Enablement - Ephesians 3:1-12

We turn now to Ephesians 3. At this point it would be wise for us to review just a little to see where we have been before we look at this particular chapter.

You'll recall that the book of Ephesians divides itself into two parts. Ephesians 1-3 present the believer's blessings in Christ. These chapters are doctrinal. Ephesians 4-6 present our behavior in Christ and these chapters are practical. In other words, the first half of the book tells us what God has done for us. The last half of the book, Ephesians 4-6, what we must do for God.

In Ephesians 1, we discovered our possessions in Christ, verses 1-14. The blessings of God the Father, verses 1-6, how that he has chosen us and he has adopted us and he has made us accepted in the beloved. Then the blessings from God the Son, verses 7-12. Redemption, forgiveness, wisdom, and inheritance. Then 13 and 14, the blessings of the Holy Spirit, who has sealed us and who is the earnest of our inheritance.

Now, having pointed out our possessions in Christ, Paul then pauses to pray. And in Ephesians 1:15-23, we have the first of two prayers in Ephesians. It's a prayer for enlightenment. He prays that the eyes of our understanding might be enlightened. Having seen all that Christ has done for us, that we might then let his power go to work in us to accomplish his will. In other words, Paul is praying that we might have a a heart that is enlightened, that we might know what God wants us to do.

Ephesians 2 deals with our position in Christ. And it divides itself in half. Ephesians 2:1-10, he tells us that every sinner who trusts in Christ has been raised from the dead and seated on the throne. In Ephesians 2:1-10, he's talking about all sinners in general who have been raised from the dead and seated on the throne through faith in Christ.

Ephesians 2:11-22, he talks about Gentile sinners in particular, who had been aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise, without hope, having no God in the world, but through Jesus Christ had been made one, made nigh. They had peace with God.

Ephesians 2:11-22 informs us that God is doing a wonderful new thing. Something he never did before. He is taking believing Jews and believing Gentiles and through the Holy Spirit making them one in Christ.

We pointed out in a previous lesson, Ephesians 2:14, he is our peace who hath made both one, both Jew and Gentile. In Ephesians 2:15, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments, he broke down that wall of legalism between the Jew and the Gentile, to make in himself of twain one new man, Ephesians 2:16, that he might reconcile both Jew and Gentile unto God in one body by the cross. Ephesians 2:18, for through him we both have access by one spirit.

And so in Ephesians 2:11-22, the believer has been reconciled and set into the temple. It's a wonderful thing to be a Christian. The unsaved man is dead, he's in the graveyard of sin, he's in bondage, in darkness, slavery. The believer has been raised from the dead, he's seated on the throne with Christ. All of the authority of Jesus Christ is at his disposal. All of the wealth and the power of heaven is behind him. No wonder Paul could say, though a prisoner in Rome, in his letter to the Ephesians, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Now Paul pauses in Ephesians 3 for another prayer. He begins to pray in Ephesians 3:1, for this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles. Now, skip down to Ephesians 3:14, for this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then he begins to pray.

Now there's a parenthesis here, Ephesians 3:2-13 are a parenthesis. Paul begins to pray, but before he prays, he has to explain something. So in Ephesians 3:1-12, we have the explanation of his ministry. In Ephesians 3:13-21, his intercession for the saints.

Now this prayer in Ephesians 3:13-21 is not a prayer for enlightenment. That was back in Ephesians 1:15-23. This is a prayer for enablement. Notice please, Ephesians 3:20, now unto him that is able to do.

Now these two prayers go together. In Ephesians 1:15-23, it was a prayer for knowledge that you might know. In Ephesians 3:14-21, it's a prayer for power that you might be. These things go together. The prayer in Ephesians 1 is a prayer for enlightenment, the prayer in Ephesians 3 is a prayer for enablement, that you might know, that you might be able.

But let's look first of all at Paul's explanation of his ministry. For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ. Now Paul was in Rome, in a Roman prison writing this letter to the churches in Asia Minor, beginning with Ephesus. But he doesn't call himself the prisoner of Rome. Nor does he call himself the prisoner of the emperor. He calls himself the prisoner of Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 4:1, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord. You know, it's wonderful when a Christian sees God in all of his circumstances. I have recently had occasion to be in the hospital twice. The first time very, very serious. I didn't look upon myself as a patient of the hospital. I was a patient of Jesus Christ. He had me there for a reason. This is why the Christian can say, all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. When we bring Jesus Christ into all of the circumstances of life, then we cease being prisoners of circumstances and we become the prisoner of the Lord.

How was Paul able to bring joy into that Roman prison? He was the prisoner of the Lord. He was the prisoner of the Lord for you Gentiles. It was because of the very word Gentile that Paul was in prison.

Back in Acts 22:21, we find this crucial word. The Apostle Paul was preaching in Acts 21, he tells us here how the Lord Jesus Christ was constraining him, constraining him to go to Jerusalem. Acts 21. In Acts 21:11, one man came to Paul and said, don't go down to Jerusalem, whatever you do. But Paul said, no, I must go. God has called me to go down to Jerusalem. And so he went. He went.

And we're told in Acts 22 that Paul was allowed to preach in the temple there in Jerusalem. They arrested him in the temple. There in the temple of Jerusalem. He had wanted to go down to Jerusalem so badly. They had warned him, don't go down. He said, no, I must go. And in Acts 22, he gives his testimony. We're told that he gave his testimony in Hebrew and they listened to him very carefully until you get down to Acts 22:21. And he said unto me, Paul is giving his testimony now. And he said unto me, God is speaking, depart, for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles. And they gave him audience unto this word. And then the mob broke loose.

Now keep this in mind. Paul was preaching, giving his testimony in Jerusalem in the temple. And they listened to him until he mentioned the word Gentiles. And when these Jews heard the word Gentiles, it infuriated them and they said, away with this man, it's not fit that he should be on this earth. Well, he was arrested, he was in Caesarea for a couple of years, then he was then he appealed to the to the emperor and they took him to Rome. So Paul was a prisoner of Jesus Christ for the Gentiles.

Now, having mentioned the word Gentiles, he tells us why he is so concerned about the Gentiles. Now, why would Paul, trained to be a Jewish rabbi, a Roman citizen, why would he be concerned about the Gentiles? Well, let's look at it. Ephesians 3:2. If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which is given me to you word.

The word dispensation means an agreement. The word dispensation is a way of working. There are different dispensations in the Bible, a management, a ministry. Now he says to you Gentiles, you've heard of the special ministry that God has given me for the Gentiles. How that by revelation, he, God, made known unto me, Paul, the mystery. Now this brings up this word mystery, which we ran into back in Ephesians 1.

What was this mystery? Well, he explains it now. He says, God gave to me a revelation of this mystery. And the revelation of this mystery gave to me my ministry. Paul's ministry was the ministry of the mystery.

Now what was the mystery? Here it is. As I wrote afore in a few words, whereby when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. No one knew more about this than Paul did. Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men. You won't find the mystery back in the Old Testament. But now in this present church age, this mystery has been revealed.

As it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the spirit. Now once again, the word apostles in Ephesians 3:5 means New Testament apostles. And the word prophets means New Testament prophets. Down in Ephesians 4:11, it says that Jesus Christ gave some apostles and some prophets. And so the Holy Spirit of God in the New Testament church revealed this mystery to the apostles and prophets through the Holy Spirit.

Now here is the mystery, Ephesians 3:6, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel. And you can add at the end there if you want to, as the Jews. They should be fellow heirs, the same as the Jews. They should be of the same body as the Jews, partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel as the Jews.

Now we mentioned in some previous lessons that you must distinguish in your Bible as you study between the Jews, the Gentiles and the church. If you confuse these, you will really be confused. There are some places where God speaks particularly to the Jews. Some to the church, some to the Gentiles. You start mixing the law God gave to the Jews with the grace God has given to the church and you'll have real confusion. Unfortunately, many religious groups today are a mixture of law and grace, Old Testament and New Testament. They get more of their regulations from the Old Testament law than they do from the New Testament letters and there's confusion. Confusion.

Now Paul said, my ministry is the ministry of the mystery. What is the mystery? The mystery is that the Gentiles through Jesus Christ belong to the same body as the Jews. And that the Jew and the Gentile are one in Jesus Christ.

Now this did not bless too many of the Jews. Even some of the believing Jews in Paul's day opposed him. Galatians, the letter that Paul wrote to the churches in Galatia is a defense of the grace of God. There were Jews in Paul's day, just as there are people today who wanted to mix law and grace. They said, now look, these Gentiles are on a different footing. You can't expect these Gentiles to stand before God different from the Jews. Why they have to become Jews. Paul said, no, no. No, the Jew needs to be saved by faith in Christ. The Gentile needs to be saved by faith in Christ. And the wonderful mystery is this, that at the cross, God united Jew and Gentile into a wonderful new body, the church.

Whereof, says Ephesians 3:7, I was made a minister. I'm a minister of the mystery of the church. This is my job, said Paul. My my calling is to go to the Gentiles and to tell them of the wonderful thing Christ has done for them. That they now have a high priest up in heaven. That they have a wonderful, wonderful life in Christ.

I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.

Notice that we're saved by grace and we serve by grace. Paul didn't say I made myself a minister. He would never have done that. You read Galatians 1 and find out that Paul had no intentions of becoming a minister of Christ. You read Acts 9 and you'll discover that Paul was out to kill the ministers of Christ.

And yet God saved him by grace. God arrested him on the road to Damascus. God changed him. God made him a minister. It's too bad when people make themselves ministers. Only God can make a minister. Only God can make a saint.

And he says the grace of God that saved me also went to work in me to make me what I ought to be. Unto me who am less than the least of all saints. Oh, what humility Paul has here. Is this grace given, that's the only way you can get grace by having it given to you, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. It's the grace of God that worked through Paul.

Now there never has been a Christian like Paul. The Apostle Paul has been called the greatest Christian. Now only God knows this for sure, but my, when you read what this man did in a short time, how that he was saved by the grace of God, he took the word of God throughout the known world. What a thrilling thing Paul did.

Now how was Paul able to do this by grace? I'm reading now from 1 Corinthians 15:9. Paul says, for I am the least of the apostles. Over in Ephesians he said he was less than the least of all the saints. I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God, but by the grace of God, I am what I am. And his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

This is what Paul's saying here in Ephesians 3:8-9, that Paul himself was nothing. 1 Corinthians 3, Paul says, who is Paul? Who is Apollos? Nothing. Servants. That's all, ministers. Paul said, I was not worthy to be saved and since I've been saved, I'm not worthy to be an apostle, but the grace of God did it. The grace of God that saved me has enabled me to serve.

Now I may be speaking right now to some people who are discouraged in their Christian service. Perhaps you're teaching a Sunday school class and it's not easy and you're discouraged. Remember now, it's the grace of God that serves through us. Ask God to give you grace. He giveth more grace. Come to the throne of grace. The Spirit of God is the Spirit of grace. The word of God is the word of his grace. Just trust the grace of God to work in you and through you as you serve him.

Now, what is his ministry? That I should preach. You know, people laugh at preaching. I want you to know that preaching is God's chosen method for getting out the word. Jesus came as a preacher. John the Baptist came as a preacher. He has ordained preachers. How shall they hear without a preacher? Don't ever criticize preaching. Preaching is God's method for getting his work done.

That I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. This word unsearchable literally means no footprints, untranslatable or untraceable. Paul said, you turn back to the Old Testament, you won't find this. You can't trace these footprints, they just aren't there. This is something brand new that the Holy Spirit of God is doing.

To the intent now, that now, right now, unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known through the church the manifold wisdom of God according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Paul is saying that now, since Calvary, since Pentecost, the angels and the demons know that God has a wonderful purpose and that purpose is to build a church. And of course, Satan is doing everything he can to keep this church from being built. Satan didn't know anything about the church. He didn't know anything about the one body. And when he took Jesus to the cross, he thought he was going to have a victory, but that was where Christ had the victory over him. And now through the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ is building this temple, he's making this body and the Gentiles along with the Jews are in the program of God.

I wonder today, are you one of those who is a part of his eternal purpose? Are you one of those who has found the unsearchable riches of Christ? Paul came and preached to the Gentiles that they might be saved. We preach to you today that you might be saved. That you might open your heart to Christ and be a fellow heir and in the same body as we are and to know him, whom to know aright is life eternal.

Father, we pray that thou will help us to be faithful to our ministry, to get the word of God out that people may hear and believe and be saved. Oh, may Jesus Christ be praised. We ask in his name. Amen.