THE SUPREME MYSTERY – THE BODY OF CHRIST
ACT II: The Mystery of The Body Unveiled
1. THE BODY REVEALED (Eph. 3:1-13)
INTRODUCTION:
MYSTERY. Everybody loves a mystery, don’t they? In most contexts today, to speak of a mystery is to speak of “something completely unknown and perhaps even unknowable.” However, in the First Century Greco-Roman world, the word mysterion has a distinctly and significantly different connotation. “Mystery” in the ancient world referred to “something which is known, but only by an elite few – the initiates to whom it is secretly revealed.” This is what defines the “mystery religions” - any religion which believes only the worthy, tested and proven initiates may receive the special knowledge. Today, groups such as the Freemasons, Mormons and Scientology represent this.
OR, it could refer to “something which had previously been unknown, but is now revealed.” This is the sense with which the apostle Paul repeatedly uses this term – 4 times in this morning’s passage alone. It is something that was a divine secret, but is now revealed. Something that was unknown before Christ but now made known through divine revelation. My friends, these are the most important and delicious of all mysteries!!! The kind that transcends not only human reasoning, but even the human imagination. Something, even hidden from all other creation – including the spiritual beings (angels). Yet, through His humble and surrendered servant, Paul and God’s inspired written Word, He has graciously revealed such things to us! Wouldn’t you like to know? For in our passage this morning is revealed “The Supreme Mystery.”
THE WORD: READ EPHESIANS 3:1-13
Paul as Steward of Mystery (vv. 1-5)
A.) To Be A Steward Is To Be A Servant v.1
What a profound statement!
1. “This cause” is the unity in Christ achieved through His sacrifice and resurrection, as
described in the previous chapter.
2. Note Paul’s identification as a prisoner of Christ Jesus! He writes this letter from a Roman
prison, under Roman guard and awaiting trial before the Roman officials at the behest of
the Jewish leaders and their accusation against Paul. And yet, he refers to himself not as a
prisoner of the Romans or Jewish Officials, but of Christ Jesus. WHY?
3. Note also his emphasis on the reason for his imprisonment: for you Gentiles. A big reason
for his arrest and accusation by the Jewish Leaders directly emanated from his ministry to the
Gentiles - defiling the temple by bringing a Gentile with him beyond the restricting wall
(Acts 21:17-36, Ro. 15:14-32; Phil. 1:12-18).
Q: Can we rightly refer to ourselves as Christ’s “prisoners,” willing to endure any trial, any
injustice, any persecution for the sake of the unsaved around us?
B.) To Be A Servant Is To Be Entrusted By Grace vv. 2-5
In these verses, Paul again goes back to the revelation of “the mystery.”
Paul, on the verge of launching into a prayer for the saints, instead pauses in order to further explain the reasoning behind his own passion, conviction and sacrifices.
This digression, then, is also for the sake of the Gentiles, according to the stewardship (administration/dispensation) or responsibility that Paul was entrusted with by Jesus.
* Christ is Himself this “mystery” in the sense that He embodies it, has revealed, and is the agent
of it becoming a present reality.
* Paul’s ’revelation’ began with his conversion experience while on the way to persecute and execute followers of Jesus in Damascus. It came in Jesus’ blinding words, “Saul, why are you persecuting ME?” Suddenly, Paul understood that to persecute the church IS to persecute Christ. That the church is indeed the ’Body of Christ.” That, on the Day of Pentecost, God had birthed a something completely new and unexpected.
Position of the Redeemed (vv. 6-7)
* The emphasis of the mystery here is upon the inclusion of the Gentiles. NOT that God would
bless or even save the Gentiles, for that had long been revealed (Gen. 12:1-3; Ro. 1:2; 15:8-12;
Gal. 3:6-29).
RATHER, what was new and completely unexpected, was that God’s blessing of the Gentiles
would be so great as to involve not only their salvation, but also their complete inclusion -
that is, that in Christ God has completely obliterated any and all lines of separation between
Jews and Gentiles. ALL who are truly in Christ are incorporated together as a new, intertwined
community of God’s chosen people without discrimination or separation! And all of this is
completely God’s act of grace!
* Keep in mind, before this a Gentile come approach the God of Israel, but ONLY as a converted
and circumcised Jew. God has now revealed that this is no longer necessary. (and all the men
said, Praise the Lord!). By His sacrificial death and resurrection, Christ has obliterated this
division and made One People out of two previously divided people!
* IN CHRIST, all who are saved by His grace are joint heirs of His blessing and members of His
Church! To further emphasize this and leave no doubt, Paul strings together three compound
words to describe this: each beginning with the prefix syn, meaning “together with.” Together as
heirs, together as members of the same body, and together as partners who share in His promises!
* Together, we are all equally sinners, equally needing and yet unworthy of His grace, equally
helpless and weak, yet together we have all come to the same Savior, received the same salvation,
empowered by the same Holy Spirit, living with the same trials, the same purpose and the same
destiny!
* of the same body Translated from a single compound adjective that seems to have been uniquely
“created” here (nowhere else in NT or Greek literature does it appear). Can there be more
intimacy and togetherness than as parts of one body?
* As parts of a Body, together, we are to be vibrant and active in pursuing the same goals, living the
same purpose, protecting the health of the entire body, and growing proportionally in maturity!
* The closer they all were to God, the closer they were to each other as well”
“what we have seen and heard we also declare to you, so that you may have fellowship along
with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ” (1 Jn. 1:3).
* J. Vernon McGee writes: “The mystery was that the Gentiles and Israel were placed on the same
basis. By faith in Christ they were both brought into a new body which is the church. Christ is
the Head of that new body.
Therefore, now there is a threefold division in the human race:
All people were Gentiles from Adam to Abraham – 2000 yrs (plus)
All people were either Jews or Gentiles from Abraham to Christ – 2000yrs.
The threefold division is Jews, Gentiles, and the church from the Day of Pentecost to the
Rapture – 200 yrs. (plus)”
* Jesus, Himself, even earlier spoke of this mystery to the disciples, but apart from His sacrifice and
resurrection, they could not understand it:
“Then he has brought all his own outside, he goes ahead of them. The sheep follow him
because they recognize his voice. . . But I have other sheep that are not of this fold; I must
bring them also, and they will listen to My voice. Then there will be one flock, one shepherd.”
(John 10:4,16)
* Paul’s calling, ministry, effectiveness and being chosen as a vehicle for the revelation of the
mystery are all solely by God’s grace and election.
The Eternal Purpose (vv. 8-13)
. . . to me who am less than the least. . .
* What an amazing and profound understanding and admission of his own sin and weakness! Paul
knew exactly who he was apart from Christ and on his own merit – an ambitious, self-righteous,
pompous, elitist, and big-headed murderer. (1 Tim. 1:15; 1 Co. 15:9-10).
Yet, because of this, he also had a deep and profound understanding and appreciation for God’s
truly amazing and wondrous grace! How about you?
A Three-fold Message (vv. 8-12)
1. Christ to the Gentiles (v. 8b)
- “the unreachable riches of Christ”
- 1 Co. 1:23-25
“but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles.
Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom,
because God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than
human strength.”
2. The Church to the World (v. 9)
- Now that the Church has the message and grace, we are to passionately share it with all its
wonderful facets, to all of the world!
- As Jesus and His message dynamically dwells in us, then out of that Spring of Life, we should
be compelled to speak and live it out for the grace and blessing of all others!
3. To Inform the Angels (vv. 10-12)
- SAY WHAT?!
- You read correctly. While God had this planned from the beginning, He withheld it from all,
and then first revealed it to His children. God has not revealed this to the angels and they know
of it and its significance, only through observing us through the ages (2:6-7; 1 Pt. 1:10-12).
- As John Stott says, “It is through the old creation (the universe) that God reveals his glory to
humans; it is through the new creation (the Church) that he reveals his wisdom to angels.”1
* It is only through watching the redeemed church that all others (unredeemed people and even
heavenly angels) learn of the incredibly multi-faceted and multi-hewed wisdom and glory of
God!
* The reconciling work of Christ is progressive and broad. He begins by reconciling individual
humans to Himself and integrating them together in Him. Then, through them (the church), He
reconciles the World and ultimately the entire cosmos to Himself (1:9-10; Co. 1:17-22)!!!
In whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him (v. 12)
* This is a description of how we are to “go out” as partners in His ministry and His reconciling
work throughout the world and the cosmos; realizing that we are so intimately connected with
Him, that He will welcome our petitions! DO WE?
Therefore, I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you . . .
Why? There are a small price for a greater good to the salvation of others and the glory of God!!! Do you see your tribulations the same way?
THE BOTTOM LINE:
Kent Hughes: “The bottom line is, the Church is not an option for believers, nor is supporting it an option. . . Attendance and participation in your local church is not an option. Paul’s gospel was Christ and the Church. . . If we only attend worship, we are robbing the church and ourselves and Christ. . . Evangelism is not at option.”2
Have you embraced God’s mystery of The Body? Are you actively living it? TOGETHER – in action, in attitude? How far will YOU go to do your part to maintain the health of the Body? It’s growth? Seeing others grafted in by God’s grace? Are you willing, when required, to give up ambition? Comfort? Claim to yourself?
