To Him Be the Glory

 Alright friends, when you're able, would you please grab a seat and open your Bibles to Ephesians chapter three, verse 20.

If you've never opened a Bible before, some of you haven't, you can take a seat for a few minutes. Um, that's totally okay. Don't be intimidated by this place or by the fact that we're gonna now open the Bible. Ephesians is on page 1,161 in the the chair back Bibles, and so you can grab those and open with us.

It's helpful to have a copy of God's word so that we can see the context of the letter that Paul wrote to the Ephesians. It was the first letter he wrote from prison. He lived in Ephesus during his third missionary journey. He was imprisoned and he wrote four letters, the first of which is the book to the Ephesians around AD 60.

When we reach the end of chapter three, this doxology Paul shatters the boundaries of all that he has spoken of. The British pastor Armitage Robinson said that a prayer that has been uttered with a bold request cannot be found anywhere in history except in Ephesians chapter three, verse 20 and 21. Has Paul gone over the top?

One commentator, Peter O'Brien says that it is impossible to ask too much since the father in his giving exceeds even our capacity for asking or even imagining what he is able to do. And so would you stand with me as we read from Ephesians chapter three verses 20 and 21, please give your attention to God's word.

Men and women have died to have it translated into their mother tongues. Let's not take it for granted that we read it so easily and we have it for us in English. This is God's word

now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us. To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations. Forever and ever. Amen. The grass withers and the flowers fade, but God's word stands forever. This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God. You may be seated. Please listen. Paul's words in Ephesians chapter three are not, not a, a polite sentiment to end the doctoral section of Ephesians in a prayer with some flourish. They're a direct challenge to our most cherished beliefs of self-sufficiency and control. Are you with me?

They call us to hope and a power that doesn't come from planning or effort or our ability to imagine the outcome. They invite us into a story where God and not ourself, ourselves are the source of real lasting change. And friends. This isn't just theology. When you look at the book of Ephesians, especially when you look at these two chapters at the end of chapter three, it is a collision course with a way that modern, urban, and suburban people believe they are to lead their lives.

Ephesians chapter three, verse 20, is an invitation to trust God with bigger prayers, to embrace the power that is at work within us, not by our own power, but by his, and to give him the glory for what only he can do. And so this morning for a few minutes, I want us to look, have your Bibles open at the way this doxology addresses the deepest stories and scripts that we inherit from our culture.

What if the deepest limits of our lives aren't set by God, but they're actually set by the small stories that culture tells us to believe?

Paul's doxology undermines all the alternative stories of reality. That disciple is so easy because the gospel isn't just good news, although it is, it is a collision course of the way that you and I tend to believe we should live. So we'll look at it in three parts. The source of the power, the means of the power, and lastly, the extent of the power.

First, the source of the power. Trust God who is able, trust the God who is able. Paul's ology begins with a striking phrase Now to him who is able, the Greek word is dunay. It's the same word. It sounds like the English word, dynamite. It's the same word that we get the word dynamite. God is explosive in his ability to accomplish for us what we never could.

Paul in Greek actually makes up a word. It's the same, it's the same root that he uses back in Ephesians, uh, chapter one verse 19, the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe. Paul wants us to see that God is not only willing, but that he is powerful. He is, as Peter O'Brien, one of the commentators say, he is the powerful one whose capacity to act is never exhausted by the size of our need or the boldness of our prayers.

And how many of you have hesitated to ask bold prayers because you were afraid to be disappointed?

We hear all the time from culture don't get your hopes up. Or maybe you've stopped praying for certain things altogether because you're just worn out by them. The children that are wayward, the husband or the wife that has walked away from the gospel that you're clinging to on your marriage, the things that you're longing for, Lord, would you please, would you show up in reconciliation between family members in our midst?

Some of us have a quiet suspicion if we're really honest, that in the end, God isn't gonna break through the routines and the anxieties and the struggles that fill our days. And so we're encouraged to play it safe. We manage expectations. We keep our hopes within reach so that we're never disappointed, we're never embarrassed, and we're certainly never seen to be naive.

Are you hearing me? Even our spirituality can kind of become another area to control another sphere where we measure what is realistic. But Paul piles on the language here in Ephesians chapter three. He says, far more abundantly than all we can ask or think. This isn't just a little extra effort. Paul Vince a Greek word, something like super, super abundantly in English.

He stretches the Greek language to its breaking point to make a point that not even our biggest requests, not even our, even our wildest imaginations, can set a limit on what God can do. Do you know that? Do you trust the God who is able? And this super, super abundance is not just about God's raw power, it is about the way that God meets our needs in Jesus.

It is about the way that the gospel we orders our expectations, re orders our prayers. It's about the way that he shows us, gives us a sense of what is possible because we live in a culture that disciples us to prize self-sufficiency. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps. I know I've beat it with a dead horse, but the Oklahoma State motto is What work conquers all?

And so we just set our minds like Flint and say, we are gonna achieve our identity by our efforts, by the size of our 4 0 1 Ks, by the success, by the titles of our professions. And the gospel turns all of that upside down. That sounds noble. That kind of life seems so modern, but it quietly trains us to settle for lives that are actually limited by what we can achieve, what we can manage, what we can control.

And just like last night, we heard so many great stories and. There's also a time when we get to share stories, honestly, where we are exhausted at trying to manage so much. So much of the time.

We start to believe that real hope, real change, real righteousness is up to us. And even as Christians, we begin to pray small prayers. We expect little from God and we settle for what we can do in our own strength and we call it realism. What is that? Paul says That's something, but it's not Christianity.

The gospel starts not with our ability, but it starts with our inability and Christ's sufficiency. Jesus is not just an example of faith and perseverance. He is the one who accomplished on our behalf what we could not accomplish. He is our righteousness friends. He lived the sinless life that we could never live, and he died the death that we deserve to die.

And he rose again on the third day to vindicate all of his promises and to announce to the cosmos that he is here, our conquering king, who conquers even death itself. I wonder if you know him, do you trust the God who is able, when Paul says to him who is able, he's not talking about a distant abstract God.

He's talking about the living Christ crucified, risen, and reigning. Do you know him? That's not rhetorical. Do you believe in him? Do you know that he is offering you an option for life that turns the discipleship with which you've been discipled in the culture your whole life upside down? And he says you want a righteousness.

You want a name on your door that is more beautiful than whatever vice president you might be. I give you my name, Christian. I give you all of the rights of a son of God. I take your place and I pour out my life for you so that you can rest for the first time in me. I am able to forgive your sins, a problem that you can never fix.

I'm able to clothe you with a righteousness that you could never earn. Jesus is able, he says, to break the chains of shame and guilt, that your best efforts leave untouched. Jesus says, I am able to give you a new heart, a new identity, and a new hope. Would you believe and would you find your rest in me?

And this is why friends Paul's doxology at the end of chapter three is not just a prayer for big things. It is a call for us to stop looking to ourself, to manage what we can manage, and to look to the only one who can provide for us a righteousness that we cannot earn. And admit that we are not good enough, that our expectations are far too low, and our prayers oftentimes are far too small.

So where are you looking for your righteousness, your morality, your reputation, your appearance?

Do you expect to do better? Clean yourself up? Seriously, where are you looking for your righteousness? Don't settle for righteousness that you call, but together. Paul says, would you owe Ephesians? Would you owe Trinity ad 60 2025? Would you see that he's able to do far more abundantly than we can ask or think?

And if you pray those big prayers and he chooses not to answer them the way that you hoped it is not because we did not honor him by asking him to do something that we confess that only he could do. And he delights even in that. And his plans for you are bigger, still trust in the God who is able.

Secondly, the means of power. Resurrection power is at work within the ordinary saints together. Paul continues. Look at the text. It says, according to the power at work within us. Now, if you took this text outta context, then you can get into a lot of trouble according to the power of the work within you.

We could just go off right now. We could just totally go off and say, you got the power. Just do it. But notice the context of what Paul is trying to say. He's saying the working of this great might that he worked with us in Christ. He says this in Ephesians chapter one. You have to take the whole letter in context, the working of his great might verse 19 and 20 of chapter one, that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead.

It is resurrection power, not just to make bad people good, but to make dead people come alive. It is a power that overcame the grave that's enthroned in Christ, in the heavenlies, and that Paul says is now at work within us. How? By his Holy Spirit. Do you know that the way that you live and you lead your life, the way that you sing and worship, the way that you lean in to listen to sermons with as much energy as it takes me to give them, this is the way that we enjoy our common life as a community together.

And the children in this church see you. They don't just see their moms and dads. They see you and they see pictures of the gospel in you that they won't get at home. Because we're a covenant family, and there are for every personality in this room, a different beautiful refraction of the diamond of the gospel for the good of the city.

And this state, I wonder if you know it because God is at work in you. Oh, and he intends to change you. He starts with your small prayers to make them bigger because we trust in the God who is able. He is the means of power by his spirit because resurrection power is at work within the ordinary saints.

But isn't it true that culture pulls us so far from this truth? It steps us back from this ledge, and we are shaped by the story of self-actualization. If we just try harder, we just pull ourself by our bootstraps. The gospel of consumerism plagues so many of us who are just addicted to shopping. The joy that you get from seeing that Amazon package on your porch is greater for many of you than the joy you get in worshiping with Christ's people.

That says something about our hearts, doesn't it? The gospel is deeper than consumerism. If we just find the right experience, we'll be satisfied. But none of these can supply the power that we need because they live it. They live us exhausted and anxious and empty. Just get to know each other. You'll hear it in our stories.

And the gospel undermines all of these, and he provi it provides for us something that we so desperately need. I read the story, uh, this week. Some of you may have read it. It was in Christianity Today about Caleb Campbell, any of you know that name? Caleb Campbell. The, he gives us testimony, you can read it in this month of that, uh, magazine.

And he starts off his story with I was a neo-Nazi skinhead who hated the church.

And what began for Caleb as a search for meaning led him into a deep and dark world of hate and of violence. And after he left that movement, he was angry still, and he was isolated. He was convinced that he could never change and that God's people would never accept him. But then something totally unexpected happened.

A couple from a local church began inviting Caleb to dinner week. After week, after week with no agenda, with zero pressure, just kindness and honest conversation, and there at that table, slowly the simple act of hospitality began to wear down his heartened and hate-filled heart. It was these simple acts of a glass filled and a plate provided with seconds, sometimes even thirds, that he says that my armor of anger or my hatred begin to crack.

And I found myself drawn to a gospel that I once despised. You know, there was a lady in the church, or a lady not in our church, but a lady in town I met, her name was Sarah, and it, she had lived in this town for three years before anybody had ever invited her over. Think about how many neighbors you have that may be in the same situation.

Caleb saw in the dinner table and then in the scriptures, and then in the life of the church, the beauty of the gospel who had accepted him and given him a righteousness that he had always deeply craved and didn't find it in his neo-Nazi skinhead group. He found it through a dinner table with a couple at church who just invited him.

They weren't fearful of his tattoos or of his shad head. They just wanted Caleb.

Today, Caleb is a pastor in Arizona, Harlan and Christi. He's in Arizona and he leads the congregation that reflects the very diversity of the church that he wants despise. And his story is not about self-help. It is not about pulling yourself up by your bootstraps or turning over a new leaf or finding the right group to join or social service organization to be a part of.

It is about resurrection power. It is about making dead hearts come alive. It is about breaking the chain of human effort and it is about being transformed in a way that even Caleb could never have imagined. In Christ. The gospel friends undermines the culture story and it provides a better story for us to lean into.

Do you believe that? Trust the God who is able resurrection power is at work in the lives of ordinary saints like us in this room. Together, there are no lone ranger Christians. We are in it together. And the more we learn how to be a community, which means that we have to confront each other, we have to lean in and ask forgiveness of each other.

We have to own our sin. We have to cover for the mistakes of our brothers and sisters. That is what a family does. And so before you come to this table, if there are people in this church with whom you have a grudge or your growing more bitter, would you please keep those accounts short? Would you please run to them and reconcile?

Please, for my sake, for Mark's sake, for our session's sake, we love you and we will walk with you through the trials of reconciliation. But you know, you could probably fix it right now if you would have the courage to have a tender heart towards your brothers and sisters and reconcile with them as you need.

So we see the source of power. We see the means of power. And lastly, we see the extent of his power we are to delight in his glory in the church and in Christ Jesus across generations. And forever we delight in his glory in the church and in Christ Jesus across generations and forever. Paul says to him, be the glory in the church, in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.

Here Paul brings together these two great themes in Ephesians, the glory of God and the central role of the church. In the Old Testament, many of you know that the word glory means weight. KaVo. It means to be weighty. It is his majesty. It is trying to give a word picture of what is God like. God is like the weightiest thing in the world.

He, he's heavy. To give God glory is not to add something to him, but to acknowledge and extol him for who he is. Commentator. Peter O'Brien says that dys toxicology is an affirmation of God's character. It is not a wish for what you want him to be because he is able. Where is it located? Look at this is remarkable.

It says God's glory, where in the church and in Jesus Christ, this is the only doxology in the New Testament where church and in Jesus appear together. Why? Because the church is the assembly of the redeemed. We are grafted in with Christ together. Paul said earlier that we are God's masterpiece of grace.

The church, we are his workmanship created in Jesus Christ for good works. Chapter two, verse 10, the church is where God's presence dwells in a very particular way. Yes, you can have intimacy with Jesus on a desert island with your Bible, but there's a particular way that he meets with his people in the context of corporate worship.

He renews you. It is the engine of your transformation is in the context of corporate worship, and so therefore, this summer, listen, I know you're gonna be traveling. Lauren and I and the kids are gonna be traveling too, but come to worship when you're in town. Go worship with God's people when you're out of town.

Build into the rhythm of experiencing God's presence as he transforms his people together. Even people that you may not know in that local area because he intends to shape you and transform you. Would you embrace that power by delighting in his glory in the church, we have learned to just, you know you, you hear it said on the street, okay, that's cool.

You do you.

But the gospel says that you are not just a private, isolated achiever. His glory is for the church and in Jesus Christ. And the local church is not just the invisible universal church, but it is simple gatherings like ours where God gets particular glory sharing stories like we did last night together.

Extending the passing of the peace long after worship when we get to just enjoy each other's fellowship. Have you seen the back porch? Go back there and just hang out. Swap stories. Just dwell together for a while. Oh, the Lord in glory one day is gonna say, did you notice how much I blessed you? And our default is probably gonna be, yes, thank you.

That I could retire when I was 65. And he's gonna say, no, no. I'm talking about the people I gave you in the local church. Do you know what I did? In and through them in the way that you are deeply connected with them? Those of you who work on Sundays, let me just say pastorally as easy as I can. Would you strive to not work on Sunday so that you can come to worship?

Your children need to see you in worship. They will grow as they watch dad and mom sing together and worship. Some of you have seasons where your shifts can take you out, and that's okay. There are seasons. Some of you're in medical school. There are seasons that are really hard. Some of you're in business, it's there's a hard season.

But would you strive for everything that's in you? This isn't legalistic because he's inviting you into a better story. Do you taste it? Do you see it

wherever you're attempted to minimize the church or see the secondary? Remember that God gets the glory, as Paul says here in the church and in Jesus Christ, and that includes us here now and in our generation and in the next, throughout all generations. He says, forever and ever. Francis folk says that the more common eternity formula is to say forever and ever.

But here he says, through all generations, which is unique in all the New Testament of the doxology. Why? Because this church exists for the sake of this generation, and the next one. We built this building for the sake of the next generation, so that they would say, thank you for building the beautiful building, and tell the beauty of Christ as in many ways, as we possibly can.

And so we prepare now for the next generation. And so the way we serve our covenant kids, the way that we encourage them, the way that we celebrate and help parents live up to their responsibilities of parents. It takes a vil, it takes a church, doesn't it? To raise a child. I mean, did y'all hear last night?

Um, you know, my, my own son, you know, said to me, dad, you did okay, but church, thank you for raising me. And that is so true. Even as the pastor of the church, man, I fail as a father so much, and I need you to help me see my own blind spots. Isn't that what the church is about? Do you see how the culture disciples us?

If we're not careful, it'll say it's all about self-sufficiency, but the gospel says no to about the one who was sufficient. The Lord Jesus Christ. It will say that, hey, the power is that work within you. The culture will say, just work harder, be better. But know the gospel says, confess that you cannot live up to what God asks of you.

And that he provides a righteousness that you can never earn. And he gives you by his spirit the ability to encourage and extend his gospel through your own unique gifts and personalities and talents. That is beautiful. And the extent of his power goes not just in our generation, but it goes from generation to generation.

And lastly, he, he ends with this word. Amen. It is not just a word to close in prayer. It is a shout of agreement. It is as though Paul says, amen, Ephesians. In the Old Testament, amen was to say, yes, Lord, may it be the case. You think about Isaiah in Isaiah 26, 8. He says, yes, Lord, walking in the way of your truth, your name, and your renowned are the desire of our souls.

And I wonder if we might be able to say with Isaiah, amen, we trust that you are able, we know that you are the means that your resurrection power is at work within us. And would you, oh, holy Spirit, help us to embrace that power and to see that we are to give you glory as a church, in the church and in Christ Jesus, who is the one who is able and let all of God's people say amen.

Amen. Let's pray. Father, would you help us to stop settling for small prayers and would you help us to see that you're able. Would you give strength to parents who are praying for their children? Would you give strength to those who are looking for work? Would you give strength for those who are longing for reconciliation?

And would you give strength for those who are seeking even this morning who don't quite yet know what to make of Jesus? And oh Holy Spirit, would you open their eyes to believe even as Mark now leads us at the table, would you open our eyes to believe the gospel and come to this table with joy and we pray all these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Sermon transcript is computer generated.