This Advent we have been fixing our eyes on Jesus; who he is, why he came. I’d like to continue to fix our eyes on Jesus by looking at who we are in light of who he is; he is the great Apostle; we are the ones he was sent to. He is our great High Priest; he came to give his own life as a sacrifice for our sins. He became human so that as a man he could die for our sins; he is not ashamed to call us brothers. He is God’s final Word, to reveal to us who God is, and it is a word of grace and truth. He is the greater Prophet like Moses; performing mighty acts of deliverance, setting captives free, leading us through this wilderness, and leading us in to all the promises of God. Jesus was sent from his Father’s side, became human, was born of a virgin in order to put the glory of God on display, pay my price, die for my sins and bring me into relationship with himself. He came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mk.10:45). He came not for the righteous but sinners (Mt.9:13), he came to seek and to save the lost (Lk.19:10).
Now what? We understand that Jesus came to save us from the wrath to come (1Thes.1:10). But what did he save us to? What did he save us for? What is our purpose?
To God Be Glory In The Church (Ephesians 3:21)
The New Testament letter to the Ephesians is a letter about the glory of God on display in the church. Ephesians 3:21 is a key verse:
Ephesians 3:21 to him [God] be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
The church is a primary means God uses to bring glory to himself. I want to walk through Ephesians today and look at God’s purposes for us, the church.
Ephesians 1; Every Spiritual Blessing to the Praise of His Glory
The letter is addressed to the saints, those made holy through faith in Jesus. It begins by blessing God, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing. His choosing us, his predestining, his adopting us, is all (according to 1:6) ‘to the praise of his glorious grace’. His redeeming us, his forgiving us (1:7) is ‘according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us’. His purpose, his ultimate plan for the fullness of time was ‘to unite all things in him’ (1:10). In verse 12, Paul writes of himself and his fellow Jewish believers, we have obtained an inheritance, we were predestined, ‘so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory’. In verse 13, he turns to the Gentile believers in Ephesus and says ‘you also’;
Ephesians 1:13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory
Jew and Gentile both heard the word of truth, the good news of salvation through Jesus, both believed in him; both sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, both made co-heirs of the inheritance, both redound to the praise of his glory.
Verse 15 overflows with thanksgiving to God, and he prays that God:
Ephesians 1:17 ...may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, ...
We need God’s gift of spiritual strength, the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, we need the eyes of our hearts enlightened to know, to comprehend, to understand what we have been given in Christ, our hope, our inheritance, the supernatural resurrection power that is at work in us who believe in Jesus. So Paul prays for us, that we would know, that our hearts would be opened to perceive what we have been given.
God’s Gift of Jesus and The Church the Fullness of Him
Thoughts of the resurrection naturally turn his heart to Jesus, whom God raised from the dead,
Ephesians 1:20 ...and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
Ephesians 1:22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
God put all things under Jesus’ feet, and the Father gave Jesus as head over all to the church. Listen, Jesus is God’s gift to the church! Here Paul mixes metaphors; Jesus is head, sovereign, top of the org chart, in authority over all, in control. And he is head of the church, which is his body. As a body is not alive without its head, the church cannot live disconnected from Jesus. In a stunning phrase, here the church is called ‘the fullness of him who fills all in all’. We, you and I, the church, are the fullness of Christ who fills all in all. Jesus, being fully God, is omnipresent, and one way he makes his omnipresence known here on earth is through us, his body, the church. His life flows from the head through all the members of his body, and his presence extends into this world primarily through his blood-bought people, the church.
Ephesians 2; Salvation Displays His Glorious Grace
Ephesians 2 looks at us in our dead and helpless state, in treacherous rebellion and sinful disobedience, in our passionate lusts, deserving God’s hot and holy wrath, and says ‘But’;
Ephesians 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
God’s amazing grace toward us is for our good and for his own glory. Driven by his own great mercy and steadfast love, he made us alive, and this puts on display his own great love and grace.
Ephesians 2:7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
We are his workmanship, meant to showcase his glory and great grace.
Jew and Gentile Built Together in One Body
Ephesians 2:11-12 highlights the deep divide between Jew and Gentile, those who were separated, alienated, strangers, without God and without hope. ‘But’;
Ephesians 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.
The chasm bridged by the blood of Christ, the dividing wall broken down in the broken body of Jesus, the law of commandments and ordinances abolished, the hostility killed by his cross. Jesus is our peace. He has made us one, one new man, both reconciled to God in one body, in the church.
Ephesians 2:18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
Believing Gentile and believing Jew alike have access to the Father in the one Holy Spirit. Fellow citizens with the saints. Members of the household of God. Together built on the the one foundation, Christ, to whom the whole Bible points, and in whom we are cemented together, growing together, being built together into a dwelling place for God. The church, not a building but a people; we, believers, whatever our background, built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
Ephesians 3; The Mystery – Made Members of the Same Body
In Ephesians 3, Paul talks about the mystery that was hidden in ages past but ‘has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit’ (3:5).
Ephesians 3:6 This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
Israel was God’s chosen people, distinct and separate from all the other nations. But now, in Christ Jesus, through the gospel, Jew and Gentile together are made co-heirs of the promises, are made members of the same body, the body of Christ, the church.
Displaying God’s Wisdom to Heavenly Rulers
Paul was uniquely privileged to proclaim this message.
Ephesians 3:8 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, 9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, 10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
God’s purpose of uniting Jew and non-Jew into one body the church, put the multifaceted wisdom of God on display to angels and demons.
Ephesians 3:11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.
Through faith in Christ, we have access into the heavenly realms, to the very throne of God himself.
In verse 14, he again prays for the church;
Ephesians 3:16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Paul prays for Holy Spirit enabled power to grasp the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge. He prays for this knowing to happen in the church, together with all the saints. This is not an individual knowing; this is a corporate knowing. We can’t fully appreciate the love of Christ on our own; we need the body. God gets glory in the church when the church together begins to comprehend the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, when Christ dwells in our hearts and the church is filled with all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 4; Founded on Truth, Exhorted to Unity
Having laid the gospel foundation in chapters 1-3, Paul builds on that foundation by exhorting the church in chapter 4:
Ephesians 4:1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
This Holy Spirit created unity calls for humility, gentleness, bearing with one another in love. This exhortation is founded on the theological truth of the unity of the body of Christ.
Ephesians 4:4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
One Body; Many Body Parts
There is one body, connected to the one head, our Lord Jesus Christ, united by one Holy Spirit, to glorify one God and Father. But this one body, the church, is made up of unique and diverse body parts.
Ephesians 4:7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. 8 Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” ...11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
This one body, the church, is made up of each one of us, unique diverse body parts, each equipped with gifts given to us by Jesus. Some are leaders gifted to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. Notice the work of the ministry is done by the saints, not by those gifted with leadership alone. Leaders are equipped by God to equip the saints, to build up the body, to promote unity, to know Jesus better, to grow us up to maturity, to protect us from false doctrine and false teachers. But it is not only those gifted with leadership that are gifted.
Ephesians 4:15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
The whole body, every body part, every joint, every ligament, gifted to speak truth, to build up one another in love, each part working properly, growing up in every way into christlikeness. In verse 25 we are to speak truth ‘for we are members of one another’. In verse 29,
Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
Did you know, you recipients of God’s amazing grace, that you have the Spirit empowered ability to extend the grace of God to others through your words? Each of us, using our God given gifts, are to seek to build up the body.
In Ephesians 5:18, we are to
Ephesians 5:18 ... be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
In 5:22-33, our marriages are to point to ‘Christ, who is the head of the church, his body; the church submitting to Christ; Christ who loved the church and gave himself up for her, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, as he nourishes and cherishes the church as members of his body.
We, the church, believers in Jesus, have a high and holy calling, to be the body, to give grace, to build one another up in love, to know and display together the immeasurable riches of God’s grace, to bring God glory in his church.
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2026.01.04 Sermon Notes
Glory to God in the Church (Ephesians)
To God be glory in the church
Ephesians 3:21
Every spiritual blessing is to the praise of his glory
Ephesians 1:6, 7, 12, 14
~ prayer for spiritual perception (Ephesians 1:15-19) ~
God gives Jesus as head to his body the church
Ephesians 1:22
The church is the fullness of him who fills all in all
Ephesians 1:23
Salvation displays his glorious grace
Ephesians 2:1-7
Jew and Gentile are reconciled to God in one body
Ephesians 2:11-22; 3:1-6
The church displays Gods wisdom to heavenly rulers
Ephesians 3:8-10; 6:12
~ prayer for strength to know together (Ephesians 3:14-21) ~
The one body has many diversely gifted parts
Ephesians 4:7-16, 25, 29; 5:18-21
Marriage points to Christ in relation to his bride
Ephesians 5:22-33
