Ephesians 3: 1-13
For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles--
Paul was writing this letter from prison, traditionally in Rome (Acts 28: 16-31).
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.
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;
A mystery is something that is not known yet, and God had not revealed this part of His plan until He formed the church to be Christ's body. He gave this gracious task to Paul to reveal it.
to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel,
The mystery is that Jews and Gentiles will both be in the same family, not separated any more, as God had separated the Israelites from the pagan peoples that surrounded them. This is a totally new concept.
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.
Paul is the one God appointed to share this new phase of God's plan. God powerfully worked in Paul to save him, and teach him, and enable him to travel and preach; he was given this precious truth to share with us all!
To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given,
Paul is amazed that God would choose him to give this message, he who had worked so hard against God to try to destroy His church!
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;
God chose to use Paul to let Gentiles know how much God Loves them, too, and wants them also to be washed clean, and to participate in God's program in the world today, and to be members of His own family. This is something that was only hinted at in the Old Testament, and is now fully explained (did you read yesterday's message?).
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.
God wanted us to show His angels and the demons to see His amazing grace and goodness to us, His church; made up of all peoples and nations and tribes and colors and languages, from every area of the Earth where people live.
This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord,
This was always His plan from the very beginning, even before He created. He wanted everyone everywhere to know Him, to recognize His goodness and graciousness, in granting mercy to beings who could never deserve it, yet remaking them into glorious beings of light to help Him rule! From one extreme to the other! Only our God would do something like that!
in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.
Because Christ Jesus sacrificed His life and poured out His blood to cleanse us, now, by putting our faith and trust in Him, we can be God's own children in His royal family, with the right and permission to freely approach His very throne.
Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations on your behalf, for they are your glory.
Paul says, don't be sorry for me! He is in prison because He was preaching the Resurrection of Christ, and would not back down. Now he has the time and opportunity to write and encourage these believers at Ephesus, so it's a good thing, for their benefit.
For God to take the least of us, and put him at the head of the line, is just like our God! Jesus said that some are last who will be first and some are first who will be last (Luke 13: 30), and He took Paul, the least, and put him first!
Well, I can't claim to be the least, because Paul already took that spot! But I am one of "the least of these" who God rescued out of a deep pit of sin and deception, and He raised me up and set my feet upon the solid Rock of my Salvation! He was so gracious and merciful to me, to call me one of His chosen!
And He does the same for everyone who calls on Him! He is not willing that any would perish; He made the human race to be His children, and He wants everyone to hear about what His Son has accomplished, so that they would all realize how desperate they are, and turn to Him for Redemption!
God is merciful to not pour out His wrath on us, that we deserve; He poured that on Christ Jesus on the cross for us! And He is gracious to us in washing us clean, forgiving us totally, and giving us His own Spirit of Life into our spirit to make it alive. Now we are His family. His grace gives us all the goodness we could never earn or deserve!
And it is up to us, people, brothers and sisters, to tell everyone in the whole world! This is the "job" He gave us to do, why He leaves us here instead of taking us directly home!
We need to grow up, and we need to tell everybody what He has done for us as His witnesses, and we are to recognize that He is working through us to do all this. We are His hands and feet. Let's get to work!
O my Father, thank You so much for Your great mercy and grace! Thank You for Your almighty power to do everything You want to do. Thank You for Your goodness and generosity to share Yourself with Your creation. You have placed Your beauty into everything You made, and You are our Standard for beauty and righteousness and justice and order.
Father, Your faithfulness assures me that You will finish everything You started, because You already see it all finished. You have done everything You planned, we are still just in the midst of it playing out.
I don't see what the future holds for me, but I know You are holding my future! So, my Father, continue to work in me and on me and for me and through me, to accomplish everything You put me here to do.
And You will receive all the credit for doing it all!
Every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
