Ephesians Part 6

Ephesians 3 is deeply personal. Paul is no longer speaking just as an apostle or theologian; he speaks as a prisoner whose chains bear witness to the message he proclaims. His imprisonment is not incidental to the gospel, it is the consequence of announcing that the nations have been welcomed into the covenant blessings promised through Israel's Messiah. Rome may hold the chains, but Messiah governs the mission. Give a listen. 

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SPEAKER_00 0:18

Welcome to the Messiah in Life podcast, hosted by Bishop Justin D. Elwell of Restoration Fellowship International and Messiah Congregation, recorded at our congregational home in Washington Mills, New York. In this study through Paul's epistle to the Ephesians, we invite you to rediscover the beauty of God's covenant purposes revealed in Messiah Jesus. Together, we will explore the theological and covenantal foundations of Paul's letter. It's called to unity, holiness, redemption, and covenant identity for both Jew and Gentile in Messiah. This is more than a theological study. It is an invitation to see the story of Scripture as one unified testimony of the Lord's faithfulness from Israel to the nations, all brought together in Messiah. Thank you for joining us as we seek to live Messiah in everyday life. And now to Bishop Justin.

SPEAKER_01 1:21

Okay, Ephesians chapter 3. We'll begin in verse 1. And I'm probably going to say underline, underline, underline, because there's quite a few places that you probably should if that is something that you do. Let's see what the Apostle Paul has to say here. Excuse me. For this reason, I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, on behalf of you Gentiles, assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery, now, as you're going through this, you should be underlying mystery. Excuse me. Verse 6. This mystery is that the Gentiles are our fellow heirs. I would underline fellow heirs, members of the same body, part uh partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Of this gospel I was made a minister. I would underline minister. It's actually Diachonus, according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery. There's mystery again, hidden for ages in God, or by God, who created all things, so that through the church, underline that phrase, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. I wonder underline that as well. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering, uh suffering for you, which is your glory. This is God's word. So Paul, chapter three, is bringing us to a climax, we might say, of his theological presentation that is he's been developing thus far in this letter. And one one of the things that we see, some uh in your translations at the end of verse one is does some of you have a dash? It's a good it's a good way of indicating what's happening here. Verses two through thirteen are really kind of like a sidebar. They're very unique when you look at them in the in the Greek. The Greek is very different. It's not as well constructed here. It's kind of rambly. There's no real structure to the argument, but what you are seeing is Paul calming them, as he says in verse 13 that you not lose heart. He's recognizing that he is suffering, but he does not want them to lose heart as concerns the gospel and the work of the ministry that not only he, but also they are endeavoring in. That they need to be together, they need to remain together, they need to hold tight to each other through this and not see his imprisonment as a setback. So he's demonstrated, or what has been demonstrated among uh this community is the grace of God. The grace of God that brings Gentiles from spiritual death into covenant life, that the nations are no longer in alienation, that they have been brought near, as he says in chapter 2. Those who were far off have been brought near. Again, that's language of approach, that's language of presence, that's language of sacrifice, being brought near, drawn near to the Lord. So those who within Jewish tradition, the theology of the day was how can a Gentile be saved? We've talked about that on many occasions, because Gentiles were seen as being so far from the Lord, so um profane, you might even say, that how do you bring people who are so immersed in idolatry closer to the Lord? How can they be saved? How can they be made righteous? So that was kind of the thought, bless you, the thought that's happening here. I think every all of us have a little thing going on because of the I've got a little tickle in my throat because of the uh wildfires that are happening. Uh but we pray for everyone who is uh helping with that. So Paul is uh he pauses. So he pauses from uh verse 22 and chapter 2 in him, you're also being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. He'll pick up that thought again in verse 14 of chapter 3. And if you notice in chapter 3, verse 1, he says, for this reason. And again in chapter uh verse 14 he says, for this reason. So he is giving us this explanation and he he pauses, as I said. So he picks up the thought from verse 22 and 3, verse 1 in verse and verse 14, and then he gives us this beautiful assurance of what is happening, why it's happening. So it becomes deeply personal. He's no longer just speaking as an apostle or a theologian, he's speaking as a brother in the Lord, a prisoner who is in chains. But the imprisonment, he notice what he says. Now we know he wrote this while in prison. That's that's irrefutable. He says, I, Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ. He doesn't say a prisoner of Rome. Now, Rome obviously holds the chains, but Messiah is the one who is directing the mission. And that is important for his audience to take hold of. So Messiah governs the mission. This is not outside the purview of the Lord. This is part of it, the providence of God. And again, when we when we look at the idea that uh we're we see throughout scripture that the Lord orders the steps of the righteous, that the Lord goes before us, the Lord leads us, and so on, we don't say, well, clearly I'm out of the Lord's design because I'm here imprisoned for the cause of the gospel. Um, he's taken me out of the game, he's benched me. Paul doesn't see it that way. He's still saying, I am an apostle, I am sent, but right now, here I am in chains. And it's because of this message that I bring to you, this message that I give to you, this message that I proclaimed because of you, the mystery that is now revealed in this present age. Gary, would you help Lily with her water? Um, I don't want to see you suffering in silence here. So there was a mystery that was a prophetic mystery that, of course, was long um hidden. And the purpose of that is that the way that Paul is using Mysterion here, it's something that will be made known. But it was not something that we would figure out. Okay, it was something that is revealed. Remember, Messiah, when he begins to teach on the road to Emmaus, he opens their mind to the scripture so that they could see the Messiah's suffering, they could see the revelation of who he was. So that it was there, it was written. These things are written, these things were revealed, but it wasn't until the time of Christ where he unveiled our hearts to perceive what Scripture had said. What does Paul say? When it comes to Moses, there's still a veil that remains over the uh the eyes of the Jewish people. So when you have the rev, when you are called and you respond and you are brought to him, that veil is then lifted. And again, he takes us to the Torah, the prophets, and the writings so that we now see where he is there, where the where is the revelation of the gospel? We see it in an entirely different way. Uh I'm getting way ahead of myself. Let me just uh slow down. So the Gentiles don't obviously replace Israel in the Lord's plan, and that's I think we we have a tendency in the church, I'm using the church global, to say, well, if the Lord is involved with the church, he can't be involved with Israel. If he's involved here, he can't be involved there. And I think that is extraordinarily limiting, and it also dismisses uh prophetic writings as well as the writings of our apostles. So he gives us this pause. If we look at verses uh one through six, again, let me read, for this reason, I Paul, the prisoner of Messiah, Yeshua, for the sake of you Gentiles. He has a pause regarding his suffering. He wants them to understand that, yes, while he is suffering, this is not outside of the scope of what the Lord has ordained and purposed. He deliberately does not call himself a prisoner of Rome. That would be giving glory to Rome. That would be saying that Rome has control over this. And they have control over the chains, in a manner of speaking, because they have uh obviously it was Roman chains, but again, Messiah is the one who is governing the mission. Remember, you know, when we think about the mission that the Lord has us on, if we think about a military mission, all of the reasons, all of the reasoning behind what a general might command are not known to the infantrymen, right? Does the infantryman have to know everything that the general is thinking? No. What do they have to do? They have to carry out the order, right? It's their job to carry out what's been given to them. And Paul is thinking in very much the same way. He doesn't know all of the reasons why the Lord has him there in prison in chains. It's his job to be faithful there. We don't often know why the Lord has us in situations that and in circumstance that seem contrary to what would be rational to us. Um, you know, I find myself praying to the Lord, um, you you really must want to glorify yourself through this because there is nothing else that I can do with this. There is absolutely nothing. I am absolutely empty-handed now. And, you know, that's true, because he it the glory belongs to him. So our job is to remain faithful with as little as he provides for us, with as much as he provides for us, we need to remain faithful in the midst of what we are dealing with at that moment in time. So Paul is giving us a great deal of encouragement. This is an apostle. Certainly he would wouldn't the Lord know that the most significant theological voice in the world would be the Apostle Paul? And don't you think he should have had golden carriages carrying him throughout the Roman Empire rather than making him walk the 15,000 miles over the course of his uh missionary journeys? Why wouldn't he maybe give him one of Aladdin's magic carpets and maybe let him just float around? Some people don't know what I'm talking about, but anyway. Um let him float around the Roman Empire to get the mission underway. Why right? What does this tell us? Paul was human. Paul was, you know, Paul was not deified when he was born again. He was he was uh not exalted. He's, you know, he is not in some high exalted state. He was the same as we are. He dealt with the same struggles. He had to think through things faithfully, theologically, he had to search the scriptures in order to see that, yes, his life was in alignment with the will and the word of God. No different. He would, of course, you know, we like to say if he was alive today, we'd be getting a letter. And I agree with that, we would be getting a letter. And but I think at the same by the same token, he would he would be very cognizant of the challenges that we're facing. He's writing here as a pastor. He's writing here to people who are suffering. They're worried about what's going on with him, they're suffering under their own um specific uh set of circumstances. But he writes to them in a very pastoral way here. He is writing them, writing to them fully aware of what the uh challenges they face. And so we need to be mindful of that as well. I think quite often we we want everything cut and dry, sorted, perfectly aligned. Well, we mess that up too. You know, we mess up the messes, we mess up the perfections, we mess up everything. We're human. And uh, you know, we have to be uh I was teaching last week in Pennsylvania, and I kept reminding him the purpose is not for us to be perfect here. It's for us to be faithful here. We're to be faithful. As we talk about in Mark, uh the Messiah, man brings his son to be healed, and he says, I believe, but help my unbelief. I believe, I have pistis, I have faith, but help my apisto. Not my unbelief, but I would say my unfaithfulness. Help me where I'm still falling short. Help me where I'm still wrestling, help me where I'm still struggling, because I do believe, but I know, I recognize that I have fallen short of the glory of God. Just as Paul would later articulate. So the distinction here that we find is that Paul is fully aware of what we would say a Jewish understanding of providence, of how the Lord is orchestrating divine providence. Of course, when we look back throughout Israel's history, you can look at the prophets, you can look at Moses, you can look at Joseph, and so on. Um, Daniel, I have here, Jeremiah as well. Um faithful servants frequently suffered not because the Lord had abandoned them, but because they remained faithful to his calling in the midst of it. One of the great aspects of the threshing floor that we're seeing right now is the many, many so-called congregations that are embracing things that are contrary to the word of God, the revealed word of God, the irrefutable word of God. And the lack of presence that's there, right? They're unfaithful, they're moving away from the Lord, and and they're doing so because they're trying to be accepted by the broader unbelieving world, by the broader secular society around them. But we find that persecution comes when we remain faithful to Him above all else. We have to, we have no choice. The pain we might endure for a moment now, moment imagine what is this what is the scope of our life within the broader frame of eternity, right? Again, I I explained, I gave a kind of a hebraic definition of eternity uh last week, which I've done, of course, here many times, is the idea, you know, what does eternity convey? You know, if you've flown, you've probably looked out and you've seen the horizon. Maybe you were flying toward the horizon, maybe you were flying due east, due west, or whatever it might have been. Did you ever reach the horizon? Never kept flying, kept going. It's like I see it, it's right there, it's right there, but I'm not getting any closer. So the Hebraic understanding of horizon is, or forever, excuse me, the the of eternity is to the horizon and again. How long is eternity? To the horizon and again. We'll never reach it. We never reach the end of it, we never find the end of it. So Paul's imprisonment, of course, as he's saying, is directly related to the mission of the gospel that he's been given. He's the apostle to the nations, the Gentile world. And if we think back, the accusation that landed him, you know, in prison, ultimately in Roman custody, is that Jews in Jerusalem looked and they they thought Paul had brought Gentiles into uh the inner court by the altar in order to take a Nazarite vow. They assumed that he had erased all lines of distinction. Of course, he was there because James had directed him. You've heard, we've heard, they've heard the rumor about you that you forbid Jews to circumcise their sons, don't study the Torah. Do this so that they know that you're walking uprightly. And of course, he was willing to do it. Paul wasn't playing the hypocrite. I detest when scholars, pastors, theologians, what have you think that Paul was simply trying to appease James. Paul did not try to appease anyone. Paul contended with Peter face to face in front of everyone. So certainly, simply because James is the, you know, the bishop or the leader of Jerusalem, I don't think Paul was in a back down for the purpose of hypocrisy. I think that flies contrary to what we know about the Apostle Paul. So they saw him as violating the sanctity of Israel, the sanctity of the temple, the sanctity of the uh the presence of the Lord by proclaiming this unrestricted Gentile freedom. And of course, that's not what Paul was doing in the temple. So this uh in three through six we see this continue. How the mystery, into the mystery of Christ, this mystery is uh the Gentiles are fellow heirs. Uh how he continues in verse 9 uh what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages? And again, this has to do with something that was hidden, but not unknowable forever. It's not the idea that it's just going to be locked away, but at the appointed time, when the Lord was ready to reveal what was already written out, um, what was already prophesied, what was already given. But again, it's not something that we would put the pieces of the puzzle together. Messiah had to open the eyes of the uh the two disciples on the on the uh road to on the road to Emmaus. Paul would teach from the law and the prophets, those who were not yet believing. He would show them from the law and the prophets. Law and the prophets means law of prophets writing as well, the the Neveim, or the uh the Kettavim. Um he would um he would show them Tanakh is what I'm looking for. I'm just uh I'm still on a delayed effect from being in Pennsylvania, coming back over to the border into the promised land of New York, glory to God. Hey, that got a laugh. Amen. Uh, so the Tanakh. So uh Paul would teach from the Tanakh to show the revelation of Messiah as well. So the mystery is not that, and this is this is the important part. The mystery is not the Gentiles would be blessed. That was already revealed in the blessing to Abraham, right? In you all the families of the earth will be blessed. Genesis 12, 3. So that is not the revelation. That's not the mystery. The mystery is not that the nations would worship the Lord, because that was revealed in the prophets. The the mystery is how this would occur. That it would be through the promised son, again, in type and shadow given to us in Abraham and Isaac, the promised son of the Father, that he would be offered up and upon an altar, and that through him, by his perfect sacrifice, man would be reconciled to the Lord. But not just the Jewish people, but the nations as well. So it's how the mystery is how this would happen. And again, he gave us the pieces. Every sacrifice of the tabernacle in the temple points us to Messiah. The picture of Abraham and Isaac going upon Mount Moriah points us to Messiah. And there's so many ways that he revealed us. That. But again, it's only in light of his revelation that we finally look back and are able to see how that would occur. So Paul declares obviously the promises that are connected to the inclusion of the nations in the kingdom of God, being fellow heirs, members of the same body, partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. So not second-class citizens, but full members of the covenant family and Messiah. So these three descriptions, again, dismantle every notion, every argument that the nations are somehow secondary to the Jewish people or to Israel. But rather what the Lord is doing with the type of Israel, of the greater Israel, the Commonwealth of Israel, of bringing the nations and uniting them in one body, one person, and that is Christ. And of course, the nations, and again, in that language, you have to include Israel. Israel is a nation, Israel is part of the nations of the world. So it all is bringing us into the picture of the fullness of who the bride of the Messiah is. So it's not second-class citizenship. It's it, but it also, I would say, does not erase Israel's historical calling. That's been the subject since it's been a major theological subject forever, but it's been an intensely theological uh subject since October 7th, uh, 23, or uh 24, 23. It's been an intensely debated issue since then. And I really do see a dividing line between those who are uh on this side and on that side, it's becoming very clear. But the Gentiles do not replace Israel, then they do not displace Israel. Rather, there is a gracious incorporation. But that gracious incorporation is for Jew and Gentile alike. Again, you are not saved because you are born Jewish. There is faith, an action of faith that needs to happen here. But there is still a covenant relationship in play between the Lord and the Jewish people, and that cannot be dismissed either. That has important ramifications for the cause of the gospel. So this fulfills, we're seeing a fulfillment. Again, one of the favorite words in the New Testament is fulfillment. Okay? Not abolishes the prophetic hope. So this is what Paul is explaining here. Here he is. Again, he is trying to encourage their hearts. Do not lose heart over this. I'm suffering right now, but do not lose heart. This, all of this, is part of the Lord's divine plan. So in verses 7 through 13, again, of the gospel, I was made a servant. It says minister here. The word is diaconos, a deacon. I was made a deacon of according to the gift of God's grace. So concerning the gospel, he is a servant of the gospel. He brings the gospel, he prepares the gospel, he announces the gospel, he is serving the gospel of Christ. And again, this is part of his personal theology. He knows he's an apostle. He knows he has sent one of Messiah. He knows that. But this is also indicative of what genuine gospel leadership is. It's not that you are high and lifted up, right? It's not that all of a sudden, oh, you're a pastor, so you're on this rung of glory. Oh, you're an apostle. Oh, you're on that rung of glory. Oh, you're a bishop. Oh, you're on that rung of glory. I'm not sure how that's going to play in the podcast. I apologize for that. But it's it's no, it's not, you know, exaltation of the person of the servant. We are serving and we're lowering. Again, the way up in the kingdom of God is down. He must increase, we must decrease. And so people look at the idea of a deacon and think, okay, it's just a class of minister, and it's a low class of minister. No, somebody serving a very important function. However, that deakonusing deaconing is happening. However, you are served, be faithful. However, you're serving, be faithful in that. Sometimes I'm a deacon. Sometimes I'm a pastor. Sometimes I'm a bishop. And it all goes. Sorry, my sons forget what time of day it is and what I'm doing on Wednesdays in the afternoon. But whatever your job is at that moment in time, do it faithfully. Right? Do it faithfully. So he repeatedly emphasizing that his calling is based on the Lord's grace, not on his merit. We need to keep that in mind. You we're all in a place of responding to the grace of the Lord. We all need to extend grace, we all need to receive grace. And anything that he is doing in and through our life is because of his grace. It's not that I somehow magically clicked the final box in heaven to get my gold star and my golden ticket, and now I'm done with service or serving forever and ever because I merited release from that. Glory, hallelujah. That's not the case. It's not based on merit, it's based on him working in and through each and every one of us. And that, of course, it reflects Paul's theology of leadership, and it reflects the theology of a properly understood priesthood of the believer. Again, every believer, everyone born again in Christ is a priest, minister. So all it is, a server. Every single person is, but there are servers of the server. Right? I'm a servant of the servants of God. I'm a servant to the servants of God. That's how I understand my position, and I've written thousands of words on that one sentence. I think that one sentence is sufficient, but apparently I need to convince myself of that. But Paul's description of himself, less than the least of the saints of all the saints, less than, I mean, think about. Let me read this as he says it. I am the very least of all the saints. I'm the very least. Many of the saints, uh every saint that uh that uh that reads his letters is probably the result of his calling in his ministry. And he's the very least. Now you might say, well, this is this is Paul's false humility. He knew who and what he was, and he's just putting on some type of uh fake modesty here. No, it's a deep awareness of who he is. Remember, he persecuted the body, he gave approval to the stoning of Stephen. He knows who he is, and he knows that it is only by the grace of God that he's doing. He probably even saw sitting in a prison cell in chains as the grace and the mercy of God, because that's that is even less than what he deserved. Right? That is less than he deserved. He deserved far more punishment, but the Lord gave him mercy. He is a living message of the gospel, just as each and every one of us are. But for some of us, it takes longer. We're a little slow on the uptake. We it we take longer to realize what uh Paul is saying and what that means to our own life. He once persecuted the body and now he is a messenger of it. So grace never causes Paul to forget where he came from. And it shouldn't for us either, but it does change how we relate to where we came from. We recognize our sinful past, remember that we remember the damage of our past, we remember the shortcomings, the shame of everything that comes along with that. We remember that, but we don't occupy that. We don't, the Lord does not prepare us a place in shame. He prepares for us a place in glory in his son. That's who we are, but we do remember where we've come from. Why? Because somebody's gonna relate to your story, somebody's gonna relate to your testimony, and they're gonna look at you and say, That's who you were, but look at you now. Glory to God. So instead, he transforms his past into a testimony of the Lord's mercy. So the riches of Messiah talks about these unsearchable riches of Messiah. This grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Messiah. So the Greek that is used here, it's riches beyond human exploration, human calculation. You know, it's when we were well, I'm gonna show my age, you know, uh in the 35, yeah, it was only a few years ago. But anyway, um, you know, we used to have uh Scrooge McDuck. Do you remember him from some of the see that's showing my age? Uh I'm a year or two younger than some of you, where he used to go into his into his vault of his castle and swim in his gold coins or whatever it was, he would somehow miraculously dive into and swim around like it was water. And as a kid, you're thinking, wow, he could be that rich, but you know, that was just uh he was he was supposed to be beyond our understanding, beyond our comprehension of rich. And that's what is being depicted here, uh, as Paul is saying this: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages uh in God who created all things. So the Messiah fulfills what? The promises to Abraham, the covenant with Moses, the hope of David, the expectation of the prophets, the symbolism of the tabernacle, and every way, shape, and form, whether we're talking about the coverings and the sacrifices therein, the priesthood, the Levitical servants, or whatever, however you want to see that. He fulfills all of it. He brings it to meaning, he brings it to purpose, and it all is directed toward him. And we understand his ministry. Think of think of that. All of the different personages who point to who Messiah is. Whether we think of Joseph, whether we think of Judah, whether we think of David, whether we think of Solomon, whether we think of Moses, whether we think of Aaron, whoever it is, each of them, think of all the lives it took simply to reveal this one life. And still that's not enough. Because now you have the entire body of Messiah global, past, present, future, that shows us who He is. That's unsearchable, that's unfathomable when we think about it. So the riches of Messiah cannot be exhausted because they encompass the fullness of God's redemptive purpose. Everything, even his judgment, reveals who Messiah is. Everything reveals Christ. So we have the wisdom of the Lord displayed in verse 10 so that the that through the church, now I would circle church, the church. I've circled it in my uh Bible here, so that through the church, not a church, did you notice that? It's not indefinite, it's definite. The manifold, the multifaceted, multicolored wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. Remember, the angels desire to look into the depths of the gospel, right? Because it's so unfathomable. They cannot imagine and they cannot receive it, but it's glorious. So through the what? Who's the church? This wonderful building, glory to God. No, the people, the ecclesia, those who have been called out, right? Again, the ecclesia, the outcalled ones of God go to the synagogue, go to the place of assembly. The place where we said it doesn't necessarily mean you have to go to the synagogue. It means you go to a central place to assemble. So the heart of being the ecclesia is that we assemble together. You don't assemble alone.

unknown 35:10

That wouldn't be an assembly.

SPEAKER_01 35:12

That wouldn't be an assembly. It would just be. Yeah, just be. Let it be. That's why let it be is not a hymn, right? So that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the rulers and authorities in heavenly places. This is language of that Paul uses elsewhere as the principalities, powers, and world rulers of the present darkness. He also talks about that the uh rulers and authorities will bow to Christ. So he's talking about the angelic host as well as the host of the demonic. So in heavenly places, is specifically speaking about what we now we ordinarily refer to as the second heaven. So the heaven outside of uh what we're observing here. And he's making it known. Why? Because when we think back through history, the fallen nature of man, how the Lord has scattered and created the nations, the wars, the rumors of wars, all the destruction that has happened at the hands of the human race throughout history, the Lord looks like he's going to lose. Yes? So the demons are looking at this saying, look, our master has the upper hand. The angels are looking at it and going, look at what he's doing. They're amazed by the gospel, and so is the so is the enemy, right? The enemy is the enemy is probably amazed that that uh that not everybody responds to it. Who would not respond? You know, even the demons believe. That's the thing. When people, when people say, Well, I believe in God, that's not a statement of theology, that's not a theological statement in the sense of certainty of salvation or faith. The the demons believe in God and shudder. Humans will believe in God, but not shudder, right? Because the demonic has even a greater appreciation of the presence of the living God, but they are committed to their master. So this manifold wisdom, how the Lord is doing this, again, it had to be revealed with the coming of Christ and in light of his uh his ascension. It's made known. So they see it, they behold it, they look at it. And there's uh if you I don't know, C.S. Lewis, I guess, is a little bit difficult for some people to read. Um, I think he's uh he's he's good to read. Um screw tape letters. If you want to kind of get into uh spiritual warfare a little bit and have a really interesting take, screw screw tape letters are absolutely marvelous. Um it it reveals a lot. It's it's very interesting, very interesting work. So Paul's uh uh uh verse 10 really uh gives us a summary of Paul's theology. Um again, through the church. The church does not just receive God's wisdom, it displays it. When we come together, I remember years ago, uh 2021 or so, 22, so uh 21, I think. Um Bishop Dan Herzog, Daniel Herzog used to be the bishop of the Episcopishop of Albany. He sent me a text message on Saturday afternoon. And this is before we had expanded the parking lot, and we had cars uh obviously ever filled in here, we had cars in the lawn, we had cars going down the driveway, we had cars parked on Oneida Street. And he sent me this beautiful text and he said, What a wonderful display to the glory of God that the property is overflowing. Right? So when when people drive by and they see people always here, they see the parking lot filled and so on, again, we're displaying what the Lord is doing. We're displaying the wisdom of what he is doing. And how we interact with each other, how we live together, all of that is displaying his mercy, his grace, his love, his working in us and through us so that we do not behave as we once did. Think about this. You know, um people that hang out in bars together, do they uh have the same love, mercy, charity? I think we have bar brawls and we have those types of things, people going to uh jail for drunk and disorderly and all that stuff. Um that's an assemblage of people. It is, by definition. Is it to the glory of God? Well, by definition, that's a congregation. They've congregated there. The core purpose is to eat, drink, and be merry. For tomorrow we die. So it's there's a rejection of the Lord, even in that. Um But when we come together and as we live together and as we commune together, you know, we're displaying, we're making a display of what he is doing and the wisdom of what he is doing. And that's why Paul seems to phrase um the congregations as the you know, the eschatological people of God, the end time people of God. Because we are living in the age post-ascension of Christ, where we are living by grace, and we're coming together not because of um a unique identity apart from Christ, but because of our identity in Him. So the hostile powers, that would be the um the rulers and the authorities uh of the demonic um that once held humanity captive, right, now witness God's victory through a reconciled people. Again, there are times when we act in our old nature, act in our flesh, and we give glory in a manner of speaking to our former captive. See, you're really no better than what you were. Right? You see how you're behaving, see what you're doing. You're not really any better than you were. And that's again where his grace and his mercy come into play. So when we re and again, we're not just reconciled once. So if we fracture that, we're all done. Now we're gonna be on the toasting rack for eternity. That's not the case. We are in the process of reconciliation, it's a continual process. How you relate to me, how I relate to you, is going to change day by day, and Lord willing, become greater, become stronger, become more profoundly, um profoundly a witness to his um faithfulness. So Jews and Gentiles worshiping together. That's why, you know, this this little engine that could here is called Messiah Congregation, um becomes evidence that the Lord is reversing the fractured order of the present age, right? So society is fractured, it's fractured. Why do you think uh the enemy continually drums up and flares up racial tension or ethnic tension because it divides us so quickly and so easily? But the body of Christ worshiping together, Jew and Gentile worshiping together, shows that there is a reversal that's happened. There is a reversal that's happened, and it is, see, I use that phrase present age because I'm thinking back to Paul actually in chapter six, um the world rulers of the present darkness, the cosmokratoras, those who are ruling this present age, the prince of the power of the air, and so on and so forth. There's a fracture that's been reversed there, it's been healed, and it is in the process of healing. So the unity of the ecclesia becomes a proclamation not only to the world, but also to the heavenly realm. Nothing that we're doing here, beloved friends, is incidental. When we come together and praise and worship and song and fellowship, and you know, as a couple of guys go and and and mow the lawn for somebody here, that's, you know, that's not natural. That's not something that they would do unless they were going to get paid for it. But it's to the glory of God. It's service to one another, it's love and appreciation for the body of Christ and coming alongside of. So What we are displaying to not only to the society around us, but also to the heavenly realms. We have become, and that's, you know, I have several points in the uh of contention with the evangelical world. We have so informalized gathering, our gathering together. We've made it so informal, so relaxed that we've taken the holiness, the reverence, the sanctity. And I'm not saying we need to go off into the Greek or Russian Orthodox world and bring in the incense. But what I'm saying is we have made it so informal that we've demystified our faith. And when we've demystified our faith, we've taken the reality of the spiritual reality. We say all the time, we wrestle not against, but we forget that that's a reality. That is a physical reality where it is that is influencing the reality of where we are. And we've demystified our faith. We forget that we are surrounded by the supernatural. We forget these things and we forget the power of the supernatural, even if it is in the demonic realm. So we cannot, you know, we cannot give into uh, and I'm, you know, I'm I'm doing what I feel the Lord is calling me to do as he's calling me to do it, in order that I be a good steward, a good diakonus, a good minister of what he has called me to. And I think part of that is is a restoration of that. So when we lay these last two verses, 12 and 13, and I'll try to wrap it up. I know you all are excited to get back out into the fresh blue, uh the fresh, fresh air, blue sky, the cold today. I know we're gonna be plowing snow later, plowing heat later. Glory to God. So 12 and 13, in whom we have boldness. Now, here, remember why he why is he in chains for the gospel? Go back a little bit further. What was his original arrest from? Yep. So the temple, bringing Gentiles into the temple. Now watch this. In whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. We have boldness and access. He is thinking back to why he was originally arrested. He's thinking back to the temple. Because why do they they not want the Gentiles there? Gentiles do not have access. Any Jew could boldly walk into uh into before the altar of God, right? Gentiles couldn't go there. So boldness, they could boldly walk in and access with confidence, knowing that they were not going to be rejected from that space. But now he's turning it on its head, we might say. In whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. The language again recalls the temple, the language recalls his original arrest, the accusation of it. Why why is he in chains? People accused him of giving access to the altar of God to Gentiles. And now he's saying, of course, his Paul's theology is that we have access to a greater altar. Because Christ is even greater than the altar of God that was on the earth. So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering. Is that all he says? No. For you. I could have been retired in Jerusalem teaching a little Torah here and there, but it'd been otherwise pretty unremarkable life. But you Gentiles had to be part of the Lord's redemptive plan, and he needed a mailman that had some chutzpah to go out and do it.

unknown 47:48

So thank you very much.

SPEAKER_01 47:50

So thank you, Paul. Yeah, that's really what he's saying. Thanks for this.

SPEAKER_00 47:54

That's what it's saying.

SPEAKER_01 47:55

Yeah, it's that's the you know, uh that's the Lillian version of Yeah, it would be the Justonian edition of that, and that would be the subtext there. I am suffering for you, and we would even say for us. Because all of us in some way are fruit of the apostles, right? Some some some would understand it as being the fruit of the Pauline, uh the Pauline thread or the Petrine thread, whatever it might be, but regardless, they were sent out and they suffered for us. Which is your glory. What is this? What is he talking about? What is this talking about? Because we will be glorified in him. There is a glorious end to all of this. So under the under the uh the first covenant or the Old Testament, Hebrew scriptures, whatever you want to say, access into the holy place and the holy of holies was regulated. Heavily regulated. Just because you were a priest did not mean you could enter into the Holy of Holies. Just because you were a Levite didn't mean you could mean you could enter into the holy place. So there was regulation. And that's again, it's it's not it's it's not for the purpose of exclusion. It's for the purpose of order. For the it's you know, unfortunately, if we were left to our own devices regarding anything to do with the kingdom of God, we would be very disorderly. We would create create disorder. But the Lord is not an author of confusion, he is not glorified by the disorderly. That's why we don't take we take we take the order of our service, we take the presence that we, you know, uh of God that's here, and we don't permit a free-for-all. It's just not what were was not permissible. I don't find script that being scripturally edifying uh or spiritually edifying, I should say. So we do things decently and in order. Some people say you're you're quenching the spirit. No, I think we're we're being faithful to scripture to the best of our ability. So again, uh access to the Father through the Messiah, this declaration that he's making, is not the removal of Israel's place in God's economy. That's not what he is saying. He isn't kind of summing this up. So Paul's suffering, Paul knows who he is, Paul knows the purpose of his life, the mission that the Lord has given to him to uh to the extent that he can at that time. Um but again, he's not saying that Israel is now disqualified. Messiah's blessing anticipated by Israel's worship now extends to all who believe, Jew and Gentile alike. That's what's just so beautiful. So he urges them, listen, this is not the Lord was not surprised when I ended up in handcuffs. The Lord went, didn't say, the Lord didn't say on his throne, whoops, didn't see that coming. You know, because I'm sure one of the angels would have said, Lord, do you know who you're sending he's sending on this mission? He's gonna end up in cuffs. He's he is a troublemaker to the ninth degree, he's gonna end up in cuffs somewhere. Of course, he's not um surprised by it. It's part of his it was part of the ordaining of Paul's steps. You know? Um we don't have to seek chains, but neither should we flee from them if we find them, if if we find ourselves in them. Because we recognize that the Lord is just that, he is Lord of our life. So his imprisonment is not defeat, and that's what he's trying to tell them. He's given them this great theological insight, which is is much more disorderly if you read it in the Greek than it is in the English, but he's he's trying to encourage them. This is not a defeat, this is not the end. You know, um don't lose heart over this. Setbacks happen. Setbacks come. So we keep moving forward. So it's participation in the Lord's redemptive mission. His redemptive mission. I think that is something that we all need to bear in mind that this mission is is far bigger than any of us individually, but he's called all of us individually to it. Right? It's bigger than all of us individually, but he's called all of us individually to it. We're all part of this corporate body. We all serve the same Lord. We're all on the same mission, but our individual um individual uh what's the word I'm looking for? Uh calling, our individual labor within that mission might be slightly different from that of our neighbor. But we give glory to God for it. You know, I think at times when people people think uh, you know, uh being being a minister would be so much easier, life would be so much, so much better. It'd be I'd be rich, I'd be famous, I'd be well respected, I'd have a plane. Yeah. Yeah. Several, yes. I I need to have at least three. One for my ego, one for my luggage, one for me. Um, and it's you know, when you when you genuinely are trying to serve him and love him and love his people, um it's it's not that. Yeah, it really is, it really is not that. It's not that at all. We are I I think the the last I've read is that ministers are respected less than Carl use Carl Sal car salesman. Which we all know how much we love Carl sales car salesman. I keep saying Carl, Carl car salesman. Um, although I usually have good guys, so I as soon as I tell them I'm a um I'm a high priest, they, you know. I'm joking, I'm joking. Uh anyway. Um it's usually once the you know I fill out my credit, you know, the what do you do that your credit thing when you fill out your application, cut it out, and they see my occupation, they go, I hope I wasn't swearing today. Anyway, so uh this was Paul's really kind of this parenthetical uh sidebar that he gives us as an assurance to the to to say that to his audience of that day, which reveals a great theology to us even today, that the mission is not uh derailed because of this. In fact, we're still on mission, we're always on mission. Uh some of Paul's most impactful letters would not have happened had he not been sent to prison. So we have to bear that in mind. As I've said many times before, the Lord the Lord sent Paul to prison, the Lord took away my thyroid, the Lord took away my knees. I think I'm more stubborn than the Apostle Paul some days. He may have taken away his eyesight, but you know, I still well no, I didn't take off. I took off my glasses in the big audio, you know, the big sanctuary down there, and I was like, I can't see any of you people. Oh, there you are. But yeah, my doctor says my eyes are fine. At the same time, he's prescribing lenses. Hallelujah. Amen. All right, I'm going to uh sign off for the sake of the podcast, and we'll go to questions.

SPEAKER_00 56:01

Amen. Thank you for studying with us. And until our next episode, may the Lord bless and keep you all in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.