Facing Prometheus, Sermons

An Opportunity + A Prayer | Week 4 | Facing Prometheus

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Facing Prometheus: A Letter to the Ephesians and the Future Church Dilemma
Week 4 | Pastor Erica Parrish

Paul doesn’t just teach theology. He prays it.

As we arrive at Ephesians 1:15–19, Pastor Erica Parrish reminded us that Paul shifts from declaring what believers have in Christ (vv. 3–14) to praying that they would actually know it.

This section is not filler. It is foundation.

Paul builds relationship before he builds correction. His prayer sets the tone for everything that follows.

AN OPPORTUNITY

Ephesians 1:15 highlights two things Paul is hearing about the church in Ephesus:

  • Their faith in the Lord Jesus
  • Their love for all the saints

That word “saints” (hagios) matters. It does not refer to spiritual elites. It refers to every believer — set apart in Christ.

For a Jewish apostle writing to Gentile believers, this is radical. Jew and Gentile now stand under one banner. One Lord. One identity.

Paul celebrates a love that crosses cultural lines.

This is the unity he describes in:

Galatians 3:28 — There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus.

And it echoes Jesus’ own command:

John 13:34–35 — Love one another… By this everyone will know that you are my disciples.

The Ephesians treated each other according to who God said they were — not according to culture.

That’s the opportunity.

If Paul wrote a letter about us — about The Well, about the American church — what would he celebrate?

Would he commend our love?
Our unity?
Our generosity?
Our steadfast faith?

Verse 15 challenges us to become the kind of church that treats every saint with dignity and honor, inside and outside the four walls.

As Paul writes elsewhere:

Philippians 2:1–2 — Be united in spirit, intent on one purpose.

Faith and love are inseparable. Deep faith will always carry deep love.

A PRAYER

Paul’s prayer contains three requests — not for new gifts, but for clarity regarding what believers already have.

1. A Prayer for Wisdom + Revelation

Paul prays that believers would receive wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God.

Not information.
Relationship.

John Stott explains that the knowledge Paul prays for is experiential. It is knowing God personally.

Proverbs 1:7 reminds us:

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.

Wisdom is not mysterious. It is obedience to what we already know.

Constantine Campbell summarizes Paul’s heart well:
Paul prays that believers would cultivate godly wisdom, have God’s truth revealed to them, and grow in personal knowledge of the Lord — all by the Spirit.

Growth in holiness requires growth in knowledge.

The prayer is simple: Know Him more.

2. A Prayer for Hope + Inheritance

Paul prays that “the eyes of your heart” would be enlightened.

In biblical language, the heart is the center of the whole person. When the eyes of the heart are lit up, the entire inner life awakens.

Psalm 19:8 speaks of commands that make the eyes light up.

Paul wants believers to grasp:

  • The hope of His calling
  • The wealth of His glorious inheritance

Hope is anchored in calling.

1 Corinthians 1:9 — God is faithful; you were called into fellowship with His Son.

Calling is not random. It is relational. It is belonging.

Inheritance then moves the focus forward.

Throughout Scripture, inheritance is generational and covenantal.

1 Peter 1:3–4 — We have an imperishable inheritance kept in heaven.
Romans 8:16–17 — We are heirs of God and coheirs with Christ.

This inheritance is spiritual, eternal, secure.

And it changes how we live now.

If we are heirs, we think generationally.
We build beyond ourselves.
We refuse to be a church that dies with us.

Hope looks forward.
Inheritance looks ahead.
Calling anchors identity.

3. A Prayer for Power

Paul then prays that believers would know the immeasurable greatness of God’s power toward those who believe.

This is resurrection power.
Mighty strength.
Active power.

The Ephesians lived in a culture saturated with spiritual fear and reverence for competing deities like Diana. Paul reminds them: the greatest power belongs to Christ.

And that power is not distant.

It is toward us.

Isaiah 54:17 reminds us that no weapon formed against God’s people will succeed.

This power spans the entire journey of faith.

As John Stott beautifully summarized:

If God’s call looks back to the beginning, and God’s inheritance looks forward to the end, then God’s power sustains the space in between.

Past covered.
Future secured.
Present strengthened.

The Big Picture

Paul gives the church:

  • An opportunity to live with visible faith and tangible love
  • A prayer to truly know the gifts already given

Pastor Erica closed with this reminder:

Salvation is not only about saying yes to Jesus.
It is about knowing what that yes means.

May we be:

  • A church marked by faith and love
  • A people growing in wisdom and revelation
  • Anchored in hope
  • Confident in inheritance
  • Strengthened by divine power

The past is covered.
The future is secure.
The waiting is strengthened in the power of God.

The Well