Just a few minutes ago, I asked you to share one of your favorite Bible passages with someone else. Now it’s my turn to share one of my favorites with you. Let’s read it out loud together:
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, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Ephesians 3:20, 21 (NIV)
Isn’t that an awesome passage? But I have to be honest with you this morning. The reason that these verses have been among my favorites is that I, along with many others, I would suspect, have taken this verse out of context and used it in a way that it was never intended to be used.
If we separate this verse from its context in Ephesians, it is easy to make this passage, especially verse 20, into the basis for what is known as the prosperity gospel. The proponents of that theology would claim that this verse means that God is able to give you more than what you could ask for or even imagine. So if you ask for a Hyundai, God will give you a Lexus. If you ask for a $250,000 house, God will give you a million dollar house. In other words, we’ve used this verse to make God into some big “genie in the sky.”
Which is obviously a perfect segue into this story about a genie:
One day, a man was walking along the beach and came across an odd-looking bottle. Not being one to ignore tradition, he rubbed it and, much to his surprise, a genie actually appeared.
"For releasing me from the bottle, I will grant you three wishes," said the genie. The man was ecstatic. "But there’s a catch," the genie continued.
"What catch?" asked the man, eyeing the genie suspiciously.
The genie replied, "For each of your wishes, every lawyer in the world will receive double what you asked for."
"Hey, I can live with that! No problem!" replied the elated man.
"What is your first wish?" asked the genie.
"Well, I’ve always wanted a Ferrari!"
Poof! A Ferrari appeared in front of the man. "Now, every lawyer in the world has been given two Ferraris," said the genie.
"What is your next wish?"
"I could really use a million dollars ..." replied the man, and Poof!, one million dollars appeared at his feet.
"Now, every lawyer in the world is two million dollars richer," the genie reminded the man.
"Well, that’s okay, as long as I’ve got my million," replied the man.
"And what is your final wish?" asked the genie.
The man thought long and hard, and finally said, "Well, you know, I’ve always wanted to donate one of my kidneys ..."
But God is obviously far more than just a genie who grants our wishes. Taken in its proper context, this verse is far more significant than just being the basis for us to receive material blessings from God. In fact, I would suggest to you that this passage is the key passage in the entire book of Ephesians. It provides us with a bridge, or a transition, from the doctrine contained in the first three chapters of Ephesians to the more practical application of that doctrine in the last three chapters. It causes us to look back and see how the power of God has already been at work in our lives. And it causes us to look forward to see how that same power gives us the ability to live a life that brings God glory.
Go ahead and take out your Bibles and turn to the Book of Ephesians. To be real honest, there’s not a whole lot new in my message this morning. More than anything, this is going to be a review of our journey over the last eight months.
When Paul writes that God is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine, according to His power at work within us, he is not making some general statement about God’s power or His ability to work in our lives. I’m convinced that when Paul writes that, he is looking back at everything he has written up to this point. The first three chapters of Ephesians are a beautiful description of the working of God’s power in our lives.
A LOOK BACK – GOD’S POWER AT WORK IN US
Before we review how God has already worked in our lives, I think we first need to identify what this power is. Fortunately for us, Paul has already defined that for us:
• What is this power at work in us?
...his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
Ephesians 1:19-23 (NIV)
When Paul writes that God’s power is at work in us, he makes it really clear that the power he is writing about is resurrection power. The very same power that He used to raise Jesus from the grave is at work in our lives, too. And beginning in chapter 1, Paul has described the working of that power in our lives.
I haven’t even left any blanks in your sermon outline this morning because we’re going to go through these pretty fast and I don’t want you to focus on writing. I’m not even going to comment on these very much because we’ve covered all this in detail before. But what I hope you’ll get as we go through this is an overwhelming sense of the way that God has been at work in our lives.
1. He blessed us with every spiritual blessing
...who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. (1:3)
2. He chose us
For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight... (1:4)
3. He predestined us to be part of His family
...In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ... (1:4, 5)
4. He graced us
...his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves... (1:6)
... the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. (1:7, 8)
5. He redeemed us
In him we have redemption... (1:7)
6. He revealed His will to us
And he made known to us the mystery of his will... (1:9)
7. He sealed us
...Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit (1:13)
8. He made us alive
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions... (2:4, 5)
9. He raised us
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus (2:6)
10. He created us for good works
For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works... (2:10)
11. He reconciled us
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ (2:13)
12. He joined us together in the church
This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. (3:6)
13. He reveals his wisdom through us
His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms (3:10)
14. He rooted and established us
...being rooted and established in love... (3:17)
15. He fills us with His fullness
...that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God (3:19)
Now that’s certainly immeasurably more than I can ask or imagine. To be real honest, I can ask for a fancy car or a big house. And I can even imagine something far greater that I will ever have. But how could I ever ask God to do all that He has done for me? How could I even think about asking Him to sacrifice His own Son so that I can have all these spiritual blessings? How could I ever imagine that God would do all this for me after the way I’ve ignored and disobeyed him time after time? Frankly the whole idea just overwhelms me.
Chris Tomlin has written a beautiful song that expresses how the love of God working in me is far more valuable than any material possession I could ever desire. Quite appropriately is it simply titled “Enough”. Listen carefully to the words as the song plays. [Play song].
But Paul doesn’t just want us to look back at how the power of God has already been at work in our lives. He also wants us to look ahead to how we can live our lives so that we bring glory to God. That’s what verse 21 does for us.
A LOOK AHEAD – GOD’S GLORY IN US
Paul writes something quite interesting in verse 21. In his doxology, he writes “to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus”. A couple of things strike me about that phrase. The whole idea that God gets glory in the church is really quite amazing in the first place. But what’s even more interesting to me is the fact that Paul puts the church before Jesus Christ in this phrase. Paul seems to be indicating that since the church is the body of Jesus Christ, it is so inextricably linked to Christ that it is really impossible to separate the church from its head, Jesus Christ.
We’ve already seen Paul use the phrase “in Jesus”, “in Christ” “in him” or its equivalent throughout his letter. All the spiritual blessings that we have, all of God’s power working in our lives is only possible because of what Jesus has done for us. So it’s pretty easy to see how God gets glory through his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. But how does God get glory through the church? Paul has already given us a hint in the immediately preceding verse:
[I pray] that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:19 (NIV)
As we become more mature in our faith and as we are filled more and more with the fullness of God, then God receives glory. But as we’ve seen, and as Paul points out again in this morning’s passage, we’re not capable of being filled with God’s fullness on our own. Certainly that is something that is immeasurably more that we could ever ask for or imagine. That’s why we need His power at work in our lives.
So in the next three chapters, Paul is going to give us some practical advice about how we, as the church, can together live our lives in such a manner that they will bring glory to God. The first verse of chapter 4 introduces that whole section:
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.
Ephesians 4:1 (NIV)
In the first three chapters, Paul has described the calling we have received. And in the next three chapters, he gives us some practical guidance for how we can live lives that are worthy of that calling. Frankly, what he’ll describe to us is often simple, but it’s never easy. It’s only possible for us to live in that manner if the power of God continues to work in our lives.
I mentioned to you at the beginning of this message that this has always been one of my favorite passages. But after looking at it again in a whole new light, I can now tell you that this is no longer one of my favorite passages in God’s Word. It’s not one of my favorites. It is without a doubt, my very favorite passage. The two powerful verses remind me of how God has already done immeasurably more than I could ever ask or imagine in my life. And they are also an encouragement for me to live my life in a way that will give Him glory as that power continues to work in my life.
That’s a whole lot better than a genie in the sky.
