Ephesians Series: For His Glory and Fame—Life as Church

Glory Displayed

Ephesians 3:7-20

Introduction

Have you ever walked into a cathedral and been rendered speechless by the beauty of the place, the ornate majesty of it?  What about an art gallery?  Have you ever seen a painting that takes your breath away?  Have you ever read a poem or story that brings tears to your eyes?  A piece of music, perhaps, that brings goose bumps to your skin, that whenever you hear it you stop, close your eyes and imagine that you’ve been transported to some magical place?  Has that ever happened to you?

Our response to such beauty is rarely bland.

How do you describe something beautiful?  What words, or actions would you employ to tell of something dazzlingly splendid?  I wonder.  If I asked you to tell me about a piece of music that moves you, I bet you’d light up and use colorful language.  I bet that if you were to tell me about a painting or picture or story that impacted you, your description would include words like wonderful, brilliant, spectacular, awesome, or gorgeous.

God Not Boring—Piper

I read an article this week that prompted me to consider the way I speak about the beauty of God, the way I write and the stories I tell about my Lord.  The author said, “The supremacy of God in the life of the mind is not honored when God and his amazing world is communicated boringly.  God’s world (His character)—all of it—rings with wonders…and He’s given us the mind, the imagination, to communicate his beauty beautifully.”  

“When a person speaks or writes or sings or paints about (God’s) breathtaking truth in a boring way, it is probably sin.”[i]  The apostle Paul could never be accused of that!  Paul gushes with beauty-filled, splendor-laced, awe-inspired descriptions of God—his character, attributes, and his love for His people.  There is nothing boring about God where Paul’s concerned.

He uses language, phrases like “unsearchable riches”, “incomparable power”, “how wide, long, high and deep”, and “immeasurable” to describe God.  And that’s only the first half of Ephesians. 

God is beautiful.  His ways are beautiful.  He makes us, his church, beautiful.  This morning we come to the end of the first half of the letter to the Ephesians.  Before we move into the second half, Paul makes sure his readers can’t escape the magnificent working of God in rescuing us from death for his glory.  Chapter three of Ephesians reinforces all that Paul has taught since chapter one.     

First Half Wrap

Paul brings to a close the first half of his letter to the Ephesian congregation by recapping the theological foundation of church that he’s spent three chapters explaining.

1.      God created us because it brought him pleasure (1:5, 9).

2.      We were chosen by God to display his glory and fame in the world ( 1:12 ). 

3.      We were adopted as his children, guaranteed an inheritance for the sake of his glory ( 1:14 -14).

4.      We can know God better and better through the Spirit of God ( 1:17 )

5.      Before Christ Jesus, we were aliens, homeless wanderers, but because of God’s mercy, we are saved through Jesus’ actions on the cross (2:1-10).

6.      We have been reconciled to God and united with Him through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (2:6-17), there can now be no barriers, no disunity among God’s people.

7.      God’s reconciled people make up the church where God lives by His Holy Spirit ( 2:20 -22).

In short, what Paul has taught through the first half of Ephesians is:

Displaying God’s glory and fame—his character and attributes—to the world is the reason we were created, the purpose of church, and the sole reason for our being alive.

Before moving on, however, Paul leaves his readers with one more image; one more beautiful picture of what God is on about through the church…

Unpacking the Text—Two Key Words

[10] His (GOD’S) intent (HIS PLAN) was that now, through the church the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, [11] according to his eternal purpose, which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. [12] In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. [13] I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.

“Manifold”—GK: polupoikilos—many colored, description of flowers, crowns, embroidered cloth and woven carpets—(the simpler Greek word, poikilos, describes a royal garment.

“Church”— comes from the Greek word, ekklesia—also translated “assembly”, which literally means ‘a calling out’; it is a meeting of people who have been called out or summoned together.[ii]  In the NT ‘ekklesia’ refers to the congregation of God’s people who have been called out or separated from the world into His kingdom; an Assembly of God’s people set apart, to live alternatively, to be different.

“Two Views”

Biblical scholars have debated Paul’s writing here because they wonder if He’s referring to one or the other, that God’s glory be for the Heavenly authorities—angels and demons—or for the earthly rulers and authorities.

a) For the Heavenly Authorities Only

“The manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.” 

And Later in Ephesians…

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms”( 6:12 ).

No other NT book discusses with the bluntness of Ephesians, the reality of evil and evil spirits—Satan’s activity—in the world.  Evil is at work here.  There are countless examples of it everywhere we look.

b) To testify to God on Earth Only

John 18:20-23, Matthew 18

c) Both

[14] For this reason (that the manifold wisdom of God be made known in heaven and on earth) I kneel before the Father (Paul Prays for them and us), [15] from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.

I think both are the right perspective.  The main reason being that God is supreme!  There is nothing—physical or spiritual, good or evil, that is outside of His authority.  Therefore everything is to be exposed to and shaped by, and submissive to His manifold wisdom!

God’s way is more beautiful, more powerful, more perfect; His character displays more splendor and awesome glory than anything in heaven or on earth.

And as far as we’re concerned, the great and awesome mystery is that He has chosen us to participate in displaying that to heaven and earth! 

Therefore…the church, this separate, called out assembly of God’s people are to live as a beautiful tapestry, a royal garment, displaying God’s glory to those in the heavenly realms—the spiritual realm—and to the world.

 [14] For this reason (that the manifold wisdom of God be made known in heaven and on earth) I kneel before the Father (Paul Prays for them and us), [15] from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. [16] I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, [17] so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you (the Church then and now), being rooted and established in love, [18] may have power, together with all the saints (universality of the church), to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, [19] and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Holy Spirit—What makes us beautiful

Beauty is a multi-billion dollar industry in the world:  Cosmetics, fitness, hair products, and surgery.  People do many things in order to become “beautiful”.  But what is it that makes the church beautiful?  You’ll recall from our study of Galatians that the second part of the gospel is that the only way we can live holy lives, lives that are beautiful, is through the Holy Spirit.  So what brings the beauty of God out in our lives?  Look at verses 20 & 21…

[20] Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us (THE HOLY SPIRIT), [21] to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.

God’s beauty is made real in our lives through his power at work in us—the Holy Spirit.

Hans Kung, the great Catholic rebel theologian, taught, “The church does not already exist as an organized, hierarchical institution that the Spirit enters and empowers.  Rather, the church is created by the Spirit, the author of life, who grants the gift of faith.”[iii]  The Holy Spirit is God’s power at work within us.

It is the Holy Spirit that enables us to do more than we ever ask or imagine.  It is the Holy Spirit that makes it possible for us to be the richly colored garment of God’s glory.  It is the Holy Spirit that enables us to be ekklesia, an assembly of people set apart for God’s purpose!

It is the Holy Spirit that displays God’s character, his transformation, his unity and reconciliation, in the lives of people. 

Illustration—“Transformation in a Coffee Shop”

When we experience growth in character, it is the working of the Holy Spirit in our life.  When, like my friend, we know what true healing and reconciliation is, we have experienced the power of the Holy Spirit. 

When people ask me how they can know that they are being saved, that God is at work in them, I ask them back, “How does it feel when you sin?”  You see when the Holy Spirit gets hold of our lives, sin becomes painful.  It hurts to do things that go against God.  When negative attitudes, gossip, anger, drunkenness, slander, bitterness, and sexual immorality are removed from our lives, it is the Holy Spirit of God that is at work doing that. 

Not just for our sake…

When the Holy Spirit begins the work of transforming us, it is not just for our sake.  Remember, we exist to display God’s glory and character to the world.  Therefore, change in us tells a beautiful story about God’s character.

Illustration: Marriage Meeting

“I want to live a righteous life and I never did before…”

What about our community of faith?

As a community of faith, what does our speech, our actions, our attitudes say about God?  When people encounter us day-to-day, are we telling of God’s glory?  Do our lives, our attitudes, reflect a belief that God, according to his Holy Spirit, is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine?

We learned today that we are poikilos—a royal garment, and ekklesia—an assembly called out to live God’s alternative way in the world, and that it is through the power of the Holy Spirit at work in us that changes us to that end.

Conclusion

[20] Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, [21] to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.

Notes

(c) Shaun Dyer

Zion Baptist Church of Kensington

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada