In Ephesians we find two of the prayers of Paul. Paul never reached such sublime heights of thinking as those in is prayer . There is such a warmth and depth and fervor of experience. And, after all, religion is based upon two things--experience and expression; the one within, and the other without-internal and external. Experience is the warmth and the fire and glow within; expression gives outward evidence and witness to the inner experience and is revealed· in all our patterns of living. Paul's first prayer is in the first chapter, and the second in the third chapter. These are wonderful prayers. Now notice the first of these prayers: "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward" (Eph. 1:17-19).
In the third chapter we read the second prayer: "For this reason I bow my knees before the Father (R.S.V.)," and then he prays that ye may "be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God" (Eph. 3: 16-19). Spiral after spiral he soars upward until he reaches the climax of all prayer in that thought-packed sentence, "That ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." What a daring prayer! No wonder that on one occasion Festus cried out, "Much learning doth make thee mad"! Not many of us dare to pray it, yet what was Paul's prayer is Scripture for you and me and the desire of God for every one of His children. Jesus confirmed this by saying, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" (Matt. 5:48). Paul's prayers are wonderful. May they be answered in all our hearts. The great theme of Paul's marvelous epistle is "the unsearchable riches of Christ."
The epistle has four divisions-our wealth, our walk, our work, and our warfare. We might think of it as our two R's-our resources and our responsibilities. Riches-eternal riches, unsearchable riches! The old Hebrew rabbis had a significant expression: "There is a mountain of gold in every tittle of Scripture." The nearest approach we have to a tittle in our English alphabet is the dot over an i. "There is a mountain of gold in every tittle of Scripture." Few of us have that spiritual concept. If we did, we would be multimillionaires. Paul puts a golden nugget right in the vestibule of this treasure house of Ephesians. "Blessed be . . . God . . . , who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ" (Eph. l :3). "Unto· me, who am .less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ" (Eph. 3:8). What are these unsearchable riches? In Ephesians l :7 he speaks of "the riches of his grace," in chapter 3:16, •:the riches of his glory." Therefore we find that He gives to us, first, "according to the riches of his grace," then, the "riches of his glory," and, finally, "according to ... his mighty power" (Eph. I: 19). "Who hath blessed us ... according as he hath chosen us" (Eph. I :3, 4). I mentioned key words. "According" is another key word in this wonderful book. If you will study Ephesians for that word "according" -"according to the riches of his grace," "according to the riches of his glory," "according to ... his mighty power"-you will find it over and over again, fourteen times in this one epistle. He wants to mete out to us "according to his riches." A millionaire might hand you a few dollar bills, and that would be out of his riches, but if he would give you a book of blank, signed checks, and tell you to fill them in and cash them, that would be according to his riches. Riches of grace, of glory, the unsearchable riches of God!
Notice these three golden steppingstones- grace, glory, God-three G's. Grace: we all have received grace. "And of his fulness have all we .received, and grace for grace" (John 1:16). We are beginning to catch glimpses of glory. But what will it be to see God? Job cried out that he would see God -not the gates of pearl, not the streets of gold-but he would see God. What a theme for a rhapsody! Oh, we have so much wealth that we are astounded! Now let us notice the three whats of the first prayer, and then the four thats of the second prayer. 'What was Paul praying for? There is a marvelous interdependence between these two prayers.
The concavity and the convexity of man and God, how they fit together! The hollowness, the emptiness, of man and the fullness of God. How often "deep calleth unto deep"! The deep needs of man are answered out of the deep provisions of God. God has been so kind! In these prayers Paul recognizes that, and so he prays that "the eyes of your understanding [heart] ... [may be] enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power" (Eph. 1:18, 19). "What is the hope of his calling?" Hope is to the Christian what the watch spring is to the watch-it sets all the machinery of the soul in motion. I£ we could only get a glimpse of that hope! Second, "What [is] his inheritance in the saints?" No, that isn't it: "What [is] the glory of his inheritance in the saints?" No, even that is not how it reads: "What [is] the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints?" There must be something worth studying m an expression like that. Third, "What is the exceeding greatness of his power?" Not only what is the power, or what is the greatness of His power-that language would be strong enough; but, "What is the exceeding greatness of his power?" We haven't time to touch that. What power! When you think that 287,200,000 cubic miles of ice could be melted in a second by the total power of the sun, what power! It is equal to 543,000,- 000,000 engines of 400 horsepower each.
These words are pile drivers. "There is a mountain of gold in every tittle of Scripture." In the first prayer it is "that ye may know." That is the prayer-a prayer for revelation, that God may illuminate His people, give them discernment. The first prayer is a petition for spiritual apprehension o£ His unsearchable riches, of His grace, the glory and fullness of God. He reaches up to the throne of God. Remember, he is in the prison while he prays for the saints outside. Notice the second prayer. It is the prayer for realization.
I. It is, "that ye might be." He says, I pray to "the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, . . . that he would grant you, . . . to be strengthened with might." That is a good step.
2. But take a step higher-"that Christ may dwell in your hearts"-not just a momentary power, but an abiding power.
3. "That ye ... may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge."
4. "That ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." So the second prayer is for realization, "that ye might be." It isn't enough to know; we must become. God gives us something to be and something to believe, something to become and something to do! We will take up later what it will do for us in our characters, our conduct, and our conflict: The First Prayer For enlightenment For light To know what you are To know the power of God Praying for power working for us That you might be in Christ That ye might see The Second Prayer For enablement For life · To be what you know To experience the fullness of God Praying for power working in us That Christ might be in you That ye might be May the prayers of Paul be answered in my life and yours!
