The Perfect Messenger for the Message of Equality...

This week we have been looking at a section of a letter in the Bible called the book of Ephesians. Wednesday, we saw a man named Paul reveal for us a timeless truth when it comes to our identity as a follower of Jesus as we live in community with one another in that our identity as a follower of Jesus should result in equality amongst followers of Jesus. Just as it was in the church at Ephesus, just as it has been since the birth of the church, our identity as a follower of Jesus should result in equality amongst followers of Jesus. And while there have been times in the history of the church that the church has done a horrific job when it comes to this issue, as followers of Jesus we are called to live our lives in community with one another in a way that embraces equality.

Now, a natural and fair question that arises here is “well Dave, why did God choose to make fully known His Divine Plan at that time? And why Paul?  I mean Paul was a Kosher Jew, wasn’t he? Why didn’t God use someone more ethnically diverse? So why Paul? And why then?"

Those are great questions to be asking. And in Ephesians 3:8-12, we are going to see the Apostle Paul provide the answers to those questions. Let’s look at it together:

 To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, 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; 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. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.

You see, the reason why Paul was the perfect messenger to make fully known God’s Divine Plan was because he was the least of all saints. If you were religious, Paul could trump your religiosity. Paul’s list of religious rules was better than your list of religious rules and he kept his list of religious rules better than you kept your list of religious rules. Paul kept his religious rules to the point the he killed people who didn't follow his religious rules.

 

And if you were irreligious, Paul could trump your irreligiosity. Paul was the least of all saints. Paul used to hunt early followers of Jesus down and kill them. So Paul’s irreligious behavior was worse than your irreligious behavior. “Ever killed anyone? How many?”

And yet, Paul was given grace; Paul experienced God’s transformational intervention and activity in his life so that he could do three specific things when it came to his role in disclosing God’s Divine plan. First, in verse 8, Paul explains that grace was given to him to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ. Now the word unfathomable here, in the language that this letter was originally written in means inexhaustible.

In other words, Paul experienced God’s transformational intervention and activity in his life so that he could proclaim the inexhaustible riches of the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel to the Gentiles. Paul was given the role of being the chief missionary to the non-Jewish nations of the world.

Second, in verse 9, Paul explains that grace was given to him to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things. In other words, Paul experienced God’s transformational intervention and activity in his life so that he could shed light upon God’s management of His Divine Plan. Paul here reveals for us the reality that God’s Divine Plan had been hidden for a long period of time. And the reason that no one was able to find out about God’s Divine Plan was due to the fact that the plan had been hidden in God who created all things.

Third, in verse 10, Paul explains that grace was given to him 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. But, this morning, what does that mean?

When Paul uses the word manifold, this word in the language that this letter was originally written in, literally means multifaceted. A great word picture of what this word conveys would be that of a prism. You see, when we shine light through a prism, what happens? If we were to shine a light through a prism we would see the full spectrum of light displayed on a surface. We would see something that looked like this.

Paul here uses this word to describe the wisdom of God. God’s wisdom is multifaceted in nature. And Paul experienced God’s transformational intervention and activity in his life so that the multifaceted wisdom of God might be made known. But did you see exactly how the full spectrum of God’s multifaceted wisdom was going to be made known?

God’s multifaceted wisdom was going to be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. Now the rulers and authorities refer to supernatural spiritual beings, called angels and demons, that exist in the spiritual sphere, which Paul refers to as the Heavenly places. 

In other words, God’s plan, from before time began, was that His multifaceted wisdom would be made known through His church to the angelic and demonic beings in heaven. Did you realize that God uses the church to demonstrate to angels and demons how smart He is? As the angels and demons observe humanity, they realize how smart God is by how He works across ethnic and cultural lines to unite all humanity as part of His new movement called the church.

In verse 11, Paul explains that God’s Divine plan was carried out and accomplished through Jesus Christ. As a result of Jesus Christ entering into humanity to live the life we were created to live but refused to live; as a result of Jesus Christ willingly allowing Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives so that God the Father could treat us as though we lived Jesus perfect life; people from all over the world are united together as a part of the body of Christ, which functions to reveal Jesus to the world and show the angels and demons how smart God is.

And as a result of Jesus Christ accomplishing God’s Divine plan, as followers of Jesus, Paul explains that we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him. In other words, as a result of our confident trust in Jesus, regardless of whether we are Jew or Gentile, we have the confidence to enter into God’s presence. And as a result of our confident trust in Jesus, regardless of whether we are Jew or Gentile, we have a certainty that we can enter into God’s presence. As we discovered last week, prior to Jesus, that would have been unheard of.

Do we really get this? Have we really wrapped our minds around the reality that even though God does not need us to do anything, He chooses to use us as a church to display His multifaceted wisdom to angels and demons? Have we really wrapped our minds around the reality that even though God does not need us to do anything, He chooses to invite us to be the vehicle that He uses to reveal Himself to the world.

Have we really wrapped our minds around the reality that we have the confidence and certainty to be able to enter into God’s presence because of our relationship with Jesus? You see this is our identity as a follower of Jesus. And our identity as a follower of Jesus should result in equality amongst followers of Jesus. Paul then concludes this section of his letter by addressing his concern over the members of the church at Ephesus in verse 13:

 Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations on your behalf, for they are your glory.

In verse 13, we see Paul explain to the members of the church at Ephesus that he wanted them to understand that his troubles on their behalf would result in their participation in the splendor of Heaven for all eternity. You see, Paul did not want the members of the church at Ephesus to become disappointed or discouraged at the trouble he was experiencing in prison. The members of the church were less than enthusiastic over Paul’s imprisonment because they knew that his life was at stake.

Instead, Paul wanted the members of the church at Ephesus to know that his temporary troubles would result in them experiencing the eternal glory of Heaven. Because Paul had fulfilled his role in proclaiming the unfolding of God’s Divine Plan that had now been made known, the members of the church at Ephesus would be able to participate in the splendor and radiance of Heaven as a result of placing their confident trust in Jesus. And for Paul, that was the most important thing.

Next week, we will see Paul, leave his “squirrel” moment and get back to penning the words of his prayer for followers of Jesus throughout history. In the meantime, here is a question for us to consider: Do we really believe that the ground is level at the foot of the cross? Do we really believe that every follower of Jesus is equal? And do we live out that reality as we live our day to day lives in community with one another?