Episode 81 - The Prayer of Paul - Part 1

[00:00:07] Speaker A: Hi, and welcome to the unveiling. I'm Tim, one of the hosts. Along with Ajay and Mark. We are three guys discussing the one true gospel. We hope you're encouraged by this episode. Let's dive right in. [00:00:22] Speaker B: First of all, say hi to everybody. Ajay. [00:00:25] Speaker C: Hey, Mark. Hi, everybody. It's so good to see you. And we are so happy to be here. We took a small break, but, you know, we couldn't contain ourselves. You know, we just want to, you know, talk, keep talking about our Lord Jesus Christ and his grace. So we are here again. Thank you. Thank you, Mark, and thank you, everybody. [00:00:45] Speaker B: That's a great way of putting it, Ajay. We couldn't contain ourselves. And I completely agree with that, because in this break we've had, Ajay and I have been going back. [00:00:56] Speaker C: We. [00:00:56] Speaker B: We're always constantly going back and forth and texting and in signal and. And that's just my heart. Sometimes when we're talking about the wonders of the gospel, I just well up and I'm like, I gotta shout this out. This. There's nothing like this. It's the greatest news. And I sometimes think that good news, you know, the Bible calls the gospel is literally the good news. That. That's way too low of an estimation. This is news that's ever come across the face of this planet in all history and ever will be the best news. So we feel so privileged and excited to be starting this new adventure in the gospel. [00:01:43] Speaker C: Indeed. [00:01:44] Speaker B: Yes. So our first subject matter today is Audrey and I. Just naturally, through our communications, we constantly have been sharing this prayer that the Apostle Paul. Paul prayed for the church in Ephesians chapter one. And as we talked about starting this new podcast, we both agreed that, wow, this prayer really is the heartbeat of what we want this new podcast to be. And that heartbeat is Jesus himself. And Paul prays this prayer not just in Ephesians 1, but as you go through all his different letters, his epistles, books in the New Testament, he prays this prayer or something very similar for the church over and over again. So we know this is something very important and is really the heartbeat of not just this podcast, but the heartbeat of our Christian lives. [00:02:49] Speaker C: That's so true, Mark. Yeah. Yeah. You know, like our title says, you know, our heart is to unveil Jesus. And I think this prayer captures the spirit of our podcast very well. So I can't wait to get into that. [00:03:06] Speaker B: Yeah. So, well, let's dive in. [00:03:09] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah. [00:03:10] Speaker B: Okay. I'll start reading, if I might. I think it's important that we, even though this prayer comes in the second half of that first chapter one which is one page, it's not a long chapter. But we want to set the context because one thing that Ajay and I always say is con. In real estate, they say location, location, location. When it comes to scripture interpretation, it's context, context, context. You know, when you read a line of scripture, you need to read lines before it and lines after it. In that, in that paragraph, sometimes you need to read the whole chapter, sometimes you need to read the whole Bible. And you just considered in context because that's the only way to keep from going down wrong avenues. And I think we all know from experience that throughout the centuries, many a person has gone down a wrong avenue by taking things out of context and trying to make them mean something just on their own from one line. [00:04:14] Speaker C: Yeah, words have no meaning outside of context. So totally agree with you, Mark. [00:04:20] Speaker B: Oh, that's a, that's, that's another new Ajay ism there. I really like. Ajay comes up with these things that after we are dead and gone, we'll be hanging on plaques in people's living rooms. Words have no. What was it? Without context, words have no meaning. That's, that's a good one. So good job, Ajay. That'll soon be available on plaques and T shirts on our website. Right, so, all right, I'm going to start reading here now. And this is the Apostle Paul. First of all, he's telling us who's writing this. He's saying, paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God. So one thing I wanted to mention on that, and Paul was always really careful to make this known to his listeners. And that was. It was Christ himself who chose him and revealed the gospel to him. He said, I didn't learn this from anybody. No man taught me this. The other apostles who were before me didn't take me aside and mentor me. I got the gospel by direct revelation by the will of God from the Lord Jesus Christ himself. [00:05:35] Speaker C: Yeah, Mark, if I may pitch in on this, I know we just read one verse and then we have so much to share here. So like you said, Apostle Paul, you know, Lord has chosen him to give a special revelation. If you think about it, there are 11 apostles in fact, 12 of them outside of Judas, who walked with our Lord Jesus Christ. But none of them had the revelation that Paul had. In fact, Peter himself says he acknowledges in his letter that Paul had a special insight into the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that's one of the reasons I think it's two thirds of the New Testament is written by Paul and we are so thankful for that. Without Paul's letters, we really wouldn't understand the gospel. We would still be trying to interpret parables of our Lord Jesus Christ. But we are so glad Paul's letters are written in plain English in a straightforward way. They are not riddles anymore. [00:06:40] Speaker B: That's a great point, Ajay. And one of the things, tell me if you agree with this as well, that Paul, even Paul, was the primary preacher of the gospel. In fact, that was his mission in life. He preached the gospel even more than Jesus himself did. That's my opinion. Jesus was the gospel. As he walked through his life, his preaching of the gospel was come to me. It was always come to me as he walked among people. The kingdom of God is near. Repent, which means change your mind. Here I am. To me, his main mission was to be the gospel. The good news. To die for us. Well, first of all, to live for us and perfectly fulfill and meet the righteous requirement of the law. It says in Romans 8:1 that he fully. I'm sorry, Romans 8:1, first half of the paragraph. He says that he fully met the righteous requirement of the law in us and then he gave his life for us to bring us forgiveness of sin and give us that righteousness he earned by fulfilling the law. [00:07:57] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, Mark, I love the point you made. Jesus is the gospel. So his death, burial, his life on this earth and his death, burial and resurrection for us, that is the gospel. And he, while Jesus was here, he was not only preaching the gospel in the sense, you know, to believe on him and then the work that he was going to do, but he himself was the living gospel. And after his death, burial, resurrection and ascension, he gave his Holy Spirit to the apostles and of course all the believers. Now we actually preach what Lord Jesus Christ did for us so that anyone who believes on him can be saved. [00:08:43] Speaker B: You made a great point and that was that without Paul's teachings on the gospel, who he got directly from Christ. So it's not like he's a separate guy out there coming up with something new. Without that, you made the point that we would have to try to understand the gospel through the parables. But the parables aren't the gospel. The Sermon on the Mount is not the gospel. Those are all awesome moral teachings, but those aren't the good news because the bad news is we can't keep those things perfectly. And that is the standard. Jesus even said that after the sermon on The Mount, which even by secular people and other world religions, they consider that the highest moral teaching. His last line of that high moral teaching was, be perfect. Therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Let me ask you, this listener out there, do you really think if we couldn't keep the law, which no one is righteous, not won by the law, that Paul taught that over, over again, if we couldn't keep the law, and now here comes Jesus elevating that law and even saying, you have to be perfect like your heavenly Father is perfect. If we couldn't keep the law, do you think he really thought we could be as perfect on our own, in our own power or flesh, as he would call it in our own abilities? [00:10:20] Speaker C: Yeah, you made a great point, Mark. The Sermon on the Mount is not the gospel and the parables are not the gospel. So both of them are. The. The intent of the Sermon on the Mount is for us to realize that we cannot keep the Sermon on the Mount so that, you know, we can go to our Lord Jesus Christ knowing our inability. And all the parables are intended to lead us to Christ. So every parable is actually a hidden gospel message. So every parable is about the gospel. So in the end, everything is pointing to our Lord Jesus Christ. So this may be a great opportunity at the beginning of our podcast to simply define what the gospel is we talk about. So we talked about what is not the gospel, but what is the gospel. Right. You know, we will get into this a lot, but simply put, the gospel is the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ. He is man and God. He is God who became man. Right. Great is the mystery of the of godliness. God was manifested in the flesh. So he is 100% God, 100% human. And then he died and rose again on the third day for us, his death, burial and resurrection. Is the gospel, his finished work. And how do we receive the gospel is by faith, through faith in his name, believing who Lord Jesus Christ is and believing what he did for us. We receive the forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among the saints. So the gospel at the core is the person and the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. And like we always say, Christ and him crucified is the gospel. [00:12:18] Speaker B: Yeah. That's awesome, Ajay. And the Apostle Paul himself over and over again defined and stated that gospel and five or six scriptures. I have to back this up. I'm not going to get into them now. I'm sure they'll come up in other podcast episodes. But the Apostle Paul said that the gospel is the message of God's grace. He also coined it the good news of God's grace. And then he tells us in First Corinthians, chapter 2 what that message of grace is. It's Jesus Christ and him crucified. That's the message of God's grace. And as Ajay went into it, now that seems simple, but that's very all encompassing. The ramifications of what he's done. His just, you know, my brain wants to explode when I think about who he is and all he's done for us. [00:13:19] Speaker C: Yeah, Mark, I think we just read one line. One line. Maybe we should get back. [00:13:26] Speaker B: All right, let's go on to line two here. Okay, so Paul told us who it is writing this. It's Paul, an apostle of Christ, Jesus Christ, by the will of God. And then he says to God's holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus. So we know that these are believers, they're faithful in Christ Jesus, and he calls them holy. The only way to become holy is to put your faith in Christ Jesus. And he gives you that holiness, gives you, imputes that righteousness and holiness to you. And if I might, I want to skip ahead here a little bit, Ajay, just to read a little further about who Paul's writing it to. So here in the first verse, he says to God's holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus. And as he starts to pray for them in Ephesians 1:15, he says, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God's people, I haven't stopped giving thanks for you and praying for you. So what we know about these people is these people are on fire for Jesus. They're not. Probably not brand new Christians, at least the bulk of them aren't, because they even have a reputation for having faith. I mean, this is the ancient world. There's no smartphones, there's no texting, there's not even a telegraph. So for when news to spread and for Paul to hear while he's 800 miles away, hey, man, these people in Ephesus, that church you planted on your first missionary voyage, man, they are on fire for Jesus. They love each other. That tells you something, you know that these are mature believers. And the reason I wanted to bring this up was because I could see the danger for people like me and Ajay and others that have been walking with the Lord for years and consider themselves mature believers. We might think this prayer that Paul consistently Prays for the church is more for new believers, immature believers, but it's not. He's praying this prayer for all believers. And this prayer is really. What's the word? Maybe not the mission, but it is the Christian life. He's praying. And we'll get to that prayer, and you'll see how awesome that is. [00:15:55] Speaker C: Yeah, Mark, that's a really good point that you made. This letter is not just written to baby believers. Right. It is written to Christians of all ages, so to speak. You know, we are not saying that we are the most mature here and others are not, but the point that we are making is it is for all believers. We must not think at any point we have graduated to something else. And these letters or prayers don't apply to us. [00:16:25] Speaker B: And I would say they also have great value for unbelievers out there that are seeking, seeking and searching and trying to find out if this Christianity thing is real or not. As they read Paul's words in this prayer, it tells them exactly what's important, exactly what the Christian life is meant to be. And it also clears up for them all the misinformation that they've gotten in their life up to this point about what Christianity is supposed to be. [00:16:58] Speaker C: Yep. [00:17:00] Speaker B: Okay, so one, let's go on to line two. Now, if I'm going too fast for anybody, make sure you write in and let us know. Okay. So next he says grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. That's Paul's standard blessing. And one of the things I love is he always pairs grace and peace together. And grace to define it is the unmerited, undeserved, unearned favor or love of God. And if you don't have that, it's impossible to have peace. So he always pairs those two together, and he tells us who they're from. They're from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. So, shoot, let's move on into the. [00:17:47] Speaker C: Yeah, keep going, keep going. [00:17:49] Speaker B: Yeah. So the next portion. So that's our intro there. Paul says who he is. He says who he's writing to, and then he gives them an opening blessing of grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ. And now he's going to get into the bulk of the letter. And this next portion of the letter is Paul telling us, telling believers, telling the church, and in this case specifically, the believers at Ephesus and surrounding churches what they have in Christ from the moment they put their faith, what is it they received. And so, Ajay, stop me when you feel like it's a good breaking off point. Okay. Because this is. [00:18:30] Speaker C: Mark, if you don't mind, if you can stop after verse three, I just want to make a quick point after that. [00:18:35] Speaker B: I will do that. Some people thought we might get a couple of verses on it. Forget. Okay, here we go. So verse 3, Ephesians 1:3. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. [00:18:57] Speaker C: Yeah, Mark, Yeah. Actually, you know, I was reading Ephesians a couple of weeks back and this thing popped out at me when you read verse two and three. In verse two it says, I'm reading from new King James Version. It is KJV without thee and thou. So hopefully that is somewhat more modern than the old King James. But if you look at verse two and three, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And in verse 3 it says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ. I want us to Note in verse 2 it says God our Father. And in verse 3 it says God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. So our Father and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the same. So we have the same father. Just think about it, right? So we are from the same family and we share the same inheritance. You know, that's even right at the outset. You know, he's talking about our sonship and our inheritance and he's also talking about sharing. Imagine, like our Lord Jesus Christ, he and us have the same father. Just think about it. We have the same blood. I thought that was awesome. And one more quick point. Ephesians is a book of in Christ, in Christ realities. Like you said, when we say in Christ seated in heavenly places, it's not talking about a future or it's not talking about something is in heaven, but not here. But what is in heaven, like you put it, Mark, has an impact on our lives on earth. So we are joined to our Lord Jesus Christ in heaven. So as we go through the book, I would like our listeners to pay attention to how many times this term in Christ comes. It's so important because everything we have is in Christ. So that's why when we are saved, we are placed, we are put in Christ. We will talk about that as well. But the point here is everything that we have is in Christ. That's why Lord Jesus said, you know, abide in me. Apart from me, you can do nothing. And apart From Christ, we have nothing. So we can talk about lot of things, but if we are not in Christ, we have nothing. So I just wanted to make that point. [00:21:28] Speaker B: That's a great point. I recently heard a message from a famed theologian, and he was saying that at that time, people that had put their faith in Christ, that were in Christ, did not think of themselves as Christians. That term didn't come till later, and it was actually a derogatory term when it first started. They would have thought of themselves. The theologian made the point. As people who were in Christ, that was the way they thought about their self. It was their highest identity. I'm in Christ, so that's a great point. And I also wanted to just kind of. What's that term you always use? Double click on. Double click on. The fact that even though we've been blessed in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ, so many people think that when they hear something very spiritual like that that's waiting for us in heaven, it's not until we die and go to heaven that we receive those spiritual blessings. And. And for the very reason that Ajay pointed out the fact that we are in Christ and He is in us, means that in the here and now, the riches of our glorious inheritance, all these blessings are for us now. We don't have to wait until we die to get them. So, yeah, that was a Good point, I.J. all right, can I go on to four now? [00:23:00] Speaker C: Yeah, go ahead. [00:23:01] Speaker B: Okay. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight, in love. He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will, to the praise of his glorious grace which he has freely given us in the one he loves. [00:23:27] Speaker C: Yeah. So, Mark, I'm sorry, I have to jump in here. I want you. [00:23:32] Speaker B: I don't want to touch this. [00:23:34] Speaker C: I don't want to take a shortcut here, but it's, I think, extremely important. Right. So there are two things here. All the believers are predestined to adoption as sons. So our destiny is sonship. I want us to understand that. You know, Hear that again. Right. Our destiny is sonship. Like we just saw, we share the same Father as our Lord Jesus Christ. And here it says we are predestined to adoption as sons by how? By Jesus Christ. Again, by the virtue of the fact that we are in Christ. Whatever Lord Jesus Christ is, it is we inherit. Basically, he is the Son of God and we become the children of God. And the other thing I wanted to point out is according to the good pleasure of his will. So many a time we run into these things, right? You know, what is the will of God for me? What is God's purpose? What is God's plan for me? Most of us think the will of God is something I need to do, something related to ministry or, okay, I need to go start an orphanage. I need to start a ministry. I need to go and preach the gospel. They are good things, right? That is a natural byproduct of knowing Christ and becoming his children. The very reason that you and I are doing this is no one told us, right? It's not an obligation, but it's an overflow of what is within us. Like we said, we couldn't contain but to talk about the gospel, right? But the thing that we need to understand is what is God's will for me? God's will for me is sonship. Even before the foundation of the world, even before anything happened in God's plan for me was adoption as sons. And according to the good pleasure of his will. I think we want to keep this in mind because his will comes in many places. So whenever his will comes, what is God's will? Adoption. As sons by Jesus Christ, we have the highest privilege, right? You know, like a president might have a son, right? You know, obviously. Or a king might have a son. So the destiny of a king's son is to be a king. And our destiny, destiny of a God son is to be a son of God. So our ultimate destiny in all eternity is to be sons of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. There is no better position than that. That is our highest privilege, and that will never change. [00:26:13] Speaker B: Yeah, and I like to look at, I think, one of the greatest ways that God gave us to understand our relationship with him. We see so much for those of us who have children. We see so much of God relating to us and the way we relate to our children. Did we have kids so that we could get them to clean the house? Did we have kids so they could go out and get a paper route and bring money to me? No, we didn't have them to do things. I wanted kids, to love them, to have children. And that's our same calling. And out of that, as Ajay said, out of the overflow of that relationship, God's going to use us. The spirit. It comes out as fruit. That's just a great illustration that the Bible use. It's just fruit growing on a tree that's in good soil. That's being nourished by the sun and the rain, getting nutrients from the good soil, you know, that's going to grow out of you, you know. [00:27:15] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:27:15] Speaker B: And maybe you will end up in another country, just on fire, preaching Jesus. Who knows? But you won't hate it. If you go there, it's because you won't be able to contain yourself. Not because you. You're grudgingly going. Because I've got to be a missionary. [00:27:31] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah. [00:27:31] Speaker B: So. So while I wanted to say, Ajay, just point out one more thing I love. At the beginning, these first five. Five words in four, he said, for he chose us in Him. Now, he's not naming the he and the him here. He's just using prepositions. Right. That's what they call those. A long time since English class. But the he is God, and that in him is Christ. For God chose us in Christ before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. When did we become holy and blameless in his sight? Was it after we were born and started giving 10% and going to church every Sunday, memorizing scripture, helping the little old lady next door take her garbage out? No. It was before the creation of the world. God had already predestined us. Destiny is a better word. Our destiny was to be his children. And he already saw us holy and blameless in Christ. He says that's the way he sees us. Holy and blameless is in Christ. If we're not in Christ, we're not holy and blameless. No matter how much good stuff we do. [00:28:52] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. You know, just to add to that, you know, we become holy and blameless not because we do this and we do that, but because we are in Christ. Like you said, because Christ is holy, holy and blameless. We are holy and blameless. So in order to understand our status. Right. We don't look at ourselves. We ask the question, is Christ holy? So I am holy. Is Christ blameless? So I am blameless? Because whatever is Christ is given to us, that's what salvation is. [00:29:28] Speaker B: Yeah. If we look at ourselves sometimes, we may not seem so holy and blameless. But if we look at Jesus and look at what the gospel is and the truth of what he's done in us and for us, we see ourselves as holiness, blameless. Because if God says, I'm holy and blameless, I don't care what anybody else says. Right? [00:29:49] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:29:51] Speaker B: All right. Ajay, shall I continue to read? [00:29:53] Speaker C: Yep. Good. [00:29:54] Speaker B: Okay. Where did I finish? Six. [00:29:57] Speaker C: Okay. [00:29:58] Speaker B: Okay. So all these things it says, God has done in accordance with his pleasure and will. And, and I love this. He's giving us the reasons he did this. Okay, he didn't do this begrudgingly. It was his pleasure and his. His will to make us his children, to send his son to sacrifice his life for us and to live perfectly according to the law, to give us his righteousness. And Paul just. I love. Sometimes when Paul is speaking the truth of the gospel, he can't contain himself. He goes from theology and doctrine and just breaks out in praise. He says, to the praise of his glorious grace, which is freely given us in the One he loves. I love how he just kind of explodes at the end of those first couple lines. He's telling us what God has done for us, how he sees us, and about being in Christ. And he just explodes into that. [00:30:56] Speaker C: Yeah, Mark, again, I think one quick point here. I know, you know, we need to move forward, but you know, there is so much here, right, in these few verses. Like there are so many, so many deep things of God here, here, as I said, it's to the praise of his glorious grace. It's not, you know, to the praise of the glory of his grace. You know, whenever we, when people think about glory of God, right? You know, giving glory to God, we think about, oh, I need to do this for God, that brings glory. I need to do that. That brings glory. But here it says, he did all this to the praise of the glory of his grace. And we will talk about it more, but we know when we know. Like this is one of our favorite verses is Romans 11:6. If it is by grace, it cannot be by works. So when we are talking about praising God, when we are talking about glory of God, he wanted to give glory to his grace. That means it has nothing to do with our works. Because if it is by grace, it cannot be by works. So all the praise and glory God wanted to be to his grace, by which he has made us accepted or freely bestowed upon us in the Beloved. So again, if he has freely bestowed upon us, there's nothing we did that gives God glory, but rather what he did and us receiving what he did gives glory to God. [00:32:34] Speaker B: Great point, Ajay. And he says here, this holy and blamelessness, holiness and blamelessness we receive come to us by grace. It's the only way he's saying it right then and there. And then he even adds to your point by saying, which he has freely given us in the one he loves. Again in Christ. He's making this point over and over again in slightly different words. [00:33:03] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:33:04] Speaker B: Okay. Shall I continue? [00:33:06] Speaker C: Yeah, Mark. So I'm just doing a time check. Do you want to. I don't know if you get to the prayer today, but do you want to keep going or. [00:33:16] Speaker B: I'd like to keep going, Ajay. And let me just say we're going to end this episode now. Ajay and I are going to keep going because we're excited. But we'll have a part two to this next week. And we hope your spirits have been uplifted by the glory and the truth of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the message of his grace. So we will see you next week. [00:33:45] Speaker A: Thanks for listening today. We hope you were encouraged and uplifted. If so, we encourage you to subscribe and share our podcast with your friends and family. You can listen and subscribe our most popular podcast apps. Well, that's it for us today. As always, God bless and we will talk to you the next time.