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Ephesians 6:18-20

Let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn, for the final time, to Ephesians 6. Today’s message is the last in our series on Paul’s letter to the Church in Ephesus.

Many of you know that I’ve acquired a new truck, and this new truck is a diesel, and thus it requires diesel fuel. Now that’s not a major issue, but when you have to re-educate your family, particularly your teenage boys, on the importance of using the right fuel, well it can be a challenge. Habits are hard to break, as you know, and this is true when pulling into the gas station to fill up. So, there’s this constant reminder when they drive my truck of two important facts: 1.) it’s not a race car – that’s true of all vehicles teenagers drive – and, 2.) “Remember, it takes diesel.” So, when I ran across this story from pastor and author David Jeremiah it rang true.

I was invited to speak at a Bible conference back on the East Coast. It meant a sort of mini-vacation for my family. The conference was several miles from where my family was staying, so I borrowed a car from a friend at the conference to drive over and see them. I noticed that the car I had borrowed was a bit unusual. Right on the front of the hood it said, “Oldsmobile Diesel,” and there were also words on the fuel gauge that said “Diesel Fuel Only.”

Immediately after filling up it started to sputter and choke and belch out great clouds of exhaust, and finally stopped right in the middle of the small, rural New York town I was passing through. People in town gathered around to see what was wrong, and an old farmer began asking questions. When I told him that it was a diesel and that I had just finished filling it up, he raised the hood and immediately said, “Son, diesel engines don’t have spark plugs, and this engine does. You don’t have a diesel engine.” My friend had recently converted the car from diesel to regular unleaded, but had failed to mention it to me.

He continued with this thought. As I thought about that incident over the years, it became a great illustration to me of the spiritual life. We have the label “human being” pasted all over us (like my friend’s diesel car); but as Christians, we’ve been converted. Our spiritual lives won’t run on the same kind of fuel they used to. We sputter, choke, and ultimately come to an embarrassing standstill if we don’t fuel ourselves with the right kind of fuel.

Of course, the fuel for the Christian life is prayer. Without prayer, we simply cannot maintain the power and energy needed to be victorious in the fight that’s known as the Christian life. It’s no more possible to live the Christian life without prayer than it is to run a gasoline engine on diesel. Paul concludes his teaching on spiritual warfare with an emphasis on prayer, and so will we.

18 [P]raying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, 19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

Gracious God, as we turn now to the Bible, we pray for the help, the enabling of the Holy Spirit, to teach and to listen, to understand, to believe, to obey, to live in the light of its truth. Accomplish Your purposes in us, Lord, we pray. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Well, as we come to the end of Ephesians – and we’ve spent some significant time in this final section – it’s important for us and helpful for us to keep in mind that this is not a section that exists on its own. It’s the closing part of one letter, and it’s also the concluding part of what we referred to, as we began chapter 4, as the more practical part of the letter.

You might remember – when we started this series several months ago – that we noted the structure of Paul’s letter. It’s 6 chapters broken down the middle into 2 sections. The first section (chapters 1-3) focuses on the indicatives, which means the first section is Paul’s statement of doctrinal facts. This is who we are “in Christ.” This is our identity as “children of God.” Then, after establishing the facts (as it were), he switches in the second section (chapter 4-6) and offers the imperatives – the “so whats,” the “therefores,” the “what we do in response” section.

So, chapter 4 begins with a call to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, and that means putting off the old self and putting on the new. It means getting rid of certain behaviors and lifestyles and embracing new ones. It means walking alongside others in the family of God – people from different backgrounds and stages of life. It means walking in a worthy manner in our marriages (as husbands and wives), walking in a worthy manner in our homes (as parents and children), and walking in a worthy manner in our jobs (as employers and employees). And Paul concludes his letter (in chapter 6) by saying, “Hey, all of this walking in a worthy manner is actually being done in a war zone, in a battlefield, in a spiritual conflict between people who are seeking to follow Jesus and the enemy, Satan. Therefore, we need to take up the armor of God.” And so, it’s from there that we conclude our study of Ephesians by considering the fuel for the fight.

There are four “alls” that are listed in verses 18-20, and they will provide the framework for today’s message.

Praying at All Times

First of all, then, our praying is to be “at all times” (v. 18).

Whenever we’re on the receiving end of an exhortation from someone, it’s almost inevitable that we say, “Well, I wonder if he/she is actually doing that?” And we need be in no doubt concerning Paul, because we can go back through the letter and find him saying, “I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers” (Ephesians 1:16). In other words, he’s absolutely true to what he’s now urging us to do. He’s praying all the time.

And that brings me to this thought: this whole matter of consistency or constancy of prayer is (if we’re honest) something we’ve all struggled with. Alistair Begg shares the story of a friend named T.S. Mooney, who has since died and is living in heaven. Mooney was a bachelor his entire life. He was a banker and taught a boys’ Bible class. He lived in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, and one day Begg asked Mooney, “What’s your plan and purpose with these boys?” To which Mooney replied, “My plan for the Bible class has always been to give every boy a Bible in his hand, a Savior in his heart, and a purpose in his life.”

Mooney routinely prayed for each boy, and kept in touch with them as they grew up. Begg said that when he visited Mooney in his apartment one day, Mooney had photos of men who were judges, and surgeons, and teachers, and mechanics, and plumbers and all sorts of other professions – all of whom were influenced by Mooney’s teaching and prayers.

Mooney died in 1986. His housekeeper found him in the morning – fully dressed and kneeling over his bed. As she pulled Mooney back from the bed, she found a little black book alongside his Bible. It contained the names of all the boys/men that had gone through his classes, along with the other people and ministries he prayed for regularly.

Whose ministry is being held up on the strength of our disciplined commitment to prayer? Some of you are prayer partners to people. Do you realize what an amazing privilege that is, that you’re able to go to the living God, the Creator of the ends of the earth, and seek Him on behalf of a brother or a sister? All the time? Continually. Not spasmodically. But you know, such a call makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? Because the battle goes on continually; therefore, the need for prayer is in the same realm.

In short order, this call to pray “at all times” is an expression of our dependence upon God. It’s not optional; it’s essential, it’s impossible for us to enjoy an intimate relationship with God without it, no less than the fact that you can’t enjoy an intimate relationship with your spouse apart from the engagement of communication. Not necessarily talking all the time! You can drive in the car for fifteen or twenty miles and never talk. But there’s communion.

Praying with All Prayers

Then the second “all,” you will see, is right there in the text as well: “Praying at all times,” and then, “with all prayer and supplication.” What does that mean? Well, the word “supplication” comes from the Greek word deésis. It means “to be in need.” That’s helpful, and I think that’s exactly what Paul is saying. He’s talking about the way in which we come to God in prayer.

Some of you have heard me refer to the ACTS prayer model. It’s an acrostic – where each letter in the word A-C-T-S represents something else. “A” is for adoration. We begin our prayers by acknowledging who we’re praying to and give Him adoration and praise. “C” stands for confession. Martin Luther said, repentance is not only something that begins our Christian life but is a daily experience; saying to God in the course of a day, catching ourselves, “I confess to you, Father, that I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6:5, paraphrased). “T” is for thanksgiving. Leona Von Brethorst wrote a hymn called He Has Made Me Glad and it includes these words:

I will enter His gates with thanksgiving in my heart,
I will enter His courts with praise;
I will say this is the day that the Lord has made,
I will rejoice, for He has made me glad.

And what’s really amazing is learning that we don’t just thank God when the skies are blue and the breeze is at our back. In fact, simply acknowledging that “this is the day the Lord has made” immediately reminds me that He’s God and I’m not. I didn’t see to it that the sun came up this morning. I didn’t see to it that I slept all through the night and woke up healthy today, instead of dying in my sleep. Many of us just assume these things – as if God isn’t extending His grace to us each and every day that the sun comes up. Finally, “S” stands for supplication, or petition, or expression of our need. It’s coming to God and acknowledging that it’s entirely legitimate to ask, to knock, to seek (Matthew 7:7). Indeed, He tells us to do this. He bids us come and tell Him exactly what’s going on and where our concern lies and what we’re really interested in. And sometimes they’re big things, and other times they’re small things.

Folks, this is one area of my Christian life that’s a chore. It’s not a chore to pray, but it’s a chore to make sure that I don’t fall into the habit of saying the same thing time and time again. In fact, I said to myself this week (as did the disciples), “Lord, teach me to pray” (Luke 11:1). “Teach me to pray when I walk along the road, when I lie down, when I get up. Teach me to pray formal and structured prayers, as I have to. Teach me to pray standing or kneeling, audibly or inaudibly, publicly or privately. Teach me to pray groaning. Teach me to pray crying. Just teach me to pray.”

You see, often prayer is actually in the groaning and in the crying. You know, it’s true that “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34). You remember when Isaiah, in the midst of his circumstances, he says, “Oh! that you would rend the heavens and come down” (Isaiah 64:1). There’s a ton just in the “oh.” God listens to our “ohs.” He listens to our groans. In fact, Paul says that the Holy Spirit actually makes sense of our groans, (Romans 8:26) so that we pray constantly, and we pray variously.

Praying with All Perseverance

And thirdly, we pray “with all perseverance.” In other words, we dare not be overcome by carelessness. You remember Jesus’ conversation with the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane before His arrest, “Watch and pray [so] that you [do] not enter into temptation” (Matthew 26:41). And they did neither. They didn’t watch and they didn’t pray. What did they do? (They slept.)

In many ways, what we have here is an echo of the words of Jesus. But it’s also in keeping with what Paul said to the Ephesian elders in Acts chapter 20. Before he left them, he said to them, “After my departure there will arise fierce wolves who will seek to draw away people after them and draw them away from all that I have taught you about Jesus and about the gospel” (Acts 20: 29-31, paraphrased). And so, he says, “Keep alert! Stay awake! Be watchful!” And it’s the watchfulness which then is the key to the perseverance. Sinclair Ferguson, in his commentary on Ephesians, says, “Christ is building His church on territory that has been occupied by an enemy. Alertness is always essential when living in a war zone.”

Perseverance is tough. It’s hard. No matter what you’re doing – whether it’s playing a sport, or exercising, or being married – sticking it out, gutting it out, hanging in there to the bitter end is part of what it means to “work out your salvation in fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). That doesn’t mean that we work to earn our salvation. No, it means that we persevere in our obedience to Jesus, and as we persevere to the end we actually demonstrate and confirm that we’re actually saved. In 1 John 2:19 we read a warning about the end times and false teachers and people that “claimed to be” saved walking away from the faith. Listen, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.” Praying with all perseverance is one of those areas of our Christian lives that’s tempting to quit, tempting to give up on.

Most of us remember the days before computers and e-mail. Some of you even remember the days before home telephones. I remember being in elementary school and also in Bible school at church and having pen pals – friends that we would write back and forth to. In those days’ answers didn’t come immediately. You would write a letter and then maybe 2-3 weeks later you’d get a response. We learned to wait. But today, when you can call and text and e-mail, we get upset when we see a text is delivered and read and we don’t get an immediate response.

Jesus even told a parable in Luke 18 about a persistent widow, and the introduction to that parable says, “And [Jesus] told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.” Charles Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers, once said, “some blessings are like ripe fruit in autumn, which falls readily into our hands; but for some blessings, you need to give the tree a good shaking.” And some of us have been shaking some of these branches for a while, have we not? Some of us are going to have to be content to trust God that He will fulfill His covenant promises, and that should we not see it this side of eternity, we will on the far side realize that God who loves us, the God who reigns, the God whose will is best, will fulfill His promises. And in that, we continue.

Praying for All the Saints

That brings us to the fourth and final “all.” “Praying at all times,” constantly. “Praying with all prayer,” variously. “Praying with all perseverance,” unstintingly. “Praying for All the Saints,” expansively or globally.

Now, I looked at this again and again. I said, “It would have been so much easier if it had said ‘some’ instead of ‘all.’” Because then we could’ve all relaxed, you know. Praying sometimes: “Oh, yes, I do it sometimes.” And some perseverance: “Yes…” And for some of the saints. Because there’s a number of them I don’t want to pray for!

You see, it’s natural and it’s entirely legitimate for us to pray about our own personal needs. The Bible encourages us to do that – to bring the concerns of our own hearts and our own homes to Him. But when we ONLY do that, we’re no different from unbelievers. That’s what non-Christians think about prayer. It’s something that’s like a divine ATM that you can get stuff for yourself if you just go about it the right way. No, what Paul is calling for is to look beyond ourselves to the needs of “all the saints.”

Our prayers, individually and corporately, will always languish and will finally stutter to a halt without two things: 1.) a God-centered perspective, and 2.) a God-centered trust. So, in other words, we’re asking ourselves, “What’s God’s plan for the world? What’s God promised to do?” Well, He’s promised to put together a people that are His very own from every tribe and nation and language and tongue. Therefore, we can legitimately pray to the end that many people from many places, both in our own immediate area and throughout the entire globe, will become the committed followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. So, we pray for saints in Afghanistan, and Somalia, and Sudan, and North Korea, and China, in addition to the saints in America, and S.C., and Greer, and Greenville, and Landrum.

We have to acknowledge that if we’re going to pray for all the saints, it’s going to force us to a radical shift in perspective. It’s going to call us as Americans to stop seeing the world as spinning outwards from Washington, D.C. or wherever we are. Listen, have you noticed how modern maps have changed. Used to, when you were going on a trip you had to pull out the road atlas. You had to stop in a gas station and buy a map of the state or city that you were in. Remember those days? Now, with the advent of the smart phone and GPS navigation all you have to do is plug in your destination and instead of traveling from “A” to “B,” we travel from “me” to “B.” Did you notice that clever little shift? The focus has shifted from having a global perspective to only having a self-centered perspective. Because every time I look at a map, guess what? I’m at the center. And yet, there’s a world of people (correction: saints) out there that need our prayers.

The task to reach the world for Jesus Christ is unfinished. And the task won’t ever be accomplished absent God-centered praying. Without sincere, sensible, Spirit-filled outpouring of our souls to God, asking Him for such things as He has promised – His will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Father, we bow down before You, and we acknowledge the mystery, the necessity, and the calling of prayer. We desperately need the enabling of the Holy Spirit in this righteous endeavor. Lord, we ask that you teach us how to pray at all times, and pray with all kinds of prayers, and pray with all perseverance, and pray for all the saints. As we approach Your table, God, we ask that You come and sit with us, be with us, draw near to us. May Your Holy Spirit fill the hearts of us, Your faithful, and enkindle within us the fire of Your love. In Jesus’ name. Amen.