Scripture reading is from Ephesians 3 and we're finishing up that chapter today. I'm going to begin reading with verse 14 and read through verse 21, invite you to follow along with me. For this reason, I kneel before the Father from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth arise its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and I pray that you being rooted and established in love may have power together with all the saints to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is it work within us to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen. I don't know how many of you have ever played the game called Bigger and Better. Anybody played that? It's a youth group game or kind of a party game and you divide your group of 20 or 30 into two or three teams and you give each team a little golf short stubby pencil and you tell them to go into particular neighborhood and knock on doors and ask to swap that pencil for anything that they have that's bigger or better you know it might be a straw or it might be a knife or a fork or it might be a pillow or it might be a children's toy and then you you give them a time living of about an hour and you they just keep going to houses and whatever they get at that house they go to the next house and say would you swap us for something bigger and better than this toy or whatever whatever it is at that point. One year we did that and there was one group that in one hours time they came back with a truck and with a fairly new pool table in really good shape the other second group came back with a gas stove that that worked and the third group came back with a TV stereo console that was put to youth in the in the youth room youth room. Now what I think Paula saying in Ephesians 3 is that God himself plays a game of bigger and better except that it's not really a game not not to him who's able to do it measurably more than all we ask or or imagine according to his power that is at work within us to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen God God does something called bigger and better too we start with one expectation and in a short time God swaps it for something bigger and better and the what the thing is it's bigger and better is the glory of God. Now that doesn't mean that we always like it. Little Johnny wouldn't eat his oatmeal and his mom coaxed him and begged him to eat the oatmeal and he wasn't he wasn't going to budge and so she told him it tasted good that he would like it. He shook his head clenched his lips she told him it would make him bigger and better that it would make him big and strong like his dad. Oh he shook his head wasn't happening any part of it. Finally she told him it was the right thing to do but little Johnny still wasn't going to eat his oatmeal it was no dice and so in desperation this mom looked at her little boy and said Johnny if you don't eat your oatmeal God's going to get you and so am I. Johnny still wouldn't open his mouth he is oatmeal. So his mom sent him to bed early that night without any supper and a storm came through. Thunderstorm with lots of lightning and thunder and the house was kind of shaking and the mom went in to check on little Johnny and she opened the door and stuck her head in to look at him and he said to her you know mom this does seem like a lot of trouble to go to just over a bowl of oatmeal. Johnny like us wasn't so sure that bigger and better applied in this case. Have you ever had a feeling like that? Well in this particular instance God it doesn't seem like your plan is working well doesn't seem like you're getting glory that I'm getting blessed. Let me tell you about my adventure yesterday. Adventures in plumbing. I was invited yesterday to play golf but I knew that there were certain things that I needed to do around the house and Stacy's still out of town just coming back this afternoon. We've been out of town this week and I wanted to make sure the house would be ready and we have this bathroom shower that's been dripping, dripping, dripping and it's bothered her for some time. I won't tell you how long and so I thought you know my wife has she's really put out a lot of work this week. She's been caring for we've been caring for her to nephews and niece down in Florida and so I'm going to do something nice for her so I thought by golly I'm going to fix that dripping shower so you have to turn the water off to the house to do it. There's a cartridge that fits in there so I tried to pull the cartridge out I go to Home Depot and the guy says you don't actually need a whole cartridge you just need a couple of springs and washers and so I go home to try and do that and I put it all in and as I press it back in I broke the PVC pipe and I knew that if I go and turn the water back on now I'm going to have a terrible mess and I knew I was beyond my expertise so yesterday I had to call a plumber. Let me just tell you don't call a plumber on the weekend unless you have to because you can't afford it and so I thought I was trying to do something nice for my wife surely that would glorify God and I had this thought God this seems like a lot of trouble and expense to go to just for sermon illustration but it really was bigger and better and God reminded me yesterday that what runs the universe is not my plans but his and his glory let me tell you how that fits with Ephesians 3 the church at Ephesus was dismayed over the sovereignty of God they were dismayed over the sovereignty of God they were surprised at how quickly the church membership and Ephesus grew and there were a number of house churches in Ephesus they weren't sorry to see the church grow but they were flabbergasted shocked and dismayed at the way that God grew the church because even though they wanted people to come to know Christ as Messiah they never dreamed that God was going to flood the church with hated Gentiles it was a time of terrible terrible upheaval and Paul is just finished telling them in Ephesians 3 that God had been keeping this a secret for ages but he had always had plans for the gospel to reach people regardless of race and culture we saw that in chapter 3 verse 4 he says in reading this you'll be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ which was not made no in the men and other generations as it's now been revealed by the spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets this mystery is it through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel members together of one body and share his together in the promise in Christ Jesus and so Paul has been talking about the gospel's inclusiveness going into places and among people groups that they they wouldn't have dreamed of and these last two verses that we're considering today are a doxology of praise in which Paul is summing it all up and saying let me tell you now to him who is able to him measurably more than we ask or imagine according to his power that doesn't work within us to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever and so what is this doxology of praise about it's about one thing the glory of God the glory of God so point one God's glory is bigger than you God's glory is bigger than you again look at the text now into him who's able to do above here's another translation now under him who is that is able to do all above all abundantly above all exceeding abundantly above all then we ask or imagine now that might seem kind of stilted and repetitious but if you translate this passage from Greek that's pretty much what you get that is a more accurate word for word translation than we find in the in a in IV or ESV or anything like that let me read that again now under him that is able to do all above all abundantly above all exceedingly abundantly above all then we ask or imagine now think about the way that we pray I think this shows often how shortsighted our prayers are because there's some sort of crisis that we pray about and we're sure that that there's only one way for God to be glorified in this situation and so we pray specifically for that I think of Mary and Ashley's 16 year old niece Teresa Hodepp in Texas and the serious cancer that she is facing or I think of my brother-in-law Glenn who's 56 who is stage four cancer liver colon and so forth it's real easy to pray like this God here's the crisis this is what I want you to do and sometimes God does do that but what God is really consumed with is his own glory and so that's comes as a kind of a surprise to us at times but but after all the gospel is the biggest surprise of all the gospel isn't what anybody would have expected when you consider our sin can you imagine what it was like for the angels in heaven watching Adam and Eve being tempted in the garden and then falling into sin can you imagine what the angels anticipated would have been God's next step you know that we've brought in the sword that immediately it would have been off with the head but God did something bigger and better than what the angels expected or think about when you got married think about when you got married before you got married you thought this is going to be great all my needs are going to be met he or she is going to make me happy for the rest of my life you know what marriage is a wonderful thing but God has something bigger and better for you than that and that is to conform you to the image of Christ when Stacy and I got married 34 years ago next month I was like most grooms I was a lot more interested in loving myself than in loving my life now I didn't understand that about myself at the time but it was true and isn't that one of God's central purposes in marriage to show each of us look the world doesn't revolve around you the sun doesn't rise and set upon you the world revolves around the glory of God listen if God doesn't get that message through your head in getting married he does something even more drastic you know what it is he gives you kids oh my goodness the world doesn't revolve in me and so all of us start out like that game a bigger and better we start out with our little pencil of what we want in marriage what we want in our career what we want in terms of the church what we want in terms of our possessions and finances and there's this there's this huge emphasis on self and we would so I really want the glory of God but when you get right down to it that little pencil that we hold is a huge emphasis on self think about all these expressions be good to yourself take care of yourself watch out for yourself be happy with yourself go to the newsstand there is a magazine on the newsstand it's called self that's the name of the magazine and then there are other terms like self acceptance self confidence self help self fulfillment self knowledge self image self control self discipline self pity self reliance self actualization all about self bear in mind there's also self absorption self centeredness and self deception but here's the biggest point I want to make the trade up that God wants to see accomplished in you is the glory of God that's what's bigger that's bigger than you the glory of God second God's glory is not only bigger than you God's glory is better than anything you could ask or imagine God's glory is better than anything you could ask or imagine think about Joseph who was persecuted and sold by his brothers as a slave in the Egypt I'm I seriously doubt at the time that he expected to see him again slaves in that day normally didn't have a very long lifespan I doubt at that time as they threw him into the pit and as they sold him to a slave caravan I doubt that he would left saying I'm still going to rule over you you're going to see me in second and command over all of Egypt he probably had no idea how to pray other than God in some way used this to bring glory to yourself and that's what God did he not only preserved his brothers he not only preserved Jacob's family but he drew God drew many pictures in the life of Joseph as to what Jesus would be like and so not only is God's glory bigger than you it's it's better than what you could ask or imagine and it's it's a good way to pray when you don't know what to pray for or how to pray a good thing to pray for is God in some way use this to bring glory to yourself you know how Paul talks about enrollment so that how the the spirit groans within us I'm convinced that this is this is one of the central ways that the Holy Spirit groans within us Lord use this in some way to bring glory to yourself and Paul makes it clear that the consummation of all things one day when Jesus comes back is going to be the glory of God and so this is the principle that God's history this is the principle that rules the church of Jesus Christ the glory of God we talk in Presbyterian circles about the sovereignty of God God's providence is ordering of all things and so forth and yet God's sovereignty is inseparably linked to God's glory God's sovereignty is linked to God's glory and that's what Paul is concerned with here we need to be reminded of that we need to be reminded that God's glory is ultimately the machinery that moves the clock of heaven we need to be reminded of it and we need to be forgiven of it because that's normally not our agenda when that pipe broke yesterday and I had to call a plumber and it's time and a half on the weekends I wasn't thinking wonderful and yet God glorified himself in my heart yesterday even though that wasn't my number one agenda and so God's glory doesn't mean that we're always happy with everything that happens in our lives or in the church or in our homes Paul himself was taken by surprise that the gospel was going to the Gentiles but he's inviting us into this doxology of praise as well all right God has surprised all of us but as Psalm 115 says not to us O Lord not to us but to your name be the glory because of your love and faithfulness so point one God's glory is bigger than you point two God's glory is better than you could ask or imagine point three God's glory invites our participation God's glory invites our participation look again at the text now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is it work within us now I've already made the point that God's sovereignty is linked to God's glory and God's sovereignty and glory are also inseparably linked to his power now notice what Paul says here according to his power that is it work within us Paul's already said in Ephesians one that that Christ's power is so great that he rose from the dead Paul goes on to say that Christ was so powerful enough to reconcile both Jews and Gentiles to God and to each other and now in this doxology Paul is acknowledging that God's power is at work in us and that it's available to us beyond what we could ask or think God's power is available to you today beyond what you could ask or think they're not here today but if you could ask any member of my family what's the favorite family vehicle that you ever had they would all say our 1986 Volkswagen vanagan any other vanagan former vanagan owners here none one bless you 91 horsepower a vanagan is as streamlined as a shoebox which means not at all 91 horsepower but the beauty of them was that they held lots of kids and they held lots of stuff and I can remember driving over a mountain in Colorado all 91 horsepower four cylinders Stacey looking at me as we went up this 12,500 foot mountain and she looked at me and she said are we going to make it you know and from the back seat I hear one of the kids saying pedal harder dad it was it was pretty brutal and pretty scary one day the battery in our van went dead it couldn't hold a charge again I tried to recharge it so I knew I needed to replace it so I got the battery out and the battery was under the passenger side front seat that's just the way they they had them so I get the battery out I go in Walmart I guess and come back and install the battery and crank it up everything's fine a week later it wouldn't start Stacey said something's wrong with that battery you put in because carbon starts there's nothing wrong with battery it's brand new battery she said well it's it won't start so I said that means we got another problem so I started thinking about it could be alternator could be who knows something electrical so I jumped it off and I took it to shop and I told the guy said you know I suspected it's the alternator but I need to check it out I just put this battery in a week ago and it won't start had to jump it off to get it here so Stacey takes me home and I'm thinking what is this going to cost 30 minutes later mechanic call me and said you can come pick your van up I said it's fixed he said yeah it's fixed I'll explain to you I get there and he said let me ask you said you put that battery in yourself I said I sure did he said I thought so he said you didn't take off the battery terminal covers the terminals on that battery had black plastic covers they look just like the terminals and I fastened the battery clamps on top of those and the miracle was there was enough juice in that battery it started the car and ran the car for a whole week but there wasn't there wasn't enough power going back into the battery from the alternator and I thought since then what a picture of the church what a picture of the average Christian what a picture of me do you sometimes feel like a battery that just gives and gives gives and gives but just doesn't receive much listen we all need to understand the power of God and the power of God is not something that you or I generate it is something that we receive I want to ask you in your walk with Jesus are you being recharged or do you always just feel like I'm giving out giving out giving out giving out giving out giving out are you being recharged do you think that way do you worship that way Lord I need to be recharged do you read the Bible that way do you pray that way Lord I I need to be recharged listen God's power is so great it's so strong it's strong enough to save us it's strong enough to reconcile us to one another it's strong enough to sanctify us it's strong enough to fill us it's strong enough to empower us in the last century the polian's army opened up an abandoned prison that had been used in the Spanish Inquisition I don't know where it was but this is a true story Napoleon's army opened up this abandoned prison and as they opened it up they found inside the skeletal remains of a prisoner underground in the prison who had died and whose body had decayed still fastened around the skeleton's ankle was a chain we sang this morning come now found let thy grace which like a feather bind my wandering heart to thee a feather is like a chain the very interesting thing about this skeleton and the chain around his ankle though it was a grim sight was it on the wall above where the man was chained to it it was obviously this man was a Christian because scratched into the wall above where he was chained was a cross with four words in Spanish and those words were height death with length and that's what Paul was talking about here that the gospel is strong enough to motivate me and motivate you and encourage me and encourage you even in the worst of circumstances it was true for that man who died in prison the death of Christ is wide enough to encompass all cultures it's long enough to last for eternity it's deep enough to reach and rescue the worst and lowest center and it's high enough to lift us to heaven I want to ask you do you believe that I know that's what the text says but do you believe that if so then you can use Paul's doxology for however God has surprised you lately because God's been doing that bigger and better thing in your heart and life I don't know what the circumstances are but that's the way God works and the thing that's bigger and better is the glory of God this doxology is the concluding part of Paul's prayer that God's presence and power would strengthen you in the depths of your soul right now today with whatever you face and so Paul says for this reason I kneel before the Father from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name and I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Holy Spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and I pray that you being rooted in established in love may have power together with all the saints to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses all knowledge that you may be filled to all the measure of the fullness of God now under him who is able to do him measurably more than we ask or imagine according to his power at work within us to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever and God's people said amen let's pray Father thank you it's not a game but thank you that bigger and better is something that's going on in our hearts and lies all the time you are swapping us out for the thing that's bigger and better than everything and that is the glory of God the glory of Christ the glory and filling of the Holy Spirit and we thank you that that's enough to fill our lives and to give us power by the Holy Spirit Father we confess that we have substituted many things for your own glory we have worshipped so many other idols but we thank you that ultimately we are brought back to the feet of the cross and to the throne of Jesus Christ and we thank you that his glory is bigger and better than anything we could ask for or imagine and so Father will you do something in this place that is beyond our expectations according to your power according to the honor of Christ and for your glory and we pray it in Jesus name Amen.