Prayer for Christ-likeness

The point is, that through your life of faith shared with others, they will come to understand all that is ours in Christ. So the prayer for Philemon is that through Philemon’s life, others will see Christ and all that we have in Christ. That is the goal that we ought to have. I want my life to make a difference. I want others to see Christ in me, the hope of glory. I want them to see in me an imitation of Christ. I want them to benefit, then, by seeing that imitation. I want them to see something of God's glory, of his holiness, of his righteousness, of his justice, of his truth, of his love, of his care, of his compassion. I want them to see in me some of those things. I am to be Christ's ambassador and I want them to see the reflection of those things. That is a very exceptional ambition on my part, and you might want to say, Are you not shooting pretty high there? You want to be an imitator of Christ, but you are never going to make it. But maybe in some distant kind of way, there may be a pale reflection of the glory of Christ.

That is what he is praying for, for Philemon. What we should understand is that the apostle Paul's prayer is a means to that end. Why does he pray? I pray, he says, that the fellowship of your faith—people as they enjoy your fellowship and your knowledge of the faith, and your living of the faith and the love that is expressed through your faith—that it may become effective through the knowledge; they are going to know every good thing within you for Christ's sake, which is in you through Christ.

Remember, that is the right goal that we ought to have; that we would be all that for other people. And we are certainly capable of doing exactly the opposite—that people would look at us and would say, Well, there is no disciple of Christ. I see nothing of Christ in them; those people are just hypocrites. It certainly is easy for us to be the opposite of this goal in the life that we live. And so Paul is praying that his life would have the positive result, and prayer apparently is a means by which that will come to be realized in Philemon’s life. Do you see what I am saying? Prayer makes a difference. It is important and significant that he prays for this because the prayers of the apostle Paul will be a means by which Philemon is actually transformed and becomes the very thing that he is being called to be in Philemon 1:6. As we pray for each other, giving thanks for each other and also interceding on each other's behalf, that we become holy as God is holy, that we may become perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect and that we become imitators of God as his beloved children, as we reflect the glory of Christ in our lives. That the prayers will actually be effective to that end. So, I can help you along and you can help me along and we can help each other along. That is why we need to pray for the church. That is why we need to pray for each other.

Paul does not do this merely as a convention. This is not just the apostle expressing pious platitudes. No, the effectual prayer of the righteous accomplishes much, is what the Bible promises. Prayer accomplishes things: as you ask, it is given to you; as you seek, you find; as you knock, it opens to you. This is true, not just when we pray for people to be healed, though we do see that happen. Not just when we pray for material things. But when we pray for those things that only God can do in people's hearts. So, if we would like to see that wayward, rebellious child transformed, what do we need to do? Well, we certainly need to talk to them and we need to guide them. We need to lead them and we need to pray for them that God will change their hearts and do within that which only he can do. We need to pray for that friend that cannot be reached by the gospel, for those who are utterly hard in their hearts and distant and hostile to such an extent that it seems it is impossible that we would ever be able to reach them. We can pray to that end, that they will be reached, because God is able to reach into the hearts of individuals. He is not just passively standing at the door knocking, waiting to be invited. He is able to burst through that door! He is able to kick down that door! He is able to reach within the hearts of people and transform them and change them, so that he is able to convert those who are lost, and he is able to sanctify the saints. We ought to be praying to that end, even as the apostle does here.¹

Terry L. Johnson