SPEAKER_00: Ephesians three today.
SPEAKER_00: Turn there and be on the screen behind me.
SPEAKER_00: If you would stand in reverence for the word of God it is being read.
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians three, one through thirteen.
SPEAKER_00: For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus, for the sake of you Gentiles, if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace which was given to me for you, that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief.
SPEAKER_00: By referring to this, when you read, you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: To be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise of Christ Jesus through the gospel, of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God's grace, which was given to me according to the working of his power.
SPEAKER_00: To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things, so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.
SPEAKER_00: This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which he carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in him.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulation on your behalf, for they are your glory.
SPEAKER_00: Pastor Brian, would you please come?
SPEAKER_01: It's good to be home and uh good to be in the pulpit again.
SPEAKER_01: Thank the Lord for that, and thank you again for the opportunity that I get the privilege of week after week to be able to bring the word.
SPEAKER_01: And so let's praise him for it one more time.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we are so grateful that you have given us all things for life and for godliness.
SPEAKER_01: We would ask you that as your word is opened, that we would all be truly impacted and transformed, and that we would be made in even further ways in the likeness of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And that you would be honored and glorified as you shape and mold us in this way.
SPEAKER_01: We pray all this in Christ's name.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
unknown: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Alright.
SPEAKER_01: Well, when I was a kid, uh I I don't know why, but for some reason my family enjoyed watching almost nightly this show called Unsolved Mysteries.
SPEAKER_01: Any of you remember that show that used to be on?
SPEAKER_01: Uh I'm talking about the old one with Robert Stack, not the newer version.
SPEAKER_01: Uh I don't know why.
SPEAKER_01: Uh for certain, but maybe it was a narrator's voice or the music or a combination of both, but that show used to scare me.
SPEAKER_01: And it used to give me many restless nights of little sleep.
SPEAKER_01: And yet I just couldn't seem to take my eyes off of it.
SPEAKER_01: For those of you who may be a little bit unfamiliar with that old show, uh the show had what I would categorize as this creepy music that seemed to be like from a horror movie.
SPEAKER_01: Uh and it was always playing, it seemed like.
SPEAKER_01: And the host was this man that to me, with his voice, just added to the fear.
SPEAKER_01: And most dreadfully, for a young boy, it was a show that I would say is most of the time showed all these crimes without resolution.
SPEAKER_01: Hardly anybody ever seemed to actually get caught.
SPEAKER_01: Now I get it, if the show was intended for the purpose of solving crimes based on detailing out how they happened, which did occur in that show, but many times a viewer was kind of left to look around the room for the doors that need to be locked and to cover sharp objects.
SPEAKER_01: And then, and then came the episodes that detailed out this unsolved mystery or crime that happened close to home.
SPEAKER_01: So when I grew up, we lived pretty near Portland, and so as you can imagine, there were a few shows there.
SPEAKER_01: And it was almost like the show's creators would conclude the show with the creepy music and Robert Stack's voice, and and then it was just like, well, he's still out there, good luck.
SPEAKER_01: You know?
SPEAKER_01: It's like yet I kept on watching.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Why didn't I go play Legos or go outside when that show had come on and my mom and my brother were glued to it?
SPEAKER_01: Because I think there's something in us that desires a mystery to be solved.
SPEAKER_01: We love mysteries, we love solving them.
SPEAKER_01: That's why that show was put on the way it was.
SPEAKER_01: As I said, there were crimes that were solved by what was showed there, but that wasn't really the true intent of the show.
SPEAKER_01: It was for ratings and profits, of course, but the producers and the creators of the show knew that most of us can't turn away when there's this description of something that happened and a crime committed, and we all sit there on pins and needles just hoping for the for the solution and for it to be solved.
SPEAKER_01: Even if it doesn't happen very often.
SPEAKER_01: Now, why do I bring that up?
SPEAKER_01: Is it because my counselor told me I need to get it out before you?
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: I mentioned that as an introduction in part to what Paul speaks of in our passage for today.
SPEAKER_01: He speaks about this mystery, this mystery to the truth of the gospel, and more specifically, what we're going to really detail out today is the mystery of the unity of the one people of God.
SPEAKER_01: In many ways, this sermon and this passage today are pretty similar to what we've studied in Ephesians, especially last time, a few weeks ago.
SPEAKER_01: And so this really is, by and large, about the unity of the church, the bride of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 1.
SPEAKER_01: Paul begins in verse 1 to speak of his reasoning for writing these things.
SPEAKER_01: And as he does that in verse 1, he just kind of can't help himself to just once again speak of the beautiful unity and the harmony found in the one true church of Jesus Christ, the one and only bride of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And then from there, so we can view, therefore, verses 2 to 13 is kind of what we can call a parenthetical thought, or kind of as an aside that leads him to say something else right before he begins to pray.
SPEAKER_01: That's what he's really doing.
SPEAKER_01: Because in reality, he's about to speak to them in verse 1 about prayer, and it's and it's we see him pick up on that later.
SPEAKER_01: And so for today, our focus is primarily going to be on that parenthetical statement made by Paul in verses 2 to 13.
SPEAKER_01: And so, as we see this, we need to see real briefly to really get a flair for what he's doing here, uh, is why he starts with for this reason in verse 1 and what that leads him to.
SPEAKER_01: What's he speaking of?
SPEAKER_01: Well, for this reason, what do we got to do?
SPEAKER_01: It's kind of like a therefore, we've got to go back, right?
SPEAKER_01: See what he's see what he's talking about.
SPEAKER_01: In chapter 2, what we saw is Paul speaking very eloquently of the grace of God.
SPEAKER_01: I think I mentioned quite a few weeks ago when I preached through the first ten verses, this is like one of the greatest gospel treatises or descriptions of the gospel in all of Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: Verses 1 to 10.
SPEAKER_01: It's just beautiful.
SPEAKER_01: And then right after that, he rightly goes in to speak of the unity that there now is between anybody who confesses Christ, no matter their race, no matter their background.
SPEAKER_01: And so we talked about that.
SPEAKER_01: Of course, he's he's really speaking primarily there to the Jews and the Gentiles are now one.
SPEAKER_01: Of course, our application for today is no matter where we come from, no matter our background, no matter our age, no matter our uh status in life, no matter our race, no matter our ethnicity, whatever, historical background doesn't matter, we're one in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: If Christ is our king, we're one.
SPEAKER_01: And so he says, for this reason.
SPEAKER_01: He's about to relate to them how he's gonna pray, as he'll pick up again in verse 14.
SPEAKER_01: We'll see that next time.
SPEAKER_01: But before that, the the newly revealed mystery just captivates his heart again as he's writing and as he's beginning to pray.
SPEAKER_01: And so he decides he's gotta write it out, and he's gonna teach him again.
SPEAKER_01: And of course, us here today, he's gonna teach us of the absolute beauty there is in this newly formed people of God.
SPEAKER_01: Because you've got to remember, in that day it's no different than today.
SPEAKER_01: We have our little groups, don't we?
SPEAKER_01: We have our little cliques that we love, and and those people we're good with.
SPEAKER_01: We talked in Sunday school about uh about loving your neighbor.
SPEAKER_01: And it's easy to love the ones you love and they're just like you.
SPEAKER_01: It's a little more difficult to love the ones that are not, but that's uh uh a great study in in Matthew 5.
SPEAKER_01: So study that.
SPEAKER_01: But but but so he's he's saying there's one people of God in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And in God's economy, there's there's two races of people there's those who are his and those who are not.
SPEAKER_01: That's it.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: So so one new people.
SPEAKER_01: And here is something so great, so challenging for us.
SPEAKER_01: As Paul is writing these things, we see that he's just so captivated by the gospel, by this mystery, that that we just see joy from him in his writing.
SPEAKER_01: But where's he at right now?
SPEAKER_01: Is he sitting around the wood stove?
SPEAKER_01: He's got his you know his plate of food and and everything's good.
SPEAKER_01: No, he he's in prison.
SPEAKER_01: He's in prison, and it's not even like a prison we have today.
SPEAKER_01: It's not that.
SPEAKER_01: He goes and watched TV at a certain time and lift weights at this time.
SPEAKER_01: It's not that.
SPEAKER_01: This is real prison.
SPEAKER_01: This is dangerous prison.
SPEAKER_01: That's where he's at.
SPEAKER_01: But what do we see?
SPEAKER_01: Joy.
SPEAKER_01: All the way through.
SPEAKER_01: As we see in so many of his other letters, he's fine with being imprisoned.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 1 again.
SPEAKER_01: He says, For this reason I call the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles.
SPEAKER_01: He's not complaining.
SPEAKER_01: But he's fine with being in prison so long as what?
SPEAKER_01: So long as the gospel is being able to be proclaimed.
SPEAKER_01: So that so that the mystery, as he talks about here, is made clear and lives are gonna be changed in light of it.
SPEAKER_01: It's worth it.
SPEAKER_01: He's in chains in prison as he's writing this.
SPEAKER_01: But we've got to notice something stunning here.
SPEAKER_01: In his mind, he's not just merely imprisoned by a sinful and wicked regime.
SPEAKER_01: He is in the chains of the ministry of the gospel, we could say.
SPEAKER_01: Would he ask for literal chains in his life?
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: Not unless he knew that people are gonna come unto repentance and confess Christ, and the fame of Christ had spread further, then it's worth it.
SPEAKER_01: So we see his countenance is this is that he is in chains for the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Paul says here that his chains, if you will, are chains that are put on by Christ himself.
SPEAKER_01: He is a prisoner of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: He makes that very clear in verse 1.
SPEAKER_01: He's not a prisoner ultimately of man, but of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: He is bound by the gospel and his savior to accomplish his Savior's will.
SPEAKER_01: And it's worth it.
SPEAKER_01: And then look at, let's look for just a moment at the why, according to this verse one.
SPEAKER_01: He is imprisoned unto Christ for the sake of the Gentiles.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, what he's saying is, it's good for me to be imprisoned if it's for your sake.
SPEAKER_01: That's a very interesting phrase and turn about.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, Paul is imprisoned here because he is the apostle to the Gentiles, if you will, because he's preached the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: It was the Jews that were after him, and they wanted him dead, and they did everything they could to get him in that position.
SPEAKER_01: Because of this ministry to the Gentiles.
SPEAKER_01: And so while Paul is teaching on the unity between the two groups, he reminds them that he's a prisoner of the state, but ultimately of Christ because of his ministry to people like themselves.
SPEAKER_01: Not that he's blaming them, but he's using it as an opportunity to show them what the Christian life is really all about.
SPEAKER_01: You see, we forget in our free country, praise God for what we celebrated yesterday, but we really forget that no matter what, no matter what people think, no matter what people do, no matter what our government may do, we preach Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Period.
SPEAKER_01: And we preach Christ to all, Jew, Gentile, alike.
SPEAKER_01: Doesn't matter creed or background.
SPEAKER_01: And here's why.
SPEAKER_01: Here's why Paul is really adamant about this, and that's because he knows for a fact that there is no separate plan of salvation for either.
SPEAKER_01: There's one plan of salvation.
SPEAKER_01: There is no separate plan of salvation for the Jews, no matter what.
SPEAKER_01: It is Christ alone.
SPEAKER_01: There is no road to heaven for Gentiles.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, just to clarify, uh in these writings, we have Jewish people and then Gentiles.
SPEAKER_01: Gentiles, everybody else.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Everybody else.
SPEAKER_01: So no matter you think of your nationality, race today, it doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_01: So we have Jews and then everybody else.
SPEAKER_01: That's the context of what we see here.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so there is no road to heaven for anybody outside of Christ and Christ alone, no matter what.
SPEAKER_01: And it is the Christian's privilege to be a prisoner of Christ if necessary, and his gospel as we call people to repentance and faith.
SPEAKER_01: That's what Paul gives us as an example.
SPEAKER_01: And that's why Paul says in verse 13, it's for your glory.
SPEAKER_01: It's for your glory.
SPEAKER_01: It's like he said, Don't worry about what's going on with me.
SPEAKER_01: I'm in Christ, I'm gonna be fine.
SPEAKER_01: And instead, just rejoice.
SPEAKER_01: More on that later.
SPEAKER_01: And in verse 2, we see Paul begin to remind them once again who he is.
SPEAKER_01: As we begin to walk through Paul's parenthetical thinking in these verses, 2 to 13, this aside that he gives us, and we're gonna take this one by one, verse by verse.
SPEAKER_01: We see that he says he was appointed as a steward.
SPEAKER_01: He was appointed as a he didn't appoint himself as an apostle, did he?
SPEAKER_01: You know, today I'm gonna be an apostle for Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: No, it doesn't work that way.
SPEAKER_01: He is a caretaker of the gospel of grace.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus did this to him beginning on the Damascus Road.
SPEAKER_01: So and his appointment was a little unique.
SPEAKER_01: He was to be the steward of the gospel taken to the Gentiles primarily.
SPEAKER_01: See, Jesus came first and foremost for the Jews, but he came ultimately for all, for all peoples, didn't he?
SPEAKER_01: Or else there's no reason for us to be here today.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus came for all, and it includes the Gentiles, and this stewardship of God's grace was given to him for them, Paul says.
SPEAKER_01: And then in verse 3, he speaks of the fact that by his revelation to them given by God, they have come now to know the mystery.
SPEAKER_01: Praise God.
SPEAKER_01: The mystery.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, now there it is, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01: Now that's a really important word right here.
SPEAKER_01: Now we're gonna really drive it, what we need to see today.
SPEAKER_01: Many times in the New Testament, we see Paul speak of the mystery of the gospel, don't we?
SPEAKER_01: Many times.
SPEAKER_01: The mystery of that which was proclaimed in the Old Testament about what?
SPEAKER_01: A Messiah to come.
SPEAKER_01: Paul speaks a lot, frequently, of this mystery.
SPEAKER_01: For example, Colossians 1.26, where he says this: he says, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to his saints.
SPEAKER_01: Speaking of the gospel, the good news of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Now, interestingly, I've already made mention of this.
SPEAKER_01: This is not directly what Paul's speaking of here when he says mystery.
SPEAKER_01: Here in verse 3, this chapter, he is speaking of a mystery that he's already spoken about in chapter 2.
SPEAKER_01: The mystery that has come to be revealed of the one church.
SPEAKER_01: And Paul's coming along saying, there's one people of God.
SPEAKER_01: Jew and Gentile alike.
SPEAKER_01: Period.
SPEAKER_01: End of discussion.
SPEAKER_01: And you've got to understand, culturally and contextually, at this point, this would have been absolutely mind-boggling to them.
SPEAKER_01: For us, it's like, well, yeah.
SPEAKER_01: You know, but to them, they're just blown away, both Jews and Gentiles alike.
SPEAKER_01: And even offensive to most, especially the Jews.
SPEAKER_01: They didn't want to hear this.
SPEAKER_01: This was a mystery in that nobody could have conceived of it without God directly commanding it.
SPEAKER_01: It's that kind of mystery.
SPEAKER_01: See, when I spoke earlier about that show Unsolved Mysteries, by the way, I'm not advocating for that show, just clearing that up.
SPEAKER_01: We may have some idea as to who is responsible as we see what happens there or what may have happened leading up to that crime.
SPEAKER_01: But here what we find is it literally takes a supernatural working of the Spirit to reveal to people of that day and ours that there is but one people of God.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: We love to separate ourselves, don't we?
SPEAKER_01: But as we looked at last time, the dividing wall is gone, Paul tells us.
SPEAKER_01: It's been obliterated by Christ and his work on the cross, and now Christ just has one bride, one people.
SPEAKER_01: And Paul just goes on to continue to expand on this in the next verses, four to seven, especially.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 4 again with me.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 4, he says, by referring to this, when you can uh when you read, you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Essentially what he's saying there is that even though this mystery is deep to you, okay, even though it's mind-boggling to you, even it's even if it's a hard truth, Paul is essentially saying, I need you to read it.
SPEAKER_01: I need you to read it, and I need you to read it, and I need you to read it again.
SPEAKER_01: Because you've got to understand it.
SPEAKER_01: If you read the words of this letter, if you study them, if you prayerfully come before the word of the Lord, then you will understand.
SPEAKER_01: He will give you insight.
SPEAKER_01: That's kind of what he's doing here.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't tell them they need to just, you know, clear your minds, fold your legs, and you know, sit with your legs crossed and seek to understand what Paul is saying here.
SPEAKER_01: Not that kind of thing.
SPEAKER_01: He wants them to use their God-given brains to read and study this truth so that they would receive it and live it.
SPEAKER_01: I gotta say this as my own aside.
SPEAKER_01: Unfortunately, this kind of thought is actually countercultural to many Christians today.
SPEAKER_01: And so scripture remains an unsolved mystery to them, and they get lulled into a life of comfort and ease until something tragic happens.
SPEAKER_01: Many in the church want to just feel emotional and have mountaintop experiences with the Lord and all that doctrine theology stuff.
SPEAKER_01: That's not that important.
SPEAKER_01: But as Paul says here, it's just one biblical example of the need for a Christian to use their eternally enlightened brains to understand God and his ways.
SPEAKER_01: You need to understand it.
SPEAKER_01: You need to study it, know it, read it, trust him through it.
SPEAKER_01: That's how Paul tells people they're gonna get it.
SPEAKER_01: You want to understand what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_01: Paul says, Study the Bible, study what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_01: Use your brain.
SPEAKER_01: God has given us a brain to understand his word.
SPEAKER_01: Praise God.
SPEAKER_01: And the spirit that opens that truth.
SPEAKER_01: None of this happens without the Spirit, but that doesn't take away our God-given responsibility to study his word.
SPEAKER_01: You see, the mystery is always solved in the study of the word under the power of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what Paul starts driving at right here.
SPEAKER_01: And in verse 5, Paul tells him again, yeah, this is a mystery to your forefathers.
SPEAKER_01: There were glimpses of it in the past.
SPEAKER_01: We see it in Isaiah 49, 6, where the Lord proclaims that he's gonna make the Israelites a light unto the nations.
SPEAKER_01: Or even back to Genesis, where he tells Abraham that, what does he say?
SPEAKER_01: Does he say that the Jews are gonna be blessed through you?
SPEAKER_01: He says, all nations are gonna be blessed through your life.
SPEAKER_01: Here in this passage, Paul is saying directly and specifically that what was a mystery to your forefathers of old has now been revealed through the cross of Christ and the ministry of his own apostleship.
SPEAKER_01: And this is so beautiful.
SPEAKER_01: Again, it's always been the plan.
SPEAKER_01: God didn't see the separation.
SPEAKER_01: Of people groups and go, dang, I didn't see that coming.
SPEAKER_01: What do I do?
SPEAKER_01: No, God determined before the foundations of the world, as chapter 1 speaks of, but it wasn't until after Christ ascended that he decided to make it known to all.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't it beautiful, though?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, one church, one people, one bride, no matter who you are, no matter where you come from.
SPEAKER_01: I love it.
SPEAKER_01: The church is wonderful.
SPEAKER_01: Name one other institution, organization, people, group that get to say this.
SPEAKER_01: There isn't one.
SPEAKER_01: God's plan is perfect.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 6, Paul continues by giving more details that I say are thrilling to the Gentiles and stinging to the non-believing ethnic Jews in regards to this mystery?
SPEAKER_01: Essentially, what he's saying here is this mystery revealed was that the Gentiles are on the same footing in every way.
SPEAKER_01: And the Jews are like, oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
SPEAKER_01: Hang on a minute.
SPEAKER_01: Don't you know how special I am?
SPEAKER_01: That was the thought of the day from their rabbis.
SPEAKER_01: Not only are the Gentiles allowed to have a seat at the table, so to speak, not only are they able to be saved as well, but they are equal in every way, Paul is getting at.
SPEAKER_01: The Gentiles are fellow heirs, not second-class citizens, not less holy.
SPEAKER_01: There isn't some weird kind of Mormon different types of levels of heaven with different types of levels of people, not that kind of errant theology.
SPEAKER_01: It is one people with one inheritance, all fellow heirs of God.
SPEAKER_01: You see, it is not, well, you know, sure I'm saved, but to be a messianic Jew.
SPEAKER_01: You probably have heard something like that before.
SPEAKER_01: That's where it's at.
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: We're one.
SPEAKER_01: All equally, desperately needy for grace, no matter our background.
SPEAKER_01: All equal, all errors according to the promise if we're in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Praise to God.
SPEAKER_01: Praise be to God.
SPEAKER_01: And just to make sure that nobody's going to brag on Paul for what he is and who he is and what he's done, Paul again just goes on repeating the truth of the grace of God and everything he's accomplished in his ministry, as we see in verse 7, as we continue on.
SPEAKER_01: He says, this work he's done thus far, it's a gift.
SPEAKER_01: It's a gift.
SPEAKER_01: Which is awesome because it tells us that Paul didn't just make this up.
SPEAKER_01: God gifted him with the ability to be the minister of the gospel and of this mystery according to his apostleship, as he was given power by God himself.
SPEAKER_01: Paul is being used of God to reveal a great mystery to the Gentiles and the Jews about their oneness before his throne.
SPEAKER_01: And then in verse 8, Paul continues just to humbly speak of the grace that was given to him to preach Christ and him crucified.
SPEAKER_01: I say humbly, because as he always does in his other letters, Paul speaks in a very self-deprecating way about himself.
SPEAKER_01: Now, as we think about what's going on here, this should cause us all to pause for a minute and reflect.
SPEAKER_01: Again, you've probably heard this before, but if the great apostle Paul, think about Apostle Paul, the great and gifted Apostle Paul considered himself this lowly, he's unworthy before God, even for the work that the Lord gave him to do.
SPEAKER_01: If that's Paul, who most of us would put him on a pedestal, if that's him, do we ever reflect on ourselves in the same way?
SPEAKER_01: Is that how you view yourself?
SPEAKER_01: I'm unworthy.
SPEAKER_01: So unworthy.
SPEAKER_01: Not that we respond with anger at ourselves and seek to harm ourselves because of how bad we are.
SPEAKER_01: Nor do we sheepishly say that we're so bad and terrible when we get caught as a manipulating way of making others feel guilty.
SPEAKER_01: Not those two things.
SPEAKER_01: Not that kind of unhealthy, you know, self-deprecating humility.
SPEAKER_01: But instead the kind that just says this God is holy.
SPEAKER_01: God is powerful, God is merciful, he's righteous, he's pure, he's just.
SPEAKER_01: I am in desperate need of his grace.
SPEAKER_01: I am nothing without him.
SPEAKER_01: And I am deserving of nothing but the pit of hell if it weren't for his mighty grace.
SPEAKER_01: See, arrogance is just crushed under the weight of the cross and the blood of our Savior.
SPEAKER_01: And no one relishes this more than the Apostle Paul.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, he goes on to kind of create a word to describe how low he is before a holy God.
SPEAKER_01: The Aeneas in verse 8 says very least.
SPEAKER_01: In the Greek, it's one word and it's lower than the least.
SPEAKER_01: Lower than the least.
SPEAKER_01: Lower than you could possibly imagine.
SPEAKER_01: That's Paul when he thinks of himself before God.
SPEAKER_01: Not when he was Saul, but present tense, right there.
SPEAKER_01: Is that us when thinking of the grace of God, first in salvation, and then after that, even in being a part of this mystery of the united people of God?
SPEAKER_01: Do we see ourselves that way as humble follow fellow partakers in the promise through the gospel and the mystery of the church?
SPEAKER_01: Or do we think we're pretty good?
SPEAKER_01: Better than so-and-so.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, sure, a needy, but look at that person.
SPEAKER_01: Is that us?
SPEAKER_01: Or are we more like Paul, just trying to figure out a way to describe how small we are in light of God's holiness?
SPEAKER_01: And that's it, by the way.
SPEAKER_01: Paul doesn't say he's the least because others have done such great things, nor because others are so much more holy than he is.
SPEAKER_01: He even says, follow me as I follow Christ.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, I would say it's the opposite.
SPEAKER_01: So what we find is that he speaks this way because he's more righteous than most.
SPEAKER_01: Now that sounds contradictory to hears at first, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_01: Paul says it's because he had such a profound understanding of the holiness of God.
SPEAKER_01: You see, the more you and I grow in our understanding of the righteousness and holiness of God, the more we see how desperate we are for his grace.
SPEAKER_01: It is the righteous saint that proclaims, I'm least.
SPEAKER_01: Look at God.
SPEAKER_01: Look at what he's done.
SPEAKER_01: Look at his church.
SPEAKER_01: Not for show, not because he's supposed to, but it is because he truly knows who he is in himself before the glory of this holy God.
SPEAKER_01: So Paul says here in verse 8 that this majestic grace was given to him, the least of all, and that grace was to make known the mystery of Christ by the preaching of the gospel, which of course then leads to the mystery of the church being fully revealed.
SPEAKER_01: Through God's grace, the mystery is solved.
SPEAKER_01: Paul says here that God used the least of all, the former hater of Jesus and his people.
SPEAKER_01: God uses this man to preach the glorious riches of the grace of Christ to a race of people that were seen as lower than the Jews of Paul's day.
SPEAKER_01: See, Paul never really got over, let alone forgot about who he was before Christ.
SPEAKER_01: How about you?
SPEAKER_01: Do you ever come become dismissively forgetful that it took the blood of Christ and his gracious call to save your soul and call you into his service?
SPEAKER_01: I pray that none of us ever forget what it took to get us saved.
SPEAKER_01: And how gracious he is to call us to his wonderful service, of serving him and his people in this mysterious plan of reconciling all things to himself.
SPEAKER_01: Think of how it had to humble Paul to be the one to be able to carry these unfathomable riches.
SPEAKER_01: Today, you've probably heard it or heard of it, seen it in a movie or something, maybe you've seen it in real life.
SPEAKER_01: But we have these briefcases that are handcuffed to heavily armed men, surrounded by other heavily armed men, and they're transporting something that is of great value, right?
SPEAKER_01: And yet, whatever's in that case will be burned up one day.
SPEAKER_01: Paul freely, openly, brought the greatest riches.
SPEAKER_01: The best news that could ever be heard by a sinful people.
SPEAKER_01: He brought the message of the gospel to a people who were formerly far off from the grace of God.
SPEAKER_01: What a gift, what a ministry.
SPEAKER_01: He says in verse 9 that he was called to bring light to that which was a mystery, to that which was unknown to the darkened eyes of the past.
SPEAKER_01: He is called, therefore, to open that briefcase of the treasure of God's grace, and as that case is opened, the greatest light immediately shines forth, and the darkened hearts of a lost people are brought in mass to know the long-held mystery of the truth of God and his new people.
SPEAKER_01: God alone knew the fullness of this mystery until now.
SPEAKER_01: And he brings it to light during Paul's ministry, uses him, and the glorious result is darkened eyes to both Jew and Gentile, everybody.
SPEAKER_01: And now they are forever kin, stronger than blood.
SPEAKER_01: All genealogies in the church now point to one head, Jesus the Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And then there's verse 10.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 10.
SPEAKER_01: As Paul continues to speak of these unfathomable riches and the mystery being made known, as he humbly realizes who he is in light of it, as he exposes the beauty of God's work to this un of unifying of people for his own possession, Paul says something amazing.
SPEAKER_01: Paul says that this was done to reveal the wisdom of God, the manifold wisdom of God.
SPEAKER_01: First, we may read that and say, well, yeah, of course.
SPEAKER_01: Of course, this brings forth the wisdom of God to people.
SPEAKER_01: But interestingly, that's not what Paul says here.
SPEAKER_01: That's not who Paul says is the reason for the release of the manifold wisdom of God here.
SPEAKER_01: He says here that it is through the church that God has decided, follow me on this.
SPEAKER_01: He has decided to make known to the rulers and authorities.
SPEAKER_01: Now, by saying this, Paul is not speaking of those in Washington, D.C.
SPEAKER_01: He's not speaking to those in a parliament.
SPEAKER_01: He's not even speaking to those of his day in Rome.
SPEAKER_01: He is speaking of the rulers and authorities, what does he say in the heavenly places?
SPEAKER_01: Huh?
SPEAKER_01: Heavenly places.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I've got to say this to you.
SPEAKER_01: At this point, if it has been good to you to hear the mystery of God that's been revealed in such a way, and it's called you to worship over the beauty of the church with all its splendor of Jew and Gentile alike, if you're captivated by the mystery of the gospel and the church, praise God, then once again I call you to come to worship over what is being taught by Paul.
SPEAKER_01: If you have been distracted this far, if you're sleepy, if you're thinking of last night, if you're thinking of what you got going today, if you've only heard a part of this message so far, please take heed right now.
SPEAKER_01: This is something that you will go home marveling over.
SPEAKER_01: You must marvel over it.
SPEAKER_01: You must be awestruck and even convicted over this magnificent truth.
SPEAKER_01: Here we go.
SPEAKER_01: The powerful, beautiful, radiant, magnificent angels that surround the throne of God worshiping, the beings that are created by God for worship and even to do his bidding on the earth, the angels, they are the ones whom through the life of this newly unified church and on down to today, they are the ones who are being given now the manifold wisdom of God.
SPEAKER_01: This is amazing.
SPEAKER_01: This tells us many wonderful things.
SPEAKER_01: For one, it is truly God alone that is all knowing and omniscient, not the angels.
SPEAKER_01: Angels don't know everything, do they?
SPEAKER_01: The angels did not understand the mystery of the gospel, nor of the true church in its unity, the Jew and Gentile alike, until God revealed it to them as well.
SPEAKER_01: And for two, this is the part that just blows me away, and I hope it does you as well.
SPEAKER_01: This mystery is revealed to them by the church.
SPEAKER_01: And so you could say, the angels watch the church to gain wisdom about the plan of God.
SPEAKER_01: Now, that would include fallen angels.
SPEAKER_01: The angels watch, especially back then when the church first came together, but I think we can draw from that continually, the angels watch the church to gain wisdom about the plan of God.
SPEAKER_01: It's almost as if there's this, you could think of it as a theatrical play going on where the angels just can't turn away from.
SPEAKER_01: It's their unsolved mystery Broadway show that they find so intriguing that even in the presence of the God of the universe, they cannot help but to also focus some attention on the church.
SPEAKER_01: God's on the throne for those who are there in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: And they're still compelled to find out what God has done as they watch the church play out his plan in this theatrical drama that reveals the wisdom of God and the glory of Christ to these heavenly realms.
SPEAKER_01: As 1 Peter 1 speaks of, they long to look into it, says.
SPEAKER_01: They long to understand the work of Christ and His gospel.
SPEAKER_01: You've got to understand, angels are not the recipients of God's grace.
SPEAKER_01: Fallen angels don't get redeemed.
SPEAKER_01: They are not the benefactors of his gospel work, other than they get to worship over it, and that's the key.
SPEAKER_01: And so they are just in complete awe of the Lord and his grace to his people, so much so that they just long to know more for their ability to worship in more and further ways.
SPEAKER_01: And if that's not challenging to you today, I don't know what is.
SPEAKER_01: That forces us to ask a tough question, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_01: What does that mean for us as we live the Christian life today?
SPEAKER_01: What this must mean is that the church is that vital to God's plans.
SPEAKER_01: The church is the instrument of the gospel, period.
SPEAKER_01: Parachurch organizations cannot replace the work of the church.
SPEAKER_01: The angels do not watch over Samaritan's purse or focus on the family in the same way they do the church.
SPEAKER_01: They don't watch over collaborative Bible studies or prison ministries, they don't watch over Gideon's or the latest tent revival meeting.
SPEAKER_01: Not that those things are all bad, I'm not saying that, but they're not the local church.
SPEAKER_01: That's God's plan to reveal the mystery.
SPEAKER_01: As most of the verbiage in the New Testament speaks of when speaking of the church, it's predominantly the local church, like us.
SPEAKER_01: That's what the angels are watching over to gain the manifold wisdom of God in regards to the gospel and reconciliation.
SPEAKER_01: This should thrill us.
SPEAKER_01: And yet at the same time, to be blown away.
SPEAKER_01: And to cause us to seek to walk in righteousness with a new stern and rigid conviction.
SPEAKER_01: We have been given the privilege of showing even the heavenly rulers and authorities the manifold, you could say, multifaceted wisdom of God through Christ's work on the cross and now our unity in this revealed mystery called the church.
SPEAKER_01: Think of the angels rejoicing and worshiping over what they see when Paul is sent to proclaim this one new people group for the glory of God.
SPEAKER_01: The reconciling of Jew and Gentile in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that had to be a robust time of worship for the angels, right?
SPEAKER_01: They're gaining this wisdom when the church came together like this in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: I think we can infer from the Gospels when Jesus comes, the angels are just like, what?
SPEAKER_01: Why would you do that?
SPEAKER_01: In the incarnation.
SPEAKER_01: They don't get it yet.
SPEAKER_01: Because they're not God, they're not omniscient, and they only know what is revealed to them just like us.
SPEAKER_01: And so when they see Paul being the minister of the gospel to unify a people, it had to be just an absolute robust time of worship in heaven for the angels as they gained this new worship, a new ability to worship when the church came together like this in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: By the way, what this means is that for somebody to be in Christ, they must be a part of the work and worship of the church.
SPEAKER_01: The angels aren't concerned about the life of the person who's not a part of the one and only bride of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Nor are they gaining any wisdom by watching their lives like they do when they observe the grace of God in the church.
SPEAKER_01: And worse yet, those isolated people are not living in light of the mystery that Paul's explaining here.
SPEAKER_01: The unified people.
SPEAKER_01: So I'll say this.
SPEAKER_01: The church is God's plan for his gospel works, so much so that it reveals to the cosmos the nature of his grace and the plan of reconciling all things to himself.
SPEAKER_01: You understand that?
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna say that part again.
SPEAKER_01: The church is God's plan for his gospel works, so much so that the church, what God does in and through us individually, how he saves us and causes us to live for him, redeems us from the pit, that reveals to all of heavens the cosmos.
SPEAKER_01: It reveals the nature of his grace and the plan of reconciling all things to himself.
SPEAKER_01: And for those angels who are with God, it causes them to throw down themselves in worship.
SPEAKER_01: And again, this is not some passing thought or last-minute addition by God to the work of salvation.
SPEAKER_01: This was always the plan.
SPEAKER_01: This makes it even better, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_01: Verse 11 says this was in accordance with the eternal purpose that was carried out in the cross of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: So for all of history, since the creation of all things, thousands of years ago, the plan was with the church, that the church would display this manifold, multifaceted wisdom of God in salvation and the nature of his bride, not merely to the major players of the world, as we would think, but as it says here to the supernatural beings is what it's getting at, heavenly places.
SPEAKER_01: And now that this mystery has been revealed, now that there's just one people of God unified in the gospel, we can all equally come to the throne in confidence, and the angels look at that and they're undone.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if the angels around the throne of God are undone over the work of the gospel, what about you?
SPEAKER_01: Remember, it used to just be the priests who could come before the Lord in the Holy of Holies with certain parameters and rules and sacrifices.
SPEAKER_01: And now all the saints, all who are in Christ, have equal access to this very throne of the Most High.
SPEAKER_01: The angels highly anticipate gaining that kind of understanding.
SPEAKER_01: It's beautiful truth to them for what was formerly a mystery.
SPEAKER_01: And so we find today, as Hebrews teaches us, you and I get to come boldly to the throne.
SPEAKER_01: By the gift of faith, we we can come to him in confidence, boldly asking for his glory and wisdom to be made manifest in our lives, so that the entirety of the universe can glean his manifold wisdom.
SPEAKER_01: So the completion of the mystery would be made known.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that glorious?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you and I have free, continual, confident, sure-footed, grace-inducing surety to come before the throne of God with bold assurance and faith, because the mystery has been revealed.
SPEAKER_01: So Paul says in verse 13, so don't lose heart.
SPEAKER_01: Don't lose heart.
SPEAKER_01: Don't worry.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't matter if I've had tribulations.
SPEAKER_01: If Paul had refused to preach Christ to avoid suffering, if he had refused to proclaim the oneness of the new church, he wouldn't even be imprisoned, would he?
SPEAKER_01: It's for their glory.
SPEAKER_01: Would you say that if you're in prison for Christ right now?
SPEAKER_01: Only in the Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: But what confidence this must have brought to the life of Paul.
SPEAKER_01: His imprisonment brought glory to God and to the church, and of course shown forth to the world.
SPEAKER_01: What an eternal reward.
SPEAKER_01: And what confidence does this give us today in our witness for Christ?
SPEAKER_01: No matter what, we are to proclaim the mystery of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Paul says it's worth it to be a prisoner for the gospel because he gets to proclaim the mystery.
SPEAKER_01: And so should we.
SPEAKER_01: Because Paul says I'm only a prisoner of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: I'm his bond slave.
SPEAKER_01: And also I say this gives us boldness in our walk of holiness, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_01: No matter how vile the world gets, no matter the cries we hear for godless living, no matter the threats to godly living, we preach Christ and Him crucified.
SPEAKER_01: And we reveal the mystery.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because we've been changed.
SPEAKER_01: We are now a unified body in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: He is our head, not the government, not science, not the worldly ideal of what community is.
SPEAKER_01: It is by Christ in Christ alone that we are brought into the mystery of the beautiful church of whom Christ is the head.
SPEAKER_01: We are the church of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: One people, one collection of people, together expressing the manifold wisdom of God to the universe.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 14.
SPEAKER_01: It is for this reason, for this reason, Paul prays.
SPEAKER_01: More on that next week.
SPEAKER_01: Cliffhanger, show up, tune in next week.
SPEAKER_01: But I want to leave you with a final thought, and really it's a challenge.
SPEAKER_01: If the angels and the heavenly beings are being given the manifold wisdom of God through the gospel and really hear the unifying work of each local church, what should your life look like?
SPEAKER_01: The angels in heaven are watching your life and mind.
SPEAKER_01: What do they see?
SPEAKER_01: Are they compelled to worship Christ based on what they see from how you now live?
SPEAKER_01: Do they see the gospel in your day-to-day and fall down to worship Christ?
SPEAKER_01: Do they see your commitment to this local church that you get to be a part of and the unity you have with all kinds of different people?
SPEAKER_01: Are they aided therefore in their worship, to be able to, in their ability to worship because Christ is in you?
SPEAKER_01: And the life that you live reflects that?
SPEAKER_01: Or do they turn away from observing your life?
SPEAKER_01: Because it details out something else entirely.
SPEAKER_01: As you are transformed by the gospel, and as you live for Christ in this gospel-renewed life, are the angels gaining manifold wisdom?
SPEAKER_01: Or do they despise to look your direction?
SPEAKER_01: Do you walk with Christ every day all day?
SPEAKER_01: May our lives individually and corporately as a church show forth this manifold wisdom of God.
SPEAKER_01: That's our prayer.
SPEAKER_01: As we reveal to even the heavenly realms the great mystery of God having mercy on sinners, who are then transformed to live together for his glory.
SPEAKER_01: If God just looked at the angels who are still near him who didn't fall and said, I'm going to unite all you into one angelic group.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: Makes sense.
SPEAKER_01: But he looks on fallen, wretched sinners like me.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, I'm going to save you.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to send my son.
SPEAKER_01: You're going to be redeemed.
SPEAKER_01: And guess what?
SPEAKER_01: That person over there who is nothing like you as I created him?
SPEAKER_01: Him too.
SPEAKER_01: And you are going to be brothers.
SPEAKER_01: The angels look at that and they look at wretched, fallen, rebellious people being saved and being brought together, and they're just like, what?
SPEAKER_01: Does our life display that beautifully?
SPEAKER_01: I hope so.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we thank you for your word.
SPEAKER_01: We thank you for the truth of this passage.
SPEAKER_01: That we get to be unified as a people here today.
SPEAKER_01: No matter who we are, no matter what we look like, that we are one people in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Father, help us to live lives that are worthy of the high calling on which we have received.
SPEAKER_01: That you would be honored and glorified, not for our glory, but for yours and yet for our good.
SPEAKER_01: We pray this all in Christ's name.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.