As Paul finishes Ephesians 2, talking about the blessing that has come to these Gentiles, he begins to speak of the blessing that has come to him. And it’s as if he is all of a sudden overwhelmed by the grace that has come to him to know what he knows and to do what he’s been called to do, for these verses begin a prayer, but it is interrupted, not to be picked up again until verse 14. I believe it stems from Paul’s reflection on the grace that has come to him because he departs at the point at which he mentions his own name. He says, “For this reason, I Paul …” and then departs.
And as Paul reflects on the great grace of God, I think the Scripture calls us to do the same. For many of the blessings of which Paul speaks have come to us as well. Yet in spite of this, I wonder how many of us find ourselves thinking of such things and being overwhelmed as Paul was. I wonder how many of us think to do such things when we are going through struggles, for we must remember that Paul is writing this letter from prison. I pray that many of us will, for the transformation of one’s life is not a task that first begins with our hands, it is begun with the renewing of our minds.
Therefore, may we collectively renew our minds this morning to the blessings that have come to us as we observe Paul’s reflection on them.
We have been blessed to understand what was a mystery for ages (3:1-7)
God’s revelation of himself and his plan is different from the design that men have come up with in their claims of revelation. And in thinking of this, I am thinking of only one among many things that could verify this claim: progressive revelation. That is to say, the Bible didn’t just fall down from heaven one day exactly like it is. Nor did the saints know everything God wanted to reveal to them from the beginning of history and finally some group decided to get together and write it all down. Rather, God revealed more and more as time progressed.
Therefore, the Bible has come to us in time. Isaiah and David knew more than Moses, for example, for they came at a later point in history, where God had revealed more of his plan. Thus, Abraham knew the promise God had given him that through his seed all the nations would be blessed, but it was never revealed clearly how this would work until Jesus Christ came.
And with this being the case, Paul begins his prayer and is caught off guard by his position in the history of this revelation. Therefore, he writes, “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 in brief” (3:2-3). What had been a mystery to so many people, namely, how the Gentiles would receive the blessings of God, had now been made clear to Paul. Just like the Jews, God would make them his people as they believed in the Messiah, one whom they hadn’t even been looking for. Again, Paul elaborates, “And 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 by the Spirit; 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, 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” (3:4-7).
This was the fulfillment of the promise that Jesus had given his disciples about the work of the Spirit as he told them, “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth; for he will not speak on his own initiative, but whatever he hears, he will speak; and he will disclose to you what is to come” (John 16:13).
Even as Moses wrote the revelation he received from God and Isaiah after him and Daniel after him, and so on, so has the revelation been written by these apostles so that we might now hold the Bible which is God’s revelation to his people. And we have it. That is to say, we are able to know the mystery as well because we can read God’s Word, God’s revelation to his apostles and prophets. We have been blessed as greatly as Paul. We have the answers.
And yet I wonder if any of us find ourselves meditating with delight over this revelation as Paul was doing in that jail cell. I doubt that the average present-day believer finds meditation of God’s revelation, his Word, occupying a great portion of his or her life. Yet we have this blessing right in our hands.
As Paul meditated on the revelation that he had received and was driven to worship (already shown in 1:3-14; note his humility in these verses), I beg all of us to meditate to the same end. Sit before the Word of God and meditate on it daily; think and pray over it, and you will find that it will drive you to unbridled worship. It will lead you to cry at the grace of God and lift your hands in praise. You will find that it cuts you and heals you. Meditate over the revelation that we have received that had been a mystery for ages.
And on this note, let me throw in two things that might destroy some roadblocks we have to this. First, realize that there is nothing that keeps you from having the kind of relationship with God that Paul had. You may never be able to argue like him, or preach like him, or travel to the ends of the earth like him, but there is nothing that keeps you from having the kind of relationship with the God who revealed himself to Paul, for that God is revealed in his Word. Second, if you have a low desire to meditate on the Word of God, realize that your hunger to do so will grow the more you find yourself feeding on the Word. It’s like a buffet where you get hungrier the more you eat. Therefore, meditate and worship, for that which was a mystery for ages has been made known to us – anyone (Jews and Gentiles) may be God’s children as they repent and believe on the one who has died, was buried, and rose again, Jesus Christ.
We have been given the privilege to proclaim this revelation to others (3:8-9)
If we realize what we have received in being able to understand and see what we see, there is no need to speak more of this privilege. In short, we get to share the gospel, the good news that tells how dirty man might appear clean and holy before a holy God. We get to share as Paul describes, “The unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the plan of the mystery which for all ages has been hidden in God” (3:8-9). We can share the answer that men’s hearts don’t even know they need to be seeking.
This should humble us and excite us. Paul is no doubt humbled as he says that this grace was given to him, the “lesser than the least of the saints” (3:8). It should humble us as well. Who are we that we should be the privileged messengers of the gospel of Jesus Christ?
We have been blessed to labor to the end that the glory of Christ might be made manifest in his church (3:10-12)
Paul writes, “In order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” (3:10). Then he adds that “this was in accordance with the eternal purpose which he carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord” (3:11).
That is to say, we are to be about magnifying the glory of God (e.g. “the manifold wisdom of God”), and it is to be seen in the church. As we see the church, we see the display of God’s glory. The people of God, their heart, minds, actions, and holy state before God, are that which will display the glory of God. Therefore, if we are to be about the purposes of God and magnifying God’s glory, we must be passionate about his church, for this is his means for demonstrating this glory from eternity past.
For example, one of my jobs is to teach and love the Word of God over you so much that you find yourself led by the Word to delight in God so much that you are obsessed with him and stand worshiping him because he’s your all. Then the world will marvel and praise your Father in heaven. It is in the lives of one another that we labor to demonstrate the glory of God. To exist for the glory of God is to pour your life into building up his church.
And we have been privileged to be called to this task. We know the gospel, we can share the gospel, and we can labor in building up the church. But let me give you one word of exhortation as we leave in joy.
Do not lose heart at tribulation in this blessed position and calling (3:13)
Paul says this to the Gentiles of his own sufferings, writing, “Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations on your behalf, for they are your glory” (3:13). That is to say, Paul’s tribulations should not bring them downheartedness, for he had been blessed to know, share, and build up the church, and they were blessed to have the glory of God manifested in their lives.
But this note of tribulation is real. So let me remind you of three things to help you battle in the midst of your struggles in your calling.
1) Tribulation will happen. Suffering will happen. The only way we might attempt to avoid it is by fleeing from what we know God has called us to, but that is not the answer (e.g. Jonah). It doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong; in fact, it may mean you’re doing something exactly right.
2) It is a privilege. I think this is what strengthened Paul while he was sitting in the middle of that jail cell. He realized how blessed he was to be able to do what had landed him in prison. He saw it as grace, writing, “This grace was given, to preach …” (3:8).
It may sound odd to some and familiar to others, but the more our calling grows in our minds as a great privilege, the more we will be tempted to see it as something we wished we had never been given. That’s what I face often: I have seen the privilege I have to preach the Word and I cannot get away from it, however, there is nothing more difficult than preaching through suffering. It is like taking your wounded, bleeding heart and placing it on the chopping block for people to do with as they will. Jeremiah understood this as he cried out to God, “O Lord, you have deceived me and I was deceived; you have overcome me and prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me. For each time I speak, I cry aloud; I proclaim violence and destruction because for me the word of the Lord has resulted in reproach and derision all day long. But if I say, ‘I will not remember him or speak anymore in his name,’ then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire shut up in my bones; and I am weary of holding it in, and I cannot endure it” (Jeremiah 20:7-9).
It is in those times that you want to realize the privilege. It is in those times that it will not only be a delight but a necessity to meditate on passages such as Ephesians 3:1-13.
3) God is sovereignly working and watching over you. I mention this one because Paul is a prisoner in Rome under Nero, and yet he begins calling himself “a prisoner of Christ Jesus” (3:1). I think the reason he said that is because he knows God is sovereignly working in his affairs and watching over him; he remembers what God told Ananias of Paul, “I will show him what things he must suffer for my name’s sake” (Acts 9:15-16). And it was a comfort to him to know that nothing came to him except by first passing from the hand of his Lord.
Charles Spurgeon knew this comfort in tribulation, writing, “It would be a very sharp and trying experience to me to think that I have an affliction which God never sent me, that the bitter cup was never filled by his hand, that my trials were never measured out by him, nor sent to me by his arrangement of their weight and quantity.”1
Meditate on the privilege of knowing the gospel, sharing the gospel, and building up the church that God’s glory might be seen. And as we labor in this task, draw strength from the Scripture in our tribulations, for they remind us that grace has led us safe this far, and grace will lead us home.
Pondering his grace, Amen.