More Abundantly Than We Ask or Imagine (Ephesians 3)

It’s been said, “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.” I had plans once. As a child, I had plans to be a mechanic when I grew up. My dad went to school to be  a mechanic and worked as a mechanic for a while, so I thought that’s what I would do. In High School I changed my mind. Now, I wanted to be a Phy Ed teacher and coach football.......or maybe an architect (you can see how my interests are wide and varied :-). Then, after I spent a year in college pursuing a career as a Phy Ed teacher/football coach, I quit school because I decided that I wanted to own my own bait shop. That didn’t pan out, so then I started a dock and boat lift business. I planned to grow that business to become successful enough that I wasn’t the one who had to crawl in the 30 degree water. Actually, I was well on my way to growing the business to that point when God stepped in and “messed everything up” and called me into the ministry. Yeah, I had lots of different plans but God only had one plan for me. No doubt His plan included all of the random jobs, but his plan had always been to call me into ministry. It’s been sooooo much more difficult than I had ever imagined and sooooo much more glorious than I ever imagined. I think it’s easy for us to begin putting God in a box. It’s easy for us to think we have God pegged. We think we know how he works and how he’s going to accomplish his purposes in our lives and in the church. Then, when He doesn’t work in these ways we get frustrated with him. Maybe at one point in your life you found yourself in an extremely difficult situation and God miraculously delivered you from that situation. But now, you find yourself in another extremely difficult situation and God hasn’t miraculously delivered you yet and your frustrated because God isn’t working in the same way he did last time. Maybe you found yourself drawing very close to God through certain daily spiritual disciplines but now you don’t seem as close to Him even though your doing all the same things. Maybe at one point you saw this church explode in spiritual growth and saw many people coming to know the Lord through various ministry practices/methods, but now you’re doing the same things and wondering why God isn’t working in the way you were expecting Him to work. Each of these scenarios point to us “putting God in a box.” Thinking that we have Him pegged. Thinking that we KNOW how He is going to work. Thinking that we fully KNOW His plans. Yet, in this chapter, Paul reminds us that God’s ways are not our ways. His plans are not our plans. And THANK GOODNESS! Because we serve a God who is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or even imagine. Not only are his ways and plans different from our own, but they are immeasurably better than we would ever dare to ask, immeasurably higher than we could even imagine. Let’s take a moment to look at our chapter for this morning. [Read Ephesians 3] The Jews thought they had God figured out. I mean, they were the chosen people of God. God had called Abraham, set him apart from the other nations, and said that he would make him a nation and would pour out blessings on him so that he would be a blessing to the nations. God gave Abraham the sacrament of circumcision as an additional way of setting him apart from the other nations. Then God gave the Jews the Law through Moses, further setting them apart from the other nations. The Jews were God’s special, chosen people in the world. He had set them apart to bless them and so that they would be a blessing to the nations. In the midst of this, they began to think they had God pegged. They began to think they KNEW how God would work in the world. They had Him all figured out. If you wanted to be part of God’s family, if you wanted to be a member of God’s people, you had to become a Jew. It’s that simple. Sure, they would allow people from other nations to become Jews and become part of God’s covenant blessings, but you couldn’t receive those without becoming a Jew. NO WAY! That’s just not how God works! (or so they thought). Then, Jesus came and began saying things like, “I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.” (John 10:16, NIV). Jesus had other sheep that were not part of the Jewish sheep pen and he planned to make them into one flock under one shepherd. Then, after Jesus died, rose again, and ascended into heaven, he poured out His Spirit on all those who believed in Him. Eventually, He even started pouring out His Spirit on people who were not Jews. That really shook things up. In Acts 15 we have the first “Synod” where the church leaders met to figure out what God was doing. They said, “God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith.” (Acts 15:8–9, NIV). Yet, not everyone accepted this conclusion. They couldn’t imagine that God would work in a different way than He had in the past. They demanded Gentiles become Jews in order to be considered part of God’s people. “This is how God works!,” they would shout. If you are REALLY going to be part of God’s people, you need to be circumcised and follow all of the Jewish customs and practices. You cannot be part of God’s family unless you do things our way. Yet, Paul says that it was part of God’s plan all along to change things up. Paul says this was “according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Ephesians 3:11, NIV). This eternal purpose-- “This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 3:6, NIV). This was God’s plan all along. It was his plan to change things up in Jesus Christ, and to graft the Gentiles into His family, tearing down the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile, and making them ONE. The Jews resisted this plan because it wasn’t the way God has worked in the past. YET, God’s plan of redemption was much more abundant than they could even ask or imagine. This got me thinking about the church today. I’m still getting to know this congregation, but I’m pretty sure the majority of you in this sanctuary are Gentiles. We’re here this morning because of God’s eternal plan to graft the Gentiles into his family. Yet, I think it’s also easy for us Gentiles to fall into similar temptations as the Jews. It’s easy for us to say, “We welcome anyone into our congregation........as long as they become exactly like us. They have to like the same decorating styles, the same music styles, the same.....You’re allowed to be a part of us as long as you have all of the same opinions as us.” Like the Jews, it can be easy for us to assume we know HOW God is going to work. It can be easy for us to assume that because God worked in this way, that he will ALWAYS work in that way. Yet, Paul reminds us in this passage that God’s plans are not our plans, that God’s ways are not our ways, and that God’s ways are much more abundant than we can ever imagine. God’s eternal purpose was to call people from many different backgrounds, with many different opinions, with many different gifts, into ONE people through faith in Jesus Christ. Our unity lies much deeper than all of these “surfacy things,” our unity comes through faith and is grounded in Christ. Then Paul prays again. He looks out at the congregation and prays for them to be strengthened. He says, “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,” (Ephesians 3:16, NIV). Doesn’t that make you feel comforted? If you’re here this morning and feeling tired and exhausted--weak--then you hear Paul pray that you would be strengthened with power through the Holy Spirit. Not physical strength, but strength in your inner being. Strength deep down inside. A strength that’s unshakeable. That’s give me an unbelievable amount of comfort. I found myself praying that over and over again this past week. Lord, please strengthen me with power through your Spirit in my inner being. Lord, please strengthen Faith Community Church with power through your Spirit in their inner being. May Christ dwell in their hearts through faith. May they be rooted and established in love. May they have power to grasp the love of Christ. May they KNOW his love. May they be filled with the fullness of God. We don’t have to be in this world long to realize that we can’t do this on our own. Contrary to the opinions of this world, we are not strong enough. We bump up against difficulties that we can’t control, trials that we can’t endure, life situations that push us to the limits and we find ourselves saying, “I can’t do this!” Yet, we have this promise that God will strengthen us with power through the Holy Spirit in our inner being. We can’t do it on our own, but through the strength and power of the Spirit we can do it. And the God who strengthens us with power through the Spirit is the God who does abundantly more than we could ever ask or imagine. Calvin says, “Whatever expectations we form of Divine blessings, the infinite goodness of God will exceed all our wishes and all our thoughts.” (266). Yet, how will God bring this strength into our lives? Let us not think we have it all figured out. Let us not think that we KNOW how God will provide strength and power in our inner being. God’s works in mysterious ways. Sometimes God may grant you this incredible strength and power in a miraculous way--boom, it’s yours. Sometimes God may grant you a fellow believer to carry your burdens and give you strength. Sometimes God may give you strength through a passage from Scripture. And, sometimes God may grant you strength and power in completely unexpected ways. William Cowper has an incredible story. He wrote numerous hymns and poems, working alongside John Newton. He also struggled with debilitating depression, depression that was so overwhelming that John Newton kept a close watch on him so that Cowper wouldn’t take his own life. Here is a poem that Cowper wrote about another mysterious way that God may grant us strength and power. The poem is called, “God Moves in a Mysterious Way.”

God moves in a mysterious way

His wonders to perform;

He plants His footsteps in the sea,

And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines

Of never-failing skill

He treasures up His bright designs,

And works His sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take,

The clouds ye so much dread

Are big with mercy, and shall break

In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,

But trust Him for His grace;

Behind a frowning providence

He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,

Unfolding every hour;

The bud may have a bitter taste,

But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err,

And scan his work in vain;

God is His own interpreter,

And He will make it plain.

  God is able to do far more abundantly than we could ever ask or imagine. He is able to do that in the church as he draws different people together and forms them into ONE and sends these people into the world with the Gospel. God doesn’t always work these things in the ways we expect Him to work. God doesn’t always bring the people into the church that we expect Him to bring into the church. God doesn't always bring people into the church the way we think He will bring them into church. God works in mysterious way and his ways are far more abundant than we could ask or imagine. God is also able to do far more abundantly than we could ever ask or imagine in our own spiritual lives. He is able to give us a strength and power in our inner being that surpasses understanding and is able to fill us with the fullness of God. He is able to open our eyes and our hearts to know and understand his powerful love for us and for the world. Yet, he doesn’t always do these things in the same way. He doesn't always bring about these results through sunshine and rainbows. He doesn’t always bring about these results through miraculous ways. Sometimes God may bring these things to us through the trials that we are currently facing or through the “clouds we so much dread.” Yet, God works in mysterious ways and his ways are far more abundant than we could ask or imagine.