Here’s my notes and audio for a sermon I preached on Ephesians 3:20-21 “To God be the Glory” at Cross of Christ Fellowship.
“To God be the Glory!” (Eph 3:20-21)
Intro: Within every human heart is a longing for glory.
-We desire that which is greater than us, which is transcends, which deserves our attention and reverence.
-Our Country: famous athletes, musicians, movie stars, politicians
-Suburbs: remodeled kitchens, vacation homes, fit bodies, perfect yards, children’s success
-Bible affirms and reorients our desire for glory.
-Affirms: You were made to glory in something.
-Reorients: Only God is TRULY worthy of the glory.
-Today’s passage leads us back to this biblical perspective: to God be the glory!
*To God be the glory: a God of limitless power and matchless worth.
CONTEXT:
-Paul’s prayer (Eph 3:14-19)
-End of the prayer: a doxology.
-Main idea: to God be the glory!
-2 Supporting ideas: 1. A God of limitless power; 2 A God of matchless worth
To God be the glory: a God of limitless power and limitless worth.
- To God be the Glory: A God of limitless power. (3:20)
Illustration: My kids ask for help. Other situations I can’t help: we all are limited in our abilities to help!
-God’s limitless power to help His people!
-Remember the context of 3:14-19: Prayer for POWER to follow Christ, know his love, be filled with God
-This is humanly impossible, but not with God.
-God has a limitless power with which to help His people.
-God’s limitless ability to help: Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think,
–able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask
-ASK: We ask in prayer, but God can do more abundantly than ALL we ask.
-Jesus encouraged us to ASK and pray (Matt 7:7)
-God can do more than all that we ask!
– able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think
-THINK: God can do far more abundantly that ALL we think!
*APPLICATION:
-Confronts our unbelief (‘God can’t help or deliver in this situation’)
-He can do more than all that we ask or think.
-Strengthens our faith and enable us to pray and act
–Pray: to the God who is able to do more than all we can ask or think.
-As we consider CCF, we need to pray for God to act!
-Need for People, provisions, help with systems.
-God must change hearts, bring people, sustain us.
–Act: God is able to bless the smallest acts of obedience and these small acts bring Him glory.
–Francis Schaeffer’s book ‘No Little People’:
“There are no little people in God’s sight, so there are no little places. To be wholly committed to God in the place where God wants him—this is the creature glorified … This is the way of the Christian: he should choose the lesser place until God extrudes him into a position of more responsibility and authority.”
-Surprising location of this power today: according to the power at work within us,
-Eph 1:19-23
-God’s power in our lives:
-Conversion
-Sanctification
**CONSIDER: UNIQUESSNESS OF GOD: God alone possesses this limitless ability power.
-Because God has this limitless power, He deserves the glory
-He deserves to be cherished and adored.
- To God be the Glory: A God of matchless worth (3:21)
Fame of athletes and musicians passing away
-God’s matchless worth, deserving our praise
-God deserves to be worshipped and glorified, and His worth is matchless!
-MAIN IDEA: to him be glory
-“glory”=fame, worth, majesty, splendor
-To GOD be the glory.
-GLORY WHERE? in the church and in Christ Jesus
-CHURCH: A biblically faithful church makes much of God.
-God gets the glory, not the people.
-CHRIST JESUS: God is glorified in Jesus!
-GLORY WHEN? throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
-ALL GENERATIONS: God is the one who gets the glory in every generation.
-Ps 90:1-12
-FOREVER AND EVER: God will be glorified for eternity!
-We’ll never stop bringing Him glory, nor will we want to!
OBSERVE: Far surpassing glory of God
-No athlete, musician, politician, or human leader can compare to God
-Only God has this matchless worth, deserving glory forever.
APPLICATION:
-Confronts our low view of God (‘God is not relevant,’ ‘Other things are more interesting/beautiful/important’)
-No one else will get the glory throughout all generations and forever
-Reorients and reinvigorates us to worship God.
-God truly is beautiful and majestic
GOSPEL:
We were created for God’s glory.
We exchanged the glory of God for that which is inglorious. Rom 1:22-23
Jesus, in love, left his position of glory to come to Earth and die and rise again for us. Phil 2:5-11
As we believe in Christ we are forgiven of our sins and brought into the glorious kingdom of God Col 1:13-14
By God’s grace, we turn from empty selfish glory to live for the glory of God Phil 2:3-4
*PUTTING THIS PASSAGE INTO PRACTICE
-In any situation ask, ‘How can God be glorified in this situation?’
-Example: College Bible study—glory through conversions, or obedience, or both.
-Apply this to your schooling, work, family, ministry, money, time.
-Let this truth HUMBLE you when you feel like you’re not getting the recognition you deserve.
-Your achievements and reputation are not that important, compared to God!
-It is not about us, but about God.
-Let this truth LIFT YOU up when you feel like your achievements are insignificant or don’t matter.
–Blade of grass and giant redwood trees were made by God.
-You are made for God’s glory, and He gets the glory in small and large things
-You may be unhappy to be the ‘blade of grass,’ but remember God is glorified through and by it all.
To God be the glory: a God of limitless power and matchless worth.
