Ephesians: On Purpose - Mar 02, 2025 (Paul Whittingstall)

Hello and welcome to the Redemption Church Podcast.

We're a church in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada that exists to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission and the Spirit of the Great Commandment.

Thanks for joining us today.

Well, what a privilege it is for me to be here and uh to open God's Word and uh to share it with you.

And we're gonna dive into that and try and move fairly quickly uh through our text today.

But as I was sitting there watching the video and uh hearing and reminiscing and all of the rest of it, uh my mind went to uh my life verse, not my wife, my wife's and my life verse, 1 Corinthians 15, 58.

Um Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

You know, there are not very many churches where you can have a tenth anniversary and staff have turned over, where everybody comes back and they're glad to do it.

Right?

That's a that's a cherished thing in a church.

Um so Jeremy Laverty, your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

Jeremy.

Mike, your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

Uh Miles, your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

And uh God is at work in his church for his glory, and it is just a privilege, a privilege to be here.

Well, I want to talk to you about a message that I've entitled On Purpose, a staying on purpose.

And what does that look like in a church?

What does that look like in your church?

Um, the very first song we sang had a line in it said, We are here for you.

Uh, purpose statement of our church is to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission in the spirit of the great commandment, to glorify God.

Statement in your church is lost people saved, um, saved people matured, matured people multiplied.

Why?

All for the glory of God.

The purpose of the church is the glory of God.

But not only that, the purpose of your life is the glory of God.

1 Corinthians 10, 31.

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

We're gonna look in uh Ephesians chapter 3.

Ephesians 3 · chapter mention

I would invite you to stand with me.

We do this in our church, but stand as we honor God, as we read his word.

I'm gonna start in verse 7 down to the end of the chapter, and then we'll dive right into the text.

Of this gospel, I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power.

To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ and to bring to light for everyone that is in the plan is in the plan of mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things.

So that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

This was according to the eternal purpose that he realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.

So I ask you to not lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.

For this I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and the length and the height and the depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all of the fullness of God.

And now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.

Amen.

Lord, as we dive into this text, as we look at your word, would you, through the power of your spirit, give us ears to hear and minds to comprehend.

But then, Lord, faith to live these things out for the glory of our Savior Jesus Christ, for your glory, God, through this, through this living organism, the church.

We pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Thanks.

You can take your seats.

To glorify God is to extol his attributes, his holiness, his faithfulness, his mercy, his grace, his majesty, his sovereignty, his power, his omniscience.

Those are just a few of the names that we know about God.

But in the text, the writer said Paul says, Paul says that we are to be about the glory.

To him, be glory in the church.

And as I was uh going through this text, I really, it's a seven-point sermon.

You'll think we're gonna be here a long time today, man.

No, we're gonna move.

Believe me, we're gonna move.

But I want to pull out like seven nuggets, hopefully, that were in Paul's life from the text that should be in my life, should be in all of our lives as followers of Jesus Christ, but and should be an example of what we're going for as the church.

So seven truths that keep us focused on our purpose, which is to glorify God.

Here's the first one.

It's found in verse 7, is to understand the value of the gift.

Understand the value of the gift.

In verse 7, it says, Of this gospel, I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power.

Paul calls himself a minister, that I was made a minister, a servant or an official given a particular area of responsibility.

It's a title to serve.

The Greek word literally means to be a table waiter, to serve tables.

To this gospel, I was made a servant, a table waiter to this gospel.

You think about Paul and what he came from and how he persecuted the church and the transformation of his life.

And I love that at the beginning of this he said, the gift of God's grace.

For by grace you're saved through faith, not of yourselves.

It's a gift from God, not of works, so that no one could ever boast.

And Paul, over and over and over again in his letters and in this letter, talks about the grace of God poured out for us.

God not giving us what we deserve and giving us what we don't deserve.

He says, of this gospel I was made a minister.

And on a day like this in a church that focuses on the word and focuses on the gospel of Jesus Christ, it would be wrong for me to assume that everybody in the room is a follower of Christ.

The whole core of what Paul is talking about is the transformation that happened in his life when he understood who Christ was and what Christ did for him.

A Christ, a separation from his father to come to earth and then his hanging on a cross to pay the price to satisfy the price that God required so that I could have eternal life.

The Bible says there's no one who seeks after God.

You hear people all the time say, well, no, I was seeking for God.

Actually, no, you weren't.

The Bible says no man seeks after God.

Nobody does.

Well, no, no, but I did.

No, that's because God did a work in your heart.

If God didn't do a work in your heart, you'd have never sought after him.

And so God begins this work in us and draws us, and then we understand the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And then you come to a place.

This is what it's all about.

When he talks about the gospel, he's talking about the good news that was made available through Jesus Christ.

And I come to the place of my separation from God can only be satisfied by the work of Jesus Christ.

And I put my faith and trust in Christ alone for my salvation.

The amazing thing about God is I don't have to earn it.

I don't deserve it.

He doesn't.

My part is belief.

I come to that place of understanding the work of Christ, and I turn from what I believed in before.

I'm okay.

I can get to God on my own.

And none righteous, no, not one.

No man seeks after God.

The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ the Lord.

I come to that understanding.

The Bible says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved.

And I turn.

There's a repentance that happens.

I don't follow that one anymore because Jesus Christ is awesome and what he's done for me is amazing, and I want more of that in my life.

Paul did that in Acts chapter 9, the road to Damascus.

Acts 9 · chapter mention

He met Christ and he was saved.

And the question for you today is: have you put your trust in Jesus Christ?

See, a church that is about the glory of God is a church where its members are focused on the gospel and what God has done and his salvation for us.

Never forget.

Help us never forget so that we don't show up on Sunday and we're thinking, well, I'm doing my kids' ministry.

I'm doing my we're here to glorify God.

If you're a greeter at the door, you're here to glorify God.

If you're an usher, you're here to glorify God.

If you're serving in kids' ministry, you're to glorify God.

If you serve on the worship team, your job is to glorify God.

If you're the preacher on Sunday morning, one job, glorify God.

Glorify God.

We lose sight of that so often.

I do it all the time.

I lose sight of it and it becomes about the thing I'm doing.

And it's like, oh, this is so tiring.

This is so, I don't know if I can do this anymore.

It's because my focus is on the wrong thing.

Understand the value of the gift of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It will keep you, it will keep you in focus.

Living a life on purpose.

To live on purpose, here's the second thing.

We have to understand our position.

Look at verse 8.

He says, To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.

Paul never forgets that he was once a persecutor of the church.

He says, I am the least of all of the saints.

The humility that Paul talks about, if anybody had a right, terrible word these days, but had a right to gloat in what he deserved and what he should be getting, it would have been him.

But this man's writing this letter from prison.

And he's talking about being the very least of all the saints, the grace that was given to me to do what?

To preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.

I am the very least, but I've been called to preach.

The word preach there literally means to announce the good news.

And we're all called to that in our lives, in our in our individual lives, with our families and with our kids and with our neighbors and with our co-workers and with our extended family, all of us.

You may not stand up here on a Sunday morning and preach.

But you're proclaiming a message.

And Paul saw in his life the reality that he got to preach to the Gentiles, the unsearchable riches of Christ, to announce the good news.

The Gentiles were outside of the picture of God's working and his standing, and through the gospel of Jesus Christ, now the message of the gospel is open to the Gentiles.

Hey, folks, that's us.

That's us.

And Paul's like, how awesome it is that I get to announce the good news of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles.

But he does it from a heart of humility.

I am the least.

I am the least.

Again, so not like I would be.

And I'm so thankful for the lessons I can learn from Paul because I think if I was in prison, there'd be a little bit of woe is me going on, and I deserve some things here.

And he's like, I deserve nothing.

Jesus Christ deserves all of the glory.

And if we want to be a church that's moving forward and on purpose, we're a church that understands we are people of humility because Christ is exalted, and we are a people with a responsibility to share this good news that God has given us.

That's two.

Here's the third one.

To live on purpose, we have to understand the importance of this message.

The importance of this message.

Look at verse 9.

And to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery.

In the Old Testament, this old mystery, looking forward to a Messiah that would come, looking forward to the one who would satisfy what the law could not accomplish.

And so we have Paul sharing this message and the passion of this message to bring to light for everyone.

What is the plan of the mystery of the one who created all things?

You know, you talk about the responsibility that you have.

You talk about the responsibility that your pastor has.

You need to pray for him just from that verse alone to proclaim the mystery of the good news of the one who created the world.

You have to pray for your elders of your church that they would never lose focus, right?

So thankful to God for this church.

Ten years of faithfulness.

But a few bad decisions, a couple compromises, and that focus could be lost.

The importance of the message.

Paul's passion was to make the gospel known to all people.

He wanted everyone to see and share in the fellowship of this mystery, which was the gospel hidden from ages from God.

The great truth, the fellowship of the mystery that was hidden, was revealed in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

And so Paul is now on the other side of it.

He sees it, he understands it, and now he has one focus in his life.

One focus in his life.

The glory of God, the proclamation of the gospel.

Here's the next thing.

We have to understand the big picture.

If we're going to live on purpose, we need to be people who understand the big purpose.

You see, I live in a world, you live in a world where we're so focused on what's happening today, what's happening tomorrow, what's happening next week.

And I was before I came today, I was looking at my calendar for this week, and I was putting some stuff in, and my focus was on my to-do list and some of those things, and we lose sight of the big picture of what God has called us to.

It's interesting.

I'm 66 years old.

I know you can't believe that, but you think you must be 70 at least, right?

I'm 66 years old.

At 40 years old, I didn't think a lot about eternity.

Not a lot.

I knew that I was saved.

I knew that I had eternal life.

And I knew that there was so I knew there was something wonderful that was coming.

I knew all of that was a at 66.

I think more and more and more about this truth.

This was according to the eternal purposes that he has revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him, according to the eternal purpose which he has realized or accomplished in Christ Jesus.

The work of what God has done had an eternal sense back before creation, and it has an eternity sense moving forward.

And we, me, need to be so careful that we don't get caught up in today so much that we lose sight of what is coming.

You see, here's what happens in my life.

I go through some struggles and somebody asks me a question and I get ticked off or frustrated, and I'm like, why can't life be easier?

Why can't life be easier?

And I forget.

I forget.

This is just like a blip.

My citizenship isn't even here.

My hope is not in what gets accomplished today or tomorrow.

My focus is on what is coming and all that God has for us and the eternity that we have, the plan of eternal past, and the plan of eternity moving forward and remembering this was all part of God's eternal purpose for us.

Through faith in Him.

And then He talked about the identity of boldness and access and confidence.

The word for boldness there is the idea of freedom of speech.

I can come to God with a freedom of speech when I'm struggling, when I'm hurting, when I'm.

And God loves it when his children come.

We're going to talk about prayer in just a moment, but we have the freedom to express ourselves before God without fear or with shame and come to God in our sin, in not a boldness of our sin, but in a boldness of what God has done and how he desires his children to come.

And when I'm frustrated before the Lord, I can come with boldness and say, God, God, what are you doing?

What are you doing?

And then get my eyes fixed on him.

If you don't believe that's true, you haven't read the Psalms.

You just need to go through and just see how David's like, God, where are you?

And there are days in your life when you want to, God, where are you?

What are you doing?

But David always comes around and he gets his eyes back on the Lord and trusts the Lord and believes, but we come with boldness because there's an eternal purpose that's happening here.

And God has given us access.

You ever think about that?

You have access to the King of Kings.

And we come with a confidence through faith in him.

You see, the purpose of the church is an eternal purpose.

It's the fulfillment of a plan that God had before the foundation of the world being fulfilled in us and moving towards something for his glory for eternity.

Ten years is wonderful.

And ten more, should the Lord tarry, will be hard and wonderful.

Because the Lord will build his church.

That's true in our lives when we're trying to figure stuff out.

And if we lose sight of the big picture and get so micro in everything, and and so those of you who serve in kids' ministry, especially those who serve in the nursery, you're getting a reward in heaven that the preacher is never getting, right?

You you deserve you deserve a reward.

Um but God is working in those things, God is working in those lives, and we need to understand the eternal purpose.

And when it's like those little rug rats, I don't think I can do this another Sunday.

Well, it's because you're thinking about today.

You're not thinking about the eternal purpose.

If you're uh we if you're working with a small group and you've got some Yahoos in your small group, and you all do.

You don't if you don't have Yahoos in your small group, you are the Yahoo in your small group.

Okay?

And you're there, and you're just like, I don't think I can do this, I don't want to do this anymore.

I think I've had enough.

I am so thankful in our church, our small group leader, his name is Kevin, he's been our small group leader for years.

I'm sure there are a hundred times where he's I don't think I'm gonna do this anymore.

I I think I I paid my dues, I did enough.

Jesus never said, I paid my dues for you, I did enough.

I'm just gonna walk away.

Because there was a focus on the eternal purpose.

Don't grow weary in doing good.

We'll come back to that.

So that's understand the big picture.

Here's the fifth one understand the struggle to remain faithful.

Understand the struggle to To remain faithful.

Remaining faithful is not going to be easy.

It was never promised.

God never promised us ease.

He promised to go with us.

He promised to help us.

He promised to be our strength.

In verse 13, it says, So I ask you not to lose heart.

And in this case, he's talking about don't lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is for your glory.

Though under arrest for the gospel, Paul didn't want them to be discouraged for his sake.

He wanted them to persevere.

He wanted them to keep on going.

So he said, don't lose heart because of what I'm going through.

Here, think about this.

Paul's in prison.

While he's in prison, he writes a number of letters.

He wrote Ephesians and Philippians and Colossians and Romans and all of these the prison epistles that he wrote.

Do you think Paul, in his wildest imagination, thought we would be talking about his letter to the Ephesians today?

He's in prison, he's writing this letter to them, and he writes a letter to the folks in Philippi and the folks in Colossae, and then he writes this amazing treatise for Romans.

And God did with his letters what he never imagined.

He didn't know when he was writing it.

He was writing what would be pages of scripture for us.

But he remained faithful.

He remained faithful.

He didn't know what the impact would be, but he remained faithful.

Miles mentioned that my wife is a prayer.

My wife is a prayer warrior.

She is just like a she's a machine about prayer.

Way better than I am.

And uh she prays for all of the pastors in GCC Canada and their kids every single week.

She prays for our elders, she prays for people in our church, she prays for all of our staff in our church, she prays for them all of the time.

And sometimes, bless her heart, she says, I don't know if the Lord likes what the Lord's doing, right?

But then we just came back from a retreat we were just at, and you hear people talking to her about, thank you for praying for my family, here's what's happened, thank you for praying for my family, here's what's happened, thank you for praying with me.

You don't know what God is doing through the service that you are giving for Him, and you may never know this side of glory, or you may not know for years down the road.

Uh Miles in his introduction talked about the impact that I had, indirect as it was, in two church plants that God has worked.

That's awesome what God works.

So don't grow weary in doing good.

In his heart, a man makes his plans, but God orders our steps.

Don't grow weary in doing good.

Maybe you've got kids and they're going sideways and you're like, I don't know, it's gonna, I don't know, I don't know.

And you want to control it and manipulate it and make it all right, and you can't do that.

And I would say to you today, don't grow weary in doing good.

We pray for our grandkids every single day that they would be saved.

Most of them are, some are still pretty young.

Pray for their salvation, pray for their sanctification.

We've got a grandson now who's turning 18 years old.

That's like ridiculous, is he's that old, but he's turning 18 years old.

And I reminded my daughter that Sue was 19 when we got married, and my daughter just about fainted.

It's like, oh my goodness.

And but you don't grow weary in praying for them, you don't grow weary in doing good.

And as long as there's breath, there's hope, you keep on praying and you don't give up.

And Paul says to them, Paul says to them, don't lose heart.

And certainly don't lose heart because of what I'm going through.

And then God took what what Paul was going through, and he wrote the pages that we have in Scripture, and some of you, your life was changed because of Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, for by grace are you saved through faith.

And that was the verse that was your salvation verse, a verse that he wrote to a church way back, no understanding that that would be the verse that would transform your life.

Drunk or weary.

We're doing this for the glory of God.

Two more things.

We have to understand who is our source.

This next section is a section about prayer, and I'm going to move through it quickly, but it's so critical.

It's also so important.

He says, for this reason, the basis of Paul's prayer was his knowledge of God's purpose.

For for this reason, I bow my knee.

I bow my knee before the Father.

Um these verses are, these next verses are all about prayer, and he says, For this reason, I bow my knee.

What reason?

I know who God is.

I know he is the one who is the source.

I know that's where I have to go.

If the church is going to bring glory to God, it's a church that will be bathing everything that it does in prayer.

And then he says, I bow my knees.

But why is that important?

It's a picture of utmost humility.

When you get down on your knees, it's a picture of utmost humility.

That was interesting because in the culture of the day, the normal posture of prayer would be to stand or to raise your hands, but it wasn't to get down on your knees.

And so Paul says, get down on your knees.

You don't have to do much of a study in scripture, and you'll find some people on their knees.

Solomon, Ezra, the psalmist, Daniel, uh, people coming to Jesus, fall on their knees, Stephen, Peter, Paul, the early Christians, and most importantly, Jesus.

They all prayed on their knees.

You're like, well, I don't have to get on.

I don't have to get on me.

That's a sign of a humility issue you've got.

I don't get on my knees enough.

We need to get on our knees before the Lord, because on our knees shows who's on the throne.

And uh, does God not hear my prayers if I don't get on my knees?

It depends on your heart.

But that picture is so important.

I love that he uses that here.

You know, the Bible talks about in Philippians that one day every knee is gonna bow.

Umne will, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

And again, maybe you're that person who's here and you're like, yeah, I'm not doing that.

I'm never bowing my knee to Jesus.

I'm never.

Respectfully, yes, you will one day.

One day we all will.

And some will bow the knee, and the Lord will say, But I never knew you.

And you'll be separated from God for eternity in hell.

Others will bow the knee, and it will be an awesome moment for us when we on our faces before God for all that he's done for us.

And so in this picture of prayer, Paul says, I bow my knee, I humble myself so that God can be the one who is glorified.

Paul prays for them.

I'm praying that according to the riches of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being.

The strength that we need, the power that we need is not in us, it's in God, and it's through him and through the working of his spirit that he works in his church for his glory.

Mike Armstrong is a pretty smart guy.

Miles is way smarter.

No, he's not.

Neither of those men can change a heart.

Only the Spirit of God does any work in the church.

And so we come to the Lord and we cry out to the Lord because we need what God can do and what only He can do.

It says that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, being rooted and grounded in love.

And verse 18 says, they may have strength to comprehend with all the saints, praying for one another that we can comprehend with the other saints what is the breadth and the length and the height and the depth.

The love of Jesus has breadth.

God's love is wide enough to include all kinds of people.

The love of Jesus has length.

God's love is long enough to last through all eternity.

And for you, from your failure, from failure to failure to forgiveness to forgiveness, God's love has depth, but deep enough to reach the worst sinner.

Because maybe you're here and you're like, God, if you only knew what I've done.

If you only knew what I've done.

I don't.

I do know that the guy who wrote this was a guy who consented to putting people to death for being Christians.

And God forgave him.

So I am certain that God's love is deep enough to reach the worst sinner.

You may like, well, yeah, but as a believer, you know, I'm I feel like I'm on the bench because of sin that's in my life.

Well, you, if we confess our sin, are there ramifications for sins?

Yeah, sometimes there are, for sure.

But but the depth of God's love and the restoration of God's love.

In our church this morning, uh Matt Rohr is there preaching on the restoration of Peter, the one who denies Jesus Christ.

He wasn't left on the bench, he turned his world upside down with the gospel.

And the love is high enough to take us to heaven.

This is what Paul is praying for them and desiring for them as a church, that they would understand who our resource is.

And then one more thing.

We understand who is our resource.

We understand who is our source in prayer, but we understand who is our resource.

And this is found in these last two verses.

Now to him who is able to do abundantly, more abundantly, than all we ask or think, according to the power at work within us.

To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.

Amen.

Who is our resource?

Now to him.

It starts out with now.

Now.

It's not like an agenda item, and we've got down to this agenda item.

That's not like that.

It's like, let's get at this right now.

Now.

And so for the Church of Jesus Christ here at redemption in Newmarket, this is for you now.

Now, God is calling us to be used for his glory, and he's calling us to be used for his glory now.

To him, to him.

Let's be clear about one thing.

Him is for sure not you.

The success of this church will not be on the back of the pastor or the elders or the key leaders.

The working of God's Holy Spirit to change lives and grow his church is to him.

Now to him.

What?

To be able to do.

Now to him who is able to do.

God does the work.

We are faithful.

God uses it.

I'm blown away this in my life all the time as a as a pastor, as a servant of Christ, and I'm an ambassador.

I make the appeal on behalf of God, and God is working through us, but the one who is changing hearts and lives is not me.

It's not your job to save your kid because you can't.

It's your job to be faithful and to persevere and to love the Lord Jesus and to lift him high and allow God to work in people's lives.

You are not the Holy Spirit in anybody's life.

Now to him who is able, able to do what?

The Bible talks about a lot of things, but save to the uttermost, subdue all things unto himself, deliver from fires of life, to build us up, to heal and set free, to keep us from falling, to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.

Understand who is our resource, redemption, new market, glorify God because he is your resource.

Far more abundantly.

And then he says, This above all that we ask or think.

What do you dream about that God could do in your church?

What do you dream about?

I remember I preached this in a series a long time ago in our church.

And you know, Lord, would you give us another hundred people?

Would you give us another 200 people?

Would you allow us to have 400 people?

And it wasn't a numbers thing.

We were talking about what does that look like as we were seeking to fulfill what God has called us to do.

Lord, would you make us a church of a thousand people?

And then what do I need to look like for that to happen?

Mean conform to the image of Christ so he can take us and use us.

And there are churches that that this is not God's plan for them to be like it is in Oakville with 4,000 people showing up on a Sunday morning.

God wants people to be faithful.

But what's the dream?

Above what you could ask or even imagine.

Because God is able to do that.

Beyond measure, beyond our wildest dreams.

How?

By His power.

Look what it says.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that's at work within us.

Not our ability to do, but the power of God that is working in us.

Anything that can be done, God can do.

Somebody said this to me one time, I've never forgotten this, because this is a doxology here, and it says, Doxology always leads to duty.

When we get a grasp of who God is, then coming out of that is a desire.

Then I need to yield to him.

I need to do whatever God wants me to do for his fame and for his glory.

Why?

Why?

Text says, to him be glory in the church.

Everything you do for the next 10 years or until the Lord comes is for the glory of the church.

See, I think sometimes, in my mind anyways, um, we get caught up in some of the other things that we're called to do.

Um we're not called to church growth, we're called to glory.

Listen carefully when I say this one.

We're not called to disciple making, although we are.

We do make disciples.

I'm not saying that.

We lose sight of what that is, though, if we don't have the glory on the throne of what we're doing.

Are we called to evangelism?

Yeah.

But we're called first to glory.

When God is on the throne, when his glory is first, discipleship and evangelism and baptisms and conviction and repentance and social justice things and more butts in the seats.

It's it's all there, because we're about God's glory.

And so maybe as you've been serving at the church and in the last little while, just like I do, you get tired and it's like, oh, I don't know.

Maybe I'll stay home this week.

It's because you lost sight of the glory.

Because we don't do what we do for me or for the pastor or for the elders or for my spouse.

We we need to be focused on a greater thing, which is the glory of our Savior Jesus Christ, who is the head of his church.

Well, how long is this for?

The text ends with for now and all eternity.

This is just a blip on the way to what God has for us forever.

Well, so what?

That's how I finish every message in our church.

So what?

Well, it's why we are here.

To discover the God who made us, to live for his glory, and to show off how awesome he really is so that others will see his glory too.

Are you tired?

Are you ready to go?

Hmm, I think I've had enough.

I'm not setting up another chair ever again in my life.

Because your eyes aren't on the glory.

I'm not working in that nursery with those stinky little diaper kids.

Because your eyes aren't on the glory.

I'm not gonna lead my small group anymore.

I've I've I paid my dues.

Really?

Just because your eyes aren't on the glory.

What is the thing in your life that's taking your eyes off of the glory?

And then remember these words now to him, who is able to do far more abundantly above all that you can ask or even imagine according to the power that works within us.

To him, be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.

Amen.

Let's pray.

Lord, thank you for your word.

I am always overwhelmed by the letters that Paul wrote and the passion that he had.

But he's the same guy who said, I don't do the things I should, and the things I should, I don't like.

He lived in the same world we lived in, and yet he learned to fix his eyes on Jesus Christ.

Teach me to do that.

Teach the elders here to do that.

Teach the teams who serve here to do that.

Teach the mom and dad who are tired of their kids not walking with you to fix their eyes on Jesus Christ where our hope is found.

Because, Father, we're not about us.

We're about you and about your glory.

Help me to do that better every day.

Help us to do that better every day.

Because when our eyes are fixed on you, we don't give up, we don't quit, we don't pack it in, we don't run away.

We trust you and watch what only you will do for your fame and for your glory.

We pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.