The Mystery of Christ

Text: Eph. 3:1-22

Introduction:

 Paul’s 2nd prayer

 Prayer #1: Enlightenment

 Prayer #2: Enablement

 "Prisoner of Christ"

 Been in prison for 5 years (2 in Caesarea, rest in Rome)

 Note: not a prisoner of Rome or Gentiles, but of Christ

 Paul recognized that we was "bought with a price"

 Incidental Truths

 Repetition: Paul repeats himself to be sure they understood

 Repetition is the key to learning

 Need to hear something 9 times before it really sinks in

 Perspective: He saw himself as a prisoner for Christ (positive) rather than a prisoner of Rome (negative)

 He knew he was in God’s will even in prison.

 You can handle the worst of circumstances when you know that you are in God’s will because "all things work together for good to them that are…"
  1. Parenthesis
    1. Revelation of the mystery (v. 2-3)
      1. Def. "mystery"
      2. Dispensation = stewardship
        1. Management of a household
        2. We are all stewards of the gifts God has given us
        3. Stewards must be faithful
    2. Understanding the mystery
      1. "insight" = to put together
      2. Gentiles and Jews are equal
        1. Fellow heirs
        2. Fellow members
        3. Fellow partakers
      3. Paul’s ministry to Gentiles
        1. Power of Spirit
        2. By grace
        3. Illus. Tampa lineman said, "It doesn’t get any better than this. I get to play a kid’s game and get paid a king’s ransom to do it." The preacher gets to do the greatest job on earth and get paid for it. Wow!
        4. In OT there were promises to Gentiles
          1. Be blessed of God (Gen. 12:3)
          2. Gentiles will bless God (Ps. 72)
          3. Messiah will come to Gentiles (Is. 11:10)
          4. Messiah will save Gentiles (Hos. 1:10)
          5. Gentiles will receive the Holy Spirit (Joel 2:28)
    3. Declaring the Mystery
      1. Shown to angels
        1. Angels do not understand or comprehend all of the grace of God
        2. Cp. 1 Co. 11. The prescriptions for women to have long hair (distinction between the sexes) "because of the angels" possibly refers to this. The church (when it is living right) is a testimony to the angels of God’s grace.
        3. The church declares God’s eternal purposes
  2. Prayer Itself
    1. "all families"
      1. not referring to a universal salvation
        1. John 8: "father the devil"
        2. Eph. 2: "children of wrath…"
      2. Two possibilities
        1. Since God created everything, in a since, He is the Father of all
        2. Refers to different groups who will be in heaven: Jew, Gentile, Church
    2. Strengthened
      1. "in the inner man"
      2. "through Spirit"
      3. "Christ may dwell in your hearts"
      4. "through faith"
      5. Tying the above together: Our inner man is strengthened by the Spirit who is "another Comforter" (John 13-16). The Spirit does this through faith, and "faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." Therefore, to be strengthened we need to get into the Word.
      6. 2 Characteristics of a Spirit-filled person
        1. in the Word
        2. Witnessing in the world
        3. Some erroneously think that filling is an emotional high, a hallelujah shout. No! That is not filling of the Spirit, that is emotion (which is not necessarily bad).
    3. "Rooted and Grounded"
      1. Don’t be a roller coaster Christian
      2. Stability comes as you get into the word. Converts need to be weighed as well as counted
    4. "able to do …"
      1. Though this verse can mean what it is usually used for, that God will do more than we expect, that is not its primary meaning.
      2. Ultimately, it refers to the fact that when we get to heaven and understand how wonderful His plan of salvation really was and how great His eternal purposes are, we are going to say, "Wow, I had no idea just how wonderful and great it really was. It is far above anything we can imagine."