Passage: Ephesians 3:1-13
The Big Idea
The gospel is a mystery: hidden for ages, now revealed. No matter how evil or lost a person is, if they believe it from the heart, they’re saved and transformed. The mystery is that even the “wicked” Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and sharers in God’s promise. God revealed it through a humbled prisoner named Paul, and He displays it through the Church, so that even the angels marvel at His wisdom.
The Mystery of the Gospel
Charles Spurgeon said: “I am bold to tell you that my Master’s riches of grace are so unsearchable, that he delights to forgive and forget enormous sin; the bigger the sin the more glory to his grace. If you are over head and ears in debt, he is rich enough to discharge your liabilities. If you are at the very gates of hell, he is able to pluck you from the jaws of destruction.”
The Church is a mystery. It’s almost like magic: the gospel can be told to anyone, and no matter how evil, lost or inadequate that person is, if they believe it from the heart, they’ll be saved and transformed.
- It’s so simple that it offends the great skeptics and critics of every age.
- It’s so powerful that it never fails. It’s always a complete work.
- It’s so equalizing that it destroys every class and barrier that separates people.
- It’s so energizing that it provides everything a believer could ever need, by simple faith.
It almost seems unfair. Israel put more effort into their relationship with God than we can imagine, and still sin got the best of them. So Jesus came, died on the cross for all sin, and provided a new way, the New Covenant, by which anyone can have perfect, unbroken connection with God by faith alone, by trusting in what He did and does.
It’s a mystery, meaning it was unknown and unknowable until God revealed it. Let’s look at:
- How God revealed the mystery (3:1-5).
- What the mystery is (3:6-7).
- Why God used Paul to tell it (3:8-9).
- The purpose of the mystery (3:10-13).
1. How God Revealed the Mystery (Ephesians 3:1-5)
Paul calls himself “the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles.”
Paul wrote this letter under house arrest in Rome. He could move around the house by day, but he was chained to a Roman guard.
Most people would say, “You’re a prisoner of Rome.” But Paul saw the world and his life completely differently: “I’m a prisoner of Jesus Christ. I’m only in chains because Jesus wants me here. This isn’t some random hardship. This is exactly where God wants me to be.”
Why would God allow that? Why doesn’t He make life great and easy for those who follow Him?
Because trials are God’s way of letting the world see the glorious things He has done in your heart.
So the first way God reveals His mystery is by letting trials come into our lives.
Our first words are usually, “Oh no!” Let’s pray for a change of heart, so our first words are, “Praise the Lord.”
Think about it. What good does complaining about your trial ever do?
“It makes me feel better!”
But look at what it does in your heart. It makes you long for a way out. Your whole goal becomes ending the suffering as fast as possible.
But if we trust the Lord first, and express that trust out loud with a “Praise the Lord,” we train our hearts to look for God’s grace and power to be seen through the trial.
“You mean I just accept every bad thing that comes into my life and actually praise God for it?”
It feels like giving in. It feels like giving up. That’s why it’s called surrender. And, dear friends, that’s where life and grace start flowing like a waterfall into your life. Trials aren’t walls that keep you from seeing God work. They’re pathways to His grace: His help, His resources freely given to you.
Paul continues: you’ve heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you (Ephesians 3:2).
In other words, “Everyone knows the strategy God gave me to reach people for Jesus. That strategy is grace.”
No more works! Compare the two messages:
- “Everybody, work harder at keeping God’s rules! If you try hard enough, maybe one day you’ll make God happy enough to be your friend!”
- “God loves you. He has provided everything you need through Jesus Christ! Just believe and trust Him, and full intimacy with God is yours. You’re adopted and made a citizen of His kingdom, for free!”
“So can I live however I want after I believe? Is there no need to turn from sin?” No! It’s God’s kindness that leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4).
Paul says that by revelation God made known to him the mystery, which in other generations wasn’t made known as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets (Ephesians 3:3-5).
This was something new. Paul was among the first given revelation about how all this grace works. Was it absent from the Bible before? No. But people didn’t understand and apply it the way the apostles were supernaturally enabled to. Nobody imagined a relationship with God could be anything but works!
So how did God reveal the mystery? By His Holy Spirit, so that Paul would teach people grace.
That’s the calling of every faithful church: to teach people grace. Worship builds humility. Study builds faith, because faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17). Surrender puts humility and faith together. And I firmly believe that when that happens, something mysterious occurs: grace is given, and transformation follows.
2. What the Mystery Is (Ephesians 3:6-7)
The mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel. Paul became a minister of it by the gift of God’s grace, through the working of His power.
A threefold equality: the Gentiles are…
- Fellow heirs: children of God with full inheritance.
- Members of the same body: even closer than children; His own body.
- Sharers of the promise.
People could understand a Jew receiving these things. Israel had a heart for God, a history with God, and was looking for God’s promised help, the Messiah.
But the Gentiles? No way! In the eyes of many, they were the worst of the worst, and they loved it. The best picture I can give you is Mordor in The Lord of the Rings: a land of orcs and goblins and every kind of gross and selfish debauchery. For God to go around saving those people seemed outrageous. (Remember how everyone cheered when the orcs were swallowed up by the earth? Spoiler alert!)
In much of the ancient world, there were the people trying to do what was right, and then there was everyone else.
We’ve grown up in a culture shaped by the Bible, so it’s hard for us to picture that level of open, unashamed, selfish and cruel sin, although our world is changing every day.
The gospel was a power the world had never seen. It changed everything. It made wicked people good, both in their standing before God and in their lifestyle!
He took the slimeballs and made them saints. He took the scumbags and made them saved. That was what was so amazing. People who deserved death and weren’t even looking for help, God rescued anyway! He made them His children, part of His body, and gave them what He had promised to do for Israel.
What promise? The New Covenant. Through Jeremiah, God promised a covenant unlike the one Israel broke. He would put His law in their minds and write it on their hearts. He would be their God, and they would be His people. They would all know Him, from the least to the greatest. And He would forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more (Jeremiah 31:31-34).
- Sin forgiven and forgotten.
- They could actually know God.
- Obedience would come from the heart, not outward effort!
So what is the mystery? The Gentiles share with believing Jews in everything God promised His people! They’re invited to the party: adopted into the family, grafted into the tree, whatever picture you like.
3. Why God Used Paul (Ephesians 3:8-9)
Paul says this grace was given to him, “less than the least of all the saints,” to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make everyone see the fellowship of the mystery, hidden from the beginning of the ages in God who created all things through Jesus Christ.
God chose Paul to be the apostle to the Gentiles, those “wicked” people who knew nothing of God. He was to tell them about God’s riches, given freely if they would believe.
God chose him even though he had nothing in common with them. Before his conversion, Paul was an upstanding Pharisee who wouldn’t have associated with a Gentile.
But God did a huge work in Paul’s heart. He humbled him so deeply that Paul honestly considered himself the least of all the saints. Not that he didn’t understand his role and authority. He really believed the lowest saint in any of his churches was more important than he was. That’s a good pastor. And that’s one reason God used him.
That’s how you can be used by God too: humility. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). When humility marks your life, grace will too: God’s blessing, favor and resources freely given. Choose pride, and you’re actually standing against God, His hand held up saying, “Don’t come any closer.”
“The unsearchable riches of Christ.” It’s as if Paul is trying to describe how good God’s grace is, searching for words, and finally throws up his hands: “I can’t even begin to measure God’s limitless favor and love for us!”
Is Jesus boring? Impossible! He’s vast and limitless, yet completely accessible. Is it worth surrendering your whole life, all your hopes and dreams, to follow Him? Yes. He offers unsearchable riches.
“To make all see the fellowship of the mystery.” God wanted Paul to show how this mystery of the gospel is all about love.
God is love, and the gospel is the complete demonstration of His love for us. God calls us to love, and the gospel creates new hearts that truly love God and others. That was always the goal of the Law, but it was never truly experienced on earth until now.
A lawyer asked Jesus which is the great commandment in the Law. Jesus answered: love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind. That’s the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: love your neighbor as yourself. On these two hang all the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 22:35-40).
This love was hidden in God before, known fully only within the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It was there even when Jesus created the world. That’s why Scripture speaks of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8). He was already in love with you, and determined to love you to the point of crucifixion, as He made the heavens and the earth.
So why Paul? Because he was a great, humbled sinner, the perfect messenger of God’s love for sinners.
4. The Purpose of the Mystery (Ephesians 3:10-13)
The intent was that now the manifold wisdom of God would be made known by the Church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.
The purpose of the mystery is for the Church to show how amazing God’s wisdom is.
It’s the Church, this group of saved sinners, Jews and “wretched” Gentiles alike, that God uses to display His goodness.
People can argue theology, religion and philosophy until they’re blue in the face. But a church full of sinners who’ve been changed is evidence no one can argue with.
God says, “You redeemed people are My tool to teach a lesson.” A lesson to whom? “The rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.” That means the angels!
They learn the manifold wisdom of God by watching His work in and through the Church. This shows up elsewhere in the New Testament too; Peter says angels long to look into these things (1 Peter 1:12). Maybe every time an angel sees a sinner saved, they’re astonished all over again. Maybe they can’t imagine life outside God’s presence and are amazed at what we’ve come out of. I don’t know, but it’s a powerful lesson for them.
And the real treasure of the Church is the boldness, access and confidence we have through faith. Everything people have longed and worked for over thousands of years, simply given to everyone who believes.
- Boldness. The word carries the idea of freedom of speech. We’re free to express ourselves before God without fear or shame.
- Access. We can use that freedom to speak directly to God. We aren’t praying into the air or tossing a message in a bottle and hoping it arrives. We have direct access to the King for every request and conversation!
- Confidence. No doubt. Whatever your failures, shortcomings or sins, if you believe, you still have access. Whatever the need, He won’t laugh at you. Whatever the problem, He has an answer. Whatever the requirement, He has the resources and will give them to whoever asks.
So what’s the purpose of the mystery? To show everyone, even the angels, how much God loves you and how committed He is to providing everything you need.
Paul closes this section by asking them not to lose heart over his sufferings for them, which are their glory (Ephesians 3:13).
“My being in chains right now is part of how the mystery is reaching you. Through the hard things I’m going through, you get to learn about God’s love for you. I’m no longer wicked. I’m not thinking only of myself in my hardship. I’m thinking of you, and I love you.”
So don’t lose heart. If God can transform this wicked person by the mysterious power of the gospel, He will be faithful to you too.
Grace Takeaway
No one is too far gone for the gospel. God took a proud persecutor and made him a humble apostle, took people others wrote off as hopeless and made them heirs, and now displays His wisdom through a Church full of changed sinners. Your trials are pathways for that same grace. Approach God with boldness, access and confidence, and let Him show the world, and the angels, what His love can do in you.
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