God's Mystery of Gentile Inclusion: Commissioned

Text: Ephesians 3:7–13 ESV

In our passage this morning, Paul takes us right back to the beginning of chapter three when he says this: 

“Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace,”

(Ephesians 3:7a ESV)

As we talked about last week, Paul believed the revelation of the mystery of Christ’s gospel was both a stewardship and a grace from God. Paul said it this way in Ephesians 3:2:

“Assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you,”

(Ephesians 3:2 ESV)

Paul is reminding us again of that perspective. Here, instead of calling it a stewardship, he mentions that he is a minister—a servant—to the gospel that God revealed to him. But again, it is all by grace and is a grace.

Both our section last week (Ephesians 3:1–6) and todays passage have an interplay between God’s revelation revealed to Paul and the commission that comes with it. Last week we saw how Paul primarily focused on the revelation: did the Ephesians see that Paul had been given that revelation by God, did they understand clearly now what Paul had been saying, could they summarize it themselves? Yet even there, when Paul is talking primarily about the revelation we couldn’t help but notice that Paul runs on the assumption that revelation requires a response. Paul’s commission, our commission, is linked with the revelation God has given us. This revelation doesn’t just require a response from Gentiles who have not known God’s plan for them and need to turn in faith to belief, but from every believer who now is a recipient of the same revelation that Paul had. We must view it a stewardship. However, we won’t succeed by guilting ourselves or others into that perspective, we must view it as a grace from God! Something we didn’t deserve and could never have earned ourselves.

In our passage this morning, this interplay between revelation and commission continues. Even though Paul is going to talk largely about his commission in Ephesians 3:7–13, it is the revelation of the gospel of Jesus Christ that drives Paul and the grace that Paul considers that gospel to be that permeates everything he says in this section. And, it has implications for you and me as those who today love and treasure the same revelation Paul is proclaiming here today.

The points in this section are not complicated, but there are several, so let me give you an outline of where we are going this morning.

1. The Power of God

2. The Leaster of the Saints

3. The Revelation: Both-And

4. The Church: God’s Manifold Wisdom

5. Be Encouraged

 INTRODUCTION

Paul, at times, seems to be a giant of a man. Missionary journeys across much of the Roman empire. An almost encyclopedic knowledge of the Old Testament and a Spirit-wrought connection of how God’s work throughout all those centuries with the Jewish people was coming together—in Paul’s day and lifetime—through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I know friends like this—their life happens at a breakneck pace and with almost robotic precision, knowledge and ability.

I googled pictures of the apostle Paul in prison, and it seems most painters had this same impression. Paul isn’t just lying there deep in thought. He isn’t relaxing, he isn’t doing prison pull-ups or playing solitaire. He is surrounded by paper, books, and people. He is continuing with this stewardship that he has mentioned. But I have to believe that this section of Ephesians chapter three is the product of many times of pondering what had happened to Paul. How God had intervened in his life and all the ways that had changed him.

After reminding us again that this amazing revelation of the gospel of Jesus Christ is all by grace, Paul makes these two statements about himself:

“Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace,

which was given me by the working of his power.

To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given,”

(Ephesians 3:7­–8a)

THE POWER OF GOD

It appears Paul is thinking about what it means that “I” (Paul) was made a minister of this grace. What did God have to do to make that possible for Paul? As we mentioned last week, Paul’s amazing conversion is obviously in mind when he mentions that God gave him this grace and stewardship through the working of his power. Having Christ himself show up, blind you, and confirm that you were missing the main point of Scripture is definitely a movement of power.

Yet, given that Paul has just spent two chapters unfolding the amazing mystery of the gospel of Jesus Christ—how Jesus has brought sinners back into relationship with him and how Gentiles are brought into the family of God—it seems that here he must have this type of power in mind as well. He is thinking about the God who made us his inheritance (Ephesians 1:11). The God who took his people that were dead and raised them to life again and seated them with Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:1–7).

Paul talked about the power of God earlier in Ephesians 2:19. He said that God has revealed to us: 

“…what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe”

(Ephesians 2:19a ESV)

Paul says very similar statements elsewhere. In Romans 1:16 Paul says:

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

(Romans 1:16 ESV)

In 1 Corinthians 1:18 he says:

“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God”

(1 Corinthians 1:18 ESV)

It seems that Paul is talking about the kind of power that you and I experience as well when we come to faith. Paul is reminding himself and the Ephesians that his ministry, his stewardship of the gospel of Jesus Christ for them started with the very power of God interrupting his life. The kind of power that was needed to bring a dead man to life, to adopt a wayward son back into a family, and the power necessary to change a heart.

Application

Do you believe that is true about you? If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, do you believe that God had to work in power to make that happen? I think it is crucial to accepting the stewardship that God has given each of us in the gospel of Jesus Christ. At least Paul seems to think so.

Sure, we all have some memory of thinking, processing, coming to an understanding of the gospel of Jesus, but do you see the power needed there? As someone who was born in a family that taught me about Jesus from a young age, I often forget about the radical move of God to place me with that family. That family out of the hundreds of millions of family units on this earth—he picked that one. He demonstrated power over sperm and egg, generations of men of women that I might be born in this age, to my family, and that my salvation came through the seemingly boring manner of parents and church simply sharing the gospel again and again. That isn’t boring—that’s amazing power!

Perhaps you had the experience of a friend or someone you knew share about Jesus with you? Have you considered the odds of you being in that place, on that day? That you would actually have listened to the person instead of blowing them off? That your heart and mind was able and desirous to comprehend something that, likely, months or years before would have been completely foreign and undesirable? That is amazing power! 

Seeing the power of God at work in your own salvation is part of receiving the gospel as grace in your life. If God worked in power then it wasn’t simply your own work or intellect that made your salvation possible. And that same power is also what empowers you in your stewardship of the gospel of Christ. You are not relying on your own words, pithy statements or clever analogies—you know that God is going to show up in power to save in the ways only he can. That is a great comfort to all Christians!

If you are here this morning, and you have not yet put your faith in Christ Jesus, have you thought about the power of God that must be at work in your life to have you here today? In the middle of zoning in and out of what I am saying, just like everyone else here does, have you thought about God’s power to have you hearing this message, this morning? Have you considered what an amazing love God must have for you to work in these ways to love you back into relationship with himself?

THE “LEASTER” OF THE SAINTS

If Paul is talking about the experience of God’s power that everyone can relate to in that first phrase, I think in the second phrase he is thinking more about himself. I say that because Paul invents a word to describe himself here. Elsewhere Paul has called himself the least of all the apostles (1 Corinthians 15:9), and the first and foremost of all sinners (1 Timothy 1:15), but Paul seems to feel that a superlative is not sufficient, and he has to make up a word to describe his sinfulness. He makes a “comparative of a superlative” meaning “leaster.” He doesn’t just view himself as the ‘least” of all the saints, but the “leaster” of the saints.

I take this to mean Paul is thinking specifically of his experience and distinguishing it from the general experience of all Christians as weak and prone to temptation and sin. I think it is exactly the same idea he mentions in 1 Corinthians 9:15

“For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.”

(1 Corinthians 15:9 ESV)

Not only was Paul against the message of Christianity, he vehemently persecuted Christians. He was there when Stephen was stoned (Acts 8:1) and was headed to Damascus to persecute more Christians when Jesus intervened (Acts 9:1–3).

I want to make two observations about Paul’s view of himself as “leaster” of all the saints. First, if the power of God that we just talked about can save Saul, now known as Paul, it can and will save you. If you are not yet a believer, it doesn’t matter the life you are living, the sins you have and even will commit, the Lord God is offering you salvation and forgiveness of your sins through your faith in Jesus Christ.

For you, Christian or not-yet-Christian, this means there is no history you have nor struggle you may be going through today that is outside of the power of God. If you don’t already know that today I pray you ponder on the power of God, like Paul, and realize this is the amazing grace of the gospel of Jesus Christ active in your life today. Whether you struggle with same-sex-attraction, pornography, masturbation, drunkenness, stealing, greed, or hate. Whether it is sleeping with your partner outside of marriage, hateful—spiteful language, or physical outbursts or violence. No matter what you imagine as the worst possible sin, there is no limit to the power of God in Jesus to both save and reconcile you to God and to sustain you and even change you in the power of his Holy Spirit.

THE REVELATION: REVEALED BUT UNSEARCHABLE, ABOUT THE GENTILES BUT FOR EVERYONE

It is here—with a right view of himself and of ourselves in the power of God—that Paul turns to again describe this amazing revelation. But this time, he adds a “both-and” twist to his statements.

“to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,

and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things,”

(Ephesians 3:8b-9 ESV)

Here, but mentions that the revealed mystery of God includes the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ. The mystery of the gospel of Jesus is revealed but unsearchable. This made me think of the Son Doong cave on the border of Laos and Vietnam. It was in 2009 that a Vietnamese man named Ho Khanh brought the cave to the attention of international groups. It is now considered the largest cave by volume in the entire world—and most people didn’t know about it until 2009. It consists of an entire jungle 600 feet below the surface where portions of the cave roof have collapsed. It has its own river that no one realized until 2019 joins sections of the cave to other caves in its system that are inaccessible without going through the water. It is so large that an entire New York city block—including skyscrapers—could fit inside, and a 747 could fly into and through it without any worries of its wings clipping anything.

This is the mystery of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Yes, it has been revealed, but it will take us more than a lifetime—in fact, all of time forever more with our God—to truly know and love what God has done for us in Jesus Christ and how beautiful his gospel is for our life.

Similarly, even though Paul himself is called to the tell the Gentiles about God’s grace in their lives he views this good news necessary for everyone! He is to bring “light to everyone.”

Christian, this is why our life will never be boring! We will get to plumb the depths of who Jesus is and what he has done for us our whole life. And as we pick up this stewardship, like Paul, to reveal the revelation of God’s grace in Jesus Christ, we don’t just see not-yet-believers as the only people to talk to about this great joy—it is for everyone. We are to hold out the light of God’s gospel to one another as much as to unbelievers. As an encouragement when we are going through hard times, as comfort when we are hurting, as guidance when we are lost, and as illuminating motivation when we are complacent.

THE CHURCH: GOD’S MANIFOLD WISDOM

And all of this, God’s revelation of the mystery of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the working of his power, the salvation of incredibly messed up sinners like me and you, is all working toward one end: 

“so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.”

(Ephesians 3:10 ESV)

So that through this group called Table Rock, through the other gospel loving churches throughout the Treasure Valley, that God would make known, not just to humans, but to even the rulers and authorities in heaven—good and bad—his wisdom would be known.

There is something in just our existence that speaks about God’s wisdom. As we gather—old and young, students and teachers, men and women, Cubans, Chinese, Hungarians, Brits, Americans—all sinners—we stand this morning as a sign to all that God’s wisdom is amazing. It is here, this morning, that God’s “manifold”—meaning many sided—wisdom is seen. In saving me, in saving my wife Katie, in saving each of you, God demonstrates a different aspect of his forgiveness, his power, and grace through you. To some “authorities” it is to their consternation and frustration, and to others joy and delight to see how God in Jesus Christ has saved each of you. And even more so as you and I, sinners and in many ways the “leaster” just like Paul, continue to carry this great revelation and God continues to work in power through me and you to break the very forces of evil that come against him and us. 

CONCLUSION

As Paul says:

“This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.”

(Ephesians 3:11–12 ESV)

God’s revelation of mystery of the Jesus Christ, at the moment he made it known, has brought about his eternal purposes. The Gentiles and all peoples have been included into one body in Jesus Christ—the church. It is through the grace and power of God that he makes this possible as he works through sinners like us to demonstrate the complete power of Jesus. Our very church stands as a witness to the breadth and power of God to work in a variety of ways to save his people and demonstrate his grace.

This is what we are called to steward just like Paul. Paul had his specific commission from God for his day and as an Apostle, but you have your call as well in knowing this great revelation. It is because our God is in such control that we can have confidence, boldness, and it is in his grace that we have access to him in faith. What Paul has been sharing with the Ephesians and with us throughout Ephesians 1–3 should not leave us cowering nor weak and fragile, but rather emboldened! This is what Paul says to the Philippians: 

“And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.”

(Philippians 1:14 ESV)

This is why Paul can turn at the very end of this section and come back to his imprisonment where he started and say:

“So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.”

(Ephesians 3:13 ESV)

Paul is so confident in what God is doing for him, for those around him, and so clear about the revelation God has given him (and me and you) that he can confidently declare that his imprisonment must be for the Gentiles, the Ephesians, and for his own joy.