Preaching Unsearchable Riches
Ephesians: Rooted and Grounded • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:
How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)
Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:
Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.
Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.
Introduction
Introduction
As we move to chapter 3 of Ephesians, we see a paragraph that shows us how the Gospel is available to us today. The Gospel was something that God had reserved till the latter days for making it known to the world. Preaching is the way that the Gospel is carried out into the world. We will see this primacy of preaching this morning.
Remember, the letter of Paul to the Ephesians, an important epistle in the Bible, has much to say on the subject of what our church should be. Paul will show us the importance of unity, faithful leadership and biblical order in the church. We will see the vital part that their family plays in the life of every Christian. We have seen the blessings of God through His salvation. We will also see the reality of the spiritual warfare around us.
Written by Paul the Apostle, Ephesians is a letter that begins high on a mountain top in chapter one. We see the amazing blessings of the Trinity toward saved man. In chapter two, we see two paragraphs that give us the truth of grace for mankind. We are saved by grace. We are united by our sin and His salvation. Salvation a focus of these doctrinal chapters in Ephesians.
Remember, the central theme of Ephesians is the unity of believers, in Christ, as part of the local church.
As we look at our passage this morning, there is a lingering question from our passage last week. Why did God wait so long to offer salvation to mankind? He waited over 4,000 years to send Christ to earth. We will learn the depth of the plan of God as we seek something that ultimately can only be comprehended in God Himself.
Have you ever thought through all of the things that you have lost in your life? Toys from when you were a kid. Clothes that you have misplaced. Objects that you don’t even remember what happened to.
Every year, when I was a little kid, we would get an Easter basket at our place on the table on Sunday Morning. Throughout the years, my parents gave me one or two little presents each year as well as some candy. I remember getting a white Atlanta Braves visor one year. It was a great hat and I think I had it for several days before it went missing. I don’t remember what happened to it and haven’t seen another one since.
I can remember looking for things after moving to a new house. Moving is the worst for losing things that you should know where they are. Think of all that you have lost during a move. Sometimes you find those things; most of the times you do not.
Looking for objects seems to take up a lot of our lives. Ikea’s website in Spain has this to say about losing things…
“The average time we spend looking for something is between 1 and 10 minutes, which doesn't seem too bad. But that adds up to over 6.5 months of our lives, which is equivalent to almost 5,000 hours spent looking for things.”
from https://www.ikea.com/es/en/ideas/how-much-time-do-we-spend-searching-for-things-around-the-home-pubec2a8ae0#:~:text=The%20average%20time%20we%20spend,hours%20spent%20looking%20for%20things.
Think about how much time we spend searching for things! In Ephesians, we see that the riches of Christ are “unsearchable”. No matter how much time we spend looking for them, there is still more to be found in the grace of Christ.
Paul is going to give us several different angles of these riches and their mystery in God this morning.
Declaration
Declaration
The mystery of the Gospel is that all may be saved and united in Christ. The application for the passage this morning is a call to preach the Gospel to all and to make all understand the opportunity to believe in Him. No matter who you are, each Christian has a burden to preach the Gospel to the lost. Are you preaching the Gospel to others who are lost?
1. Richness in God’s Promise
1. Richness in God’s Promise
For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:
The first phrase here in chapter 3 is a transitional phrase that carries along the truths which we have already learned in this letter. We have learned that we are saved by grace through faith. Because we are all lost in sin, we must all be saved by His grace. The rest of our passage today is because of what has been taught before. Paul connects the passage to the truths of chapter 2.
Paul speaks to the Ephesians as a prisoner of Jesus for the Gentiles. He was in the prison of Caesar, but he does not say that here. He was in prison for preaching an extension of a recognized religion, but he does not say that here. Instead, he is a prisoner of Christ. He is happy to be bound to Christ and His calling. He is a prisoner for the Gentiles. Instead of something illegal, he is a prisoner to preach freedom from bondage to the lost in sin.
Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;
The word “dispensation” here gives us the idea of an apostle who is part of the distribution of the Gospel to the world. God has given Paul the special administration as an apostle to preach to the Gentiles. Three new truths are found here for the Gentiles:
fellow heirs - Gentiles are able to have possession of the inheritance with the Jews
members of the same body - union with the Jews removes the uncleanliness of the Gentile as he is washed clean in the blood of Christ
partakers - sharing in the hope of future fulfillment of the promise of eternal life in Christ
Paul is sent specifically to preach to the Gentiles. God tells Annanias,
But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
There is a mystery that was hidden but now is revealed. A “mystery” is the secret choice of God to redeem all of mankind, not just the Jews. God has chosen to keep His plan hidden until the time that Christ has come to die for all and rise again. Now this “mystery” is clear to all as the grace of God at work in the world. He has written before of what he has understood that was hidden in the past but is not given to the apostles and the Old Testament prophets. The mystery is that all people are combined through the Gospel and the promise of Christ.
Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the Lord, speak, saying,
The Lord hath utterly separated me from his people:
Neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree.
For thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths,
And choose the things that please me,
And take hold of my covenant;
Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls
A place and a name better than of sons and of daughters:
I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.
There is Richness in God’s Promise
2. Richness in God’s Power
2. Richness in God’s Power
Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
Paul has been given the grace of God in this administration in order to be a servant of God. The word “minister” here is someone who is serving another. Giving the Gospel is a service that the preacher does according to the special grace that he has been given by God. Grace here is an enablement for obedience and living the Christian life. Later in chapter 4, Paul is going to explain that this grace acts the same in our lives.
But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
The service of God by Paul is through God’s power and not Paul’s power. This power is action that is occuring because of the potential of God working in it. There is function to the plan of God. When we try in our power, there is a high potential for failure. When God’s power is at work, there is not potential for anything but mighty works.
Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.
Nothing in Paul is deserving of this because he is “the least of all saints”. Instead, it is by grace. The ministry of Paul is a continuous lesson in humility. Paul makes himself nothing so that the grace of God can be glorified as everything. In First Corinthians, Paul gave us the statement of God’s grace in his apostleship just as he does here in his weakness. Humility and grace are good companions in the effective working of God’s plan.
For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
Richness in God’s Promise
Richness in God’s Power
3. Richness in God’s Proclamation
3. Richness in God’s Proclamation
Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
Why did God give Paul special grace to serve Him? What is the goal of Paul’s life? His goal is to give the Gospel to all men so that they can be a part of the new creature that Christ is forming.
But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
Preaching the Gospel here is the word “preach”. We preach the Gospel through our words and our actions. Always, we preach the Gospel through obedient attention to the lost around us and faithfulness to the calling of God to each of us. The example of the Apostles in the Acts is fitting.
And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.
The truth of the Gospel is not able to fully found out. No day is wasted in faithful service to the King of Kings. That service is preaching the Gospel to the lost and allowing God to do the work in the hearts of the hearer. Riches give us the idea of abundance and we see hear that there is the promise of abundance in Christ. We may never know all that is in the Gospel; we may never see all that God is doing; we may never have a complete picture of where God is working; we do have the promise of the unsearchableness of God’s abundance and His salvation in Christ.
What is something that is “unsearchable”? The Greek word has been defined as “fathomless”. In Rom 11:33, the same word contains the idea of depth. “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!”
If I were to ask you what the deepest place on the earth’s surface was, you might tell me the Marianas Trench. This trench in the Pacific Ocean is at least 36,037 feet deep. No one truly knows how deep the trench is because of the immense pressure that is exerted on anyone who travels down into it.
As deep as the Marianas Trench is, it is not the closest point on the Earth’s surface to the center of the Earth. That distinction is held by the Litke Deep in the Arctic Ocean. Due to the way that the Earth flattens around its poles, this trench is actually closer to the center though it is only 17, 877 feet below sea level. It does not appear that anyone has to date tried to travel to the bottom of this trench.
What does that make these two deep portions of the ocean? They are “unsearchable” because of their sheer depth. Someday someone may reach the bottom of both, but no one will reach the bottom of the riches that we find in Christ. The depth of the love of Christ is beyond our understanding. Job says,
I would seek unto God,
And unto God would I commit my cause:
Which doeth great things and unsearchable;
Marvellous things without number:
Paul has experienced grace so that others may experience truth and accept the reality of salvation. Paul is only nothing without Christ. With the calling and grace of faithful service to Him, Paul is able to be something. One preacher said it this way about the preaching of the unsearchable riches,
Miscellanies, Volume II: Chiefly Theological 1909: Unsearchable Riches
The Christ whom we are to preach is not only a present God, but he is an infinite Saviour.
The truth of “make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery” here is a candle in the darkness. The word used here for “see” is the idea of giving light or the ability to see and understand to lost men everywhere. This candle brings understanding through the preaching of the Gospel of Christ. Preaching the Gospel opens men’s eyes to their sin and His salvation. John the Baptist was a faithful preacher to this calling,
He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
There is fellowship in this mystery. Christ want you too to believe in Him. That is why He came to die on the cross over two thousand years ago. He rose again to give you new life. Join the fellowship!
Richness in God’s Promise
Richness in God’s Power
Richness in God’s Proclamation
4. Richness in God’s Purpose
4. Richness in God’s Purpose
To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.
Why would God spend time offering the Gospel to the Gentiles? Why not simply keep it as an offer to the Jewish nation only? The purpose of God’s plan is that all may see through the church that God is wise. There are many aspects of this wisdom and we see here the “manifold” or diverse ways that God has shown wisdom in this plan. Instead of choosing to use only one individual to give the Gospel to the world, the church here is seen as the mode of the transmission of the Gospel of the Unsearchable Riches of Christ. Paul tells the Colossian church,
If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister; Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:
God purposed in Christ to redeem mankind before the time began. We now have a relationship with God through the free gift of Christ when we have place our faith in Him. Boldness is the a result of fellowship with God even in the midst of tough times. A relationship with God includes the ability to come to Him when we need to. We can now move toward God. This access is by “confidence”. We can rely on and put our faith and trust in the finished work of Christ on the cross. One day, we will spend forever with Him in the presence of God.
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
The calling of Paul to preach the Gospel is vital to the spreading of the good news to the world. As Paul is in prison, his sufferings are part of that calling, a necessary part. Paul demands that the Ephesians choose encouragement in the sufferings as they are for the Gospel and for their glory. The word “faint” here means that the people were in danger of losing their momentum and missing out on the continued work of God because they were discouraged by what was happening to Paul. In the midst of hardship in his life, Paul pointed to the plan of God and His continued work in the world to redeem mankind for encouragement. Paul reminds the Corinthian church of this same truth that we need to realize in our own trials today.
For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Riches are usually something that you can see. If you were to Google the estimated net worth of any famous person, you would likely find it on the internet. But the riches of Christ are unsearchable! We cannot ever find the bottom of them. What should we do with these riches? We must take them to a lost and dying world!
The mystery of the Gospel is that all may be saved and united in Christ. The application for this passage is go and preach the Gospel to all. Make all understand the opportunity to believe in Him! Paul tells us his purpose,
Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
How are you doing in your job of preaching the Gospel? Paul was given grace in order that he would do something with it. His testimony is one of faithfulness to give the Gospel to everyone that he met. His light shone brightly into the darkness of the pagan world around him. How is your light?
Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Have you received the riches of Christ? Christ is abundant. His grace is sufficient. His promise is sure. Our sin is visible. It brings us into eternal condemnation but Christ has paid the debt for our sin. Will you receive the riches of Christ today? All that is required is the idea of faith. Believe in the Gospel. Believe that He alone has already paid for your sin. Put your trust in the surety of the unsearchable riches of Christ!
God wants you to find help in Him. God wants you to find Him. He promises,
Seek ye the Lord while he may be found,
Call ye upon him while he is near:
Let the wicked forsake his way,
And the unrighteous man his thoughts:
And let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him;
And to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
