LOCKED UP FOR GOOD
Text: Ephesians 3:1 - 13
Our point of view determines our perception for better or worse. There is a house in New England where the owner designed a unique feature. The owner of the house often took visitors to the tower and would ask them to look through one of the windows. Each of the four windows was different. The red-tinted window could make it look like a hot summer day. There was a blue-tinted window that could make it the outside appear like that of a cold winter’s day. A third window had a brownish-tint and gave the beholder an outdoor view that would appear like fall. A fourth window had a greenish tint that hinted of spring. Bishop Ernest A. Fitzgerald who tells this story said of the tower in that house “What the visitor saw in the world depended on the window through which the world was viewed.” (Bishop Ernest A. Fitzgerald. Keeping Pace: Inspirations In The Air. Greensboro: Pace Communications, Inc., 1988, p. 200). This story helps us to see how our point of view depends on which kind of window we will use. As we focus on Ephesians 3:1- 13, we can clearly see differing points of view.
THE MYSTERY
How do we describe the word mystery today?
1) Perception and culture: How has our modern-day culture has shaped our perception? OBSERVATION: Someone (James McTyre) points out how our culture seems to have shaped the way we perceive mysteries. He points out that we associate the word “mystery ” usually in the context of a TV show or a novel. He calls these “artificial boundaries” where the case is “… certain to be solved within an hour or by the last page where criminals are apprehended ”. (David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor. eds. Feasting On The Word. James W. McTyre, “Pastoral Perspective”. Louisville: Westminster: John Knox Press, 2008, p. 206). He goes on to say that the mystery Paul is speaking of “… not the apprehension of criminals, but the comprehension of Christ”.
2) The entertainment industry: How does it shape our perception? Movies have actually been made where you could choose alternative endings. Real life does not work that way.
Is it a mystery that we cannot fix our spiritual compass without the Gospel? Without the gospel we are clueless and destined to make bad decisions and mistakes. In his book God’s Story, Your Story, Max Lucado points out Satan’s “No fault, denial motif”: “If I were the devil, I’d blame evil on a broken political system. A crippled economy. The roll of the dice. The Wicked Witch of the West. I’d want you to feel attacked by an indefinable, nebulous force. After all if you can’t diagnose the source of your ills, how can you treat them? If I were the devil, I’d keep my name out of it”. (Max Lucado. God’s Story, Your Story. Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 2011, p. 45). Satan wants to leave his name out of it, because he wants us to be confused, hopeless and defeated and self-centered. Why? The reason seems to be because when we get self-centered we focus on our own self-preservation and ignore the needs of others.
Paul clarified the mystery. Someone (James Montgomery Boice) explains Greek roots of the original meaning of the word “mystery” :
1) The original meaning of “mystery”: In Greek the word “mysterion” [mysterion] from which we get our English word “mystery” had a different meaning than the way we define it. The original Greek context of that word meant “something that was known only to the initiated”. (James Montgomery Boice. An Expositional Commentary: Ephesains. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 2007, p. 95).
2) Mystery and the initiated: Paul clarified this mystery that had been revealed to him--- how the Gentiles would become equal with the Jews.
3) Mystery and the controversy of God’s grace: Before the incarnation of Jesus Christ, the Jews believed that a Gentile could become an equal by a new convert complying with circumcision and all the other beliefs and practices of the law. Paul’s perception of the mystery was upsetting to all who disagreed with Paul’s God-given---initiated “point of view”.
THE IMPRISONMENT
Have you ever heard of a messenger getting attacked for delivering a message?
1) Unhappy with the messenger: Have you ever seen a dog chase a postal worker? Depending on the size and temperament of the dog, we might find that amusing. We would laugh about a Chihuahua but we would be intimidated by a German Shepherd.
2) Unhappy with inclusiveness: Speaking of dogs, the Jews thought of Paul’s day thought of the Gentiles as dogs which obviously was degrading.
Paul served time for his beliefs.
1) Paul’s witness: Paul took a stand for what was right and it cost him his freedom.
2) Paul’s conversion: Paul was a Pharisee who persecuted Christians and later became a Christian himself. While Paul was in prison in Ephesus, he became a persecuted Christian.
3) Paul’s incarceration: Paul was a prisoner when he wrote Ephesians. It has been suggested by some that Paul was under house arrest and awaiting trial before Nero when he wrote the epistle to the Ephesians. The charges against Paul were unfounded.
Consider the following story of one Christian’s unyielding witness. Martin Niemoeller, a World War I hero in Germany, was imprisoned for eight years by Hitler. He spent time in prisons and concentration camps, including Dachau. Hitler realized if Niemoeller could be persuaded to join his cause then much opposition would collapse, so he sent a former friend of Niemoeller's to visit him, a friend who supported the Nazis.
Seeing Niemoeller in his cell, the onetime friend said, "Martin, Martin! Why are you here?" Niemoeller replied, "My friend! Why are you not here?" (David P. Barrett. ed. More Perfect Illustrations. [Citation: Rev. Amos S. Creswell, I've Told You Twice, (Paignton, Devon, United Kingdom: Vigo Press, 1995); submitted by Owen Bourgaize; Guernsey, United Kingdom]. Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, 2003, p. 52). Paul was being accused of false charges because he did not do what was popular but what was right. Both Paul and Martin Niemoeller followed in Jesus’s footsteps. Are we following in Jesus’s footsteps?\
Paul was locked up for good.
1) Getting the good out of the bad: Paul was locked up for good---for the good of the Gentiles because he was one of God’s chosen instruments to evangelize the Gentiles.
2) God’s messenger to the Gentiles: Some would say that Paul was a political prisoner. Paul would have disagreed. Consider the second half of Ephesians 3:8 of the Amplified Bible Translation: Paul clarifies that part of his purpose was to proclaim to the Gentiles the unending (boundless, fathomless, incalculable, and exhaustless) riches of Christ [wealth which no human being could have searched out], (AB).
THE MISSION
The mission to be a witness for Jesus Christ will sometimes be met with resistance.
1) Provocative proclamation: Being a witness does not exempt us from persecution. Jesus told His disciples that being a witness can make adversaries of those who prefer the darkness rather than the light of Christ (John 1:9, 3:18 – 20).
2) Perseverance: Consider what Jesus said in Matthew 5:10 – 12: “Blessed are they who have been persecuted for righteousness sake! For theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all kinds of evil against you falsely, for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for your reward in Heaven is great. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you”.
3) Strength to love enemies: Jesus told us to turn the other cheek (Matthew 5:39). As a prisoner falsely accused and awaiting trial, Paul had learned to turn the other cheek. Christians will encounter resistance from time to time. During our times of persecution and adversity, will our witness demonstrate God’s love? How well will we turn the other cheek when we are provoked, persecuted or oppressed by our enemies? Will we pray for those enemies?
Do we underestimate the importance of our mission as witnesses?
Someone (John Stott) once pointed out an observation he made that we are not likely to think about as he put it this way:
1) “Secular history concentrates its attention on kings, queens, and presidents, on politicians and generals, in fact on ‘VIPs’. The Bible concentrates rather on a group it calls ‘the saints,’ often little people, unimportant people, who are at the same time however God’s people---and for that reason are both ‘unknown (to the world) and yet well known to God.
2) He goes on to say that secular history also focuses on battles, wars, and peace-treaties only to repeat the cycle---battles, wars, peace-treaties. The Bible concentrates on the war between good and evil, the victories of Jesus Christ over the powers of darkness and the eternal peace-treaty ratified by his blood.
3) Secular history focuses on the nations that conquer other nations and annex their territories whereas the Bible focuses on the multinational Community called the Church [ the Body and Bride of Christ] which has no territorial frontiers, claiming nothing less than the world with the reign of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ whose kingdom has no end. (James Montgomery Boice. An Expositional Commentary: Ephesains. {John R. W. Stott. God’s New Society:The Message of Ephesians. (1856; reprint, Grand Rapids: Baker, 1980, p. 166]. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 2007, pp. 102 - 103). 4) When future generations look back at our time in history, what will they say about what we did with our time in history?
Our mission requires humility.
1) Paul’s self assessment: Paul said of himself the he was the chief of sinners (I Timothy 1:15) and the least of the apostles (Ephesians 3:8).
2) Paul’s old self and his new name and nature: Paul’s pre-conversion name was Saul. After his conversion his name became Paul. “The Latin word Paulus from which Paul’s name is derived means “little” or “small”. Tradition suggests that Paul was short in stature. Yet Paul had no Napoleonic complex. His ego was also small according to Ephesians 3:8.” (Dr. Robert Rayburn, Jeffrey Miller, J. Hampton Keathley III, with Mark Strauss. Galatians Thru Philemon: Simplified Bible Commentary Series. Volume 11. Urischville: Barbour Publishing, 2008, p. 54).
3) Magnifying Jesus: John the Baptist once said of Jesus “He must become greater and I must become less” (John 3:30). This same understanding of John the Baptist is also true for us.
4) Looking through God’s “grace” window: Our point of view will determine our perception and our perception will determine our response. The world has its own windows colored with its own agenda. God wants us as Christians to look through the window of His grace and spread the Gospel.
