Glory

Glory - praise and thanksgiving offered as an act of worship to a deity.


Ephesians 3
²⁰Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope. ²¹May he be given glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever through endless ages. Amen.


In this letter to the church at Ephesus, Paul is writing to a group of believers who are rich in Jesus Christ, but don’t seem to realize it. Paul starts off by reminding them of all the things that they have as a result of their position in Christ Jesus – salvation, spiritual blessings, wisdom. He then reinforces the fact that the Gentiles are just as much a part of the family as the Jews. The mortar that joins every believer to the Chief Cornerstone is the blood of Jesus Christ. God is no respecter of persons.


In this chapter, Paul describes what he calls the secret plan of God – every person on earth has an equal opportunity to become a child of the King. His mission, ordained by God, is to make sure that the Gentiles have opportunity to hear the Good News and accept the message of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for our sins. Not only was God inviting the Gentiles into His family, He was opening the doors of His church to them. This revelation was being made in order that the world could see all of the children of God worshiping together


Paul goes on to tell us that the wisdom of the concept of one church for all believers is so overwhelming to him that he can do nothing short of falling to his knees in prayer and worship. His prayer for the church is that it appropriates the strength God has made available to us, that we grow in the knowledge of God and His love, and that we experience the depth of His love, even though we will never be able to fully understand just what that means. Once we have done these things, we will be filled with the “fullness of life and power that comes from God.”


All of this culminates in one result – glory to God. If we are to accomplish anything as a church, it must be a direct result of the power of God at work in our body. We cannot even imagine what God can do with a church that is committed to being a tool of the Father in the Kingdom’s work. Our finite minds cannot process that kind of input.


How will we know when we are operating in the infinite power of God? It won’t show up as numbers on a graph, or pictures on the wall. Our success in moving toward becoming the church that God wants us to be will be reflected in the attitude of each member of the body. There can be one, and only one reason for the things that we do as a church, and that is to bring glory to the God. Any other outcome is unacceptable. Our attitude of worship must permeate the lives of those around us, no matter where we are. Worship is not restricted to a place or a time – we must glorify the Father at all times, and in all places.


We serve an awesome God!!!!!