Sermon Tone Analysis

*Ephesians 3:7-10*

REVIEW:

*12 NEW TESTAMENT “MYSTERIES”*

*10 DIVINE AND 2 SATANIC MYSTERIES*

*(THINGS PREVIOUSLY UNREVEALED BUT NOW REVEALED)*

 

Matthew 13:11

Mark 4:11                                “New Truths Regarding the Kingdom of Heaven~/God”

Luke 8:10

 

Romans 11:25                          “Partial Hardening of Israel Until Fullness of Gentiles”

1 Timothy 3:9, 16                     “Mystery of Faith and Godliness”

Colossians 1:27                        “Christ in you”

Ephesians 3:3-9                        “Believing Jews and Gentiles are Co-Equals in One New

Body, the Church”

Ephesians 5:32             “Church as the Bride of Christ”

Revelation 1:20             “Seven Stars and Seven Lampstands”

2 Thessalonians 2:6, 7               “Mystery of Wickedness”

1 Corinthians 15:51                  “Rapture of Church Saints”

Revelation 10:7             “Mystery of the 21 Tribulation Judgments Fulfilled”

Revelation 17:5, 7                     “Babylon the Great, Mother of Harlots and Abominations”

Ephesians 1:9                           “God Will Bring Together All Things and Restore the

Whole Creation Under One Head”

 

*            3.

The Ministry (3:7-12)*

           

v.

7 is a transitional verse between 3:2-6 and 3:8-13.

The relative pronoun at the beginning of verse 7 (*of which*)* *unites this verse with 3:2-6 and with the following channel through which the revelation of the mystery dispensation (the Church) would travel (God to Apostles and Prophets to Church to Angels).

The mystery dispensation was hidden in God until revealed to Paul and the other apostles and prophets who then made it known to the Church.

And the Church becomes the means by which God’s wisdom is made known to the angelic realm.

So, verse 7 is transitional.

* *

*                        a.         The Placement into the Ministry (3:7-8a)*

 

            Paul describes how he was placed in the ministry, not by his own doing but by God’s doing.

Paul himself expresses his feeling of unworthiness (8a) but that the means by which he will accomplish this task is by the power of God (7b).

*/Greek Text 3:7 ou egenethen diakonos kata ten dorean tes charitos tou theou tes dotheises moi kata ten energeian tes dunameos autou/*

*Translation 3:7 **of which I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace which was given to me according to the working of His power*

 

            */ou egenethen diakonos/**, “of which I was made a minister”.

*Paul was made a minister of the gospel (/egenethen – aorist passive indicative)/.

He did not make himself a minister of the gospel.

All ministers ought to be made ministers of the gospel.

Being a minister ought to be the last resort of any man.

If there is anything else you can do in life then do that.

Do not ever become a minister of the gospel unless there is nothing else you can do.

I fear that many who are ministers of the gospel made themselves ministers.

They have a strong desire to serve Jesus but God has not made them a minister.

They do not have the gifts of pastor and teacher.

They do not like to study the word of God.

What they like to do is get together with the local ministerial alliance and waste time.

I know what most ministers do and it’s not study the word of God.

Most ministers today spend less than 1 hour preparing to teach a lesson.

That’s because God didn’t make them a minister, they made themselves a minister.

And people, thousands of people, attending these churches, suffer because these self-made ministers are lazy and gifted at social get-togethers rather than teaching the word of God.

They don’t have the wisdom of God they have the wisdom of men and that’s how they run their churches.

On the other hand I also know of those who were made ministers of the gospel and yet they rejected it.

Both of these situations are terrible.

I have known of men who had very strong calls on their life for ministry and never ministered.

There are three basic reasons men who are made ministers never minister: (1) cost of education (elitists schools) (2) unwillingness because of the weight of the task and (3) being a minister doesn’t pay a lot.

Some of these men are some of the most brilliant men in the world.

But the tug of the culture is so great toward material success that they opt to take secular jobs so they can have a lot of money.

I have seen men do this, brilliant men, and the results are devastating.

These men are under severe divine discipline today (mental problems, self-esteem problems, etc…) because of their failure to live by faith and be who God made them to be.

But Paul was one of those men who had integrity and drive.

God made him a minister of the gospel and Paul responded by fulfilling that ministry.

The Greek word for *minister *is /diakonos/, from which we get the word “deacon”.

It’s a synonym of the Greek word /doulos /(slave).

The word “slave” refers to the relationship of servant to master and *minister *refers to serving the master.

Paul considered himself /bond-slave/ (for life) and a /minister /(Rom.

1:1).

Paul was a slave of Christ Jesus and served in the capacity of preaching to the Gentiles.

*/kata ten dorean tes charitos tou theou tes dotheises moi/**, “according to the gift of God's grace which was given to me”.

*/kata /with the accusative denotes the standard by which Paul was made a minister of the gospel.

That standard was *God’s* *grace *(genitive of possession or source).

The word *grace *means ‘unmerited or undeserved favor’.

We are saved by God’s grace and its God’s grace that also enables us to perform God given tasks.

God will never give you a task without also giving you the ability to complete the task.

*God’s grace* is a *gift *(/dorean/).

A *gift *is something you do not earn or deserve; gifts are free and come from the heart of the giver.

The entire salvation by grace through faith mechanism is a gift of God.

We did not earn this mechanism of salvation.

It was not by works (Eph.

2:4a-8a, 9; See Lesson 22: The Gift of God).

In the same way Paul did not earn his ministry.

It was given to him according to the standard of God’s grace.

So, not only was the mystery dispensation revealed to Paul but even the ability to minister this mystery to others was given.

All that humans have is received by grace and never by works.

*/kata ten energeian tes dunameos autou/**, “according to the working of His power”.*

Again this is /kata /with the accusative which always denotes the standard or the measure.

Here it denotes the measure of something.

The measure of the *grace *God gave to Paul can only be measured by God’s power (which is infinite; it’s immeasurable).

The words for *working *and *power *were used in Ephesians 1:19.

If you recall, these two words are /energeia /and /dunamis/.

We get the English words “energy” and “dynamite” from these two words.

The word for *energy* refers to /kinetic energy/; energy in motion; energy that is doing work (and the word for *power* refers to /potential energy/; stored energy, energy that has the ability to do work (e.g. car battery, rock on the side of a cliff, etc…)./

/God has the ability to do work and He is doing work in Paul.

God’s potential energy is toward you as a Christian (1:19; 3:20).

The same power that raised Christ from the dead (reversal of biological, chemical, and physical processes), seated Christ at the right hand of the Father is the same power that regenerated you and is available to you to complete your God-given calling in life.

The amount of *grace* that God gave to Paul can only be measured by God’s ability at work; God doing something in history (e.g.

resurrection; session; regeneration; etc…).

Paul had a terrific calling in life He had to travel all over the Mediterranean world.

He didn’t have cars or good roads to travel on.

He had to travel by foot or by boat.

He was hated by lots of people, remember the riot that was started in Ephesus.

Over 25,000 confused Ephesians rioted to have Paul put away.

Remember the Jews in Jerusalem who had Paul imprisoned for four years (during which Paul wrote this letter).