Monday, January 8, 2018

Praying for God's glory in Christ's Church

"To [God] be the glory, in the church and in Christ Jesus, for ever and ever, Amen." (Ephesians 3:21)

As we begin our prayer week tonight, we start by reminding ourselves that all our prayers this week are to be directed towards this one great and glorious theme: God's glory.

The Bible makes the following statements about God's glory:
  • All things were created, and all things exist for God's glory. 
  • God causes all things to work out for His glory .
  • Whatever we find ourselves doing, we are to do it for God's glory.
  • God will not share His glory with another.
In our prayer weeks of years gone past, we have made the theme of our first meeting, "Our Father in heaven, hallowed by Your Name."

This year, I want us to think about what that practically looks like in our lives and in our churches.

Breathtakingly, in Ephesians 3:21, Paul tells us that in the new covenant, the primary way God's glory is to be manifested in the world is "in the church."

In the OT, God's glory was manifested at various times and in various places, but primarily, His glory was manifested in the Jerusalem Temple.

When Jesus, the God-man, entered into the world He created, God's glory was manifested most clearly in Him and His "signs."

But now that Christ has finished His task of redemption, and has been raised to His Father's right hand, the Spirit, who was poured out from the Father and Son, now reveals the triune God's glory in and through Christ's church.

If this is so, this is humbling.

If this is so, we must pray.

As the all-sufficient and self-existent God, He does not need us to glorify Him, as if some how we can "add" to His glory. If that were so, He would be needy, and thus not God, and thus (definitely) not worthy of our praise.

And yet, as the all-sufficient and self-existent God who loves, He pours out His glory and manifests it for the good of His people.

And it is in the gracious pouring out of His glory that we as His creation respond to that "out-poured" glory by "glorifying" Him. When we as the creation behold God's glory, the only fitting (and logical) response is to glorify Him by ascribing Him to be the all-glorious One, who alone is worthy of blessing and honor and praise and glory.

According to Ephesians 3:13, God has chosen the church to be the primary vessel and means by which He manifests His glory (lit. "weightiness") to His creation.

And so, this week, let us pray that God would be glorified in and through His church:
  • As she faithfully preaches the gospel of the glory of Christ.
  • As she becomes more and more holy, as her triune God expresses His glory in her holiness.
  • As she grows through conversion and multiplies Christ's "seed" to the ends of the earth, showing the world of His power to regenerate and justify ungodly and sinful enemies.
  • As she expresses God's sufficiency and power by becoming a people of prayer.
  • As we reflect God's glory by loving others as He loves us.
  • As the church reflects more and more the "glorious" new creation God has always planned to bring about in Christ.
May God be greatly glorified in Christ's church this year! Let us pray and pray and pray that through Christ's bride, our great Father in heaven would be "hallowed" and set apart as all-glorious.

In Christ, and for His glory to the ends of the earth, through His church,
pastor ryan




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