Sermon Tone Analysis

*PREPARING TO LIVE*

*Getting the Emphasis Right*

(Ephesians 3:16-19)

 

Fred was playing off the sixth tee at the Royal Quebec Club.

The fairway of the sixth ran right alongside the road.

Fred sliced the ball badly and it disappeared over the hedge bordering the road.

So he took his penalty, and teed off with another ball.

He was having a drink after the game when the pro joined him in the bar.

"Excuse me Fred, but was it you who sliced this ball into the road at the sixth this morning?"

"Yes, but I took the penalty."

"That’s good, but you might be interested to know that your ball hit and killed a young man on a bicycle; the bike fell in the path of a Mountie on a motorcycle.

He skidded and was thrown through the window of a car, killing the nun at the wheel.

The car then swerved into a cement mixer which wasn’t too damaged but had to veer slightly and in doing so ran into the local school bus with such an impact that it sent it flying through the window of the St Lawrence shopping centre.

At last count from the hospital there are thirteen people dead and seventy-nine people seriously injured."

The golfer turned a deathly shade of white and said, "What can I do?"

The pro said, "Well, you could try moving your left hand a little bit counterclockwise to a weaker position on the shaft  Should help."

It’s all about priorities, isn’t it?

Nothing wrong with improving your golf game – but it would  hardly be the thing to emphasize in light of a disaster like that above, right?

Emphasis in the wrong place.

We have come to what is in some ways the apex of our journey through Ephesians.

In these last verses of chapter 3, Paul is completing the doctrinal section of this book and in chapter 4 he will move into the practical.

Note his comment in 4:1, “1) I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.”

His message is, I’ve told you all about your calling, now let’s talk your conduct.

In the next several chapters he will talk about conduct ranging from home to work to church.

How should we live?

BUT, he realizes that without the proper preparation, these folks won’t make it.

So, he prays for a toolkit equipped with 5 specific things they will need in order to live right.

A life of fulfillment and joy and victory – life lived in the Holy Spirit – live with a capital L doesn’t just happen.

It takes some preparation.

So, we’re entitling a series of sermons on verses 16-19, “Preparing to Live”.

In following weeks we will unpack the 5 elements of preparation that Paul prays for, but today I want to look at this prayer as a whole and note the things that Paul did */to get the emphasis right/*.

We can have great plans, great intentions and great ideas, but if we get our priorities wrong, put the emPHAsis on the wrong sylLAble, things can get confused, can’t they?

So, let’s note where Paul placed his emphasis in this great prayer.

*I.

** Emphasis on Spiritual, not Physical*

* *

The first thing we note here is what Paul did /not /pray for.

The negative is always important in Scripture.

So, what he did not pray for is noteworthy.

And what we find is that there is nothing here about their physical well-being – jobs, health, finances, freedom from persecution – none of those.

This is not to say that those are not important or worthy of prayer – but in this model prayer, they are not the priority – not where the emphasis lies.

This prayer is exclusively spiritual.

He is concerned, not about the material but the spiritual.

He focuses his attention and his concern on the spiritual state of the Ephesians.

This is where Paul /always /starts.

We may get around to it, but I’m afraid it isn’t where we usually begin.

I think this is a principle which we ignore at our peril, but which we nevertheless do ignore.

When was the last time you can remember really, truly, honestly praying for another believer’s spiritual well-being first and foremost or even at all?

In this matter Paul is following our Lord Himself who taught, ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these (other) things shall be added unto you’ (Matt 6:33).

Our Lord was there dealing with people who were */always/* worrying about food and drink and clothing and material things.

Aren’t those important?

Sure they are, but Jesus is saying, The trouble is */that you are starting at the wrong end/*, you are starting with the /material/ and with the /seen/; start with the unseen, ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness’.

That is precisely what the Apostle does here.

It is the spiritual condition and welfare of these people that is uppermost in his mind, and in his heart.

I heard of one employer who said, “I’ve heard every excuse from co-workers for missing a day of work.

But I got one the other day that really took the cake.

A lady called to say she wouldn’t be in that day.”

Of course the employer asked, “What’s wrong?

Are you sick?”  “No,” she said with frustration in her voice.

“I can’t find a cute pair of shoes to wear.”

Unfortuantely, that’s a bit like us when we’re focused primarily and firstly on physical things.

We get /hung up on the trivial.

We’re stalled at the material./

You say, “I beg to differ.

It matters to /me/ whether I’ve got a job or not – whether my son or daughter gets well or not – whether the car runs or not.”

And I grant you that all of those are important and all worth praying about.

But the question is, have they crowded out our spiritual sensitivity to what /God/ is trying to accomplish?  I’m afraid that most of the time we are /urgently driven/ by material concerns.

This is a good test for us.

Let’s check our prayers  If we find that they are primarily about physical things we can almost be sure that we have become /willful /in our prayer lives, and it’s time to change that.

Get the emphasis on spiritual over physical.

*II.

** Emphasis on Specific, not General*

* *

There is another characteristic of Paul’s prayer worthy of note and it is that his prayer is specific.

It is not a mere general prayer that God “bless” those Ephesians; he singles out certain matters, he isolates certain particulars and brings them forward one by one in his prayer to God on behalf of the Ephesians.

True Christian praying—praying in the Spirit, praying in Christ—is not only spiritual, it is always specific.

We betray much of the truth concerning ourselves in our prayers and in our praying.

You may have heard about the fellow who prayed for a foreign car dealership?

The next thing he knew he was living in Tokyo selling running a Chrysler dealership.

I guess he was specific, but maybe not specific enough.

The point is, we often reflect a true lack of urgency and concern when we rattle off our general little requests tried and true requests without any thought.

We’re all guilty.

Not Paul.

He knew what specifically he wanted for these Christians and, brother, he asked for it with a boldness I don’t think we would have.

You say, “Well, beyond the physical needs, I really don’t know what to pray for spiritually.”

If we have a prodigal son or daughter, we pretty well know what to pray for there, but in general, we fall back on generalities or non-specifics, right?

Listen, let me make a suggestion.

How about this?  Let’s start praying by name for the salvation of some of our friends and neighbors who do not know Christ.

Right?

Bless you if you are doing that.

We should all be doing that.

Then, try praying, with real intent, the prayers you find in the Bible.

As a starting point, why don’t we pray for each other the prayer we find in Ephesians 1 and Ephesians 3 on behalf of each other for the next few weeks and months and see what God will do.

Do we really believe He would answer those prayers?

Would we want to see Him answer them?

Do we care more for these things than some of our material concerns?

I must tell you that God has impressed upon my heart to be praying for these things for us as a congregation since I’ve been studying them, but why not all of us?  */Folks, let’s believe God for something great/*.

Let’s pray that he would strengthen us in the inner person, that Christ would be at home in our hearts, that we would have a foundation in love, know the surpassing love of Christ and be filled with the fullness  of God.

Wouldn’t that be amazing to see?

 

*III.

** Emphasis on Strength, not Solution*

* *

The third thing to note in this prayer is that Paul is concerned with strength, not solutions.