You are a living doxology to either God, or to something else; which is it?
Glorifying God Through the Power that Works Within Me
Ephesians 3:20-21
Pastor Kerry Kinchen, Bridgeway Bible Church
Please turn to Ephesians 3. We are going to be studying Ephesians 3:20-21. As you are finding that passage in your Bibles, I want to tell you a little bit about the city of Ephesus. Ephesus is where this letter was originally sent to be received by the elders of the city, and then shared with the church of that sprawling metropolitan area. The letter was copied, and then sent out to the various church's of the whole surrounding region of Asia. When we think of the city region of Ephesus, that God had in mind for the purpose of His inspired scripture, we recognize that Ephesus was an important city. More important than the city itself, were the Christians that were there. We also need to recognize the importance of the city of Ephesus from another aspect. You see, the city of Ephesus was like an ancient Mecca to the pagans of the surrounding areas. What I mean, is that the heathen people would consider it a great privilege to go to Ephesus to worship in the huge temple that was dedicated to the pagan goddess, Diana. The Greeks originally called the false Diana idol by the name of Artemis. Artemis, as Diana, was the central figure of an erotically charged fertility cult. The Ephesus temple was the immense epicenter of this cult in that region. The temple was huge. In fact, it was considered to be one of the seven wonders of the world. The temple stood high. It had 127 marble columns towering upward like a giant grove of canopy palms. Each column was 62 feet high. The whole building was 425 feet long, and 220 feet wide. In the depths of the stomach of that humongous shrine, was a big statue of Diana. People believed that the statue of Diana, (in power), came down to earth from heaven. People believed that Diana had power. People believed that power dwelt there in the temple in Ephesus, and they wanted in on the power. They wanted to touch it, taste it; experience it. Ephesus was the pagan worship center for most of Asia, and so the temple, and the demonic residence of Diana, was the object of religious fervor, desire, and wonder. From worship, by way of prostitution, to witchcraft, and to the market of little idols that littered the edges of streets in outdoor shops, lost people groped in the darkness of a world without the light of the one true God. They were looking, believing, and wanting a little bit of power from a powerless god. The false god was powerless, but nevertheless, the city of Ephesus was like a beehive of dark occultism that claimed to be devoted to a truly awesome power. The pagans were purported to tap into powers to heal; powers to make someone able to become pregnant, who was previously unable to conceive a child; power to make you healthy, wealthy, and wise. The powers of this infidel belief, were powers that were tempting to seek--they were powers to fear, and like advertisers of our day typically say; they were powers purported to change your life. Once saved, Christians of the area had to live, in a sense, at the foot of that dark mountain of a temple that loomed in the midst of the city--a dark mountain that, by its very presence, symbolized how it eclipsed the light of the glory of the One true God from the minds of men and women who were already blinded in their sin natures. But, a remnant of Christians were there in Ephesus. They were there representing the light of Christ, from the body of Christ, as the body of Christ. We are the body of Christ right here. They were the body of Christ right there. And so, though living in the shadow of the temple, the body of Christ, as the church, illumined the truth of the One true God, by the Spirit, through the word, in daily actions, as a personal witness for all to see. We need to keep this in mind as we read our text this morning, because this is the context that the people lived in. This is the context that this epistle was originally sent. Please read Ephesians 3:20-21 now,
"20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, 21 to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen." Ephesians 3:20-21
The Theme of our sermon this morning is,
"Glorifying God Through the Power that Works Within Me" [prayer]
In analyzing, and learning from the scriptures this morning, we start out with recognizing the first line of thought in Paul's short but packed doxology. A doxology, for those of you who do not know, is defined as a short statement in praise of God. The word, "doxology" comes from the Greek, where the prefix, doxa, which means glory, is joined with logos, which means word. It is a statement of glorifying words of praise to our great and wonderful God. There is a popular song that is sung among protestant churches, called "Doxology." It was written by Thomas Ken in 1674. When you hear the words, you instantly recognize what a doxology is all about;
Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heav'nly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
It is a doxology. It is a straightforward statement of praise to God. We often find that when we read the doxologies of the New Covenant that they start with,
"Now to Him who is able," and they end with "Amen."
Him who is able, is God. The Amen is the indicator that all that was said, in the God glorifying statement, is rightly said and has been agreed upon. Paul gives one of these kinds of doxologies in Romans,
25 Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages 26 but has now been disclosed, and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith-- 27 to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen." Romans 16:25-27
Jude gives a doxology at the end of his epistle, that starts with the same words, saying,
24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen." Jude 1:24-25
This is what Paul is doing here in the middle of this Ephesians letter with his first line of thought,
"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think," Ephesians 3:20
As a first principle in praising God, His ability is something that we must try to grasp as much as possible. For example, when we ask the question,
What can God do?
we might quickly say,
Well, God can do anything.
After all, God is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, right? This is an answer, that at least, recognizes that God is bigger than big, and more powerful than what we can imagine. To say that God can do anything, is to say that He is greater than any other being. But, it is not a completely accurate answer. For example, God can not cease to exist. Now I understand that there are sinners in this world who would like to see God cease to exist, but such a thing is just not possible. Further, God can not cease to be God. He can't just stop being God, and become a snail, or something like that. Here's something else God can not do; God can not lie. Additionally, God can not sin against Himself. Further, God does not change His mind, in the sense that He suddenly takes His own self by surprise at a point in time by making a decision that He did not know according to His mind beforehand. Also, God can not do something like make Himself have a beginning. Now all of this might seem like God is limited, and the fact of the matter is that God is limited. How many of you know that? Well, I just explained how God is limited in about 4 or 5 ways. So, you better know that God is limited. But, when we say that God is limited, what we mean, is that God is only limited concerning what can be done in respect to His own essential being. But, on the other hand, Paul is telling us here, by the Spirit, that God is able. God is able to do anything that does not contradict Himself as the great powerful One that He is. Jesus said to the High Priest in Jerusalem,
"I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of Power." Matthew 26:64Jehovah's Witness cultists get all caught up in calling God by His so-called real name, as the Helenized version of YhWh, which is Jehovah. United Pentecostal cultists (UPC) get all caught up in calling God by the name, Jesus which is the Helenized version of Yeshua. But here Jesus says He will be sitting at the right hand of Power. Jesus said that God is Power in the sense of describing His awesome might and authority. Yet God is more than power. Jesus did not say that God is energy, or something like that. God is more, because God is the personhood of Diety as the Powerful One So, here is what this means:
because of who God is, He can not cease to exist. He as God, is the great eternally existing Powerful One. God can not lie, because He, as God, is the great Power of perfect truth. God can not sin against Himself, because He is the Perfection of non contradictory Power and perfection. God does not change His mind, because God is the great Power mind Who knows everything; past, present, and future. He determined it all--being the Power that is, in His power that is. God can not make Himself have a beginning, because God is the great Power that has no beginning, and no end.
So, this is the point. God can not do anything that is against Himself as the great Power, which is a beautiful thing to know concerning what Paul starts out saying;
"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think," Ephesians 3:20
Little feeble minds that are in rebellion against God, (are minds that think), but they are minds that are tiny thinkers. Such minds like to ask silly questions like,
If God can do anything, then can He make a rock so big that He can not move it?
The reason why they ask this is because their little feeble minds do not think of the God who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that His true children ask or think; they are thinking of a god according to what they think. They start with the human invented philosophical presupposition that God can do anything, and so they fail to recognize that through His revelation, (meaning, God's word) He has told us what He can, and can not, do in respect to His own sovereign, controlling, hard determining, great power. If, in fact, they recognized the revelation of God as the Powerful Majestic Father (Power) that Jesus sits next to, then they would realize that because God is so infinitely powerful, it is impossible for God to do just any suggestion contrived by tiny little impotent minds. So, in this respect, God actually does do more than unsaved minds can imagine or think, because unsaved minds can not conceive of the God that actually is. Rather, God reveals the God that actually is in His word. The One true God does what He wants to do, which lies in the realm of what can really be done. But, (and this is so important) God is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that you, who are His adopted children, ask or think. Now, the question is, do you believe that God is able to do it? I mean, do you believe that He is going to provide for you when you are at the end of your rope? I am talking about when you are at the point of financial ruin. I'm talking about when you need to speak the words of Christ, and you don't have any idea what to say. Do you believe that God will miraculously help you through your financial crises? Do you believe that God will use whatever you say for His glory to get the gospel message out to do the work He wants it to do? Or, are you like the young virgin Mary, who apparently was a devout follower of Jehovah? In fact, she had found favor in the Lord's eyes. Are you like her, when an actual angelic being named Gabriel, was sent to her by God in a dramatic display of the spiritual realm? Gabriel said to her,
"Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you. ... Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; 33 and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end." Luke 1:28-33
This is amazing, but what was Mary's response?
"34 Mary said to the angel, 'How can this be, since I am a virgin?'" Luke 1:34
The Lord is with everyone here this morning. You are all favored ones in your salvation in the New Covenant. We are joint heirs with Jesus according to the promise of God. We have access to the Father through the Spirit according to His word. We are supposed to be the ones who know that God is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think. But, when we are confronted with events in our lives that require faith--where we must completely rely upon our God who is able to do above and beyond what we can imagine, do we say,
"How can this be?"
I ask you; Why do you think that Paul prayed for the salvation of Israelites in Romans 9? Don't you think that Paul knew that God is going to save who God is going to save? Don't you think that people are wholly accountable to God? Think about it. Why do you think that Paul prayed for the salvation of Israelites in Romans 9? The answer is that Paul believed that God could do it, and Paul believed that it would be possible that God might determine to do it in concurrence with Paul's prayer. If not, Paul would not have prayed the prayer. Here, in the context (in Ephesians 1:7), Paul prays that the Asian Christians would get a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of God. Paul would not have prayed this prayer if he did not believe that God could do it, and further, if he did not believe that it would be possible that God would have determined to do it. This is why I ask you whether you believe that God is able to do it? The way you know the answer to that question is not by lip service to some scriptures you are familiar with, but how you really react in certain situations. For example, you know of Christians around you who are literally babies in Christ. They have been babies for years. Their spiritual growth is stunted. In fact, they are carnal, fleshly, worldly. Instead of doing the natural thing--(You know what the natural thing is don't you?) Instead of doing the natural thing, which is giving up on them, do you even begin to think that
A) you should pray that such people would get a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of God--the power.
Is that what you do in faith? Or do you give up on them, and say it's all over. They'll live and die in immaturity--cursed by a spirit of foolishness and lack of revelation in the knowledge of God? and then there is B);
B) is that you actually believe in your heart, like the apostle Paul, that God could really give such people a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of God, and like Paul, you believe that it would be possible that God might determine to do it.
If you say, yes, to B) then you go to C);
When you get to C), you look at it, and this is what it says.
C) says, please go back to A) and see if you demonstrate that you really believe it, by checking yourself, and asking yourself if you really are praying that such people would get a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of God.
What you don't do, is ask God,
"How can this be, since I am a just a human?"
Folks that is the weak powerless focus on your own power, or on the power of others. It is not the focus of God-centered doxology that exalts the power of God that God wants you to live;
"20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think."
Now, let us consider the students of our Lord. How easy it is to fall into this trap of doubting. Think about it. The 11 Israelite students were elect unto eternal spiritual salvation. Judas was not, but the others were. Get the picture--their eyes had been opened to recognize, follow, and pledge allegiance to Messiah. They have seen one amazing miracle after another. But, they are still judging things according to the flesh at the time that they come across a young man who happens to be a rich ruler. The young man asks Jesus what to do to inherit eternal life. The man affirms that he has kept the commandments of God in the Old Covenant. Jesus told the young man that he still lacked one thing, and that is to sell everything and follow Jesus. The young man was saddened. We read the details of what Christ said next,
"24 And Jesus looked at him and said, 'How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God! 25 For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.' 26 They who heard it [the students] said,
[and pay special attention to what they say, because we can learn how easy it is for us to question Him who is able. They said,]
'Then who can be saved?'" Luke 18:24-26
We must be careful. It is so easy to be thinking like the students, who at the time were not concentrating on the power of God. They were concentrating upon the power of man--on the arm of the flesh. Now notice Jesus' comeback in the next verse,
"27 But He said, 'The things that are impossible with people are possible with God.'" Luke 18:27
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the great Welsh expository preacher of the last century says of Mary's response to the angel, and of the students response to Christ, in his book, The Unserachable Riches of Christ,
"We are guilty of the same unbelief when we limit our petitions in respect to others. For instance, we may say of a certain man that he is so steeped in sin that nothing can save him. You may be concerned about some dear one who is antagonistic to Christ and blaspheming His name, and have prayed for his or her conversion for years; and you begin to say that there is no point in continuing to do so, and that the psychologists are right after all in speaking about a religious temperament. You feel that it is impossible. The answer still is, 'with God nothing shall be impossible.' He is 'able to do exceedingly abundantly above and beyond all that we ask or think.' God's word to us today, as of old, is 'Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it.' Let us remember that, when we are praying to God, the omnipotent, the everlasting and the eternal. Thus has the Apostle invited us to look at the greatness of God's power objectively." (Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Unserachable Riches of Christ, p. 309)
The point is that whether someone is sick, and you are confronted with the choice to pray for their healing, or someone is having marriage problems, and you do not see much hope for their future, or you notice the state of our nation, and the politicians seems like one big failure after another, or when you look at yourself, and see yourself as a big failure in life, or that you can not make ends meet because of a financial crises; you need to go beyond what you see. You need to go beyond the fact that you have no power--that you are powerless to do anything, and you need to walk by faith in the God who is able, in His power, to do far more abundantly beyond all that you can ever ask or think. Your great powerful God wants you to walk by faith and not by the sight of how hopeless you think things are. So, the primary question before us, is, do you believe that God is able to do it? Jason needs to raise missionary support to go minister in a closed communist country in Asia. Don't you think the fundamental question concerning such support is, do you believe that God is able to do it? But this leaves the other question; do you believe that God is able to do it with you? Folks, this is where all of us must be painfully honest with ourselves. We must not give the religious answer, as if we are trying to impress someone, or save our pride. We have looked at Mary. We saw how easy it was, and how quick it was for her to question. We have looked at the response of Christ's students concerning His teaching about the salvation of the rich. We saw how easy it was, and how quick it was, for them to question. We must be careful not to say,
Those examples are what those people did--and so that is those people.
We must be careful not to say,
I wouldn't do such a thing. After all, I live in the New Covenant. I never question God.
We must be careful, and we must consider Ananias, the New Covenant man of God, and how he responded to God concerning Saul of Tarsus. God told Ananias to go to Saul and lay hands on him so that he would see again. How did Ananias respond? Unfortunately, he responded according to the power of man, and not according to the power of God, as we read,
"13 But Ananias answered, 'Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to Your set apart ones at Jerusalem; 14 and here he has power from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.'" Acts 9:13-14
Do not think that you are beyond cowering from a clear command of the Lord. Do not think that you are so pious that you will never question God. Whenever you are not walking in faith, you are, in fact, questioning God. But, what does God, who knows He is the great power, say? He says, in complete demonstration of His power,
"15... "Go, for he [Paul] is an elect instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel;" Acts 9:15
Certainly God is able, and God states it at the first part of Ephesians 3:20. But there is more, and it has to do with Paul's clarifier that follows as part of the statement. Paul says that God is able to do much more exceedingly beyond all that we ask or think,
"according to the power that works within us," Ephesians 3:20
To keep with Paul's contextual flow, where he already has mentioned some of these same things in respect to how great God's power is toward us who believe, we read about the power of God in the preceding verses, where Paul prays,
"16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man," Ephesians 3:16
Notice that God's power, in both passages, has to do with God working within us, the body of Christ. He is working within you. This is what God was doing with the Christian Ephesians who were the true temples of God in Ephesus. They had the true power of God working in them. The pagan temple of Diana was impotent in comparison to the true power that is able to do beyond what you ask or think. This is your encouragement, because not only is God working according to His power, but He is using you, His people of His church, to do it. This is what Paul also said a few verses earlier;
"10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." Ephesians 2:10
Philippians 2:13,
"13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure." Philippians 2:13
You and I are the power manifestation of God who is the great powerful being that is in us. You are a living doxology. You are the power manifestation of God who is the great powerful One that is in you, so your whole life is a doxology to God in manifesting that power.
Oftentimes, we may think of a certain person that we know, as being completely unevangelizable. What we are thinking is that the gospel is just a statement of fact, and so we think that the person will probably just laugh at the facts, and just reject the gospel as being completely foolish. Why are we thinking such a thing? Is it because so many people reject the gospel, and so we think that the particular person we have in mind, is going to be just like all those others? But what about all those other hardened, mocking, rejectors who received Christ as their Lord and Savior? Why do we not think of them in our comparison? I'll tell you why. It is because we are walking by sight, and not by faith in the God Who is able according to His power. The problem is that the gospel is not just a statement of fact. The gospel is much more. It is a statement of fact that comes with power. The power of God is able to break down any hardened, mocking, arrogant heart that God wants it to. Paul said to the Thessalonians,
"for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit ..." 1 Thessalonians 1:5
Do you believe that? Do you really believe that the word of God, when it is proclaimed, like right now, or whenever you speak it--that it actually comes, beyond just the mere speaking of words, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit? But, what if they do reject the Gospel. Do we really believe that God's power has been involved in the whole process to work all these things together for good to conform us to Christ? Do we really believe that God may be doing something else through their rejection that we don't see or comprehend? Even if they do reject the gospel in God's determination, you were an awesome doxology to God when you proclaimed it.
I encourage you to recognize that the power that Paul is talking about is in you. Your constant thought, and my constant thought, should be of glorifying God through the power that works within us. What I have been trying to say this morning is that this is completely a trust issue that goes beyond the doxology. Now, finishing with Paul's beautiful praise to God, we see that Paul is saying that God's glory is expressed in us, as His church. Paul says,
"21 to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen." Ephesians 3:20
Before we proceed, I want to point out that the word, "and" here is supplied in the NASB, but it is not necessarily supposed to be there from the Greek. What I am saying is that to Him be glory in the church, which is the body of Christ, as the big mystery revelation of the Ephesian thrust, is not to say, to Him be the glory in the church, and in Christ Jesus, but rather to Him be the glory in the church, which is both by and in Christ Jesus. Notice the renderings that clarify what I am talking about;
"21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen." NKJV
"21 to Him is the glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus, to all the generations of the age of the ages. Amen." Young's Literal Translation
"21 to Him be the glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus, to all the generations of the age of the ages. Amen." Literal Translation Version
The reason why I think that this is so important as a precisely accurate translation point here, is that this is the power aspect that we enjoy as saved people. All Gentiles, who are saved, and all Jews, who are saved, are in the body of Christ. The glory of Christ's church is Christ in us, as our hope of glory, and it is forever and ever. The mystery of Messiah, as God's work in His set apart ones, who are His called out ones, is the last redemptive work, and is the Last covenant, and the big focus of God's historic plan that glorifies His eternal Son, and demonstrates God's grace for eternity. You and I need to recognize this about ourselves. We have the great power living in us, and as such, we are God's plan for glorifying Himself to all generations, forever. We are His doxology that He made to glorify Himself.
I encourage you, to be living your whole life like a living doxology to the Lord. Be glory to God. You know what I mean? Be glory to God by taking Him for His word concerning the fact that He really can do far more abundantly beyond whatever you ask or think. Instead of saying like Mary, "How can this be?" I urge you to be taking God at His word, and just say, "so be it, amen." The angel told Mary that she had found favor with God. You have found favor with God as His elect child, saved through the cross. You are in Christ. Christ is in you. You are His favored body in the body of Christ. I urge you to pray, believing in the great power. Pray for immature Christians out of love and faith. Pray, believing like Paul. Quit believing like a skeptic. To do so is sin. To believe like a skeptic is to be a doxology to lost dark humanism. Pray for people, that they would get a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of God. Don't give up on them. It is your ministry to pray for them, and it is your calling to believe that God can change them according to power. Pray this prayer for yourself. Listen, you should pray Ephesians 1:7 for yourself--pray that God will give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him, but pray believing that it is happening. Get into the word, and start walking according to the pure precepts of scripture without questioning God all the time. Don't say like the apostles, 'Then who can be saved?'" Especially when God has told you who are in His New Covenant church, over and over again,
'The things that are impossible with people are possible with God.'"
It is the error of Ananias, who started telling the Lord all the bad history junk that he had heard about Saul of Tarsus. God doesn't care about your whining and complaining. He just interrupts you, like he interrupted Ananias, and says,
"Go ..."
But, He also hugs you, and says, "trust me."
Life is tough, but trust me.
He is working exceedingly above all that you ask or imagine according to the power that is not outside of you. It is the actual power that really is working in you. When you start doing these things, in obedience, then the doxology of your life is being sung everywhere you go. Wherever you walk, you are a song that plays to Him called,
Glorifying God Through the Power that Works Within Me
I leave you with a few lines from the song called "Dancing With the Choir"
Could it be that man has changed
You can see he's not the same
He sings a song called "Holy Spirit"
When you are near him, you can hear it
His new friends are different too;
Just like him, they're living proof
Of what the Spirit can really do
and then the chorus--
You can see him dancing with the choir
like a sequin, he sparkles with desire
for the heavens
If you knew him as a crumpled shell
You'd admit the change has served him well
you'd be thinking could it be--could it be
yeah, you'd be thinking, could it be?
Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, 21 to Him be glory in the church in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen
