Ephesians 1:1-6 The Mystery of Christ
Who likes a mystery? People seem to like mysteries. Look at the popularity of mysteries in novels, films. The Bible is the best-selling book in the world, but do you know who comes second? With 4 billion copies sold, the novels of Agatha Christie are the second best selling works in the world after the Bible. 4 billion copies sold.
What are her books about? Murder mysteries. Mysteries. People are intrigued by mysteries. Look at space exploration. What practical purpose does it serve to look at worlds billions of light years away? Not much. But they are a mystery and we are intrigued. We explore the bottoms of the oceans. Why? Because they are mysteries.
Some mysteries more relevant that others. Some are very practical. For example, the mysteries of the economy, of politics, of the sharemarket. For those who are married and I guess also for those who arent for us men, we contemplate the mystery of women: how do they think? For women they contemplate the mystery of men: why dont they think? Mysteries. We are intrigued by them. But generally, we dont like them to remain mysteries. At the end of an Agatha Christie novel, we expect to find out who-dunnit. If the last few pages dont solve the mystery, we feel let down. We search space, the oceans, to reveal the mysteries they hold.
Today we will look at a mystery, but a revealed mystery. Something once hidden, but now revealed. And this revealed mystery, is the mystery of Christ. It is the best news in the world the Good News. Today we will look at a passage which talks about a mystery a revealed mystery. As the stars and planets are mysterious because they are so large and far away, so this passage, which talks about a revealed mystery contains some incredible information. But it is not some information that is just interesting to know for interests sake. But it is really important information. Practical and useful information. Lets have a look at this revealed mystery that Paul talks about.
Eph 3:4 talks about the mystery of Christ. Then in verse 5, about this mystery of Christ, he says, that it
5 was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets.
and in vs 9 he says that it he was
9 to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.
Paul is talking about a mystery - the mystery of Christ - that is being made plain now, but wasnt always plain. A bit like space exploration. Consider the moon. In past ages it was a mystery. People knew it was there. They saw it at night. Before the advent of electricity, it helped people to see at night. The months (the word month comes from moon) are based on its cycles. We knew it was there, but what was it? Did people live there? What was its surface like? There were all sorts of guesses. At one point, they thought there were canals on the moon. But through looking through telescopes, and eventually going there, although theres still a lot we dont know about the moon, a lot of its mysteries are now known, because we have explored and discovered them.
In a similar way that the moon used to be somewhat of a mystery, the mystery of Christ before the time of Christ, was a mystery. Paul is undoubtably referring to the time of the Old Testament. But we might ask did they not have the Old Testament then? Was that not revelation from God? Yes it was. And we might ask did it not speak of Christ? Yes, the Old Testament did speak of Christ, but only in glimpses. Did it allude to the church? Yes but only in glimpses. There was not enough information for even the greatest of the prophets to have understood what Christ had brought. To understand what the church was. To understand the unity of Jew and Gentile in one body. To understand the revelation of this mystery. It was like the clues in an Agatha Christie novel, which are there, but the revelation of whodunnit is not plain. Not until you read the final few pages of Agatha Christie novel is it that you can read the novel again and see the clues pointing to whodunnit.
For example we can look back at Gen 12:3b
GE 12:3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you."
and see it is speaking of Christ because of Gal 3:8 which explains what it means
Gal 3: 8 The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: "All nations will be blessed through you."
The other day I was talking to a Jew, who had a completely different interpretation of Gen 12:3. She understood it as, if another nation blesses the nation of Israel, that is helps it, such as America does, then it will be blessed. She doesnt see any connection to the Gospel, because she is only looking at the hints and she hasnt turned to the last pages to see how the mystery is revealed. But we know from Gal 3:8 which explains Gen 12, that in Gen 12.3, there is a glimpse of the Gospel. But it is not plain in Genesis: at that time it was still a mystery waiting to be explained.
The Old Testament is full of glimpses and prophecies of the Old Testament, but like the clues in an Agatha Christie novel, they are not clear until explained by the New Testament. Thats why the Old Testament is important. Its prophecies do let us know that God had planned the Gospel from all along, but without the revelation of the New Testament, they are glimpses, a mystery, not yet plain. So when we read the Old Testament we always need to do it through the New Testament, through the revelation from God contained in the New Testament.
We are incredibly privileged to know this mystery, but what is this mystery? Remember earlier, I talked about the moon. In previous generations, it was a mystery,
and now we know quite a lot about it. How did we find that information out? We looked through ever more powerful telescopes. We sent unmanned spaceships first to orbit then to land. Ultimately, Neil Armstrong landed, and took photos! We found out information by discovery. There are basically two ways to find out information. One is by discovery. The second is by revelation. Someone tells us.
This is where the revelation of the mystery of Christ is different to that of the moon. We learnt more about the moon by discovering it. However, we cant learn more about the mystery of Christ by discovering it. Rather, it has to be revealed to us. And thats what we see here. In verse 3, Paul says about the mystery that the mystery was made known to him by revelation. Revelation. The same word αποκαλυψις apokalupsis that we find in Revelation. A revealing, an unveiling. When all becomes clear, like the last few pages in an Agatha Christie murder mystery. The last few minutes of CSI Miami. What had been a mystery, becomes known. Not because we discovered it, but because Agatha Christie, or the TV show director, now tells us who did it. All becomes clear. And so, the mystery of Christ, becomes clear through revelation. God tells us what it is through the New Testament.
5 [It] was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets.
And as we looked at last week, these apostles and prophets recorded this revelation in the pages of the New Testament. And this revealed mystery what is it? So are you ready to know the answer to the mystery of Christ?
Here it is in verse 6: 6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.
So what are these things? All of these Paul has already talked about in Ephesians. But the way he talks about them here is like a summary. He also explains that what he has already talked about is the revelation of a mystery. But in this verse he also teaches us more about these things. Paul says three things about the Gentiles - that is, probably most of us here today. Actually, he says three words, which in your Bibles are translated as three phrases, eg the NIV which says
are heirs together with Israel,
members together of one body,
and sharers together in the promise
is just three words + a couple of ands in Greek.
συγκληρονομα και
συσωμα και
συμμετοχα
sugkleronoma and
susoma and
summetocha
Notice all three words start with su. In Greek it has a wonderful alliterative sound. Its like in English. We use words that start with the same sound or word to get attention, to make it catchy, to drive home a point. In Greek this verse has that effect. But what is also important, is what the su prefix means. It means, together with.
The first word συγκληρονομα sugkleronoma - is su + kleronoma. Kleronoma is the word for inheritance, or heir. We saw it when we looked at Ephesians 1:11-14, which was the sermon about inheritance. Do you remember that sermon? We looked at modern heirs Lachlan Murdock, Paris Hilton. We looked at what they will inherit
and then looked at our inheritance in Christ, which is so much greater and surer. It is not subject to the vagaries of the global economy, politics or the stock market. In that passage, the word for inheritance was kleronoma. Now Paul uses that word again and sticks a su in front. A together with. Which is why the NIV translates it as heirs together, the NKJV as fellow heirs. What Paul says here, hes already talked about in ch 1: that we have an inheritance. But what he stresses here, is that this inheritance is not something we receive alone, but together. It is a joint inheritance, together with believing Jews and with each other.
Next word is sussoma. It is a really interesting word. Why? Because Paul probably made it up! Invented it! There is no other record of this word in any of the ancient Greek literature. It looks like he took the word Soma and stuck Su on the beginning. So what does soma mean? Soma means Body. This is the word used in Eph 2:16. We covered that verse in the sermon just before I went overseas, when we talked about the dividing wall of hostility being broken down and God reconciling believing Jews and Gentiles in one body. The word is Eph 2:16 for body is soma it represents the church in this verse.
So here in 3.6 we have the word sussoma. It means, together in the body, or together in the church. NIV translates as members together of one body,
NKJV as of the same body. Last week, we talked about the church. We are saved individually, but not to remain alone. God saves us to put us in community
together, as members of one body. NIV translates this word as members and later on in Eph 4.25 and 5:30 the more usual word for members is used. Eph 4:25 says We are all members of one body. Literally it says, we are members of each other.
Ive had people tell me the Bible doesnt talk about church membership, but here in 3:6 it tells us that we are together in one body. In Eph 4:25 it actually uses the more normal word member. We are members of each other. Yes, the Bible does talk about us being members of the church.
Recently, I was in Central Asia. Friends were interested in what I was doing now. I told them I was a pastor at Gympie Baptist Church. Central Asian Christians then asked me, so, how many members does your church have? They didnt ask, how many people come along? They asked, how many members do you have? I answered, we have about 50 members, and 150 come along. Their question: what about the other 100 who are they? Good question.
Its interesting in Australia. We dont talk about how many members a church has
But we talk about our attendance. How many people attend. But I want to ask you a question, is church something we attend, or is it something we are members of? And what does the Bible say: that we should be attenders of the church, or members of the church? What do we mean by membership? What do we mean by attendance?
Attendance. We attend the cinema, the theatre. It speaks of passivity. We just come, watch and go home. Are you a church attender? Or a member?
What is a member? It means we are a part of the church, we belong to each other. We are together. Last week we looked at how as members we need to be joined together. Now when we talk of membership, different people may have different things in mind. When we become a Christian, we become a member of the body of Christ. Few would argue with that. But what is the body of Christ? It is the church universal that is, the church everywhere, worldwide. But what is the church universal? Is it an ethereal body that never meets together? We talked last week that the very meaning of the word church ekklesia - refers to a group of people that meets. The whole church worldwide cant all meet together. There are too many of us in too many places. And unfortunately, over the course of history, many divisions have occurred in our doctrine and practice. So we meet in smaller groups, and one such group is Gympie Baptist Church. So if you are a believer in Christ a Christian - and you come to Gympie Baptist Church regularly, are you an attender or a member of this church? Are you linked in with the other members? Are you members with the other people here? Together in this one body of believers as this verse refers to?
If not I urge you to do so.
The other sort of membership we talk about is the legal definition. This morning, a number of people became formal, legal, members of the church. They signed a book to say they are members. They now formally share the rights and responsibilities of membership, including the right to speak and vote at members meetings. What is the connection between this and the other type of membership I just talked about? Or are they really the same sort of membership? What is the purpose of formal membership? It is merely to formalise what ought to be a spiritual reality.
One of the distinctives of a Baptist church, is that we believe in regenerate membership. Regenerate is just a fancy word for someone who is a believer. So we believe that membership is only for believers. But we also believe that members who come to the church, ought to be members. For those of you who are not members of this church, and that is most of you, I would like to challenge you about this.
You might ask formal membership why bother? It is to say you are committed to the church, to each other, to be being joined with each other. But you might ask, cant I just be a member without signing anything? Are you an Australian? Are you proud to be an Australian? Do you object to being formally recorded as an Australian? To having an Australian passport when you travel? Are you married? Do you object to your marriage being formally recorded? Many people these days say they dont need to formally have their relationship recorded. So they live together in a de-facto relationship. The real reason for most who do this is that they are scared of commitment. A non formal marriage a de-facto marriage, attempts to have all the privileges of marriage, without the responsibility.
Commitment is not a popular word these days. But it should be. The Bible says we ought to be joined to one another in the church. That speaks of commitment. If you arent a member because you arent committed, then I urge you, examine the Scriptures, think about these things, talk to me.
Some of you who arent members might ask, but there was no membership in the Bible. I think we have already seen that there was. Or perhaps you might say,
there was spiritual membership but not the formal membership where ones name was recorded. We dont know how they recorded membership in the NT times. But it seems they had some record of who was in the church and who wasnt , whether it was written down or not. In Acts 6 the disciples chose deacons. Disciples who are they? They were disciples of Jesus that is, the church, members of the church. Membership also speaks of boundaries. In 1 Corinthians 5:4-5 talks about church discipline. The church was told to assemble together and to expel someone from their midst because of a serious sin. We dont know if they wrote peoples names down on a list, but they knew who was a part of the church and who wasnt. Who was a member and who wasnt.
So if you are a believer, and this is your church, are you a member or an attender? A member, both in fact, and formally. And our recording of members in this membership book, is simply your signing and affirming that you consider yourself part of this church, a member of this church. So if you are a part of this church, and have not yet formally become a member, for whatever reason, whether theological and we do understand that there are some who would like to be members on paper but cant because different convictions regarding baptism, but if it is because of lack of commitment, or just simply havent gotten around to it, please come and talk to me about it.
Let us be Sussoma. Together with this church this body of believers.
The third word is summetocha. This is su + metocha. Metocha means partnership or sharer. So metocha by itself already means sharing. Sharing is something we do together. And then Paul puts this su in front of it to emphasis that the sharing is together. Of course, sharing is together, but he really makes the point by adding this bit on the front, su, which means together. Hence NIV says sharers together. Again we see in this word, how we share this together.
So we can see in these three words, that Paul is bringing in three concepts he has already mentioned in Ephesians. Our inheritance. Being part of the body the church. Sharers. And put su, together in front of them all. To emphasise that these blessings, we do not have possess them in isolation from each other. We share them with believing Jews. And with each other together. And what is that we, believing Jews and Gentiles, share together? What is the revelation of this mystery?
It says in vs 6: the promise in Christ Jesus. Those things we have been talking about in Ephesians. Spiritual Blessings
1. Chosen to be blameless in His sight.
2. Adopted as His children.
3. Redeemed, forgiven from our sins.
4. The mystery of Gods will revealed to us
Note the last one the mystery of Gods will revealed to us. What was once not plain, a mystery. Remember, in Old Testament times, the Jews were the ones who were Gods special people in an exclusive sense. But now, we Gentiles share that. We share the inheritance. We are heirs together with believing Jews and with each other.
But this is for those who believe. Jews and Gentiles who believe in Jesus as the saviour. That is, the one who through His sacrificial death on the cross has removed the barrier between us and God. If you are here today, and you dont know Jesus. Today youve heard today about the revelation of this mystery. If you would like to be part of Gods family, a member of His church, by confessing your sin, and believing in Jesus, please come and talk to me afterwards.
And if you are here today as a believer. If you call Gympie Baptist your home, are you a member sharing the revelation of the mystery of Christ with each other?
EPH 3:2 Surely you have heard about the administration of God's grace that was given to me for you, 3 that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. 4 In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets. 6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.
