The Church's Special Task

Ephesians 3:8-13

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Okay, well, we are returning to Ephesians chapter 3. We began a study there last week. We looked at the first seven verses as Paul told us of the mystery revealed, namely that believing Gentiles are co-heirs with Jews, and that we are all members of the same body in Christ, thereby reaffirming the New Testament and the idea that grace is truly for everyone. And as Peter tells us, God is not willing that any should perish. I think I mentioned then that I stopped at verse 7 because the first seven verses were one long sentence in the Greek. And here we will get some more insight into the mystery once hidden that is now revealed. Ephesians 3 and verses 8 through 13. This grace was given to me, the least of all the saints, to proclaim to the Gentiles the incalculable riches of Christ, and to shed light for all about the administration of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things. This is so that God's multifaceted wisdom may now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavens. This is according to his eternal purpose accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. In him we have boldness and confident access through faith in him. So then I ask you to not be discouraged over my afflictions on your behalf, for they are your glory. Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you again for your word. Thank you for what is revealed to us, Father, as we get clearer understanding of the gospel, but also uh deeper insight to just all that that involves, Father, and all that's we can learn through the Spirit giving us guidance and revelation, Father, about your plan and purpose for man. And so we ask for your help as we study in Jesus' name, amen. So we concluded last time, and I realize you may not remember, but we did note that the grace received and salvation calls us to work. Now, of course, that doesn't mean that we are saved by works in general, or certainly any specific work for that matter. We are truly saved through faith by the gift of grace. However, Paul's making clear God does enable us and empower us, once we are saved, to work for Him. And again, I've mentioned this a number of times, the old Protestant mantra. We are saved by grace alone, but the grace that saves is not alone. Now, with that in mind, what I decided to approach this basically like a Bible study in the sense that we'll just go verse by verse. That was uh uh nothing came to me quickly, and that was the easiest. I think I found out Thursday I was going to be here, so I didn't have the normal uh prep time that I usually do. So when that happens, going verse by verse is normally easier for me. I don't have to try to get creative with some outline. Um, I will tell you up front, I think the title, what I entitled this sermon was Um The Church Reveals God's Wisdom, which is brought to us mainly in verse 10. So we'll be working our way there as we go through, and I'll explain when we get there. That passage to me is rather exciting, and uh honestly I hadn't thought about it that much, and as I studied it this week, it was uh enlightening, I guess you we could say. So, verse 8, as Paul writes, he refers to himself as least of all the saints. He had referred to himself as least of all the apostles in 1 Corinthians 15. That would have been written, I don't know, probably about eight to nine years earlier. Here he goes further, referring to himself as the least of all God's people. While it's clear from the prior verses, he has a sense of privilege in being an apostle. I think he says this here to make sure that's not taken in the wrong way at all. He is aware of his office, but he definitely had no great sense of a special ability or even a high rank, I think. And you'll remember elsewhere he laments that um elsewhere he laments that he had persecuted the church. So he knows that God choosing him as an apostle was clearly just based on grace, it was not on his ability. Now, I think we mentioned before, it's clear that God used his ability, but uh once he saved Paul, but Paul's making clear that's not why God chose him. Uh, this just reminds us to stay humble. Most of us here, we've been around long enough and we're getting older. We've learned that lesson by now. True, truly, anything noteworthy that we accomplish is a result of God's power at work in us. Even when we're just, you know, living our day-to-day, it we realize it's really because God has given us any abilities that we have. We truly are beholden to God for anything of value that we do or that we have. Now, the word proclaim in the CSB, Christian Standard Bible I'm using, is translated preach in other versions, either as find proclaim or preach. What it literally means is to announce good news. So Paul's preaching or proclaiming was to simply announce the good news of what God has done in Jesus. And I would just remind you to have that idea, however you want to articulate it, have your idea of what the good news is at the ready in case you have opportunity to announce it to someone or to expand on it. And what God has done again in Jesus is offer the forgiveness of sins and eternal life by believing in Jesus as the Son of God who died for your sins and rose from the dead. Obviously, there are other succinct ways of putting it. That's kind of my attempt, and that's just kind of what came to my mind when I started writing. So you recognize you need forgiveness, you recognize that Jesus is divine, so that his death can atone for all sins, and you also get the idea that you are to believe in, to trust in, to have faith in Jesus, and that his death and resurrection accomplishes what the Bible says it does, namely eternal life for the believer. Now, Paul in effects gives three reasons that grace was given him as far as what he is to do. First, to proclaim the incalculable riches of Christ, second, to shed light for all about the administration of the mystery hidden for the ages, and third, so that God's multifaced wisdom may now, multifaceted wisdom, may now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in heaven. Now, all that sounds kind of heady, I think. Um and so we'll break them down in turn. I will say that incalculable riches and shedding light on the mystery are similar, and really the third is a result of those. So the riches of Christ, coupled with shedding light on this mystery of his riches, reveals God's multifaceted wisdom. So we'll just take them and turn briefly. First, the incalculable riches of Christ. Paul knew something of the riches of Christ. He again, we know, he persecuted the church. And then Christ calls him to this special ministry. Those riches are also being offered now to the Gentiles. They can now come before God in a standing that was not available to them before. As Paul writes, you get the sense that he realizes the God's riches are really unsearchable, to some degree unknowable. I mean, we can know some of them, but you can't really fathom them all. We can never fully grasp them. Spurgeon commenting on this verse says, I am bold to tell you that my master's riches of grace are so unsearchable that he delights to forgive and forget enormous sin. The bigger the sin, the more glory to his grace. If you are overhead and ears in debt, he is rich enough to discharge your liabilities. If you are at the very gates of hell, he is able to pluck you from the jaws of destruction. I think we can say these incalculable riches are truths about God. His awesome creative power, and as we contemplate on that and think on that, his love for all of us, all that he means to us. We are rich in Christ. Believers are in a wonderful position, and this passage calls me to remind you of that. Us preachers shouldn't be here just to browbeat you all the time and make you feel bad for how bad you are. We have to do that, some, of course. And part of what is going on here is that part of ministry is to warn people not to ignore God's riches, or even if we believe in Christ, not to forfeit some of them because we get so wrapped up in other things. But we also do need to remind you of how rich you are. Paul is doing that here. If you go through the week, and this is going to happen to any of us, where we feel defeated, unhappy, try to remember what the Bible says of you. God has the riches of eternal life in store for you. It is the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. So don't get distracted by sin or by fear. Take full advantage of all that Christ offers. And of course, you can call on him at any time, day or night. He hears you. And of course, Paul is to shed light for all about the administration of the mystery that has been hidden for the ages. God has hidden this mystery. There was purpose in that, as he had an old covenant with Israel, but now there is a new covenant. So Paul, and thereby all the church, has the responsibility for revealing this mystery. Again, that Gentiles are also called according to God's plan and purposes. The phrase administration of the mystery in the CSB is sometimes translated fellowship of mystery. It's also akin to the word I mentioned last week, and it's translated ministration in the CSB as well. I think it's back in verse 3 or is earlier in the chapter. It's actually a different Greek word, but it's related, it has the same root, and it's sometimes translated, I said, then dispensation or stewardship. And it is indicating, I think, that there are not only facts to know about this mystery, but that these facts will need to be lived. In other words, translating administration probably makes more sense. They will need to be the way you live, needs to administer, if you will. All of the mystery was hidden before it was revealed after the finished work of Jesus on the cross. All this, and this may be a little bit hard to follow, but all this reinforces the idea that there is genuinely something new in the new covenant. And with that, I as I was thinking about it, I think I need to clarify something, maybe I said last week, lest I give the wrong impression. I said I am not a dispensationalist, and I talked a little about what that means. That is true from the standpoint of prophecy, but it's also true there's much more to dispensational theology than simply a pre-trib rap rapture. And while I don't ascribe to the notion that God is just going to remove the church so that he can work with Israel, I do agree with the dispensationalist notion that it's simply that it's wrong to consider Israel the Old Testament church and the church the New Testament Israel, which is what some in covenant theology do. I think the Bible is clear enough that there are things happening in the end times that pertain specifically to Israel and not the church. So, from that perspective, I agree there are separate entities. And as is indicated right here, and what got me to thinking more about that, I don't believe we can say, as some non-dispensationalists do, that the church has somehow existed from the beginning of creation. I don't I think Paul is making clear, no, this mystery is being revealed now through the church as Christ has built his church. But unlike dispensationalists, I just don't think it's altogether clear either that all the promises in the Old Testament are strictly for Israel and exclude the church. Some, yeah, but not all. In any event, what seems to be clear here is that God's plan was to bring in the church after the death of Christ, and the church would illuminate God's new covenant plan for all. And that is certainly different from uh plan and purpose than the old covenant had. So that's a little on the incalculable riches in the administration of the mystery. As a result of proclaiming those, we can now begin to see, we're told, God's multifaceted wisdom. And again, I think that's an incredible concept when we start to think of think about it. And I thought, why haven't I really noticed that before? I probably just read over it, and it's I don't know, there's certain passages in scripture that grab your attention more than others. There's some that you read over and you thought, well, that's pretty lofty, but I can't get a hold of that. And I think I've kind of jumped over it before, just saying, oh, that sounds nice, and not really dug into it a little bit. So I want to do that now. God, we know is a being of infinite wisdom and glory, and and this is letting us know that God wants his creatures to know his great and manifold wisdom. One purpose in this great plan for the ages is to reveal that wisdom. And we can ask the question well, why would that be? Well, the indication is as we just in even in this context, but in scripture at large, God wants his wisdom to be known so that we are confident and uplifted in who he is and and his plan for his creatures. It's not it's not a selfish or self-glorifying motive at all, in the way we think of proud people showing off. No, God doesn't have to show off. God wants us to know his wisdom is not only for his glory, but it is for the glory of his creatures. That's what Paul is indicating there at the end of verse 13. The Greek word for wisdom here, I'll not attempt to pronounce it and show how unwise I am, but commentators say the word has the idea of intricacy, complexity, and great beauty. It's a multi-layered word to describe God's multifaceted wisdom. As the mystery has been revealed, the indication is that it's time for God's creatures now to come to more fully understand their creator. Now, of course, we're not going to fully understand him, certainly not on this side of glory, but more fully. And notice that God's multifaceted wisdom may now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavens. That's what struck me in studying this this week. Who is that? Well, again, it's in the heavens, not on the earth. The principalities and powers in the heavens are the terms that we probably realize that are used of angels. It's generally agreed. There's a number of passages that allude to this. Perhaps the best is just over in Ephesians 6 and verse 12. So I'm going to flip over there and read that. And Paul writes therefore our struggle is not against flesh and blood, okay, it's not against the physical, he's indicating, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil spiritual forces in the heavens. Now, the terms like these are also used in Colossians 2.15. You look at those later. I'm not going to turn there now. I think it's clear enough in Ephesians 3, unlike Ephesians 6, that Ephesians 6 is speaking clearly of just fallen angels, but the context in Ephesians 3 indicates the whole swath of angels, both fallen and faithful. And I thought one thing that came to my mind, this kind of partially answers the question anyway. I've wondered about some of you may have wondered about it as well. Namely, why doesn't God use angels more to reveal Himself or His plan to us? And I it took me back. I don't know if you'll remember when we were setting end times prophecy. There is a passage there that indicates right at the end, God is going to have an angel or angels preaching in the end times. But um, and it and it also I thought God doesn't want to overwhelm people currently, he wants to give them the gospel, but not just put it out there in such a way that uh they're almost forced to accept it, you might say. But what Paul is saying here is that God is using the saints to reveal his wisdom to angelic beings, and so we don't have a great grasp of the angelic realm. We are certain of it. There are certain things that seem to emerge from scripture. Faithful angels, um, of course, all angels are spirit, they're not physical. Faithful angels are ministering spirits, we're told. I think this at least indicates they too are made in God's image, and there's other passages that would indicate as much, in the sense that they can grow in their relationship with God. That's not specifically stated, but it does seem to be the picture, and I think most biblical scholars agree with that. And so this instructs us that we are called for something far greater than our own individual salvation and sanctification. We are called by the means where God will use to teach, we could say, the universe a lesson. And it's a beautiful lesson. So it's probably fair to say we are being looked on quite frequently by invisible spiritual beings. And we can't know that unless we unless it's revealed to us. But we see it even in scripture, which made me think of a passage some of you may remember. I just said I would read it. So if you hadn't seen it in a while, back in 2 Kings. Back in 2 Kings and chapter 6, and beginning in verse, what had happened, this is a story of Elisha, and he's made the king of Aram really mad by prophesying against him. So the king of Aram has decided he's had it with Elisha, and in the beginning of verse 13, the king says, Go see where he is, Elisha, so that I can send men to capture him. When he was told Elisha is in Dothan, he sent horses, chariots, and a massive army there. They went by night and surrounded the city. When the servant of the man of God got up early, servant of Elisha got up early and went out, he discovered an army with horses and chariots surrounding the city. So he asked Elisha, Oh my master, what are we to do? Elisha said, Do not be afraid, for those who are with us outnumber those who are with them. Then Elisha prayed, Lord, please open his eyes and let him see. So the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he saw the mountain was covered with horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. And then, of course, they go on to win the battle. We don't know who's all around us. We don't know who's looking on right now. Um Mole suggests the following. Ah, they, meaning the angels, have to learn something which makes them watch us with wonder and with awe. They see us indeed in all of our weakness and all our sin, but they see a nature which wrecked by itself was yet made in the image of their God in ours. And they see this God at work upon the wreck that wreck to produce results not only wonderful in themselves, but doubly wonderful because of the conditions. In other words, God is bringing his image back to fullness and restoring it despite our sin and our failings. And the angels are taken and struck by that in some way. It's really mind-boggling. And we may think our lives small and insignificant, but the angels know better. We may doubt our high standing, which the Bible says we are in effect sitting in heavenly places. The angels see the spiritual reality with their eyes wide open. And this is indicating they continue to see more of God's wisdom as we in the church proclaim it, and no doubt as we live it, with God's power enabling us. Angelic beings are interested and instructed by the lives of Christians. And this is a major reason why the conduct of the church is so important. Angels and demons are looking on, and God means to teach them through us. And there are actually other passages that speak to this. You may recall them, and they started coming to my mind a little bit when I was studying this, and then I found them. You don't need to turn there. I'll quote them. You might want to look at them later. But 1 Corinthians 11 10. This is why a woman should have a symbol of authority on her head because of the angels. I'm not really going to speculate on what that means exactly. We could go into any number of trails there. But it means something. 1 Timothy 5, verse 21. I solemnly charge you before God and Christ and the elect angels to observe these things without prejudice, doing nothing out of favoritism. And then this is the big one, perhaps, in 1 Peter 1, verse 12. Peter writes, These things have been announced to you through those who preach the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Angels long to catch a glimpse of these things. So at the very least, I think this tells us angels are also learning as we go. They are learning more of their creator, and all of the activity here, it would seem, gives them pause and is in some way fascinating for them and helps them to learn. I don't know how much they are around us, but it would seem it would be far more than we might imagine. Now, we need not be freaked out by that. The Bible doesn't suggest that we need to be at all. Angels saw the power of God in creation. The Bible mentions that in Job. They saw the wrath of God, of course, at Mount Sinai. They saw the love of God at Calvary. And God says, they're going to see my wisdom in the church and through the church. It's quite amazing. And then in this context, what could this be telling us the wisdom is? Well, again, in the context, I think it's that God can take diverse male, female, bond, free, Jew, Greek, different races, different cultures, and his abundance of created variety of all mankind, and melt that down, melt down all the walls, we might say, and blend them together in an indivisible oneness. All one with himself, all one with the Father, one with the Son, one with the Spirit, one with every other believer. That God could do that kind of miracle of salvation is a wonder beyond wonders of wisdom. And it would seem causes the angelic host to give him glory. And the fact that the gates of hell cannot prevail against the church is likely a point of marvel for those that are trying to prevail against it. Alright. So we've still got three verses, we can get through those. Verse 11. Let me read it again. This is according to his eternal purpose accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. The indication is that the mystery reveals that God had always intended to resolve all things in Jesus. And we now see how that will plays out. The unified body of Christ was according to God's purposes from eternity past, and then the church is a preview of how it'll be in eternity future. F.F. Bruce says, the church thus appears to be God's pilot scheme for the reconciled universe of the future. The mystery of God's will is to be administered in the fullness of times when the things in heaven and the things on earth are brought together in Christ. And it is kind of interesting here, Paul does say accomplished. That's a past tense word. So there is this sense, I think, that Paul can say, this is already accomplished because Christ has died and has rose again. So that shows the fulfillment. God will bring his people together. That's a certainty. And so he speaks of the eternal purpose there, in one sense, already being fulfilled. Verse 12 is telling us that yes. Now both Jew and Gentile collectively have the same boldness and access, the same confidence before God. It's now clear our relationship with God has really nothing to do with national or ethnic identity. Not ultimately. God accepts all who have faith in Christ. A commentator by the name of Gablian, I think so. He says that the word for boldness, translated boldness here, really has underneath it the idea of freedom of speech. In fact, the Greek word translated boldness means free speech, he says. More in the sense of speaking it all. So yeah, it could be associated with the American idea of free speech, I think, but it's going to the idea of you're free to say everything that applies. In other words, you have the freedom to express yourselves fully before God. You have that boldness to come before him, express your fears, express your frustration, your anxiety. And of course, the Bible says, turn all your anxiety to him. And we can come before him in that way without fear or shame. And again, I just remind you, as it says here, we have that access through faith. And I know I harp on these things a little more as I've indicated because of the battles going on in Protestant Christianity right now. But faith indicates something on our part. We trust. Trust is not a work. Romans 4 makes that extremely clear. Paul sets them apart. But trust again, we were not elected in eternity past to trust Christ, thereby circumventing the meaning of what Paul is saying here in numerous other places. And again, God's amazing wisdom is that it can bring creatures, free creatures created in his image, together to love him and to love one another. This would not be speaking of him forcing it. That's not what's intended. God enlightens us and we have to believe. Faith is the conduit, if you will, by which God allows us to love him, you might say. We're not puppets. We're created in God's image and we have true free will. Obviously, not absolute free will, but we have free will. In particular, to believe or not. The Bible is manifestly clear on this, even if you think it's hazy on election. And I would just say again, as I've said many times, God's word does not contradict itself. Alright. So finally, verse 13. Verse 13. We mentioned it last week. It really speaks of Paul's current personal participation in the mystery. Though he's under arrest, Paul asked his readers to not lose heart because he doesn't want them to be discouraged for his sake. Paul understood his arrest was all in God's plan as well. Paul's in prison, but it was for God's glory. That's what he's getting to. How so? Well, the message was going to the Gentiles, which is God had told him he was sending him to the Gentiles. I said last week he was arrested because, I think I said it because he was preaching to the Gentiles. That really wasn't accurate. He was arrested because he was preaching about the Gentiles. That's very likely what got him into prison. There is good evidence. He's in prison based on what we read in Acts 21 and 22. I'm not going to turn there. You could read it later this week, but that's it all starts in the CSB heading. When I look over there, it all starts conflict over Gentile mission. And as you read through there, what happens is that Paul has stirred up the Jews in the temple preaching about this revealed mystery of the Gentile inclusion. That's what he's preaching about. And it infuriates them because to them it nullifies the old covenant and what God has done for them through the old covenant. And of course, Paul talks about that elsewhere. It doesn't nullify the old covenant, but it expands on it. And it also talks about how individuals have to be saved. The new covenant does. So the Jews wanted to kill him then. And they would have done it. But as you read it over there, Paul appeals to his Roman citizenship and it scares the Roman authorities so that they take him out of the crowd and they're like, no, you'll not be killing him. We're going to send him to Rome. And that's what they end up doing. And that's where he's most likely writing Ephesians from. And Paul realizes he's being used here, probably in a greater way than he ever imagined. It's believed that this Roman imprisonment produced not only this letter of Ephesians, but Colossians, Philippians, and Philemon. And that they all certainly have a place in God's eternal plan. Now, not to the same degree, perhaps, but in the same manner. Each of us individually has a place in God's eternal plan. And you may think, well, really? Yeah, really. And God uses each of us to deal with people in our lives individually, and people we're close to, and people we may come in contact with to get the mission that He wants accomplished done. So knowing this and working towards and seeking to follow God in whatever He's wanting you to do in whatever circumstance you you are in, it's just a great guard against losing heart in the midst of tribulation and struggles because you know Paul is in, he's in prison here, and he's probably thinking, wouldn't it be better if I'm out? You know, probably didn't cross his mind, wouldn't it be better if I'm out preaching? And here I am and here. And what he's doing is writing books that are gonna go across the world ultimately. No doubt some Christian in Paul's day were like, you know, poor Paul. He's in jail. And he's telling them, look, when you understand this incredible truth of what is to be, what it means to be in church, what a privilege it is. Don't faint at my tribulation. And of course, by church there I mean to be part of Christ's body. It's worth it, he's saying, to get the message out. Working for the eternal cause and mystery is far more precious than anything here. So he's saying, Don't worry about my tribulation. Just get the message and get the message out. And really, that's our charge and privilege as well. That we get the message, we understand it, and we get the message out. Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you for your word. Thank you, Father, for the gospel. Thank you, Father, that you love all of us. And we see through you choosing Israel that you have, you're going to have a people. But we see, Father, that you want, you're not willing that any should perish, and you want all of us to be your people. And we realize, Father, that some will reject you, Father, but we pray that you will help us to reach out, be a blessing to whoever we can, and that you will use us in our lives, Father, as we affect people, both individually and then collectively here as a church. We pray that we would be used of you, Father, in a way that would bring glory to you, and that we would help to make known your wisdom as we go about as part of your body. So thank you, Father, for hearing our prayer. We do again pray for those who couldn't be with us today and pray you will bring healing. And we thank you so much, Father, for just loving us and being with us. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.