Grow With Pastor Joe

Secondly, we must respond to God’s excellent sufficiency. Read Eph. 3:20 once again. Just for good measure, one more time. Now, we must see here as well that God is not only excellent in His ability but also His sufficiency. God is the only self-sufficient being. He is eternally self-existent and therefore eternally self-sufficient. God is fine on His own. He doesn’t need anyone or anything else, yet He delights in revealing Himself to His creation and being in relationship with us through Christ. The sufficiency of God is seen in the phrase, “according to the power that worketh in us.” Our sufficiency is not from ourselves but from His very work for, in, and through us. God is sufficient and we are not. This is the very reason that Paul prayed for a fuller awareness and application of such truths found in Eph. 3:14-19. The more I see myself as unable and insufficient, then the more I depend upon His ability and sufficiency to make me able to live in Christ. God has and is all that we need. Notice first that God’s presence is sufficient in the life of the believer. All things in our life would fall apart without His presence. Even in your trials and afflictions He is present. Though you may not feel Him there He has not left you. It hasn’t even crossed His mind. It is the presence of Christ in us by the indwelling Holy Spirit that we are strengthened, sanctified, sustained, and satisfied (Eph. 3:16-17). Nothing but the presence of Christ is sufficient for every need. As Psalm 23 demonstrates, it’s the presence of the Good Shepherd that provides and protects the sheep. This phrase also serves to remind us that God’s power is sufficient. My power to live the Christian life is not sufficient outside of His power at work in and through me. Faith embraces enabling grace to experience and express the all-sufficient power of God in our life. His power alone is sufficient to strengthen, sanctify, sustain, and satisfy us from the inside out. It is God’s sufficient power at work in us that will complete His will in our life (Phil. 1:6). God’s power is sufficient to begin, continue, and complete His work in us through Christ by the Holy Spirit for our good and His glory. God’s excellent sufficiency is also seen in His promises to all who are in Christ. The first three chapters of Ephesians have been chock-full of God’s promises and provision for us in Christ. He promises to each believer His presence and power to be always available and achieving His good pleasure in and through us. These promises are based upon His sufficiency and ability. It is for these excellencies of God that Abraham was able to continue to persevere in faith. Romans 4:19-22 says, “¹⁸ Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.¹⁹ And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb:²⁰ He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;²¹ And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.²² And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.” Like Abraham, we are to respond to God’s sufficiency and ability in faith. His sufficiency is our confidence to ask in faith for His abundant answers to prayer. We fail to experience His abundant power when we don’t abundantly ask of them in faith. God’s sufficiency is eternal and effective; therefore, I am free to come and ask greatly of Him in faith. We typically pray limited prayers to our limitless God. A.B. Simpson writes,

“Our God has boundless resources. The only limit is our asking, thinking, our prayers are too small. Our expectations are too limited.”

Because God is excellent in His sufficiency and ability, we should trust that not only can He provide what we need but that He can surpass in His provision all that we ask or think. When we think little of His sufficiency and ability then we ask little of Him who is able and willing to do more than we ask or think. If there is anything that would “strengthen the inner man” (Eph. 3:16-17) it is the ability and sufficiency of God in Eph. 3:20. He is more than sufficient and able to provide what you need. He is more than enough for all situations, struggles, sins. We miss out on His power working in us when we are not walking in communion with Him. When we aren’t walking in communion through the union that we have with Him then we often ask very little or with very little confidence of faith. Don’t forget who you are praying to. Don’t forget who you belong to. Don’t forget your wealth in Him and His unimaginable care for you. Don’t forget to praise Him who is excellent in sufficiency and ability.

            Thirdly, and lastly, we must respond to the excellence of God’s glory. Eph. 3:21 says, “²¹ Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” The glory of God is the message and motivation of the Bible. Redemptive history from Genesis to Revelation declares the glory of God. God’s glory is the foundation of our wealth in Christ and is the focus of our walk in Christ. Everything is from, by, to, and for His glory. God’s glory is greater than all the glory of every king or rich man that has ever lived. His glory is more glorious than the stars and galaxies because He made them Himself and for Himself (Rev. 4:11). There is no comparison to God’s glory. There is no calculating His excellency. It will take all of eternity to comprehend His glory and praise Him for excellent greatness and we still won’t reach the beginning or ending of the excellency of His glory. God’s glory in this verse expresses two incredible truths.

One, God’s glory is the ultimate purpose of all things. It is the provision of our wealth and purpose of our walk in Christ. This ultimate purpose of His glory is for Him to reveal to us His intrinsic glory. God’s intrinsic glory is the expression of His eternal excellency in His attributes and actions. It is the sum of all that He is and does. The glory of God is revealed to us progressively. We can’t handle all that God is and does at one time. God’s glory is revealed in His creation. His person and power are on display beginning in Gen. 1:1. God’s glory is revealed in His covenants. God’s promises and provision are seen in His covenants from the Garden of Eden to Noah to Abraham to Isaac to Jacob to Moses to David and ultimately in the New Covenant in Christ. God’s glory is more gloriously revealed in and by Jesus Christ (John 1:14). He is the sufficient and complete revelation of God (Heb. 1:1-3). All that we need to know and see of God’s glory is revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ. The excellency of God’s glory is further demonstrated in His Church. A unified body of believers (both Jew and Greek) who are brought together with and in Christ speaks eternally of God’s glory. Only He could do such. It is the Church that is responsible today to declare and display the glory of God in our walk in Christ. We are on display for the world and angels to see. The glory of God is to be seen today in the church (and individual believer) who walks in the wealth in Christ and by Christ’s ever working power in us. God will continue to reveal His glory through His Church until the great consummation day of all things in Jesus Christ. From beginning to the ending of all things, God’s glory is the ultimate purpose. The ultimate purpose of the excellence of His glory is not only to reveal His intrinsic glory but for Him to be ascribed glory, honor, praise, and reverence. The deeper we go in the doctrinal truths, namely our union with and in Christ, we will have a higher doxology. We can go no further than our praise rises. Our devotion in our walk can’t spread or grow wider until our roots grow deeper through doctrine and higher in doxology. God’s glory is all encompassing and all things in our life should have His glory in view. We are often blinded by the twinkling lights of the world that we can’t see or focus upon the excellency of God’s glory.

Two, we must see and respond to the unending permanence of His glory. Eternity is not a big enough container to hold the glory of God. Even infinity falls short of God. God’s glory is permanent. It is the only permanent thing in the universe. His glory specifically is permanently seen in His Church by His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:6, 12, 14; 2:7). Each believer is to live for His glory. His universal body and each local body are to live for His glory. We gather for His glory. We sing for His glory. We pray for His glory. We fellowship for His glory. We disciple others for His glory. We are witnesses for His glory. We respond to His preached word for His glory. We forbear and forgive one another for His glory. We breathe for His glory. We are for His glory. God desires and deserves to be glorified both now and forever. Throughout all time, in all places, by all people, He is to be glorified. God is concerned for His glory, and we should be too.

            How do we respond to the excellence of His glory, sufficiency, and ability? With a humble and hearty, “AMEN!” To give an “amen” is to acknowledge and affirm the doctrine that has been presented. We should amen the doctrine through doxology and amen to apply it by faith in a walk of devotion. We can’t walk in devotion until we “amen” the wealth of doctrine presented to us in the first three chapters. The whole purpose of these two verses of praise filled prayer is to show us that there is no separating doctrine from devotion, the positional from the practical, or the wealth in Christ from our walk in Christ. Everything in the Christian life is connected by praise to God for His excellency. In Eph. 1 we respond with an “AMEN” to our redemption in Christ. In Eph. 2 we respond with an “AMEN” to our reconciliation in Christ. In Eph. 3 we respond with an “AMEN” to our realities in Christ. We are in Christ and He is in us. Amen. Amen and Amen. God has been for you in Christ in eternity past and will continue to be in eternity future. All that He is and does is for our eternal good and His eternal glory. Can you say “amen” to the truths of Ephesians? Do you know that you are in Christ? Is your life consumed with His glory in mind? God is able and willing to extend Himself to you today to either save you or strengthen you. By faith, respond to His grace in Christ. By faith, walk in the wealth you have in Christ. Keep praying in faith. Keep participating in His work for, in, and through you by faith. Keep praising Him for the riches of His glory in our wealth and walk in Christ. Give your impossibilities to the God of possibility. Give your limitations to the limitless One. May we grow to know the excellency of God as we walk in our wealth in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Grow with me as we study the believer’s wealth and walk in Christ.

Grow deeper.

Grow higher.

Grow wider.