Prayer, Gospel Boldness, and Church Connections (Eph 6:18–24) from South Woods Baptist Church on Vimeo.

We need regular reminders that Christianity is not an individualistic religion. Yet if we pay attention to many of the publications and hip-voices in Christianity, we get the idea that Christianity is all about me. ‘Jesus died for me so I can exist as a Christian with little to no involvement with others,’ or so it is thought. The emphasis on self as opposed to seeing the work of Christ for His body/bride/church narrows the way that we look at the Christian faith. It gives us a ready excuse for neglecting gathering with the body or failing to pray for the body in its gospel engagement or inconveniencing ourselves to serve others or volunteering to join others in the church in various endeavors or inventing novel interpretations of Scripture that have no historical precedent. If it’s all about me then I’m free from the messiness of relationships, the costliness of living life together, theological precision, and giving thought to others. I can just think about me and be satisfied.

Yet the body of Christ theme runs throughout Ephesians (as well as other books of the Bible). It’s a very plural-language letter because Paul’s concern is not about the individual Christian living distinct from the body but rather, about how we live together as a redeemed people. If we fail to see this and neglect to get a good handle on it, we’re much more subject to the adversary’s snare.

How important is this matter when we think about spiritual warfare, as Paul continues that theme in verses 18–20? Martyn Lloyd-Jones considers it essential. He wrote, “Public worship is of great importance for this very reason [that we face a common foe, along with similar difficulties and challenges]. The devil would have us imagine and think that religion is entirely personal, and that we alone are involved in it” [The Christian Soldier, 352]. He added, “It is highly important, I repeat, for us always to think of ourselves in terms of the Church. We are not only individuals, we are members of the Church which is the Body of Christ. The Apostle has used that analogy two or three times in this Ephesian Epistle. And yet we constantly tend to be individualistic, and to regard our spiritual conflict as a personal battle and problem only” [354]. Lloyd-Jones observations in Ephesians impacted me twenty-five years ago when I first read them. Since that time in studying the Word and contemplating the body of Christ, I’m more convinced that the root of much of the problems in the church is a failure to see the work of Christ for the body, while instead looking at it through individualistic lens. So it is fitting, as we close our study of Ephesians, that the last few verses press this theme once more of life in the body. As members of the body of Christ we live, grow, engage in warfare, and participate together in Christ and His gospel. What does that look like? Let’s consider three areas identified for the body’s life together in these closing verses.

1. The Body prays for one another

That should be obvious. Praying for one another in the church should be just as much a part of our lives as praying for our families. Yet we may find ourselves so wrapped up in other things that we neglect this matter of persevering in prayer for the church.

The armor of God and prayer are united: you need both to live life with one another as those triumphing in Christ. “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit,” doesn’t start a new section. That’s why most commentaries and studies on spiritual warfare include verses 18–20 as an essential aspect of spiritual warfare. And rightly so! For we don’t physically view any part of the armor, except the Bible, but instead, as Charles Wesley expressed it, “Put on the gospel armor, each part put on by prayer.” That’s why Paul starts with the broader statement, “with all prayer.” By “all” he means all types or all means of pr[...]