Simple Yet Powerful

Introduction

One thing about me is like simple. It’s not say that I do not enjoy the complex things of life but I enjoy anything that is simple and straight forward. I like my restaurant menu simple, I get overwhelmed when a menu has too many choices. Even the way I dress, I’ve never been a flashy guy, colors might be vibrant but the pattern the assortment is based on simplicity. As it pertains to simplicity, the Gospel is simple. The enemy tries to make things complex in effort to distract you and to find a reason to discourage you from trusting in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Here we are in Ephesians chapter 3, in which Paul explains the purpose of the mystery. In other words the purpose of understanding this liberating power which was not known before. Paul had experienced persecution on both sides of the ethnic and religious coin. He was shamed by Jews for following Christ, he was also ridiculed for his affection for Gentiles. Paul expresses explicitly that Jews and Gentiles are one within the body of Christ and share the same spiritual riches.

We live in a world of divide and truthfully we are divided because of confusion and foolish complexities drawn up by fallible human beings. We have to ask ourselves the question, are we helping God bring people together or are we pushing people further apart!

Understand Your Purpose within the Plan

Where you started isn’t the point. The point is to be humble enough to realize how far God has brought you.

Ephesians 3:8 “To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,”

Paul understands who he is and the grace that was given to him to have a second chance because of Christ. Paul was an individual who was an oppressor to Christians, some suggest even a murdered. Nonetheless, the power of the Gospel turned his life around. So much so that he found purpose in preaching amongst people that were not ethnically in common or religiously aligned with him in their past life. He coins himself the least of these. Some would say hindsight is 20/20. One might ask the question, how does one of the most decorated authors of biblical history esteem himself as the “least of all the saints”. My response would be he understood how much grace played a role in his life.

1 Corinthians 15:9 “For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.”

Grace shown in this way truly proves the ideas that the riches of Christ are boundless. The power of Jesus Christ can reach any person, in any place, at any time. The riches of salvation are boundless! So boundless that it’s almost impossible to understand. Like why would God choose me? Why would he extend grace to me? Why would He allow mercy to work the way it’s worked in my life. I might not get it but I appreciate it!

The Gospel is Simple

We’ve convoluted religion by adding terms, agreements and doctrine that Christ did not die for. The gospel has power for the oldest person in the room and the youngest child in the room. Ephesians 3:9 “and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ;” In other words, make it plain, not only plan to everyone so that we all understand but make it plain enough so that those who it is made plain to can share it in a plain way with other people. We see that word administration again, (oikos) and (nomos). This is a house that we must manage. Not only must we live within the house of salvation a certain way but we must also be able to explain the standard and the expectations to people in a simple way. How are you stewarding the gospel that has been shared with you. Plain in this text is to essentially shed light on something, or to cause something to be fully known but revealing it in clear and detailed way.

We should be grateful, this is something that wasn’t truly revealed until Jesus came to this earth! Nonetheless, as we trust God we should know that this came at the right time.

The Church is the Vehicle

We talk about changing the world. Understand that if we want to change the world, if we want to change our community it starts with the church. The church is the vehicle of intent that God desires to use to change the world. The word I like in this text the most is the word “manifold”, it’s attached to wisdom in this text, it is a many sided, versatile tool that God be made known to the entire world even the powers in high places. We want to change the block, we want to change the white house, it starts in the church! The church has the power to change the world! Each way of implementing change does not have to look the same. To be quite honest, the word manifold in this text actually means a number of ways, diverse or many sided! Our efforts of impact and change don’t have to be the same! Some churches are great at certain ministries and some churches are great at others, but the goal is are we bringing people closer to Christ. This isn’t just about the block, this is about the block and the corner office. This is about the duplex and the pint house, the people on housing assistance and the director of housing for the federal government, the gospel has life changing power for people regardless of any position.

Ephesians 6:12 “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

The Gospel Makes Us Bold

When I know what God has done, when I know how He’s changed my life I’m bold about how I approach the God that has the power to change any life but also I walk through life with confidence understanding that there is no suffering that could discourage me from following Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 3:11–13 “according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him. Therefore I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.”

This eternal purpose of salvation was accomplished by what Jesus did to conquer death and what He did on the cross. We approach God with freedom and confidence! I approach God knowing that He is the liberator of sin, I have confidence because I know He can fix all my problems. It’s through faith that we approach God and are sustained by God! I might suffer but I have faith to know that God is going to work this out! My suffering, my resilience, my bounce back is all for the glory of God!