We are the Mystery Revealed

INTRODUCTION

Magic trick- Magic thumb lights

Our idea of a mystery today is something we cant seem to figure out. Something that seems impossible to our human minds.

In our passage today Paul is going to talk about new mystery that has never before been know by anyone other than God himself.

A better interpretation of this word mystery would be a Divine Secret that God kept to himself even from the angels, until this specific time in human history.

Lets jump into our text together this morning

Turn with me in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 3 verse 1

“3:1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—

Paul opens up this chapter with “for this reason”

As we have studied over the past couple of months Ephesians chapters 1-2 a pact full of deep theological doctrine:

We have seen that God the Father planned the church.

God the Son who is Jesus Redeemed the church.

and God the Holy Spirit Secures the church

We have studied many theological ideas like election redemption Grace, mercy and forgiveness,

and Paul has just finished up in chapter 2 talking about all the privileges the Gentiles now have in Christ. He tells them that you gentiles who were without a messiah without citizenship, without hope, without peace and without God are now brought in through Jesus Christ.

Paul is saying because of all this theological knowledge I Paul, the prisoner of Christ

“3:1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—

Paul calls himself the prisoner of Christ for the sake of the gentiles.

Remember where Paul was at when He is writing this letter to the Ephesian church? He was a Roman Prisoner shackled to wall awaiting trial by the Emperor Nero in Rome.

We need to understand this morning that the church in Ephesus was very worried for Paul. They didn’t understand why God would allow him to be in prison for 5 years awaiting a trial for a crime that He did not commit.

When We think about someone we love going to prison It causes us to be scared for their safety. A lot of bad things happen to people who are in prison. Now multiply our fear for our loved one we have today with our prison system to the Roman system that was notorious for abusing the prisoners.

We need to realize that the Ephesian believers hurt for Paul. I believe they prayed fervently for his release.

But what Paul is saying in this opening verse it that even though I may be shackled by the Roman guards I am not their prisoner because Im a prisoner of Christ.

What does Paul mean when he says I am a prisoner of Christ”

Paul believed that everything He did in his life was for Christ Jesus and so he believed he was in prison not as a roman prisoner but because Christ wanted him there.

Understand that if he was an investment broker He was an investment broker of Christ Jesus

If he was a a farmer- he was a farmer of Christ Jesus.

If He was a factory worker- he was a factory worker of Christ Jesus.

Paul understood that as a servant of Christ everything he did was for Christ and so being in Prison meant he was in prision for Christ.

So here we read “FOR THIS REASON - because of what you are now in Christ I Paul the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of the Gentiles.”

Paul understood that He had been called by Christ to take this mystery to the gentile believers,

He is saying my entire message is for you gentiles!

Paul understood that God had set him aside to share something very special with the gentile believers.

3:2 if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3:3 that by revelation the divine secret was made known to me, as I wrote before briefly. 3:4 When reading this, you will be able to understand my insight into this secret of Christ. 3:5 Now this secret was not disclosed to people in former generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit,

v2 IF indeed you have heard

Apparently it was common knowledge in the gentile churches that Paul had been given a special message to share with the gentile believers

3:2 if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you,

The idea of a dispensation is that it was an implemented strategy - a plan -that God had begun to orchestrate before the World came into existence.

what we see in this verse is that God gave the implementation of that strategy to Paul for the gentiles

This gets back to how Paul opened up this Book in chapter 1 “ I Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the WILL OF GOD

God chose Paul to be an apostle-to carry out Gods strategy of taking the gospel to the gentiles and planting churches in their cities .

So when Paul says “if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you,” - He is saying that God gave me strategy

and now he goes on in verse 3

3:3 that by revelation the divine Mystery was made known to me,

Paul is saying Hey look this isnt my idea i’m not making this stuff up.

If your like the gentile believers in Ephesus Im sure you have the same question- So what is the mystery???????? Paul doesn’t tell us yet. He’s keeping us on the edge of our seats.

He goes on to describe the mystery in verse 4-5

3:4 When reading this, you will be able to understand my insight into this secret of Christ. 3:5 Now this secret was not disclosed to people in former generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit,

Paul is saying “before I tell you what it is, you need to understand how amazing this new revelation truly is!

God revealed something to the this first century church that had never before been revealed to any generation throughout the entire old testament!

This new revelation was so precious to Paul that he devoted his entire life to proclaim it.

In verse 5 Paul says that this new revelation has now been revealed to God’s holy apostles and prophets.

In Acts Chapter 9 Paul on the Road to Damascus God blinded Pauls physicals but opened his spiritual eyes to this divine Mystery that he was commissioned by Christ himself to Share with the gentiles

In verse 4 Paul is saying that when you hear what this mystery is it will blow you away because it is that amazing for us today!

I got to believe that as the church in Ephesus were reading this precious letter from their spiritual father Paul and they got to this point they were on the edge of their seats just waiting to hear what this new revelation from Christ is and how it would affect their lives.

Here is the mystery that Paul is commissioned by Christ to proclaim to the gentiles>

“3:6 namely, that through the gospel the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus. 3:7 I became a servant of this gospel according to the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by the exercise of his power.”

There is so much for us to talk about

vs 6 the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus

This describes the mystery- believing Jews and believing gentiles now come together as 1 body in Christ as the church. There is no longer a seperation between Jewish believers and gentile believers.

Gentile believers are no longer 2nd class citizens grafted into God Family Paul says that this mystery is that Gentiles and Jews are both equally heirs of God’s kingdom, Both Gentiles and Jews are equally members of the body of Christ, and both Gentiles and Jews are equally fellow partakers of ALL the promises is Christ!

We need to Understand that all this first century church would have known up to this point in history was the old testament scriptures and this new revelation totally went against all the rules of seperation that the Jewish laws demanded.

Its not that Gentiles were not saved during old testament times but methodology by which they came to follow God was vastly different than the Jews

If you were to ask a Jew how a gentile could be redeemed He would have told you

They need to be circumsized

they need to come under the law of Moses

They need to follow the Jewish traditions.

They need to become a Jew and if they do all of this THEN they can be saved.

We need to understand that God always had a plan of saving gentiles.

Gal. 3:14 “"so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith."

It was no secret that God wanted to redeem gentiles- thats not the mystery that was revealed.

Old testament gentiles were redeemed through Faith and are going to be in heaven someday!

Throughout the old testament and even into the time of Christ the gentile believers where a second class citizen in the body of believers.

But what we need to understand is this that the mystery that is being revealed in this passage in Ephesians chapter 3 is that God saves gentiles while still being Gentiles.- They no longer have to become a Jew to be part of God’s New Family.

This idea that now Salvation had nothing to do with keeping the law and the traditions and rituals of God’s chosen people was mind blowing to everyone in this church both the jews and the Gentiles.

and now what Paul said in Chapter 2:13-16 Makes complete sense in these gentiles minds “13 But now in Christ Jesus.... you who used to be far away [Gentiles] have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 2:14 For he is our peace, the one who made both groups {jews and Gentiles] into one [the church] and who destroyed the middle wall of partition, the hostility, 2:15 when he nullified in his flesh the law of commandments in decrees. He did this to create in himself one new man out of two, thus making peace, 2:16 and to reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by which the hostility has been killed.”

To simplify this mystery is this: God took the Jewish Believers with all of their mosaic law Baggage and He took the Gentle believers with all of their seperation baggage and through Christ HE MADE THEM INTO ONE EQUAL GROUP! and that is called HIS CHURCH

The mystery that is revealed in this passage is not the gospel but it is THE CHURCH- the body of Jewish and gentile believers equally saved and redeemed by God’s Grace through Christ Alone!

This idea that gentiles no longer have to change to be acceptable in God’s sight is mind blowing to all of Creation

No longer are gentiles second class citizens in the church No longer should there be any divisions between God’s people but unity in Christ-

But the reality is this In our churches today We arent divided by Jews and gentiles- in fact most of us here are gentiles. We are non Jews-

but our world is completed divided - By our own human nature we are very divisive. We like to be with people who are like us.

Think about it- Our country is vastly divided on our politics, our country is divided on race, our country is divided by economic status

and all of this division creeps into the church.

We get these ideas that we need to compare ourselves to each other in the church in order to gain favor with God

You think that your smarter than other people in the church? Your probobly not

You think your better than others in the church because you are “more Holy” Your not!

What we need to understand about this mystery this morning is that God is the one who did everything for your salvation and He did it equally for all of us.

Plan of salvation

God Chose you before the foundations of the world

You did not choose Him but He choose you

Christ chose to redeem You

Christ paid your debt completely and my debt completely and everyone else’s debt in this church completely

and it was the Holy Spirit that opened your eyes and gave you the gift of Believe in the work of jesus that brought you salvation,

So How dare us as the equally redeemed chosen children of God think that we are somehow better than anyone else in this church.

Understand this this morning! THERE IS NO ROOM FOR DIVISION IN OUR CHURCH BECAUSE EVERYONE OF US was equally sinful before Christ and equally enslaved to sin, and equally condemned to an eternity in hell, BUT ARE NOW EQUALLY REDEEMED IN CHRIST.

When we understand What Christ has accomplished in our Salvation we come to realization that there is no room for division in His church.

When we truly understand the magnitude of God’s Grace that He showed us by giving us the Church it should cause us to put aside our difference and come together unified in the gospel of Christ.

Trans: NOW that was the mystery that God gave Paul AND now He is going to talk about what it means to him.

vs 3:8 “To me—less than the least of all the saints—this grace was given, to proclaim to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ

“To me - less than the least of all the saints”

Paul here is not humbly bragging about who He is. I believe that Paul truly doesn't feel worthy to be the one God chose to carry this message to the gentiles.

Think about who Paul was before his conversion to Christ -He was the leader in Persecuting the early church. he hated the church - He was involved in stoning Christians, he was involved in torturing Christians even to the point of Murder. for their Faith and He even caused some to Deny their faith in Christ.

and Now Paul here is saying because of what I have done against this gospel I am the least worthy person for God to choose to take it to the gentile nations.

Paul is saying if it was based on who he was… his name shouldnt have even been mentioned in the discussion

But the point is this- its not about Who Paul is “To me—less than the least of all the saints -this grace was given

Remember what Grace is?

grace is God giving us what we don’t deserve.

We need to understand that the entire message of the gospel is all about grace even the people God chooses to proclaim it.

Paul understood that everything God was using Him to do was all about Grace- He understood that he was not worthy-

What was the purpose of thus grace? Its 2 part the first is in verse vs 8 to proclaim to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ”

The grace that God gave Paul was that He was chosen to proclaim tis mystery of the church to the nations of the gentiles.

Understand this morning that this idea of the church was so amazing to the gentile believers.

Up until this point the whole Jewish culture was one of keeping the gentiles out of everything

Heres the temple of God - Gentiles stay out

Here’s the law of God- Gentiles its not for you

Here’s our Kosher Meal- _gentiles you aren’t allowed to eat with us

Here’s our feast of celebration- Gentiles stay away

Here’s our Sacrifices to God- Gentiles your not allowed to join us

Here is our salvation from God- Gentiles your not worthy

The Jewish nation was set apart- to be different than tall other nations. and this idea of staying out was very well heard by the gentiles in this time. They understood that the religion and the culture of the Jews was not offered to them.

So here we have Paul speaking to these gentile believers who up to this point in history assume that they are still “OUTSIDERS” they are still “second class citizens of heaven” when it comes to their faith in Jesus.

I have been given the privilege to be the one to share this new revelation this mystery that has never been seen before with this world to these gentile believers.

He is saying I get to share with you the unfathomable riches you now have as equal heirs in Christ!

They can now come directly to God as gentile believers and experience His unfathomable riches.

Think about these gentiles have Gone from second class citizens to first class residences with ALL of the privileges that come with it.

Trans: Paul goes on in verse 9 with the second purpose

“To me—less than the least of all the saints—this grace was given, to proclaim to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ 3:9 and to enlighten everyone about God’s secret plan—a secret that has been hidden for ages in God who has created all things.”

Paul’ was so awed by this “new Church idea” that he wanted to make it known to all people.

When we look at Paul’s writings in the New testament this idea of the church and equality in Christ for all who believe- is all over the pages of his writings.

Paul was very excited about this mystery being revealed! and he wanted to share it with all the redeemed followers of Jesus.

Trans: and now we get to the part of the mystery that blows some minds away!

“3:10 The purpose of this enlightenment is that through the church the multifaceted wisdom of God should now be disclosed to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly realms. 3:11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, 3:12 in whom we have boldness and confident access to God because of Christ’s faithfulness”

Theses words should eave us sitting in awe of who God is!

The mystery revealed was that God broke down every wall that divided these diverse people from many different backgrounds and cultures and for the first time in the 4,000 plus years of human history mankind can now be unified in their relationship with God. and if that’s not enough Paul goes on in verse 10 to tell us that the purpose of this plan taking so long to be revealed is so that His multifaceted wisdom would be revealed.

But notice How he does this

He makes his multifaceted or numerous amount of wisdom known by the church.

Did you realize that your life as believer has a purpose? and that is to exemplify Gods Wisdom in Choosing you!

But its even bigger than that- He is using you to prove His multifaceted wisdom to the authorities in the heavenly realms?

Who are the authorities in the heavenly realms?

Well i’m not gonna beat around the bush Authorities in heavenly realms are angelic beings- Both worshippers and fallen angels.

The BIble tells us that there are thousands upon thousands of angelic beings that at serve God and serve man-

Understand that the idea that God would choose to save mankind through His own actions blows the minds of the angelic being s away!!!

Why is this idea so radical to Angels Paul tells us in the next 2 verses

“3:11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, 3:12 in whom we have boldness and confident access to God because of Christ’s faithfulness"

A perfect God -through his perfect Son, Christ- Allows mankind- who was God’s enemy- to come directly to His throne with boldness and confidence as a child comes to his daddy.

This idea that God chose to forgive and reem this fallen corrupt creation is Something could not comprehend.

Think about it The angels entire purpose was to serve and bring glory to God- thats who they were designed to be

and God is now saying to these worshippers the great form of worship is a lost sinner relationship with a loving God something the angels are not allowed to do. Something that God chose not to ffer the fallen angels.

God in His infinite wisdom is blowing the minds away of the angels because of his amazing Grace that he offers his church.

God’s wisdom is so beyond any of our comprehension. its so much more than we could ever fathom. And this verse tells us that God, in eternity pastPlanned to wait for this exact moment in history to reveal his plan of the church with a purpose to teach the Angels and Demons about His infinite wisdom through the grace that he offers His church

And what we have seen here today is that this new revelation of the church is a mind blowing display of God’s grace towards mankind.

and now Pau; wraps up our text with this final verse

“3:13 For this reason I ask you not to lose heart because of what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.”

Paul begins this chapter with

“for this reason I Paul a prisoner of Christ- and now he enwraps this theology of the mystery of the Church with “for this reason” don’t lose heart. don’t get discouraged because of my imprisonment.

Paul is saying that my chains my imprisonment is all worth it. Because I know that God’s grace is upon me and I am right were God wants me to be.-Enslaved for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Don’t loose heart because God has used my imprisonment to further the gospel of Christ which bring shim glory

LET’s bring this passage home this morning.

We are the Church- We are the redeemed forgiven children of God born into the age of Grace-

God in eternity past chose you to be born a gentile in this age and not in old testament time and this should cause you to rejoice.

When we as a church completely grasp the idea that we are all equally God’s children, that we are all equal in God’s sight. and that this equality has NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU or how good you live your life then our church will be in a place that brings glory to God.

Its when we as the church live in the unity of the gospel that teaches the angelic being s about Gods mercy about Gods grace.

So the question I want to leave you with this morning is this. Are you unified with one another in this church? are you unified in your desire to make and equip followers of Jesus Christ in our community?

God wants to bring glory to himself through our church body- Don’t be the one who holds us back!