← ArchiveFrom Death to LifeFrom Death to Life: Do My Prayers Even Matter? (Ephesians 1:15-19)DateFebruary 6, 2022SpeakerDr Josh BurnhamTextEphesians 1:15–19Passages in this sermonEphesians 12:08Luke 1812:29Luke 1120:09John 1729:35TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00Thank you very much. Okay, welcome to the church at Bethel where we gather because of the gospel, right?0:30Jesus in our place. And if you've ever wondered, well, what is the gospel? Well, you've witnessed that at the start of our service. The gospel is someone going from being dead in their sins and their trespasses to alive in Jesus Christ. I know Cassie was, Cassie's daughter was baptized and she was singing today. I said, I don't know how you sing on days like today.0:58Because for anyone who's given their life to Christ to see someone find Jesus, I don't know how you power through the service. I mean, I'm struggling preaching today because my heart's so full. If you've ever been baptized, you get it. You get it. Death to life. And if you've never given your life to Jesus Christ, their baptisms invite you to join them, to say yes to Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior.1:21Why not? Why not you? Because Jesus has already made the way. So that's what we do here at this church. I want to say a special thank you to Pastor Benny who filled in in my absence last week. I didn't give him the sermon. He just preached it better than I would have. So Benny, if you don't know Benny, you need to know him.1:49Benny is one of the greatest cup fillers that we have in our lives. So Benny, thank you for preaching and doing a fantastic job. I was going to join the church again online last week as I was watching. We're going to continue to worship through the book of Ephesians. If you have your Bibles, join me in Ephesians chapter 1 again today. We're going to look at prayer. And maybe you've asked the question or maybe you've felt the question and didn't want to ask because you feel like you can't ask the question in church because you'll feel like not a Christian.2:15Have you ever felt or wondered if your prayers really matter? Am I the only one that looks at the world and look at the news and look at my neighbors and our family sometimes and thinking, God, we've prayed about this. And people are still dying. Wars are still being fought. People are saying no to Jesus.2:45God, we've been praying. Don't you hear? Well, we're going to find the answer today that your prayers do matter. And we're going to see on multiple levels why. Andrew Murray has a fascinating quote about prayer. He says it this way. Andrew Murray said, The effective prayer of faith comes from a life given up to the will and the love of God, not as a result of what I try to be when I pray.3:05So sometimes we pray thinking, God, I want this or I want to be this. But because of what I am when I'm not praying is my prayer answered by God. Really, what Murray is saying is this. What if prayer is more about who you are than what you want?3:35Sometimes we think prayer is, Lord, give me or we need. But what if prayer is who you are and what God is making you rather than what you want? You see, your prayers matter. And we're going to see that in Ephesians 1. So join me as I read verse 15 of Ephesians. Again, if you want to know how to remember it, General Electric Power Company in the New Testament. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians.4:04Listen, I'm not getting a stipend from Alabama Power. But I will sign my national letter of intent. I'll get my name, image, and likeness right now. I have a price and you can buy me. General Electric Power Company. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. Verse 15. Paul, the Apostle Paul says, This is why, since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints.4:30He says, I never stop giving thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, would give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling,4:58what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power towards us who believe, according to the mighty working of his strength. If you've ever wondered, do your prayers matter? Paul says three times that I am praying because they make a difference.5:27So let's go to the Lord and then we will ask the spirit to apply it to our lives. Father, we thank you for your living word. Father, how amazing it is that your word is ancient and it is modern. It is living and it is active. Lord, your word was given to make a difference in the church at Ephesus 2,000 years ago and your word is still making a difference in the lives of your church in 2022.5:48So, Lord, we thank you that you have not given up on us and we thank you that we matter, Lord, and our prayers matter to you. And, Father, we thank you that you answered three prayers today, that Trenton and Briggs and Caitlin have given their life to you and they have been faithful and obedient in baptism.6:10And, Lord, we know that there are more today that are ready and waiting to follow you. Lord, thank you for answering our prayers. Continue to change lives. And we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, the church at Ephesus when there was no ordinary church.6:40This is the church that was started by Paul, the apostle. This is the church that was influenced by Apollos. You might have heard of him and Priscilla and Aquila. This is the church that was pastored by a man named Timothy. Yes, that Timothy in scripture. It was also the place where John, the writer of Revelation and the Gospel of John, spent many years in the town of Ephesus. So, you can think of Ephesus as the rock star church.7:08I mean, they had Billy Graham and they had Andrew Murray. They had all the famous pastors, D.L. Moody, coming through town, pouring into them. And to this church, we see, in my opinion, we see a personal prayer journal of Paul, the apostle, to them. Have you ever wondered if you had Jesus' prayer journal? I guess it would be on papyrus, right?7:37Or stone. But have you ever wondered what that might look like? Well, we get a glimpse of Paul's personal prayer journal to this church. And he begins in verse 15 and he says, this is why. This is why. Since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for the saints, I never stopped. I find that fascinating that Paul's prayer begins why.8:04His prayer begins when he hears about their faith. Which tells me that prayer is a lot about communion. Prayer at its core is not about you. It's about Jesus Christ and Jesus reshaping the world that it might know him and look like him. What if I told you that your prayers have a lot to do with other people? And, you know, you just thought it was about you.8:32But Paul says this. He says, since I heard about who? I'm praying because I hear what God is doing in your life. You see, for Paul, prayer is vertical. It's me praying and seeking God, a vertical relationship. But prayer also is horizontal. It's, God, as you shape my life from the heavenlies, I want you to shape others in my life.8:57And this is why for our baptisms, we say, if you've ever prayed for Kalen, if you've ever encouraged Briggs or his family, if you've ever encouraged Trenton or his family, stand up because your prayer was a part of God working in their lives. Prayer is about communion. It's about all of us saying together, God, we want you to reshape us.9:24And for Paul, who hasn't been in the town of Ephesus for over seven years, five of those he's been imprisoned. It's as if when he prays, they are standing right next to the apostle. Just close your eyes for a second. I'll see you guys at lunch. But keep them closed. Listen to what Paul says. This is why ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus9:53and your love for the saints, I never stop giving thanks. You can open your eyes now. When I read that, I feel like Paul is praying as if the Ephesians are standing there with him. Paul understands that our prayer is about horizontal relationships in church. Your prayers impact the lives and the love of others.10:19I've learned this. The more I pray for you, the more I love you. And the more you pray for me and others, the more God fosters in us a deep, abiding love for one another. Do your prayers matter? Ask your neighbor. Ask others because your prayers are making an impact. But not only are your prayers about communion, but look at verse 16.10:48Paul says, I really get tired and worn out. I'm quitting this. No, what does he say? He says, I never stop. Your prayers matter because God desires consistency. Consistency. Now, I know what you're thinking. Some of you are saying, well, I can't do that because I get hungry and I have to eat.11:12And it's hard for me to pray when I'm eating. Some of you are thinking, well, I get tired. And when I get tired, I go to sleep and I can't pray. Well, Paul's not saying that he does nothing but pray. But what he is saying is that there is a deep, prayerful consistency in his life. See, sometimes we give up because we think we can never measure up.11:40But Paul wants you to know that we should be a prayerful people. It's as if the prayers of Paul matched the love and the faithfulness of the church. Paul says, continue to love. Continue to seek Christ. And I will continue to pray for you. Listen, the Father wants a prayerful consistency in your life. One pastor said it this way. He said, I've never prayed more than three minutes in my life.12:10But I've never gone more than 30 minutes without praying. You know, a prayerful consistency. Listen to how Jesus describes perseverance in prayer. Because some of us get disheartened. But God desires consistency. Jesus tells a parable in Luke 18. He says, now, here's a parable about the need to pray and not give up. Does that sound familiar? Paul says, I never give up praying for you.12:41Here's the parable. There was a judge in a certain town who did not fear God or respect people. So this judge didn't care about God. He didn't care about others. And a widow in that town kept coming to him, saying, give me justice against my adversary. Now, this is Jesus speaking. Yet, because of the widow keeps pestering me, I will give her justice, says the judge,13:06so that she doesn't wear me out by her persistent coming. God wants you to be persistent. And I believe that some of us give up praying because we feel like we're a bother to God. Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever felt, okay, I've prayed about this before. God, you're tired of hearing that.13:34What does Jesus say? When you think you're a bother to God, Jesus says like a persistent widow, you're never a bother. Don't think that you're trying to wear God out. God desires to hear your prayers. The Christian prayer life should be like the little engine of good. You shouldn't say, I think I can, I think I can. But we should continue to pray, Lord, I know you can. I know you can. I'm going to continue to pray for the things on my heart.14:01Church, do your prayers matter? Yes. The Father never gets tired of hearing you. Think of that. God never gets tired of you coming into his presence. Our prayers should be consistent. Consistent. Our prayers should also be ones of celebration. Look at verse 16. Paul says, I'd never stop.14:29I never stop giving what? Giving thanks for you. Now, if I were to ask you to sketch out prayer, this is how most of us in the Western world would sketch it out. You would have your head bowed, your eyes closed, and no one would be looking around. Which I've often, that's never true. Someone's always looking. But just go with it. There would probably be some type of slow instrumental music in the background.14:59Melancholy. Not upbeat. Very slow. Maybe minor chords. Probably cello. Stringed instruments. But we think of our prayer life as very subdued. And calm. Melancholy. I don't see that here. Do you? Paul says, I never stop doing what?15:27I never stop giving thanks. He said, Ephesus, wake up. He said, when we pray, we celebrate by praying. And I think some of us, we don't come into the presence of God because we don't think that we can celebrate rightly when we pray. And Paul would say, you don't pray, you don't celebrate when you pray. Paul would say, my prayer is our celebration. He said, when I rejoice, I pray.15:58And when I pray, I rejoice. And I believe if we would fully understand that our prayers and our celebration are one and the same, it would change the way that we pray. And if you prayed like you should, it would change the way you celebrate. Because if we're honest, we don't celebrate God's goodness enough. I remember we were singing that song earlier, How Good Is He?16:25And I remember I was praying. I said, Lord, I can't answer that question because we don't know. I think I have an idea. I know God's good. But I don't believe I have the human capacity to give you the words to tell you how good God really is. How good is He? A lot. He's really good. And when I think about that, I want to celebrate.16:55So listen to how your brothers around the world and your sisters worship and celebrate. If you've ever been to Nepal or go to Nepal, worship is not governed by time or on a song list. Now, when I say that, some of you already broke out in hives. They don't have a counter. Rather, at any time, anyone could pray out loud, even in the middle of a song. Worshippers often dance, clap, and tearfully shout their prayers to God throughout the service.17:24We would lose our minds in Nepal. We would say, what are y'all doing? And they would look at us and say, what are y'all doing? Y'all are some sad folks. Because Paul says, listen, our prayers are celebration. And our celebration are prayers in India. India loves high volume, pomp, pizzazz, especially in rural areas.17:52People who worship there say, one song may go on for 10 or 20 minutes, concluded by a prayer that runs into the next song. It's like a big song of prayer, praise, prayer, praise. It's an unending celebration to God. In Ghana, West Africa, musical worship in the West African church, almost always includes expressive, animated dancing.18:21Ghanaian music, like most of West Africa, is based primarily on rhythm, not melody. Now, some of you, if your worship depended on your rhythm, let me just say, we've got some work to do. And I'm in that category. And local prayers reflect this heartbeat. The Ghanaian church understands celebration and prayer.18:46And when your prayer sees praise and celebration as one, it changes the way that we pray, church. Do your prayers matter? Absolutely. Celebrate with your prayers. Paul says, I never stop giving thanks. And then he says this in verse 17. When I remember you, I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,19:14the glorious Father, would give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation. It's as if Paul really believed that when he prayed, God heard him.19:28Some of us don't believe that.19:56And we need to because it is, it is true. We should pray with confidence. Listen to how Jesus prayed in Luke 11. Now, Paul's not receiving superstar treatment. Paul doesn't have a special phone that he picks up to heaven. Paul understands that it is his right as a son of the Most High King that when he prays, his Heavenly Father answers him.20:25Jesus at the tomb of Lazarus. If you don't know the story, Jesus has a dear friend named Lazarus. And Lazarus is sick. And Jesus gets word that Lazarus is sick. And before Jesus gets to Lazarus, Lazarus is not only sick, Lazarus is dead. And so Jesus comes upon the scene and they're weeping and they're crying because Lazarus is dead. And so Jesus goes to the tomb and Jesus asks them to open the tomb.20:52And the people say, Jesus, Lazarus was sick, but before you came, Lazarus died. So now that you're here, Lazarus is dead. Don't open the tomb because he's dead. And one of my favorite verses in all the scriptures is the King James version of this. And it says, Lazarus stinketh. And he did. And Jesus, when he tells him to remove the stone,21:20raised his eyes to the heavens and said, Father, I thank you that you heard me. That's an odd past tense, don't you think? We normally pray, Lord, if you will listen, hear me. But Jesus prays what? He says, God, I know you heard me. Talk about confidence. And then he says this, I know that you always hear me.21:48What? Jesus didn't just say, God, you heard me. He says what? God, you always hear me. But because of the crowd standing there, I said this so that they may believe that you sent me. Jesus prayed with confidence. Now, I know what you're thinking. You're saying, but he's Jesus. He can do that. Well, what made Paul different?22:17For anyone who knows Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we are called to pray with confidence. This is the way Jesus teaches us on the Sermon on the Mount. He says, when you pray, the Father already knows your need before you ask it. Jesus says that God knows you're going to pray and he knows your need and he still asks you to pray. It's not like you give God new information when you pray. It's not like you say, God, I have this need.22:48And God says, you what? I thought I had, let me check the spreadsheet. I thought I had everything covered. I missed it. You don't pray to give God new information. We pray with confidence knowing that God knows our need and he hears you. And he always hears you. We should pray because we have a status as a daughter and as a son in Jesus Christ.23:11When's the last time you prayed with confidence? Not with an arrogance, but with a boldness to say, God, man, you hear me and you want to hear me. So God, I will pray because I know you always hear me. And then we have the contents, the contents.23:38In verse 18, Paul says this. He says, I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know the hope of his calling, the wealth of his glorious inheritance. What is the immeasurable greatness? That means quit trying to measure his greatness. You can't just stop. And the power towards us who believe according to the mighty work of his strength.24:06For Paul, the content of his prayer is the demonstration of the love poured out on the cross, the demonstration of power through the resurrection, and the demonstration of God's plan in his word. Often I believe that we get tired or we get bored with prayer because we don't know what to pray.24:35We just don't have the right contents. How often can you pray, good Lord, good food, good God, let's eat. Good bread, good meat, good God, let's eat. How often can you pray that? But that's not what we're called to pray. You see, when you start reading the word and you let God's word lead you in the content of your prayer, your prayers never get bored. Because God is opening up your eyes and you're praying in new ways.25:07Open up the Psalms. You're going to pray for your enemies. I did that a couple of weeks ago. I'm thinking, God, I'm not going to pray for my enemies. You can't make me. So as I am, so I'm not, I don't want to pray for my enemies, but I'm praying to God, arguing with God about not praying for my enemies. And for 30 minutes, I'm praying about not praying for my enemies. So after the 30 minutes, then I need to start praying for my enemies. And it's the content and the work of God's plan in my life that's reshaping me.25:33When we pray the word, we never grow bored. And if you've grown bored with prayer, just know you're not alone. But use the word of God to shape you and to mold you. And you know what else when you start praying God's word in your life? When you pray his word, you know you're praying the will. Because God's word is perfect. It is the perfect will of our Holy Father.26:02That is the content of our prayers. So we go back to the first question. Do your prayers matter? Let me say it like this. If you understood how much you matter to God, you would never lose heart again. If I understood26:31that every time I go into the presence of God, He desires to shower His love upon me. So we shouldn't ask, do our prayers matter to God? We need to ask a deeper and a better question. God, do I matter to you? And in His word, it is a resounding yes. God says,27:00God says, you never stop mattering to me. So why would you stop praying? My love for you is consistent. So therefore, your prayers should be consistent. My love is demonstrated in the content and the character of Jesus Christ on the cross. Church, do your prayers matter? Yes, because you matter. You matter to God. And as I'm reading this, I'm asking myself the question. God,27:31God, what pauls do I have in my life? What apostles do I have in my life that are praying for me? Because I know this, Trenton and Kalen and Briggs came to faith in Jesus Christ because they had people praying for them. And you have people praying for you. And so as we respond in a moment, would you simply thank God for those people? I venture a guess that you have people praying for you28:00that you don't even know who they are. That one day you're going to get to heaven and someone's going to come and say, you're here. I knew it. I've never met you, but I've been praying for you. I heard about your faith. And we're going to say, God, thank you. But whose pauls should you be? Who's put, who has God put on your heart today? Maybe they're in this room. Maybe they're online that God is saying, pray for them. Don't stop. Don't give up because I didn't give up on you.28:28Seek me. Come to my throne. Who has God called and put in your life that you would intercede before the throne on their behalf? That's why you're here. That you might boldly, with an assurance of a child in the King's presence, come before God. I've often wondered28:58if we could open up Jesus' prayer diary, what would we find? And church, did you know that you can do that? Did you know that in the Garden of Gethsemane, on the night that Jesus was betrayed, he prayed for you? Think about that. Jesus is about to go to the cross and he takes time to pray for us. I want to read a portion of that prayer. Have you ever wondered29:27what Jesus would pray for you? We know. John 17, Jesus says, I pray not only for the disciples, that's these, but also I pray for those who believe in me through their word. You know who that is? If you believe in Jesus Christ, that's you. Through their word. He says, I pray that they may be one as you,29:57as you, Father, are in me and I in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you sent me. Jesus prays that we may be one in each other and in Christ's vertical relationship, horizontal relationship. And what's the purpose of Jesus praying for his church, for those who believe? Why did Jesus pray for you?30:27Did you catch that last part of his prayer? He says, I pray so that the world may believe that you sent me. We gather so that the world may believe. We pray so that the world may believe. We sing so that the world may believe. This is the Messiah's prayer for you.30:55for you. And if we think about it, if you've given your life to Jesus Christ, the fact that you can pray, your prayers are an answer to his prayer in the garden. Your prayers today are the answer to Jesus' prayer in the garden. What a glorious Savior we have.31:25So who's next? So we pray so that they may believe. Maybe that's you. Maybe you're here and you say, well, I want to believe but I haven't yet. We want to give you a moment to respond. So we're going to pray right now. Celebrate the Savior. Pray for others. And if you never have, come to faith31:54in the one who prayed and gave his life for you. Let's pray, church. Amen.← Previous in From Death to LifeFrom Death to Life: It’s All About Christ (Ephesians 1:1-6)Next in From Death to Life →From Death to Life: The Wonder of Grace (Ephesians 2:1-10)More sermons on Ephesians →
