Arise People of Purpose - Ephesians 3:14-21 - Nigel Fox

So firstly then, let's come to the introduction.

Verses 14 and 15.

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.

John Stott was a long-time rector at All Souls Langham Place, London, a one-time chaplain to the Queen.

He was an international author and speaker.

And he once said in a sermon, I think you'll agree with me that one of the best ways of discovering what the deepest concern of a Christian are is to study the content of his prayers and the intensity with which he prays about them.

Christians pray about the things that concern them, and very evidently we are not concerned about those things we do not include in our prayers.

And again, that's massively challenged me this week as I've prepared for this message, and it may challenge you as well.

But it was certainly true of the great prayer of the Apostle Paul in verses 16 to 19.

Because in this prayer, he pours out his soul to God about the great concerns which have occupied him in the first three chapters of the letter.

And he writes, verse 14, For this reason I kneel before the Father.

For what reason? Well, you remember that Ian told us last week that Paul took a detour in verse one and in verses two to 13, he kind of went off piece to explain God's amazing plan of including Gentiles in his new society and Paul's role in that mission.

Well, now in verse 14, he resumes his train of thought, which he interrupted in verse one of the chapter, where he began with those same words, for this reason.

So what is this reason for which he prays? Well, clearly it's the words that precede verse 1 of chapter 3.

So what he says in chapters 1 and 2.

He prays because of God's amazing purpose in calling out a people to himself.

He prays because of the greatness of God's reconciliation in and through Jesus Christ.

And he prays because of God's will to make the gospel known to the whole wide world.

And it's because of this, because of what God has done in Christ Jesus and what God has revealed to Paul that he now prays.

And we learn here just in passing an important lesson, which is that, if you like, the crucial prelude to all prayer is the revelation of the will of God.

That's why in our quiet times we read the Bible, we meditate on it and then we pray.

Prayer and Bible study go together.

It is in the scriptures that God has revealed his will and it is in prayer that we ask him to do it.

Prayer is not seeking to impose our puny, silly little will on God.

No, not at all.