The Mystery
Growing up, I remember I loved going to school. I was the kid that was excited the first time I was able to bring home homework. I’d seen my brother and sister do it on many occasions. However, as much as I loved going to school, I equally loved being able to stay home from school. Whether it was during the summer or I was sick, I loved being able to stay home because it meant I could watch one of my favorite shows, Matlock.
Most people remember the late Andy Griffith as Sheriff Andy Taylor from the Andy Griffith Show, but in my mind, he will always be Ben Matlock. During the day they’d always run two, maybe three episodes in a row, so whenever I’d find myself at home I’d scan the channels to find it. We only had four or five channels, so It didn’t take long to scan them all.
I’ve never been able to get into reading mystery novels, but I’ve always loved a good “who done it” show or movie. I absolutely loved the first Mission Impossible movie with Tom Cruise. I love it when you can watch something guessing the whole while who the culprit is. At the end when they reveal it, you want to go back and watch it again knowing who it really is. When you watch it the second or third time you keep finding different clues throughout that, while there the whole time, you didn’t notice the first time around.
As we continue our study of Ephesians, Paul has been laying out a mystery for us. Don’t feel bad if you didn’t catch it. We glossed over it quickly in Ephesians 1:9. Since that point, Paul has been laying out hints as to this mystery, giving us clues along the way. In Ephesians 3, he finally begins to clarify what this mystery is as well as the importance of it.
An interesting thing to note, Paul, as a person, while a scholarly man had some idiosyncrasies. Throughout his writing, it’s not uncommon for him to make up his own words or to write massively run on sentences. In fact, while our bibles, when translating from Greek to English, have give us rough two dozen sentences, within the first two chapters of Ephesians the number of sentences Paul used could be counted on one hand.
Throughout his writing, Paul has a tendency to become distracted. When I write, I tend to write just as I talk. If you read any of my writings, my goal is that they read just as if you were having a conversation with me. Paul tends to do the same thing. As we read in Ephesians 3:1, it seems to end abruptly, but he moves on to a new thought in verse 2. Likewise, if you skip ahead to Ephesians 4:14, Paul picks up just as he did in verse 1. It’s like he began a thought but mentioned his imprisonment for the Gentiles and had to follow that rabbit trail before he could regain his train of thought.
As we continue down the rabbit trail with him in Ephesians 3:2-6, Paul begins to unravel this mystery for us that he started talking about back in Ephesians 1:9. This mystery, that the Gentiles, through the gospel, are heirs together with Israel, doesn’t sound like that big of a mystery. It’s something that has been taught to many of us since we were little. Today it is common knowledge that through faith in Christ we have the privilege of becoming heirs of God, but when Paul was writing this letter, this was a completely new revelation. The ramifications of this mystery, which had been God’s plan all along but was hidden from countless generations, are game changing.
This mystery changed the life of Paul, formerly Saul. In this passage, Paul refers to himself in two different ways, as a prisoner and as a minister. As we look at these two descriptions and as we look back to the time we spent in Acts, the reason Paul was in prison was because of this mystery. Paul was in prison because he vehemently believed in God’s plan to unite Jews and Gentiles.
Even though Paul had grown up learning the Jewish laws and customs, after Christ’s revelation to him, he spent many years in the church in Antioch (Acts 11:19-26). This church was one of the few that ministered to both Jews and Gentiles. Later, when the Jerusalem Council met regarding Gentile believers, Paul spoke up and reminded everyone of the grace that God had extended to them and the importance of unity (Acts 15; Galatians 2:1-10). Paul knew early on that he had been called to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. This is the primary reason he found himself in prison.
Paul was often accused of being prejudiced against Jewish believers, even though he did everything he could to unify Jews and Gentiles. He even took up an offering among the Gentile churches for the church in Jerusalem, which was graciously received. Yet it was his affiliation with the Gentiles that aroused the people (Acts 21:27-29). It’s likely that if Paul had ministered only to the Jews that they would not have rioted against him. But Paul wasn’t bitter about this in the least.
As he expounds upon this in Ephesians 3:7-9, we see that the importance of this mystery extended beyond Paul himself and to the Gentiles to which he ministered. God’s plan all along was for Paul to take this gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 9:15-16). Why is this important?
As I was hopefully able to convey to you last week, Christ’s sacrifice changed everything, definitely for the Jews but especially for the Gentiles. Through Christ the Gentiles are now fellow-heirs with the Jews. They’re not second class citizens. In Christ, there is no difference between Jew or Gentile. One group doesn’t get special privilege over the other. Both share the same riches God has promised. Though the Gentiles were once on the outside, they’ve been brought inside and have been included in God’s covenant.
Not only have they been made fellow-heirs, they also have access to the power of the Holy Spirit that Jesus has made available. In verse 7 Paul speaks of the power that has been given to him as well as the great riches in verse 8. So that there is no confusion, this power and these riches aren’t something reserved solely for Paul or for God’s apostles. Paul points that out when he labels himself “less than the least of all God’s people.” If God gives this power and these riches to the least of his people, and he has allowed the Gentiles to be made equal with the Jews, neither receiving any special privilege, how much more will he give to any Gentile who believes in him?
Finally, the importance of this mystery extends to us today. As evidenced in Ephesians 3:10-13, we the church, each of us, Gentile by birth, in Christ and through faith in him, have access to everything Paul spoke of to the Gentiles in Ephesus. The power, the status, the riches, both here and in eternity, every single one of them is available to us today. I’m afraid many Christians today don’t realize this. It’s the reason so many Christians feel weak and ineffective, because they aren’t taking advantage of the power that God has made available to them.
During the early days of the church, everyone believed that the gospel message was only for the Jews because it came to them through the Jews. However, God had an ace in his hand. He knew all along that this was his plan. God sprinkled this truth, this mystery, throughout the Old Testament. Later, through Paul and through Peter he revealed this mystery to the world. Yes, God had a “secret,” but he doesn’t want it to be a secret anymore. God’s mystery has been revealed, and it’s for his glory that we’ve been included.
No longer are we to be second class citizens. God has made available to us his glorious riches and power. The question is this, are you taking advantage of it? Is your Christian walk empowered by God’s Holy Spirit, or are you walking through life feeling weak and defeated? God’s power is available to you.