are most interested in this morning.
The first part of the letter is aimed at making sure that those who read it, whether in Ephesus or in Atlanta, understand the importance of building Christ’s church by including all those who would come. It is a letter of encouragement for churches struggling with how to incorporate non-Jewish and Jewish beliefs into a single community with a single direction in mind: declaring the power and grace of Jesus Christ to all they meet.
It was not an easy task back then, and it is not an easy task now. Whenever we enter a church of a different tradition or denomination, we are aware that even as united brothers and sisters in Christ, our different experiences and our different understandings of that experience shape our beliefs and our practices.
Given how difficult it sometimes is for us to reach across denominational and traditional lines, think how much more difficult it would have been to build a church with people with such widely disparate backgrounds. On one side you have the Jewish-Christians who have been well versed in the messianic traditions. That is, they have been awaiting and expecting the messiah for generations. Convinced that Jesus was indeed the messiah does not alter their strongly held beliefs, it simply adds the final piece to the puzzle of their faith journey. On the other hand, Gentiles who knew nothing of the Jewish tradition or the promised coming of the messiah would have a much different view of the importance of Jesus. Their interest in the long history of the Jewish people might be very weak. They would have no need of understanding the Exodus from Egypt, the importance of Passover, the prophecies of the coming messiah or the rich tradition of worship that their Hebrew brothers and sisters possess. What they know is straightforward and simple: because of Jesus, they have a relationship with God, and because of that relationship have found meaning in their existence and hope in the promise of salvation and redemption.
These differences alone would make it hard to worship together, but Paul is prodding the church to recognize that they both believe in the same God, the same Jesus. If the church is to have the desired impact, they must get past these divisions. It is, after all, only a matter of human tradition. But we all know how powerful our traditions can be.
This is exacerbated by the fact that the church of Paul’s day is not the church that we would recognize today. They were primarily house churches, small groups of people gathered to glorify God and find fellowship in the company of like minded people. These house churches must figure out how they are honor God, how they are to worship God and how they are to proclaim the Gospel story.
Today, we meet in well organized communities that are huge by comparison. Our churches today have years and years of tradition and form to follow. The goal of all Christian tradition is the same. Worship aimed at glorifying God and being in God’s presence. But different traditions do so in very different ways. Depending on what we are accustomed to, we will find ourselves more comfortable in one style of worship.
We have come to understand today that this does not mean one is better or one is worse. What it means is that all of us have preferences and for us as individuals, one type of service will be better for us…and so we gravitate toward that style of worship. The outcome is that there are thousands of congregations, each populated by people who are in basic agreement about how to best conduct worship.
Historically, we know that Paul was concerned about the church being something that divided followers of Christ rather than uniting them. The prayer in Ephesians 3 reflects just that concern.
In the body of the prayer, the writer makes reference to issues of unity over and over. First, he says that every family in heaven and earth takes their name from the Father, whom he worships. Second, he prays that they will comprehend, with all other believers, the love of Christ that we can’t fully understand. Third, the doxology of this prayer seeks to remind readers that we might have different ideas, but the author prays that God might be glorified in each church and in Christ Jesus for all generations, for all time.
Clearly, the Pauline tradition seeks to remind us all that our strength comes in worshipping God, glorifying God and honoring God with all our hearts and minds, without regard to our differences in background and experience. If the kingdom of God is going to make itself known, it will be, the writer implies, in the church of Jesus Christ.
What lesson do we take away from this scripture? I think it is that we need to make sure that not only is Christ at the center of all we do, but that we not let differences in doctrine or tradition or even interpretation stop us from uniting in our love of God. We must remember that we don’t understand it all; but that in our shared love of Christ, more can be accomplished than we can ever comprehend.
Instead of quickly seizing upon our differences with other Christians, inside or outside of the church, we need to strive to first acknowledge our shared beliefs, and then with open minds and open hearts, discuss our different interpretations and traditions. And we must do it with an eye toward strengthening Christ’s church and God’s kingdom as our goal, first, last and always.
One of the ways we do that is through prayer. In the passage that we heard read this morning, the writer sets us a wonderful example of what it means to be in prayer for others.
The first line in the Apostles prayer is “For this reason I bow my knees before my father…” What is “this reason” that the writer refers to? As an apostle of Christ, Paul sought to build up the body of Christ. It was his most important reason for living. He sought to introduce as many as possible to the power and the love of God revealed through Jesus Christ. He wanted all people to come to a relationship with Christ and for all people to join the movement that would culminate with the kingdom of God being realized on earth.
That is the reason for this prayer. The writer, in Paul’s name, seizes upon this reason for falling on his knees before God: to strengthen and empower the church of Jesus Christ so that they might move toward accomplishing things the magnitude of which they cannot even conceive. To fill the church with God’s grace and spirit so that they might understand the incredible scope of God’s love. To let God’s will drive everything they do.
As I take the time to read over this prayer I am struck by the writer’s faith in the power of prayer, and in the writer’s desire for all of that power to rest upon the church of Jesus Christ in all it’s forms and places.
I find myself wondering, is this the prayer that should be our model today? Is this the way we should pray for the church universal, for this congregation, for each other, for ourselves? I think the answer is yes.
A while back I was wondering how my prayer life looks compared to this model. Who do I pray for? What do I pray for? Do I spend my time on specific requests or do I follow this example and pray for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the church, my loved ones, myself? Do I seek resolution to problems or do I trust in God to resolve the problems in God’s way, in God’s time, according to God’s plan? Is the goal of my prayer for comfort and calm? Or is the goal of my prayer for God’s strength to shine through me and all that I care for?
If you are like me, you probably find yourself doing some of both. We seek comfort and calm, yet we recognize that only God can truly provide that. We seek healing, yet recognize that for some, healing will not be in this lifetime. We seek peace in our lives and in Christ’s church, but we recognize that that peace only comes when we can place ourselves in God’s care, seeking to do God’s will, even above our own will.
Prayer is an amazing thing. It comforts us simply to be in conversation with God. It strengthens us to know that others are praying on our behalf. It grounds us to know that our prayers are heard by an awesome God.
But when it comes down to it, this prayer, this Apostles Prayer, whether written by Paul himself, or by someone else in the Pauline tradition, cuts to the heart of the most important prayer that we can pray: that God might dwell in us, and we might trust God in all things.
This is not always an easy prayer to pray. But this Pauline example makes it clear that the only way we can truly understand the power of God is by giving ourselves completely over to God, by recognizing that all our power comes from God, by God’s grace. And when we allow ourselves to truly let God in and let go of the illusion that we have any power absent God’s presence in our lives, then and only then, will we understand the breadth and depth and power of God’s love, in all we do.
And it starts with each and every one of us earnestly praying for God’s love to be made known to everyone, no matter who, no matter where, no matter how. May the example of the Apostles prayer be made real here and now, with you and me. Amen and Amen.
Let us pray: Lord, our prayer is simple: be with all those who seek you. Strengthen our faith, so that our faith might strengthen others. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. | | | Permalink | Trackback |
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