Rooted In Christ's Supremacy Series

What’s the greatest thing about your life? For the Christian, the best thing is that Christ has first place in your life. Our text here in Ephesians is a celebratory prayer for the full salvation of the believer. It’s all done by Christ and for Christ. When Christ is exalted in the life of the believer, there is truly something to celebrate in prayer.

Remember at the transfiguration Peter, James, and John got to see the unveiled Christ—they saw the Lord in a way that no person living on earth had ever seen him in the history of the world—they saw his glory transfigured before them. It took their breath away. It left them in a state of awe. We come to a similar place today. We come to a place in Scripture that unveils the rightful place of Jesus Christ on the throne of Almighty God because he is Almighty God. We are about to see Jesus “highly exalted” (Phil 2:9). I ask you all to bow the knee of your life before him right now. If you are going to grow as a Christian, you must be rooted in the supremacy of Jesus Christ.

This passage of Ephesians lets us into how Paul talked to people and helped them along in Christ. Our text here is a prayer. He’s writing this probably two decades after his conversion. What a wonderful prayer of the apostle Paul for the Ephesian believers. Instead of being self-focused, prayer keeps him others focused and God-centered. Paul is writing from a rented house where he is under house arrest, chained to a member of the Emperor’s Praetorian Guard day and night: six soldiers in a twenty-four-hour period, four hours for each soldier. He is not complaining but rejoicing. He is blessing God, exulting in the supremacy, and concerned about the Ephesians. Again, this letter was likely a circular letter that was passed on throughout the churches in Asia Minor. They had been pagans, but now were brought into the family of God. Paul prays for them as such.

Ephesus was one of the idol-worshipping capitols of the world. Multitudes of people from all over the world would come to Ephesus to see this goddess in the Ephesian temple—the goddess Diana. These people were just like you and me. We think we know God and worship God, but Paul says these people had been “dead in their trespasses and sins” and that they had been “children of wrath” like the rest of mankind. What happened in their lives was nothing short of a miracle. God opened their eyes. They were awakened. They were transformed. They were brought low by the working of God’s Spirit applying the gospel to their hearts. They confessed to God that they were liars, thieves, adulterers, and blasphemers. And they rested on the mercy of Christ to forgive them.

Paul heard about this all the way in Rome, a thousand miles away from Ephesus. He had ministered among them four or five years earlier. How does Paul respond? Does he just say, “Oh, that’s great? Nice to hear that. I guess I’ll go on with my pity party in this filthy Roman prison.” No, he says, “Now more than ever, now that these people have come to faith in Christ, I need to pray for them.” And in praying for his Christian family in Ephesus, he ends up in a beautiful strain of exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Often praying for others can be what lifts our eyes to the glories and power of Jesus.

CHRIST IS EXALTED IN YOUR SALVATION (1:15-16)

Ephesians 1:15-16 ¦ For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.

Paul heard about God’s fingerprints on these Ephesian saints, and he began to pray for them. He heard about God’s salvation in their lives. They were saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. That’s something to celebrate. Paul felt a personal responsibility to pray constantly for them. There is power in prayer. We ought to pray for every saint in our local assembly. It was Paul’s practice to pray for these saints without stopping. Paul mentions two marks that demonstrate that we have been joined to Christ. He mentions a God-ward mark (faith in Christ) and a man-ward mark (love to the saints). In short, those who live for Jesus are always loving his people. It is these two marks: love for God and love for others – that push him toward prayer.

The Miracle of Faith

Paul begins his prayer with thanksgiving for the faith the Ephesians have in the Lord Jesus. Paul said, I heard about your faith and love in the Lord Jesus, and it caused me to pray and to rejoice. What was it that would cause Paul to rejoice? The love and faith in the Ephesian church was something that God had done. Not long before, these Ephesians were pagans. Their girls had been temple prostitutes. They had been enslaved to superstitions. They had been selfish and self-consumed. But now there was this radical faith, and Paul heard about it, and it cause him to rejoice.