July 29, 2012
© 2012
Jesus Walking on the Water
Lewis Bowman
I.
Sally Brown teaches worship and preaching at Princeton Seminary. She
recently wrote:
I remember as a child tiptoeing past the
living room where my parents, faithful in morning devotions, were praying.
Sometimes I heard them praying for my older brother and me. It can be faintly
embarrassing to eavesdrop on prayer -- a little like listening in on someone's
personal phone conversation. But prayer on our behalf can be a revelation --
about ourselves, and about God.
Hearing my parent's prayers, I learned that
to them, the two of us were a sacred trust, worth praying for. The simple fact
of their daily praying let me know they recognized their limits as parents.
There was so much they could not do for us, so much from which they couldn't
shield us. Their praying also told me what they believed about God. They
believed they could entrust us to hands stronger than their own, a Love wiser
than their own. http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=7/29/2012&tab=3
A.
Our son Jon has often told of listening to my parents praying when he
visited them. Often it was after breakfast or supper, but occasionally he’d
overhear them praying in the bedroom. He recalls listening for his name as they
prayed for their grandchildren, and even for his children’s names in the
prayers for their great grandchildren.
B.
Have you ever overheard someone praying for you when they didn’t know
you were listening? You might feel a little uncomfortable and embarrassed. You
may feel loved and honored. Perhaps you feel overwhelmed or inspired.
C.
In Ephesians 3:14-21, we are eavesdropping on one of the greatest
prayers in the New Testament, and it is for us! The Church is the focus of
Ephesians. The word “church” occurs 9 times, but never as a reference to a
specific congregation. Each time it is about the whole Church. Christ’s
community of faith in all places and all times. I am astounded that the majesty
and magnitude of this prayer is as much for us as it was for the Church in the
first century.
II.
By this time I hope you all know that I believe the most important
thing I have done for you this year is to pray for you. Besides my public
prayers, I know I have shared private moments of prayer with some of you as
well. At the risk of bragging or having some of you think I am bragging, I’m
going to let you peek in on some of my prayer rhythm this morning.
A.
A few of you who are extra alert and remember details may recall that a
few weeks ago I said we’d be looking at the life of King David through the
summer. We did last Sunday, but I’m shifting gears to Ephesians for my last
three Sundays with you. My first step in preparing each week’s sermon is to
read the passages and pray about what God is saying to me. When I got to the
passages about David for these three weeks, I discovered they were about the
darkest days of David’s life: his adultery with Bathsheba and the fallout with
his son Absalom. My prayer was something like this, “Look God, I don’t think I
want to end my time with this church on such a downer. What should I do?” I
don’t think I could actually say that God told me to look at the Ephesians
passages in the lectionary, but that’s what I did. As I read them, I do believe
the Holy Spirit was whispering to me, “This is what you need to leave with
these people.” Of course, I had studied and preached on them before, but they
were alive with what God has waiting for you with Pastor David.
B.
When I’m cooling down after my morning workout on our patio, I pray
facing the four directions of the compass. East is the Lord’s Prayer and
offering God a new day and concerns for friends and family in that direction.
South is the Prayer of St. Francis and concerns for people and the world south
of me, including 1st Christian Church, Duncanville. When we are in
Oklahoma, you’ll still get the prayer when facing south. West is the L’Arche
Prayer and especially the troubled places on the other side of the world. North
are the prayers I usually use in funerals, and I chat with God about our
parents and others. After showering and dressing, I pray through 5 Psalms
during breakfast. Every day, God prompts me to pray for something I wouldn’t
have thought of on my own. Every day, at least a couple of things inspires me
to pray for you as individuals and as a congregation.
C.
Those of you who have been in the Thursday Bible study group or who
were in a prayer triad or who have been at Board or Elders’ meetings know how I
try to pray the Scriptures as a way to let God direct and tune my prayers.
Ephesians 3:14-21 sent my prayers for you soaring. As you anticipate your new
pastor coming, I am praying for God to accomplish more with 1st
Christian Church, Duncanville than you can imagine, and that you will have the
power to grasp it all.
III. The prayer of Ephesians
3:14-21 soars. It is art, hymn, poetry – not an essay to be analyzed. The
danger of pulling it apart is destroying its beauty and power. So I want to
read it again so we can just soak it in, so we can be carried by its lyric.
For this reason I bow my knees before the
Father,15from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name.16I pray
that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be
strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit,17and
that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and
grounded in love.18I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the
saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19and to
know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled
with all the fullness of God.20Now to
him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far
more than all we can ask or imagine,21to him
be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and
ever. Amen.
A.
As the risk of spoiling the experience, I do want to shine a light on
the themes that are the facets of this jewel. I want to illuminate this prayer
with how it is shaping my praying for you.
1.
I have experienced the presence of Christ dwelling with you as we have
worshipped, served, learned, grieved and rejoiced together. I am asking God to
keep filling you with God’s complete presence so you’re bursting at the seams
with God and Christ is oozing out all over.
2.
I am praying that as far as you can see in every direction, Christ’s
love stretches to the extremity of your reach and into the depth of your core.
3.
I am praying that your faith and knowledge will grasp all that God has
for you, to both understand it and to hold onto it.
4.
I am praying for God’s power to be released among you so you have the
strength of faith to appropriate the love of Christ with such magnetic force
you will be inseparable from each other and irresistibly attract spiritually
hungry and hurting people to Jesus.
5.
I am praying that your accomplishments will be so abundant they will
outstrip your wildest imagination. I am praying you will recognize and embrace
God’s ambition for this congregation, so you are not content with too little
but embrace God’s expansive future.
6.
I am praying that the riches of God’s glory will shine through 1st
Christian Church, Duncanville so anyone who worships with you, anyone you touch
in ministry, anyone whom God brings across you path will say, “God is really
among you!”
B.
This prayer is packed with strength and power. I told the Thursday
Bible study group this week about being overwhelmed with an awareness of God’s
power when we visited Niagara Falls and took the tour in the tunnels behind the
falls. As I stood just a couple of feet from the torrent of water, I had a
great urge to fall face down on the floor and weep. I know this can all be
explained by physics, but for me it was an epiphany of God’s power. This prayer
is not about human force but spiritual strength. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus’
spiritual strength trumps all forms of human and natural power. In John
6:15-21, Jesus has just fed 5,000+ people with 5 loaves and 2 fish. His power
is not limited by scope or scale.
When Jesus realized that they were about to
come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain
by himself.16When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, 17got
into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and
Jesus had not yet come to them.18The sea
became rough because a strong wind was blowing.19When
they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and
coming near the boat, and they were terrified.20But he
said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” 21Then
they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the
land toward which they were going.
1.
The crowd wants to take Jesus by force and make him king. With stealth
he withdraws alone to the mountain, evading the popular power of the crowd and
the political power they want for him.
2.
The public feeding of the 5,000 and the private walking across the sea
to the disciples’ boat are not just demonstrations of his unlimited power over
the natural order, they are spiritual epiphanies of his presence.
C.
The prayer of Ephesians 3:14-21 is not a prayer for successful programs
or for God’s blessing on your efforts. It is a prayer that seeks to submerge
you in God’s spiritual strength. As you anticipate your new pastor coming, I am
praying for God to accomplish more with 1st Christian Church,
Duncanville than you can imagine, and that you will have the power to grasp it
all.
IV. If the Lord’s Prayer is the
simplicity of teaching us beginners how to start praying, the prayers of
Ephesians are the pinnacle of mature prayer in the New Testament. They take us
way beyond ACTS (adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication – not that
anything is wrong with ACTS, but it’s still a learning tool). In Ephesians we
are invited to plunge our prayers into the Niagara River, not safely observing
from behind a rail in a tunnel but abandoning ourselves to the torrent that
will sweep us over the brink. Like the disciples in the storm, we do well to be
terrified, but Jesus comes to us and says, “It is I. Do not be afraid! I’ll
walk on even this water with you.”
A.
I dare you to pray Ephesians
3:14-21 for 1st Christian Church, Duncanville.
1.
For Pastor David, Sheila and Chris
2.
For Pastors Glenn and Emily
3.
For your Elders
4.
For your Board and ministry leaders
5.
For each other
6.
For spiritually hungry and hurting people
B.
I don’t want to you to stop praying for health, guidance, employment,
harmonious relationships or any of our daily concerns. Rather, let the prayers
of Scripture take us into unexplored frontiers of prayer.
1.
Christ dwells – God fills
2.
Know Christ’s Love
3.
Faith and Knowledge
4.
Strength and Power
5.
Abundant Accomplishment
6.
God’s Riches of Glory
C.
As you anticipate your new pastor coming, I am praying for God to
accomplish more with 1st Christian Church, Duncanville than you can
imagine, and that you will have the power to grasp it all.
D.
After praying the compass points Thursday, I sang “My Life Flows On”
which seemed to pull my thoughts about this prayer together. We’ll sing it now
(CH 619), and any who want to join the church will be welcomed.
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