Ephesians - The Mystery - Part 1

Now, if you understand this beautiful mystery, you will go out and build bridges, not walls. You will open your arms and your heart and reach out to all who know Jesus as their Savior, and more than that, we will go out and try to reach others to know Him.

And now let’s pray together. Oh Father in heaven, thank You for the Lord Jesus Christ, His life, His teaching, His death, His resurrection. Thank You we've been made alive together with Christ, we're seated with Christ. Hallelujah, what a Savior. Bless us now as we study the Word and make us so excited about it that we’ll want to share it with somebody else. I pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

The most important message in all the world is the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Whatever other messages may be proclaimed on radio, television, through the printed page, in person, the greatest message, the most important message in all the world is the message of the gospel: that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came down from heaven and that He died for our sins on the cross. He was buried, He arose again the third day, He was seen by witnesses, and if you will but put faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be saved. Now, that's the gospel. The gospel is not doing good works, the gospel is not promising good intentions, the gospel is believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, that's the most important message in all the world because it meets the greatest need. What is man's greatest need? To be saved from his sins, to know that he is going to heaven. This is the greatest message because it cost the greatest price. God had to come down from heaven and become man to die for our sins. And I might add, it's the most important and the greatest message in all the world because it produces the greatest results. If you want to change lives, you need the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Now, the second most important message in all the world is what Paul calls the mystery. Now, he writes about this in Ephesians 3:1. For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles—if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I wrote before in a few words, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power. Ephesians 3:1-7.

Now, this is the mystery. Paul uses this word mystery six times in Ephesians. In fact, when you read the New Testament, you'll find a number of different mysteries. Now, the word mystery simply means a truth that was hidden in the past that has now been revealed through the apostles and the prophets. Notice in Ephesians 3:9, and to make all people see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God. You will not find this mystery in the Old Testament. Now, you may find illustrations of it, because the Old Testament is God's picture book of New Testament truth. There are illustrations of the mystery in the Old Testament, but you will not find the explanation and the declaration of the mystery there in the Old Testament. It is a truth hidden in Old Testament times and now revealed. Someone has called a mystery a sacred secret. I like that definition: a sacred secret. It's something that God planned to do ages ago. He did not reveal this to Moses or Isaiah or Hosea; He has now revealed it through the New Testament apostles and prophets.

Now, what is the mystery? Ephesians 3:6 tells us what it is. The secret that God had hidden was this: that the Gentiles would be fellow heirs of the same body and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel. Paul was a prisoner because of the Gentiles. He had spoken the word "Gentiles" in the temple, Acts 22:21, and the orthodox Jewish people in the temple were so angry they wanted to kill him. Paul was arrested, and there he was in prison because he wanted to be reaching the Gentiles with the gospel. I wonder how many of us would go to prison because we have a burden to reach others? Paul the prisoner, Paul the steward—the dispensation of the grace of God was given to him, a stewardship to preach the grace of God to the Gentiles. And then the minister, Ephesians 3:7—God called him, God gifted him, and God enabled him.

The revelation of the mystery, Ephesians 3:1-7. Now, in the Old Testament, it was made very clear that the Gentiles would be saved. God made it clear to Abraham: through you all the nations of the earth will be blessed. Genesis 12:1-3. So that it's no secret that God's plan was to use the Jews to reach the Gentiles. However, in the Old Testament, for a Gentile to be saved, he had to become a Jew. That is, he had to adopt the Jewish religion; he became a proselyte. The Gentile had to be circumcised, he had to adopt the dietary laws, he had to go to the temple, he had to bring the sacrifices. For the Gentile to be saved meant coming on Jewish ground. However, the mystery was that one day Jew and Gentile would be one in Jesus Christ.

Now, in the Old Testament, people were always saved by faith. Nobody was ever saved by bringing a sacrifice or by attending a meeting. Everybody who ever has been saved or who ever will be saved will be saved by faith. However, the expression of that faith in the Old Testament was adopting the Jewish religion, showing your faith by obeying the Jewish law. Now, along comes the apostle Paul, and he says God is doing something new. God has revealed a mystery, and the mystery is that the Jew is not higher than the Gentile, and the Gentile is not lower than the Jew. The Jew and the Gentile are on level ground at the cross, and there is now one body, one family, one holy nation, one temple—we are all one in Jesus Christ.

Now, the word Gentile is an important word in this paragraph. You find it in Ephesians 3:1, in Ephesians 3:6, he repeats it again in Ephesians 3:8, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. Paul was preeminently the apostle to the Gentiles. Now, let's examine this mystery in Ephesians 3:1-13, and notice how it relates in four different ways. First, how it related to Paul, Ephesians 3:1-7, the verses that we read. Then how it relates to the Gentiles, Ephesians 3:8-9. How it relates to the angels, Ephesians 3:10-11. And then how it relates to us in the church today, Ephesians 3:12-13. Paul is taking this mystery and he is applying it to himself, Ephesians 3:1-7; to the Gentiles, Ephesians 3:8-9; to the angels, Ephesians 3:10-11; and to us today, Ephesians 3:12-13.

You see, in Ephesians 3:1-7, we have the revelation of the mystery. In Ephesians 3:8-9, we have the fellowship of the mystery. Notice Ephesians 3:9: and to make all people see what is the fellowship of the mystery. If we don't understand this mystery, we are not going to have the kind of fellowship we're supposed to have. So we have the revelation of the mystery in Ephesians 3:1-7. We have the fellowship of the mystery in Ephesians 3:8-9. Then we have the wisdom of the mystery in Ephesians 3:10-11: to the intent that now—not back in the Old Testament, but now—the manifold wisdom of God might be known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places. God is revealing His wisdom through this mystery. And finally, we have the encouragement of the mystery in Ephesians 3:12-13. In other words, if you know the gospel and you've trusted Jesus Christ, then you are saved. Now you must go beyond that—not forsaking the gospel, but beyond that to see how great this gospel is. We must understand this mystery. Many Christians are ignorant of this mystery, and because they are, they’re robbing themselves of the blessings that they have in Jesus Christ.

Let's begin with the revelation of the mystery in Ephesians 3:1-7 and find out what the mystery means to the apostle Paul. You'll notice in Ephesians 3:1, he calls himself a prisoner. Then in Ephesians 3:2, he calls himself a steward: if indeed you have heard of the dispensation, or the stewardship, of the grace of God which was given to me for you—that is, for you Gentiles. So in Ephesians 3:1, Paul is the prisoner. In Ephesians 3:2-6, Paul is the steward. And then in Ephesians 3:7, he is the minister: of which I became a minister according to the gift of His grace. Paul the prisoner: For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles. Then there is a parenthesis. He doesn't pick it up again until Ephesians 3:14: For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so, in a very real sense, Ephesians 3:2-13 are a parenthesis, an inspired parenthesis that was inspired by the word "Gentiles."

Now, for what reason was Paul a prisoner? Well, the reason he talked about in Ephesians 2:19-22. Well, what's he talking about in Ephesians 2:19-22? He's talking about the building of the church, where the church is being built as a holy temple, God's people are a habitation of God. The Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, members of the household of God. They are being built upon this great foundation, and they are a habitation of God through the Spirit. You see, in Ephesians 2:1-10, Paul says everybody who's ever trusted Jesus Christ has been resurrected and seated on the throne. Ephesians 2:11-22, he talks to the Gentiles. He said, you Gentiles were afar off, now you are near. You were at enmity, now you are fellow heirs, fellow citizens. You were outside the covenant, now you belong to the household of God. You were outside all these blessings, now you are stones in the temple. For this reason, Paul was a prisoner.

Now, let's explain that. How did the apostle Paul become a prisoner because of this one word "Gentiles"? We must keep in mind that in the Bible, there is no difference between Jew and Gentile as far as creation is concerned, or even as far as condemnation is concerned, or conversion. The only difference is in calling. God had a different purpose in the Gentiles and a different purpose in the Jews. Now, how did the apostle Paul become a prisoner because of the Gentiles? Well, we're told about this in Acts 22:1. In Acts 22:1, Paul is giving his witness in the temple. He had been arrested illegally, and he was telling the Jews in the temple how God had changed his life. And in Acts 22:21, Paul says: Then He, Jesus, said to me, 'Depart'—in other words, get out of Jerusalem—'for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles.' Now imagine, Paul is talking to a hostile, orthodox Jewish congregation in the temple. They wanted to kill him. And he says, God sent me to the Gentiles. Now Acts 22:22: And they listened to him until this word, and then they raised their voices and said, 'Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he is not fit to live!' Why? Because they were prejudiced. The Jews called the Gentiles dogs—uncircumcised dogs. They looked upon them as unclean. Why? Well, because the Jews had the temple, they had the priesthood, the sacrifices, the covenants, they had all these blessings of God. Why weren't they sharing these blessings with the Gentiles? Because they were prejudiced and bigoted. They should have been sharing the truth of the true God with the Gentiles, but they didn't. And so Paul was arrested because a Jewish mob would not listen to him talk about the Gentiles. In other words, Paul was in prison because he believed in the unity of the church. Paul was in prison because he believed in soul-winning. Paul was in prison because he believed in breaking down walls of prejudice and reaching out to other people. Paul was in prison because he had a burden for lost souls and a burden for missions. I wonder how many of us, if we were arrested for having a burden for souls and a burden for world missions, there would be enough evidence to convict us? The average Christian isn't willing to go across the street to bear witness for Jesus Christ, let alone go to prison. Paul was the prisoner because he had a burden and a calling to reach the Gentiles.

Now, he was a steward, Ephesians 3:2-6. The word dispensation means a stewardship. God gave a stewardship to Paul, namely, Paul, you are going to the Gentiles. Peter and the other apostles can go to the other people, to the twelve tribes of Israel, but you go to the Gentiles. Now, in sending Paul to the Gentiles, He revealed to him the mystery. He told Paul that He was going to give to him a ministry to the Gentiles, and that Jews and Gentiles will no longer be separated. Now Paul talked about that in chapter 2, how that Jesus Christ on the cross broke down the middle wall of partition that separated Jews and Gentiles. He bore the curse of the law on the cross, He fulfilled the law on the cross. Now before God there is no difference. And Paul was going everywhere telling the Gentiles the good news of the gospel. Now this had not been revealed before, but now it was being revealed by the holy apostles and prophets, namely, that Jew and Gentile were no longer separated. In Christ they were one. In Jesus Christ there can be only one body, and one Spirit, and one hope of our calling. Galatians 3:28: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Now, we are not Abraham's children because physically we are Gentiles, but we are Abraham's seed because we are in the family of faith, and Abraham is the one who founded that family of faith. We are heirs according to the promise.

So Paul the steward was telling everybody that the Gentiles today are fellow heirs—it's the word joint-heirs—Ephesians 3:6. They belong to the joint body. They are partakers of the promise—joint-sharers in the promise—through the gospel. These three phrases in Ephesians 3:6 have the little Greek prefix S-U-N. It comes into our English as S-Y-N, like "synthesis," for example. That means together. Now, fellow heirs has S-U-N—that means joint-heirs. A joint body. Joint-sharers of His promise through the gospel. We are one. We are sharing together. What a marvelous thing this is, that Jesus Christ has brought us together in Himself. So Paul was the prisoner because he wanted to share the good news of the gospel with the Gentiles. Paul was a steward because God had given to him the ministry of preaching and teaching the gospel and the mystery in Jesus Christ.

Now, Ephesians 3:7, he's the minister: of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me. You don't make yourself a minister. You don't choose yourself or elect yourself. God calls you. And God not only calls you, but God equips you by the effective working of His power. In other words, God saved Paul, God commissioned Paul, God called him, and God equipped him to get His work done. He says, by the grace of God, I am what I am.

Now, each of us needs to understand what God is doing in this world. God has given to us the ministry of reconciliation. God is putting things together in this world. The devil is tearing things apart. Oh, I thank God that I'm a part of His temple, a part of His family, His holy nation—that we are all one in Jesus Christ, all who have trusted Him as Savior. Now, if you understand this beautiful mystery, you will go out and build bridges, not walls. You will not operate on the basis of prejudice and bigotry. You will open your arms and your heart and reach out to all who know Jesus as their Savior, and more than that, we will go out and try to reach others to know Him. Oh, it's a good thing to understand the gospel and be saved. It's also a good thing to understand the mystery and help other people come to Christ.