Glorified by Growth—Ephesians 3:13-21
“…worship must come BEFORE service.”
We rightly place a great emphasis on soul-winning and missions. We must make every effort to bring the lost to Jesus. But have you ever noticed that when church members are taught how to witness, they do it for a little while and then just fizzle? But in most evangelical churches, Christians give an average of $2.00 per person per year to the cause of missions. Why so little for an activity we say is so important? What is the problem? Perhaps the problem is a wrong focus.
In all of Paul’s epistles in the New Testament, he doesn’t stress the need for missions. He never outlines soul-winning techniques. Why? For him there was one great priority about which he wrote volumes—to worship and to know Christ. Do you Jesus chiding Martha who was so busy in the kitchen and complaining about the lack of good help? ” Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things ” (Luke 10:41). But He commended Mary who sat at his feet striving to know Him better: ” But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:42). Martha put service first—doing many “things.” That leads to fatigue and burnout. Mary put worship first—she chose “that good part.” What is your focus? What is the focus of your church? Missionary Amy Carmichael in India had a church built with two spires. The one on the front of the church was labeled “worship;” the one on the rear of the church was labeled “service.” This reminded everyone that saw it that worship must come BEFORE service. She served God faithfully for over forty years without a day of furlough and God blessed her ministry. She kept worship the first priority.
Spiritual growth begins with meeting two essential requirements of worship:
Worship begins with a bowing down—an act of submission to the Lord. Paul writes, ” For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ” (3:14). The twenty-four elders of Revelation 4 bow down in worship to the Lord (Revelation 4:10). Daily you should acknowledge your submission to His will. Get on your knees; it helps!
Worship gives all the glory to God. The elders cast their crowns before the throne and before the Lamb of God (Revelation 4:10). Paul also speaks of this: ” Now unto him that is 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 ” (Ephesians 3:20-21). Paul begins and ends this passage with the two key essentials of worship – submission to God and giving Him glory.
We usually define spiritual growth as a set of activities—reading the Bible, memorizing verses, praying for a set length of time. But you can do all these things without deepening your spiritual walk. You can go to seminary and learn more about the Bible but leave without knowing more of Jesus. Have you ever heard a great sermon and left intellectually stimulated but not really changed? We grow spiritually not by increasing our knowledge but by loving Jesus more and experiencing more of His love for us. Here’s how Paul defines spiritual growth: ” to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God ” (Ephesians 3:16-19). Will you commit right now that your goal for today is to know Jesus better and to express your love for Him? The most frequent command in the Bible is ” Praise ye the Lord .” Praise Jesus today!
Author: Robert W. Rohlin
This devotional first appeared October 18, 1998 in the Advancer , a Sunday school teacher’s guide published by the Baptist Publishing House . It is gratefully reprinted here with permission from the publisher.