Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

I love a good underdog story.

Watching for those underdog stories is always one of my favorite parts of playoffs, really in any sport.

Of course, if you’ve been following the world cup, there’s an underdog story right there.

It’s the Netherland’s first trip to the final, and they’re facing off against the US, who are on pace to win their fourth World Cup and break a record for most final wins.

I always like rooting for the underdog, unless they happen to be playing my team, right?

Watching for those underdog stories is always one of my favorite parts of the playoffs.

I always like rooting for the underdog.

And the passage we're discussing today is, in my opinion, one of the biggest underdog stories in the Bible.

Well, the passage we're discussing today is, in my opinion, one of the biggest underdog stories in the Bible.

I always like rooting for the underdog.

And the passage we're discussing today is, in my opinion, one of the biggest underdog stories in the Bible.

In Ephesians chapter 3, Paul outlines what may be the greatest underdog story in all of history.

And it is especially important for you and me, because if we look closely, we will find ourselves in the story and see that God has a message for us 2000 years after Paul first wrote these words to the church in the city of Ephesus.

Our text today is an ambitious one.

I plan on us covering all of chapter 3, but I'm certain we can be through it in less than 3 hours.

I kid.

Only a joke.

But over the next 30-35 minutes, I want us to look at Ephesians chapter 3 in three major sections:

Verses 1-7

Verses 8-13

Verses 14-21

With us really focusing in on that second major section.

Read

Lead in Prayer

For this reason… I was made a servant (1-7)

For this reason...

Paul begins with the words "for this reason."

Of course, that means he is pointing back to something he has previously written.

Chapter 2 gives us that reason.

"This reason" is the gospel as Paul unpacks it in chapter 2 of Ephesians.

It's one of the most beautiful descriptions of the gospel in all of Scripture.

Look back at chapter 2 and read some of the high points.

In verse 1 - it says you were dead in your trespasses...

in verse 3 - by nature children under wrath...

(v 4-5) - But God who is rich in mercy, because of his great love for us, made us alive.

He Continues...

(v 11) So then, remember that at one time you were Gentiles in the flesh...

(v 13) But now, you who were far away have been brought near.

(v 19) no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God's household.

In Him, you are being built together.

For this reason, Paul was made a servant.

There are two quick things I want us to catch from this first major section:

I was made a servant.

Paul had a calling.

It was a specific calling, he didn't decide what he was going to do, he was given his task by Christ.

Let's talk about Paul's apostolic function for just a minute.

He would travel to places and people that had never heard the gospel, share this good news with them, and as people believed this news, they would be baptized and gathered into groups called churches.

He would teach them from the Bible all the truths of the gospel and the mission they had as a church.

Then he would move on.

However, even though he would move on, he would often come back through on his trips to check on these churches and give them further guidance and counsel.

That is actually what the letters in the New Testament are.

Many of them are Paul's writings back to churches giving them further instruction in what it means to be the church.

In fact, that's what Ephesians is... Paul writing back to the churches he had started in Ephesus giving further guidance about how to be the church of Jesus Christ.

The gospel is a mystery.

I also want us to notice that Paul begins a theme in these first few verses that will carry throughout the rest of the chapter.

Paul refers to this gospel from chapter two as a mystery.

It was once hidden, but has now been revealed.

This becomes a central point in Paul's explanation moving forward.

The Apostolic Ministry and the Centrality of the Church (8-13)

After telling the Ephesian church members that he was a made a minister of this gospel, Paul continues by explaining to them what his ministry looks like.

What it is God has tasked him to do.

And this is where I really want us to focus our attention today.

What does this ministry look like?

Paul outlines that apostolic ministry in two specific tasks and one very important outcome.

The Tasks:

to proclaim to the Gentiles the incalculable riches of Christ --

Of course we need to realize here that preaching does not primarily mean what I am doing right now.

We can include what I am doing, but the word used in this passage is broader than that.

It really means to speak the gospel to people.

That could happen like this, but more often in the New Testament, we see preaching referring to conversations in small groups of people or between two individuals.

So Paul is really talking about speaking the gospel to people who have not heard it, and that may have been one on one, in small groups, or in a more formal setting like a church service.

And the other word I want us to make sure we understand is Gentiles.

We know already that the word Gentiles is used in the Bible to mean people who are not Jews.

But, I want us to really understand that.

The Greek term that is used here is the same one we translate as nations in other passages, like the Great Commission in Matthew, where it says go and make disciples of all nations.

If we read this passage that way, we realize that the gospel is for all nations, no one is excluded, and that it is our responsibility to share the gospel with everyone, no matter where they are from or what they currently believe.

to shed light for all about the administration of the mystery hidden for ages in God  --

God has had a plan from the very beginning.

From cover to cover the Bible tells us about God's plan, about this mystery as Paul calls it, about his multi-faceted or manifold wisdom.

God made everything right and pure, and then man sins in the garden, and sin entered the world.

But right after the fall, we see that God promises a way to fix the mess.

He promises that a seed of the woman would one day crush the head of the serpent (Gen.

3:15).

That's the very first proclamation of the gospel in the Bible.

It's all the way up there in the beginning.

And then, only a few chapters later, God promises Abraham that through his lineage all the world will one day be blessed.

Many years later, King David is told that he will one day have a son that will sit on his throne and rule for all eternity.

The prophets speak of his coming.

And in the gospels, we meet him.

Jesus is the one who crushes the head of the serpent, he is the one from the line of Abraham that will bless all nations, and he is the heir to the throne of David whose kingdom will have no end.

By his death, by his sacrifice, we are healed.

That evil that stained the world in the garden of Eden can be erased by the blood of the Lamb.

And not just for the Jews.

Not just for the sons and daughters of Abraham, but for all the nations of the world.

That is the multi-faceted wisdom of God.

That is the mystery hidden for ages and now revealed because of Jesus.

So Paul outlines for us these two central tasks of the mission: (1) to preach the gospel to those who've not yet heard or accepted and (2) to shed light on how God's plan will unfold, and Paul accomplishes this last one by starting churches all over the Mediterranean.

The Outcome:

Why were these the two tasks of Paul's ministry, and by extension the mission of the church?

so that God’s multi-faceted wisdom may now be made known --