The Mystery Displayed

Last week we kicked off a new series entitled ‘The Mystery of God.’ It’s an exploration of this phrase we first encountered in our study of the Book of the Revelation.

Jesus reveals to John that in the days when the seventh angel will blow his trumpet “there will no longer be any delay but that the mystery of God will be completed.”

The question is “What is that mystery? When was it revealed and to whom?” Those are the questions we are answering in this series.

Concealed Then Revealed

Last week we looked at the mystery revealed out of Colossians 1. The apostle Paul said that he was commissioned by God to be servant of the mystery. He even went on to define the mystery as being the reality of “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

In that way - the mystery isn’t something secret or unknown. The mystery is something that was hidden from God’s people in the past but now revealed to God’s people in the present.

Under the Old Covenant there were shadows and types that pointed to the mystery being revealed but it wasn’t actually revealed until the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. His life, his death, his resurrection and ascension revealed everything that God had been pointing to in the Old Testament.

Mystery = Gospel

If you wanted to sum up the word mystery in a single word you might use the word “Gospel.”

The mystery that Paul was commissioned to proclaim was the Gospel.

The message that we are loved by a holy God who created us but we have fallen short of his glory because of our sin and rebellion.

Though we deserve to be cut off and eternally punished for our rebellion against God, he has made a way for us to be reconciled.

What was lost because of sin can now be recovered and restored through repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, those are are in Christ are under a new covenant.

We belong to a new family.

We are citizens of a new kingdom - the kingdom of God.

Not only are we forgiven of our sin, the Spirit of Christ actually comes to live inside our bodies so that we are empowered to live a new life for God’s glory and our good.

When you come to understand and truly embrace the good news of the Gospel then everything in your life will be different. We saw this last week and we’ll see it again this week.

Not only does it transform your spiritual state of being - it transforms your mind, your attitude, your speech, your purpose for living and everything else about you.

Christ IN you changes everything ABOUT you. The glory that was lost - the glory we spend our entire life chasing and covering up its absence - that glory is recovered and displayed when we yield ourselves to the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

Displayed Through the Church

Today’s we’re going to continue unpacking this “mystery.” Instead of looking at what the mystery IS we’re going to see how the mystery is DISPLAYED.

It was revealed through the Lord Jesus Christ: his life, death, resurrection and ascension. The mystery is the Gospel you believed when you became a follower of Jesus and the Gospel we proclaim to those who are not yet followers of Jesus.

But what was God’s plan for displaying the mystery? How would the world KNOW about this incredible gift? This promise of glory?

It was the plan of God from the very beginning to display the significance and beauty of this mystery through this thing we call “the church.”

And as we think about the Church I know it’s tempting to think about the universal church - capital C - and it’s true God does display his mystery though the church universal.

But the universal church is hard to SEE. You can’t see/talk to the pastor of the universal church. You can’t attend it’s worship services.

You CAN see the local church. Local churches are the platforms through which God displays the significance and beauty of His mystery, the Gospel.

DISPLAYING THE MYSTERY

That’s what I want us to look at this morning through Paul’s letter to the Ephesians in Ephesians 3:1-13.

For those of you unfamiliar with the book of Ephesians it was a letter written by the apostle Paul to a strong and growing church in Ephesus. It was planted by Paul and being pastored by a young man named Timothy.

There is no better NT book for understanding the relationship between the Gospel, the Church and the practical application for your individual Christian life. It’s one of my very favorite NT books.

The Context to Chapter 3

Paul discusses the “mystery” of God throughout the book of Ephesians. He begins in Ephesians 1 by defining the mystery of God as his plan “to bring everything together in Christ, both things in heaven and things on earth in him...” (Ephesians 1:10)

He spends all of chapter 1 unpacking the implications of the Gospel and the nature of salvation. At the end of chapter 2 he discusses how Christ didn’t just die so that “Israel” could be saved but that the death of Jesus was for ALL.

In Christ, we are ALL one family whether Jewish, Roman, Barbarian, Scythian, Slave or Free - all of that diversity finds unity and reconciliation when they become reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ.

Then in chapter 3 he starts to wrap up that theological section with a prayer that they might fully comprehend the love of God but he gets distracted and chases a rabbit that essentially summarizes chapters 1-2 before making that prayer. (You see this by comparing v 1 and v 13)

Read the Text

Our text is that rabbit chase - a parenthetical section about the mystery of God and God’s plan to display that mystery though the local church. -

Ephesians 3:1–13 (CSB)

1 For this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles—2 assuming you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that he gave me for you. 3 The mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have briefly written above. 4 By reading this you are able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ. 5 This was not made known to people in other generations as it is now revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: 6 The Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and partners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. 7 I was made a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by the working of his power.

8 This grace was given to me—the least of all the saints—to proclaim to the Gentiles the incalculable riches of Christ, 9 and to shed light for all about the administration of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things. 10 This is so that God’s multi-faceted wisdom may now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavens. 11 This is according to his eternal purpose accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 In him we have boldness and confident access through faith in him. 13 So, then, I ask you not to be discouraged over my afflictions on your behalf, for they are your glory.

There are many directions we could go with this passage but the main focus is verses 9-10.

Paul says, even though I was the least deserving (having persecuted the church) I was called by God to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles - to proclaim the incalculable riches of Christ

“9 and to shed light for all about the administration of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things. 10 This is so that God’s multi-faceted wisdom may now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavens.” (Ephesians 3:9-10)

Painting a Picture

I came across a great illustration of this text the other day. Imagine God as a painter, painting on a huge canvas with many brushes.

Have you ever watched a painter paint something and at first it’s kinda mysterious what the end product is going to look like? You can see shapes and outlines but it’s not until closer to the end that everything comes together and pops and becomes this incredible display of the wisdom and beauty that was in the artists mind?

That’s sorta what Paul is describing here.

The title of this painting is “The Mystery of God.”

You and I are the paint.

Locals churches like ours constitute the paint brushes.

Heaven and earth constitute the canvas and as God paints on the canvas with those brushes the “rulers and authorities” are shown the manifold wisdom of God.

You may not be able to see God but you can see the wisdom of God and the power of God when you watch the Gospel go to work in and through a local church. It is the mystery of God displayed.

Churches and the people within them are as diverse as the colors on a color wheel. We all have our unique flavor and style.

On our own, we might be somewhat boring or unimpressive. But when we yield ourselves to the Spirit of God and allow our heavenly Father to use us according to his eternal plan - the beauty and wisdom of God will really begin to shine.

Word Study

Paul uses the term “God’s manifold wisdom.” It’s an interesting Greek word. It’s used only here in the entire Greek NT. The first half of this word is used throughout the NT and it means “diversified or varied.” It’s a complex web of nuance and color.

To that Paul adds the prefix “poly” which means many. So it amplifies the idea of variety or diversity. The emphasis is on many colors and variation and intricacies and subtleties.

That’s the kind of painting I want you to picture. On a canvas the size of the known and unknown universe God is displaying his wisdom and it is more complex and diverse and beautiful than you can even begin to imagine. And he displays that wisdom through the Gospel going to work in and through his Church.

God’s Great Goal

God’s multi-faceted wisdom being displayed in and through the church is the chief end of history and the chief goal of missions.

Jesus commissioned us to go and make disciples of every nation because at the end of the age God’s manifold wisdom is going to be fully displayed for all to see as people from every tribe tongue and nation gather around the throne to worship the lamb who was slain.

Jesus called us to salvation and connected us to the church so that at the end of the age God’s manifold wisdom would be fully displayed for all to see - people who are so different and so “unimpressive” from the standards of this world are brought to a place of oneness and glory that is unparalleled to anything else in human history.

This is God’s great goal. That the ones who boast boast in the Lord. And that the world will see the glory of God through the glorification of his Church as they display God’s wisdom and God’s mystery.

I want to show you two ways I see from this passage that the Church in general and Broadview Baptist Church in particular can display the mystery and join God in moving towards this great goal.

Ethnic Diversity

Evangelistic Zeal

ETHNIC DIVERSITY

The first way is through ethnic diversity. Did you notice how Paul emphasized the fact that Gentiles were now being welcomed into the promise of God? Ephesians 3:6

Ephesians 3:6 (CSB)

6 The Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and partners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

He mentions three words there back to back with the Greek prefix “syn.” It means there’s now a sameness between Jew and Gentile. (think synonym - different sounding words that have the same meaning)

We are very different looking people with very different looking cultures and backgrounds and preferences and worldviews but we share a sameness nonetheless. What is that sameness?

We are both “coheirs...” Meaning we share the same inheritance. We’re legally entitled to the same amount. What’s coming in the future comes to all of us equally.

We are of the “same body “ Meaning there is no such thing as a Jewish body of Christ and a Gentile body of Christ. There is ONE body of Christ and that is the Church. We gentiles have been grafted into that branch.

We are finally “partners in the promise.” (summetoca) It’s a Greek word that means “to have or to possess.” What promises do we possess? All of the promises that were given to the Jews are now given to the Gentiles.

How is all of this sameness achieved? Right there at the end of verse six: “in Christ Jesus through the Gospel.” (or mystery).

Fighting Words

Now for many Jews this was an unthinkable thought. There was a sentiment amongst the Jewish people that God made the Gentiles so that he’d have fuel to keep the fires of hell burning hot.

Paul alludes to this in Ephesians 2:14 when he describes the wall between Jews and Gentiles as a “dividing wall of hostility.”

The temple actually had a literal wall that said “No Gentiles.” Enter at your own risk. If you get killed it’s your fault!

Walls of Hostility

The work of Christ tore that wall down and replaced that hostility with peace and that division with oneness.

We may not feel that wall of hostility today in our culture but we have walls of hostility nonetheless.

Every culture puts up walls and every human being has a tendency to think themselves “superior” to another for one reason or another. (part of a larger self-justification effort because we know we’re alienated from God)

We find things about our group that set us apart from other groups. And that’s what the word “ethnic” really means. It’s not so much racial as it is cultural.

One group just thinks themselves superior to another group because they’re smarter, better athletes, more hospitable, more generous, whatever the reason.

Individually we do the same thing: better clothes, nicer car, bigger house, better behaved kids, etc etc. We put up partisan political walls as well. We put up walls because those walls make us feel safe, the make us feel superior and they make us feel righteous.

Tearing The Walls Down

One of the ways the church can display the wisdom and power of God is to allow the Gospel to tear our own “walls of hostility.” This powerfully illustrates the reconciling power of the Gospel.

This means making things like racial reconciliation a priority for us. Being pro racial reconciliation doesn’t make you “WOKE” as a Christian.

I think there are serious problems with critical theory and concepts like racial essentialism. But Christians cannot demote or run away from racial reconciliation just because godless ideologies have taken control of the narrative.

In saying that - I’m not suggesting it’s our responsibility to fix the problem in the culture. We don’t have the tools or the institutional power to do that. But we CAN address the problem in the context of this local church.

A church that is filled with people red, brown, yellow, black and white is one of God’s primary ways of displaying the power of his Gospel. It’s how he displays his wisdom to the world. And it should be a priority for us.

But for this to happen you’ve got to allow yourself to be uncomfortable. It means having humility and an open ear.

Embracing Our Oneness

Finally it’s mean prioritizing our oneness in Christ over and above the differences that our culture would use to alienate us from one another.

We have a common problem: sin. We were dead in our trespasses and sin - (supersedes your race, social status, education or political persuasion)

We have a common solution to our problem: the CROSS. The substitutionary death of Jesus is what paid the price to atone for our sins. The ground is level at the foot of the cross. (he did for ALL what none of us could do for ourselves)

We have a common authority and source of truth: the WORD. Jesus is LORD above any earthly power structure/affliction and our knowledge of his will comes through the testimony of the apostles and the prophets.

We were ALL outsiders and through Christ we can ALL become insiders. But when he makes us NEW he makes us DIFFERENT: different humility, confidence, boldness, access.

It’s a new way to be human. Our PRIMARY identity marker isn’t black/white, rich/poor - it’s “in Christ.”

The more ethnically diverse our congregation can become, the more beautifully we’ll display the mystery of God to a watching world. But it requires each and every one of us being willing to embrace that heart.

EVANGELISTIC ZEAL

The second way we can display the mystery of God - or you might even say the MEANS through which that first way is obtained is through evangelistic zeal.

Ethnic diversity is achieved through evangelistic zeal.

After describing this beautiful picture of Jews and Gentiles being reconciled to one another as they are reconciled to God through Christ Paul shifts into a description of his own commission to proclaim the Gospel so more and more people could know it.

Ephesians 3:8–9 (CSB)

So our displaying of God’s mystery isn’t just by what happens IN the church (things like ethnic diversity). It’s also what happens THROUGH the church (evangelistic zeal.)

You show me a church that’s ethnically diverse and I’ll show you a church that’s walking by the Spirit. You show me a church that’s zealous for missions and evangelism and I’ll show you a church that’s full of the Spirit.

We are committed to being an Acts 1:8 Church not just because it sounds cool or inspires generosity. We are committed to being an Acts 1:8 church because the the local church is God’s PRIMARY vehicle for accomplishing the Great Commission.

Parachurch VS Church

Parachurch organizations are great and they can be a wonderful partner with the local church but they will not fulfill the Great Commission by themselves. That’s not God’s design. His design is to use the church.

This happens through things like our world missions offering which we are kicking off for a new year this Sunday.

When you give to the WMO it enables us to partner with thousands of other like-minded churches

to send thousands of missionaries to the uttermost places on the earth.

to support plants in Forth Worth, Texas. We support a new work in Houston’s fifth ward. We support plants in Colorado. Each of these are totally different churches doing ministry in totally different settings but in each case God is using paint and paintbrushes to display the wisdom and power of the Gospel.

This year we’re using our WMO to help send our very own missionaries. Kendra and Tanner Clark will be “sent out” from our church through the IMB to serve as full-time missionaries somewhere across the pond. They’d be the first to tell you that the prayers and support and commitment to missions by the church is a large reason why they were able to respond to God’s call when he came knocking.

It’s the church. The church displays the mystery and the church proclaims the mystery.

It’s Not Just Going Overseas

But it’s not just about giving to the WMO or sending missionaries overseas. It’s also about being evangelistically zealous for our city and the people you rub shoulders with every day.

There are people in your circle of influence who need to hear about the incalculable riches of Christ. They are people who are actively destroying their lives in an effort to try and find glory and righteousness and wholeness and peace.

You have the answer. You’re benefitting from knowing the peace and power that comes from walking with God and living according to his design. What keeps you from opening up your mouth and sharing that hope with somebody else?

When our Brazil mission team came back from Brazil I was personally challenged by their zeal for evangelism. My heart - like everybody else - will grow cold if it’s not fanned into flame.

A sign that the Spirit of God is moving in our church is people getting saved through personal evangelism by the members.

God Can Use Even YOU:

One of the primary ways Satan discourages evangelism is through the belief that God can’t use somebody like you. You need to hear what Paul is saying here.

He’s saying “God gave ME grace. I was the LEAST of the apostle and the LEAST of the saints.” But it didn’t matter. God still used him. You may want to debate Paul and say “No, I’m the least of the saints, not you.”

But it doesn’t matter who wins the weakest more inadequate Christian. Those are the VERY PEOPLE God decides to use greatly for his glory. It’s always been his way.

So don’t let insecurities, discouragement or fear silence your witness.

Don’t let it keep you from being obedient to what God is clearly calling you to do. Don’t let greed or fear keep you from being sacrificially generous to the cause of Christ among the nations.

Giving, Praying and GOING - these are all three things that all of us can do to one degree or another. The question is WILL YOU?

CONCLUSION/APPLICATION

In conclusion I want to offer up a few points of application for us since this is so relevant to how we think about our church and how you should think about your involvement in a local church.

The first challenge is this: increase your engagement with this local church. Become more emotionally invested then you are right now.

Ask yourself the question “does my emotional investment in this church match what Scripture says God is going to do through the Church?”

There are so many people out there who feel like they can do the Christian life flying solo. It’s just them and Jesus. Communing with God on the lake - hey I get it. It’s awesome. But God cannot display the beauty and power of the Gospel if you’re always out on the lake. He just can’t.

For the mystery to be displayed you have to be present. We have to be gathered. There has to be something VISIBLE.

As a family grows and activities increase it’s very easy for the church to get the “chopping block.” This is not just true of our time, energy and emotional investment. It’s also true financially. Things are getting tight - the tithe is the first thing to go.

I understand. I get it. I’ve had similar thoughts myself in the past. But God’s has chosen the Church to display the mystery. This is the plan. We don’t get to chose what God wants to use. We just get to choose whether we participate in what he’s doing.

On that front - if you’re not a member of our church then make today the day that you decide you’re going to join. I’m going ALL IN. Commit yourself to something bigger than yourself. Something God is going to use to paint on the canvas of this world.

My second challenge is this: strengthen your commitment to connect with others who are not like you.

Churches are full of cliques. Happens everywhere but it shouldn’t have to happen here. We have an opportunity to display to the world that the things that divide our culture aren’t going to divide us.

But I’m not just talking about IN the church. I’m talking about OUTSIDE the church. Our church should be known for how we love one another. But we can also be known for how we love our city. How we love people who aren’t like us.

Jersualem, yes. But also Judea and SAMARIA. The ones who don’t think like you, dress like you, talk like you… what a counter cultural thing to do in a culture like ours.

When you’re in the grocery store and see someone and your initial reaction is to avoid them - engage them. Have that awkward conversation. Because that’s what the Spirit your heavenly Father had with you. And that’s how the Lord is going to finish his painting of people from every tribe tongue and nation.

Related Media

Related Sermons