Over the last few weeks, we've read what Paul has to say about this huge, cosmic plan that God has for the world. Before God sent Jesus, this cosmos was a terrible mess. There was a dividing wall of sin that existed between God and people. There was a dividing wall that separated out Jew from Gentile. And there was a cosmic battle, with seemingly no certain outcome, between spiritual forces in the heavenly realms. God has a family of spiritual beings who live faithfully toward him, and we get just a hint of that this week (Ephesians 3:14). And there is also this group of spiritual beings who have rebelled against God, and actively oppose God's plan for the world. Paul calls this group the rulers and authorities and powers. And on top of that group, lies Satan, who is the ruler of the kingdom of the air (Eph. 2:2).
So that's the mess that the universe was in, before Jesus. All of creation was fractured, and in conflict. And Jesus is God's victory, in all of those areas. Jesus defeated the rebellious spiritual forces in the heavenlies, and sits at God's right hand above them. We, in Christ, sit with Jesus in the same place, above those powers. We, in Christ, live as a forgiven people, who are freed from slavery to Sin. We, in Christ, live in peace with one another. All the ways that we divide each other up, by gender, or politics, or race, or wealth, or Jew and Gentile-- all those things are torn down, in Christ. And we, in Christ, are in the process of becoming God's house. We are the place God calls home on earth. And God did all of that for us while we were terrible, ugly people, who were far from God, who had rebelled against him. God sent Jesus to die for our sins, to die in our place, so that we could be freed, and forgiven, and accepted in God's family.
All of this is the gospel-- the good news about what God has done in Christ.
So in chapters 1-2, Paul has explained all of this at some length. He could say more, but you have to start somewhere, right?
Now, Paul knows that all of this is heavy, and big. He knows it's a lot to take in. And he knows that all of this can
only be understood if the Holy Spirit helps. Earlier, Paul prayed that God would give the church the Spirit of revelation and understanding, so that their hearts would be enlightened, and so that they'd be able to understand God's plan.
It's at this point, that Paul has every intention of writing down a second ongoing prayer that he offers to God, for them. This is something we need the Holy Spirit's help, if we're going to understand it, and if it's going to hit us the way it should. But Paul finds himself turning, and talking about something different, instead.
Let's start today by reading just the first four words of Ephesians 3:1:
(1) For this reason, I
Now, let's skip down to Ephesians 3:14-- the last verse in the handout:
(14) For this reason, I bend my knee before the Father, from whom every family in the heavens and on earth is named."
Do you see how verse 1, and verse 14, start the same way? "For this reason, I." Verse 14 is what Paul planned to write next. If you took out all of Ephesians 3:1-13, Paul makes perfect sense.
But instead of writing the prayer he offers on their behalf, this is what we read in verses 1-2:
For this reason, I-- Paul, the prisoner for Christ Jesus for the sake of you nations/Gentiles--if indeed you heard about the stewardship of the grace/ministry of God given to me for you--
Paul catches himself after writing "I," I think because it occurs to him that not everyone he's writing to actually knows who he is. At the start of the letter, in Ephesians 1:1, Paul addresses the church in Ephesus, and all of the holy ones. There's kind of two separate groups. And the consensus among scholars is that Paul intended this letter to be read in multiple churches, across a bigger geographical area (Asia Minor). Some of the Christians Paul writes to will know who he is. We read in Acts 19-20 that Paul was in Ephesus for 2 years (Acts 19:10). But churches change over time. We don't look the same as we did 10 years ago. New people become disciples of Jesus. Sometimes, Christians move to town, and join our church. And with this letter, Christians 50 miles away from Ephesus might only have a vague sense of who this Paul guy is.
So Paul hits the brakes on his letter, basically, and talks a bit about himself, and much more importantly, he talks about the ministry that God has given him.
Paul's in jail, which is not the place that anyone dreams of ending up. He's in jail for Jesus. And he's in jail for their sakes. What he's suffering, has been for their benefit.
Paul then catches himself a second time, because there's something else his readers might not be aware of. God has given Paul a huge responsibility. Paul describes this responsibility as a stewardship, which is not a word we really ever use, except maybe for tithing.
In the first century, this stewardship imagery is tied to how Roman households were structured, and organized. In a first century Roman context, a steward was a trusted, high level servant, who was responsible for managing many of the daily household tasks. There are certain things that the head of the house would do, and there are certain things that he would delegate to a trusted servant-- to a steward.
When Paul looks at a typical upper class Roman household, he finds that it's a helpful image for describing God and the church (what follows is from Clifton Arnold, Ephesians, 186). God has a house, which is the church. God is the head of the house. Christians are members of God's household (Ephesians 2:19). God is building up this house (Ephesians 2:21), with Jesus as the cornerstone, so that we become a house for God to call home (Ephesians 2:22). And Paul, as part of God's household, has been given the stewardship-- or the responsibility-- of inviting Gentiles to join God's house as full members of God's family. In ordinary language today, we'd say that this is Paul's "ministry." But Paul describes it as the "stewardship of the grace of God."
Now, this word "grace" is one that we've seen a couple times in Ephesians. Paul opened his letter by announcing "grace and peace" to you. In chapter 2, Paul wrote about how we are saved by grace. God holds out this offer of salvation to all people, as a gift given through Jesus, to those who pledge their faith and loyalty to Jesus.
What we see here, in chapter 3, is that God also gave Paul another type of grace. God shows kindness to Paul, by calling him to this ministry. Paul thinks it's a privilege to tell people about what God has done for all people, Jew and Gentile, through Jesus. It's a total kindness on God's part, to be God's household servant.
So we might look at Paul in prison, and shake our heads in sadness over it. What a waste, to have such a great mind, and such a great evangelist, in prison. But Paul looks at the same situation, and he says, "What a blessing and privilege it is to serve God by telling Gentiles about Jesus. All of this is God's grace."
Now, most people have some topic that, if you start talking about it, is like putting a quarter in them. Some of you could talk for hours about football, or classic cars. If there's any crunchy moms here, they could talk for hours about the dangers of food dye, and seed oils, and how to Make America Healthy Again. Some of these topics are relatively safe to talk about in groups with people you don't know. Others, are less so. If I were to say I'm grateful for the Covid vaccine because it's safe and effective, and reduces the severity of disease, it's pure chaos that might follow. And if I expressed gratitude toward our government for killing chickens every time they get sick, to keep us safe, those of you who raise chickens will find yourselves needing to ask me a question. "We don't kill our children and raise new ones when they get sick, so why do we keep doing that with chickens?" I got you going, I put a quarter into you, and you sometimes just can't help yourself.
Some of you might be the strong, silent type who ordinarily don't feel the need to say much. But you all, I'm guessing, have things that get you going.
For Paul, the thing that gets him going, is talking about the privilege and responsibility God has given him, to tell people about Jesus. So when Paul finds himself writing about the stewardship of the grace given to him by God... well, Paul has to say more. He got himself going.
And so what Paul does, in verses 3-7, is explain this grace that God has given him. These five verses together, are a single sentence in Greek. Some translations break it up, to try to make it easier to follow, but we're going to try to read it and understand it as a whole.
(3) By revelation it was made known to me-- the mystery--
just as I wrote above briefly,
(4) about which you are able, (when) reading, to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,
(5) which in other generations was not made known to humans,
as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and the prophets by the Spirit:
(6) that the nations/Gentiles are fellow heirs
and fellow members of one body
and fellow sharers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the good news,
(7) of which I became a servant
in accordance with the gift of God's grace given to me,
in accordance with the working of his power.
Long ago, God had this secret vision for what the world should look like. He wanted to make a single, united, holy family, who would live in peace with him, and with each other. How could God accomplish this? This is impossible, right?
Not for God. God had this secret plan, revolving around Jesus, that would accomplish all of this.
And Paul says, if you read my words, you can understand my insight into this mystery.
Long ago, no one knew God's secret vision. No one knew that the Gentile nations would be fellow heirs of God's kingdom, fellow members of one body, and fellow sharers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the good news. No one understood that God would do this by abolishing the Mosaic covenant, and offering peace through Jesus the Messiah.
This is something that God has only NOW revealed to the apostles and prophets.
And then, in verse 7, Paul switches from talking about other people-- other apostles, and prophets-- to talking about himself. God made Paul his servant, with a particular household responsibility. God has given Paul this gift, this grace, of telling Gentiles about Jesus.
And in the last line of verse 7, we see that God did this in accordance with the working of his power. Do you see that? Paul became God's servant, "in accordance with the working of God's power."
From the start of Paul's ministry, to its end, Paul's ministry was one of power. God's power was first revealed to Paul, when he was on his way to Damascus to persecute the church. A light flashed from heaven, and Paul fell to the ground, blinded (Acts 9). And what we see in Paul's life, is that the power God used on Paul, is the same power that God used through Paul. Paul did many miraculous things, and had many miraculous things happen to him, not because he was a god, or had some type of power by himself, but because God's power flowed through him. And the Ephesian church was well-aware of all of this. Let's flip to Acts 19:11-20:
11 God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, 12 so that when the handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were brought to the sick, their diseases left them, and the evil spirits came out of them. 13 Then some itinerant Jewish exorcists tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” 14 Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. 15 But the evil spirit said to them in reply, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you?” 16 Then the man with the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered them all, and so overpowered them that they fled out of the house naked and wounded. 17 When this became known to all residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, everyone was awestruck, and the name of the Lord Jesus was praised. 18 Also many of those who became believers confessed and disclosed their practices. 19 A number of those who practiced magic collected their books and burned them publicly; when the value of these books[b] was calculated, it was found to come to fifty thousand silver coins. 20 So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.
It was God who did extraordinary miracles, through Paul. So Paul's ministry, was in accordance with the working of God's power.
Verse 8:
(8) To me, to the least of the least of all the holy ones-- this grace/ministry was given toward the Gentiles/nations:
to proclaim the good news of the impossible-to-understand riches of Christ,
Paul thinks he has the greatest job of all time. He gets to tell the Gentiles the good news about what God has done for them through Jesus.
And the astonishing thing about this, from Paul's perspective, is that God's grace was given TO HIM. I've bolded and underlined the first part of verse 8, because Paul is giving emphasis to this. "It was to me, to the super-least of all the holy ones, that this grace was given.
Paul isn't proud; Paul doesn't think he's something special. He actually makes up a word to describe himself here. If Paul said he's the least of the apostles, you'd all understand that if there was a list of apostles, Paul's name is way at the bottom. But this isn't enough. He says something like, "I'm the super-least of them all."
Paul knows he began all of this by persecuting the church, trying to destroy it. He is the least-deserving of them all, and he will never forget this. Despite this, God chose Paul to be his servant, to share God's grace with you Gentiles. More than anyone else, Paul knows that God is good-- God has been good to him, and God is good to you Gentiles.
At this point, let's reread verse 8, and I'll push through to verse 12:
(8) To me, to the least of the least of all the holy ones-- this grace was given toward the Gentiles/nations:
to proclaim the good news of the impossible-to-understand riches of Christ,
(9) and to enlighten everyone as to what is the stewardship of the mystery being hidden from the ancient times by God-- by The One who created all things--
(10) in order that the many-sided wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and to the authorities in the heavens through the church
(11) in accordance with the purpose of the ancient times,
which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord,
(12) in whom we have freedom of speech and access with confidence through faith(fulness) toward him.
When Paul tells Gentiles the good news about God has done for us in Jesus, and people come to faith in Jesus, what's the result? It's the church. It's us as a body. And we are quite the mix of people. There are Jews and Gentiles. Slaves and free. Men and women. People of every race. Americans and Russians. Westerners and Easterners. But all of us are one in Christ. Why did God do this? Well, one reason at least is given in verse 10:
"in order that the many-sided wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and to the authorities in the heavens through the church."
We've seen this group, the rulers and authorities in the heavens, in Ephesians 1:20-21. I've said just a little bit about them. Let me add a bit more.
The idea in this verse, is that there is another dimension to reality, an unseen realm, where spiritual beings live. Most of the time, we can't see into this dimension, but it's there. And in this dimension, there are different types of spiritual beings, with different levels and degrees of power and authority. In the passage in Acts 19 we just read, we got just a taste of this. This Jewish priest named Sceva has success going around in the name of Jesus, rebuking unclean spirits and commanding them to stop bothering people. But then he and his sons run into a different type of spirit, and this spirit isn't so easily bossed around in Jesus' name. He has more power, and more authority. Not every evil spirit is the same.
So, when we turn back to Ephesians 3, when Paul talks about the rulers and authorities, he's talking about the top level spiritual beings who are opposed to God. They've created their own hierarchy, bureaucracy maybe, independently of God, and they spend their time and their energy fighting God's vision for the world. You'd think that this group was get a lot of ink in the NT. You'd think we know about all about them. But it seems like the only thing Paul is really interested in saying about this group, is that God has decisively defeated them in Christ. Let's turn to Colossians 2:13-15, a passage we read a couple weeks ago:
13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities[b] and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him (ESV).
God showed off his wisdom by striking a crushing, crippling blow to the rulers and authorities by sending Jesus to the cross. When God this, he disarmed them, he publicly shamed them, and he triumphed over them (Col. 2:13-15). And the church stands, basically, as God's victory. Everything God wants to do in the world, gets summed up, filled up, in the church (Ephesians 1:23). We are the proof that God has been victorious.
So let's reread Ephesians 3:10, and see if it makes more sense:
"in order that the many-sided wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and to the authorities in the heavens through the church."
This group of spiritual rulers and authorities have been fighting God for centuries. But they were completely blindsided by God's move to send Jesus to the cross for our sins. None of them saw this coming, or had any idea that God would do this. If they had known God's plan, they never would've killed Jesus. But now, from the other side of the cross, God's wisdom is obvious. So now, when the rulers and authorities in the heavens look at the church, what do they see? They see God's wisdom. They see God freeing people from their kingdoms, making one nation, one people for himself. What they see, really, is their defeat. And, in the end, there's nothing they can do about it. All they can do is watch, and marvel at God's wisdom. God did this in order to rub their noses in it. He's saying, "this is what wisdom really looks like." So God didn't simply overpower Satan, and the rulers, and authorities. God outsmarted out them. God checkmated them, in Jesus.
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I'm skipping over verse 12-- maybe just put a little note in the translation.
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With this, we come to verse 13:
(13) Therefore, I ask you not to be discouraged by my sufferings on your behalf,
which are your glory.
Paul wraps up his rabbit trail with an encouragement to the church. Don't be discouraged, when you think about me in prison, suffering on your behalf. I'm happy to be a steward in God's household, telling Gentiles about Jesus. It's a privilege to play a role in God's decisive victory over the rulers and authorities. It's a privilege to be a construction worker, building up God's house.
All of this has resulted in their glory. They've been lifted up. They used to live as slaves to Sin, and the rulers and authorities, and to their own flesh and minds. But God has saved them-- He's raised them up, given them life, and seated them in the heavens with Jesus. And Paul is willing to suffer what he has to, to make that happen, and to help them fully understand the grace that God has given them. From Paul's perspective, that's a great trade.
So what matters to Paul? What's the thing that gets him going, where he can't help but talk about it?
2 things, here at least. (1) The privilege of getting to tell people about Jesus. (2) The privilege of helping the church understand how richly God has blessed them, in Jesus.
So we read Paul's rabbit trail, and we understand Paul, completely. If we take Paul's words to heart, we don't feel sorry for him, being stuck in a Roman prison. Paul gets to be God's servant. He gets to build up the church. He gets to play a role in inviting everyone to give their allegiance to Jesus, so that they can be freed, and forgiven, and join God's family.
Who wouldn't be willing to suffer anything for God, to make this good news known? Who wouldn't want to be entrusted by God with sharing the good news about Jesus with the people around them? How great would it be, to get to tell people about Jesus?
We look at Paul, and we know, Paul is truly blessed.
Ephesians 3:1-14 Translation:
(1) For this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles -- (2) if indeed you heard about the stewardship of the grace/ministry of God given to me for you--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(3) By revelation it was made known to me-- the mystery,
just as I wrote above briefly,
(4) about which you are able, (when) reading, to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,
(5) which in other generations was not made known to humans,
as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and the prophets by the Spirit:
(6) that the nations/Gentiles are fellow heirs
and fellow members of one body
and fellow sharers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the good news,
(7) of which I became a servant
in accordance with the gift of God's grace given to me,
in accordance with the working of his power.
(8) To me, to the least of the least of all the holy ones-- this grace was given toward the Gentiles/nations:
to proclaim the good news of the impossible-to-understand riches of Christ,
(9) and to enlighten everyone as to what is the stewardship of the mystery being hidden from the ancient times by God-- by The One who created all things--
(10) in order that the many-sided wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and to the authorities in the heavens through the church
(11) in accordance with the purpose of the ancient times,
which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord,
(12) in whom we have freedom of speech and access in confidence through faith(fulness) toward him.
(13) Therefore, I ask you not to be discouraged by my sufferings on your behalf,
which are your glory.
(14) For this reason, I bend my knee before the Father, from whom every family in the heavens and on earth is named."
