Why We Exist: Gospel Purpose

Our mission statement at DGCC says the following:

We exist to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples.

This is why we exist. This is our gospel purpose. This has been DGCC’s identity from the time it was planted 20 years ago. And, by God’s grace, this will be DGCC’s gospel purpose for the next 20 years and beyond. The question is, what exactly do we aim to do to live out this gospel purpose.

What We Do: Gospel Pursuit

For the past several months the Vision Team here at DGCC has met regularly to pray and discern DGCC’s vision for the foreseeable future. Essentially, the Vision Team aimed to articulate what we do, our gospel pursuit. And, by God’s grace, in our most recent members meeting, the Vision Team shared with our fellow members the vision we believe God has led us to. This statement below captures that vision.

We glorify God by joyfully treasuring Christ and prayerfully pursuing Christlikeness in the love of the Father and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Scripture birthed this statement. Specifically, Ephesians 3:14–21 became the foundational text that informed and shaped this vision statement. I aim to unpack this vision statement in a series of blog posts here. And I aim to do that by unpacking Ephesians 3:14–21 in order to reveal the wonderful truths within this glorious prayer of Paul and to hold those truths forth as a glorious vision for the saints.[1] Here in this initial post, we will consider the core of this vision: We glorify God.

Before diving in though, let’s first orient ourselves to the context of Ephesians 3:14–21.

Context

Paul has just heralded God’s glory in the gospel of Jesus in one of the densest and richest treasure troves Scripture has to offer in Ephesians 1 and 2. He penned astounding realities such as

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. (Ephesians 1:3–6)

And

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4–7)

Paul goes on to exhort the Ephesians to walk in this new life, to grow in their gospel-forged unity as a local church,  and specifically to grow “to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:9).

Ephesians 3:14–21 fits right in between Paul’s heralding of these wonderful gospel realities—the gospel indicatives—and his powerful gospel exhortations—the gospel imperatives—to the Ephesians. Moreover, Ephesians 3:14–21 is a prayer. And this prayer makes clear to us what Paul understands the necessary ingredients for Christian growth—growth in both love for God and Christlikeness—to be. Consider Paul’s prayer.

Ephesians 3:14–21: A Prayer for God’s Glory

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:14–21)

First, notice the obvious that I have already pointed out. This is a prayer. Paul says, “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named” (Ephesians 3:14).

“For this reason” refers to all of the gospel realities that Paul has just touched on in Ephesians 1:1–3:13. Paul essentially says, “God in his sovereignty planned to save you through the gospel of his Son, so ‘for this reason’ I pray as a minister of this grace for you, Ephesians.” The fact that this is a prayer informs us immediately that Paul assumes the Ephesians have need for God to act in order to bring about whatever Paul is about to pray for. Thus, we have need for God to act in order to bring about for us the things Paul instructively petitions for here. The Christian life is completely dependent upon God to act. So prayer colors everything we aim to do as Christians, and of course what Paul is about to request here.

Second, notice the ultimate aim of Paul’s prayer. The ultimate aim of Paul’s prayer reveals itself in verse 21: “to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever.” At the bottom (or top, depending on how you look at it) of all of Paul’s requests here is this—God’ glory. This is what his prayer for the Ephesians ultimately aims at, as it should. Carson notes regarding this, “It is possible to ask for good things for bad reasons.”[2] He goes on to note that we “can distort…good requests by envisaging their fulfillment within a framework in which the entire universe revolves around our improvement.”[3] But Scripture makes clear that God’s work of creation is for glory:

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” (Revelation 4:11)

And, Scripture makes clear that God’s work of redemption is for his glory:

In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. (Ephesians 1:4–6)

Indeed, God’s glory is what the entire Christian life aims at, no matter if we’re enjoying breakfast or taking the gospel to an unreached people group in a foreign land—”So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). Thus, since all things work for God’s glory in creation and salvation, we too join with Paul in saying, “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen” (Romans 11:36).

Therefore, our vision as DGCC is to first and foremost fall in line with the purpose of all of creation and redemption history. And that purpose is to bring glory to God. This is why we exist: we exist for God’s glory, we exist to enjoy God’s glory, and we exist to spread that enjoyment of God’s glory. This is why our mission statement at DGCC reads

We exist to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples.

Thus, our vision at DGCC begins with this—We glorify God.

[1] Exegesis of this passage was aided by and leans heavily on Carson, who unpacks this passage in his book D. A. Carson, Praying with Paul: A Call to Spiritual Reformation, Second. (Baker Academic, 2015), 159–81.

[2] Carson, Praying with Paul, 280.

[3] Carson, Praying with Paul, 180.