Ephesians 3:1-13

Hey, hey, good morning, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This is where every day you and I, we get together, we have a little bit of coffee, we get into God's word, and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, 2022, Lord willing, we'll make it from the book of Acts to the book of Philemon. Today we're at Ephesians chapter three, the first 13 verses. Why don't we pray and we'll get into the Lord's word.
Father, we thank you so much for this day. What a blessing it is to come before you, to hear from your word. Thank you for the work that you have done in Jesus Christ. And thank you. for telling us of who you are who we are and who you have made us to be in Jesus's name amen all right so we are at Ephesians chapter 3 Ephesians chapter 3 and we'll begin at verse 1 and we'll read through chapter or verse 13 here we go For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus, for you Gentiles, if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, how that by revelation he made known to me the mystery, as I have briefly written already, by which when you read you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ through the gospel. of which I became a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of his power.
To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things through Jesus Christ, to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places. according to the eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in him. Therefore I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory. Well, we need to ask ourselves, A, what is this about? A, what's this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do in response to this?
Well, really Paul's getting at what this is about is this mystery of faith that God had hidden from ages ago and that had been made revealed. Now, there are our friends who are Roman Catholics who will take this and they'll say the mystery of faith is is eating the the wine or drinking the wine and eating the bread that is somehow transubstantiated into the body and blood of Jesus. I don't think that that's what this is talking about, because that's not how Paul defines it. What is the mystery of faith that Gentiles would be heirs of the covenant? Paul is writing to this mixed church, and in the context of this whole section, Paul is saying that the dividing wall has been torn down.
There's Jews and Gentiles, and now they're becoming one. And this is a mystery that was hidden from ages ago. In the Psalms, you sing regularly that the nations would come, and they would bow to the Lord, that the people, all peoples would come and worship God. But it wasn't quite clear how that would ever happen. It wasn't quite certain how the Lord would ever bring this about. And then the mystery was revealed. And it was revealed in Christ. It was in Jesus that the mystery of faith was revealed. It was in Jesus that the gospel would finally be revealed.
And so what is this section getting at? It's getting at how Jews and Gentiles become one body. By which you read, You may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets, and here's where I'm saying it defines this mystery of faith, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs. of the same body and partakers of his promises. What is the promise? The promise that he gave to Abraham. And how would Gentiles ever be considered heirs of Abraham? Well, it's in Christ through the gospel. And then Paul switches from here and he says, this is the gospel I'm a servant of, I'm a minister of. He says, this is the mystery that even though I'm the least of all the saints, why would Paul say this? He tried to kill the church. He tried to destroy the work of Jesus Christ. He hated Jesus. He hated the Ecclesia. He hated the gathering together of God's people. And yet God chose him and sent him off even as far away as the very western shore of Asia Minor, today Turkey, to an important town of Ephesus to go and to preach the gospel.
And he has afflictions for this, but it's his joy. So he says, don't worry about my afflictions, right? Don't worry about if I'm in trouble. Don't worry about if I'm getting beaten or jailed and stuff for this, it's okay. Because Jesus is being preached. Because Jews and Gentiles are being saved. It's a glorious day and he's happy to be a minister of it.
What would be the best verse? What would we underline here as the best verse to summarize this? Well, like I said, I think verses 5 and 6 really are at the heart of that. And I would even underline verse 7. that I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of his power.
I think that that's what this is getting at, but you could disagree. Maybe you would wanna underline about the manifold wisdom of God, that it might be made known to the church, the principalities and powers in the heavenly places. Maybe you want to think more about how the preeminence of Christ and the glory of Jesus Christ is being preached even to the highest echelons of power, both physically in this world and spiritually. Satan knows good and well that Jesus is the King of kings. I don't know, let me know in the comments, what would you underline?
We'll see calling, what's the point of this applied to our lives? Well, why are you saved? Is it because of something you've done? Is it because of who you were born from? No. No, it's to look to Jesus Christ. I would like to encourage you also that this passage hearkens us back to Romans chapter one. Are you ashamed of the gospel? Are you ashamed? Are you afraid sometimes to tell others about Jesus Christ?
See, this is the good news. And it is powerful unto salvation to everyone who believes, both to the Jew and to the Gentile. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid to tell others about Jesus Christ. Don't be afraid to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to your family members, to your neighbors, to your friends. He saves all sorts of people. Even people like Paul, even people we think might never want to hear the gospel. He saves them too.
Let's pray. Father, we want to pray specifically today that you would give us a spirit of boldness. We pray that you would give us a sense of urgency. in telling others about the good news of Jesus Christ. Father, we pray that you would work in our hearts that we would be able to tell others about the one who has saved our souls. Lord, please, may we not be ashamed of the gospel. But may all sorts of people believe this all around the world, both Jews and Gentiles. We pray this in Jesus's name. Amen. May the grace of Jesus Christ and the peace of God the Father be with you. And I'll see you next time. Bye.
Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith and your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue. Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.