The Eternal Standing O

To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.  Amen (Eph 3:21).

Ever been part of a crowd that just kept cheering and didn't want to go home?  Your team has just won the big game and the celebration just won't stop.  The audience begs the band to return for an encore.  The crowd goes wild!  The applause doesn't end!  That's nothing compared to the ovation God deserves for who He is, what He's done and what He's gonna do.  "To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.  Amen" (v21).  Paul says that God alone rates such adulation.

Only God deserves the eternal standing O.  Props that don't stop.

So what's caused the apostle to jump out of his seat and cheer God all of the sudden?  He's just finished asking the Lord an outlandish request and knows He'll come through.  Paul has prayed that God would fill up his Ephesian friends with His unlimited supernatural strength so they could comprehend the incomprehensible love of Jesus (Eph 3:14-19).  He explodes in praise because he knows God has the resources to pull off such a big ask.  As a matter of fact, our minds can't begin to imagine the kind of overwhelming goodness of which He's capable (Eph 3:20).

From the big house in Rome, Paul works his tail off to get the folks back in Ephesus to see Jesus for who He is and know that everything they need they already have in Him.  He's inoculating this church against a nasty heresy that's making the rounds.  A counterfeit gospel has infected churches just down the road in towns like Colossae, Hierapolis and Laodicea.  A group of spiritual snake oil salesmen have duped folks into believing good news that's really no good at all.  Through some shifty spiritual slight of hand, they've convinced Jesus' followers that He might have been good but He's not quite God.  He may have gotten us into God's kingdom, but it's up to us to stay in.  We have to finish what He started by following a complicated list of religious rules, holidays and dietary laws (Col 2:16-23).

After firing off a letter to the multisite church based in Colossae, Paul writes another note to the Ephesian church.  He knows that when they understand the mind-blowing blessings we have in Jesus (Eph 1:3-14), they'll give God every bit of praise.  When our eyes are locked on Jesus and we give Him the glory, we're too busy to fall for any cheap imitations.  And once we're on our feet, we won't sit down.

Only God deserves the eternal standing O.  Props that don't stop.

God's forever glory is a mega-theme throughout the Bible.  He's to get all the applause for all time.  Scripture is chockfull of what smart dudes in ties call doxologies.  There's a little problem for when I hear the word doxology.  It takes me back to my days growing up the baptist church.  The doxology was that part of the service when the ushers carried the brass plates full of offering envelopes down the center aisle and we all stood to sing a song without using the hymnal.  That droning dirge we sang was the "Doxology."  So when I see or hear the word doxology, that's what comes to mind.

We get the term from the original language in places like v21.  When he mentions "glory," Paul uses the Greek word doxa.  It means splendor, grandeur, praise and honor.  It's the breathtaking and remarkable presence of something (or Someone!) spectacular.  In the OT, the idea of glory is synonymous with weight.  Think of it this way.  To give God glory is to recognize the full weight of who He is.  As Jonathan Edwards says, His glory is the fullness of His understanding, virtue and happiness.  We give Him glory when we make much of Him.  We give Him glory when we make a big fuss over Him.  We give Him glory when we make Him a big deal.  When we do that, it's called a doxology.  That's EXACTLY what the apostle is doing right here.  He's making God a big deal.  

These doxologies are all throughout God's Word (Ps 72:19; 104:31; Mt 6:13; Rom 11:36; 16:27; Phil 4:20; 1Tim 1:17; 2Tim 4:18; Heb 13:21; 1Pet 4:11; Jude 25; Rev 1:6; 4:9; 5:13; 7:12).  Think of them as divine applause signs.  Reminders of Who's really behind it all.  Reminders that we need to get our feet and cheer the only One truly worthy of our praise.  There's absolutely no reason to stop cheering.  Let the crowd go wild!

Only God deserves the eternal standing O.  Props that don't stop.