The Stewardship of God's Grace (2)

Ephesians 3:1–7 NKJV

1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles— 2 if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, 3 how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, 4 by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), 5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: 6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, 7 of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power.

In chapter 3 Paul is going to pray one of the most inspired, powerful anointed prayer’s that we find in the Bible in verses Eph 3:14-21 which I would like to read now.

Ephesians 3:14–21 NKJV

14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

It is this prayer that Paul is leading into in verse 1

Ephesians 3:1 NKJV

1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles—

But he stops himself here to explain his own unique ministry. Why? Because the weight of this statement needs explanation.

“I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles”

And everything between this statement and his actual prayer which begins in verse 14 is a parentheses.

A Prisoner

So why did Paul feel the need to explain his statement? Because he had just dropped this bomb that he was in prison and that the reason he says is “for you Gentiles”

Why was Paul in prison?

This letter was written by Paul while he was under house arrest in Rome. From the book of Acts we know that Paul was arrested in Jerusalem. He had been first apprehended by the Jews who had accused Him of teaching against the Law and of bringing Trophimus a Greek into the temple. While they were beating Paul, with the intention of killing him, a Roman commander intervened and arrested and to make a long story short he was held in Caesarea for about 2 years before he was sent to Rome and held under house arrest.

But Paul says he was a prisoner of Christ Jesus for you. Ultimately the reason that Paul was in prison was because he was obedient to the Lord in his calling to preach the gospel to the Gentiles.

Now you may be saying, wait, because Paul served God, he was put in prison? I thought that if you serve God then He causes good things to happen to you.

We don’t serve God because we hope to have an easy life where good things happen to us.

Serving God is more like enlisting in the army during WWII. You don’t do it for the lifestyle you do it because of what is at stake, you do it because it’s the right thing to do. Ultimately you do it because you understand that you are not your own but you have been bought with a price.

The good news is that what Satan means for evil God ordains for good.

Acts 23:11 NKJV

11 But the following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Be of good cheer, Paul; for as you have testified for Me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome.”

Paul is not complaining to the Ephesians, in fact, the aim of this parenthesis is encourage the Ephesian Christians as he says in verse 13

Ephesians 3:13 NKJV

13 Therefore I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.

If you enlist in God’s army don’t expect it to be easy, don’t think that God is going to bless you with riches and comforts in this world. But you can expect that God will give you everything you need. He will bless you with spiritual blessing and fill you with joy. It is a battle but you know that you are on the right side and that you will win.

Paul begins his explanation of his imprisonment in verse by sharing his calling.

Ephesians 3:2 NKJV

2 if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you,

A Steward

So just to clear up any confusion on this word used in the NKJV “dispensation” The english word “dispensation” has several meanings. One meaning which this could be mistaken for is a “divinely ordained system prevailing at a particular period of history.” That’s not the meaning here. The meaning here is “the action of distributing or supplying something.” If we dive into the Greek word we find that it is the distribution made by the house manager or steward. During this time it was common for wealthy home owners to employ a steward who would oversee the day to day running of the house as a manager.

Paul sees his ministry as a stewardship in which he has been in-trusted by God with the distribution of His grace by way of preaching the gospel. In particular Paul was told by Jesus that he was to go to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. So he says Eph 3:2

Ephesians 3:2 NKJV

2 if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you,

Paul had a unique ministry and calling a I believe we all have a unique calling. If we have receieved God’s grace in salvation then we are stewards of that grace. God’s grace is meant to be distributed to others. If He has given us that grace we must share it with others by way of sharing the gospel message.

I would like close by sharing a parable with you that we looked at in our Tues morning study this week.

Matthew 25:14–30 NKJV

14 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. 15 And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. 16 Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. 17 And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. 18 But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money. 19 After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 “So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ 21 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ 22 He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ 23 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ 24 “Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’ 26 “But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. 27 So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. 29 ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’