Soli Deo Gloria – Ephesians 3:20, 21
What causes you to worship
God? What sorts of things move your
heart to overflow in praise to God? And
I’m not just talking about Sunday morning when you are singing hymns that you
didn’t write. I’m asking: what are the
kinds of hymns that regularly emerge from your heart during the week? What are the wells of joy that your soul
draws from that causes you to break forth into singing? Are they things that make your life easier
during the week? Is it that promotion
you have longed for all those years? Is
it deliverance from some temporary setbacks?
Now, don’t get me wrong: we are
to thank God for everything, and therefore everything, the good and the bad,
the surprising and the mundane, ought to all provide subject matter for the
believer’s worship: “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in
Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thess. 5:18).
But when we look to the NT and see what sorts of things caused the
apostles to start singing, we come face to face with the first doxologies of
the church. They go like this:
“Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel,
and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according the revelation of the mystery,
which was kept secret since the world began.
But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets,
according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations
for the obedience of faith: to God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ
forever. Amen” (Rom. 16:25-27)
“Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus,
that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting
covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you
that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be
glory for ever and ever. Amen” (Heb.
13:20-21)
“But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by
Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish,
strengthen, settle you. To him be glory
and dominion for ever and ever. Amen”
(1 Pet. 5:10-11)
“Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you
faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise
God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen” (Jude 24-25).
And then there is our text:
“Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we
can ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory
in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen” (Eph. 3:20-21)
The word doxology literally means “to speak (or ascribe) glory” from the
Greek words doxa and logos. In each of the doxologies above, there is an
ascription of glory to God, as in our text, “unto him [that is, God] be
glory.” To glorify God is to give him
the highest adoration of our heart. It
is to ascribe worship and praise to him above all else. To give God glory is to be transfixed by a
sight of his majesty and dominion and holiness and grace. It is to recognize that God is supremely
worthy of our affection and admiration, our reverence and esteem.
Above all, it means that we have
come to see that God is transcendent, that there is no way that we can compare
God to anyone or anything else.
Everything else in comparison is nothing. The way the apostles used the word “glory” comes
from a Hebrew word, kavod, whose
basic meaning portrayed something as being “weighty.” From this it came to signify things with
significance or importance. In the OT,
it is almost never used with reference to man, but it is often used with
reference to God. We are light and
feathery things in comparison to God.
Our lives are like a vapor, but his has no beginning and no end. He only has immortality, dwelling in
unapproachable light (cf. 1 Tim. 6:16).
All of reality depends upon God for its existence. There is nothing or no one else in all of
creation that can say, “I AM THAT I AM.”
Only God can do that. And
therefore, to God alone belongs the glory.
I think Paul breaks forth into
doxology because he has experienced the things for which he prays for the
Ephesians. He knew what it was like to
be strengthened with might by the Spirit of God. He knew from personal experience what it was
like to have Christ at home in his heart, to be rooted and grounded in love,
and to know the limitless love of Christ, and finally to be filled with all the
fullness of God. These were not abstract
concepts to him: they were realities.
Paul had experienced fellowship with the living God. He knew how precious and sweet and
courage-building and faith-strengthening and sin-killing these realities were
to him, and therefore he couldn’t help but exult in these gifts of grace that
had come to him and all the saints.
Hence doxology for the apostle was inevitable.
He is not writing this because he is supposed to. He is writing it because he must: he must in
the sense that having tasted and seen that the Lord is good, he could not but
sing this praise to God. As C. S. Lewis
famously put it, worship is the culmination of delight that one has for
another. Those who truly love God cannot
help but worship him.
So this morning I want to look at
this doxology with you and to so hear it that we will join Paul in it. These verses are full of reasons to be
encouraged in the Lord. You cannot hear
or read one of these NT doxologies without sensing the note of triumph in
them. Doxology and defeat don’t go
together. We praise God because in him
we are overcomers. We praise God because
despite our weakness and sin and helplessness we have a God who is sovereign
over all and who loves his children with a never-ending love. Doxologies remind us that we are saved.
Yes, we are not glorified yet.
But the glorification of the saint is sure. Romans 8 begins with no condemnation and ends
with no separation. God has saved us, he
is saving us, and he will save us. And
so we sing to God and love him and rejoice in him and give all the glory to
him.
There are four things in this doxology
that I want to focus on. First, we will
look at the object of worship: “unto him be glory”. Second, we will note the sphere of worship:
“in the church.” Third, the possibility
of worship: “by Christ Jesus.” And
finally, the duration of worship: “throughout all ages, etc.”
First of all, let us consider the object of our worship: “unto him be
glory” (20, 21). The referent to “him”
in verses 20 and 21 is “God” in verse 19, from whose fullness we are
filled. As we have already been saying,
God alone is worthy of our praise and worship.
There is no other being or thing in the realm of the universe that can
take his place. It is why idolatry is so
repugnant. Idolatry is ascribing to a
created thing what only properly belongs to God. The calf may be golden, but it is still a
calf.
But Paul doesn’t just say,
“Praise God!” and go on. “Unto him” is
filled with meaning in verse 20. Paul’s
praise is rooted in very Biblical ideas about God. This is important. It is important that we are continually reminding
ourselves of who God is. And it is
important that as we do this, we are doing so in terms of the parameters of
Scripture.
This is of course where doctrine
comes in. Those who eschew doctrine
usually end up with very shallow views of God.
Worse still, their view of God is hopelessly tainted by the godless
culture in which we live. The reality is
that if you are not grounded in the Biblical teaching of who God is, your
worship is going to superficial at best.
True worship, our Lord tells us, is performed in spirit and in
truth. Both the mind and the affections
must be engaged. Fire without fuel will
burn out. And worship without doctrine
won’t last long. Worship has an object,
and that object is God. So far, so good. But the question is, what kind of God are you
looking at? Is he the God of the Bible,
or he a god of your imagination? A god
of our own making will not sustain worship.
Only the God of the Bible can do that.
So what is the portrait of God
that Paul paints for us? He tells us in
verse 20: “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that
we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.” Paul does two things here. First, he piles on word after word that tells
us something about God’s power. The verb
“that is able” literally means, “to be powerful.” This is the verbal form of the noun “power”
he also uses in this verse. And then the
phrase “that worketh in us” again points to God’s power. It is the word from which we get the term
“energy.” Paul uses all these words to
give us the unmistakable portrait of a God who is powerful.
But he goes further. He also says that God is “able to do
exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.” The apostle is straining language here to
convey to us the idea that there is nothing impossible with God. The words Paul uses here are described as
“the highest form of comparison imaginable.”[1] There are no limits to the power of God. That is what the apostle wants us to
realize.
We are full of limitations,
especially in terms of our physical selves.
We can only be in one place at one time.
We only have so much strength and endurance. We only have so many talents. We are circumscribed on all sides by the
limits of our abilities. God is
not. As the Bible reminds us over and
over again, what is impossible with man is possible with God.
But then the mind can sometimes
free itself of such shackles and roam in the imagination where we could not
physically go. We can close our eyes and
imagine ourselves doing things that we could never actually do in person. We are not nearly as limited in the mind and
imagination as we are in the body. Like
Han Solo said to Luke Skywalker, “I can imagine a lot, kid.” But here is the amazing thing. The apostle tells us that God is able to do
exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. We may be able to imagine a lot. But we cannot even think our way past the power of God. It is truly infinite, unimaginable, and
unfathomable.
The sad thing is that we do think
that we can imagine the boundaries of the power of God. We think that God cannot do this thing or
that. So we don’t ask. We don’t expect. We don’t believe. Like the Israelites of old, we turn back and
tempt God and limit the Holy One of Israel (Ps. 78:41).
Now we don’t want to interpret
this passage in a way that would sabotage the rest of the NT message. Paul is not saying that if you have enough
faith then God will grant you whatever you want. God is not a vending machine. But he is saying that there is no power on
earth or hell that can prevent God from doing for you what is for your ultimate
good and his glory. As Paul put it to
the Romans, “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered
him up for us all, how shall he not with him freely give us all things?” (Rom.
8:31-32). God is able to do exceeding
abundantly above all that we ask or think for us anything, no matter how
far-fetched we might think it is, that is for our joy in him and the advance of
his kingdom in this world.
Power is not the only attribute
of God, of course. But this power that
the apostle is talking about is incomprehensible apart from all his other
attributes. God’s glory is the publicity
or manifestation of all his attributes.
And therefore since this power is operative for the sake of his glory
(21), it is therefore a holy power, a loving power, a gracious power, a wise
power on the behalf of those who belong to his Son.
Worship is hamstrung when we
limit God. Delighting in the power of
God for us and in us is essential for true worship. The God that we worship is powerful,
infinitely so, and he is powerful for us not against us. That is surely something for which we ought
to rejoice.
Second, we notice the sphere of worship: “in the church”
(21). Now there is a sense in which all
the creation glorifies God. Even the
wicked will glorify the justice of God in their punishment at the Final
Judgment. But that is not what Paul is
talking about here. The praise here is
unique to the church. This is because
the church is the body of believers in the world. The church is the institution consisting of
those who have tasted and seen the goodness of God and so the church consists
of those who worship God in spirit and in truth.
And we have every reason to
glorify God. For we do not only behold
God’s power from afar. We experience
God’s power for us and in us and through us.
In particular, Paul focuses on God’s power in us: “according to the
power that worketh in us” (20). We would
not even be Christian if it were not for the power of God. We were dead in trespasses and in sins. It was God who raised us up, exerting in us
the very power that raised his Son from the dead. He prays that we would know “what is the
exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the
working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him
from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places” (1:19-20).
God not only raised us from the
dead and gave us life (2:1-9), he also continues to work in us. We are God’s “workmanship” (2:10) past,
present, and future. We still pray that we
would “be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man” (3:16). There is never a time in the life of the
believer when God’s power is not ready to be extended for their sake.
This power is not just given so
that we will not remain dead in sins. It
is given so that we will serve him in this world. God has not only saved us, he gives us the
privilege of working with him in the advance of the kingdom. It is his power that gives us the ability to
do this. With Christ, we can do all things;
without him, we can do nothing. It is
his power that works effectually in us that enables us to serve our Lord.
And this is a truly amazing
privilege. Sometimes you get the
impression from some that God needs the church, and that without believers he
could do nothing. But that is not the
picture the NT gives. God does not
enlist us because he needs us. He
enlists us because we need him. It is
not because God could not advance his kingdom without us that he brings us
alongside for ministry. Rather, it is
because God wants to bless us by giving us the privilege of serving with him in
kingdom work. There is nothing more
meaningful than engaging in that which has eternal significance.
God is so committed to this that
what he does in this world to advance his kingdom agenda, he usually does
through the church. We should never
allow our belief in the power and sovereignty of God for his people to cause us
to think that therefore we don’t need to contribute to the cause of God and
truth in this world. God is powerful,
yes; but he exerts his power in and through his people. If there is something to be done in this
world for the sake of the gospel, it will be done in and through the
church. God gathers his elect into the
church through missions, and missions are driven by people who are giving their
lives for the sake of Christ. God moves
to save the lost through his people who share the gospel which is the power of
God unto salvation. God disciples and
grows his children through other mature believers who teach them the word. God breaks the power of Satan through the
prayers of believers. Where God is doing
something in the world for the sake of the gospel, he is almost certainly doing
it through believers, through the church.
There is this amazing scene in
the book of Revelation. We are brought
into the throne room of God where seven angels prepare to blow seven
trumpets. But before they do this, we
read: “And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer;
and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the
prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with
the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand. And the angel took the censer, and filled it
with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings,
and lightnings, and an earthquake” (Rev. 8:3-5). These verses seems to indicate that the
prayers of the saints are very much a part of God’s plan to bring about the
final salvation of his people and the culmination of his plan of
redemption. This is especially
remarkable because the overwhelming focus in the book of Revelation is on God’s
unfettered sovereignty over all his enemies and his power to bring about the
salvation of his people. The focus is
not on believers and what they do, and yet here we have this scene where the
prayers of the saints play an important role in the unfolding of God’s plan.
Is there something that needs to
be done for the cause of the gospel?
Pray about it, but don’t pray about it without asking God what he would
have you to do about it. Because if there is something to be done, it
will be done through the power of God working through believers like you and
me.
Now one of the reasons why I am
stressing this is because there is no better way to prepare our hearts for
worship than in serving our Saviour in this world. If the primary purpose of your life is to pad
your life with comforts, then don’t expect God to be working in you and through
you. But when you surrender your life to
the cause of the gospel – whatever that may look like for you, and it will be
very different depending on where God has placed you – then expect to experience
God’s power. And when we experience the
power of God in us and through us, doxology is inevitable.
This brings us to the third thing
I wish to notice in the text: the
possibility of worship. I find this
in the words, “by Christ Jesus.”
There is no way that worship can
exist apart from Jesus Christ. Apart
from Christ, we remain hostile toward God and alienated from God. Apart from Christ, we will die in our
sins. Apart from Christ, we have no
righteousness and no forgiveness. It is
only in him that we can be reconciled to God.
It is only because on the cross he took our sins so that we might have
the righteousness of God that we can approach God’s throne as a throne of
grace. Apart from Christ, the power of
God is terrifying. Apart from Christ,
God’s power is against us. But when we
trust in Christ, when we belong to him, God’s power is no longer against us, it
is for us. It is no longer the power of
God to condemn and destroy; it is the power of God so save and to rescue.
I think it was John Piper who
said that missions exists where worship doesn’t. Missions and worship go hand in hand. Which is why missionaries carry the gospel
with them. It is why the preeminent
message of the church to those on the outside is to preach Christ and him
crucified. There is no hope for worship
to exist where the gospel is yet unknown.
Not only does the work of Christ
make worship possible by breaking down the barriers to worship, it also makes
worship possible by giving us a window into the character and love of God. How is it that we can be filled with all the
fullness of God? It is only as we come
to see the multifaceted love of Christ which is supremely magnified by the work
of redemption that he accomplished through his life of obedience and sacrificial
death. The more we come to know God
through Christ, the more we will be able to worship him in ways that are
appropriate to his glorious nature. So
it is that the church gives glory to God “by Christ Jesus.”
And finally, we note the duration of worship: “throughout all
ages, world without end.” There is
nothing on this earth that deserves eternal praise. But the fact of the matter is that we
couldn’t even if we tried. No created
thing can give us eternal satisfaction.
No created and finite thing can delight us forever. We would eventually tire of it. And at that point our praise would run out.
And so the fact that Paul says
that doxology will be given to God for ever and ever tells us something about
God. It tells us not only that he is
worthy of eternal praise, but also that he is such a fountain of blessing and
delight that the saint will never tire praising God. In heaven, our experience of God will be
undiluted and pure, and so the expression of our hearts will be forever
overflowing in praise to God.
Thank God, we can begin even
now. Through Christ, we can come into a
relationship with God our Father and begin to experience all the fullness of
God. May we do so more and more. And as we do so, may our lives become a
chorus of praise and doxology to our powerful and gracious and loving and
glorious God. Amen.
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