Finishing
Strong
Ephesians
6:18-24
Pastor
Darrin Wright January 25, 2009
Introduction
The apostle Paul has taken us on
quite a journey through the book of Ephesians.
We began in the “heavenly places” in chapter 1 and ended in earth’s
spiritual battleground in chapter 6. In
between, he has shown us how the Lord lavished His love and grace on us in
redemption, took the alienated and made them cherished members of His own
family, turned our scarring divisions into His healing unity, rescued us from
the pit of deception and placed us on the pinnacle of truth, and led us out of
darkness to walk in His radiant light.
With reverence and excitement, Paul
has revealed that, from our most intimate relationships to our work in the
world, Jesus reigns over all in grace, peace, and love. In fact, Paul’s opening words spoke of grace
and peace (1:2), and so do his closing thoughts. In reverse order, Paul summarizes all the
glorious truths about what God has done for us and how we’re to live them out
with the Lord’s peace, love, and grace (6:23-24).
In this closing section, the apostle
Paul gives us insight into what it takes to finish strong.
I.
Finish Strong In Your Prayer Life. (vs.18-19a)
A. John
Macarthur – “Ephesians begins by
lifting us up to the heavenlies, and ends by pulling
us down to our knees.”
B. Paul counted on the power of prayer to uphold all of
Christ’s people.
C. Some commentators believe that prayer is another
piece of our spiritual armor.
D. Others believe that prayer is the way we put our
armor on.
E. Prayer is certainly one of the ways we stand firm in
the protection that God has provided for us.
F. Paul’s emphasis on prayer reminds us that prayer is
something we can all do to help each other.
G. Three
Realms Of Prayer:
1.
Hidden Place.
a.
The special
moment when we are alone with the Lord; it is the quiet place where we commune
with him as friend with friend.
b.
Matthew 6:6 (ESV) – “But when you pray, go into your room and shut the
door and pray to your Father who is in secret.
And your Father who is in secret will reward you.”
2.
Heavenly Place
a.
This is the sphere
mentioned in Ephesians where the battles and blessings reside; this is where
prayer is a real engagement with the enemy; the enemy tries to distract us,
discourage us, and hinder our prayers through wandering thoughts, wicked
thoughts, and selfish thoughts.
3.
Holy Place
a.
This is where by
faith we reach out and touch the Lord, this is where we realize that God is
bigger than all our problems, this is where we are overwhelmed with the
greatness of God.
H. Benefits
of Prayer (Swindoll):
1.
Prayer keeps us
engaged in what’s happening around us.
2.
Prayer focuses
our time and energy on what God is doing.
3.
Prayer helps
stabilize us when we’re tempted to worry.
4.
Prayer
transforms us from negative people to positive believers because it turns our
fear to hope.
I.
1
Samuel 12:23 (ESV) – “Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I
should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you
in the good and right way.”
II. Finish Strong In Your
Calling. (vs.19b-20)
·
Paul was
constantly focused on his calling as an apostle to the Gentiles and wanted
prayers to be made for his success in that calling.
·
Paul did not ask
them to pray for him to be released from his imprisonment or for God to take
vengeance on his enemies.
·
Paul wanted the
Ephesians to involve themselves in God’s plan for his life, specifically asking
them to pray for things he regarded as essential to his ministry.
A. Clarity. (vs. 19b)
1.
“that words may
be given to me in opening my mouth”
2.
Not merely words
as sounds, but words that will penetrate; not mere eloquence, or accuracy of
vocabulary, but words that issued from his lips in the power of the Holy
Spirit.
3.
Every time Paul
opened his mouth, he wanted to speak well of Jesus.
B. Courage. (vs.19b)
1.
“boldly to
proclaim the mystery of the gospel”
2.
Paul wanted the
courage to proclaim the gospel of God’s grace.
3.
When Satan
tempted him to be quiet about Christ, he wanted God’s help to be bold and
faithful to proclaim the gospel.
4.
Even Paul got
intimidated and discouraged – he had been beaten and stoned, and he knew that
the Roman powers could do to him.
5.
Paul didn’t want
to live in fear. Instead as he stood
before the greatest leaders of the world, he wanted to keep Christ preeminent
and make his message known.
6.
All of us no
matter our situation, need the courage to stand by
Christ and keep telling the truth.
7.
Boldly
– Paul could encourage others to be bold by being bold himself.
8.
Philippians 1:12-14 (ESV)- “I want you to know brothers, that what has
happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become
known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my
imprisonment is for Christ. And most of
the brothers, having become confident in the lord by my imprisonment are much more bold to speak the word without fear.”
9.
Paul wanted them
to pray for clarity and courage; content and style.
10. Clarity
without courage is like sunshine in the desert; plenty of light but nothing
worth looking at. Courage without
clarity is like a beautiful landscape at night time, plenty to see but no light
by which to enjoy it.
C. Calling. (vs.20)
1.
Paul was gifted,
courageous, morally upright, and spiritually strong, yet he greatly needed
God’s help and the help of fellow Christians.
2.
Contradiction – ambassadors normally have diplomatic immunity to represent their
country without restraint.
3.
Paul is bound,
but he is also free; he is down in a dungeon, but he is also up in glory; he is
handcuffed to a guard, but he is also seated with Christ in heaven.
4.
Paul was still
very aware of the high calling upon his life.
5.
C.H. Spurgeon – His reply to the question:
What is the secret of your ministry?
My people pray for me.
6.
D.
Marin Lloyd Jones – “Do you pray for the preachers of the Gospel? Do you realize what happens every time a man
enters a pulpit – frail, fallible, weak, and yet called of God to be His
representative, and an exponent of His glorious truth? Do you pray for preachers of the gospel? And do you pray in particular that they may
speak boldly? By boldly the apostle
means freely, frankly, that nothing be kept back. Let me borrow the very words used by the
apostle to the elders of this church at
III. Finish Strong In Your
Relationships. (vs.21-22)
A. Paul went to great lengths to establish and maintain
relationships.
B. God has designed us to live in community – to refresh
others and be refreshed, to encourage others and be encouraged, to care for
others and be cared for, to give empathy and receive it, to love and be loved.
C. We are not called to be Lone Rangers (even he had
Tonto).
D. Tychicus would bring Paul’s personal touch to the Epesians. He would
tell them how well Paul was holding up under his arrest and how the saving word
of the gospel was spreading even further through Paul’s imprisonment.
E. Relationship
Principles From The Life Of Tychicus:
1.
Beloved – love
2.
Faithful
3.
Minister –
servant
4.
Will tell you
everything – honesty
5.
Encouragement
F. Let
others into your life so that they may know what God is doing in and through
you, and open the windows of your heart so that Christ can make Himself more
deeply known to you through those closest to you.
IV. Finish Strong In Your
Passion For Christ. (vs.23-24)
·
Ephesians began
with a doxology – a word of praise to the glory of God. It now concludes with a Benediction – a
pronouncement of blessing from God.
·
The benediction
perfectly summarizes the blessings in Christ that the whole book of Ephesians
has expounded.
A. Peace. (vs.23a)
1.
“peace be to the
brothers”
2.
Peace
– cessation of all hostilities; reestablishing in working order broken
relationships; it is Shalom – well being; it comes from being set free from the
dark powers that bind us and destroy us, this peace comes from being reconciled
to God in Christ and working this out in relationship to others.
3.
Be to the brothers- we may be in a battle, but we are not at war with
the brethren; if we are, we are fighting the wrong battle.
B. Love
with Faith. (vs.23b)
1.
“and love with
faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”
2.
“have love in
addition to your faith”
3.
Faith
– belief + trust
4.
1 Corinthians
13:1-3 reminds us that we can have all of the doctrinal precision, but without
love it means nothing.
5.
Paul used the
word love fifteen times in
fourteen verses in this book.
6.
Love With faith Is a Powerful Combination
i.
Love is the
source and faith is the force.
ii.
Love reaches
down, faith reaches up.
iii.
Love is the
beginning and the end, faith lies in between.
iv.
Love reaches out
the hand of God, faith takes hold of it.
v.
Love provides
all that we need, and faith appropriates it.
vi.
Love says: hear
you are – faith takes it and says: thank
you
7.
The church is
supposed to be the community that shows the world what its
supposed to be. And the way we do this
is through love.
8.
Revelation 2:2-4 (ESV) – “I know your works, your toil and your patient
endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested
those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be
false. I know you are enduring patiently
and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you,
that you have abandoned the love you had at first.”
C. Grace. (vs.24)
1.
Grace is how
Paul started this letter (1:2), and he ends it the same way.
2.
Grace
– God’s unmerited favor that shines upon us all the time, and is with us
along the way. It is grace that sets our
feet on the highway to heaven, it is grace that keeps us company on the
journey, and it is grace that will see us safely home.
3.
Grace saves us,
sustains us, and strengthens us. It is
ever sufficient because it is immeasureable. Grace is undeserved, unearned, and unrepayable.
4.
Charles Swindoll – “What is it that frees us to be all he means us to
be? Grace! What is it that permits others to be who they
are, even very different from us?
Grace! What allows us to
disagree, yet stimulates us to press on?
Grace! What adds oil to the
friction points of a marriage; freeing both partners from pettiness and
negativism? Grace! And what gives magnetic charm to a ministry,
inviting others to become a part?
Grace!”
5.
Paul knows all
about their surroundings, he is familiar with their worsening situation, he is
conscious of their many problems and challenging difficulties, he is aware of
their changing circumstances. And so, he
warmly and prayerfully commends them to the torrents of the grace of God and to
the God of all grace.
6.
Notice this
grace comes only through Christ, only to those who love Christ with
incorruptible love.
7.
We should love
Christ with a love that is undying, with a love that is without corruption, and
with a love that never fades.
8.
Paul’s desire is
that the grace he has expounded will be the grace we have experienced.
9.
A mighty,
surging, growing love for the Savior keeps wide the floodgates of his grace and
spiritual riches.
10. John1:16
(ESV) – “And from his fullness
we have all received grace upon grace.”
11. Grace
following grace; grace heaped upon grace.
Conclusion
Finishing strong in our prayer life,
in your calling, in your relationships, and in your passion for Christ will
enable us to say with the apostle Paul:
2 Timothy 4:7-8 (ESV) – “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the
race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth
there is
laid up for me the crown of
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge will award to me on that
Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.”