“Keep Asking…”

A sermon based upon Ephesians 1: 15-23

By Rev. Dr. Charles J. Tomlin, DMin

Flat Rock-Zion Baptist Partnership

Second Sunday of Epiphany-C,  January 13^th,  2019 

(1-14) Sermon Series: Growing Up In Christ (Eph. 4:15)

A college class were taking a test, and the professor required them all to sign an agreement that they had not had any help while providing their own answers.  One of the students seemed a little puzzled, so after the test was over he approached the professor with a confession, saying that he had prayed and asked God to help him with his test.  The professor then asked to see the student’s paper, studied it for a moment, then replied, “Young man, you’ve nothing to worry about, the Lord didn’t answer your prayer.”

Today’s text from Ephesians is a prayer; quite an eloquent and specific prayer too.  It’s both a prayer of thanksgiving and a prayer of supplication.  That two of the four main types of prayer found in Scripture, noted by the acrostic: A.C.T.S.: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication.

Paul also identifies ‘what kind of prayer’ he prays, but how he prays: He says that his prayer is ‘unending’.  “I have not stopped giving thanks giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers” (2: 16), then the says,  “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you…”  Do you notice that it sounds like God is hard of hearing?  Why does Paul have to keep asking? 

Perhaps you’ve heard about the little boy who was in church next to his father and at his father’s request, said a small prayer, "Dear God, please bless Mommy and Daddy and all the family to be healthy and happy." 

Then, suddenly he looked up and said out loud, "And please don't forget to ask grandpa to give me a bicycle for my birthday!!" 

"There is no need to shout like that," said his father. "God isn't hard of hearing." "No," said the little boy, "but Grandpa is."

(Read more at http://www.beliefnet.com/prayables/galleries/funniest-grandparent-jokes.aspx?p=2#FW2Ejphral7whVjj.99).

While God isn’t hard of hearing, why is it that Paul keeps asking?  What is it about prayers that they have to be repeated and repetitive.  Why do we keep saying the same ‘rote’ prayers, like ‘The Lord’s Prayer’ over and over?  As the youth say, ‘what’s up’ with Paul ‘not stopping’ giving thanks, and to ‘keep on asking’ for God to give him the answer he desires?  Why is prayer, as Paul recommends elsewhere supposed to be ‘prayer without ceasing’?

Maybe part of the answer comes as we consider what Paul is asking for?  Perhaps the reason we must pray, pray, and continue to pray; which sometimes means the same pray request over and over, have a lot more to do with ‘who’ we are, and who we become when we ask, that just getting what we want, or even need.   I came across a video recently of a Pentecostal pastor talking about being on a camping trip, when it came a down pour of rain.  It was raining so hard and so much that it was going to ruin family’s camping trip, so he got his family together and they started to pray for the rain to stop.  But instead of stopping, the rain poured down even more.  They prayed again, but the rain continued.  Finally, a third time they prayed for the rain to end, but to no avail.  Then, the Pentecostal preacher said a saying came to him:  ‘If you can’t beat’em, join’em.  What I’m praying is very smart,’ he thought.  So, he brought his family together once more and they began to pray, “Lord, Thank you for the rain!”   He told his family, “It’s one thing to pray, but it’s another to pray with wisdom!”

THE SPIRIT OF WISDOM AND REVELATION… (17)

“Wisdom” is precisely where Paul’s prayer is headed.   Paul’s continual prayer is for growth and maturity in God’s people, so that they are given ‘the Spirit of wisdom …’ (1:17)

What Paul is praying for is not just knowledge or information, but for ‘the Spirit of wisdom’.  And he doesn’t simply pray that they have ‘wisdom’, but he prays for ‘the Spirit of wisdom and revelation’.   Here, Paul understands what we should all understand, that there is a great difference in having knowledge or knowing about something, than having wisdom to understand, use, or apply that knowledge.   Wisdom is the application and right use of knowledge, not just obtaining it.  

Paul names this ‘wisdom’ ‘the Spirit of wisdom’ because this is a knowledge that comes from ‘the Spirit’ of Jesus Christ.   Jesus was a teacher of wisdom, which was a particular kind of spiritual wisdom, which has been called ‘alternative wisdom’.   Jesus’ wisdom, the wisdom he gave to his disciples, was a wisdom that went against the grain of the conventional, and the conservative wisdom of his day.  It was a kind of ‘spiritual wisdom’ that sometimes seemed unwise to people, especially people who were trying to keep things the way they had been.   These people where not happy with this new ‘wisdom’ and this was one of the reasons Jesus spoke in parables.   Jesus was cautiously and sometimes secretly inviting his followers to a new way of seeing, knowing, understanding, and living.  

This new way of thinking and ‘wisdom’ is exactly what Jesus meant when the said,  “You’ve heard it said, but I say to you…”  Over and over, when you examine the wisdom Jesus was giving his disciples you will see that Jesus was inviting them beyond a religion of rules, regulations, and laws, and into a faith that is about ‘relationship’, spirit, and most of all, love.  When religion is based on rules and laws alone, too many hurting, helpless, struggling people are left out. 

When religion is about faith, however, which means a religion that is based on God’s ‘grace by faith’, which is about a relationship with God, which comes from this God who ‘first loves us’, then you gain a greater wisdom for life.  What Paul wishes for, in this ‘Spirit of wisdom’ from Jesus was a wisdom based only one two commands, said Jesus,  “Love God, and Love Your Neighbor As Yourself.”  ‘Upon these two commands rest all the Law and the Prophets,’ said Jesus.  In other words, you don’t get any smarter than when you live by the command of loving relationships. 

But here’s the ‘kicker’ of this wisdom of love; it is not just a wisdom based on knowing something, but it is a wisdom based upon ‘knowing Jesus’.  Do you see it?  Paul says that he ‘keeps on asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ…may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, SO THAT YOU MAY KNOW HIM BETTER’ (17).   You may recall when Wayne Taylor and Mickey Basil where with us last year, how Wayne told about going into the nursing home near his home in Maiden, and he was singing for a man name George.  Wayne sang a beautiful hymn and asked; “Did you like that George?  But George gave no answer.  Wayne sang another, but George still just stared ahead.  Then finally, Wayne sang him one last song.  I hope you liked that George, Wayne said.  But still, no response.  Wayne decided to leave the room, but he spoke to George once more, “George, I enjoyed singing and playing for you.  I hope you get better.”  George then answered, at last: “I hope you get better, too!”

What Paul wants his readers to gain is not mere knowledge about Jesus, but Paul wants his readers to ‘know him better’ (NIV, 17).  This is what Paul is praying for, not just wisdom, not just knowledge, but to ‘know Jesus’ even better through ‘the spirit of wisdom and revelation’. 

Knowing Jesus, as continual ‘revelation’ was very important for Paul because in that world, some people were teaching that all you had to do was to have a moment of ‘special knowledge’ and this would grant you all that you would ever need to know.  In the ancient world, this was called ‘Gnosticism’, which made ‘knowledge’ the way of salvation. 

There was also a kind of Christian Gnosticism which was growing in Christian circles, but this was not what Paul was praying for.  Paul was praying for the kind of ‘knowledge’ and ‘wisdom’ which flowed out of a daily, constant, and continual relationship with Jesus Christ.  Paul wanted the Ephesians to know that it was not just ‘faith’, but also a ‘life’ in and with Jesus Christ, that would bring them the kind of ‘wisdom’ they needed for their lives.  

THE HOPE TO WHICH YOU WERE CALLED  (18)

This growing relationship with Jesus Christ that gives increasing ‘wisdom’ is important because, as Paul continues, this is how the ‘eyes of the heart are enlightened (or open)’ to ‘know the hope to which he has called you’ (18).  Do you see the connection Paul is making?  It is the ‘wisdom’ that we gain by getting to know Christ better, that bring us ‘the hope’ which we have been ‘called’ to receive, have, and answer with our lives.

Here, I need to make a quick observation about Bible translation.  What you will notice is that in the old Authorized version, that is the King James Version, reads: that ye may know what is the hope of His calling’, whereas the New International reads, ‘that you may know the hope to which he has called you…”   While there is a difference in how the words are expressed, the same truth is being expressed.  Paul is praying for ‘hope’.  He is praying for God’s people to know ‘hope’ through knowing Christ better.  As we understand the ‘hope of His calling’ better, we will also better know ‘the hope to which (we) are called’, so that, in a world that can seem both hopeless and helpless, we are called to be hopeful and hope-filled people of faith.

Paul names this ‘hope’ as ‘the rich of his glorious inheritance in the saints’.  What is important to gain here, is that ‘hope’ is not something that you can have or keep in your life all by yourself.  Without the help, prayers, and support of all those who share hope, hope is something practically impossible to sustain.  Furthermore, Paul refers to ‘hope’ not only ‘our inheritance’, but he names is ‘the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.’  Again, the point is that hope is not something you can find or have alone, but it comes from Christ and hope is sustained with others who share our hope in Christ. 

Can there be anything more precious to us, especially in these days, than to know, have, and share hope? But what is our Christian hope?  What does hope mean in the real world in which we live, not just in our hearts, not just in our minds and not just in our faith.  Hope do we name hope?  Here, I think the answer comes is that hope is realized in how we answer God’s call, our calling, to live as Christ would live in our time and in our place.  In other words, we are the ‘answer’ to Paul’s prayer, and we are the answer to our own prayers for hope too, but this answer for hope comes ‘with’ other, and it is not a hope we can claim all on our own.

As ridiculous as it might sound, God called the Christian community at Ephesus to be a sign of hope, by eating together in friendship and fellowship, as they actively joined together to participate in the unfolding of God’s purpose for all creation. By joining together in the singing of psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, this small band of disciples witnessed that there is one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. In short, God called the little flock at Ephesus to be a sign of hope of God’s reconciliation and redemption of all things as they came together to show and to share that same reconciliation and redemption.

The reason Paul is praying for the Ephesians to ‘answer’ their own calling to be hope, is because Paul fears they might trade this glorious inheritance of singing in symphony with all the saints for the safety of staying in choir rehearsals.

Rehearsals are important. I remember when I was in performance choirs during high school and college, that sometimes, when the music was really difficult, the director would put us into ‘section rehearsals’. The purpose of the section rehearsal is to help each voice learn its part well enough to be able to sing together in polyphony---on key.   

But while you can learn your part in section, your part never makes full sense until you become part of a larger whole.  Indeed, the real proof that  you have learned your part came when you left the safety of the ‘section’, (for me it was bass), and then sat next to the sopranos, the altos and the tenors.  You only sing your best, and in tune, when you sing with the whole piece of music, as you listen and hear the sounds of the other parts.

When it comes to having faith and especially, to having hope, many of us have only known section rehearsals. We are gotten part of a great faith, that has been dominate for so long, but we’ve also gotten used to living with ‘sections’ and with ‘rehearsals’.   Because we have been isolated and insulated from rest of the world, and because we’ve lived with so much focus on self, by tuning out our neighbors, we’ve not only lost the music of faith, but by doing so, we’re also losing hope.

It is so easy, in a wealthy world like ours, to give up on the Ephesian calling.  The hope of our calling, which is to sing our song of faith with others and for others, can take a second seat to becoming a song we sing only for ourselves through living for our personal choices and own self-seeking.  Is it any wonder, that in a culture that has so much, that we can still be people who lose hope?  Here, Paul reminds us, that hope is not just something we have, but hope is also a calling we answer, and we live, as we live our lives with others, for others, and through others.  Hope is a calling that ‘a glorious inheritance in the saints’ shared and sung by us all together, and it is never a hope that we can keep just for or to ourselves.

(This flow of ideas follow: https://www.faithandleadership.com/edgardo-colón-emeric-hope-your-calling).

HIS INCOMPARABLY GREAT POWER FOR US… (19-21)

In speaking God’s prayer for wisdom, and for hope, what we’ve not yet answered is ‘what’ this hope is, and how this wisdom comes to us.  This is what Paul saves for last, as he names as ‘the incomparably great power’ NIV), or as the KJV says, ‘the exceeding greatness of his power’.  What is this power; this power that gives wisdom and hope through Jesus Christ?

Paul says it is the ‘power’ God ‘exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at the his right hand in the heavenly realms’ (20).

Of course, the question is what does this power ‘in Christ’ mean for us?  Paul goes on to explain that when God ‘raised’ Jesus, he ‘raised him’ above all other ‘authorities’ that are ‘present’ or ‘to come’ and that God ‘placed all things his feet’ and made Jesus ‘head of the church’ (22).  These sound like beautiful ‘metaphors’ from a ‘by gone world’ of royalty, kings, thrones, and absolute rule, but we don’t live in a world like that anymore.  In other words, the question for us is how can any ‘power’, even God’s power, a power that once ‘raised’ Christ from the dead then, a power which can seem so powerless today, be a ‘power’ that gives us any true wisdom and any real hope?

Here is where we return to the prayer.  God’s power is, of course, not a ‘given’ in our world, just like it wasn’t in Paul’s world.  God’s power is never a ‘given’ because the power belongs to God, and it is ‘a gift’ that only God can give, and God will give to us, when we say ‘yes’ God’s wisdom, his hope, and his power of unending love. 

In the movie, Evelyn, Pierce Brossnan portrays Desmond Doyle, a true story about a Father who's in a courtroom battle to overturn one of Ireland's longest-standing family-court laws.   Doyle is being questioned by the government's attorney about his suitability to keep his children, since he is a single father.

The government's attorney belittles Doyle because Doyle had grabbed and threatened a nun who had beaten his daughter. The lawyer questioned Doyle about his fitness to have a family as a single father. He says, "You must know that the fundamental building block of our society is the family. Whose very model is the holy family; Jesus, Mary and Joseph. How can you, as a single father and as a Catholic, possibly claim to bring up your children without a mother? There is absolutely no precedent for it even in the religion you believe."

There is a long pause.

The lawyer says: "Cat got your tongue, Mr. Doyle?"

Doyle is thinking and finally responds: "There is. There is a precedent as you like to call it."

"What are you saying?" asks the attorney.

Doyle speaks up, "The fundamental building block of our faith is not the holy family, it's God, who is the Holy Trinity: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. When my mother died, my father brought us up on his own with only the Holy Spirit to guide him. He used to say the Holy Spirit is love.

Doesn't the Holy Bible say 'Faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love?' Well I've given up the drink. I've worked all the hours God sends. I've become a better person to try and fill myself with the Holy Spirit so I can bring my kids up surrounded by love. That's all I can do. No man can do more."

The courtroom audience breaks in applause, as the judge yells for silence in the court.

And Doyle was right. He won, by the way. He was right. "The fundamental building block of our faith is God; the Holy Trinity. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit."  When we say ‘yes’ to God we can do anything.  It is God, who: ‘gives us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation’.

It is the God the Holy Spirit who: "enlightens the eyes of our heart."
It is the Spirit of Jesus who: "helps us know the hope to which we have been called."
It is the God who is Spirit, who "gives us the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe."

Did you catch that one phrase, ‘for us who believe?’  This is why Paul prays: Paul prays because he knows ‘you’ and I must answer what God has done, and can still do.  Somehow, the wisdom, the hope, and power that is given by God must be answered by you, or it is still no wisdom, no hope, and no power at that is realized or given at all.  Will you answer ‘the hope of your calling’?   Will you receive ‘the Spirit of wisdom’?  Will you have ‘your eyes enlightened?’  Will you, allow God’s power to be ‘for you’?   Amen.