Well, just from looking at me that I neither have nor use a gym membership. And primary reason for that is I just try to avoid places where there's a bunch of hypocritical people judging me. I just don't like to be in places like that. Kind of makes me nervous. Anyway, we are thankful to be here. Let's go to Ephesians chapter three. Ephesians chapter 3. We're going to be looking primarily at verses 20 and 21. Now unto Him that's able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages World without end, amen. Curiosity thrilled the cat. That's the title of currently the most popular book on Goodreads in the category Cat Mysteries. Yes, there is a category for Cat Mysteries. You can find that category on Amazon. You can find it on Barnes and Noble. If you go to such places and look, you will find hundreds of books for sale in the category of cat mysteries. Cat mystery is a sub-genre of mystery books where cats are featured prominently. They're either the main characters in the story that solve the mystery, crime or whatever that it is, or they're in some way the cat in the story is crucial to solving that mystery. Now you probably didn't know that such a category of books existed until now. But what does that mean? That there is such a category. That you can go on Amazon or wherever else and you can punch in cat mysteries and you can find your choice of selections about such books. Hundreds of titles. What does that mean? It means that there are enough people in this world interested in a book where a cat is a main character and solves crimes, that there's enough people interested in that, that it's worth publishing them. That's what that means. In fact, you can find online communities devoted to discussing cat mystery books. Goodreads has just such a community. Now that may seem strange to us, but is it really any more strange than any number of hobbies and special interests that bind people together in communities, whether real local communities or in digital communities? And it also shouldn't surprise us to hear of churches in the world today that are bound together through hobbies and special interests. Coming down through somewhere or nowhere Missouri, depending on how you look at it, we saw alongside the interstate a big cowboy church, the sign up there. And I guess you could ride your horse to church and bring your rope and wear your spurs. I don't know what all goes on at cowboy church, I've never been there. There are churches that are just built around this common interest, some sort of a niche interest that binds people together and sometimes it can be quite a collection of characters from various backgrounds. But when it comes to a church, what is it that should bind a church together? What is it that should really be at the center that is going to hold and to keep and to bring people together on a regular basis? Well, Paul certainly has something to say about that in this unique doxology here at the end of Ephesians 3. About giving God glory in the church. What does it mean to give God glory? Or to glorify God? I believe one of the best biblical descriptions of giving God glory is found in Psalm 29 and verses 1 and 2. And there David writes, Give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. So giving God glory means to worship Him. It means to praise Him. It means to see Him and to esteem Him as the highest treasure above all things in this world. God is glorified when He is exalted. God is glorified when He is praised. God is glorified when He is worshipped. And Paul certainly connects this giving of God glory with praise, particularly in chapter 1, verses 6 and 12 and 14. Now we don't think it's strange here to read, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus. We don't think it's strange to read of Christ glorifying God. Or to read that God should be glorified. But do you realize that this is the only reference in the New Testament that specifically speaks of the church or in the church giving God glory. It's the only place that disappears. That leads us, I believe, to two at least important questions that we want to ask of this passage. Why the church here? And how does the church give glory to God? Well, to answer these questions, we need to follow the threads through the first three chapters of Ephesians. The letter to the church in Ephesus is divided into two parts. The first part, or the first half of this letter, is chapters 1-3, and the second part is chapters 4-6. And you can see that our text is at the end of chapter 3, meaning that it is the end of the first part of this letter. That what Paul began to speak of in chapter 1 flows all the way through chapter 1 and chapter 2 and chapter 3 and comes to this great climax, a doxology if you will. Unto Him Be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. Reading chapters 1 to 3, it is clear that we are to give glory to God, particularly for working out His eternal purpose of salvation through Jesus Christ. In other words, this is what we are directed to praise God for. Paul is particularly concerned about the glory given to God in the local church because of what he refers to here in chapter 3 and verse number 4. Notice that little phrase there, the mystery of Christ. So Paul is concerned that God is given glory in the church because of this mystery of Christ. So by tracing through this first section, we can answer the questions of why and how the local church gives God glory. First of all, we find that it is on the basis or it's on the foundation of God's plan, God's purpose from eternity. The purpose of God's will runs throughout this first section, this first three chapters here in Ephesians. Paul begins this very letter, in fact, in chapter 1 and verse 1 by speaking of himself as an apostle by God's will. that Paul didn't make himself an apostle. Peter didn't make Paul an apostle. The church of Jerusalem didn't make Paul an apostle. He's made an apostle by God's will. He begins in the very first verse talking about God's will or God's plan or God's purpose. He goes on in chapter 1 to speak of how that God has chosen and has predestined a people, verses 4 and 5, and how according to His own purpose and will that He has done this in verse number 11. Paul states really his overarching theme throughout this first part of Ephesians here in verses 9 and 10 of chapter 1. Paul writes, having made known unto us the mystery of His will. Mystery in Scripture means something that God had not revealed, but now has revealed. Something that He had kept back, but has now brought forward and made known. So he's speaking here of the mystery of His will, that He's made it known to us. That's what Paul's saying. We go on reading here, "...according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in Him." God is given glory because the mystery of His will has been made known. And he explains that in verse 10, that mystery of God's will. What is the mystery of God's will? Verse 10 explains that the mystery of God's will is God's plan for the future to unite all things together in Christ. That future time when Christ comes and establishes His kingdom, all things join together in Him. It's the mystery of His will that has been revealed. In chapter 3 and verse number 11, Paul lets us know that this is God's eternal purpose in Christ. It's not just that God had a plan, or God had a purpose, or God had a will, but He had a plan in Christ for this to come about. Jesus Christ we find, as again comes out in this section as well, but Jesus Christ came into the world that sinners might have redemption through His blood and the forgiveness of sins by His grace. Here in verse 7 of chapter 1. This was according to God's plan. An eternal purpose. And we give Him glory. Notice four things that Paul mentions that we glorify God for. In verse 7, the riches of His grace. In chapter 1 and verse 8, as well as in chapter 3 and verse 10, for His wisdom. In chapter 2 and verse 4, He speaks of God's rich mercy and great love. And in chapter 2 and verse 7, His rich grace and kindness. Paul's talking about in all of these things how that God has worked out His plan. How that He has made known that that He had kept hidden. And it is according to the riches of His grace and His wisdom and His mercy and His great love and His kindness. But not only is giving God glory based or founded upon God's plan, but it is also seen as being accomplished in Christ. That what God had purposed, Jesus Christ has came into the world and has done. He has accomplished it. God's purpose was worked out in this coming of Christ and ultimately God's will will be fulfilled in His return. We find that as we read through this section, I didn't go through and count, but if you read through this section, just notice how many times in these three chapters that Jesus Christ is named. It is continually throughout these chapters. What is Paul telling us? Paul is telling us that Christ is the crucial linchpin in accomplishing God's purpose. What does he say about Christ? Just a quick run through. Chapter 1 and verse 7. That it's in Christ we have redemption through His blood and the forgiveness of sins. In chapter 1 and verse 13, we are saved through faith in Jesus Christ. In chapter 1, verses 19 and 20, God's power worked in raising Christ up from the dead and exalting Him to the right hand of God. All steps along the way of accomplishing God's purpose from before the foundation of the world. Chapter 2, in verse number 5, we, those who believe in Jesus Christ, are made alive in Christ, given new life in Jesus Christ. In chapter 2, in verse 6, we are raised up with Christ. You realize that Christ rising from the grave has ensured the resurrection of all those who believe in Him. Because as He was raised, so shall we be raised. Chapter 2 and verse 10. We are new creations in Christ. Chapter 2 and verse 13, we are made nigh by His blood. Chapter 2 and verse 16, we are reconciled to God by His cross. Chapter 3 and verse 17, Christ dwells in the hearts of all believers through faith. Paul ties all these blessings that come to believers through the plan of God. He ties all of these blessings to the work of Jesus Christ. So it is by Jesus Christ that local churches give glory to God. Apart from this work of Christ, on our behalf, we cannot glorify God. It is through His work. So, the glory of God then is displayed in the local church. The glory of God is seen. It's made visible. It's made tangible in the local church. Now that brings us back to the mystery of Christ that Paul mentioned. The mystery of Christ and our questions of how and why that local churches give glory to God. Paul summed up the mystery of God's will. We looked at these verses in chapter 1, verses 9 and 10. Paul summed up the mystery of God's will as his plan to unite all things together in Jesus Christ. And if you notice in chapter 3, he further explained the mystery of God's will as the mystery of Christ. He says in verse 3, "...how that by revelation He made known unto me the mystery, as I wrote afore in few words, whereby when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit." This mystery of Christ that is now revealed. What is it? He tells us in verse 6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of His promise in Christ by the Gospel. Though God had expressed His purpose in saving Gentiles in the past, Now, in Christ, He has shown that Gentiles are united to Christ as Gentiles. They are made fellow heirs of the same body. They are made partakers of the promise in Christ, and they are made such without becoming Jews. In other words, they are brought into union with Jesus Christ without and apart from the old covenant. It's one of those questions that runs throughout the book of Acts. They never questioned when you find, even if you look at that Jerusalem council in Acts chapter number 15. They were not gathered there to debate whether or not Gentiles could become Christians. They weren't there to discuss, can Gentiles gain eternal life? Can Gentiles be saved? They weren't there to discuss that question. What were they there to discuss? Can Gentiles be saved apart from circumcision and keeping the law of Moses? That's what they were there to discuss. And the answer that came forth from the Scripture through the sacrifice of Christ, that Old Covenant was fulfilled in Christ. Jesus Christ, as Paul would go on to write later, is the end of the law for all them who believe. And one of the consequences of that Jerusalem council that they continued to struggle with for quite some time was that, you know what? Jews didn't have to be circumcised either in order to gain eternal life. This is what Paul is talking about. This mystery of Christ. This is what has been revealed through his work. That it is by faith. As Paul preached all the way back in Antioch of Pisidia in Acts chapter number 13, that we are justified by faith from all the things that we could never be justified through the law of Moses. This is the mystery of Christ. Paul's point then, is to stress the unity of believing Jews and believing Gentiles through Jesus Christ in the same local church body. Paul emphasized this unity in three different particulars in this first half of the Ephesians letter. If we look at verses 3-14 of chapter 1, he emphasizes the unity that Jews and Gentiles have in Jesus Christ in the plan of God before the foundation of the world. Now for many people, if you say Ephesians 1, they immediately think, oh, predestination. That's the predestination proof text, right? Ephesians 1 is about predestination, right? Have you ever stopped and considered why is Paul talking about predestination here? What does that have to do with anything? I mean, it's a great truth that we can rejoice in, but why is he talking about that here? Paul is talking about this because his point is that Jews and Gentiles alike were chosen before the foundation of the world. Both Jews and Gentiles have redemption and forgiveness of sins by the blood of Jesus Christ. Gentiles who believe the Gospel, he would go on to say, are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. They receive that earnest, that down payment. They receive that promise of that future possession that they're going to inherit. And Paul's point is that that's true of Jews and that's true of Gentiles equally. Equally. That it is by faith. The Jew has no advantage in this sense. As Paul would write in his letter to the Galatians, in Christ, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision. matters anything in Christ. So that's the point. When Paul speaks about this, he's saying, you Jews and Gentiles who struggled to be able to be joined together in the same local church body, and to be able to love one another and not be offended in one another because of differences of culture and what have you, and not observing the Jewish feasts, rather, their dietary laws. They would come out here at a time of fellowship and sit down to a meal, and there'd be a Jewish table, and there'd be a Gentile table, and Paul's saying, it's ought not to be so! You are one in Jesus Christ. Do you realize that that unity goes all the way back before the foundation of the world? That God has chosen Gentiles just as well as He has chosen Jews unto salvation before the world was ever created. So that's the first emphasis of unity for Jews and Gentiles in the same body. The second, if you look at chapter 2, verses 1-10, The second emphasis of unity for Jews and Gentiles in the same body is in their standing before God. In their standing before God. What's He saying here? That Jews and Gentiles alike are born dead in sin. Jews and Gentiles alike are living their life according to the course of this world and according to their own lusts. Jews and Gentiles alike are unable to work or to keep the law in order to achieve righteousness before God. And that both, Jews and Gentiles alike, are saved by grace through faith. in Jesus Christ. Plus nothing. Minus nothing. In Jesus Christ. The third emphasis of their unity, here in chapter 2, verses 11 to 18. the third emphasis of the unity of Jews and Gentiles. In other words, why that they ought to be joined to one another in the same local body. It's because that in the work of Christ, The barriers between Jews and Gentiles have been torn down. They have been demolished in the work of Jesus Christ. Really, when you think about it, under the Old Covenant and the observances of all the rites and the rituals and the tabernacle and later of the temple, there was really no choice or no opportunity, there was no way for a Gentile to take part and to be incorporated into the community of God's people other than to be circumcised and to submit to the laws of Moses. In other words, they had to become Jews. They had to renounce, in essence, their Gentileness. And they had to become Jews. Proselytes, we refer to that as. But Paul's point here in Ephesians chapter 2 is that Christ's work has demolished those barriers between Jews and Gentiles. Jews and Gentiles. are both joined to Christ through faith and therefore are joined to one another. It is that unity or that union with Jesus Christ that binds Jew and Gentile together. When Jews and Gentiles are members together in a local church, They display the glory of God. Why? Because that was His eternal purpose in Jesus Christ. It's why Jesus Christ came into the world. To save sinners of all nations, of all families of the earth being blessed through the seed of Abraham. They display the glory of God. A local church. I know we may be thinking, oh, well, you're talking about Jews and Gentiles. There are all kinds of things that are barriers between people. There are things that keep us apart, and there are things that bring us together that have absolutely nothing to do with Jesus Christ. So it is immediately applicable to us today whether or not there's any Jewish members of a local church that doesn't negate what Paul is saying. When Jews and Gentiles, or when young and old, when those of different ethnicities, when those of different countries of origin, when rich and poor, men and women. Just think of whatever categories that you want that we use to separate and to divide people. When people from all of these different places are joined together in one local body, one local church, that church displays the glory of God to the world. The world can see it. The world can see it. The world can see the unity that a church has. The world can see the love that the members have one for another in a local church. And didn't Jesus say that by the love you have one for another, all the world would know that you're my disciples? When those of all these different groups and classes and what have you, when they are members together in the same body, they display the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. We should see then that Christ is the true center of everything. Local churches have a particular role in bearing witness to Christ. Local churches have a particular role in manifesting the gospel to the world through Christ-centered worship and community. Now, a little while back, when I opened your eyes to the world of cat mystery books, some of you probably thought, that sounds ridiculous. There's a whole lot of things I'd rather do than read some mystery with a cat detective in it. And others of you thought, hmm. Well, look that up. That sounds kind of interesting. Maybe some of you have read that book, Curiosity Thrilled the Cat. If you look at all those titles, you'll find all kinds of great cat puns, things playing on paws and claws and fur, and it's just, it's an abundance there you can feast on. Some of you might think, that sounds awful. Some of you think, hmm, that don't sound too bad. Do you realize that Special interests are a double-edged sword. Special interests attract people who share those interests, but they also repel people who do not. We could talk about things like political views and what have you. We could talk about things like various countries, nations, nationalities, what have you. But special interests attract and repel people. So it's the same way with churches. So the question really to be asked and answered is what should a local church be about? Now, there may be some in here who like Fords, or Chevys, or certain reprobates who like Toyotas. Anything, anything. We've got our own brands. We might like similar style clothing, or athletic activities, or outdoors things, or what have you. Or we might be Auburn fans. No, I said that wrong, didn't I? Wait a minute. Wait a minute, I said that wrong. There's just all sorts of these kinds of interests that can bind us together, and we might have a lot of different things in common. But is that really what a local church is for? Is that really what a local church is about? That we're all here because we all have membership at the same gym that none of us go to? What should a local church be about? A local church should be about first and foremost, Jesus Christ. His death on the cross, His burial in the grave, His resurrection from the grave, His exaltation to the right hand of God, and His return to establish His kingdom. That's what a church should be about. We might happen to have a lot of other common interests, but Jesus Christ should be the center that holds a church together. And everything that that church is and does should reflect that central unity in Jesus Christ. In praying, in preaching, in singing, in worship, in speaking, in actions. It should reflect the unity that we have in Jesus Christ. A local church that is centered on Christ and a local church that glorifies God will be a church where at least some of the members have hardly anything in common except Jesus. And let's say praise God. Praise God when that is so. Praise God when the world can look upon us and they're just forced to ask, what is it that brings this cast of characters together? It seems like they don't have anything in common. And you've got young and old. well-off and less well-off and whatever. You just have all these different areas and different places and different colors and maybe even different native languages to some degree. But when the world looks on, they say, what is it that would bring all of these people together into one place all the time? What is it that would cause these people to love one another, to help one another, to cry with one another, to rejoice with one another? What is it? And of course that answer has to be and must be Jesus Christ. And praise God when a church is a church just like that.