INTRODUCTION
Today, we’re moving on to Ephesians 3. In my first talk, I showed you this picture. It’s produced by the BibleProject and it presents the structure of Ephesians. Ephesians 1 and 2 both get a lot of space. But look at Ephesians 3! It just gets a little corner! It seems that the BibleProject doesn’t think Ephesians 3 has much to say! But there’s lots in this chapter that’s VERY interesting.
THE CHURCH MAKES GOD’S WISDOM KNOWN TO THE RULERS AND AUTHORITIES IN THE HEAVENLY PLACES
In this talk, I’m going to be talking about the church. Please remember that the church in the Bible isn’t a building: it’s God’s people.
There are several things I want to look at in this chapter but I’m going to start off with what I think is the most remarkable thing Paul says. It comes in verses 8-10. Let’s look at it:
‘To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to enlighten all people as to what the plan of the mystery is which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things;
SO THAT the multifaceted wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.’
[Ephesians 3:8-10, NASB. I thought the NASB was clearer than some other versions.]
Paul has a plan SO THAT … what?
‘The multifaceted wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.’
Who are the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places? Angels? Demons? Satan?
That is mind-boggling! God’s plan is that the church, meaning us, is how his wisdom is to be made known to heavenly beings – beings which we don’t see or feel. Why?! How?! It’s an amazing statement! I’m going to leave it for a moment and come back to it.
RECAP
Let’s briefly review what we’ve looked at so far.
In Chapter 1, Paul tells the church in Ephesus the amazing heavenly blessings they have. He writes, ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us WITH EVERY SPIRITUAL BLESSING in the heavenly places in Christ’ [1:3, NASB]. The Ephesians weren’t missing out on a single blessing in the heavenly places. Wow! And that’s our situation too. We have a lot to thank God for!
Paul then lists the blessings, and he then prays for the Ephesians that God would help them to grasp just how much they have. That’s a great prayer for us to pray for each other!
In Chapter 2, Paul then tells the church in Ephesus that God has opened the way for Gentiles – people who are not Jews – to come to him. Jew and Gentile now come to God in the same way, based on God’s grace. Because of that, Christ has made Jew and Gentile one.
There are big differences between Christians today, but we all come to Christ the same way and we’re all part of one body. That’s going to be a major theme of Ephesians 4.
A SIDETRACK
In Chapter 3, Paul is just about to say another prayer for the Ephesians. But as he starts, he gets sidetracked. Why does he get sidetracked? Paul starts by writing [3:1]: ‘For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus…’ Something went through Paul’s mind when he noted that he was a prisoner. He probably thought, ‘What will the Christians in Ephesus think about me suffering in prison?’ But Paul knows he has a huge amount to thank God for. I’m going to look at that in a moment. Look on to Verse 13. He writes, ‘So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you.’ This is how Paul concludes his sidetrack. Paul could be in miserable in prison. But he reflects on how much God has given him and he doesn’t seem down at all. It’s a great example for us, if things are going badly wrong. Reflect on just how much we have in Christ.
GRACE
So, what does Paul have? There are three words which Paul uses three or four times. They are ‘grace’, ‘mystery’, and ‘together.’ Grace means God’s gift or God’s favour. Some people say that GRACE is an acronym for ‘God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense.’ Paul mentions grace three times: ‘God’s grace given to me’ [Verse 2], ‘the gift of God’s grace, which was given me’ [Verse 7], ‘this grace was given’ [Verse 8]. Paul is saying that he’s received something from God. What? Well, several things, actually.
MYSTERY
One gift God gave Paul was to reveal a mystery to him. Look at Verse 3. Paul writes: ‘that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery’ [NASB]. What is this mystery?
Look at Verse 6. Paul writes: ‘This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.’ God revealed to Paul that it was his plan for Jews and Gentiles to be members of one body. That would have been unimaginable for most Jews in Paul’s day.
There are no Jews at Rosebery Park as far as I know. I wish there were. But the same principle that applied to Jew and Gentile in Paul’s day applies to young and old, black and white, educated and not so educated in our day. We’re all different, but we all come to Christ in the same way – by grace. In Christ, we are one. Paul mentions other ways he experienced God’s grace but I’m not going to go into them now.
TOGETHER
So, ‘The Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.’ That sounds good! This is from the NASB. But I don’t think this gives us the force of this verse.
Look at the verse in the NIV: ‘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.’
The idea of ‘together’ comes three times and this reflects the Greek.
Now look at this verse in the Greek. You don’t need to be able to read Greek to do this! [Slide, interlinear reading of Ephesians 3:6.]
Here, the Gentiles are ‘joint-heirs’ and a ‘joint-body’ and ‘joint-partakers’.
I like this!
We might do a crossword puzzle TOGETHER or the kids might play peacefully TOGETHER.
But ‘joint’ seems much more united. We talk about ‘joint chiefs of staff’ or ‘joint custody’ or ‘joint operations’ or a ‘joint venture’. I think ‘joint’ reflects the reality much better than ‘together’. Jewish and Gentile Christians were now members of one body.
If two legs are part of one body, one leg can’t go in one direction and the other leg in another direction. They’re joined! That’s how ALL Christians are supposed to be! We’re ALL part of the body of Christ. We’re joined, and we need to act as though we are.
HOW THE CHURCH MAKES GOD’S WISDOM KNOWN TO THE RULERS AND AUTHORITIES IN THE HEAVENLY PLACES
We’re now going to come back to the remarkable statement Paul made in Verse 10. God’s purpose in all this is ‘so that the multifaceted wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places’ [NASB].
Let me first make a comment about ‘The church.’ I said at the start of this talk that the church isn’t a building: it’s God’s people. If we’re all part of the church, then we must all be involved in making the wisdom of God known! It isn’t just my job or the deacons’ job or the job of BMS missionaries. Everyone here today who has put their faith in Jesus is a member of the church and we ALL have a part to play in this.
Let’s move on now to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. We don’t know who these rulers and authorities are. Perhaps they are just the good ones, in other words, angels. Or perhaps they’re all heavenly beings, good and bad.
Why does God want the church to make God’s wisdom known to these beings? One verse which gives us a clue is 1 Peter 1:12. Peter is writing about prophets, trying to grasp the salvation they knew was coming. He writes, ‘It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you … THINGS INTO WHICH ANGELS LONG TO LOOK.’
‘Angels long to look.’ In other words, angels don’t understand everything. They want to find out more. And Paul is saying that the church demonstrates God’s wisdom to them – and this is something God wants the church to do.
What Paul is teaching here impacts our idea of mission. Our mission isn’t just to witness to our neighbour or the Somali who lives three doors down from us. Of course, we have to do that. But we have another mission too: to make God’s wisdom known to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. How on earth is The Church supposed to do that? How are we at Rosebery Park supposed to do that?! We can’t take a flight up to heaven and start distributing tracts to the angels and demons. That’s not going to work. The way we’re going to make God’s wisdom known will be through who we are, not through what we say.
Can we imagine that?
The angels must be intrigued as they’ve watched all that has happened since the creation of the world.
Adam and Eve disobey God. Disaster!
Everyone disobeys God, apart from Noah and his family. Another disaster!
The world is full of turmoil and war and chaos. More disaster!
God sends his son into the world. But people reject him, mock him and put him to death. Total disaster! The angels must have been shaking their heads.
The church comes into being.
Do the angels see God’s wisdom in the church? Sadly, the church is often marked by fighting and disagreeing. That doesn’t make God’s wisdom known. But, just occasionally, a part of the church lives out its calling to be the bride of Christ. It’s pure and beautifully dressed for its husband. Our unity has a big part to play in what makes us beautiful. And when the angels see the church like this, they say to themselves, ‘Ah, now we see.’
TAKEAWAYS
In Ephesians 3 Paul goes on a bit of a sidetrack. But his sidetrack gives us a huge amount to think about. I’m going to suggest two things which especially spoke to me.
The biggest thing for me – and it was new for me – was the fact that God wants his wisdom to be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. That’s mind-blowing! It certainly motivates me to want THIS church to do that.
The other thing which struck me was Paul’s emphasis on unity.
We looked at Verse 6, in which Paul wrote, ‘The Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body.’ I suggested that the Greek has the sense of ‘joint’ and I thought that made more sense. In one body, the right leg and the left leg aren’t simply together. They’re joined. If the gospel has brought Jew and Gentile together then it has erased all other differences too. Paul wrote in Galatians, ‘There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.’ We could extend that. In the church it doesn’t matter if we’re Polish, Argentinian or Nigerian. It doesn’t matter if we’re young or old. It doesn’t matter if we’re male or female, employed or unemployed, married or single, strong or weak. We’re all members of one body. We’re joined together. We need to act as though we are. And, although I don’t think Paul stressed this, other passages make it clear that our unity is essential to our witness.
PRAYER
Talk given at Rosebery Park Baptist Church, Bournemouth, UK, 10.30 a.m. service, Sunday 25th May 2025
