CHURCH-GOD’S NEW SOCIETY
Solving the Mystery
Ephesians 3:1-7
Jerry
A Collins
SCC
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Is the church
a mystery never revealed in the OT?
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Who is the
church and what is a dispensation?
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What role do
Jews and Gentiles have in the church/
Frankly,
we have a tough time seeing things from God’s point of view. We are always
misreading God’s intentions as He works out His plan in our daily lives. Mature
believers understand God has His own way of doing things and are often
incomprehensible. However, we can be assured that God is always at work
orchestrating everything happening in our lives and perceptive believers can
pierce through the veneer of their circumstances in faith—knowing God is at
work. There is no guarantee that walking in a manner worthy of our calling in
Christ is going to be free of sorrow, distraction, or hardship. Even in this
age when God’s grace is so evident should we have a naïve understanding of how
God does His work and accomplishes His purposes? God
is doing a new thing today called the church. Should we expect our service
during this age to be free from difficulty? And just what is this age all about
anyway?
THERE IS NO FREE RIDE SERVING CHRIST
DURING THIS CHURCH AGE 1
We
do not live in the Old Testament age full of upheaval, terror, fear, judgment,
and hard work. We might tend to think serving Christ, obeying God, and doing
His will is going to be much easier and more favorable.
But we have to take a gut-check at the get-go in vs 1
when Paul says For this reason… This links chp 2 with chp 3. The household
of God is in view but where did this household emerge from and what is it’s identity?
1.
One thing we learn is something that looks like a setback—Paul is a prisoner
because of his service for Christ Jesus. He had pertinent information about a
rag to riches story—a story about our spiritual roots. That
we were without any claim to the promises of God. But amazingly, he
describes a new unity that exists between those who had those promises—the
Jews—and gentiles like us who had none. Christ accomplished this at his death
so that anyone no matter their nationality, skin color, dialect, or age could
be in God’s household with full privileges attached. Classified
information that God has de-classified for the first time.
2.
But Paul took a lot of heat for having this information and handing it out. He
had attracted the anger of the Jewish religious establishment. It was his bold
offer of the gospel to the gentiles that antagonized the Jews leading to
intense persecution and his eventual imprisonment in Rome. The bitter Jewish
opposition led to personal attacks and being put on trial in Rome. He even
tells us he was in Rome due to his service for Christ (Eph 4:1; 2 Tim 1:8; Phil
1,9) and more particularly he says he is there due to his service as the
apostle to the gentiles (2 Tim 1:11-12). But sitting in those darkened walls of
his cell notice how he views his imprisonment—he does not state he is a
prisoner of Rome but of Christ Jesus. Quite clearly he saw through the veneer
of his circumstance to perceive the hand of God in it. The lesson may be the
same for us—that ultimately the lack of a free ride in this age as we serve
Christ—is 1. What qualifies as service for and to Christ and 2.
That we can expect opposition from religious people who already like what they
have and see no need for an offer from Jesus Christ.
PT:
This is true of all world religions and often true of your neighbor. It may
also stick its head out in your immediate family as well.
THE GOSPEL MAKES EVERY BELIEVER A
SHARE-HOLDER IN GOD’S KINGDOM 2-7
For
the second time we have this word stewardship
in this book—the first in 1:10. There he uses the word to describe the last
future dispensation or administration of God—the millennial reign of Jesus
Christ on the earth. But here he describes our present age or God’s present
administration and calls it a mystery vs 3.
A.
First this mystery is from God alone vs 2. This was
not something manufactured by Paul or connected to human ingenuity or study.
This arrangement came from God’s grace. Once again we are confounded by the
grace of God. It was given to Paul to be given to us. We carry on that ministry
begun to the gentiles. It is now in our hands.
B.
Then this mystery used to be a sacred secret but God has let it out by
revealing it to us vs 3. This is not something
unknowable but something unknown and then came out of hiding by God’s grace. He
gave us this information.
C.
This revelation has already been articulated in what has been previously
written by Paul in Ephesians and then already read vs
4. The point of writing and reading about this was to gain insight and
understanding as to what God is doing. God does not want you in the dark about His
purpose and plans. In other words, it is time to get with the program.
This is the heritage of our age—it is no longer a sacred secret. He describes
this mystery with four statements.
1. It was not made known in previous
ages to any human being 5a. So it
was a mystery from Adam until Christ. They never had it in the OT or the time
of Christ. God kept this mystery hidden throughout the ages until the exact
moment it needed to be unveiled. And what a surprise it came to be. No one saw
it coming and it was difficult to come to terms with—especially the Jews.
2. It was now revealed by the Holy
Spirit through His agents, the NT apostles who also functioned as prophets 5b. It began with Peter and Paul and then in
concentric circles outward. Ultimately, this was revelation by means of the HS
whose role was inspiration of scripture so we could have a record of that
revelation. 2 Peter 1:20-21 says “But know this first of all that no prophecy
of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation for no prophecy was ever
made by an act of human will but men moved by the HS spoke from God.”
3. Believing gentiles and Jews are
co-equal shareholders in God’s Kingdom 6. This joining together of Jew and Gentile by the gospel was a
revolutionary concept for everyone. The two groups were for so long alienated
and separated and belligerents that the transition period was prolonged by
misgivings, unbelief, pride, fear, and anger. The book of Acts traces this
transition during a thirty-year period. Much like the transition in
4. Our gospel ministry is initiated by God and continues thru us in
His power 7. We hqve been saved by grace and
have a ministry by grace. The idea seems to be that we spread the gospel truth
in our generation as Paul had in his. In this age we have been given the
responsibility to give this mystery message to everyone we can. We cannot save
anybody nor can we persuade anyone to believe—that only comes about by the
power of God working through us. Concious of our
mission, it is Gods grace and power that accomplishes the work in this age. We wre the tools, the instruments, the ambassadors he uses to
dispense His ministry today.
1. The spiritual life must be
understood as something, which was not revealed in the OT. The offer of Gods
grace to the individual is unique this age.
2. This age provides unique
opportunities that were never true before and not true in the age to come. The gospel.