Anniversary reflections on Luke 12:13-21

Last Sunday, August 26th, was our 18th Church Anniversary. On this occasion we each were invited to bring along things that represented who we are, our interests, our hobbies, our gifts, our talents. This resulted in a wonderful display and presentation of God's creativity within us and many blessings to us. We could then acknowledge and appreciate how all these life assets could be brought together into the work of God's Kingdom.

We concluded our service with some thoughts on the parable of the "rich fool" from Luke 12.

This little parable that Jesus told (starting at verse 16) gives us a picture of a man who was overly content with everything he had. He was doing well, and needed to build bigger barns to store all the crops that his land had produced. This was instantly his first and only thought about what to do. No thought of other options: like, giving some away, or sharing with others who weren’t doing so well, or checking out the needs of other members of his community – just in case there was some need that had remained undiscovered! These possibilities never entered his mind – more crops simply equated to larger barns.

And there was also a second issue with this landowner. Now that he had more stored up than he could ever use, he was just going to laze around, take it easy, and live the good life. No thought of finding other productive ways to use his time! No thoughts outside of his personal little square!

We can easily see where the problem laid – look at how Jesus expressed this man’s inner thinking: "And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry’" (v.19). This man was totally consumed with himself – the only person he thought about was himself. This man feels that the whole world revolves around him and his needs. The only person he consulted about the decisions to be made … was himself. The fact that he only consulted his “soul” suggests that he was only interested in what was happening for himself, and that was all that mattered.

Yet, in referring to his “soul”, this landowner/farmer did not see the connection between the deeply spiritual and everything that is happening outside of his body. We are reminded in many parts of scripture that our worship of God, if it’s to be sincere and acceptable, must connect with integrity to every part of our outer lives. The needs of others of God’s children had not touched this man’s soul or spirit at all. Thus this “soul”, because of its apathy and complacency, was completely closed off to the possibility of encountering God, and thus was suffering from spiritual poverty!

Today we have experienced the taste of something totally the opposite. The sharing of ourselves – our talents & gifts, our interests & hobbies, our time & resources; an understanding of how all good things originate in God’s creativity, and how God desires all good things to be brought back into the service of God’s Kingdom. And so each of us decorate the church in our own way, with the totality of who we are (warts and all), with everything that God has given us individually; so that the church will truly be an expression of community as it was meant to be – as God experiences it the community of Father, Son & Spirit.

We can thus be “rich toward God” (v.21) through sharing with one another, such that the community around us can see a picture of (and be encouraged to experience for themselves) hopeful, authentic, joyful, redeemed community. We can model what Paul exhorted with the early church in Corinth: "To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good".

Jesus told this story/parable to explain how greed and being overly concerned with lesser matters like certain possessions separated people from the purposes of God. When Jesus said to the voice from the crowd (in v.14): "Friend, who set me to be a[n] … arbitrator over you", it was like Jesus was saying to get real, and ask him about something important, he didn’t have time to deal with personal wealth questions – Jesus is with you, so you should have the bigger matters of life on your mind: like, how do I gain spiritual health, and what are the real priorities of the Kingdom of God. Dare I say that sometimes we forget to seek God for the really important things in life, because we’re busy being focussed on the less crucial or more trivial areas!

So, what will our lives be known for, and for what will we be remembered? Will all the God-given creativity and giftedness and energy within us count for God, or be blown off with the wind to who knows where?

Praise God for today’s celebration of commitment, sacrifice and sharing … that approaches an example (for all to see) of treasures being applied to the wonderful cause of bringing heaven to earth.

"From Death to Life" - reflections to the church congregation on Ephesians 2:1-10

We were never meant to just meander through life. Rather, we were designed to have a keen sense of where we have come from, where we are going, and what our purpose is along the way! The first ten verses of chapter 2 in Ephesians give us much insight into this process. To a greater or lesser extent, Jesus has saved each of us from making a mess of our lives. From the extreme of behaving in self-destructive ways through to the possibility of just wasting our lives altogether, Jesus has put our lives back on track.

We often hear the quote – ‘There’s only two things certain in life … death and taxes’ – with the idea that “death” is one of the two things we cannot escape; but Paul teaches that indeed we have escaped real death i.e. spiritual death, and entered the fullness of eternal life (that cannot be taken away). Physical death is then a mere change of plane – from the earthly to the heavenly. So we are not living awaiting death, but rather living with purpose until such a time where our life changes focus.

We are already card carrying members of that heavenly plane (v.6), carrying full citizenship of the ‘kingdom of heaven’, yet remain on earth as ambassadors for the priorities and values of God’s kingdom. This is like the Australian Government sending an ambassador to another country to protect the interests of Australians living in that country. God calls us here on earth to be ambassadors in looking toward the well-being of all of God’s potential children who live around us. For God desires that none are lost!

We have been designed to be in a worshipful relationship with God, and this will continue into the heavenly plane; however while in the earthly plane, mission will be the central focus of our worship.

Through the insights of the apostle Paul, the congregation of the Ephesian church is led to reflect on the process of their salvation. We might put ourselves in their place and ask a few questions of this text.

How were we dead? Because we did things that hurt others, tended to hurt ourselves, and were generally destructive to the general well-being of the human community. We suffered various lapses and thus exposed some of our shortcomings. Verse 3 says a bit more about the source of our “mis-living”! It would be our selfishness, our self-centredness, our focus of our own needs in isolation from the needs of others, our quest for independence … that gets us off track. We have done things we knew we shouldn’t do, just letting ourselves slip into destructive and disruptive behaviour; ignoring God, abusing the freewill that God entrusted us with, and putting up barriers blocking God’s path to us.

Now it may have been that these things were done just following the normal course in the world (v.2), just doing what everybody else does, not really thinking much about it; but this of course does not make us any less responsible or accountable. It’s so easy just to flow with how the wind blows with behaviour and attitudes, but this really isn’t good enough. We must always look carefully to what God thinks about certain earthly occurrences, and fall in line with this! We must always consider what will uplift life on earth, rather than demean life. And any thoughts of revenge toward even the worst of criminal offenders will always demean life and be anti-God. And maintaining such attitudes in our hearts will surely demean us personally.

I was mortified by the activity of that vicious man in the news this week, with his prolonged abuse and torture of that poor five-year-old boy Cody; and we might all hope that there might be a more just and reasonable term of imprisonment applied; and we could easily agree with the premier in seeking longer prison terms under the crime of “child homicide”; yet, having said that, any negative thoughts about what should happen to him in prison, anything other than our hopes and prayers for his rehabilitation will be anti-God and demeaning to our humanity – for which we will pay the emotional price.

[We can trust that our loving God was with that young boy Cody in his suffering, and that he has been received into the loving arms of Jesus for eternity.]

Its makes an interesting study to look at Luke chapter 4, where Jesus takes the scroll of Isaiah 61 and reads, and you observe where Jesus stops before he states that this scripture has been fulfilled in the people’s presence. He stops at the point of forgiveness of debt – “the year of the Lord’s favour”, rather than continuing to include the pre-Christian concept of vengeance that is in Isaiah. This is of course consistent with Jesus’ most radical teaching of all – “love your enemies”, and with Paul’s understanding of the vastness of God’s mercy (v.4).

I mentioned the ease at which we can just flow with the wind of the world’s behaviour, which connects with Paul’s thoughts in verse 2 of: “following the ruler of the power of the air …”. Just as the Holy Spirit is available to lead those who have given their life over to Jesus, there is the opposing spiritual force that will lead those who are intent on destruction, violence and misery.

The challenge for us will always be staying with the One, whilst resisting the other! And we do have the promise recorded in James 4:7: “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you”. In other words: ‘show repeatedly that you are solidly on God’s side, and your (spiritual) opponent will give up (at least for a time)’! Also, as we are showing ourselves faithful, God will provide a measure of protection for us – we pray in trusting God the words: “…do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:13).

We might also be caused to be motivated to keep ourselves pure because of how God feels about sin – the destructiveness and separation it causes. God hates it! Sin can have such an impact that someone could be described as a ‘child of wrath’ (v.3)! Yet we have the example in books like Hosea, that no matter how bad a community gets, and how much they separate themselves from God through their actions, God remains a God of grace and mercy, for God can do no other. The mass corruption of verse 3 might shock us, but this just highlights all the more … the raw materials that God wished to transform into a display of his creative glory!

So, how did we become alive again? Not by our own efforts; not by anything we have done or could have done; but, purely by the grace of God. Meaning – that God’s heart of mercy reached down to us in the form of God’s Son Jesus; his death on the cross bringing us the path to the forgiveness of our “trespasses and sins”. God intervened in the desperate situation we found ourselves in and rescued us.

We only have to seek and gain that forgiveness through ‘repenting’ i.e. committing ourselves to turn in a new direction – the direction of the Spirit of God (rather than the ‘spirit of the air’). We then share in the resurrection of Christ into a new heavenly based experience of life. We are then said to be living “in Christ” – “In Christ … the solid rock, I stand”!

Even when we falter or when tough times come, we have a lot to fall back on when we have experienced the grace of God in our lives. For God’s mercy is not like just a little bit of compassion that we might muster under the right circumstances; God is “rich in mercy” – it is abounding, it is vast, it is who God is > God is mercy as God is love; and therefore it is fully sufficient to meet our need of: forgiveness from sin, removal of guilt, and deliverance from shame. Indeed God’s mercy exceeds all of our need; there is a whole ‘ocean’ of it – that can fill all our emptiness, without losing its abundance!

What is our purpose? Whereas good works do not in themselves ‘save’ us, this is what we are called towards. Such good works are part of the life that has been called out of death. As we have experienced God’s grace in a transformative way, we will inevitably come to know our calling towards doing the work of God (“good works”) on earth! That which we were initially created to perform, now that we have experienced God’s grace personally, we will be actually equipped to do – expressed by Paul thus: "For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life" (v.10).

So “our way of life” is to participate in the “good works” that God has already prepared for us to do! God has known who our neighbours and community members will be, and given us everything necessary to help them. God has known who our work colleagues will be, and prepared us in various ways for helping them. God knows who our family members will be, and has given us ways and means of loving them.

This idea of God preparing us for all the opportunities and challenges ahead is most exciting – God is working in me!! We have always had potential, despite any experience we have had of ‘spiritual death’. But now, as we live in Christ, and in the power of the resurrection, we can truly be seen as God’s ‘workmanship’ or God’s ‘work of art’. For we are a painting starting to show promising form, or a sculpture beginning to take an interesting shape – God’s work in progress!

And so everything has turned full circle: from spiritual death to spiritual life, and from selfishness to selflessness; all of this the work of God – our part … acknowledging our poverty, being open to change, and letting Jesus reign! Made alive in Christ, we are different; and we make a difference!!

Paul Prays for Us (in Ephesians 1:15-23)

In the earlier part of chapter one, we received confirmation that God knows each one of us and has chosen us to have a relationship with Him. We have also read here about the process of salvation that operates as we approach God in confession and trust. God cleanses us through want Jesus has done for us, and then prepare us for our future lives with the gifts that we can best use in the church’s corporate witness to Jesus through the Holy Spirit. In this way we have been returned to an experience of true humanity.

We also sense in these verses the operation of the Divine Trinity. We read here of God’s great planning – so we can understand God as the architect of salvation; of Jesus sacrificing for the cause of redemption – Jesus is the agent of salvation; and of the Holy Spirit guaranteeing our ability to stay on track and be fruitful – the Holy Spirit is the seal of salvation. The functions of the three persons of the Divine Community of God are perfectly united toward our best interests and the best interests of the world community.

We have said that it is unlikely that Paul wrote this letter himself personally, but rather that it represents his theology, teaching and pastoral care passed on by his followers and students. This was for the edification of the churches in Ephesus, but no doubt also for all the church communities who would gain access to this significant message. In the second half of this chapter we have a glimpse into the prayer life of Paul, and his great concern for the ongoing well-being of the followers of Jesus. Thus it is safe for us to respond to this text as Paul’s prayer for us!

The intention of this prayer was towards the strengthening of Christ’s Church. If the congregations of such churches could just take fully on board the fullness of everything God has on offer, what an impact there will be! We see this at the conclusion of the prayer (v.22-23):
"And he has put all things under his [Jesus’] feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all." Jesus as head of the church is able to fill the whole body with all of himself – all the believers in all the necessary ways!

Before interceding, Paul brings his expressions of thanksgiving. Paul is grateful for those who have placed their faith in Jesus, and are expressing their love for one another in their Christian assemblies (v.15); in fact so much so that he is unceasing in the thanksgiving he expresses to God. This is the absolute height of a human condition. God has to observe many people just going through the motions in life; God also has the pain of observing people who are suffering under all sorts of violence and addiction. Fortunately God can also rejoice over those who are embracing the two most important components of life:
· placing their faith in the Lord Jesus … meaning that it will be Jesus who will be guiding their path and dealing with their trials, and
· loving those who become a part of your regular worshipping community (described here as “the saints”, meaning those who are also ‘set apart’ as members of God’s Kingdom).

This ties nicely in with Jesus’ teaching about the greatest commandments – the two mentioned by Jesus of course going hand in hand: a love for God with everything we have … heart, soul, mind & strength, proved in practice by … an unrestricted, unrestrained love for neighbour. Paul here rejoices over the evidence he has seen and heard of such behaviour in the various Christian communities of the first century CE, and brings multitudinous thanksgiving to God. This is why Paul has suffered so much for the Gospel, that those who have been reached … might place their faith wholly in Jesus and love one another. This evidence of faith and love both vindicates and inspires Paul.

What else could we need? That is what Paul will now pray for … interceding before God for our most urgent needs! The needs quoted are: “wisdom” and “revelation”. Collectively this would indicate the need to clearly understand the significance of the scriptural truths given to us, and to be able to apply this in everyday living.

We each need such “wisdom” and “revelation” so that the “eyes of [our] heart [are] enlightened”. This would mean that we have an increased or greater sense of God in and around us, thereby coming to know God better. This would also mean we are more aware of or understand better what is happening around us … what is occurring and why; making us more ready and prepared to respond effectively and helpfully. This would mean that our thinking is more focussed, our feelings/emotions are more stable, and our decision making is more reliable.

With the “eyes of [our] heart enlightened” we can in turn experience even greater blessings (v.18-19):

Ø knowing the hope to which we have been called – a life lived with the (eternal) companionship of Jesus,

Ø understanding the riches of God’s glorious inheritance – an acceptance into God’s family with all the benefits one would expect as a natural child, and

Ø experiencing the immeasurable greatness of God’s power.

There has been no greater demonstration of God’s power, than has been seen in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, restoring Jesus to his place next to God where they reside together (far above all mere human capacity to rule or control, far above all human pretension toward power and renown). Here, from the home of God, Jesus reigns as head of his new earthly body – the church. In this way, the life of Jesus is clearly seen amongst us. And it will be … that as the members of that body of Christ – the church – humble themselves under the headship of Jesus, that we will too experience “the immeasurable greatness of [God’s] power”. Paul emphasises that the extraordinary divine force by which Jesus Christ was raised is the same power at work in his followers. How??

How would we recognise the movement of God’s great power??? What evidence would we see?
Ø People in the church are growing in their spiritual life and in the use of their gifts … they are flourishing in their living and their serving {despite all the hassles of life – this is still what we’re looking for – a flourishing life}! So, the movement of God’s power can be seen in how believers deal with temptations, trials and tragedies.
Ø When we pray – things happen!
Ø That there is courage in witnessing for Jesus … courage that is basically beyond our human capacity (without God). And when we step out in faith – people are touched by the presence of Jesus!
Ø People being attracted to the light of Jesus (out of the darkness that otherwise surrounds them)
Ø Ultimately, there begins to be a groundswell of interest in defeating injustice (in all areas of society), offering mercy, and taking notice of the re-creative purposes of God. What did Micah record as God’s chief requirements for his people??? ‘Do Justice, Love Mercy (or Kindness), and Walk Humbly with your God’!
Ø The power that raised Jesus from the dead is the power that makes a difference in the world – it is the power that forgives, the power that transforms!!

If we look at ourselves and stop with the obvious human limitations, at the same time looking at the complexities and difficulties around us (just in our neighbourhoods … let alone in the whole world), we could get very discouraged. However, this is not the end of the story – this is certainly not all there is to see; for we have the ‘immeasurable greatness of the power of God’ at our disposal! We have all the fullness of the person of Jesus available at close quarters!!

Paul prays for all the potential of God to be real to us who are believers. We need this to be so! The community around us needs this to be so. We are their hope to find true humanity in the fullness of Jesus.

Thoughts on Ephesians part one (Spiritual Blessings Are Ours) Chap 1:3-14

It is good for us to look into the Scriptures to rediscover the truths about the faith we embrace. It is good for us to remind ourselves why we group together in this way, why we worship, and why we would bother to witness to a God who so many people see as irrelevant. Why is God so important in our lives? Why is Jesus so significant? How has the Holy Spirit become a reality for us? Such questions as these are addressed by the Letter to the Ephesians, firstly in quite a theoretical or theological way, then in the later chapters, in very practical and life-orientated ways.

Although Ephesians is a letter heavily influenced by Paul, because of the different vocabulary used in comparison with the earlier letters of Paul, and because of it being dated late in the first century (CE) after Paul’s death, it was more likely compiled by Paul’s followers and associates following his death. There isn’t any problem with this – in the time Ephesians was written, unlike now – it was commonplace for students to publish their work as if written by their teacher. However, because Ephesians so strongly reflects the teaching of Paul, it is still reasonable for us to simply respond to it as Paul’s letter.

Although this letter may have first been received in Ephesus, because of its general message applying to all believers, it was probably intended to circulate broadly around the various Christian communities. And thus, even 19 odd centuries further on, it is worthy of our close study. It teaches much about the nature of our relationship with God, and our cooperative connections in the church. It reflects on how we can invest our lives wisely, given the great inheritance we have been given.

In the original Greek, verses 3 to 14 are one long unbroken sentence. As beautiful and poetic as it is, we may need to break it up a bit to understand the full significance of these verses. In these verses we find a discussion about the full journey of gaining salvation and the great blessing that this brings to each of our lives. The context of this thinking is the worship and praise of God for what God has done for each of us through his love and grace.

Indeed it seems that the teaching here is suggesting that every necessary blessing required to be satisfied in one’s (spiritual) life has already been made available to all those who have come into union with Christ Jesus. This includes: the path to being deemed “blameless” (v.4), ie. being forgiven (with all guilt taken away) and wholly accepted by God on the basis of what Jesus has done for us; and the process of becoming “holy”, ie. the process through which we are being transformed toward our full God-given potential, and indeed into the image of Jesus, and being ‘set apart’ for God’s purposes.

In a circular and repeating pattern these verses cover at least three important areas of the process of our experience of salvation. These are:
· God knowing us and choosing us
· God cleansing us, and
· God gifting us.

We have talked many times about God knowing us intimately from the point of our conception, showing his interest, and participating in a hands-on way in our physical and personal development. But here we also have discussion about how we have been ‘chosen’ to be spiritually blessed and gain reconciliation with God. Not that we have been ‘chosen’, and that others haven’t! But rather that God has turned his heart to us, waiting for us to turn our mind to him. We don’t have to convince God to accept us, we don’t have to wonder whether God will decide to welcome us or not; God has already chosen the unchangeable path of positively responding to all who will turn toward him in faith! And this decision to ‘choose’ us is not just for a fleeting moment in time when we say “Yes” to God, but rather we are ‘chosen’ with all of God’s purposes for our lives for the whole of eternity in mind.

And thus in this beautiful text we read about God’s “glorious grace … freely bestowed on us in [Christ]” (v.6) and “the riches of [God’s] grace that he lavished on us” (v.7-8). When we needed it the most, God was ready, willing and able to favour us with his love, forgiveness and transforming spirit. God is available to be placed in a central position in our lives, to literally keep us on the straight and narrow path into eternity.

Another benefit we read in this passage is receiving “adoption as [God’s] children through Jesus Christ” (v.5), denoting that although we have been born of human parents, we are being taken up into becoming part of God’s family unit (alongside Jesus), with all the same privileges you would expect as a natural member of that family – which includes a share of any inheritance to be had. Some of us may receive a little something when our parents have both died, but we will usually have to wait before we receive such benefits. God on the other hand can’t wait to give us everything he has to share with us, it’s ready for us to enjoy and utilise now!

There is no doubt God has ‘chosen’ us, the question remains in a two-way street – have we chosen to follow him? With all the blessings available for those who so do, I hope you have been able to make this decision! These spiritual blessings are filled out somewhat for us in this same text under the further two areas mentioned earlier:
· God cleansing us, and
· God gifting us.

God cleansing us, in preparation for participating in his family includes the concepts of “redemption” and “forgiveness” (v.7). “Redemption” refers to the process of buying back that which has been lost to another interest. The Ephesians would have been familiar with the Greco-Roman practice whereby slaves were freed by the payment of a ransom. Such slaves were in bitter bondage to their particular masters, until a benevolent benefactor could sponsor their freedom.

God has bought us back from the ownership of whatever has entrapped us destructively or unhelpfully and separated us from him. There was a price to pay for such a transaction as this, and of course Jesus paid that price in full. So to be again in the company of God, we don’t have to buy our own way out of slavery, indeed we wouldn’t even have the capacity to do so, rather we just accept that Jesus has already liberated us.

“Forgiveness” refers to the letting go of the desire for retribution when an offence has been committed. Rather than bitterness and animosity building, tending towards destroying a relationship, forgiveness allows for a rethink in the context of understanding and mercy, and for the purposes of a more beneficial future. Again it is God’s grace expressed sacrificially by Jesus that opens the way toward forgiveness. As we truly regret the times where we have hurt others (or ourselves), acted inappropriately or unthinkingly, or generally gone in the wrong direction, then God, rather than condemning, and for the sake of the development of our ongoing relationship with him, forgives us.

However, the intentions of God have not concluded with the “choosing” and the “cleansing”, the great architect of life has even greater plans on the table for his people. This is the bringing forth and imbedding of spiritual qualities or “gifts” that will make God’s children effective in life, especially as they work together in bringing testimony to Jesus before the whole world. This is achieved by the giving of the Holy Spirit to all those who have placed their lives in the hands of Jesus.

We are given here in the opening to this letter, another glimpse of the communal activity of the Trinity. Although difficult to understand at times, we are given enough glimpses in scripture of the various persons and functions of a Triune God at work. The three facets of God work together in perfect unity to bring salvation to us. We read here of God’s great planning – God the architect of salvation; of Jesus sacrificing for the cause of redemption – Jesus the agent of salvation; and of the Holy Spirit guaranteeing our ability to stay on track and be fruitful – the Holy Spirit the seal of salvation.

What does it mean to be “marked with the seal of the … Holy Spirit” (v.13)? At the time “seals” were affixed to certain goods in transit to indicate particular ownership and thus protect or guarantee its contents for that owner. “Seals” were also attached to documents to prove their genuineness. You get the point! To be “marked with the seal of the … Holy Spirit” is to be deemed to be under Divine ownership, and also to experience a measure of protection over our well-being!! When in the human environment we’re a bit short on knowing what to do, the Holy Spirit of God reassures and guides us toward truth that will keep us in Christ.

Spiritual blessings are ours – praise be to God! God not only created us but has a plan and purpose for our lives. It would have been difficult for those in the “Old Testament” times to have understood all of what God was up to, but with the “wisdom and insight” [v.8] that only God sufficiently has, when the time was just right, Jesus came! In the same way, some of the circumstances around our lives are difficult to explain, yet in the fullness of time, God’s “wisdom and insight” will indeed be apparent. So often we can only recognise God’s powerful working in and around our lives in hindsight. However this should actually strengthen our faith in knowing that God is working his purposes out, and these are the only purposes that really count for anything.

And so when we read in verses 8-10 … With all wisdom and insight 9he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, 10as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth … this calls to us in two ways:
(i) to be patient; that even though many areas of life look fragmented, and things don’t seem to add up, all things will be brought into proper relationship with each and every other thing eventually.
(ii) to be active; to participate in God’s mission in the world; to live in such a way that aids (rather than upsets) God’s purposes in the world. We can’t just be fatalistic about the world’s woes, rather do whatever we can to put things right (trusting God for the outcomes). When we are seeking to make decisions in our life, especially the bigger ones, then we should not only pray about these things, and seek specific guidance, but also look to the revealed purposes of God in the breadth of the Bible, and in this way we may just be positioning ourselves to be part of the solutions God is seeking to bring about in the world.

Verse 14 rounds out our passage, returning to the context of praise and worship it began with. Whereas we cannot actually make God any greater, the way that we live out our “redemption” and be known as God’s person can significantly enhance God’s reputation (the meaning of his “glory”).